Planet Sapia

Nela has never led a normal life before. She didn’t struggle learning, neither did she have issues at home. The true problem was how she behaved. 

Nela struggles to discern the bad in people. Her purity was a remarkable part of her character. She was always regarded as what a human would call a “saint”. She would always get along with many people in her town and would always support others in need. 

Despite all the positives, there were negatives to this. She was easily exploited out of her belongings and was often robbed of her lunch or Karas*.

( *Kara is the currency used on Thyphopia. )

She never resulted to violence or profanities and would rather look past her own issues, in fear it would hinder her from helping others. This was her weakness.

And now with her home planet gone, her everyday life has been forever altered.

“Ah…”

“Annihilated.”

Before Nela could even form a word, the woman repeated the last word she spoke. 

Nela turned pale. coming to face with the eradication of her planet, she was shaken to the core. She felt like she was thrown in an abyss of darkness, and having the door shut tightly. Every breathe was light. She didn’t move from the place she sat, and instead decided to lock eyes with the floor right below her chin. 

She stared and stared and stared. 

Her body shook and shook and shook.

Any sound was deafened by a loud ringing in her mind. She couldn’t think straight, she couldn’t move, it was suffocating, it was nauseating. She wanted to be freed. She wanted to be helped.

Her heartbeat rose rapidly, and her inhale and exhale became more consecutive. She started hyperventilating. She was in a state of constant agonizing disorientation and mental damage. She was losing control. She was losing it, she was losing it.

“Ne…”

“Nela…”

“Nela!”

Nela suddenly felt a touch on her shoulder. The grip was noticeably tight. Nela had yet to snap out of it. Her eyes now fixed on the woman, she began shaking her head while repeating to herself-

“No,no,no,no,no,no,no,nonononononono!“

Each “no” sounded more tragic than the last, slowly, Nela began saying it in a faster and more deranged manner.

The woman stared as Nela’s eyes began to get wet and how her wide opened eyes began to turn bloodshot from the extended staring.

“ I’m sorry. I’m sorry for being useless! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! “

Nela rose both hands to the sides of her head.She swiftly arose from her seat and lowered her head while simultaneously bending her torso forward, screaming desperate apologies after apologies.

Incapable of knowing what to do, the woman settled on one solution.

“ tch! “

Suddenly, Nela was met with the cold embrace of the magenta haired woman. The woman had left the steering seat to kneel down and check on Nela. Now she jumped into the seat and latched onto Nela.

The woman’s metallic arms were cold and far from the warmth one would expect from a living being. It felt artificial, fake. Lacking a key natural feature, the woman would considerably stray further from her humanity, through the weaponization of her body. And yet, despite the robotic appearance of the woman, she acted in a very human way, and embraced the young girl.

“ it’s gonna be okay. “

Those were the words that the woman sang to Nela’s head. She put one of her hands on Nela’s head and began caressing her.

The warm words contradict the cold nature of the woman.

Cold. That’s all Nela could think of when feeling the embrace of the woman.

Her efforts weren’t in vain, as Nela eventually calmed down.

Finally closing her suffering eyes, who have been showering her face with tears, Nela rested on the woman’s torso, which she had been crying on since the embracing began.

Mentally tired, Nela rested her mind. 

The woman slowly lowered her back on the circular seat to lay down and rest. Once done the woman returned to her steering seat quietly…

…

“ ah! “

Nela rested after her panic attack, but upon her awakening, what greeted her weren’t the pale walls of the ship she resided in, but rather an unfamiliar open space tinted in monochrome.

Unfamiliar with the place, Nela looked around.

The ground and everything on it was pitch black. Comparable to the darkness during midnight. The sky, on the contrary, was pale and a muddy tint of grey.

“ trust. “

Nela turned at the voice that suddenly emerged from the body of darkness. Despite her best efforts, she wan incapable of finding the source of the voice.

“ trust “

“What?” Answered Nela bewildered.

“ trust them. “

Suddenly, Nela was met face to face with a comepletely white figure. Not pale like the sky,but pure white. It rested it’s index finger on Nela’s forehead before ultimately saying:

“ trust her. “

Before she could process it, Nela is sent flying backwards at rapid velocity and is eventually met with total darkness.

“ Aah! “

Nela suddenly shouted, swiftly sitting upright on the velvet seat she laid on.

…

“ you alright? “

“ what? “

“ I said, are you alright. “

“ huh… oh! Yeah, thank you. “

The woman seemed to be unbothered by the sudden shouting of Nela. She remained unfazed and kept driving the ship towards their destination.

Nela was visibly mentally weakened.

Her lower eyelids were wrinkly and her hands were still slightly shaky from the mental damage. She rubber her right eye.

“ Before we head for the headquarters, I will have you checked out at the nearby hospital. “

“ Huz…pee..tul? “

Unfamiliar with the word, Nela muttered it to herself once more.

“ it’s where they treat people. “

“ healing centers? “

“ Yeah, something like that. “ 

The woman conversated with Nela while focusing her gaze forward, towards the direction they’re heading. 

Compared to the start of their departure, Nela was seemingly calmer. Now no longer rocking that upbeat and talkative personality, she lies on the velvet seat in quiet while staring blankly at her bare feet, which have been beaten up from the previous walk.

“ Trust… her.”

Nela muttered under her breathe. What did it mean by that? Who was that? Did they mean the woman who took me away? All those questions roamed in Nela’s mind.

“ Nela. “

“ hm? “

Quietly answering, Nela kept staring blankly at herself.

“ I have yet to give you something to refer to me as. “

“ Mm. “

“ I go by Unit 775. The Prodigal Android. “

” Anet  7775 sounds lame. “

She misheard her. 

Nela talked in a soft manner. Almost neutral in a way where no emotion can be conveyed from the speech.

“ hm. “

After a quick brainstorming section, she came up with a nickname.

“ Tenna. “

Announced Nela.

“ Tenna shall be what I call you by. It’s your name in reverse. “

“ A- “

Unit 775 was gonna comment on it, but decided not to.

Despite her current mental fortitude being shatter, Nela acted playful in that instance.

“ I can work with that. “ stated the woman, now nicknamed Tenna.

*****

Entering the atmosphere of the planet, the ship began rapidly setting ablaze.

After a quick dive into the atmosphere, the ship hovered horizontally above a body of water.

“ where are we now? “ said Nela softly.

“ Sapia, Home of the sapien race. “

“ Sapiens? “ replied Nela

“ You’re unfamiliar with them, I suppose. Well for the record, you are talking to one. “

Nela rose her eyebrows and opened her half-open eyes fully.

“ Sapiens are bipedal creatures who are known for their high intellect. They are also the species in charge of this whole place. “

“ by that, you mean the planet? “

“ no. “ answered Tenna. She paused and continued—

“ around 400 years ago, for a reason unbeknownst to man, four planets were attached to Sapia. In concern for their people, leaders of each planet went on the defensive upon the event. And so, an intergalactic war happend known as the “ Descending Stars War “. 

Nela listened quietly while facing Tenna, whose back was facing her.

“ Eventually, Sapiens got the upper hand due to their higher intellect and quick thinking. This led to the other planets surrendering and entering a peace treaty long eachother. Although… “

Tenna continued with a more serious tone.

“ Sapiens wrote the peace treaty in a way that favored them. Now the planets act as branches for Sapia. “

“ But wait, how did the leaders never find out. “

“ they did. “

“ huh?! “

Shocked, Nela was dumbfounded.

“ remember how I told you they surrendered? They knew they had no other option. Plus, the leaders of Sapia back then never tried hiding it. They bragged about it on the news, broadcasts, or any form of media. “

“ Broadcast? media? “

“ they are means of information sharing. “

“ sounds fun! “

Said Nela with visible excitement.

“ … “

“ Say, I’ve been meaning to ask. “

Said Tenna after a short silence between them.

“ hm? “

“ you mention how you don’t recall how you got there.”

“ yeah, I just woke up there. “

“ well,..” said Tenna “ do you recall what you were doing prior to that. “

“ i… “

Nela looked down at her thighs. She was sitting upright on the velvet chair and was fixing her gaze toward the driving Tenna, until now.

She continued—

“ last thing I remember was the town burning down and the ground shattering around me. “

Nela explained her previous experience while resting her fists on her thighs. As she spoke the words, she was visibly beginning to tremble once more.

“ and I could hear screaming, the debris falling, the sound of fire crackling. I thought it was all a dream. Yeah, a dream…”

Nela furrowed her eyebrows. She tried to deny what she saw. She simply wished it wasn’t real. She has yet to come to terms with the idea of being the sole survivor. To believe in the idea that she witnessed her species’ extinction right before her eyes.

“ but then, the deafening sounds stopped. I suddenly felt like I was pushed backwards. Someone pushed me while calling my name. That’s the last thing I can remember. “

Nela squinted her eyes and further furrowed her brows, struggling to recall the face of the one who pushed her.

“ that person must have been kind. “

“ … “

Nela didn’t reply ,instead she looked at her right hand. She doubted that idea. The idea that the woman did a good deed. She simply doubted it.

Suddenly, the ship came to a sudden halt, and Nela was taken aback by the inertia.

“ we are here. At Zenith Hospital. “

The two descended the ship.

“ target has been secured. Detour taken. Zenith Hospital, Country of Azalah. “

Tenna spoke into her left wrist, which suddenly had a tiny antenna sticking out of it. Once she finished the report, the antenna retracted into her arm.

“ woah! “

Taken aback by the change in environment, Nela looked in awe at the city before her.

Everything was simplistic and colorful. The buildings had unusual shapes and many buildings had digital accents to them. The road was liter red with hovering vehicles.

The people there were like Tenna, just not metallic. 

A little boy came across Nela, who was approaching the hospital with Tenna.

“ ah, uhhh. Yavah! “

She greeted, while waving her hand. She smiled, showing her noticeable fangs.

“ ahhh! “

The kid ran away at the sight of her fangs.

Nela looked at the fleeing kid, dissolving her smile and loosening her lips. Nela lowered her eyelids a bit, staring blankly forward.

“ let’s go. “

Nodding, Nela followed Tenna into the building.

Looking around, Nela notices how spacious the hospital was. The place was fully lit. Robots were roaming around, either carrying something or helping patients.

“ woah. “ 

said Nela in Awe.

“ greetings, you must be from Cid Stella. “

The hospital secretary greeted Tenna. She noticed Nela hiding behind Tenna and quickly pointed it out.

“ you don’t need to hide, you know. Everyone is welcome here. “

Nela looked down on the floor while holding her left arm. Tenna moved aside, making the secretary see Nela in her entirety.

“ so how can I help you. “

“ … “

Nela didn’t answer. Keeping her gaze to the floor, she stroked her arm slowly.

“ we need to make a checkup. “

“ sure thing. I’ll call a doctor to you, take a seat in the room down the hall. We will be right there for you. “

Said The secretary, pointingat the hallway to her right.

They both began heading that way, as the secretary looked at Nela go, with a smile on her face.

*****

“ Don’t be so uncooperative. It’s not like she will bite you. “

Tenna sighed, sitting on the chair near the bench that Nela sat on. She stretched her arms while conversating. 

 clearly seemed shy about it. She sat on the bench and looked down to her feet, visibly saddened.

Tenna stared at her face, then her feet, and then back at her face before sighing once more.

“ I’ll do something about that later. “ 

Said Tenna under her breathe.

“ hm? “

“ Nothing. “

The door suddenly got opened and they came face to face with the doctor.

*****