Chapter Text
Aether opened her eyes to see herself on the interior of their ship. The drone shuffles her feet before wandering over to the window. At first, she observed herself. Her long straight snow white hair, her black tuxedo, floating forearms and head, her white eyes, and broken white halo. Out of focus, Aether saw the stars zip by like heavy rain drops on Homeworld. Like home.
A child-like amazement washed over her, slightly raising her left hand and pressing it to the glass with her mouth slightly agape. A chuckle was heard from behind and it snapped Aether’s attention back to the ship. She let out a small gasp before covering her mouth with both of her hands. The drone looked over to see one of her squadmates smirking over at her. It was a taller drone, standing over 180 centimeters (six feet) tall. Two pink holographic demon horns on the side of his head announced who it was. His pink asymmetric hair reached down to his shoulders, and obscured one of his pink eyes. Below his shoulders and head was a matching black tuxedo. Apollo.
“You have a sort of fascination to the outside cosmos?” he asked casually with a small smirk.
Aether shook her head. While turning her head back to the window, she sputtered, “I-.. I-..”
Aether’s attention shifted from her reflection to Apollo’s and toward that smirk of his. She hastily faced Apollo and quickly grew flustered and embarrassed. “I-.. I apologize for letting my curiosity take over my sense of conscious! I-..”
Apollo approached Aether without saying a word. Aether however, continued. “I won’t let my thoughts interfere with my mission! I will show you that you can rely on-..”
Apollo took her chin into his hand and lifted it so the two exchanged eye contact. Aether gulped and trembled, her mind scrambling as she spat out her last word, “M-..me?”
With a small sigh, Apollo spoke. “There’s nothing wrong with you or your heightened self-awareness, Aether. It’s only a consequence of creating a very complicated and sentient machine.”
Aether hesitated to speak, leaving a moment of silence before she finally queried, “But-.. why am I the only one? Can’t you feel yourself? Like, your thoughts, actions? Why-.. or how you exist..?”
Apollo shrugged before responding, “I don’t.. dwell on thoughts like that.”
Aether hugged herself, feeling everything darken around her. She felt alone. Disassociated. Broken.
Apollo pulls Aether into a gentle hug, letting the smaller drone nuzzle into his metallic chest. “You should get your self-awareness under control,” Apollo reminded. “I promise you I’ll find some sort of patch for this bug, alright?”
Aether squeezes the taller drone, her vision growing blurry from programmed tears. Apollo pauses, letting the silence clear his mind. Gazing out the window, all that was seen is the endless void of stars, gas, and galaxies. Apollo sees his reflection, then his attention shifts to Aether’s. He began to pet Aether gently, quickly shutting those thoughts off to bring himself back to the moment.
Apollo finally whispered something in an attempt to console Aether. “Look, I-.. understand existence is scary. I can see why you would wonder about your own self. I just hope you see that I worry about your thoughts and how often you get lost in them. I know I can’t think like you. It pains me that I can't. But.. I still promise to at least make an effort to try.”
As Aether closed her eyes and listened, Apollo smiled faintly, “We’ll talk about this more after we read this planet.”
In the corner, a third drone snickered and awed, “Ooh, such adorable lovebirds!” She quickly stood up and stretched from her nap. On her forehead was a single purple holographic horn. Below it was messy hair that obstructed nearly the entirety of her visor and, by extension, her eyes. Despite her hair color being the hue of galaxies, this drone’s name was Athena. Apollo interjects before Athena could say anything else, “What? No, Athena. She’s just having another episode.”
“Pfft.. yeah, sure.” Athena winked and chuckled.
“Exiting slipspace,” the ship AI announced. A sonic boom rocked the ship before they slowed to a crawl. “We have entered the vicinity of Copper-9.”
The back of the ship opened and they each lined up side-to-side. Apollo readied himself and the others verbally. “One. Two. Three.”
All three drones jump off in sync and dive though the turbulent atmosphere of the unfamiliar planet. Each now a blinding meteor in the sky, they rapidly zero in on their shared set of coordinates though cloud, thunder, and nasty wind. Once Apollo began to see the ground, he drifted toward the marker on his screen, and the other two follow. Finally, they plummet towards the rapidly growing floor.
Thud. Thud. Thud. A huge cloud of dust is kicked up with each landing. Out of the cloud emerged the three drones, with Aether pulling up a screen, and scanning the surroundings for any signs of footprints. Apollo and Athena follow behind, each searching for their own set of clues. The scenery was frozen and there were no signs of organic life. No green plants, no flowing water, just desolate tundra flooded with mangled steel, frozen glass and frosted sand.
After a few minutes of empty and quiet searching, Aether picks up fresh footprints. That's.. odd. There shouldn't be anything here.. The erosion is miniscule.. and this weather's pretty harsh. Uh-oh. "Guys. This place isn't desolate. Someone's nearby."
As she began to follow the trail, Athena and Apollo follow close behind. All three eventually approach a nearby campsite. Aether stops abruptly, raising her hand to halt the others. She whispered to the two, “I’m detecting a heat signature from here.”
Silence filled the air for several moments. During this time, Aether takes time to visually scan her surroundings. Through the dense icy fog, Aether spots a handful of cabins. Her eyes narrow, and she kneels, using her tail to stab the ground. Apollo and Athena armed themselves, their floating fingers narrow and resemble a barrel.
In one of the cabins, a lone disassembly drone stood in the dark. It was Serial Designation J, sitting on one of the sets of bunk beds that filled the cabin. Kicking her legs back and forth while playing Sudoku visually, she had her surroundings tuned out.
A deep “womp” enveloped the cabin and J immediately pauses her game. Concerned, her eyes and head dart around the cabin. No sound. She sets off the bed and listens for any more cues. Silence. J blinks and sighs, shaking her head. “I’m probably just paranoid about that write-up.. I’m sure I’ll be-..”
As soon as her attention shifted back to her game, a bright projectile darted through the cabin wall. It rapidly whizzes right by her, and hits the door behind her. A sizzling sound contrasted the outside howling wind. J gulps and quavers, “F-..Fine..?”
Outside, Aether was taking aim, still kneeling. She quickly stands up with Athena asking, “Status?”
Aether kept aiming, stepping back calmly. “I missed.”
Apollo and Athena also raised their right arms and took aim, having their hand outstretched and open. They instinctively spread out. Apollo, staring down the direction Athena shot, stays still. For a second, only the wind made its presence.
Wrrrrrr! The sound quickly raised in pitch. Aether summoned a holographic shield with her left forearm, covering herself. “I don’t like that sound!”
A rapid barrage of bullets burst through the cabin walls and chased Aether. Quickly, the area became an aerial landmine with bullets ricocheting off the shield and all over the place. Athena quickly ducks, rolls and dashes straight to the cabin on all fours. Apollo retreated behind a tree and took aim.
Inside the cabin, J had switched her arm for a minigun and was casually dumping countless rounds into the direction of the initial projectile. “I will NOT let you take me back in!” she snarled.
A shot ripped through the cabin and through J’s right shoulder, severing her entire arm. It dropped to the floor with a metallic thud. Athena’s footsteps rapidly approach. J growls and reveals her sharp bladed wings before launching herself into the sky, decimating the ceiling. As she looked back down, she saw Athena staring right back at her. Apollo and Aether began to fire at J, who then began to dodge and weave through each scorching ball of plasma. Athena, right below her, squatted before launching herself towards J. Their teammates cease fire, and J stops, panting. She eyed Apollo, “You first, loser.”
Before J could dash toward the pink-haired drone, Athena filled the entirety of J’s vision. With a demented smile that bares her teeth, Athena waved at J, “Heeellloooo!”
J’s eyed widened as she watched Athena’s tail back up and launch towards her. Could I even slice her up..?
Feeling left with one option, J prepared her nanite-laced tail and swung it toward Athena’s neck.
As Athena cackled, her tail impaled J’s forehead and cracked her visor. At the same time, J sliced through Athena’s neck and decapitated the drone. With the howl of the wind returning and no more laughter, both drones plummeted toward the cabin beneath. Apollo and Aether sprint towards the cabin to investigate the carnage. As they made their way inside, Athena stood up. She then grabbed her head before reattaching it while spilling boiling oil profusely. Apollo charged a ball of plasma in his hand, scurried to Athena and soldered her together, "You need to get a better grip on yourself if you want to do solo missions."
Athena huffed and pouted, "Oh hush, I think I did just fine!"
Meanwhile, J was lying and writhing on the floor, bombarded with error after error. The disassembly drone was almost completely paralyzed. She let out a small groan while Aether approached and drew her tail.
J weakly growled, “What-.. did she do to me..?”
Aether stabbed J where Athena did before both drones deactivate.
Athena hummed as she eyed her prey. “Just you and me now, Appy! Hehe..”
Apollo facepalmed and groaned, “Don’t-.. don't ever call me that again.”
...
Meanwhile, J and Aether were in a simulated world. Only a grid was visible and served as the ground on where they stood. Everything else was pure white.
Before Aether could say anything, J swapped her arm out with a heavy cannon, took aim at the specialist drone, and blasted her head off. Aether's limp body quickly toppled as steaming oil gushes out of her neck.
“Thank you, but I find that unnecessary.” uttered Aether from behind J. The disassembly drone yelped and turned to greet her face-to-face. It was just as if nothing had happened at all.
J clenched her left fist and growled, gritting her teeth. She raised her cannon at Aether.
Aether answered, “I employ you to at least listen-..”
J fired her cannon again, this time aiming for her body. Aether exploded, her mangled limbs and head scatter across the floor on top of another growing puddle of pungent oil.
“You’re going nowhere with this behavior.” a pristine Aether recalled yet again from behind J, standing next to her headless remains. “Personally, I find it pointless to kill.”
J turns back again to greet Aether, her growl morphing into a desperate scream. She lunges forth and left hooks Aether’s visor. A metallic thud echoed as Aether faltered backward. A few droplets of oil leak from her damaged visor and run down her cheek. Aether stared down J through her hair, huffing slightly.
J stepped back and quickly aimed her cannon at Aether’s head. “I don’t find it pointless! In fact, you’ll be my next victim for the next freaking forever.”
Aether remained still. “Do it.”
In a split second decision, J aimed toward Aether’s legs, before hesitating and lowering her weapon. Aether finally raises her head, revealing her cracked visor, “Are you finally ready to listen?”
“Shut! UP!!” J snarled, “I’m getting tired of you!”
Aether retorted sternly, “Well, then get used to it.”
“No!” retaliated J as she stomped on the floor. “No, no, NO, NO! You invade my turf, invade my mind and have the audacity to act like this?!” The disassembly drone raises her cannon and fires again. Aether instinctively raises her arm and summons her holographic shield, deflecting the projectile. It ricocheted towards J’s head, who gasped and ducked in time.
“My turn,” blurted Aether before she swiftly raises her arm, charges a plasma ball and fires at the twin-tailed drone. J unsheathes her sharp wings and jumps into the air, dodging the plasma ball. Aether jumps further back to gain distance. Without any thought, J catapults herself towards Aether, who began to fire rapidly at the sentient missile.
While J swerved and veered past Aether’s fire effortlessly, she heard Aether recall, “Remember you can’t kill me he-..”
J collides with Aether and tackled her to the ground, “I said shut up!!” She raises her cannon, pressing the muzzle right against Aether’s temple before firing and shattering her head. Oil splattered everywhere, leaving behind another headless body. As J huffed and stood up, she heard a plasma blast before her cannon arm was severed from her body. The drone yelped and quickly turned around, watching an armed Aether approach her.
“What do you want from ME?!” J screamed, baring her shiny metallic wings.
“Information,” Aether disclosed before her eyes narrowed, “And I thank you for confirming many things for me.”
J felt cold from Aether’s appraisal. She backed up, shook her head repeatedly in denial and stuttered, “T-.. Thank you?!” Aether fires another shot and severs J’s other arm. “Ack-.. leave me ALONE!” J’s voice cracked as she teared up, “Just leave me ALONE!!”
Aether stops and lowers her arm in time for J shout her torrent of thoughts. “Do you think I want to be on this stupid planet?! Corporate gave me a mission that I couldn’t complete! and yet I-.. I’m still trapped here on this cold inert piece of gargantuan rock!” Trying to hold everything in together while trembling madly, tears trailed down J’s shiny oil-stained cheeks. “I can’t find a way back.. No escape pod, no ship, no contact from corporate! It’s bad enough I can’t go home, but now I get you guys coming after me so suddenly! I-..” Her voice weakened to a whisper, “You won’t let me go home now.. I-.. I-.. I’ll die here.. and I won’t have ever gotten the chance to go home..”
J lowers her head, “I-.. I just want to go home..”
Aether stayed quiet, absorbing what J had just spilled. It was a sentiment that the two shared. A scarily similar sentiment.
The scenery rapidly shifted from a stale white to the depths of intergalactic space. The two were now standing in a transparent room, with the backlight of the universe visible to them. J gasped and looked up, letting a final tear crawl down her cheek before gazing into the abyss. Aether approaches J as she sees a similar child-like curiosity. J turned back to Aether as her arms regenerated rapidly.
Aether looked to the side, explaining herself. “I-.. This is my safe space.. I-.. can relate to you wanting to go home. I don’t want to be here either. I miss Homeworld. And I know I may never go back home. Instead, I ponder about everything. About why I exist.. about why I feel.. or think.”
J wiped her tears, shaking her head, sniffling. “Don’t lie to me. Don’t make me feel better.”
Aether exchanged eye contact with J, “Lying to you now would do nothing. This is all I can do. This is all I want to do.”
J hugs herself, whimpering. Finally bringing herself to move Aether stepped forward, and approached J with open arms, “You can accept or deny my offer. I’m not forcing you to do anything, I.. only just want to help. Even if it’s a little. Even if it wouldn't matter, it's.. something I wish to do.”
J quickly jumped forward and hugged Aether tightly, “I-.. I-..” She began sobbing into Aether’s arms, squeezing the taller drone tightly. “I want to-.. to-.. go home-..”
Aether ran her mechanical fingers through the drone’s gray hair, who continued to bawl. Aether whispered gently, “It’s only you, me and the expanding universe here. Nothing will hurt you here. I won’t hurt you. I don't kill.”
J continued to cling to Aether, quickly retorting with a defeated tone, "No.. I know you’ll kill me..”
Aether’s thoughts darken as she blurted, “I’ll bring you home.” Her heart sank and a feeling of doom sets in. She knew this was a request she was unable to fill, yet she wanted to at least bring hope to the drone, “You just have to.. trust me. I’m forced to complete this mission. Yet, if.. I keep your heart safe, you can have a new life in Homeworld. It’s either I deactivate you and remove your heart.. or Athena eats you alive. Will you trust.. me?”
J squeezed Aether tighter and nodded, whispering, “I-.. have no other choice. I'll trust you..”
As the hug broke, J looked into the specialist drone's eyes one last time. Aether was trembling slightly, worry etched on her face. "Very well."
J's visor went dark, her entire mechanical body goes limp. Before the disassembly drone hits the ground, Aether caught her.
Somber silence filled the air as Aether squeezed J's corpse. She clenched her teeth, growling before screaming in frustration.
...
Aether booted back up in the cabin, and swiftly retracted her tail. She quickly stood up and stormed out the cabin. Apollo and Athena watched before Apollo followed the drone, “Aether?”
As Aether walked further away, stifling her sobs, Apollo continued to tail her, “Aether? Talk to me.”
Aether whimpered while still strutting, "Go away."
Apollo's voice grew stern, "Aether."
Aether twirled around and chastised Apollo, “Look! I had to promise her to bring her back to Homeworld!” She began to sob in front of him, “Apollo-.. I-.. I lied to her!”
“Hey-.. you did what you had to-..”
“You wouldn’t fucking understand, Apollo! Being here wasn’t her fault! Her company sent her here to die!" Aether shouted. "And I-.. we were the ones that had to dispatch of her! She-.. she believed me! I made her think she was going home! I can’t do this!!” Tears ran down Aether's cheeks; her voice lowered to a whisper. “I don’t want to do this.. It’s not right.. I-.. I saw myself in her.. someone who seemed broken and tired.. and they’ll never get to be free. I robbed her of that opportunity just by existing. By being here.. by being on this god forsaken planet..”
Apollo sighed, his face growing worried, “Aether..”
Aether hugged herself and turned her back to Apollo, “I-.. just wanna go home, Apollo.. I only just wanna go home..”
Apollo stepped forward, and placed a hand on Aether’s shoulder. “I’m sure this may be your last mission.”
“Promise me..?”
Apollo nodded faintly, “I promise.”
Aether huffed before Athena patted her white hair. Athena's boisterous attitude was gone. "We still need to evaluate the core. Lead the way, Aether?"
Aether took a deep breath before exhaling. "Lets go." They all went off into the distance, leaving behind battle scars on the topography and cabin.
Inside the cabin, J’s mangled corpse remained behind. Athena had ripped through her body, leaving a pool of cold oil behind. As the drone emits a low beep periodically, etched onto her visor were the dreaded words.
FATAL ERROR.