What is Reason?

SELF LIFE

“The chimera strikes again. Yesterday, an Ogun prisoner transport vehicle was attacked by the terrorist with animal limbs. The terrorist, whose identity remains unknown, is still at large. It’s the second time this month that an Ogun—”

“Turn that thing off!” Menide snatched the thin screen from Rhea’s hands and bent it on itself. This kind of foldable technology came from an older generation of electronics. Their existence had been rendered useless with the invention of the eyedeas and what was known as the ARevolution.

“We need to know what they know about us!” Rhea complained.

“And you need to know that they know that we know what the news says.”

“My processor is not strong enough to understand what you just said...”

“They’re not going to put information that could be useful to us on the public news!”

Menide’s face was reflected on a polished slab of metal, used as a makeshift mirror while they applied a gooey substance on their long hair. As a big brush passed through them, strands of damaged hair began to regenerate rapidly.

The room had rusted sheets of iron for walls, the floor was covered in dirt, and the air, solely lit by a dim orange light, was generally damp. A tattered curtain covered the only hole of that metal box, hanging half a meter from the floor as to let in some of the city’s glow. Menide’s house was one of the many pieces in an incomplete puzzle of outcasts. On the outskirts of Koita, gathered people who had been forgotten by the city. Criminals running from the Ogun, people who had lost their job or their house or both, people who never had a family to support them, or people who simply couldn’t afford an eyedeas.
A dirty blanket covered a shabby mattress. Rhea was sitting on the bed, patiently waiting.

“Why do you do such dangerous things? Not only are you hurting people, but you’re also hurting yourself!” he complained.

“Why do you even care? We’re all just machines anyway.”

“But it still feels sad…” His disappointed eyes were met with apathy.

His brain was busy trying to find something that could make Menide understand his feelings, when the curtain opened to let in a small kid. The girl, who looked a couple of years younger than Rhea, was carrying a metallic toy in the shape of a bird monster, with colorful feathers and big, sharp talons.

“Menide, Menide! Look at what I got!” The girl shouted excitedly while waving the creature around.

“Bato! Where did you steal that?”

“I didn’t steal it! I bought it!”

“Yeah right! You’d be more convincing if you said that it fell from the sky.”

“It’s true! Mama said she has a new job and gave me an allowance!”

“Is that so? Congratulations to both of you, then!” Menide put their hand on the kid’s head, “Did you show your new toy to the other kids?”

“I wanted to show you first.” She answered shyly.

“Aren’t you a good kid? Listen, I think it’s better if you don’t show anyone this toy of yours.”

“But why?” the kid lamented.

“You don’t want them getting jealous, do you?”

“Fine…” The girl answered obediently, but with a saddened tone.

“C’mon, go to your mama now. I’m sure she’s been looking forward to playing with you.”

The kid waved at Menide and gave Rhea a shy but curious look, before dashing through the door.

“Why can’t she tell her friends about the toy?” Inquired Rhea.

“I don’t even want to know how her mother got the money, but if she does indeed have “a new job”, it’s better if people don’t know about it. If it isn’t already too late–”

A high-pitched scream echoed from outside. Menide jumped out the house to see two men wearing masks of light grabbing Bato and taping her mouth shut.

“Don’t move!” One of them pointed a gun at the kid’s head.

Menide could take both of them out without breaking a sweat, if they could turn into their beast form. But they could feel the dozens of eyes staring from the nearby houses. If they turned right now, their identity would be revealed, and life would turn into hell. Before Menide could come up with a plan, Rhea jumped out from behind her. A whirlpool of purple and orange lights began to condensate on the tip of his finger, creating a small energy projectile. The light fired out at extreme speed and shot the gun out of the man’s hand. Without missing a beat, Menide dashed at him and began pelting him with punches. The other guy tried to defend him, but another shot from Rhea pushed him back and he began to run away. Menide then grabbed the guy they were punching and threw him at the other man. The two masked figures fled with their tails between their legs.

“Bato?!” Menide turned around to check on the girl, and found her hugging Rhea, crying her eyes out, but thanking the kid, nonetheless.
Menide and Rhea decided to walk the kid home and advised the mother to leave the place. The mother thanked them and invited them to stay, but Menide grabbed Rhea and quickly ran away.

“How in the world did you do that?!” Menide screamed at Rhea.

“I-I don’t know! I just wanted to save Bato and my hands started moving on their own! I guess my muscle memory is better than my regular memory.” Rhea chuckled, but Menide’s mood wasn’t on the same page.

“You better not do that again! Especially in public! We still don’t know anything about you, what if you’re an abandoned or lost project made by the Custody!? If they knew you lived here, they wouldn’t think twice to bomb this place just to get rid of you!”

“They can’t just kill that many people. Word would get out…”

“The death of a poor person isn't as loud as the death of a rich one. We have to hope people thought you were holding a gun.”

“Sorry…”

“C’mon now, it’s time to pay a visit to my acquaintance.”

***

A sign spelled the word “PRISON” in heavy black letters, next to a small robotic dog shaped like a sideways rhombus. That was the symbol of the Ogun, the corporation of Justice. They regulated the police, firefighters, and public security. By extension, the Ogun controlled the prison system, tribunals, and influenced criminal laws. It was a private society, like all the others, but it was funded by the government and was one of the most influential corporations when it came to politics. Second only to the Custody, although the public wasn’t aware of that.

“Tch,” Menide protested, looking at the numbers that appeared in front of them. “They increased the fee again.” They looked at a text that said Visit Fee: 5,000 CE every 30min. Their hand touched the air where the text appeared, and as a response it changed into Transaction Completed.

“Why are we paying a fee?” asked Rhea.

“This is a prison. People that get caught by the police are brought here and–”

“I know what a prison is!”

“Then you should know it costs money to visit a prisoner!”

A guard met them inside the building and escorted them to a small room cut in half by a long grey table. A woman in a lead-colored uniform was slouching on a chair on the other side of the table, twirling the long, multicolored hair that fell on the left side of her head.

“You finally decided to visit! I’ve been lonely, you know?” Shouted the woman.

“You were brought here yesterday!” Menide approached her and sat on the only chair available, opposite from the prisoner.

“I’m an extrovert, I need to meet my friends often!”

“Then you better start getting used to trying out different things, this is going to be an age of change for you. For example, never did I ever think the day would come where Gedis Kidobo would be wearing a suit.”

“They had to force me to wear it! Look at me, they not only took away my freedom, but also stole my personality!”

“C’mon, you’re more than just a bunch of clothes. You’ve still got your flashy hair!”

“They wanted to cut those too! I had to put up a fight to stop them!” Strands of colored hair ranging from red to blue fell through Gedis’s hands.

A faint smile appeared on Menide’s face but before they could realize, their eyes began wandering around the room. They got closer to Gedis and whispered.

“Is everything… in check?”

“Don’t worry about it, I’ve already hacked the surveillance cameras to play a fake conversation. Who do you take me for?”

“Someone who got caught. What about that guard?” Menide pointed to the person standing next to the door.

“Forget about him. His ears have been turned off.”

“Since when can you do that kind of thing?”

“Since I found a way to access my bank account!” Gedis answered with a satisfied smile.

“I hope a bribe is going to be enough for a guard.”

“With how the Ogun treats them? They are begging to be bribed.”

“I can’t even blame them.” Menide let out a sigh of relief, “So, you managed to get a life sentence?”

"Yeah. I told them I didn't know anything, that I was just a simple delinquent that wanted to make some extra money stealing Custody tech!" Gedis lamented with a comically desperate tone.

"And they believed you?"

"Not even for a second! They just had no proof, thanks to you. By the way, did you know they call you the Chimera?"

"I’ve heard! Who do they take me for, some cheap supervillain? My ideals are just!"

“But enough of that!” Gedis dismissed them, “Let’s talk about the elephant in the room. When did you get a son?”

“I found him beached next to the Custody’s facility. Here’s the thing,” Menide lowered their voice, “He already knew that we’re all robots.”

Gedis’s gaze slowly shifted towards Rhea’s eyes.

“You take after your parent, little boy.” She said in a more serious tone, “Why don’t you tell me how you’ve come to learn that.”

Rhea couldn’t look her in the eyes, and the answer never came.

“That’s the thing,” Menide interjected, noticing the sudden silence, “He was badly battered when I found him, so I fixed him up. But when he came to his senses his memory was gone.”

“Complete amnesia?”

Menide nodded. “Do you think he’s some secret project of the Custody? Before, he even shot some sort of laser from his fingers.”

“Finger laser beams? Oh, I would love to study you, little boy.”

“Rhea…” Rhea said with a small voice.

“What’s that?”

“My name… I think. Who are you?”

“I’m your auntie!”

“You’re going to confuse him even more,” Menide stopped Gedis’s teasing. “She’s the acquaintance I told you about.”

“Acquaintance? I thought there was something special between us!” Gedis complained, but she was completely ignored by Menide.

“She’s the genius that made me the, …I guess chimera, form that you saw. She’s also helped me a bunch throughout the months and is the only other person I know that is aware of the Custody’s secret. If you really want, you could call her a partner in crime, I guess.”

“Better than nothing.” Sighed Gedis.

“Is she the terrorist?”

“Hey! Careful with your words! I’m an ex-terrorist now that I’m in prison.”

“Sadly, we failed our previous mission.” Said Menide.

“We didn’t completely fail. I still managed to memorize some important information and, more importantly, we saw how powerful your new upgrades are.”

“Indeed, you made quite the monster. I felt like I could bring down the moon if I wanted. Light as a feather caught in a tornado.” Menide stroked the chip they were wearing as a badge.

“What’s that?” Asked Rhea.

“This is the real chimera.” Menide took out the pin from their coat and put it under the light.
A thick line, resembling the musical symbol of a quarter rest, zigzagged out of an octagon too small to contain it, engraved with electric imagery, and crossed over by two heavy parallel slashes.

“It looks cool.” Pointed out Rhea.

“Menide is the one that chose the design! I know, right? They like to look dark and mysterious, but deep inside they’re still young at heart!” Gedis laughed.

“Whatever,” Menide tried to hide their embarrassment, “Let’s get to the point already! Rhea has important knowledge about humans somewhere inside his head, do you know a way to get his memories back?”

“Lucky for you, brains are my forte! Unlucky for you, I don’t have the tech to get your memories back. However, there might be someone in the Vivere who does. I don’t know whether that’s lucky or not.”

“Do I just need to steal it?”

“I’m afraid it’s not going to be so easy. The tech you need is a special prototype that isn’t supposed to be in circulation. Custody tech, for sure. A one of a kind, and the only one who has it is Kirk Katabashis, the son of Vivere's CEO. A lot of protection around that guy, although his father hates him.”

“We managed to infiltrate the Custody, I’m sure it won’t be worse.”

“It’s exactly because we infiltrated the Custody that it’s going to be worse! Security’s going to be extreme. Do you have some EMPs left?”

“Zero. I had to use the last one on a couple of enhanced custodians.”

“Then you’re really going to struggle.”

“Don’t worry, I’m going to help!” Rhea suddenly spoke up.

Both turned to face him, Gedis couldn’t contain her laughter.

“I like his spirit!” said Gedis, but Menide did not approve.

“You’re too young for these things. You should go to school, not fight the government.”

“I don’t need school, I’m already smart!”

“Yeah right.”

“I’m sure that if we did an IQ test my results would be better than yours!”

“Thanks for proving my point. I’m not even talking about that, really. You should enjoy life while you still can, while you don’t have responsibilities, while people won’t make fun of you for being weird.”

“I am enjoying life! I want to do this!”

“You don’t even know what you’re fighting for.”

“I know that you saved me, and that you are taking care of me. That’s why I want to help you.”

“This is a touching family moment,” Gedis interrupted them, “But if you stay another minute, you’re gonna end up paying for a second half-hour.”

“You’re right, this is a fruitless conversation anyway. Can you give me some details on the guy and the tech?”

“I’m sure I’ll find a way to send them to your eyedeas. Now go.”

Menide and Rhea nodded to the guard, who escorted them out. As they were about to leave through the door, Menide turned Gedis.

“Hey…” They hesitated for a second, “I’m glad you’re alive.” They said with a faint smile.

“I thought you didn’t consider me as life.” Gedis answered with a smug grin.

“Touché.” Menide looked away.