195 Sols - Fleeing is Human Nature

"Gone just as suddenly as she appeared, huh?"

Three sols passed since Ray disappeared from the house they set up. For the past three sols, both Soj and 1441 had been frantically searching for the woman who saved them more than once during their short time together; however, not a single sign was left behind. Even the footprints she left were quickly swept away by Mars dust, leaving nothing more than the smallest of clues.

"Analyzing the direction, it is highly probable that No. 555 is still on the plateau created by the volcano."

"Do you have any idea how little this narrows it down?"

"Comparing the surface to the rest of the planet..."

"No. No need to."

As if giving up, 1441 kicked a rock off the ground and sat himself on the edge of the cliff.

"Does 1441 feel betrayed by the choices the subject called Ray made?"

After a brief moment of silence that the man used to stare in the distance, he got up and answered the question with a casual "Nah."

"She didn't seem the type to hang around. If anything, I am surprised she traveled with us for so long. She doesn't belong to anyone, and changing this would just take away from her charm."

1441 got up from the edge and pointed at the peak of the volcano.

"That's where our final destination is. I'm not one to worry about how much time I have left, but giving up midway is not my way. She isn't one to turn back either. Who knows, the peak is not as wide. Maybe we're gonna meet there."

"Is this the feeling of hope that used to guide humanity?"

"Hope? We left that back on Earth. Here we run on anger and pettiness. She ain't getting away with operating on me and running away!"

...

The next sols didn't feel any different from the early days traveling together. The relationship between the man and the robot had clearly seen an improvement, but neither of them ever spoke out on it. There was nothing to talk about and nothing to notice. Just two men sharing a bond that not even death was able to break.

1441 found out what happened with Soj back when it was left with Ann. The second Ann entered her home, the robot came flying towards her. The reasoning behind the actions of Soj could not be explained by the robot. Every time it tried, it would just freeze for a second before resuming the story.

Sadly, the fight with Ann was short-lived, as she quickly caught the robot and incapacitated it. The robot tried to fight for a while, but it calmed down after Ann asked for reason. Soj was never tasked with protecting a specific person. While the origins of Soj were unknown even to itself, it was clear that 1441 was not its master and the Soj was under no duty to team up with him.

After being reasoned with, Soj gave up and ceased any but the main functions for a while. It did not even struggle too much to fight back against the monstrous actions of No. 7.

What Soj didn't mention was that there was one more factor that kept it from fighting back. The inability to disregard commands from No. 7 was the main reason it got into that situation, but Soj chose to disregard this aspect, considering that Ann was probably not someone they would meet again, if she was even alive after losing her sanity and running away to the place where her late husband breathed his last.

After a long while, the evenings where the two of them would admire the view all alone were again a normal occurrence.

For 1441, who wouldn't accept relying on his body too much, adapting to the altitude was the hardest challenge. For the sake of not rushing or getting into a situation where he would unconsciously adapt to the altitude through mechanical means, they were climbing no more than 500 meters every sol.

For now, 1441 was having a hard time adapting, so they decided to spend some time at the 10,000 mark.

"Question: What does 1441… What do you think about this?"

Surprised at the way the robot chose to address him, 1441 hid the glimmer in his eyes by turning his head away from Soj.

"This? You have to be more specific than that."

'What do you think about life on Mars? What about the memory wipe? What about the way people are behaving? And...do you wish you were back on Earth living a normal life?"

"Earth? Earth is a ruin now, isn't it?"

"The state of Earth can't be confirmed in the current situation. But 1441 understood that this is not what this unit is asking."

"Ruin or not, does it really matter? I am here. The Earth is there. For all I know, my life there may have been complete misery. Why else would I come here?"

"Analyzing from the transferred personality, 1441, you do seem to have had a harder life than other people living here, but the very fact 1441 got here means he was not as irrelevant as he wants this unit to think."

"Who knows?" The man said as he looked up at the stars that followed the blue sunset.

"One thing is certain. I did everything I could to make sure I don't leave any regrets behind. I won't know for sure until the time comes, but I think I did a pretty good job. The end may not be all that bad."

"As for having a bunch of people with too much power decide my fate? I don't like it one bit. But they are dead. The horde killed them all on that day. They got off easy, but there isn't much to do about it now, is there"?

A hint of anger could clearly be seen on the man's face. As much as he tried to stay calm and detach himself from the events he could not control, he couldn't help but think how everything he had been through was tied to those people he never got to talk to.

His partner's death, the virus, Ann, this journey, and maybe even the very trip to the moon were all part of a bigger plan. A plan he never got to look at was the cause of every major event in his life. But 1441 looked behind the surface; for a long time now he had made up his mind. He dug deeper and found the root cause of all his problems.

"We were doomed from the start. We are humans. Humans were never made to amount to anything. Pride, envy, gluttony, greed, lust, sloth, and wrath are only scratching the surface. Humanity goes way beyond this. We pretended to have evolved. We called our conquest just, yet all we did was drown ourselves in our own stupidity. A crisis was all it took, and here we are. We are no better than the animals we evolved from. Who is to say we even evolved from them? The way I see it, those animals I read about are way above us. We do the exact same things, yet we are self-conscious. We know what we are doing is wrong, yet we don't stop. Are you telling me this is a race meant to survive past early stages? Flying to a new planet was already a miracle."

"Question: Does that mean you agree with destroying any proof that humanity ever existed?"

"The way they are doing it out of pettiness? No way. The world should know about us. We are here! And we are as stupid as it gets!" The man screamed as he lifted both his arms to the sky.

"Hear about us! Read about us! Learn about us! Learn about what we have been through! Laugh! Make fun of us! We deserve it! I don't want to disappear! When all of this suffering finally ends, I want y'all aliens to know about me! I want y'all to read my story and cry! Yeah! I want to die just so I can get out of this and have y'all cry in my stead!"

The will of 1441 was clearly spoken to the skies, yet no answer would come back. But 1441 didn't care about that. He made his wish clear. His acceptance of death was not a wish to disappear. No. It was the wish to escape. It was a wish to pass the pain to someone else. He knew it was wrong, but he wanted humanity to be laughed at. This petty form of avenging his fate was all he could think of.

After talking his heart out, 1441 went back inside. He had now found the new hobby of playing guitar, yet he was only able to play one song to perfection.

Soj, on the other hand, stayed out a bit more.

"1441 has changed a lot." Soj said while turning towards the house.

"The old 1441 wouldn't have shined so bright for even a second."