Innocence

     “Ah, shit,” Lau said to himself as he remained sitting while smoking his cigarette in the monorail that stopped in its tracks. He looked over his shoulder to see the tens of thousands inhabitants of the Nero district move towards the nearest shuttle. Hovercrafts that zipped above him brought wardens from the minarets to patrol the massive migration from above. He switched his focus to Anda’s live feed, it showed Anda, Lady Maut, Qion and Jana on a large hovercraft that fixed its bearings towards the Aerodeck. An army of five-hundred-or-so million up against the forty billion on the surface, the detective thought to himself as he tried to grab the scale of what could be the Second Terminal War.

As the detective pondered, he shook his head on the thought that if Anda had practically publicized his plans and even broadcasted a live feed, what else would Anda leave out in the open, he asked himself. Most certainly not the logs on his off-world serv— "Oh, shit!", the detective yelled as he shot up to his feet. "Lads, if anyone's listening, I'm going under to access Anda's Reverie simulation. Over and out." He sat down again and took out his tobacco bag to start rolling a cigarette. He finished rolling his cigarette, placed it on his lip, lit it and he closed his eyes. The detective is within the simulation, back at the apartment to walk through what happened almost twenty-hours ago.

The detective was at the top floor of the apartment before the entire level was burnt to ashes. He was behind Anda who supervised the placements of the four pure humans. The hole in the ceiling was already there and Lau saw the same light that formed a tunnel through the base of Aquaneo's dome. At that moment, the tunnel transported the organics and their pedestals from an invisible shuttle above the apartment through the ceiling and Anda's unmanned mech placed them in formation.

     "What the fuc—" Lau was cut short as another voice startled him. "Pretty impressive, huh. Detective?", the words came from another Anda that stood next to Lau. "You scared the bejesus out of me, man!" The other Anda smiled and said "we're even then", before he pointed towards where the hole is and said, "I'm particularly proud of how quiet the mech and shuttle is. Not a single soul had any idea." The detective stared at the Anda next to him and asked, "shut the front door, how are you in this simulation while I'm running it in MY neural network?"

Anda stepped away from the detective and as he made his way to the elevator, he said over his shoulder "shall we go over any more questions you may have on the ride down, detective?" The detective followed him into the elevator, Anda slid the elevator door close and pressed for the level below; his unit. The elevator began to descend and Anda finally answered Lau, "You know, Mase is also running the simulation at blistering speed as we speak and he's still conscious, probably scheming what to do with me. That's cause of his elite tier processing implants. So while I'm up there with Lady Maut and your associates, and piloting the Trevante AND rebooting my mech. Among many other things, being here is a walk in the park."

The elevator stopped and Anda slid the gate open. The simulated Anda ahead of them caught the detective's eye. The hole in the wall has not been made yet and the door to the lab was well hidden within the marble walls. A portion of the wall sunk inwards, it let out a subtle plush sound of air being released before Anda pushed and slid the door to one side. The two men followed the simulated Anda into the lab before the door shut behind them and they found themselves in complete darkness.

     The simulated Anda approached a padded wall and dug the tip of his shoe into the floor. It made the wall swing outwards slightly without making a sound. "Holy shit, I didn't know that was there," the detective mumbled. Anda pushed the secret door wide open with some effort needed and the warmth of tungsten lights flickered on. The next room is a polar opposite to the lab. Lit by the welcoming warm lights, it revealed the room is a kitchen with a round dining table in the middle draped in a checkered tablecloth. The kitchen resembled the traditional ones in homes back then, the only thing missing is a nuclear family from the 1940s and a window with the view of the yard.

As the simulated Anda made his way around the kitchen to make himself breakfast, the other Anda pulled a chair from the table for Lau to sit. As Lau sat, he fired his first question, "so you didn't kill anyone?" The other Anda took a seat across from Lau and quickly answered, "nope". "And the tenants—", the detective was cut short by both Andas who looked up at the same time. "You see that, detective?", the Anda who sat across from Lau said. The detective scanned the floor above and saw the number of augmented tenants forming a circle around the four organics he just saw moments before.

The simulated Anda continued cooking while the other said, "thought it would be funny if I uncloaked my neural Augs when I started cooking. Mase tapped into it instantly and had control of the whole building to rush towards the anomaly signal I released from the shuttle. Just as he had a glimpse of the shuttle, I had it disappear into the sky. Well, he didn't take the joke too well." The detective who still had his scanners locked on the tenants then saw the revelation unfold. The tenants' power cells erupted simultaneously creating a fiery inferno on the floor just above.

     "Mase isn't a very good loser. He had the current gen Augs fitted with the Rainmaker protocol and what you saw was just a rupture of the fuel cells. I didn't count on that happening, could've sworn he would just blow the whole building," the other Anda said as the one at the stove just finished plating his breakfast of beef rashers with scrambled eggs on toast and was about to join the two at the table. "So you're innocent of all the charges, huh. No manslaughter, no arson and no illegal hijacking."

Anda was at the table now and ate his breakfast as the other two continued their conversation. "As much as I'm able to do about anything now, detective, that's the one thing I would never do; to take free will away from anyone. That's why my parents were against augmentations. That's what reading Hamlet taught me. Even Mr Fathi's religion had free will as one of its major beliefs." Lau then asked his only remaining question, "is that why you plan to 'cleanse' the surface of the augmented and plant the seed of humanity back to this planet, to reinstate free will?"

"Yes. It was man's inevitable decadence into the industrial revolution half a millennia ago that drove this planet to death as a result of man being a slave to technology, obliterating free will. There are droplets of it here and there, but it's either within the people stuck within an aquarium in the ocean or is called a Zenith." The simulated Anda picked up his plate and went to the sink to clean up the utensils and pans he just used.

     "You said 'you've seen worse' on the elevator ride before I met Mase. I've looked it up, you and your team were on the mech side during the Terminal War. It was worst in East Asia, where the augmented were tormented, dismembered and denied death as a scare tactic. Your unit was the best at this and M… Lady Maut was your high priestess, an augmented who joined the mech side. Something she did out of free will and her premonition of the Rainmaker saved your entire battalion. As survivors you were all sentenced for life and now your unit is heading to another war."

The simulated Anda has finished his cleaning and set the wet items on the drying rack. He then made his way to the lab through the concealed door while the other Anda continued, "that's why no matter how hard I planned, I still had a long shot you'd be assigned to the case with what Mase did to the tenants. Your free will to get to the bottom of the case on your own volition saved me for a moment till Mase dropped a goddamned jet on up, killing me. I can never set our destiny but I can sure as hell set a path."

"Shit, that was enlightening but you already had me at 'yes'," the detective said as deadpan as a Muppet. The Anda across Lau smiled and said, "I'll be glad to have your sense of humour by my side, detective. Best we get up there right about now, the Custo is armed with my rifle as we speak." They both stood up and the detective offered his hand for a handshake, "it's a pleasure, I've met about three Anda's in the flesh in less than 24-hours." Anda shook the detective's hand, "hope you enjoyed the show, Detective Lau. I'll see you on the other side."

     A prompt in the detective’s HUD indicated an incoming transmission from Gus: “Boss, Anda’s mech just upped and boarded on a hovercraft along with the rest of our squad. What are your orders, sir?” Lau inhaled the freshly lit cigarette and made his way out of the monorail before saying, “well Gus, guess we should get the best seats for a helluva show.” As he said that a large boom can be heard from Minaret 1 and Anda’s footage showed his chest absorbing a round that could only come from his anti-aircraft rifle. The detective looked towards the aerodeck and saw the group was unscathed. The live feed showed the round was being loaded towards Anda’s arm. His arm has morphed into the shape of a cannon which has its sights at the top of Minaret 1 and a soundless sharp beam of light is unleashed that tore a hole in the minaret. Custo Haris was sent flying out of the other side of the minaret after receiving the concentrated blast from Anda's arm.

Beyond the Aerodeck, the Trevante has just gone through the tunnel and as its large hull hovered over the runway. Anda’s large hovercraft docked inside the Trevante and behind them were more large hovercrafts that brought the giants from the minarets of Geta district. Gus' voice came through again, “Boss, Haris is gone and his body is being picked up by one of the hovercrafts. I’m gonna ride along and hopefully I’ll meet up with the rest of the squad.” A hovercraft appears before Detective Lau and he responds, ”Aye, we’ll maintain an open line, Gus. I’m heading to our carrier and hope Captain Nemo hasn't taken off to retirement yet.” The detective boarded a nearby hovercraft and it began its ascent towards the Aerodeck. "Roger that, second lieutenant. Where you headed with the carrier?" Gus asked. "I'm going West, Gus."

From above, Lau saw waves after waves flocked towards the nearest shuttle at the edges of Aquaneo City. Above the city, the wardens armed themselves with weapons that resembled scaled down versions of Anda's rifle. Even with the two-hundred million, well-trained and heavily armed army, Lau thought, "this isn't a war, it's an extermination," the detective said to himself.