A Fabricated Memory

As she drives the vehicle memories of the past begins to resurface. She begins to remember the moments she had with her mother when she was still young. The times she spent with her. The moments that made her life peaceful. But as the memories linger, so did the bad ones. She begins to remember the very moment where her mother would leave her for the Threshold. A moment in time that she wishes she could have change but could not even if she could. The guilt of leaving a child to a father figure, who has no familial connection to her or her mother. Yet with a tap from V, the lingering stops.

"Are you alright?" V asked.

"You seem to be in a state of sadness."

Domina look at him, her eyes sparkling from the tears that befall while she remembers.

"I'm fine. I just remembered a story I read before, that's all." She lied.

"Are you sure?" V asked.

"You don't seem to cry that much from a story."

"Did you look at information about me from your database?" She changes the subject.

"Possibly. But is the crying because of your mother?"

She goes silent. She did not want V to know that she was because she would sound weak, but she also did not want to lie because V would also found out. So she left him in the dark without an answer.

"I'd take that as a yes." He said.

"Do you miss her?"

"A little I suppose." She answered.

"My mother was someone special to me. She cared for me." Domina said as she held her grip tight on the steering wheel.

"Without her I wouldn't have survived this wide world that we live in." She continued.

"That is, if the Dominators don't eradicate the entire world." V remarked.

"That's nice of you to change the mood." Domina sarcastically replied.

"Which reminds me, I never knew your name..." she continued.

"I am V." He answered while staring at her.

"Like the letter V?"

"Yes." He replied.

"A pretty strange name for a machine." She remarked.

"Would you like me to change it?"

"No. I think that name sounds fine." She says while smiling.

"There are still tears in your face." He remarked. "You should wipe them."

He says while attempting to get his hands closer to her face. But Domina notices and stops him.

"I don't think that's necessary." She told him.

"Do you at least have something to wipe it with?" He asked.

She reached to her pocket and grabbed a handful of tissue. V was surprised. He did not expect that.

"I came prepared." She said proudly.

For about 2 hours, they drove along the road. While Domina focused on the wheel V goes back and forth on the database and checks if there was anything odd about the information or anything standing out that he might have overlooked. This cycle went for quite a while until Domina went to stop for a break and parks the vehicle on the side of the road. V was confused.

"Why are you stopping?"

"I am taking a break V." She answered.

"I can't drive forever unless you can take the wheel for me."

"I could try." He replied.

"I could do a quick review of every information I have on driving on my database."

"Wait why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"Because I thought you'd be driving until we reached our destination." He told her.

"Well, too bad… Now, it's your turn." She says as she dozes off to sleep.

As Domina enjoys her slumber V carried her carefully on the other side of the car then attempted to drive the car. Okay, let's see how this works. He tries to put his grip onto the wheel and as he did that, he also placed his foot on to the pedals. With one push from the pedal, the car has has move. I think I did it. He thought. He slowly then did a cycle of push and pull onto the pedals until he could get the hang of it and soon enough he was finally driving it. After learning the basics he created an algorithm in his computer for driving and attempted to link it with his motors for easy understanding. By the time she wakes up, V has already driven the vehicle for a couple of minutes.

"Sounds like you manage to work up the vehicle on your own V." She remarked.

"Thank you" He replied.

"All I did was a couple of memory lessons from my database, compiled them into an algorithm inserted it on my motors and I was good to go." He explained.

"Geez. Just for driving. Quite a complicated task for a machine." She remarked. "But weren't you a human before?"

"I'd like to think so." V answered.

"Then how come your human self can't remember these things, like driving?" She asked.

"Once we become a Dominator, we lose certain aspects of ourselves." He explained. "We lose our feelings, memories and everything that make us human."

"What happens to those aspects?" Domina asked.

"They disappear and become replace by killer instincts and a blinded loyalty to the Grand Moderator."

Domina went silent. Deep inside, she feels bad towards V. A Dominator who lost all his humanity because of one's ambition to control the world. It didn't seem fair to him. But one question remained. What made him defect and accepted her task? Is it because of a lack of a better purpose or because of a greater reward? One thing's for certain is that he has a greater calling than what his creator had in mind. Finding her mother.