Synth

TO glanced at Lon, their ears flicking back, “Would you mind giving us a moment?” They asked.

“Lon can stay here.” Beck said with a hiss, “I don’t want to be alone with you in case you decide to attack me again.”

“It’s not for my benefit; it’s for yours.” TO said. “Also, I feel it essential to point out that you attacked me first. With your claws out.” TO was certain that their icy tone came through enough for a civilian to notice it even if they couldn’t read their ears. Despite that, Beck smirked and tapped on her communicator. Her message was obvious; She wouldn’t give TO any extra time.

“Very well.” TO said, clasping their hands behind their back, “I apologize for the intrusion to your personal business, but I overhead the conversation you had with Petra the other day.” Their ears flicked parallel as they looked down at her. “About why you don’t want to leave the planet?”

Her eyes went wide. It was strange: she had slit eyes, and they were normally relatively narrow, but in that moment they went big, and her green eyes looked nearly as black as TO’s own. She looked over at Lon, “On second thought... Could we have a moment?”

“Sure.” Lon said as he turned around to put some distance between them. He paused, and looked back, “But, no fighting, please?”

“So long as she keeps her claws to herself, there will be none.” TO said. Lon hesitated, but after a moment, he sighed and left.

“Right.” TO said, “That was a waste of a minute.” They took a deep breath, “I understand that you follow one of the old religions of Arkane-“

“It’s not against the law to do that!” Beck protested. “And before you say anything, I wasn’t evangelizing. That is against the law, and I wouldn’t do that. Petra asked me-“

“I have no interest in what’s legal or illegal at this point.” TO said, “I’m a former synth working with the insurgency. Even if I did take personal issue with it, I’d have no way to do anything about it.”

“... So you won’t report me to anyone? Not even when we get out of here?”

TO knew why she was asking; the law against organized religion wasn’t a planetary one, it was a galactic one. “Honestly, I don’t care enough about it to bother,” they said. “I do care about preventing as much death as possible at this point though.”

“Right...”

“And I understand that the reason you don’t want to leave is because you wish to have your remains put in the Oceans of Arkane when you die, correct?”

“Y-yes.”

TO was thinking fast now, making up the plan as they went. “Well, if that’s the case, then there’s two options. First; We can bring some water with us. You could keep it with you, and when you die, you can have your ashes put in that.”

Her eyes narrowed. “That’s not how it works.” She said.

“Then the second plan,” they said, “Is to get someone to promise to bring you back when you die.”

“Space travel is expensive.” She said with a huff, “I wouldn’t be able to find someone who was trustworthy, willing, or had the means to do that for me.”

“Space travel is expensive, yes, but I have a ship. I wouldn’t even have to land on the planet to put your remains in the water, so even if the planet was inhospitable to life, I could do it..”

“What do you mean?”

“Terraforming.” TO said, “During the terraforming process, sometimes additions need to be made to the oceans of a particular planet. Now, my ship isn’t equipped with that particular kind of container, but it is equipped for an orbital drop. The crates are easy enough to find. I could easily get one once things calm down. I’d rather not handle a dead body, so if cremation is an option for this process, then that’s easier. Even if it’s not, I’m sure I could still do this for you.”

She chuckled and shook her head. “You might have the means, but you forgot the other two factors: trustworthy and willing.”

“I’m willing to do this if it means you leave with us peacefully.” TO said, “As for trustworthy... Well, I suppose that’s a gamble for both of us. I’d be trusting you not to run away, or do something to the ship.”

In the moment of silence that followed, the alarm of Beck’s communicator went off. She frowned as she reached out for it to turn it out. TO, meanwhile, turned around to find Lon, “Lon, Do you have her things packed?” they asked in a voice loud enough for him to hear."

“More or less.” Lon called back, “Just need the stuff by her bed.”

“Good. Bring the bag over? we’re done talking.”

Lon came back and passed Beck a plain white sack with a few items in it. From the looks of things, all she had was the clothes she had when she escaped from the Indebted center, the communicator given to her by the insurgency, and a few personal items they had given her from others. When Lon held out the bag, she held it carefully as though it might bite.

“Just grab whatever else you have,” TO said as they took out their own communicator. They held it out to Beck, who looked back at them as though she didn’t know what they were doing. “Please. your contact information so I can you the directions to get out of the tunnels.”

“You’re still giving me the map?” she asked.

“You said I had three minutes, and those three minutes are now done. I promised to give you the directions and let you make your choice after that three minutes.” They said, though even as they said that, they were trying to think of a way to keep her from leaving, some last thing they could say to keep her from going.

“... You know.” They said, “If King Decon decides to kill everyone on the planet, there’s not going to be anyone left to make sure you end up in the water.”

“Then I’ll have to stay by the water.” She said as she held her communicator up, tapping it on TO’s own communicator. A moment later, TO was able to send her the information.

“The path is a bit winding, but it’s safe.” TO said, “It’ll take you into the outer ring.”

“Right. Thanks.” Beck jumped up from the bed and knelt on the floor, quickly throwing a few small things in that she had hidden underneath. A book, some small articles of clothing, and a packet of food. It was something given to all the civilians, just in case something happened and they needed a quick meal in a critical situation. She hesitated before putting that in her bag and looked up at TO.

“I should give this back to you.” She said.

“Keep it.” TO said, “It was prepared for you.”

Beck nodded, put the packet in her bag, and tied it up. When she stood up, she looked at TO for a moment as though she wanted to say something, then headed towards the door.

“... Please don’t go,” TO said, their voice so quiet that TO was half certain Beck couldn’t have heard it. She did.

“Why do you care if I leave or not?” she asked, “Why do you care if I go or not? You don’t know me!”

“...Enough people are going to die here.” TO said, keeping their voice low so that the others couldn’t hear them. “And I can’t help everyone. We can’t save everyone. We have a single ship, limited resources, and even if we had more resources, the pure logistics of getting everyone on the planet onto a ship to flee...” They didn’t know what else to say about it. “Enough people are going to die. You were kind. I’d like to be able to keep you from dying.”

She didn’t respond to that. She gave a grunt, which could have been taken any number of ways, then continued walking towards the door, passing by some of the civilians who were still there packing up their things. Once she was out of TO’s sight, they sat down on the abandoned bed with a sigh, putting their head in their hands.

“... You’re letting her go?” Lon asked.

“She’s not a prisoner.” TO said, “And... and at any rate, I promised her I would.”

They did promise that. It was a promise they made quickly, and without too much thought, but it had been the only way she would listen to them. They had one chance to convince her otherwise, and they failed.

“... She’s going to die, though.” Lon said, “If she doesn’t die because of King Decon, she’ll get caught and thrown back into the Indebted center, and she’ll die there.“

“I know.” TO said, not looking up, “Many people are going to die. Most of Arkane, actually.”

“But we can stop her from-“

TO looked up at Lon, their ears low as they gave them an icy stare. “What would you have me do?” They asked, “Should I attack her? Should I knock her out again and drag her onto the ship? That way, she can tell everyone that I attacked her again.” They sighed and looked back down at the floor. “I promised I’d let her go. I’m not going to break that promise.”

They had planned to knock her out and bring her if it came to that, but once they promised, they realized they couldn’t. If they prevented her from leaving now, when they got on the ship, she’d tell everyone that TO attacked her and lied to her. That information would create an exceedingly a volatile environment on an overcrowded ship rushing through space. Given that many were still on edge around them, allowing that kind of environment to persist was a disastrous idea.

As they were thinking this, someone came to stand before them. TO hadn’t even noticed; there was so much noise all around that their translators worked to filter out much of the ‘needless’ noise. The worn, patched black shoes stopping before them were the only thing that told them someone was there.

They looked up and saw Beck looking down at them. Her pupils were once more narrowed slits as she looked down at them.

They could assume the bigger eyes were a fear response judging by the context from earlier, but what of narrowed pupils? One of the few facial features that a synth might display was the disconcerting narrowing of their eyes as their ears pinned back and their lips curled to show their pointed teeth. Like that, everything about them seemed angular and sharp, which matched the dangerous levels of anger that the expression often foretold. Was this the same?

“Hey.” Beck said, “You were actually going to let me leave?”

They looked up, blinking in confusion, “Yes?”

“Why?”

“Because I said I would?”

She pursed her lips together as she stared at TO, her narrowed pupils focused on them intently, making TO feel jittery and nervous.

“Fine.” she said as she threw the bag on the bed. “I’ll go. But I want a plan for how getting my body back to Arkane is gonna work”