Unknown Future

"The first machine created appeared like something from Science Fiction. Issac was leaps ahead in technology when he was introduced to the world. When he was brought before the media it was clear the advances that had been made and the future that was possible. He was herald as the next era in robotics and computers, a computer that could think.”

Herbert Stein, Machine Historian -

Satoru quickly threw away his chair as he jumped up lunging for the exit. He didn’t have any time to waste if he was going to get to Asami before she destroyed the building. Kiyoshi ran after him feeling like déjà vu and grabbed Satoru's wrist. "Satoru, where are you going?"

"I told you already! I have to stop Asami!" Satoru was almost yelling at Kiyoshi in disbelief that he would be asking him such a stupid question. There was no time for him to be wasting with Kiyoshi if he was going to try to stop him. If she blew herself up like all the other machines he would lose her forever and she would kill so many people as well. The bloodshed would continue; he had to stop the cycle. He had the chance to do something this time.

Kiyoshi looked down at the ground for a moment knowing that this was going to happen. It didn’t matter to him how dangerous it was, Satoru was determined. That determination was probably partly his fault, but he knew it would have happened anyway knowing Satoru. He looked at Satoru, giving him a friendly smile. "Fine, then I'm coming with you."

"But…alright," Satoru said, thinking about arguing with Kiyoshi not wanting to have his friend caught up in the explosion if he was late. However, Satoru didn’t have the time to argue and knew that it would be pointless anyway. He started to run with Kiyoshi for the exit until Kiyoshi turned direction and went towards the entrance to the restaurant's interior. "Where are you going, it's this way?"

"I have to pay the bill," Kiyoshi said to Satoru's surprise.

Satoru stared at Kiyoshi, confused that he could be thinking about that in a time like this. There were more important things than paying for their food. "The bill?! There's no time for that." If they survived he could come back and pay them later. Satoru's legs were shaking, wanting to keep moving while his mind kept him still trying to get Kiyoshi to follow.

"Go on ahead." Kiyoshi waved at Satoru on knowing that he couldn’t hold him up. "I'll be right behind you." After he finished he disappeared into the restaurant looking for a waitress or the counter.

The restaurant quickly disappeared behind Satoru as he ran down the street. 'Asami…don't do anything until I get there. Please…'

His mind was still in a bit of shock about the idea. It seemed difficult to believe, but he realized that since she was a machine that she was working with the same ones that were doing the suicide bombings on the buildings around the world. He still had difficulty thinking of Asami as a machine from the time that he spent with her. She was so alive and filled with emotions. She was beyond anything that he had thought possible. Asami seemed to transcend the gears and metal that made up her body and computer processes.

There was no way he could let her throw it all away. She was hurting, just like a human. 'She must think this is the only way out…only way to save herself…' Satoru's face narrowed with determination growing in each step he took. He would reach her in time. There was nothing that would get in his way.

The streets were mostly empty making it easy for Satoru to dart around, but he still had to avoid getting hit by cars. It seemed that traffic was the only thing moving right now. He didn’t give it much thought until he suddenly ran into a large crowd that was blocking every sidewalk. There were so many people that he had no way of getting through to the other side. "What's going on? Why is everyone stopped?" He hoped that talking to them might get their attention and perhaps allow him a path, but none of them turned.

Satoru clenched his fists together preparing himself for what he had to do now. He drew in a deep breath and put his first step forward. His hands dug through the thick mob attempting to divide them making him a path. Each step was slow and trying, as he didn’t want to bump into people too much. 'I need to get through, stop blocking the way!' Satoru continued to push through, nearly tripping over someone's foot. "Pardon me…let me through!"

"Watch it buddy!" the man that he nearly tripped over said glaring at him. He purposely stepped in Satoru's way preventing him from going through.

"Sorry!" The spiteful act made him want to deck the man, but he knew that there wasn’t time for a fight. He had to get through peacefully if he was going to make it in time. Satoru detoured around the man seeing that he was dead set on being a nuisance. While he resumed his delicate dance through the mob he noticed that they were all facing the same direction. Something had their attention in such a way that it made everyone stop. Satoru became curious to know what was so important. 'Why are they all staring…what is happening?'

Above in the side of a building was a large screen monitor that usually ran news or commercials as people passed by. It was hardly something to make people stop, but it was clear to Satoru that it had everyone's eyes at the moment. When he looked there was a reporter on the screen with a strange subtitle about the machines. "Do we have it?" the female reporter said talking to someone off camera. "Alright, we have just finished preparing footage of a video sent from the machines to the leaders of the world."

"What?! The machines sent us?" Satoru nearly fell backwards knocking into someone when he heard the reporter. He couldn’t believe that the machines sent anything to the media or government. Even in all of the wars they had never said a single word. All of their voices were done through the bombs that they sent around the world. This was a strange move. It was no wonder that everyone was standing around. "What is going on?"

Satoru had been looking around at the people near him when he had asked the question. One of the men was kind enough to answer his question. The man turned to him giving him a response, vague while being direct at the same time. "The machines claim they want to talk."

The machines wanting to talk were even stranger than them just wanting to say something. He had been out of contact with the world since he stopped watching the news, unable to continue to watch the chaos that the world had been descending into daily. That lapse in current events made him wonder if something had happened while he wasn’t paying attention to suddenly make the machines want to talk to the humans. If they wanted to talk it might mean an end to the bombing. However, that didn’t make a lot of sense to him since he knew that Asami was heading to Qintech at this moment. "When? When did this happen?" He was missing something important.

"Just now," the man said simply without allowing the conversation to continue any further. His obvious distraction was dragging him away from Satoru and to the screen. The video that they had mentioned was about to be played. Any noise that had been boiling ceased almost immediately.

"The video you are about to see was received by the major governments of the world and media centers only two hours ago." When the reporter finished speaking she was replaced with a full screen video that began as black. After a few moments of tension a face appeared on screen, though it had a human appearance, like what he had seen from Asami. It was clear that they had advanced greatly since men stopped making them.

The face of the machines was an actual face, an old man, which left many of the people watching in shock. They thought that they were seeing a human talking for the machines or some strange setup that was anything, but machines. It was a jarring visage to see thinking of machines as aging. Even the thought of creating an aged looking machine seemed to lack any purpose. Yet before them was a machine with the face of an old man thick with wrinkles and thinning hair. He, or perhaps it, even had a full beard gray and fuzzy. "People of the world…I am Issac."

"Issac!" The name reverberated through the crowd in shock and disbelief. They all were well aware of who he was. Anyone that went through public school knew about Issac. However, his presence went against what the public believed to be fact.

'Issac?! It can't be possible. He was destroyed years ago, made obsolete by advancements in robotics.' Satoru remembered seeing the videos of Issac being terminated. He had ceased functioning long before the First Machine War, but as part of the crusade against machine Issac's destruction was made public. It was meant to rally opinion together and encourage those to fight, giving them a face of the enemy. 'How can he still be alive?'

"I am the same Issac that most of you should be familiar with, the first machine that was given life. Most have believed me to be dead, with my shut down recorded forty-six years ago and destruction twenty-one years ago. However, I was spared from that fate and while my appearance has changed I am still very much the same machine I was before. I love this world and all the people, metal and flesh alike. This is the reason I speak before you today.

"I carry with me my creator's wish, his dying wish when he left this world. It was his hope, his dream that machines and man would walk together into the future. Machines were created as a companion and aide to man. This world is so empty and alone in the universe. I was made to fill that void so that man would never be alone in the universe. With the hope that together we would better ourselves evolving and becoming truly human.

"The Third Machine War has already begun, as it will undoubtedly be named. It saddens me to see my fellow machines fighting and dying and my creators fighting and dying. This bloodletting and fear needs to end. To that end, I will strive to make his wish, my wish a reality. I call upon the leaders of the world to meet with the leaders of the machines in a summit to bring an end to all of this fighting.

"And please, people of the world help stop the fighting and let's lay down our arms. I want to walk side by side with all of you into the unknown future."

When the video came to an end the silence still hung in the streets. No one was sure what they had just seen or whether or not to believe it. It took several minutes for people to begin talking and some even began to leave. "That can't be Issac!" someone shouted out of sight of Satoru. It began a quick chain reaction like a plague.

"Right, it's just a machine trick!"

"But what if it is him?" another said bringing the surrounding people into a furious debate that neither side could accurately defend. They were all just shouting speculation and rumors.

'Issac…' Satoru was still in shock at having seen Issac. It was difficult for him to believe that it was the same Issac that he read about. The machine that he had just seen was so different. 'This isn’t the sort of trick that the machines would play. But maybe that is what they would have us believe.' A machine trick was a possibility; they were capable of many things. Yet there was something about the speech that made him want to believe that it was the Issac he knew. 'I remember reading about Issac and his creator's speeches on machines. They were what inspired me. The way he talks reminds me of those speeches. Could this really be him?'

While Satoru was lost in thought and still stuck in the crowd of people, it had given the necessary time for Kiyoshi to catch up. Kiyoshi had been surprised by the crowd, but more shocked to see that Satoru was just standing doing nothing. He didn’t know what to think after seeing the reaction that Satoru had before. "Satoru?! What's going on? If we don't get to Qintech in time."

"Asami!" Satoru said suddenly, nearly jumping up at the name. It was enough to break him free of the new thoughts that were spinning around in his mind. Asami's image locked his thoughts back on the task that he had been on until he was interrupted. "Right, let's go. There is no time to waste." He began pushing through the mob of people with Kiyoshi.