Chapter 8:
Makorinama
FALL ON YOUR KNEE AND SALUTE
BECAUSE WHAT I HAVE IN ME IS ABSOLUTE
THESE CHIPS THAT HAS BEEN INSIDE ME
IS SEMI USEFUL TO SOME DEGREE
Date: 15 March 2130; 07.15 AM
Population: 11,562
Hailey, carrying Helen in front of her, was leaving the Center Hall. Hamsey saw it and said, "Good morning, miss, what happened? Why the rush?" He was ignored and confused.
"Wait, Mom, I need to tell you something," Helen tried to stop her mom from walking.
Despite her efforts, Hailey kept on walking and said, "Sorry, sweety, you have to get involved in that psycho mind's scheme. We will try to find someone else place far from him."
Helen grabbed her mom's shirt and said, "No, Mom. Listen! This is important."
Hailey stopped about 1 kilometer away from the Center Hall and let Helen explain, "Okay Honey, what is it?"
Then Helen said, "I felt it!"
Hailey was confused as to what Helen was referring to, so Helen continued, "I felt him inside me! I think... I think it was the chip, Mom. I could hear him talking to me."
Hearing her daughter explain, Hailey was shocked and screamed, "WHAT?!"
To her surprise, she was not the only one screaming. Makori was just behind her.
Hailey said, "What are you doing here?"
Makori answered, "I just want to sincerely apologize because I thought the only machines inside the building were the washing machine and vacuum cleaner. I didn't know that your daughter had a chip inside of her." Makori stopped for a second and then continued, "If I may ask, why did your daughter have chips inside of her?"
Annoyed, Hailey answered, "None of your business!"
The conversation was heard by Fillian, and she greeted the two of them, "Hey y'all, good morning."
Hailey, Helen, and Makori looked at Fillian.
Makori, the first one to ask her, "Fill, what happens to your goggles and belt?"
Fillian answered, "Just got attacked by some EC robots. Nothing to worry about, I made my own hand-made disable-ator to disable them. No problem."
Upon hearing the word disable-ator, Makori panicked, "SHIT! Gerald and Leonard."
Makori ran and said, "I'll be seeing you guys again. I got to go now."
Unlike Makori, Hailey worried about Fillian and asked her, "You got attacked? Did you get hurt? Anything that I can help you?"
Fillian reassured Hailey and said, "Nah, I'm good. Don't worry."
"Then may I hear your story? How did you even get attacked?"
"Well, It was at midnight..."
As Fillian shared her story, both Fillian and Hailey, as she held Helen's hand, walked to Fillian's shack.
"Wow, that was so brave of you, miss," Helen said.
"Aww, that was nothing," after responding to Helen, Fillian folded her hand and put it around her head, "So, did you two have a good night's sleep? I hope you did because you guys don't wanna end up like me. Trust me."
"Yes, I'm very energized today", Helen said with both her arms in the air.
"Yeah, we had a good sleep."
The journey to Fillian's shack was full of joy because Fillain entertained Helen with a lot of stories. But not so much for Hailey, she took Fillian's stories that she shared to be more cautious.
When they arrived, Hailey asked, "Hey, eh, Filly. May I ask you something?"
Fillian looked back and said, "Hmm? What is it, darling?"
"Can you not... like... involve us in any of this thing? I'm worried if anything happens, it will..."
Fillian understood what was happening inside Hailey's mind, so she walked toward Hailey, hugged her, and said, "I'll be here for you, okay? Just keep it together."
Hailey hugged Fillian back and said, "But that's not what I meant."
"You are a strong woman, Hailey. I believe you and your daughter can get through this."
Helen interrupted the hug by tagging Fillian's shirt and asked, "Sorry to interrupt, Miss. What is at the back of that building?"
Fillian and Hailey looked confused, but Fillain answered it anyway, "Oh, you are a curious little one, aren't you? Let me guide you to my Scrapyard." Then she offered her hand to Helen and held her hand. They walked together to the back of Fillian's shack, and Hailey followed them from the back while having a thought, This is really disturbing. Everywhere I go now, there is always going to be a robot or gadget. Mom was right, I regretted not spending time away from my gadgets. Is this really the punishment I deserve?
"What I have here is a bunch of machines that I am working on," Fillian said while showing some of her creations, "All of these are actually Makori's inventions, but I have just moderated them or upgraded them to make them better. My belt and goggles were some of the items that I made, too bad I can't show you now since they got destroyed."
With sparkler eyes, Helen asked, "What are all the machines that you worked on?"
Fillian smiled and said, "I'm glad you asked," then with enthusiasm, she grabbed some of her gadgets and machine, "Here is one Flame Ball Thrower, this puppy can shoot many tennis balls, and as it went through the pipe, it will ignite and shoot fireballs. And here is another one I called this Self-Healing Watch. This thing detects your skin whenever you bleed and heals it with some sort of laser. For now, it can only heal thin cuts, like paper cuts, and burn skin."
Hailey was concerned about the things Fillian showed her daughter. In her act of concern, she stopped Fillian and grabbed Helen's hand. "Sorry, Filly. I need to talk to my daughter for a little bit."
Fillian smiled and said, "Sure, hon."
Hailey dragged Helen just far enough so that Fillian couldn't hear it, then she squatted to be the same level as her daughter and said, "Helen, why are you engaging with those things? I thought you were scared of them."
Helen responded, "No Mom, they are different."
Hailey confused and asked, "What do you mean?"
"Mrs. Fillian's gadgets don't have red or green lights. They emitted white light."
"What?"
"We met with a lot of robots, and those were baddies that emitted red light. The gadgets that we use and that surround us emit green light. But for some reason, Mrs. Fillian's are emitted white. I want to know more Mom."
Hailey didn't understand what Helen said, so she asked further, "Lights? I don't see any lights. What do you mean, Honey? Do you feel sick?" as she raised her hand to touch Helen's forehead.
But Helen stopped her mom's hand and held it, "No, Mom. Listen! I've never told you this because I know you will say that. I want to say I've been seeing these lights since they installed those chips in my body. I don't know what it was, and it was bothering me. I kept quiet so you won't be worried, but I have to engage with it now, Mom. I need to know what these are. Like this morning, the guy's voice screamed, "Why is it dark in here? Let me out," and I repelled him out of my body. Something is going on with the chips; I think it has more use than a simple medicine for my disease, like changing the way I view things or using certain things."
Hailey looked at her daughter with wide eyes and then stood up. She looked at Fillian, and Fillian looked back, but before anything happened, Hailey collapsed. Before hitting the ground, Fillian managed to catch Hailey and screamed, "Darling! Hey, darling! Hailey!"
Fillian reached into her pocket to get a walkie-talkie and dialed someone, "Hello, Linda, I need your help. My friend just collapsed."
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