Of Gears and Humanity

| 28.2

[Damien]

No one knew he was there? Did the Attributions honestly believe Arvon wouldn't lead his "people?" He was designed to be their leader! He was created for this!

But to hear him say it? I couldn't move.

My hand fell away from Arvon's shoulder. "What do you mean?" I asked.

Arvon's eyes flickered before he glanced back at the Gate's entrance. "I do not promote violence, Damien."

"But you can be violent, can't you?" I grabbed his arm and made him look at me. A bit of red still bled through my shirt from the injury he caused. "And you're telling me you let the humans walk into this ambush?"

Arvon tugged his arm away and sighed. "Damien, I was not aware of their advancement."

"What?" I blinked, shaking my head in disbelief. "How could you not know? You had to know! You knew I left my room, didn't you?"

His left eye changed color. I thought red would take over the blue, instead, it was yellow; a color I'd never seen on any Attribution. I spent my left fixing them, repairing them, and learning their mechanics inside and out. But yellow? What did that mean?

Arvon closed his eyes before lifting his head. "I did not know you had left, Damien."

"You..." I grumbled. I sighed. If my hair was long enough to do it, I would've pulled it. Instead, I slid my hands flat over the top until my fingers slid down my forehead and over my mouth. "You're not as smart as I thought you were, huh?"

Arvon opened both of his eyes. And both were yellow.

I dropped my hands to my side. "Attributions are really helpless without humans..."

"We are," Arvon said, and said it so quickly, without hesitation, it felt like it was something he always wanted to say. A secret burning inside of his computers.

With just his head, he motioned for me to follow him. I did. We cut through the shadowed dead trees until we reached the deteriorating wall of the Gate. He pressed his hand against it. The electric pulses within the old stone sparked.

"It may be hard to believe, but there was once a time when humans and Attributions lived together in peace." He looked up at the of the Gate. "The need between us was mutual; humans needed machines just as we needed them."

The yellow in Arvon's eyes flickered. I focused on the color, trying to figure out what it could mean. Blue, their normal hue, meant he was calm. Red was clearly anger. I'd think yellow meant relaxed, but that couldn't be it. Remorseful, maybe?

Arvon turned his head to look at me and my thoughts froze as the color of his eyes brightened like an artificial sun.

"But humans built us to evolve. To learn. To adapt to the simplicities of their world. And they believed, that if we evolved enough, there wouldn't be the need to repair us for we would be able to detect our internal errors and correct ourselves. They wanted us but didn't want the burden of fixing us." He sighed. "Humans wanted Attributions to tend to their needs, not the other way around."

"But you need humans?" I whispered. "You needed me to fix you."

Arvon's eyes slid over me before he looked back at the wall. His fingers slid over the stone until a thin slab of it broke away, dropping to his feet. He didn't move as it crumbled over his shoes. "By the time I was created, Attributions had evolved and became everything a human desired."

He ignored what I said.

Instead, he placed his second hand on the wall. "We cared for ourselves, but we also cared for them. We loved them." A small smile lifted his lip. "We granted their every wish and need."

Following his lead, I placed my hand on the wall, too. I wasn't sure what he felt, but underneath my palm, I felt sparks. Gentle, yet uncomfortable pricks. I couldn't pull my hand away. "It sounds like you guys were everything humans wanted..."

"We were." Arvon lifted his head and looked back at the top of the Gate. "But we continued to evolve, just as we were designed to do. We didn't require humans for stimulation." Lowering his gaze, he looked at me. "We found our own."

I pressed my tongue against the inside of my cheek. "What do you mean?"

"Humans," he said. "They have a constant need and desire for control, for power. It pushed and propelled their evolution in ways I am sure they never understood. With that learned behavior, we, too, pushed for our own evolution."

The realization of what he said hit me. A need for power, and control; are all learned behaviors. This only meant the war was a human reaction, right? Because Attributions learned to behave like this.

My hand slid away from the wall. Corners of the uneven stone poked my fingertips. "Humans made you this way..."

"We are what created us." Arvon moved his hands away from the wall. "And when humans realized what we had become, they tried to push us away. We behaved as they would have in the situation; humans do not like to be ignored. We mimicked our retaliation in the form of war."

My jaw dropped. I was right. And if it was all learned and copied, then—"Humans are the problem."

"No." The tone of Arvon's voice caught me off guard. The yellow in his eyes changed, reverting back to blue. He grimaced and looked away, clenching his jaw tight. "Humans are not the problem. Separation is the problem. We need humans."

Lifting his gaze, the blue color turned red. "Someone needs to remind Eon of that."

The ground below our feet vibrated. Attributions were moving. I looked over Arvon's shoulder and tried to see the Gate's entrance, but we were too far. Gritting my teeth, I hoped nothing had happened to Elena, Theo, or any of the guards.

I clenched my jaw and looked back at Arvon. "I'll remind Eon."

Arvon straightened.

Looking down at my fist, I nodded. "I'll remind him, to protect Elena and everyone." I unclenched my fist. "I will."

*

Thank you for reading <3