Instability - [I]

I had been walking for a long time, clearing my mind while taking in the sights of the city. It was now midday and the streets were filled with people. I tried to keep my head down, not wanting to draw attention to myself.

I was lost, I didn't know where to go or what to do. Ever since I had made it outside, all I had done was follow Kanna around. Now that she isn't here. I was alone.

I was walking down a street when I saw a holographic billboard on the side of a building. The billboard was advertising an art museum exhibit. The art on the ad was three dimensional, in addition to having motion. It was beautiful.

Below the billboard was the aforementioned art museum. The museum was a tall white building with a domed roof that fit snugly in between two skyscrapers.

I decided to go inside the museum, hoping to find something interesting. As I entered, I was greeted by a very clean and modern interior. The museum had a bright white floor and walls, with various exhibits hanging from the ceiling.

I went from display to display, looking at the various art pieces that were being displayed. There were all sorts of pieces, from traditional paintings to high-tech holographic projections.

As I walked through the museum, I came across a sculpture of a robot and a human standing side by side. The robot was holding the human's hand, and both were looking up at the sky. It was placed against a wall in the middle of the room, and was the size of a refrigerator.

It was a beautiful scene, but it brought me back to what I was thinking about earlier. It made me feel uneasy to see the two together like that, knowing what society was like outside these walls.

I observed my surroundings for a moment, noticing that there were humans or robots in the museum. It seemed to be another mixed area like the park had been.

I didn't notice his presence earlier, but there was a boy around my age standing next to me. He seemed to be observing the statue, just as I was. He had light blue hair and wore glasses with a light blue winter coat with a black turtleneck sweater on the inside.

As I stared at him for a moment, he looked away from the sculpture and made eye contact with me. Just as our eyes had met, he quickly looked away and started looking at the statue again.

It was awkward, but I wanted to know more about him. I couldn't tell if he was a human or robot. I was curious who would take interest in a piece that would be very political in this society.

"Hey, how are you?" I said, trying to make small talk.

He looked back at me and gave me a slight smile. "I'm ok."

His voice sounded like a typical human, but I couldn't help but notice his hair color, it was an unnatural hair color for a human. However, he didn't have a chip slot to easily be identified as a robot. His clothes created a thick layer that kept me guessing. There was something odd about him.

"This piece is interesting huh? The two races together like this." I said, hoping he would give me more clues about himself.

He nodded. "It's a shame what this society has become... It's beautiful regardless."

His voice sounded genuine, and his face looked somber. It was hard to get a read on him.

"Yeah, it is beautiful." I replied.

After a moment of silence, I decided to ask the question I was dying to know. "Are you a human or robot?"

He looked me in the eyes for a second, before quickly looking down at the floor.

"I'm- I'm human!" He said, sounding slightly panicked.

I wasn't sure what to think of that answer. He sounded so unsure, but it was clear that he wanted me to believe him.

"I see... I'm also human." I kept up with the lie I had told Kanna. It seemed to be working well so far.

He looked at me again, this time staring me down.

"You are?" He said as if he were shocked by my answer.

"Yeah. I'm glad to see another human doesn't completely hate robots." I replied. I was feeling very open with him for some reason.

"But your ha-" He stopped himself as if he had said something he shouldn't have. "I mean, you're right! Humans and robots can live together!" He shouted, a bit too loudly.

The moment was a bit awkward, but I was able to ignore it.

"I'm Meteor, by the way." I said, extending my hand towards him.

He hesitated for a second before extending his hand. "I'm Mint. Nice to meet you..."

It was obvious that he wasn't the most confident person. He had a shy and timid demeanor, but he was also very expressive and enthusiastic.

After we shook hands, a man came running into the room we were in and started shouting at us.

"You two out! I'm destroying that sculpture! Glory to the Robot Republic!" The man said.

He was clearly a robot. His chip slot was protruding from his blank t-shirt, and his voice didn't quite pronounce pitches correctly. His face appeared comically angry. I wasn't sure if this was a joke.

Suddenly his stomach opened up and a cannon popped out. He pointed it towards the statue, aiming right for the center of the sculpture. It no longer seemed like a joke.

Mint and I backed away in shock. We couldn't believe what was happening. The robot was about to fire, and there was nothing we could do to stop him.

I looked over at Mint, who was standing on the side of the statue.

"Meteor! Help me move it out of the way!" He shouted.

Without hesitation I ran to the other side of the statue and grabbed on. We lifted it off the floor and started moving it out of the way.

The robot fired his cannon, but the statue was out of the way before it hit. A red beam of light emerged from the cannon and hit the wall behind the statue, leaving a giant hole in the wall.

"Glory of the Robot Republic, I will destroy that statue!"

A great wave of fear overcame me. I was about to die. We were about to die.

The museum was in chaos, people were screaming and running out of the building. Mint and I were still holding onto the statue, not sure what to do next.

I was scared, I impulsively made the decision to save the statue, but I didn't know what would come next. That beam wasn't going to leave me functioning if it hit me.

After a few moments, the robot adjusted himself and started firing his cannon again. This time, it was directly at us.

I stared down the barrel of his stomach cannon. It was just as intimidating as it was real. A red light emitted from inside of it.

"To the next room!" Mint shouted as he started running with the statue.

We started running with the statue towards a different room as the robot shot at us. We panicked, and nearly dropped it several times.

We entered a hallway and kept running. The robot was still behind us, chasing us while shooting beams from his cannon. The beams were hitting other pieces of art, leaving them unrecognizable. All I could do was mourn quickly in my mind.

We turned a corner and found ourselves in an open room. It was wide and had a very high ceiling. There were various holographic artworks on the walls, but no real cover.

"This room is too big! The next door is too far away!" Mint shouted.

We stopped for a moment, unsure of what to do. I looked around frantically, trying to find a solution.

"Lean against the wall with me!" I said as I ran towards a wall and leaned against it.

Mint looked confused but followed my lead. We leaned against the wall next to the door we just entered from.

As we did, the robot came running into the room. He was running fast and didn't seem to notice that he had just passed us.

"Back that way, hurry!" I whispered to Mint.

He nodded and we carried the statue back through the door we just came through. The robot was stopped in the middle of the open room, looking around in confusion.

"The Robots will not be held down any longer! Glory to President Comet!" The robot shouted as he picked a direction and started running in it.

Once he was gone, made it back to the original place of the statue. I motioned to Mint to put it down, but he seemed hesitant.

"We can't just leave it here, it will get destroyed!" Mint said.

"Yeah, but we can't carry it around everywhere either." I wasn't a big fan of potentially dying.

Mint paused for a second. He had a look of deep thought on his face. Suddenly, he looked back at me and smiled.

"You go. I can't leave this here. I know what you are though. It's good that we still have people like you." He said.

He sounded so genuine, but I didn't completely understand him. I did know one thing however, I wasn't going to leave someone this passionate about robots and human coexistence behind.