Devin Planet

Chapter 4

     4178 was thankful that 3007 was so willing to go to the Dana with him. He turned towards the balcony's edge and ordered a car. 3007 walked towards him and stood beside him, too close for him. Shoulders and arms almost touching, he didn't want to move however, noting that they could take offense to it. "Why are you interested in knowing why Devins are protesting?" They asked, puffing the cigarette and blowing the smoke down to their feet.

      4178 watched as a white car flew towards them and closer to the parking spot. "I want to know how long they want to protest... If they decided to stop working for a long period of time, when will new food be made? When will the hospitals, schools, and energy factories open again? It's all very dangerous... not having those items." All these worries that came to him, and no one else seemed to share it, everyone he'd seen so far were confused but not willing to get answers or prepare for anything troubling that may come with the protests. Even the protestors who wanted answers weren't thinking about the dangers they were putting onto the Devin's, their families, and themselves. Not one person thought like him, not even 3007, stoic and their mood unchanging.

     3007 had trained themselves to smile when they needed to convey that emotion, they had trained themselves to convey every single emotion like a normal Devin with a normal brain. However, no matter how long they practiced and how convinced they were that the expressions were convincing, Devin's could always tell it was a farce. So, as 3007 smoked the blue flower in succession resulting in the dampening of their emotions more and more, they had to smile to 4178. Trying to bring light to a horrible situation, they smiled with a chuckle and stated, "Makes you think how lucky it would be to have farms, animals, a river, and stairs." They opened the car door and allowed 4178 to enter before they did.

     "Thank you!" He got comfortable in his seat, right in the middle, then remembered another person would join. He scooted over to the furthest corner and watched 3007 get in. He felt it odd that 3007 would say such a thing. The environment, such as land and animals were used and abused for millions of years. Devin was dying slowly with the torture and pain that the Devin's put on their planet. "Yeah... but if we had that, more land would be used to cultivate food and Devins hardly fit in the planet. Overpopulation is on the rise," he decided to state this fact, already determining that 3007 was one of the Devin's who believed the forced extinction of every living animal, but Devin's and every plant was selfish and harmful. The Devins had no natural predators and most of them lived to be over one-hundred years old. With so many Devins reproducing and the population living longer as technology advanced, the population was surging upwards, and the planet had limited space to provide for all of them. 

      3007, if not for the cigarette they smoked, would have been saddened by the fact that there was no life but their own species. Instead, they dreamed of having been born in a different timeline. Where Devin's didn't use factories and mass production to create fake food with all the nutrients. It would be nice to have nature, organisms to live alongside the Devin's. Go hunting and harvesting to eat food made from the natural elements. But what the council did was for the better. "I guess... It's also good that there's no more famines, wars, or poverty. I just wish we could integrate both the past and the present." 4178 found it strange to see how 3007 talked about something they were passionate about and dreamed to come true with no smile, dreamy eyes, and they kept their speech monotone. 3007 wanted this to happen, they wanted to live alongside other life, but the way the cigarette affected their speech and brain, made it sound like they didn't care. It was odd for 4178 to see this firsthand, to see someone so dead in their speech and face.

     "What is your destination?" The car asked.

     4178 answered, "Dana." 

     The car moved forward and skewered right to make a full turn before heading upwards and straight. 4178 wanted to keep the conversation moving, wanting to learn more about his neighbor which he never spoke to until just now. "Can I ask something? It's kind of personal... so, if you don't want to answer it's fine."