The Human Inside

Chapter 20

    "Do you think 999 would like a scarf?"

    "Based on her personality? I seriously doubt that. I even have the math to prove it."

    "Hmm, it probably was a stupid thought."

    917 and 3 were both standing on sentry duty at the make-shift medical center a couple miles off-campus. They stood on a hill which gave them full view of the Academy. Asides from having random conversations as they watched the columns of smoke rise, 917 and 3 were some of the amborgs experiencing a problem. One might also say it's a malfunction.

    "Not necessarily," 3 replied as she staggered a little to the right. 917 caught her with his arms. "It just means... whoa. It just means you're very... thoughtful. Do you feel tired?"

    "Not yet," 917 replied pushing 3 back into a more stable stance. "But we need to find a plan quick before we revert to alpha status."

    A transmission at that point cut off their conversation and 3 tapped her head in an attempt to focus and get past the haziness. There was a loud whistling noise as the two amborgs looked up. A missile fired from off in the distance landed nearby. The explosion sent mud splattering all over the place. Unfazed, 3 shook her head and attempted to widen the frequency range but it wasn't going as fast as it normally did.

    As the lag cleared up. She lifted her other hand to wipe the mud off her face. At that moment, she realized that her hand was dropping back at her side much slowly than normal. Quickly calculating, she shuddered at the numbers that her head finished crunching. Her performance had dropped by seven point two percent.

    "Hello? Who is calling? Make it quick before I fall asleep. Literally."

    She brightened the tone of her voice to sound as positive as possible. No use feeling pessimistic now, she murmured as she tapped her foot impatiently. Noticing her uneasy mood, 917 was about to say something encouraging but instead felt the immediate urge to sit on the ground. The combat had drained much of his strength and he was leaning on his right arm to stay sitting upright.

    "3? Is that you?" she suddenly felt relieved and lit up at the voice.

    "5!" she exclaimed as she looked towards the academy borders, "Where are you?"

    "Just getting a group of survivors out of this place. But it is a bit of a drag. Had to slow down so they could catch up."

    "Lose any limbs lately?"

    "It happened one time. One time."

    "I had to make a joke about it at some point," she chuckled to herself. All of a sudden, she felt a pain in her chest and instantly opened her mouth and coughed hard.

    "Hey 3!" 5 answered skeptically. "Are you ok? This is why you were pulled from combat. Because you were low on power. Expend more energy and you will feel a lot more pain."

    "Amazing," she whispered.

    She could feel 917's confused stare from where he sat and heard nothing from 5 over the comms.

    "What?" 5 asked.

    "The sensation of it all... coughing," 3 said looking off into the distance. "Pain coming from my esophagus, a reaction to clear mucus from my artificial lungs. It feels so strange, painful but also enlightening as well. The accumulation of whatever I have breathed in intentionally in the past few weeks combined with fatigue from this day has led to pain and a reaction! It has been so long since I coughed."