Rejected Truth

"The third law states that a machine cannot kill another machine or allow itself to come to harm unless it conflicts with the first law. This was meant to protect machines from fighting each other as well prevent machines from being hurt. It was the hope that machines could live peacefully unlike the violent men that ruled the world. And with these laws machines were governed and allowed their freedom.

"Machines were made in the dream of scientists and given life, but once created and allowed freedom it can never be taken back…"

Herbert Stein, Machine Historian -

Satoru returned to his apartment leaving the world behind knowing that he could do nothing. He had lost his will to try to do anything, locking himself away. As the time passed things in the world became worse in the passing days. The war effort against the machines came into full strength with the united military force of the nations of the world. They hunted down machine cells operating around the world, but couldn’t find the main base. The few cells that were destroyed left them with no clues and the public grew even more frantic as the bombings continued. The machines didn’t cease their attacks.

For Satoru he spent the time watching the news in his dark apartment when he wasn’t outside looking for Asami. He checked her apartment, but she was always gone when he tried her. She hadn’t been seen at work for days and anyone that knew her barely had anything for him to go on. He was left searching on his own and each time hoping that he would run across her accidentally as he had in the past.

The monitor was on, but the volume was muted as the news broadcasts played. His tired eyes stared empty at the screen, unable to turn away from the horrors that were occurring outside. The room was interrupted by a sound of knocking at his door. "Satoru?" Natsuko's voice said, barely breaching the door.

"He's not home, let's go," Kazuhiko said when the knocking stopped. He started to walk away from the door, but Natsuko stepped in front of him blocking his path.

She looked up at him, staring at him with that look as though he was going to be in trouble if he didn’t listen to her. "Kazuhiko! Then why did you come?"

"Because you dragged me here." He had been pulled out here by the two women when he had wished that he was walking home or even getting groceries. This wasn’t somewhere he wanted to be right now knowing how Satoru was going to act.

"Shut up, just knock," Natsuko said, grabbing him by his arm and pushing him in front of the door. She stood behind him glaring at him still insisting that she be listened to.

"Satoru?" Chiyoko called even though she knew that it wasn’t going to open the door. He had been away from work for so long that she needed to know what he was doing. She needed that reassurance.

'Ugh…why can't they leave me alone…' Satoru rolled his head back against the couch looking up at the ceiling. He was not about to open the door for them. They would eventually give up and go away, but it was still annoying having to listen to them. It was not something that they could understand. They were going two different paths now.

"I'm leaving, he's not answering," Kazuhiko said, easily giving up again, but having shown more effort this time. He just hoped that they were going to be satisfied with it. It was clear to him that Satoru didn’t want company and he needed time to think alone. These women were too nosey. 'How did I end up in the middle of this?'

"Kazuhiko, you aren't going anywhere!" Chiyoko said, stepping up in front of him this time dropping her worried look for a more frightening one.

Chiyoko pulled out a small device from her pocket that looked more like a pipe than a tool, but whatever it was she used it to keep Kazuhiko in line. "Damn, Chiyoko, watch it with that!" He backed away from her seeing that she was serious about talking to Satoru. 'Why me…'

"Keep knocking."

"If you brought that along, give it to me," Kazuhiko said, grabbing it out of her hand easily. She barely had a grip on it to his surprise, but it was more her presence that was intimidating than what she was using. "I'm not going to knock all night on his door." He walked over to the door panel for Satoru's apartment and began to use the device on it.

"What do you think you're doing?" Chiyoko grabbed his arm immediately, stopping him before he could do anything. However, he ripped his arm free from her hands and went back to working on the panel.

He might have been dragged out, but it was apparent to him that he wasn’t going to be leaving until they had their peace with Satoru. Even if it meant forcing his way in he was going to end this standoff soon. He was tired of standing out in the hallway looking like an idiot. "Finding a faster way."

"But that's illegal!"

"You're the ones that are worried about him. I just want to leave, this will be faster." Kazuhiko quickly made his way through the security lock on his Satoru's door. He worked on programming sophisticated intelligence programs breaking into someone's home was child's play. The door slid open and Chiyoko and Natsuko were the first to burst through the door knocking Kazuhiko to the ground without so much as a thank you for his work.

"Satoru!" Natsuko shouted when they found him resting on his couch. Satoru's hair was a complete mess and it looked like he hadn’t changed his clothes since he woke up. There were dark circles around his eyes only accented by the light from the monitor that lit up the room. The dark void hid all of the food, plates and trash that laid about the room left where they were dropped last.

"You're a mess, man," Kazuhiko said, turning on a light so that they could see around only to have wished that he had let it remain off. The light only made the mess look worse and Satoru's face even more haggard.

"And you broke into my home." Satoru rested his arms on his legs letting his hands hang between his knees. He watched the three enter the living room and stand in front of him between the monitor on the wall and the table. There was nothing on the news that he had not seen before.

"Yeah, well look at them." Kazuhiko pushed the two women in front of him, stepping backwards to keep his distance. This wasn’t the sort of thing that he wanted to intrude on.

"You haven't been to work in two weeks," Natsuko said, starting the conversation. She didn’t know what to tell him that would get him to return to work, but she knew he couldn’t remain like this forever. This was no life to have. "Kiyoshi is saying that he is going to have to fire you soon if you don't return."

"I can't return. I'm not going to help in the creation of a machine killer!" Satoru shouted at them, feeling his emotions rising again. This was why he didn’t want to see them again. They were all connected to it and it was too easy to bring those emotions back. He had managed to calm down in the past, but they were stabbing the wound once again without remorse for his feelings.

"But that's what you've been doing with Sakura!" Kazuhiko said, sticking his head out for reasons that he didn’t understand. He should have been quiet instead.

"Kazuhiko!"

"This is different," Satoru said looking down at the carpet. He knew what he was making before was similar, but these two weren’t the same. Even if Sakura was going to be used against humans or machines there was still the idea that it would be controlled. He didn’t like it, but still Adam wasn’t the same. Adam would have no control, just mercilessly killing every machine regardless of type or purpose.

"Yeah, I know, but you need money and food," Chiyoko said, hoping that she could get him to find a reason. He needed to return to work. She knew that he would slowly die a miserable empty existence here disillusioned. "You can't live off your savings forever."

"Satoru, please come back to work," Natsuko said, trying to enforce what Chiyoko had told him. She didn’t care how much of a stretch her words were if it meant that he would return to who he was before. "Kiyoshi cares about you. He might be able to find something else for you to do."

"I can't work for a company that is making a weapon to destroy machines." Satoru didn’t care what they said. He was not going to listen to a word that they said. None of them knew what he was feeling all they cared about was having a job. There were more important things than having a job as a machine killer. "They've been hiding it secret all this time. I can't work for someone that has been lying to me since day one!"

"You can't live in your dream world anymore, Satoru!" Kazuhiko said tired of listening to the idealistic ranting of someone who was a coward and ran away. He didn’t like being so rough with his words, but Satoru had pushed him. The man was trying to live in an imaginary world where there was no pain and the only one that could feel was him. "Not to sound like Tadashi, but you can't be that naïve anymore. We have to do this or they kill us all. Besides, with the machines destroyed we can start over again. It'll be new again."

"Yeah, right!" Natsuko pivoted towards some hope in what Kazuhiko said. She had wanted to stop him from making things worse and driving Satoru further into a hole, but if there could be good sense in it Satoru might change.

"Now who's dreaming…" Satoru said to Kazuhiko. His words were empty. The idea of hope in this world seemed impossible to him.

"Please, Satoru, think about it." Chiyoko approached him, making him look at her. She wanted to make sure that he was hearing her and not just simply ignoring them with a blank stare.

"Maybe…I'll see."

"Please…"

"I will…" Satoru's heart was empty with the words. He had no intention of believing her, but if it got them out of his apartment then he would say anything. Chiyoko seemed satisfied with what she saw and stood up looking at Natsuko. They silently agreed to leave and dragged Kazuhiko along as though he didn’t want to leave. Satoru was left alone in the room again, the news broadcast going still.

'Start over again?' It was a ridiculous thought of someone that thought the world could change. 'I can't believe they were that desperate…' Satoru turned off the monitor manually and stood up looking out the window at the city. There were columns of smoke rising in a few areas from the most recent bombings. The city was being altered day by day. 'What hope is there left…the machine…man…'

He stared down at the street below seeing the people passing by as though nothing had changed. There was a woman that passed by in the dress that Asami had been wearing during their first date. Satoru was pressed against the glass thinking of her. It was her right now before him walking. But Satoru blinked and the image disappeared. She was just another woman going home from a long day of work. It wasn’t Asami. 'Asami…I'll find you. I have to…'

Satoru grabbed up his coat and exited his apartment quickly. The images of her were spinning around in his mind again unable to stop. He couldn’t be settled until he tried to find her. The city was big, but he didn’t care as he ran off in a direction without any thought in mind of where to go. She was simply guiding him.

After a few minutes he was unable to keep running, forced to pick an easier pace to walk at while he recovered his breath. The time passed and he left the district of his apartment entering an area that was darkened in the pending night and failing streetlights. Satoru didn’t even pay attention to where he was pushing deeper until there was a sound in the distance. He could hear metal being scrapped against the pavement clawing at his ears. Then a voice in the dark spoke to him with malicious intent. "Hey, there's one!"

"Yeah, everyone let's get him!" another voice said as several figures stepped out of the veil of darkness. The fading streetlight revealed five people with ravenous eyes. They looked ready to kill, making Satoru step back being brought back to reality finally. He could see them clearly now. Two of them looked like street punks from some gang with tattoos and spikes, all of the usual clichés that he had seen. But what made him terrified was that the others looked normal. One was wearing a business suit and another mid-aged woman.

Satoru stepped back again wanting to run away, but his legs were frozen in fear. He didn’t know what was happening or how he had ended up here. It was clear to him though that they were planning something for him. "Huh? What are you talking about? I didn't do anything!"

"You're one of those machines aren't you? They say they look like humans now. We have to check everyone and see if they bleed…"

'Bleed?! They're going to kill me!' Satoru couldn’t believe the vicious state that people have fallen into with the fear of machines. They thought he was one of them. They weren’t even thinking straight anymore, just going after anyone that was suspicious. He tried to get his legs to move so that he could run, but the feeling was disappearing. He was going to die here. "Stay away from me!"