There was a reason why all these memories of my captivity flashed through my mind. After a long time, discounting my bedroom fantasies with my friends, my hands were tied; I was a captive for the first time. Young Kael did not seem like he was going to be merciful to me at all. I had offered to leave my weapons and equipment in exchange for him taking me to his colony, but having my hands and arms tied was one thing, and stuffing a ball in my mouth and completely taping it shut... this, however, was crossing into fantasy.
"This is ridiculous!" I snapped, but Velsil sided with the boy, saying:
"You are not being helpful, Aldo! The boy is taking you to his colony, but you are afraid of being tied up! Have some dignity! You are a grown man, whining like a little child."
"I understand tying my hands and arms, but why is he covering my mouth?"
Velsil looked at the boy. The boy shrugged. Velsil then said, "He must have his reasons..." siding with the young man named Kael.
Of course, they would not side with me, because they knew I could take care of myself... I was Aldoux Weisshafen, who could escape any kind of trouble. The spoiled noble of the Weisshafen family... There is always a share of injustice in Aldo's actions, isn't there?
Kael's animal hide and a skirt made of leaves had replaced my clothes. I could feel the wind from below my waist circulating between my balls. If I were not Enhanced, I could easily imagine my balls shrinking and getting damaged from the cold.
Since my mouth was taped, I couldn't speak, but when the boy finally untied my mouth for me to drink water, I could finally take a comfortable breath. The forest of this planet was too chaotic, and it did not seem possible for me to determine my way. As Kael, who said the river's waters were clean, untied my hand, I was able to sit and sip the water.
The bad part of the story was that the damn Velsil, thinking I might still resist Kael despite my hands and arms being tied, had also given Kael an electroshock baton. He was pointing the baton at me as if he were holding a gun.
"Your lovers seem to hate you very much..." Kael said as I washed my face with the water I scooped up with my hand.
"Excuse me?"
"I am saying your lovers. Your alien-like friends, they look like they hate you."
"Where did you get that idea?"
"They did not mind me robbing you and tying you up at all. They even gave me this baton. It's as if they are trying to get rid of you..."
"Ah... They are not doing it because they hate me."
"Then why are they doing it?"
"Those fools do not know much about the outside world. Velsil wants to help you just because you are a child. Goma might enjoy me suffering a little bit. Besides..." I scooped up some more water and cooled the back of my neck, which was slightly scorched by the sun. "...they know that as an Enhanced, I am superior to you."
"An Enhanced? What is that?"
"Ah... Has that old man in your tribe not told you these things? Alright then. Let me explain it to you this way. Humans are now divided into four types. The first is simple Humans like you... Humans who have no improvements and have accepted mortality, though officially there should be no one left living as a Human in the Republic. No one willingly accepts death."
"What do you mean? There are no Humans like me in the whole Republic?"
"The Republic, with the latest decree of the Bioethics Oversight, has prohibited experimenting on Humans. Furthermore, a Human's right to request immortality has been accepted as a formal right if they are a Republic citizen. The Republic covers most of the cost if a Human wishes to become a simple Enhanced. By a simple Enhanced, I mean a Human who is only immortal. Becoming an Enhanced like me is really expensive..."
"Then what is an Enhanced?"
"An Enhanced refers to an immortal Human whose most internal organs have been improved with mechanical parts and certain hardware. The difference between an Enhanced and a CyberneticianHuman is actually..." I said, pointing to my head with my finger. "...related to the brain. We, the Enhanced, do everything by our own will. We have no control over our brain. Our emotions, hormones, and everything else are similar to those of Humans. But Cyberneticians are Humans who have also mechanized their brains. Since they also mechanize their brains, they can have greater enhancements. For example, if I wanted an arm that could turn into a gun, it would be very difficult for me to do this as an Enhanced. Because I cannot control the mechanism of my arm with my mind; my brain has not evolved this way. My brain lacks a signal that can command my arm to turn into a gun. I can only get this signal through a software intervention on my brain.
The Enhanced also constitute a very small portion of the population. Looking at official figures, most people are Cyberneticians. But official figures are always wrong. The Republic never observes a Human in the back alleys who is useless to its needs. It never recognizes them as a citizen. It is very difficult to become or remain a Republic citizen. For example, the CLAUDIS colonies... There are millions of unrecorded Humans in those colonies. Some might even be simple Humans. But who cares... In the end, even if you are a Cybernetician in that colony, your days are numbered."
"How so?" the boy said in astonishment. It was clear from the look in his eyes that he did not understand anything.
"You don't know anything, do you?" I pointed to the boy's head. "It's clean, isn't it?"
"These things you are telling me sound like you are making them up. It feels like you are trying to trick me..."
"Is that so?"
"Yes..."
"It is really strange that your elder has not told you these things..."
"Then what is the fourth?"
"Excuse me?"
"Normal Human, Enhanced, and Cybernetician... These all make three. What is the fourth?"
"Ah... The fourth is Neo-Human."
"Then what is that?"
"A Human's final evolution with mechanization... A Human navigating through software and numbers. You could also call it an evolved machine that has lost its humanity."
The boy asked the question with surprise. "What do they look like?"
"Some look like a statue... Some like a computer... Some are only in the form of software, within numbers... You will understand when you see one of them."
"What were you then?"
"You are not listening at all, are you? I am an Enhanced..."
"Prove it..."
"Prove what? What do you want me to do?"
"I don't know... If you are something superior to me, do something superior!"
"For example, I am more durable than you. The cold does not affect me, most poisons do not affect me, or I am stronger than a simple Human." The boy took two steps and applied the electric baton to my back. I was trembling in pain as the baton electrocuted me. "What the hell are you doing, you son of a bitch!" I screamed.
"Come on! You're an Enhanced, aren't you..." he said and poked me with the baton once more. I tried to grab the baton, but my hand was also shocked. "...what happened to being more durable?" Just as he was pressing the point, I felt a mechanical augment move inside me. When I grabbed the baton this time, my body had become more immune to the electrical current. As the electricity from the baton I grasped with my left hand passed to my right hand, I touched the boy with my right hand, and the boy was flung meters away by the shock he received. He had to let go of the baton as he flew. I threw the baton onto the ground and started walking toward the boy.
The boy was shivering on the ground from the shock of the electricity, looking at me out of the corner of his eye.
"Look, you idiot boy!" I said in a tired tone. "I did not tell you that the Enhanced are resistant to electricity! We are improved Humans... What Human is resistant to electricity, so that we should be more resistant. But as I can see from your eyes, you are asking this question inside... 'Then, handsome and perfect Weisshafen, how were you able to resist the electricity?' The answer to this is simpler... I am one of the expensive Enhanced. I have a few extra improvements." I looked at the boy writhing on the ground. "What happened? Was the electricity too much? And yet you keep poking me with electricity, you son of a bitch! Your ass and head start playing separately after getting a little electricity... Anyway... Let me dig here and bury you inside, or you will die from the electricity. You need some grounding..."
I wonder if you would be surprised if I told you that what we just experienced did not strengthen the dynamics between Kael and me, but rather made us look at each other with more suspicion? But it took quite some time for Kael to recover after the electric shock and be able to walk. That is why we had to set up a camp where we were. We could not continue walking all night.
The young man named Kael was used to living in nature. He had found a suitable location for the camp, arranged proper tents with only a few hours' work using branches and leaves, and had easily lit the fire. He had even disappeared for a few hours and returned with a few lizard-like creatures skewered on a stick.
"I am sorry, but I couldn't catch much," he had said.
I, however, did not want to sleep in the tent Kael made, so I climbed one of the trees, leaning my back against the trunk and lying on a branch. If you are Enhanced, sleeping becomes an option, not a requirement. Yes, your brain absolutely needed sleep because your brain was a primitive Human brain, but... The normal Human brain tried to use the energy of the body in the most efficient way because the organs could get tired very easily. When you are an Enhanced and your organs work in a more improved way, the brain no longer had to fulfill this duty as before. This situation took quite a load off the brain, preventing the brain from getting tired. In fact, being Enhanced had many small benefits like this for the brain.
That is why they say the brains of the Enhanced are smarter than the brains of normal Humans. An Enhanced's brain had little else to do besides thinking and moving certain limbs.
"I don't need to eat," I said, raising my hand.
"Are you sure?" Kael asked. "We haven't eaten anything for hours. You don't have to be modest."
Pointing to my heart: "These are improved organs... They work more efficiently than normal organs, so they don't need much energy. Especially after the electric shock I got from you, some might have even charged themselves with energy. I don't need food..."
"Suit yourself... So, are you not coming down?"
"No..." I said. "I want to watch the sky tonight."
Our journey did not seem like it would end soon. It was not normal for a young boy to be so far away from his colony. No, we had not encountered any dangers in the forest. Perhaps the nature of this planet was less dangerous than the nature of our idiotic and distorted planet. But still, it was unusual for a young man, whom I estimated to be around 23 (I am not very good at age estimation, especially for normal Humans), to be watching strangers coming to his planet instead of playing games with his friends.
"Did they kick you out of the colony?" I asked directly. For some reason, he had stopped taping my mouth shut after our conversation by the river. When the boy, who was pushing through the tree branches, moved in surprise, a branch hit him in the stomach.
"Where did that question come from now?"
"I don't know? You are around 23 years old..." My hands were still tied, so Kael was holding the branches for me too. "You are constantly nervous... You are quite far from your colony... You are even so reckless that you had no fear at all while spying on a Republic officer landing on the planet!"
"First of all, what's with the 23 years old, man! I am 15! Can't you see I don't even have a beard?"
"I don't have a beard either..."
"And I am short..."
"Velsil is also short, but I think she is past her 30s... At least it's been 30 years since the order was placed."
"An order?" The young man's eyes widened. "So you bought those women from somewhere?"
"I am aware it does not sound very good when you put it that way. Let me just say I got help from a friend who is a professor at Mars University." Seeing the boy get strangely excited, I asked, "What is it?"
"Well... Can women really be bought like that in the Republic? There is no such thing in our colony... You can't even be friends with women if they don't want to."
"Ha... Now I understand the burning sensation in your ass... You are womanless."
"No!" I could see Kael's face turn red with anger.
"You were spying on our girls, not me!"
"Absolutely not! I was gathering intelligence!"
"Bullshit, man!" I said and smacked the boy's shoulder with both hands. "We were once young horny bastards too, son! Who are you trying to fool? Come on! It's just us men, tell me!"
"I will tell you, but... But you will buy me a woman too!"
"Whoa, what the hell!" I said, coughing in surprise. "I will buy you a woman?"
"You bought one for yourself! What's the big deal if you buy one for me?"
"First of all, I did not buy a woman for myself. I bought companions for myself."
"To fuck, right?"
"Sure, we can say to fuck, but... Wait a minute! Hey, brat! Watch your language or I'll smack you so hard you'll come to your senses! Talk properly about my friends! They are not sex objects!"
"Then why?"
"Because I am a useless scoundrel... Look, Kael... I am not a person who can make friends easily. I don't get along with Humans very well either. Besides, I am not a very useful person. So, when my brother called me in to work as a resource collector, I knew I could not handle this job alone. I needed to work with Humans. But I couldn't get along with Humans, I couldn't trust them. Even when I trusted them, those Humans would start acting crazy later on and become a problem for me."
"So your brother got you the job. You have connections then..."
"Yes... I got in with connections... Ah, where was I? I needed Humans at the facility, so I went to an old friend and told him to manufacture a team for me. He then asked me what kind of thing I wanted."
"And you asked for extremely sexy women, right?"
"Damn it! Should we have had five men at the facility and fucked each other! I prefer the smell of women over the smell of balls wandering around the facility."
"So, to fuck!"
"Damn it! Yes, to fuck, you bastard!"
"So, will you buy me a woman?"
"Could you remind me why I would buy you a woman?"
"I was going to tell you why I was kicked out of the colony, and in return, you were going to buy me a woman."
"Why would I make such a deal? Damn it! Are all men this annoying when they are young?"
"You talk just like her..."
"Like whom..."
"Like Cheri..."
"I infer from the way you say the name that the owner of this name is a woman, is that correct?" When I asked, Kael nodded in affirmation. "You tell your story, and I will see how I can help you."
Kael sighed deeply and sat on a rock. I, too, lowered myself to the ground and began to listen.
"Look Aldo... Can I call you Aldo?"
"I would be happier if you called me Aldoux."
"Look Aldo... Our colony is not like your Republic. We cannot buy sexy women, or..."
"Sexy women are not sold in the Republic!" I snapped. Then I remembered the cities full of sin and added: "Well, they are sold in some places, but not in the way I got mine."
"Anyway... I am the great-great-grandson of the tribe's chief."
"So, the man you call the elder..."
"Yes..."
"So, doesn't that man have a name?"
"Jack..."
"Jack? I was expecting a cooler and more dignified name. The name Kael, for example, is a bit exotic."
"It has been more than hundreds of years since the man took that name, man..."
"True... Yes, Jack's grandson, I am listening to you."
"There is a girl in our colony. Her name is Cheri... She is a very beautiful girl. She is one year older than me, but she is the same height as me... She has green eyes and blonde hair."
"Yes, that sounds like a very interesting story..." I said in a mocking tone, but he ignored me and continued to tell his story.
"In our colony, some youngsters are placed in a separate status from others. The reason for this is... Some fulfill the needs of the colony, while others try to advance the colony."
"How so?"
"One part of the colony consists of workers who work to meet needs such as food, water, and shelter. We call them workers."
"People everywhere are called workers."
"The other part, they are called engineers, dealing with scientific research and such things. They strive to solve shortages and eliminate diseases."
"And what does this have to do with our topic?"
"Cheri was going to enter the selections. Since the engineers have a separate settlement and would live isolated from the workers, I also entered the selections, even though I was not old enough to live with her. Cheri passed the selections with her intelligence and became an engineer, while I remained a worker."
"What kind of selection?"
"They just spouted some things they called mathematics. Like, 'how many sticks do two sticks and two more sticks make?' 'There are 10 eggs in a basket, 8 are broken, how many are left?' They asked ridiculous questions like that."
"So, you could not do them?"
"Of course, I answered them, but they did not like my answer."
"For example, let me ask you a question right now... I have six pairs of shoes, four are torn, how many are left."
Kael started counting with his fingers in front of my eyes. Then he showed me his fingers and said: "Very simple! Four!" I had no idea what he had calculated by playing with his fingers. I did not want to press the boy, so I told him to continue the story.
"Then... I started working as a worker. And after Cheri became an engineer, she stopped talking to me."
"Everything you have told me is not enough for you to be a young man living outside the colony."
"Then one day... I found out that Cheri was being fucked by the engineers!" the boy said, clenching his fist in anger.
"How so? Engineers? You sound like you are speaking in plural... I don't understand if something bad happened."
"No... Cheri must have started thinking she was beautiful after becoming an engineer. And those engineers are very careless Humans. I mean... What I want to say is..."
"So your Cheri became a slut, then..."
The young boy pointed the electric baton at me and stood up angrily, saying, "You cannot talk about the woman I love like that!"
"Alright, alright!" I said, showing my tied hands, trying to calm him down. "As far as I understand, you got angry at your beloved woman's situation and left the colony, is that right?"
"That is not exactly what happened. I knew Cheri was having relationships with many men, and..."
"And..."
"And I wanted to have a relationship with her too."
"So, you wanted to fuck her?"
"Yes..."
"And what did she say?"
"She refused..."
"And then what happened?"
"The whole colony started to make fun of me. I had gained a reputation as the only man who was rejected by the slut girl named Cheri. I could not work properly or show my face in public. Some even said I was not a real man. I couldn't stand them anymore and ran away from the colony."
"Holy shit... That really is a sad story," I said, barely holding back my snickers.
Kael continued to speak: "I have no idea what to do. I am taking you to the colony now, maybe this will help me prove something."
"Actually..." I also sat on the edge of the rock Kael was sitting on. "...I don't know if taking me will prove anything. I was once a very unloved scoundrel myself. Aldoux Weisshafen, the disgrace of the Weisshafen family... I did not have to put much effort into earning this title. My family had strict rules, and I did not comply with these strict rules much. I did not watch my language. I ran around and caused trouble, messing with the settings of the worker robots. Everyone in my family was afraid to even breathe in the Weisshafen palace, while I did not even care... Damon Weisshafen, my father, was not someone I was afraid of. Because I did not care much about the wealth or status that man would bring me. So, I understand you very well. I understand what it feels like to be an outcast or to be seen as a stranger within a family." Then I pushed the boy up with my shoulder. "So, I will do you a favor. If a big chaos does not break out when I arrive at your colony... If I do not die or your colony is not destroyed, I promise you, I will help you take revenge on Cheri."
"How will you do that?"
"By making her jealous... I have a friend named Alora. She is quite beautiful."
"Will I fuck her!"
"Get the hell out of here, you pervert!" I said and slapped the back of his neck. "You will be friends with her. She is quite older than you! Even having a beautiful woman around a man is enough to make women jealous. The problem is... I don't know how to convince Alora. She is a bit crazy in the head..."
"How so?"
"She's gone crazy, that's all... Whatever... A promise is a promise. A promise between two men." As I said this, I thought about why I was trying to help this young man. Actually, the first reason was a heart-warming one. I had felt close to a young, outcast, and weak brat and had supported him. It was as if I was seeing the Aldo of the past in front of me. Especially his stupidity and ignorance were exactly like my young self.
The second reason was that I wanted to get Alora off my hands. Yes, she had just returned to the team, but I could sense that she would eventually become a problem for me. Maybe if Alora becomes our envoy in this colony, then I could convince Ilya to send Alora. Besides, why did Ilya want me to bring Alora back to the facility?