Sigma/Star

Chapter 86: Living and Dying

"He isn't here." Shotuku sat in his desk, arms folded across his chest as he stared down Sigma. The android had landed on the exterior of the academy, hacking into the security systems until he could gain access to the interior. After that the cyborg had hunted down Shotuku, seeking the whereabouts of his brother.

"Then where is he?"

"Not here." Shotuku never took his eyes off of Sigma's, holding on to the android's gaze.

"So he's on Earth then? Dispatched to fight the Jahari?"

"Your computational skills are as good as Ochenkov said. Why are you asking me if you can pull all of the data from this school in an instant?"

Sigma's eyes narrowed at the old man, his fingers clenching into fists. "I prefer more old-fashioned methods."

"You're far from old-fashioned Sigma." Shotuku stood up from his chair and stretched slowly, turning on the screen behind him. "But since you already know, I will not keep it from you." The screen displayed a satellite view of Remminstad, the frozen military base in the north. It began to search for the different members of the Crisis Rescue Unit, cycling through each Goliath until it found Porter. The youth was standing next to Ochenkov, the pair watching the horizon just outside of Remminstad. "There he is, safe and sound. Do you have a reason for seeing him?"

"Do I need a reason Mr. Shotuku?"

"So you've downloaded my name to your head hmm? I've seen a lot in my days robot, a lot more than you could ever put into your brain from the rest of the world. I have experiences, thoughts, feelings, that I can attach to my memories. Can you do that? Or can you only see data and facts and images? Do you process what you did to that boy or how you make him feel?"

"I didn't even know him!" Sigma shouted, the words bouncing around the otherwise empty room. "And he didn't know me. And it was better that way. I need to reset it to that."

"You choose to run away from problems? Things were better when I didn't know and now that I know I wish I did not?" Shotuku chuckled, shaking his head. "How interesting that a being created to know all information does not want to know information. You would think that maybe you would be smarter than that, more mature, but it seems that when you died, your maturity was locked away at that age."

"How do you know so much about the Enigma Soldiers?" Sigma's eyes narrowed, suspicious of the elderly man.

"Ochenkov," Shotuku quickly retorted, moving past the subject in an instant. "Now let me give you a lesson on being an adult and knowledge. With every little thing you learn, your responsibility grows. The more you learn, the more of a burden is placed on your mind and soul. And each year that passes you are to grow stronger, more resilient, so that you can carry more of a load. When you are a little child you want to learn and learn and ask questions and discover and you want to know everything. You know too much too fast and can't retain it all. You grow to being a teenager and you reject knowledge as it continues to overwhelm you. But as you grow you must continue to press forward with your growth, continue to find new information. As we grow older, we must learn tools to understand the knowledge we gather and apply it."

"You," Shotuku continued, "have no idea what kind of gift you have been given. For someone who was so alone, so lost, to have found himself a brother, one who was equally alone, is such a blessing. To have garnered all of the knowledge you have, to have access to everything you do, and to wish to squander it all away by blanking it is such a childish attitude. But, who am I? I am not a robot, I have not lost everything as you see it. What would I know about your life hmm?"

Sigma opened his mouth to speak but Shotuku waved him away, shutting him down. The old man was taking over the conversation and not even Sigma felt he had the willpower to stop his speech. "You may think you are completely alone in this world and that you are unique and a special case and that nobody else could ever understand you. Even with metal skin, you are still no different than a thousand other humans who go through the same problems every day. We may all deal with different forms of the dragon, but we all want to slay it." Shotuku stepped up to the android, his frail form pathetically tiny compared to the gleaming cyborg, but his spirit dwarfed Sigma. "Do as you please." He patted Sigma on the arm, his touch almost shocking the android's normally insensitive body.