Shut Them Down

Kabanata 3

Content Warning: Curse words ahead.

Hadrien Florentin is my best friend. Siya, ako, at ang kaibigan naming namayapa na ang magkakasangga noon. They are my OG trio. Bago sina Nigel at Alexa, sila muna.

Months before Atepatus existed, Hadrien flew away. He went to another country just to study. Naiwan kaming dalawa ni Mikho, we are glued together. We've seen how the evolution of AI improved big time. . . not until a Rouge took his life.

A Vandania tried to attack me that time, luckily I dodged the bullet. At first, I thought it was just a malfunction. . . not until the the f*cking robot aimed at me again. Sa puntong iyon, natakot na 'ko.

A thought came to my mind that time, a robot is dangerous. I froze because of that realization. Bigla akong nahilo at parang bumagal ang mundo ko noong sandaling iyon. I saw the bullet going to my direction in a slow motion.

Pumikit ako at handa nang matamaan ng bala nang biglang na lang may katawan na nalaglag sa 'kin. The rest is history pero hindi ko pa rin talaga makakalimutan kung paano ko sinira ang Rouge na 'yon. Hindi ko kasi matanggap na nakitil ng isang robot ang buhay ng isang tao.

After that tragedy, I became cautious to my surroundings. Hindi ako pwedeng mamatay hangga't hindi pa nauubos ang mga Rouges. Along the journey, I met Nigel, Alexa, and Tatay Khalil.

Nagkaroon kami ng iisang hangad, ang patigilin o sirain ang mga Rouges. We need to shut them down! As time goes by, while we were planning. . . it lead me to a hypothesis that maybe someone hacked the latest version of AI.

That wicked person turned Vandania into a threatening device or a deadly engine. Kung sino man ang taong iyon, I'll make sure to bring him to hell. Kung hindi ko siya madadala sa impyerno, impyerno ang dadalhin ko sa kanya.

I am a hundred percent sure to my hypothesis! Common sense lang, human created humanoid robots. Robots that function like a person! Kung nakagawa ng gano'n ang mga tao, hindi malayong i-program nila ang mga robot na pwedeng mag-functions to kill humans.

Kaya lang kung sino man ang tao sa likod nitong mga kaganapan na 'to, t*nga siya. Hindi ba niya naisip na maaring maubos ang mga tao sa ginagawa niya? Robots ruling the world? What kind of nonsense is that! That will be the end of human race.

"Are you alright, Clark?" Hadrien asked while chewing.

Nabalik naman ako sa realidad at napansin na humigpit pala ang pagkakahawak ko sa kubyertos. Tatay Khalil decided to let Hadrien join us. Wala naman akong problema do'n, I even convinced them that Hadrien is a trustworthy person.

I just nodded to his question and ate my ramen. Nang maghanap ng pagkain si Alexa ay ramen ang inuwi niya. I'm not complaining because our situation right now is pretty tough.

Pero feeling ko talaga mahilig sa ramen si Alexa. Kasi tuwing mag-uuwi siya ng pagkain, laging may ramen.

Pero okay na 'to, kaysa wala. The country is in a crisis right now. Parang may zombie apocalypse or should I say robot apocalypse. Wala kang masyadong makikitang tao sa labas dahil delikado. Too risky, there's a huge chance that a Rouge will appear right in front of us and shoot us.

An instant ramen is better than expired foods.

"Nga pala Clark, how's Mikho? Nasaan siya?" Sunod-sunod na tanong ni Hadrien.

"I lost my appetite, matutulog ako."

Hindi na 'ko naghintay ng sagot nila, nagpunta na 'ko sa kwarto ko at nahiga. Manghihingi na lang siguro ako ng paumanhin kay Tatay Khalil mamaya sa ginawa ko. I can't help it, Hadrien's questions made me uncomfortable.