I hadn't been dreaming for a long time. When I say a long time, maybe it's been a few days. Because ever since I woke up in that capsule, the memories of my shattered mind have been trying to gather themselves. While I expected each memory that came to life in my mind to answer my questions, I was actually encountering more questions.
The names "Po" or "Oliver" that appeared in my memory sounded familiar from somewhere. After thinking for a while, it occurred to me that both names were in the personality simulations that Jose kept with him. Joe Stone, Oscar Destan, and every other one… They were also parts of my past. I already knew that. John Crowrift had told me that he placed people from my past into the personality simulations that Jose carried. The only difference was… Even if those names were parts of my past, I couldn't quite grasp what those names exactly meant to me. Yes… Joe Stone was clearly an important name in my life. But… But I didn't know what to do with this information. I couldn't go beyond knowing that he was connected to a robot in the Dermovox Facility.
"Your mind seems scattered…" said the white-haired woman. Her eyes were truly pitch black, like a black hole. I couldn't help but shiver as those eyes looked at me. The woman knelt a few steps away from me and leaned close to me. It was as if she enjoyed reading every one of my expressions. Like eating a sweet…
"Don't even ask…"
"A scattered mind is useless to us, sister!" said her red-haired older sister. Her sister was looking out the window of the dilapidated room where they were holding me. Her yellow skin shimmered with the light filtering through the window. She had taken off her metal astronaut suit and only her tights remained. Her body was intriguing, but I had too much of a headache to think about it right now. I felt like a brute from yesterday.
"First, shouldn't we introduce ourselves?" I said and tried to extend my hand, which was tied to a pipe on the wall. "My name is Mehmet."
"My name is Diana…" said the white-haired woman, holding her chest. "…and this is my sister Rose."
"Pleased to meet both of you."
"We are pleased too, aren't we, sister?"
"Absolutely…"
You might have thought the tension in the air was coming from the red-haired woman named Rose, who was constantly on alert, but no… That white-haired, innocent-sounding woman with perpetually pitch-black eyes looking at me sent more shivers down my spine.
"You don't need to be afraid of me," said the girl named Diana. It was as if she was reading my mind. Then she ran her tongue over her lips. She was like a siren waiting to devour my soul. "I'm not reading your mind. I'm just sensing your thoughts."
"Holy sh*t! What kind of mutant are you?"
"We are not mutants," said Rose. "Well, actually we are mutants, but not like the mutants here. We come from CLAUDIS IX."
"But you don't know this planet," said Diana. "Very interesting…" She approached me and with her index finger, pushed my head back against the wall. She looked at my face more closely. "…I've never seen a human in this galaxy whose hair didn't stand on end when they heard CLAUDIS IX."
"Then I'm a lucky human."
"What are you? You're dressed like a mutant but you're not as mindless as a mutant. You know the name John Crowrift but you don't know CLAUDIS IX," said Rose.
"You don't need to think about what lie to tell," Diana said before I even started trying to think of a lie. "We'll understand…"
"Then I'm screwed… Can I invoke my right to remain silent?"
"I don't know, can you?" Rose said and took the stick from her back. With a few mechanical movements, the stick turned into a rifle. She pointed the rifle at me.
"Ah… Look… First of all…" I had begun to speak when Diana cut me off.
"You're not a mutant," she said.
"Well… If you know everything, why are you bothering me? Just open my mind and read it like a book…"
"First of all, as I said before, I can't read your mind. Secondly… A book?" Diana said. "You're giving a very interesting example. A book… Did you hear that, sister?"
"I don't think there are any books on this planet. You're not from this planet, are you?"
"How can there not be? Are there really none?"
"None…"
"Then what the hell are these damn aliens doing? I exposed myself because of these damn aliens!"
Rose fired her weapon. The bullet hit the pipe next to my hand and fell onto my lap. Whatever kind of ballistic rifle it was, the bullet was still hot when it fell on my leg. I shook myself with my knees and turned aside to throw it off my lap.
"Hot! So hot!"
"He looks as weak as a simple human, sister…" said Diana.
"He doesn't seem 100% human…" Rose added.
"There was an unfortunate incident. My friend might have given a few parts from his body so I could live, but that's all. It's a very long story…"
"It seems we've encountered a truly strange creature…" said Diana.
"I am indeed a strange human, but… But if you want me to trust you and tell you things, first introduce yourselves."
"Do you promise to tell everything if we introduce ourselves?" Rose asked.
"Yes. I promise."
"She's telling the truth, sister…"
"Okay, how will I know you're telling the truth?"
"You won't."
"Good trade… Then let's begin."
***
Having my hands untied initially relieved me, but this time I was more on edge. Somehow, I felt safer with my back against the wall. What was happening now was this: the two sisters were sitting on the floor across from me in the middle of the room. I was sitting nervously across from them. A small fire was lit directly between us, and insects were cooking over it. Diana had noticed that I hadn't eaten for a long time and decided to prepare food for me. No… I still didn't trust that girl. She was definitely a crazy girl with a serial killer inside her.
It might seem strange to you that we lit a fire in the middle of the house, but it actually wasn't. Because, according to what they told me, they had moved me to an old mutant neighborhood quite far outside the city. This place seemed more like a mutant stable than a mutant neighborhood. Mutants were bred, and once they reached a certain age, they were harvested. According to what they said, the mutants here had been moved to the President's palace due to an urgent desire. Not even a bird flew in the evacuated streets. That's why there was no one to disturb us.
"Yes… I'm listening…"
"First, we need to tell you about CLAUDIS IX," Diana said, looking at her sister. Her sister sighed wearily and said:
"CLAUDIS IX is the ninth of the war colonies. These colonies produce many great warriors due to their poor living conditions and being favored by criminals."
"Indeed, CLAUDIS was the name of a very great and cruel general. When the process of spreading into space first began, he conquered 13 colonies with great massacres," Diana added.
"If Weapon Security hadn't intervened, he would have conquered many more colonies," Rose said.
"Did Weapon Security interfere in every colony's business?" I asked, interjecting between the two of them.
"No… Under normal circumstances, if inter-colony wars were conducted properly, the Supreme World Republic wouldn't want to interfere much. Claudis did something he shouldn't have; he created some AI-powered weapons that could technologically compete with Evoke Systems' robots," Diana said.
"These weapons were heavily loaded spaceships, but they could transform according to the planet they were going to analyze. How? Spaceship journeys took a very long time back then. There were inter-colony travels that lasted years and years. Those spaceships had some stations within them. Until they reached their destination colony, while the spaceship was still in space, these spaceships mechanically transformed themselves. These spaceships were called 'Cham'," Rose said.
"In short, these spaceships didn't need a station for modifications. They were spaceships that carried their own stations within them. When going to a planet with an ocean, the artificial intelligence, working with the engineers inside, could add sails to this spaceship, lay waterproof doors, and do many other things. If it was going to a very mountainous planet, this spaceship could add a drill to its tip. Claudis's artificial intelligence was like a brain. Like a brain that was aware of everything in its body, doing everything to keep itself and its cells alive while its body mutated," Diana said.
"While doing these…" Rose added. "…they had to leave many modules behind and carry expensive modules with them. That's why Claudis was constantly waging jihad and colonizing many colonies."
"Then Weapon Security, learning about this technology, intervened. Their intentions were clear, actually. They were looking for an excuse to take down Claudis. They ambushed Claudis during a jihad. He was treacherously killed. Claudis's sons tried to share the inheritance, and a civil war broke out. Many colonies were devastated. Four colonies betrayed Claudis's legacy and carved their own destinies. The other nine colonies continued to bear his name."
"Why would Weapon Security make an excuse?" I asked.
"Because those sons of bitches don't want a another power center," Rose said.
"Everything is very good, very nice, but… Can one of you explain it? My head is spinning!"
"Ah… We apologize," Diana said. "Sister, please continue."
"CLAUDIS IX was left to Muvah, the wife of Claudis's son Ceran, because Ceran was one of his brave children who went on jihad with his father. The problem was that Muvah was not intelligent enough to control the power. That's why she got help from many barons of the underworld. When IX came under the joint control of many power centers, the planet became quite chaotic. Not only that. The Supreme World Republic had also forbidden the creation of robots on CLAUDIS planets so that we couldn't develop such technology again. That's why we suddenly had an incredible amount of robot parts left. Humans became cybernetic, and humans started doing the jobs robots were supposed to do. In fact, most people could become cybernetic when they were only four years old. While millionaires in the farthest corners of the galaxy couldn't even become cybernetic yet, we had to. And even though technology wasn't that advanced… Many people died on the path to becoming cybernetic."
"Why did you tell me all this now?"
"Our master Raiden came to life on such a planet. He was one of the gladiators in the CLAUDIS Olympic Arena, which was held every 10 years among the CLAUDIS planets. He became the champion of the arena. He was a great swordsman. He was one of the best at controlling his cybernetic body."
Raiden? This name too… I was going to say this name was somewhere, but most of the names I knew were names within personality simulations. So John Crowrift knew him too. In fact… In fact, he must be one of John Crowrift's team.
"So what happened next?"
"As soon as he became the arena champion, he disappeared. He was gone for almost half a century. When he returned, he had a lot of money. First, he formed a small cult. This cult consisted only of women. Women who could read minds, were attractive, persuasive, and had all kinds of ambitions. He used human DNA to create these women, but no Bioethical Inspector ever came. Under normal circumstances, such a creation would have been highly likely to be prevented. It was said that Raiden had connections with the Supreme World Republic and was able to convince these people not to come. He said he wanted to serve the barons with these women, and he convinced most of the barons. Then one day, those women pulled out their daggers and the throats of the barons who desired them lustfully…"
"We cut their throats…" Diana said, laughing. "…I didn't cut their throats. I cut off the man's d*ck and put it in his mouth!" Once again, she licked and moistened her lips. "I'm sorry… I lost myself for a moment."
This is what I was talking about! I knew this woman was a psychopath. My memory wasn't very good, but my past experiences somehow suddenly called out to my instincts. If there was a woman who looked very innocent, that woman was definitely dangerous.
"The barons declared war on Raiden. The problem was that Queen Muvah was sick. Her death coinciding with the massacre of the barons had made things quite chaotic. Would the barons' heirs fight for the throne or against Raiden? And then what happened? The barons started eating each other, Raiden took down many barons. He formed a small armed army and, years later, took power. For the first time, someone not of the family bloodline sat on the throne of a CLAUDIS planet. He owed this to the Daughters of the Silent Breath cult."
"My cult…" Diana said. "…and they call us mind-weavers."
"Why aren't you like that?" I asked, pointing at Rose.
"I'm a hybrid of a mind-weaver and a human. Don't mind what she says about being my sister, Diana and I have no blood relation. Mind-weavers can only give birth to females, but the females they give birth to, although physically resembling mind-weavers, are as helpless as humans."
"Don't say that, sister… You're not helpless or anything."
"Thank you, sister."
"So what happened next?"
"Raiden was making plans to conquer other CLAUDIS planets, but his psychology had deteriorated recently. He had locked himself in his palace with the Daughters of the Silent Breath cult, constantly pursuing revelry. He was getting high and constantly causing trouble. The sisters had noticed that there was a problem with him."
"One day…" Diana interjected. "…our master Raiden cried. He said that he had sacrificed a lot to earn the money he used to gain this power. He even said that he had a budding illness inside him, and that the Incompatibles had brought that illness. That there was a diseased parasite gnawing at his mind… That's why he had fallen into drugs and women to silence the voice in his head. Ah… Our master… He was magnificent in bed. How beautifully he carried us all in his metal arms… Ah…" Diana sighed so deeply that my hair stood on end. But then I quickly told my hair to behave. The last time I was with a woman, I got a needle in my back. I couldn't escape with a needle now.
Rose coughed, interrupting Diana. "Anyway, let's not stray too far from the topic, let's continue. Then one day, a friend visited Raiden. We didn't know his name. Or who he was or why he was there… As his friend boarded his ship and disappeared without a trace, the only thing left was our master's corpse in the throne room. Our master had committed suicide as that man left the planet."
"Holy cow, what a story… What happened next?"
"A fight broke out among the sisters for the throne. The planet was plunged into chaos as many barons tried to regain their old power. We… My sister and I, were one of the teams that went after that mysterious figure."
"So, did you find him?"
"Yes… We found him in a laboratory among the glaciers on the dwarf planet Gomor 241. How did we find him, you ask? Before our master Raiden died, he had carved a word with his nails into the metal arm of the throne chair. The word was 'Go…' All the sisters started searching for planets starting with G. My sister and I did something different and decided to research dwarf planets. After centuries, we found that man on Gomor 241. We found him dead in a laboratory among the glaciers. The thing that killed him was a robot. As far as we could see, that robot had an artificial intelligence and had killed its own master. After killing him, it had sat on the doorstep until its battery ran out."
"Very interesting things…"
"The man's name was Lee."
Lee? This is also a member of my old team, found in Jose's personality memory… I really wish my memory would come back now because I might be missing out on huge things.
"So what happened next?"
"We rummaged through Lee's laboratory quite a bit, but we didn't find much. Everything was encrypted. The only thing we noticed was the technology used by the computer in the laboratory. He probably wanted to hide whatever he was doing there from the Supreme World Republic. His computer ran on a biological infrastructure, and the energy used in the circuits inside came from a biological engine created by a genetic-based algorithm. When we followed the power source of the engine, we came across a creature named Volem."
"Volem?"
"Yes… That energy-laden creature, said to have caused the destruction of the Beyond World centuries ago. Not only that. We also found a name. The name was found on the chip of the robot that killed Lee. There was only one blank space among all those encrypted codes. And in that blank space, it said 'John Crowrift'. We wanted to share this with our other sisters, but…"
"But all our sisters had stopped looking for our master's killer. They had returned to CLAUDIS IX to take their place among the power centers."
"That's why we came to this planet."
"So you've been on the road for centuries, huh… As I understand it, you're something like immortal then."
"Our cell regeneration is very strong…" Diana said, nodding her head.
"Wow… The story you told is truly an epic story… Your attempt to solve the mystery behind your master's suicide is truly admirable."
Rose, looking exhausted after her narration, took a breath. Then she pointed at me with her fingers and said:
"It's your turn…"
"First of all, my storytelling ability isn't as good as yours. Anyway, let me start telling… My name is Mehmet… I gave myself this name. I know, it's a very cool name. I opened my eyes in a capsule 400 years later. I had been lying for 400 years because there was no job that could wake me up. Or things like that…
Normally, I am a Bioethical Oversight inspector. Wait, wait… I've already been fired from my profession. Well… Where were we. I woke up after 400 years when a job came up, but I lost my memory due to a power outage. Of course, I panicked at first, but I was very happy when I heard that my salary had been deposited for 400 years. I wanted to take my salary and leave, but they wouldn't let me leave without completing my last jobs. And then what happened? My assistant robot and I tried to complete the remaining three jobs.
My first job was in the old world. There, a cybernetic, perverted, freak scientist named Ukar was trying to create a strange alien. We noticed irregularities in the facility and rejected the facility. Then we befriended a test subject named Hulk who escaped from that facility. He joined the team.
My second job was at the Dermovox Facility. I was with a woman there. It might not be an important detail. That place seemed to be in order, and I accepted it.
In my third job, I was trapped. By chance, on that planet I went to, a crazy man named John Crowrift was busy executing an old friend. The planet suddenly turned into a battlefield. John Crowrift, it turned out, was on the Supreme World Republic's radar. Realizing he had arrived there, John Crowrift was surrounded by Weapon Security. John Crowrift fought Weapon Security with a colossal alien. I suffered brain damage from looking at that creature. As I was about to die, my test subject friend named Hulk sacrificed himself. And I escaped to this planet."
"Hey!" Rose shouted. "You told it too fast, we didn't understand a thing!"
"Well, let me put it this way. Even I didn't understand anything from what I went through."
"So, has your memory returned?" Diana asked.
"Look at the question you're asking…" Rose interjected. "…with so many questions, is that what stuck in your mind?"
At that moment, we heard a sound. Rose stood up and reached for her weapon. The sound resembled a gunshot. It was like the primitive gunshot from a bird hunting rifle.
"Be quiet," Rose said.
Suddenly, the ceiling collapsed. Amidst the falling planks of the ceiling and the dust spreading on the floor, the thing that fell right into the middle of the fire was Jose. He was pointing his two weapons at the two women. The woman named Rose, on the other hand, had pointed her rifle at Jose. I didn't even remember when Diana had crawled to my side and held a knife to my throat.
"Leave my master alone!" Jose shouted. "Otherwise, I'll be your end."
"Jose! You're here!"
"At your slightest movement, I'll cut your throat." Said Diana.
"She really will! This woman is crazy!"
"Your master? Are you Mehmet's assistant?" Said Rose.
"I am his assistant!"
"No, he's my loyal friend! Jose, I love you very much!" The knife moved a little closer to my throat.
"So what are we going to do?" Jose asked. "Am I going to kill both of you with a single bullet and take my master and leave, or will you choose the path of peace?"
"You're very confident." Said Rose.
"If you want, try me…"
"We need him to find John Crowrift."
"I don't want to give my master to anyone."
"You don't need to fight over me. I'm enough for all of you." Then I looked at both of them. "There's really no need. I'm offering a friendship. John Crowrift is our common enemy, and this planet hosts many more enemies. How about we combine our forces?"
One second… Did I say these words deliberately? No… Diana was so close to me that the woman's scent seemed to be playing with the words in my mouth. But… But I wasn't too regretful of what I said. So, there must have been a desire within me to say these words.
"Then we put down our weapons at the same time," Jose said.
"One…"
"Two…"
"Three…"
No one put down their weapons.
"This won't work like this! Kids! Come on! Put down your weapons!" I said.
"One!"
"Two!"
"Three!"
No one put down their weapons once more.
At that moment, a red dot appeared on my helmet, which was in the corner of the room. "Hello…" The voice from the helmet began to speak. With each sound, that red dot trembled. "…you must be the one sending data to our computer. I don't know why you're sending it, but I assume you're a friend. We're waiting for you at the facility."
"This voice…" Rose said.
"This voice is yours!" Diana said.
"Holy sh*t! Is the facility using my voice?"
"As Arthur Vale, I wish you a good day." He said, and the voice from the helmet cut off. Upon this, everyone lowered their weapons.