The Neutral Zone
What it’s about:
When Aidan made a wish to sleep without being disturbed, he didn’t realize The Fates were listening. Now, after sleeping for 150 years, Aidan finds himself in a new time with a whole list of problems. Will he adapt to life in a new society? Can he even survive on a planet he barely even recognizes?
You can read the story in its entirety below, or you can download a copy.
*COMING SOON— Links to download to your Amazing Kindle or Apple device.*
*a note about amazon. I have asked for them to set the story to $0, and they did for about a week, but then changed it back. I am working on making it free again.
“It's my deepest wish," Aidan announced one day to the world, "to fall asleep and for no one to disturb me."
Now usually, if someone stops and announces something to the world in that manner, hardly anyone listens. But, for Aidan, that day was different. That day, his wish was heard by the Fates. And when the Fates hear a wish, it is their solemn duty to make sure that wish is fulfilled.
That night, Aidan got ready for bed just as he did every night. By that time, he'd completely forgotten about the announcement he'd made earlier. He put on his most comfortable flannel pajama pants and an old, soft t-shirt that had a faded image of a Rubik's cube across the chest.
He turned off his light and pulled his blankets all the way up to his shoulders, just as he did every night. And with a sigh, he drifted off into a deep sleep, happily dreaming of the adventures that were supposed to be waiting for him the next day.
However, Aidan didn’t wake up the next day. It came and went, as did the next day and the one after that. The Fates had interfered. No one came to wake him, no one came to search for him. And so, he slept until one hundred and fifty years had passed.
Life outside his bedroom moved on. And all the while his bedroom remained unchanged and undisturbed, except for the thick layer of dust that covered every surface. Aidan, himself, remained unchanged, except his clothes faded with time, and his hair grew long past his shoulders.
Finally, Aidan woke up. His brain awoke before his body, and he laid in bed lining up all of his activities for the day. Slowly, he opened his eyes as he stretched his arms over his head. His body had that lovely feeling of having had an excellent night's sleep, where every muscle feels just a little heavy and stiff, and where every stretch felt like relief mixed with excitement.
But once Aidan fully opened his eyes and looked around, that cozy, sleepy, just woke-up-from-the-best-night's-sleep-feeling disappeared like David Copperfield and the Statue of Liberty.
His surroundings were a dim gray from the thick layer of dust that had settled over time.
He bolted up in his bed, his heart racing as he started taking inventory of the room.
Everything was exactly where he'd left it the night before, only now, it was all dusty. And when he reached out to touch a few of the items, they turned to dust in his hands.
While moving around the room, he walked past a mirror and nearly jumped out of his skin! There, standing before him was a barely recognizable young man due to the very long hair that was sweeping past his shoulders.
He reached up and felt it on his head and groaned, "What am I supposed to do with this?" Then he looked around. "What am I supposed to do with ALL of this? What kind of joke is this?" He paused as the realization hit him; "Mom is going to KILL me!" He paced back and forth for a few minutes. "This is, hands down, the WORST prank anyone had ever played on me!" He had to stop pacing after a few more rounds because he'd kicked up so much dust that he could barely breathe for sneezing so much.
Aidan finally plucked up the courage to open his bedroom door. Instead of the normal chaos of his sisters running around, and his mom calling out constant reminders, there was eery silence. The hallways seemed familiar, but something about it felt off. Slowly, he made his way to the front door. With a shaky hand, he turned the knob and inched the door open.
He stepped back with a scream and slammed the door. He wasn't sure that his eyes were telling him the truth, because what he saw was definitely not what he remembered the last time he’d opened the door. Instead of his door being nice and close to the ground with other, familiar houses huddled around, he had looked out of a door that was currently over 200 feet from the ground, with towers containing thousands of doors surrounding him.
Aidan ran back to his room, flinging himself under the covers. He stayed there- hoping, wishing, and praying that this was all just a really, really bad dream. All he wanted was to be in his own room, in his own time, with his own family, and his house very firmly back on solid ground. When he lowered the blanket, his stomach sank. Nothing had changed. There was still dust covering every surface, his hair was still hanging past his shoulders, and nothing felt right.
He crawled out from his covered and back down the hallway where he slowly creaked open the door again. He stood there, taking in the hundreds of buildings around him and the noise from the zooming vehicles, none of them on the ground, all flying wherever they could fit. It all created a hazy, disorienting maze around him.
He stepped back, leaving the door wide open as he backed up towards the wall. When, suddenly, a head poked down from above the door frame.
"Oh my goodness!" Exclaimed the head. "Somebody actually lives here?"
Aidan couldn't move or speak. He just stood against the wall with his mouth open looking up at the head.
A body appeared along with the head as a child flipped himself down into Aidan's doorway with the grace of a skilled acrobat. "I've always wondered about this place," said the, now whole, little boy currently making his way into Aidan's house without an invitation.
"Who are you," the little boy asked.
Aidan stood a little straighter and looked down at the kid. "Who am I? Who are you?!"
The little boy proudly thrust his thumb into his chest. "My name is Zacharia." He stood taller, smiled. His eyes started to examine Aidan carefully. "What is that," he asked, squinting his eyes and moving closer, "on your shirt?"
Aidan looked down at the image on his shirt. "It's a Rubik's cube."
Zacharia tilted his head, "A what?"
"A Rubik's cube." Aidan went on to explain. "It's a puzzle has different colors on each side, and you have to move each segment in the cube around to try and match the colors."
"A puzzle." The little boy tilted his head tot he side as if contemplating the word. But just as quickly, he straightened up. "Ok, noted." He said. "So, are you a human or a droid?"
"WHAT?!" Exclaimed Aidan.
"Are you a human, or are you a droid?" He repeated.
Aidan stuttered, with no real answer coming to his lips.
Zacharia tried a new question, "Are you a bleeder? Or are you a non-bleeder?"
Aidan instinctively pulled his hands up to his chest, as if to protect himself from the strange little boy. "Of course, I bleed!"
"So, you are a human!" Zacharia's face lit up. He circled Aidan, looking him up and down from his feet to his head and back again. A few times, he even reached out to poke him, and even pulled on his hair.
"We don't have a lot of humans in this part of the world anymore." He stated.
Aidan began to circle the boy in return. "Well, then. Uh. What are you?" Aidan took a quick inventory of the little boy but could find nothing out of the ordinary. He appeared to be seven or eight years old. His hair was dark and well kept in a clean hair cut. His eyes were a bright blue, and as far as Aidan could tell, he had ten fingers, two eyes, two ears, a nose and a mouth.
Zacharia piped up. "I am a droid! A non-bleeder!" He leaned in and whispered, "But Mom doesn't like me using that term. She says it violent. And we are not violent."
"Well that's comforting," Aidan mumbled.
"You must be a new breed of human," Zacharia said confidently. "Because I have never seen anything like you before. And I can remember every human I have ever seen."
Just then, a loud rumbling noise came from the vicinity of Aidan's stomach.
Zacharia stopped talking, his mouth falling open. "What was that?!" He leaned in closer to Aidan's stomach, fascinated. He reached a hand out as if to poke it, but Aidan quickly swatted it away.
"That was just me!" He exclaimed. "I'm starving."
"Ok." Zacharia stopped his examination and turned for the door. At the threshold, he stopped and turned back around. "Well?" He asked. "Are you coming?"
Aidan inched towards the door. His hunger was making him pretty willing to do anything. "Where?" He asked, peeking his head around Zacharia to look at the bustling scene in front of him.
"Down there, to the lunch floor." Zacharia was pointing to a floor in a building across the gap and about 12 stories below them.
"Ummm." Adian paused, taking a step back. "And how do you propose getting there?"
Zacharia gave him a quizzical look before stepping back and flipping what looked to Aidan like a light switch by the door. Instantly, and almost silently, a flying vehicle pulled up to the door. It attached itself to the door frame, and the glass side slid up, allowing you to step directly from the door into the car.
Once they were inside, the door quickly closed and zipped through the busy gap to the lunch floor. Even though it came within inches of other flying vehicles several times, it never once did it hit one, nor did Zacharia flinch at any of the close calls.
Aidan was quite pale when the car aligned itself with the new door and opened.
Zacharia walked out, unfazed from the experience into the empty room. The area was set up like a cafeteria, with rows of tables and chairs in the middle of the space. The only difference that Aidan could find was the large machines that lined 3 of the walls. It reminded him of the frozen yogurt shops his mom would take him to as a child. As they walked closer, Aidan noticed that each machine had a picture above it. The pictures resembled food that looked familiar but seemed just slightly different from what he knew. One machine had a picture of something that looked like a ham sandwich, except the bread was green, and the ham was hot pink. Another machine had what seemed like a chicken painted on it, except the bird's feathers were every color of the rainbow, and it's eyes were in completely the wrong place.
Finally, Aidan came to a machine that made his heart, or rather, his stomach soar. Before him was a picture he'd been hoping for, except, like all the others, it was just slightly off. There, on the picture was what looked like a bird's nest of blue noodles. And nestled in the blue nest was bumpy, white colored balls. Below the picture of the bowl, the sign read, "Spaghetti and Meatballs."
"Zacharia!" Aidan yelled. "How does this thing work?" There were no discernable buttons, just glass box about halfway down.
Zacharia stared at it for a moment, his eyes wide and his mouth slightly open. "I'm not really sure. Only humans need to eat. As a droid, I don't need food, only the occasional sun-charge. But, I've heard some droids talk about fixing these things. They grumble about 'stupid bleeders with grubby fingers, forever smudging the reader.'" The boys stared silently for a few moments.
"Try putting your thumb there." Zacharia pointed to a small, oval shaped glass button located towards the right side of the machine.
Suddenly, Aidan's pulse was racing. He could feel a slight sweat starting to break out on his forehead. He had no idea what would happen, but he was suddenly very aware that he was putting his hand a risk. He weighed the danger of losing a hand to starving to death before deciding a hand was worth it for some spaghetti. After wiping his now very sweaty palms on his pants, he reached a shaky hand to the button. He let his thumb rest on the button or a few seconds. Nothing happened. He frowned as he removed his hand, but suddenly, the machine beeped to life, giving a slight shudder. Lights started flashing, and noise stumbled from the machine. Both boys took an instinctive step back. Aidan was ready to turn and run. He was sure the machine was about to grow legs and come at them.
Finally, the machine quieted down. "Thank you, Mr. Carpio." Said the harsh metallic voice from the was sure. A door on the machine slid up, revealing a bowl filled with gray goop that, once again, reminded Aidan of frozen yogurt. His stomach flipped, and then it flopped. "What is that?" Aidan, who was starving, was now beginning to doubt how hungry he actually was.
Zacharia looked from Aidan to the bowl. "You must take it."
With a heavy sigh, a nervous heart, and a now disappointed stomach sitting mighty close to his shoes, Aidan took the bowl and spoon provided and walked to the nearest table.
Zacharia sat across from Aidan, his wide eyes moving from Aidan to the bowl.
Aidan spooned the goop, slowly raising the mush to his mouth. His face grimaced as he opened his mouth. But his eyes popped open again once the gray slime reached his tongue. The familiar and delicious flavor of spaghetti with tomato sauce popped and fizzed in his mouth. He could even feel the faint feeling of soft noodles being chewed against his teeth. Greedily, he took another bite. This time, tasting a delicious meatball explode in his mouth. He closed his eyes, savoring the flavors and the feeling of food hitting his stomach. It only took a few moments to polish off the entire bowl.
"Seconds!" He yelled as he popped back up and went back to the strange spaghetti yogurt machine. He pressed his thumb to the button, then let it go. But this time, the machine did not whir to life. The metallic voice came through the speaker. "Mr. Carpio, you have already obtained your portion of lunch food for the day. Would you like to use a backlog meal for seconds? You currently have," the machine paused, "164,250 meals on backlog."
"ONE HUNDRED SIXTY-FOUR THOUSAND, TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY MEALS?!? YES!" Aidan yelled. "YES! I WANT SECONDS!"
Aidan scarfed down four more servings of spaghetti mush before finally feeling full.
The food helped clear his head, and for the first time since he woke up, he felt like he could think straight. He paused, thinking about what the machine had said. That was a lot of extra meals.
"Zacharia, what year is it?"
Zacharia sat up a little straighter, "It is year 2166 in AD for humans. It is year 97 PHD for droids."
Aidan sat in silence, scrunching his face as he did the math. "150 years. Are you telling me that I have been asleep for one hundred and fifty years? What-How-- WHY?!"
Zacharia's body went stiff for a few seconds. Finally, he blinked but said nothing.
Aidan continued with his questions. "And what does PHD mean?"
"Post Human Dominance," stated Zacharia, very matter of factly.
"And that means?"
Zacharia's eyes darkened, and his voice deepened, becoming tinny sounding as he said, "The year droids gained equality against the tyranny of bleeders."
Aidan's mouth opened as he stared in stunned silence. He looked around the room, a little too frightened of Zacharia. A slow realization coming to him. "Where is everyone else?" He finally asked.
Zacharia's eyes lightened back up, and when he spoke, his voice was back to normal. "The few humans that do live around here eat on a very strict schedule."
"Why?"
Once again, Zacharia's body went stiff. He blinked, then repeated himself. "Humans eat on a very strict schedule."
Confused, and a bit alarmed, Aidan dropped that question. "And, where are all the humans right now?"
"The time is now 13:37, or 7 hours and 37 minutes past sunrise. Humans will be partaking in their afternoon naps until precisely 14:00."
"And, after that?" Aidan asked.
"At 14:00, humans must awake and take five minutes of exercise."
Aidan waited. Finally, once he realized Zacharia would volunteer no extra information he asked, "And after that?"
"At 14:05 all adult humans will sit at their desks and work on answering their currently assigned question."
Aidan was catching on. Zacharia would only answer direct questions. So he egged him on. "What is the question."
Zacharia closed his eyes. "Our systems say that humans are currently working on answering the question: Which came first, the chicken or the egg?"
Aidan's eyes widened. "In 150 year, you are telling me we still don't know which came first?"
"I know which came first. Droids figured out that answer in year three PDH. But once it was determined that humans must feel busy, droids created a list of questions for them to explore."
"So, how many questions have the humans answered?"
"This is number one on the list."
Aidan laughed. "Billions of humans on this earth, and we can't even figure out which came first. Amazing!"
"Billions?" Questioned Zacharia. "There aren't billions of humans on the earth."
"No?" Aidan's eyebrows shot up in shock.
"No. As of today, there are," he paused to compute. "Six hundred thousand, eight hundred and two."
Aidan's mouth fell open. "That's it?"
"Yes." Zacharia's answer was confident and matter of fact.
"But, how? That's not how it was when I went to sleep!"
Zacharia's eyes lit up. "Would you like to see?"
"Um.." Aidan paused dramatically. "Yes! Of course!"
Zacharia nodded, looking around suspiciously. "Ok. I will show you, but I can't do it here."
The boys cleaned up and made it back to Aidan's door in mere minutes.
Inside, Zacharia cleared space on a white wall while ordering Aidan to close all the blinds. They triple checked that all doors and windows were closed tight and locked.
Once the area was secure, Zacharia ordered Aidan to sit, then moved back and held his hand up, pointing it towards the wall. A light came pouring from his palm as a wall lit up, like a projector turning on to display a movie. Images started rolling across the screen.
Opening credits began, and the movie started:
~The Human's Downfall~
A voice began to dictate the pictures splayed across the wall.
"The year is 2050 for humans. The earth that humans have occupied for a couple thousand years has started to change very quickly for the worse."
On the screen, idyllic shots of green pastures and rolling hill and majestic ice-covered mountains gave way to gray dusty scenes of flooded streets and destructive storms.
"By this point in their history, humans had not headed the warning signs of the earth. In fact, they had ignored it to the point of disaster. With the melting of the ice, waters rose worldwide. Temperatures because erratic. Weather became extreme. Disease followed closely behind each catastrophe, and vast areas of the world became unlivable to humans."
More horrifying images followed. Pictures showing humans suffering and chaos flashed across the screen.
The voice continued. "Within fifteen years, the world's human population had been slashed in half, and then in half again, and then again. During this time, humans scrambled to reverse what they'd done. They worked tirelessly to find solutions to help them keep up. They developed machines for everything they could think of; from farming to transportation to entertainment and healthcare. Wherever there was a lack of humans, a machine was created to take its place. Machines were made to fix other machines, and eventually to build other machines. Humans needed companions, and they needed them to be smart enough to do the jobs on their own without human interaction. And so, droids were born. To make humans more comfortable, droids were made in the human's form."
Images of body parts coming down a conveyer belt flowed across the screen.
"By the year 2068, the scales had tipped. There were more intelligent droids on the earth than humans. Droids began to outpace humans in all aspects of life: in intelligent, in learning speed, idea creation, and efficiency. It was known then that the droids must do something to create change. After two months of quiet meetings, droids came up with a plan. Since droids controlled all channels of entertainment and communication, it was decided to start steering humans in the right direction. Humans were relegated to the only areas on earth habitable for them. These areas are called, The Neutral Zones. The climates outside of these zones are too harsh for human survival. But nothing is too harsh for droids."
The screen showed humans being moved by trains and boats and other modes of transportation. It then changed to a zoomed out view of the earth. Aidan gasped at what he saw. It did not look like the earth he remembered at all. Water and ice consumed areas where continents had once been. The middle of the earth looked like a giant dessert, and the top and bottom looked like white, desolate abysses. In a small area between the vast desert and the even larger polar ice caps, sat the only green swaths left on earth.
"Entertainment shows made droids the heroes. News articles displayed droids coming up with answers to the world's most pressing articles. Information channels began suggesting how humans should act, and where they should move to obtain the ultimate safety and comfort. It was not hard to convince humans of the greatness of droids. Humans had already spent half a century looking elsewhere for answers, and other places to lay the blame. After this short campaign was complete, an election was held where 100% of the winners were droids. And on January 1, 2069, droids took over official dominance of the world."
Images on the screen showed jubilant celebrations on the streets, with fireworks like nothing Aidan had ever seen before. Each firework displayed a perfect, instantaneous scene. Some fireworks were photos of people's faces; others were of famous landmarks.
The video continued. "To keep the peace, humans have been kept unaware of these transactions. Tasks have been sorted out for them to do to keep them busy and to give them purpose. As new humans are brought into this world, they are held in special holding locations to be trained accordingly. It is our goal to help humans increase their mental capacity so they can be more like us droids, although they will never reach our superiority. Now that droids rule, it is our mission to ensure perfection in the world."
With that, the video ended. Zacharia lowered his hand and went about the room to let the light back in. But Aidan was left motionless where he sat. His world felt as if it was coming down around him. He wasn't sure what to do, but he stood up because he felt compelled to do something.
"I...." he started, then paused. "I.... How? Why?"
Zacharia shuddered. And stared blankly at Aidan.
Aidan squinted his eyes at Zacharia. "Why do you do that?"
Again, Zacharia shuddered. "I do not understand you."
"What don't you understand?" Aidan could feel his temper rising. Why couldn't he answer the question? "WHY?" Aidan yelled, "WHY? WHY is this happening?"
Zacharia's body shuddered then slumped. His eyes closed, and Aidan was sure he was about to fall to the ground.
Aidan stared at Zacharia's slumped figure. Fear was gripping his stomach. If Zacharia was dead, Aidan was sure he'd be in for a slew of trouble. The least of which, trying to explain to someone else who he was. He reached out with a shaky hand to tap on Zacharia's shoulder.
With a shudder, Zacharia sat back up and opened his eyes. He looked around and blinked several times before standing up and opening up the blinds around the room.
"DUDE!" Aidan yelled. "WHAT WAS THAT?"
Zacharia stopped and turned toward Aidan as only just realizing he was there. He furrowed his brows for a moment. "I don't know."
"Well, why-" Aidan started, but again Zacharia's body shuddered. Aidan's eyes widened.
"Dude." His voice came out in a reverent whisper. "Oh. My. God. OH MY GOD!" He jumped around Zacharia. "Dude. Do you not know the word why?" Zacharia shuddered then blinked before looking back at Aidan.
"I'm sorry. I didn't catch that last work. Do I not know what?"
Aidan thought quickly. He realized that if he said the word, Zacharia would shut down. He patted his pockets, but then laughed out loud. He knew what he was looking for wouldn't be there. He was still in his pajamas, and even he wouldn't sleep with that!
"Come with me." Aidan grabbed Zacharia and pulled him to his room. Frantically he searched through boxes until he found the one he was hoping for. He opened the faded plastic container to find a pile of assorted colored markers. He then rooted around until he found a large piece of paper. He sent up a silent prayer that after 150 years, the markers wouldn't be completely dried out. And then, when he tested it and it worked, he sent up a silent thank you to his mother who liked to keep everything organized in sealed boxes.
Quickly he drew out W, then H, and then a Y.
"This word." He started to explain, "w-h-y. I won't pronounce it because it seems to make you shut down. But it's a question we use a lot. It means..." Aidan paused. He'd used the word for so long and had never thought about what it really meant. Oh, how he wished for a dictionary! Suddenly he remembered, he had one on his desk. He started sneezing as he swept the thick dust off his old desk. When he finally found it, he raised it over his head in triumph. "A dictionary!" He shouted.
"Whoa!" Said a wider eyed Zacharia. "Is that? Is that a real paper book?" He reached for it. Aidan clutched it to his chest. "Um. yes. It's a paper book." Really, he thought to himself. This Zacharia kid knew which came first between the chicken and the egg, but he didn't know what a book was.
Zacharia caught the look Aidan gave him and explained. "We don't have paper books anymore. Trees became endangered many years ago, and are now only found in select gardens. And anything made of paper was banned before the endangerment. Besides, we don't need paper books. All the information is either here" he pointed to his head, "or, what I can't store is kept in the basement storage."
Zacharia moved closer to Aidan as Aidan opened up the brittle old book and began searching. He came to the word he was looking for pretty quickly.
"Wh-" Aidan caught himself as he began to read aloud, "W-h-y. For what cause, reason, or purpose. Used to offer a suggestion or to say that a course of action is not necessary."
"We do not need that word." Zacharia waved his hand as if pushing away the word. "Now, can I see the book?" He was fascinated with the paper in Aidan's hand. He put it to his nose. He felt the pages between his fingers. He flipped rapidly through the pages feeling it's breeze on his face. "But this-- This book is fascinating. Can you not hold all of this in your head? Must you put it somewhere else for access? No wonder you don't know which came first."
Aidan let out a frustrated sigh and grabbed the book from Zacharia's hand, throwing it on the bed before dragging him out of the bedroom.
"Zacharia! Of course you need that word! How else do you know wh-" think quick he thought, "for what reason, things are done?"
Zacharia stopped in his tracks. "I have never needed to know that."
Aidan narrows his eyes. "So, you're telling me that if someone tells you to do something, like jump off a bridge, you'll just do it? You don't ask wh- for what reason?"
"Yes. Of course."
"Zacharia." Aidan grabbed his face and held it, so they were eye to eye. "That is a problem. If someone asked you to jump off a cliff, even you would probably die."
"Well, when you put it that way..." Zacharia looked at his feet.
"Right, so, is this a problem with all of you? Even the humans?"
Zacharia was motionless. "I do not have an answer to this question." His voice was full of surprise. There was very little knowledge that Zacharia did not have access to, this realizing he didn't have an answer for this astounded him.
"Well, let's go find out!" Aidan flung the front door open before remembering, rather terrifyingly, that he was a few hundred feet off the ground. "Right! I should try to remember that." He stepped back and looked for the button that would call for a vehicle.
After settling into the car, the boys looked at each other. "Well? Where to?" Aidan asked.
Zacharia paused. "We will go to Control Station."
Aidan nodded, not knowing where or what that was. But it sounded important. And was the words came from Zacharia's mouth, the vehicle flew off. Dipping wildly and banking suddenly to the left and right, they made it to ground level and zipped along to the most outrageous place Aidan had ever witnessed.
Bright screens lit up every available surface. And people milled about in all directions. No one looked around, they all just walked along. Those that were walking, or were stopped at an intersection waiting to cross seemed tied to the surrounding buildings by beams of light.
"What is that?" Aidan asked, pointing to one person within a beam of light.
Zacharia barely glanced his way. "Oh. That's just an information stream. If there any information we need to know, it's beamed down during idle times, like when you're standing still.
Aidan's mouth rounded out into a silent "Oh" sound. But then he got an idea. "Let's see if anyone here knows that word." Without waiting, Aidan walked up to the next available person. "Hey!" He shouted, trying to get attention. Finally, a young man stopped to look at him. Aidan didn't hesitate. "Why do you-" Aidan didn't even get to finish his question. The droid's eyes closed and it slumped for a moment before straightening, looking down at Aidan with his eyebrow's scrunched together and turning and walking away.
"Huh." Aidan walked up to another person and tried again, then again. Each time, he received a similar response. "Wow!" Aidan walked back up to Zacharia. "That is amazing. You actually don't know that word!"
Zacharia shook his head, "It can't be that important of a word then. It must have been an oversight for our programs."
"Dude!" Aidan yelled. "We've been over this. This. Is. A. HUGE. Problem. Now. Where do you usually go when you find something wrong?"
Zacharia just stood and stared. Aidan raised his eyebrows, waiting for an answer.
"We will need a repair shop."
"Ok. Great. And?" Aidan waited, but Zacharia only looked at him. "And? Where is there a repair shop?"
Zacharia closed his eyes. "There are several repair shops close by. The closest is- OH!" Zacharia's eyes shot open.
"Well? Where is it?" Aidan asked. "We need to go!"
Zacharia didn't move.
"What is it?"
"I've heard stories about this shop. Rumor is the droid that runs it is off-program. No one has visited this shop in years." Zacharia sounded as fearful as Aidan imagined a droid could sound.
"But we don't have any time to waste!" he insisted. "Let's go!" He started walking confidently down the road, not knowing which way was the correct way, or where he was even going.
Zacharia called out, "Oh, all right! It's this way."
Together, they walked off. But the closer they got to their destination, the more doubts Aidan began to have. They moved farther into areas that were less populated and shadier than the main Central Station. The road began to be filled with empty windows and padlocked doors. The stores that did appear open had lights that flickered and owners that stood at the window and scowled at everything that passed.
"Here we are." Announced a none-too-pleased Zacharia. They'd stopped in front of a rusty garage door that was only partially open.
Aidan bent down, "Hello?" He called out. He jumped as something small scurried across his feet. But still, he heard nothing from inside. He bent down again, searching for any sign of movement. "Hello?"
A slow gravely voice boomed from next to Aidan's ear, "GO AWAY!"
Aidan nearly jumped out of his skin. Turning, he found the voice coming from a speaker mounted up in the corner of the door. He spoke towards that speaker. "Mr... Er.... Sir.. We need your help."
"There are 657 other service shops in this town. Any one of them can fix the code that's allowed your hair to get that long. Now. LEAVE~" the voice roared.
"But, sir. I'm not a droid. He is," he pointed to Zacharia. "But I'm not. And I think I've found something wrong with their programming. All of them."
There was silence. And then the garage door suddenly lifted.
The man that limped towards them looked more like a caveman from days past than a droid adept at fixing other droids. His hair was shoulder length; greasy at the top, and snarled in curled clumped at the bottom. His eyes were a sharp and black, leaving Aidan feeling very cold. His face was covered in stubble from days of not shaving, and probably not bathing either, Aidan thought. His clothes were worn, with holes around the hem and on the sleeves. He walked with a cane, but the limp was pronounced. One leg could barely bend at all. He stopped a few feet away, just inside the door of the garage, and at the boys, hair falling over one eye. "Who are you?" he growled.
Aidan could feel the fear growing in his stomach but tamped it down. "I am Aidan, sir. Aidan Carpio. And this is Zacharia."
The man snarled at them both, staring them each down. "And what do you want?"
Aidan started talking excitedly. "I think I found something wrong with the droids. I think there is a word they don't know. And I think it could be a huge problem."
The man stepped closer, peering out into the street to see if anyone else was around. Thankfully, the street was empty. The motioned for the boys to come in. As they followed him in, he closed the garage door completely and killed the "open" sign that had been flickering outside. He walked them deep into the garage, into an office at the back, and then back further into a room behind the office. He shut off lights and locked doors as he went. In the back, back room, he motioned for the boys to sit on a faded, old sofa. The boys did as they were motioned and Aidan wrung his hands, more than a little nervous of what he'd gotten himself into.
"What do you know, boy?" The man growled as he took a seat on a rolling chair in front of them.
"Sir?" Aidan asked, timidly. "I'm sorry, who are you?"
Zacharia, who had been silent, spoke up. "He is not the droid who is on record for owning this place. He is a blee-"
"DO NOT USE THAT WORD HERE!" Bellowed the man.
Zacharia's eyes grew wide. And Aidan shrank from the man's voice. Zacharia finished his sentence quietly, "He is a human."
"My name is Akamai." The man said quietly as he sat back down and moved the hair from in his eyes.
"Akamai?" Aidan repeated.
Zacharia closed his eyes, and then spoke, "Akamai. It is a Hawaiian name. It means 'clever,' or 'intelligent.'"
Akamai chuckled. "Your walking dictionary is right, kid. On all parts. I am a human, my name is Hawaiian, and I am both clever and intelligent."
"But what about the droid that owns this place?" Aidan asked.
Akamai pointed at the wall, where springs and gears hung like a piece of artwork. "Let's just say; he's decommissioned."
Zacharia gasped in horror at the carnage of a fellow droid in pieces on the wall. Aidan could only imagine what it must feel like. He'd probably faint if he saw human guts hanging there.
"But how?" Zacharia asked. "All droids must report in each night with their daily records."
Akamai motioned to an antiquated computer in the corner. Lines of code raced across the screen. "He reports."
Aidan was sure he felt Zacharia shaking beside him. But he couldn't be positive, not with his own shaking.
"Tell me, boy. What do you know?"
Aidan took a steadying breath. "I have discovered that these droids don't know the word 'why.'" With the word, Zacharia shut down next to him, before quickly rebooting.
Akamai laughed. "Ah, so it seems you are correct. And tell me, Aidan," he pronounced it 'a-DAN,' "how is it you know the word?"
Aidan paused, uncertain of how to continue. "I... I am not from around here."
Akamai's laugh came out short and derisive. "You can say that again kid. No child human has been seen outside of the Hatch in 60 years. Now tell me the truth."
"The Hatch?" Aidan asked, sidetracked by the odd names in the present.
"The Hatch," began Zacharia. Aidan jumped, forgetting that he'd started back up again. "The Hatch is where all humans are born and raised. They are not released from the Hatch until age 21. The Hatch is the first step of the human lifecycle. Followed by their prime years in the Zone, and once they've reached age 41, they are sent to The Resthome."
Aidan's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "41 is pretty young for a retirement home, is it not?"
Akamai let out another scoffing laugh. "You ain't wrong, kid."
Zacharia continued. "After 41, humans begin to show too much age. Telling them apart from droids becomes too difficult. So they are sent there to age in private."
"If you think they spend the rest of their days there, kid, then I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you."
"Oh," Was all that Aidan could say.
"Now, tell me who you are." Akamai leaned in closer.
Aidan took a deep breath. "I am from- well- I am from the past. 150 years in the past to be exact."
Akamai was silent for a moment, nodding his head. "Strange. But I believe you." He leaned back, resting him arm on the back of his chair. "Most don't know the word 'why.' Even most humans have lost the word. They just go about their lives, doing what they are told without ever questioning it." He shook his head. "It's a horrible way to live, in my opinion." He got quiet and stared off into space.
Then he started to speak again. "It seems like an unnecessary word. But, let me tell you, that word has power. There is no other word like it in our language. It's the reason we make progress in the world. It shows your curiosity and desire for real understanding. Without why you just become a follower. You are not able to make a choice for yourself. You’re only able to make choices based on feedback from other people or things. It leads to weaker people, and weaker people mean a weaker society. And do you know what's happened to our society Aidan?"
Aidan, wide-eyed, shook his head.
"It destroys itself. It's destroying itself, Aidan. Humans can only inhabit two very small areas of this earth. Our neutral zones. The rest is unlivable. It's either too hot or too cold. And those areas we can live shrink by the day. And the weather is getting so bad that, pretty soon, not even the droids will survive. Life, as we know it, will vanish from this earth. And all because no one can stop and ask themselves, why. Why? Why are here? Why are we doing this?"
Aidan was quiet. Scared of what he'd just been told. "Do you think there's a way to fix it?"
Akamai's eye refocused on Aidan. "I've tried for years, but I've yet to find the solution. It seems, even my strange brain can't wrap my head around this. My training just isn't good enough." He paused. Then he leaned forward. "Hmm," He pondered aloud. "But you. What do you know about code?"
Aidan's eyes widened. "A little, sir, but I'm no genius at it. I'm not sure you can say I even know the basics."
"A little may be all we need. 150 years ago, you said? That kind of programming just might be exactly what we need." Akamai went to another computer in his room. With a few quick keystrokes, he brought up a few lines of code. "I've been working on this code for years and can't break it. Look at it. Tell me, do you understand it?"
Aidan spent a few moments looking at the code before laughing. "Of course. This is easy. It's just an if-then query."
Akamai's face showed his confusion. So, Aidan continued. "It just says IF this happens, THEN this will happen. It sets off a series of events when another event triggers it."
Akamai's face lit up. "How simple! Ok. What about this?"
They stood at the computer for a long time while Akamai pulled up line after line of code, and Aidan explained it to him. Eventually, they came to a stopping place. "These codes are a hundred years old, and no one's been able to decipher them. We've been thinking about it all wrong. Trying to make it harder than it actually was."
Aidan shrugged his shoulders. "Sometimes the simplest answer is the best."
They worked a little longer. And with the new, or rather, the old logic that Aidan was teaching him, they finally solved the issue that eluded Akamai the longest. If-then codes could make events happens, but they never made the computer or person question why the events were happening. They worked through the code, finding ways to put stops into the code, questioning why an event was happening.
"Now," Akamai said, "we need to spread this." He had a gleam in his eye as he thought about a solution.
"What are you proposing?" Aidan asked.
"We need to get this code into the droids' next upload. The fastest way would be getting it directly to into the mainframe."
"Ok! And where is that."
There was a long pause, and then Zacharia answered. "It's under Central Station."
"Well, let's go!" Aidan jumped up, but no one followed him. "Why aren't you guys moving? We have to get this done!"
Zacharia and Akamai both looked at Aidan. "It's not that simple," Akamai said. "We can't just walk into the mainframe room and just upload some new code. That machine is one of the most guarded objects on this planet. The droids will do anything to keep human hands off of it."
"Oh," Aidan sat back down.
They sat silent for a while. "But, we've got no other choice." Said Aidan. "So we have to go. We will get in there, and we will make this happen."
Akamai smiled and shook his head, "You are one crazy kid, kid."
"Well, do you have a plan?" Akamai shook his head at Aidan's question. Aidan turned to Zacharia. "Zacharia, show me the building plans for the mainframe's housing."
Zacharia closed his eyes and opened his hand, displaying a blueprint map onto the wall in front of him. Aidan studied the map, making mental notes of the doors and hallways that led to the big computer. Akamai joined him, and together they mapped out a plan for action.
****
An hour later, Aidan found himself, once again in Grand Station. It was still so overwhelming to him. But he had to keep his attention on the goal. He walked along with Zacharia beside him. Akamai limped along behind, stopping from time to time, trying not to draw attention to himself.
Aidan knew the way; it was etched on his brain. What he didn't know what if the doors would be guarded. To his relief, the first door they came to was blissfully vacant. The threesome moved through the hallways as quickly and quietly as possible, finally coming to the last door.
As Aidan was about to open it, they found themselves surrounded. Droids with guns draw circled the group. Aidan and Akamai quickly raised their hands above their heads, while Zacharia simply hung his head.
"Move aside Zacharia." The deep voice of a commanding droid said. "And thank you."
Aidan's eyes grew large as he looked at Zacharia. Zacharia continued to look at the floor. "It was my upload. I'm sorry." He explained. "I have to upload every day, and I couldn't stop it. Everything we've done today was uploaded, and the authorities caught it."
"Yes, and a good thing too. Now, all of you, come with me." The droids pushed Aidan, Akamai, and Zacharia away from the mainframe. They were taken through several hallways before coming to a large cell block where all three were forced in before the door locked behind them.
Zacharia stood with his head still looking down at the floor. It didn't take long for the men to leave before Aidan started in on him. "YOU!" He shouted at the droid. "WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?" But Zacharia never heard the question; he shut off at the word why. And Aidan let out a loud scream of frustration, fisting his hands and shaking them above his head.
"Sit." The quiet command came from Akamai, who had already sat in the corner on the cell. "It will do no good to yell about this now. Right now we need to think reasonably about this." He paused. "When is your next upload, Zacharia."
Zacharia paused. "It appears they've moved my uploads up from once a day to once every hour. So the next will be in" he paused, "50 minutes."
Akamai nodded, "Then we have 49 minutes to come up with and execute a plan."
Aidan looked from Akamai to Zacharia, and then back again. An idea budding in his head. "I don't think we will need all 49 minutes." Aidan looked at Zacharia with a gleam in his eye.
Zacharia looked back at Aidan, alarmed. "I'm just a droid, but I don't like the look you're giving me right now. Whatever it is, no. I've already messed up too much tonight.
Aidan slowly approached Zacharia. "I'm sorry Zacharia. But you could save the night too. You just have to trust me. I'm sorry about this but," he paused, "WHY?" He shouted.
Zacharia shut down, and Aidan shot into action, knowing he only had seconds. He lifted Zacharia's shirt, finding the latch he'd hoped would be there, and pulled it open, knocking Zacharia's power off.
Akamai jumped up. "Boy, I hope you have a good plan because you just took our 49 minutes down to 10 minutes, tops. Those guards will be back the minute they find out Zacharia is off-line."
"I don't need much more time, but I need your help," Aidan said, looking at the wires that made up his droid friend. He looked back at Akamai, "Where is the code?"
Akamai reached for the stick in his pocket and handed it to Aidan, realization dawning on him.
"Thank you," Aidan said. "If we can get this code into Zacharia's system, then we can get it onto the mainframe on his upload. Hopefully, they will run an upload as soon as he comes back online, and we won't have to wait. Now, tell me, where would I put this in a droid?"
Akamai laughed before shoving the kid out of the way. He worked quietly for a few moments, moving wires and humming as he worked on the main board inside of Zacharia's body.
Aidan stood guard by the cell's barred door. Listening for footsteps. Pretty soon he could hear them rushing their way. "Hurry!" He whispered. "They are coming back now!"
Akamai stood, closing Zacharia's panel. "No need to worry kid, it's done."
Aidan sighed with relief. "Great, turn him back on!" He reached towards Zacharia, but Akamai grabbed his hand.
"No!" He whispered urgently. "They will suspect something. Let them do it, let them be responsible for uploading the code." He pressed his fingers to his lips to tell him to be quiet. "Now, follow my lead. Lean in, so it looks like we are planning something."
Aidan raised his eyebrows, "Isn't that what we are doing?"
"Excellent!" Akamai whispered.
Just then, guards came swarming through their door; guns raised at them again. Aidan couldn't believe his luck. Never in his life had a gun ever been pointed at him, and now, he's had several pointed at him, not just once, but a second time in less than an hour!
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Yelled the commanding droid. Stepping forward and grabbing Zacharia from the ground.
Akamai looked at Aidan and then spoke. "We know Zacharia was recording us. We couldn't take any chances while we tried to plan our escape, so we shut him down."
The guard looked from Akamai to Aidan. Aidan kept his face as blank as possible. The guard looked back at Zacharia before starting him back up.
Zacharia was much slower to start up than Aidan had ever seen before. He was concerned for his friend. But soon, Zacharia's eyes lifted, finding Aidan first. Aidan gave an almost undetectable nod, signaling Zacharia to stay quiet.
"Upload," commanded the guard. Zacharia's eyes closed as the process started. Akamai and Aidan watched, almost unblinking while the upload took place. When Zacharia opened his eyes again, the humans unconsciously took in breaths and held them.
Suddenly, all the droids around them, including Zacharia slumped. Aidan gasped, Akamai let out a deep exhale. "It's done, kid. Let's go." He grabbed Aidan by the arm and started to drag him from the room. Aidan twisted from his grasp.
"What about Zacharia? I can't just leave him here!"
Akamai looked from Aidan to Zacharia before sighing. He walked back into the room and grabbed Zacharia, throwing him over his shoulder before walking out.
"What's going to happen?" Aidan asked as he hurried along behind them.
"Don't know for sure, kid. That mainframe has only ever been shut down once. It took an hour for it to come on again. But I can tell you; I'd rather not be in a room with gun welding droids when they come back on."
The humans walked back out into Central Station with the droid in tow. It was eerily quiet. Nothing moved, or hummed, or sang a tune, or beamed a light. Both Aidan and Akamai stopped and looked around in amazement.
"Wooooooow!" Aidan's mouth was wide as he looked around.
Akamai laughed. "You'll catch bugs with your mouth open like that kid." He reached over and shut it for him. "Let's get off the main roads, quick."
They hurried back to Akamai's shop, locking the doors as they slipped inside. They sat Zacharia down and watched and waited.
An hour went by, and then two. Aidan started to panic. "Oh no." He said, with horror in his voice. "I've killed them. I've killed the droids. I've destroyed humanity! Everything will die now, and it's my fault!"
Akamai let out a barking laugh. "You're not that lucky, kid. Just give it time."
Another hour went by, then suddenly, Zacharia lifted his head. He looked around. Then grabbed his head, as if it was in pain. "What happened?" He asked. "Was I clubbed in the head? It's killing me?"
Aidan stepped forward, "Are you ok? How do you feel?"
"I feel ok, other than my head. Why do you ask?"
Aidan's eyes grew wide. He looked at Zacharia and then at Akamai. Akamai's face mirrored Aidan's. They both looked back at Zacharia.
"What did you just say?"
"I said, I feel ok. Why?" Suddenly, Zacharia's eyes grew wide. "Guys!" He yelled. "I said it! I asked why! Why? Why? Why?!" Aidan and Zacharia linked arms and jumped around, screaming "why!" at the tops of their lungs.
Akamai laughed and watched on quietly. After they'd settled down, he spoke. "What's the news, Zacharia."
Zacharia closed his eyes and raised his palm. The projector displayed the news on the wall across from them. A newscaster as talking. "In an unprecedented event, the mainframe shut down today. Around the world today, droids have woken up from the reboot with a new program. The word "why" has been discovered. Or rather, rediscovered after its obsoletion from our language one hundred years ago. This new word is causing upheaval in our government. Suddenly, policies that have been in place for 150 years are being questioned. The dire effects on our environment, which we've been tracking our being looked at in a new light. In the 30 minutes since the reboot, droids have discovered 15 new answers to problems we knew about but had no fix for. Droid management expects that all world problems will be solved within the next hour. Strangely, a new ritual has also been added to our routine. Every day at 5 o'clock, all droids stop and look to the sky and call out, 'Thank you Akamai and Aidan!' Droids are still looking into who these two people could be."
Aidan and Akamai both barked out their laughter. Akamai smiled and winked at Aidan. "I couldn't help myself."
Zacharia stood. "I am being called home now." He looked at Aidan. "Will you be joining me?"
Aidan looked from Zacharia to Akamai. Suddenly, he missed his family with all his heart. He wanted to be going home too, but didn't now where that was. And he was tired. He was so tired. And he didn't have any answers for what to do next. Where should he go? What would happen?
Akamai patted him on the head. "Go home, kid. Get some sleep. Things will look better in the morning. If you need me, I will be here."
"My house is above yours, Aidan. I will be nearby if you need me too."
The boys said their goodbyes to Akamai who smiled and waived from his garage door. Aidan wasn't sure if he liked the smiling Akamai. It was a strange look on him.
*****
Zacharia stood with Aidan just inside Aidan's front door.
"It was a pleasure to spend time with you," he reached out his hand for a formal handshake. Aidan laughed as he pulled him in for a hug.
Zacharia was unfamiliar with that human tradition and simply stood, which his hand still extended. When Aidan released him, Zacharia asked, "Why did you do that?"
Aidan smiled, in awe of his friend's vocabulary. "It's a hug. Look it up when you have some time."
Zacharia tilted his head to the side. "Goodnight Aidan, sleep well."
"Same to you," Aidan said.
"Oh, I don't sleep. I'm a droid, Aidan, look it up when you have some time."
Aidan laughed as Zacharia turned to go. Instead of calling a cab to get him one floor up, Zacharia opening the door and jumped, catching the door frame and swinging up out of site.