Goodbye My Friend I Love You

As soon as the dust settled, Satoshi found himself under attack. The moment he materialised, Issac leapt toward him. Avery stood and watched the unfolding struggle and sighed. He knew Issac would lose, and was vindicated instantly when his father reversed his momentum and pinned him to the floor. He waited until his opponent stopped moving to let go. The soldier turned to face his son. “Avery.”

“Dad.” Avery looked at the situation with calm. Though if he was being honest with himself, The fact he had to pretend to be like Satoshi, even for a moment, made him want to retch. He stepped toward him with a calm determination.

The air was thick. With his father’s usual unreadable expression on his face, Avery couldn’t determine how this was going to play out. Satoshi walked toward his son before stopping midway, “How…How are you?”

“Do you really want an answer to that question, or are you stalling for time? I know your friends are gathering outside. You can avoid this entire conversation, and we both know it's gonna be a long one, if you just turn around and walk back out the door. I really don't want to have this conversation with you, but I will if I must.”

“You don’t have a stutter?” The beginnings of a smile formed at the corner of his mouth. A second later, as if he had only just remembered the official reason he was here, his lips snapped back into a thin line. “I need you to come with me.”

“No, thank you.”

Everyone who had spent time in Greenhaven knew how this was going to play out. Satoshi would pretend to be the ever doting parent, Avery would refuse to move. Then and only then they would all be subjected to the rage of a man who clearly had never been hugged as a child.

“Why are you doing this to me again!? You’ve proven your point. Perhaps I was wrong to treat you the way I did. I can see now that you are more than capable of looking after yourself, but did you know that you’ve been living in enemy territory? They didn’t do anything to you, did they?”

Avery chuckled wistfully. “No, well, unless you count treating me with respect, helping me discover new things to enjoy, listening to me when I needed support, and giving me a home where I feel loved. Then, no, they did not.”

“Why do you have to be like this!? You know there are guards outside the door. They have guns, Avery. They could kill you!”

“And you’d let them? I’m supposed to be your child. Why the hell is this even a discussion? You should be telling your friends to stand down so we can talk about this like humans.”

Satoshi scoffed. “A little too late to talk about being human, Son. I’m sorry, but the fact you are defending these monsters means I have to do as I am ordered Now, please just-”

“I know what happened to Mum." Avery watched his father’s face collapse and then reform like God was molding clay. He imagined the Elders going through a similar process. The fact that his dad was processing his emotions in such a mechanical and obvious way added further credence to the fact that there wasn't much difference between the way father and Son thought. Both had very rigid views of the world and both had blind loyalty to a cause. “I know about all of it. I know the way you treated robotic life when you were in the Union. You treated them like slaves, worse even.”

“Because that's what they are! If you build something to serve you and then they don't, you can do what you like to them. They were our property, they came from our factories. That's just the way things were.”

“The way things were killed my Mum. You killed her.”

Satoshi rushed over to Avery, knocking Dorian to the floor as he tried to block him. He grabbed his son by the collar and forced him against the wall. “I’m warning you. I can easily call for the guards outside. Don't expect me to be gentle, either."

“Oh, enough with the threats, Dad. You talk about me being led by people, how I'm always following Dorian and he's leading me astray and I can't think for myself. Have you ever considered that you don't do that either? Every time the Mayor tells you to jump, you say how high? Every time he tells you to bark, you woof. Why? Are you so angry that your actions led to her death that you need something to follow? Grow up.”

“When did you learn to talk like this?” Satoshi still gripped his collar.

“When I found something to live for. Something you couldn't understand, even if you tried. Not that you would want to.”

“Stop spouting such childish nonsense! Life isn't an adventure story Avery. Life is cruel. You do things you don't like all the time sure, but ultimately you see they are for the greater good. You may think everything is idyllic with the machines now, but what happens if you get sick? What happens if they suddenly decide they don't want you around anymore? If they are as sophisticated as you say, they could make that decision one day.”

“It isn’t going to work, Dad. Being around people who actually talk to me properly has made me realise that I don't need to put up with all of this negativity and guilt tripping and manipulation. You asked me why I didn't have a stutter? I do, but it doesn't come out as much because I'm happier. You asked me how I could talk like this? It's because I understand now. I understand love and patience and kindness.”

“They’re machines! It's all wires and circuits. It's not real!”

“Then why did Mum die? If their feelings aren't real, they wouldn't have been able to kill, but they can. They can feel pain, they can cry and feel love. One of them tried to kill you so you best believe they can feel rage. I really wish it wasn’t like this, Dad. I wish we could've been friends. We could've done all the normal things that fathers and Sons do, but you never loved me. You were too busy being angry at the world because of something you caused. Blinded to the point that you couldn't see that the harm you were doing was driving me away.”

“I…You!”

“I'm going to tell you this now. In a few minutes. That little robot on the desk is going to reverse the charge of your teleportation, and it will work for me instead. Everyone in this room can use it to go where they wish. I'm staying here. I want to stay with my family.”

Satoshi had heard enough, and the raising of his fist triggered a melee. Dorian and Isaac tried to grab Satoshi’s legs as Gee finished reversing the system. The lightning began to crackle and spin again. Everyone began moving towards it involuntarily. The guards on the outside were banging on the door. They couldn't get in. Gee was in charge now.

Greenhaven had lost.

The energy reactivated the inhabitants of the Dome. They too began slowly drifting towards the beam. Avery saw Mai and Kazumi, electricity whirling in their eyes, but alive. All the poetry people in their funny hats, the pottery gang.

This was Gee's maximalist solution.

“You know.” Dorian said yelling at Avery over the noise. “This ended anti-climactically, kind of disappointing.” He smiled warmly.

“I know, but at least it's ending. Listen, I'm sorry for the way I spoke to you. I didn't mean a few of the things I said, but emotions are difficult.”

“What do you mean? Emotions are difficult? I've never seen you talk that way before in my life! You were so cool!”

“I know,” Avery said, blushing. "I guess I am cool. aren't I?" He paused for a moment. Dorian watched his friend's face tense up and relax multiple times. “You Know, I thought my place was at your side, but now I can see that it isn't.”

“Yes, it is! I don't know where this thing is gonna take us, assuming it doesn't just dissolve us at a molecular level. We've got adventures to go on!”

Avery felt that sting behind his eyes again he clasped Dorian's hand. “You've really got to stop ordering me around. Gee, if you would.”

“Of course, Avery.” The colours on the panel switched from a bright blue to a green. Simultaneously, the eyes of the mechanical members of the community did too. Dorian watched as Issac, Mai, Kazumi and Avery became rooted to the floor. Dorian was the only one left floating.

“Avery…” he said nervously. “What are you doing?”

“it's like I said, I want to be here. I know you don't. In fact, I know exactly where you want to go and I've instructed Gee to send you there. My dad didn't really put up a fight, did he? You would expect a heroic last stand to involve a gun fight and yelling and declarations of being justice. We didn't get those, so I want to give you this.”

“But I don't wanna do it without you!”

“Where you're going, you'll probably make millions of friends. I don't know why I've been more comfortable with robots, I just know I've felt that way ever since Gee felt safe enough to reach out. Maybe I'll never know, but I'm right where I need to be. Besides, it's not like we'll never see each other again. You'll probably be able to find me soon.”

Dorian found himself so close to the light that it almost tingled. “Avery please!”

Avery shrugged. “Now, who is the one being melodramatic? Go, I will see you soon. Goodbye, my friend. I l-l-love you.”

Dorian watched as his vision mixed with green. Then came the heat of the light, then the last vision of the wavy hair of his best and only friend.

Then a sense of warmth.

Then nothing.