Small but Terrifying

In the shadow of machines, do we become fragments of what once was human?

The chips whisper secrets, yet veil the truth behind their silent pulse.

Is freedom the leap, the fall, or the space between?

We run, not from the danger, but toward the hope we dare not name.

---

We were flying swiftly toward the carriage where Aeon and Kaida were. The police drones surrounding us had fallen behind due to the Astrojet’s speed. Now, there was only one thing left to do:
Reach them before Aeon intervened with the Astrojet.

I really knew nothing about chips. To me, they all had to be connected somehow, and maybe they could even communicate with one another. Or perhaps, could they not see beings with chips? I wondered how much information the chips provided us and how much they concealed.

I had no idea.

Still, I had to think about this later. If she had something that could work, she would’ve already used it, wouldn’t she?

“Narya, when do we jump?”

“If we keep this up, we’ll need to jump in 13 seconds.”

Narya held the rope with incredible ease. Despite her slim and delicate appearance, her strength astonished me.

“Alright…”

I glanced at the ground out of the corner of my eye. We were getting closer. Meanwhile, noises started coming from the torpedo section where the rope was tied. It was a sound I had heard before.

“What’s happening?”

Narya curiously looked up. Her eyes widened as if she understood.

“It’s preparing to fire,” I said uneasily. It was going to fire at Aeon and Kaida. I just hoped Aeon would notice in time.

“We’re jumping!”

Narya grabbed me tightly with her right hand. She held me so firmly that it was hard to breathe. I wrapped both my arms tightly around her shoulders. Aside from feeling like a rescued animal and the awkwardness of the situation, everything was fine. Right?

Narya suddenly let go of the rope. I thought of screaming, but I couldn’t even open my mouth as we fell at high speed. We could see Aeon and Kaida. Even though the train was moving, we landed hard near them. Narya had held onto me until the last moment and had to throw me gently onto the carriage with the rough landing. She, on the other hand, bent the roof of the carriage she landed on, and the sound of her legs reverberated briefly.

I barely stopped rolling after a few tumbles. I wasn’t afraid of jumping, but if I had rolled a couple more times, I would have fallen off. Good thing we overlooked that calculation, or I’d be terrified…

I looked up at the Astrojet. As expected of my sister, she had brought it under control.

“Are you alright?” Kaida had approached us and was helping Narya.

“I’m fine, but Narya…”

I looked at her with concern.

“I-I’m fine…”

Though Narya leaned on Kaida’s shoulder for support, she managed to walk. What was this girl, living metal or something?

“We’re jumping soon. You better get ready.”

Kaida started walking toward Aeon, scanning the surroundings as she went. After everything we’d been through, that’s all she said? Are you alright? Seriously? She wouldn’t care if we died, would she…

“Where are we jumping to?”
I looked at Kaida curiously. Even though she said we were jumping, the sky was darkening, and the city lights were spreading shades of orange and blue around us.

“We’ll jump near an artificial canal. It’s the closest point to the city limits.”

“How do we get across?”

“This canal is mostly used for cargo transportation and water supply.”

“Isn’t water supplied through dams?”

“How do you think dams are filled, idiot?”

Kaida wasn’t entirely wrong. If only she could say it with a bit more tact.

“Then this canal’s water…”

“Comes from outside,” Aeon suddenly cut me off, delivering the answer in a straightforward, rapid tone.
Our escape route was obvious.

I looked around. The Astrojet was hovering in the air behind us, and some of the security drones were flying toward us while others lay fallen around. Aeon had done all of that. My sister was so powerful…

But then I remembered—there were robots on the train too. Small ones, casually walking around.

“Heh, at this rate, we won’t have any problems,” Kaida said confidently, her eyes radiating self-assurance. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to ask.

“Kaida.”

“Yes?”

“I saw small robots on the train. Besides the security drones and Astrojets, there were four—”

Kaida’s eyes widened suddenly.

“Small robots?”

The confidence in her gaze was instantly replaced with fear.

“Y-yeah?”

“Four-legged, about the size of our legs, with square heads?” Kaida stepped toward me.

“Y-yeah, something like that. What’s wrong?”

Her demeanor was unsettling.

“Where did you see them?”

“Back where we came from, near the last carriages.”

“How long has it been since then?”

“Well…”

How was I supposed to know? Narya jumped in with the answer.

“Two minutes and 31 seconds.”

Kaida looked at us in horror.

“The plan has changed. We’re jumping!”

“Hey, old hag, what’s going on?”

I looked at her in fear. Why would those small things be dangerous?

“They’re snipers. If we stay stationary, they can hit us with a 1% margin of error from kilometers away. I can’t believe they brought those things!”

Kaida looked down briefly, but everything still felt so strange to me. So this was why they hadn’t shot me—or couldn’t.

“Can’t Aeon stop them?”

Narya asked with curiosity and excitement.

“I have a limited range. If it’s ‘kilometers,’ I can’t reach them,” Aeon said, scanning the surroundings and calculating in her head.

Now we were screwed. Even though we could see the canal, it was still a bit far. We all stood side by side. On the fast-moving train, we had to find the right moment to jump. Jumping from one place to another was getting exhausting.

“We’re jumping!” Kaida signaled for us to leap onto the roof of an old building with a tin roof.

I took a deep breath and, along with the others, jumped onto the roof below. Its proximity and ample space allowed me to stop rolling after a few tumbles. I had grown accustomed to rolling by now, but I realized that ‘normal’ had long since lost its meaning for me—and for my body.

Now, we had to run toward the city limits—toward freedom. 

But it wasn’t going to be easy.