A CAPTURED MOMENT

CHAPTER 6

16.

Every day is surely a surprising one. There are times that it seems like nothing happened, but there are also instances that all of those happened in a single day. We cannot predict if everything will go the way as we planned, we can only anticipate. One's action equates to the level of surprise that they may get. The imprudence will add more spice to the surprise.

Imagine a scenario wherein someone needs to say something but no one can, not by fear, but because of wordlessness. That is the current situation of Alioth, Rigel, and Eezo. They were stunned, Alioth and Rigel are fully aware that they should say something before Luna freaks out. But they might get way more surprised than Luna.

"Okay, calm down.." Rigel said warily.

"I am calm" Luna immediately replied.

"I know that this might scare you, but it's completely safe. Don't freak out.." Rigel added.

"I'm not scared" Luna answered.

"I.. I can explain.. Just let me explain this and everything will be alright" Rigel said as he stuttered.

"Okay, cool. I'll listen" Luna responded.

"Wait…" Rigel said as both of him and Alioth suddenly realized that Luna is actually calm. "Why are you not freaking out?" Rigel curiously asked.

"I already saw him before" Luna said.

"WAIT.. WHAT?" Rigel loudly reacted as he and Alioth were surprised from what they heard.

"I saw you guys spray painting that huge robot in your backyard. Everyone thinks that you guys are just fooling around, being creative and crafty. But not me! I know there's something more to it" Luna explained.

"So you're telling me that you have been stalking?" Rigel questioned.

"Hmm… More like investigating rather than stalking" Luna intellectually answered.

"I'm actually confused right now…" Rigel said.

"Well I am actually amazed when I finally prove that this robot is something else!" Luna proudly said.

Rigel looked at Alioth, completely clueless on what to say next. Realizing that it is his fault, Alioth wrote "I'll just let her read my logs…"

"Yeah… I'll try to persuade her to keep this as a secret" Rigel replied.

"So how does this operate?" Luna curiously asked.

"Hello, I'm Eezo" Eezo responded.

"OOOWW, It's voice is actually cuuuuute!" Luna reacted.

"Later, come with us. We'll let you read Alioth's log. It contains every detail that you will ask" Rigel said.

"Hmm.. systematic, I'll give you points for that" Luna replied.

"Listen, can you keep this a secret?" Rigel requested.

"Hmm… Sure, but you also have to do me a favor. In fact, 2 favors" Luna negotiates.

Rigel heavily sighed and said "Okay, let's hear it…"

"First, you will let me hang out with Eezo. I want to fly too!" Luna said.

"What do you say about that?" Rigel asked Alioth.

"She basically knows everything" Alioth wrote.

"Yeah you're right, there's not much that we can do. Not to mention, she is usually too busy, she won't be around that often." Rigel replied to Alioth. "Fine, you are allowed to do so… What's the other one?" Rigel asked Luna.

"Hmm… You will do as I say" Luna said as she smirks.

"ARE YOU CRAZY? I WON'T BE A SLAVE. ESPECIALLY TO YOU." Rigel shouted.

"Relax, I'm not gonna abuse you or something, just gonna make sure you will pass your activities. Only school stuff related" Luna explained.

"UUGGHH. THIS IS FRUSTRATING" Rigel expressed himself.

"It's not that bad" Alioth wrote.

"See, even Alioth agrees with me" Luna mentioned.

"Fine! Do what you want!" Rigel irritatedly said.

"I always do~" Luna replied.

"Ahhh… I would like to reiterate my question earlier. Where should I put this?" Eezo intervened.

"Oh yeah, about that. Just stick it on the left side." Rigel instructed as he walked towards Eezo to tie the remaining plank.

The commotion finally settles, though this is not the type of trouble that they expected. Things will be more interesting now that a sudden turn has occurred.

Together with Luna, they all rest in their newly established place. The next couple of hours went catastrophic but in a fun way. Luna kept on telling stories about Rigel in school while Alioth enjoyed the tale. Of course Rigel defended himself, calling it way too exaggerated, in Luna's defense, she is just being as accurate as she could. The scenario could not have been more chaotic as one might imagine.

Completely comfortable with how things are going, Alioth suddenly realized something. He suggested that they should give the place a different name since it's not a secret place anymore. Making a valid point, the rest agreed with Alioth. The next hours were spent in generating a codename to their base.

"Here we go again, I admit that naming isn't my strong point. I'll just judge your suggestions." Rigel said.

"Hmmm… It would be cool if there's something that represents all of us" Luna suggested.

"Why would we do that? It will be great if it is something that reminds the 3 of us, you are not included." Rigel argued

"Ooooh, are you playing hard to get?" Luna teased.

"HUH?" Rigel reacted.

"I'm included, right Alioth? I'll bring food once in a while~" Luna bargained.

Alioth immediately nodded, definitely agreeing to Luna.

"Oh come on! That's cheating!" Rigel complained.

"You said that I should do what I want?" Luna sarcastically said.

Alioth genuinely laughed, enjoying the free entertainment in front of him. "You can't win" Alioth wrote.

"Don't start a fight that you can't win~" Luna added.

"I hope your rice at dinner is not properly cooked…" Rigel murmured, he knows that Luna's family loves eating rice.

Truly, there has never been an argument where Rigel won against Luna, maybe someday he will. After their heated conversation, they focus on generating a name that will represent all of them. Alioth looked around and he noticed that there are not even slight similarities among them. Rigel holds an athletic image, Luna shows the intellectual one, and Eezo is definitely one of a kind. That's the reason why he could not generate a name.

During their conversation earlier, Rigel told Luna that it was Alioth who gave Eezo it's name. The explanation impressed Luna, for her, it is actually brilliant. Inspired by it, Luna formulated a name but this time, she used the end of the letters of their name. Proud of her idea, she began to explain.

"Okay so listen up. Just like how you named Eezo, I tried it but using the end of the letters of our name. With that I created LAHO! It's meaningful!" Luna said.

"Not catchy, how's that meaningful?" Rigel questioned.

"Okay okay, in Filipino language, LAHO means disappear or to disappear. I saw how you guys flew, and it was majestic! Having that experience is unreal. If we are going to do things like those here, it feels like a situation where fantasy meets reality as we disappear from everyone! Thus Laho represents both our names and the escape from reality…" Luna discussed.

Amazed how Luna thoroughly explained it, Alioth claps while completely mind blown. On the other hand, Rigel is actually stunned by it.

Luna noticed how speechless Rigel is, she smirk and said "I know you are impressed but you can stop staring at me now~"

Rigel immediately looked away. "I guess that's not bad, it will be your contribution, you did not help build this anyway" Rigel said in a low voice.

"I guess that is settled, all in favor of the name LAHO raise your haaaand~" Luna said as they all raised their hand.

"Quick question, how do we use it? Like a noun?" Rigel asked.

"Hmm.. more like a verb. When we say let's disappear, you can just replace disappear with LAHO." Luna explained.

"Let's LAHO… It kinda doesn't feel right.." Rigel said.

"Yeah you're right, oh I know! Let's use it in our language. The translation of Let's disappear is Maglaho tayo. Try it!" Luna suggested.

"Meg… Laho.. Teyow?" Rigel said as he tried to pronounce it.

"Hmm.. try pronouncing it harder. MAG-LA-HO-TA-YO" Luna instructed by syllables.

"Maglaho tayo?" Rigel said.

"That's better! That will be our code!" Luna said.

Alioth tries to write the way he heard them. "Mag LAHO tayo" he wrote and showed them.

"That is precisely correct! You are good with spellings!" Luna complemented Alioth.

"This feels better than before. A code where not everyone can decipher. It's official then!" Rigel energetically said.

The whole day was filled with all sorts of things. Creativity, crafting, teasing, learning, and of course having fun. The kids spend their whole time in their new place, they ate the food that Rigel and Alioth brought, good thing they packed an extra. As the sun settles, they all head to Alioth's house to fetch the notebook.

17.

As they leave the place, it was that moment where Luna finally saw the invisibility feature of Eezo. She realized that it was the technique that they do in order to sneak around the neighborhood. They all walk and proceed to their next destination. Upon entering the small town, they once again came across McPilly.

"Ow Hello there!" McPilly greeted.

"Good afternoon McPilly! You look good today" Rigel greeted.

"Weeeell as always!" McPilly answered, he then realized something and halted the kids " Wait a minute… You frequently go this way.. I'm starting to think…"

Alioth and Rigel start to feel a little bit nervous, McPilly is a guy that they don't know how to control once he knows everything. No one knows what goes inside of McPilly's head, they are in danger if he starts to be suspicious about them.

"You guys… You love this street!" McPilly said.

Alioth and Rigel exhale freely as they somehow manage to escape McPilly's suspicion. "Woooow, you really are an observant one!" Rigel said as Alioth and Luna laughed awkwardly.

"They wouldn't call me the Eagle eye back in my military days. I can see everything! This street is also my favorite, not to mention, I live nearby" McPilly replied.

"Yeah, the street lights were brighter here. Bye now~" Rigel said as they all continued walking.

McPilly continued walking as well but he suddenly trip to Eezo's foot. Eezo is currently invisible, there is no way for McPilly to avoid it. Luna and Alioth immediately helped McPilly to stand as they saw him first.

"Are you alright?" Rigel asked.

"Yeah yeah, I just tripped, though it is completely out of nowhere… It feels like I hit something." McPilly said.

"Maybe there's some bulky part of the road. I sometimes tripped here as well" Luna said even though they are all completely aware that McPilly tripped from Eezo's foot.

"She's right, they should fix the sidewalk" Rigel added.

"I don't think that it's the sidewalk… The road is completely flat, I've checked it. Listen, you might think that this is crazy but this street is actually mysterious. Y'all claim that you tripped here before, though this is a completely fine sidewalk. There's this one time that I felt warm from a certain spot here, then it completely changed afterwards. You kids should be careful, I feel like there's an alien hiding in this street. Someday, I'll catch him…" McPilly seriously said.

"Or At least that's what I'll do if it's real. There's no way that can be real, right?" McPilly asked the kids

The kids gulp nervously, now they know that McPilly is a guy that they should be cautious with. "Yeah… hehe.. You're right.. We.. we'll be going home now" Rigel said in a stuttering manner.

"Aight! See y'all around again!" McPilly responded. When the kids were quite far, McPilly whispered "I better check the other streets".

The kids immediately walked as fast as they could. They know that they should be way more cautious than before. It did not take them that long to reach Alioth's home. Luna and Rigel wait outside while Alioth gets the notebook. Once done, Luna went home while Rigel accompanied her. Luna promised that she will return the notebook tomorrow. As they gain some distance from Alioth's house, Rigel starts the conversation.

"You probably know about the recent car accident right?" Rigel asked.

"Yeah, I read about it in the newspaper. Tragic, if I may say" Luna answered.

"So you are fully aware of Alioth's story?" Rigel added.

"Only what the news said, I did not pry that much coz I feel sorry for your cousin. I actually realized that it was way harder than I imagined since he is mute." Luna responded.

"He is not actually mute, he stopped talking after the accident. It's because of the trauma. At first, we could not even get a response from him. Though after some sessions in his therapy, he starts to interact, and now he writes his thoughts" Rigel explained.

"I'm glad to know that he is doing well. I'll be happy if I can offer some help" Luna said.

"If that's the case, whatever you read in that notebook, don't tell anyone. Eezo has been a huge help to him. I don't know what will happen to Alioth if something bad happens to Eezo" Rigel replied.

"Now, I fully understand the picture. Don't worry, I'll keep my word." Luna firmly said.

"I know you will.." Rigel responded.

"You know… You are not that bad after all" Luna mentioned.

"What do you mean?" Rigel asked.

"You care that much about your cousin. Not like everyone would do that." Luna explained.

"Of course I care, he is part of my family" Rigel immediately answered.

"And I think it's kinda sweet" Luna responded.

Rigel blushed and was stunned from what he heard. "You.. You are playing with me again!" Rigel shouted.

Luna laughs as she teases Rigel. They finally reached Luna's home, she then said goodbye as she went inside.

"Sino yun? Jowa mo? (Who's that? Your boyfriend?)" Christian loudly asked.

"PAPA! OF COURSE NOT!" Luna shouted as she pushed her father inside of their house.

"Jowa…?" Rigel curiously said. "Nevermind, it's probably not worth knowing" he added as Rigel walked back to his home.

The surprising day comes to an end, every single one of them has to do their own tasks. Alioth cleans Eezo, Rigel starts doing his activities, while Luna reads the notebook. They are at the age where responsibilities slowly equate to the amount of freedom that they have. Their actions will define the outcome that they need to deal with.

Sunday once again came, everyone was doing their best to accomplish their prior duties. The designated time for their meet up was after lunch. This is to ensure that it is a leisure time for them. They can stay at their place until they are allowed to do so, meaning to say as long as their parents are fine with it. In the case of Alioth, Milly acts as his guardian.

This kind of setup is only applicable every weekend. Alioth and Eezo need to stay inside of their house from Monday to Friday. Going to their place everyday will raise suspicion and not to mention, Rigel and Luna have school to attend to. The said rule can be tweaked if the code "MAGLAHO TAYO" is used. That code is for an emergency meeting or just for wanting to breathe, depending on how it was used. Alioth, Rigel, and Luna can always message each other since they already formed a group chat, useful for this kind of setup.

The time for their meetup finally came, everyone relatively arrived one after the other.

Alioth looks around, both Rigel and Luna look tired. "Lack of sleep?" he wrote.

"Yeah, I kinda finished everything last night…" Rigel said as he yawned.

"In my case, the notes kept me up all night. I guess that's a bit much to handle.." Luna tiredly said.

"But you know, I'm good! I'm up to everything. Do you want to do something?" Rigel asked Alioth.

"I'm fine as well, I don't want to miss my first extraordinary experience" Luna added.

Alioth actually does not have any idea on what they should do for that day. Him and Rigel already suggested what they want while Luna looks forward to their first bonding. After a couple of seconds, Alioth wrote "Eezo will decide".

18.

Rigel and Luna don't know what Alioth exactly meant. Both of them are aware that Eezo is a responsive type, which means Eezo will only act if there's a direct command to it. Even with certain questions, they gave the benefit of the doubt and let Alioth ask Eezo.

Alioth wrote "Do you want to do something?". He then showed it to Eezo.

"What do you mean by it?" Eezo asked.

Alioth erased his writings and replaced it with "Exactly what it means"

"But master, we, sentient robots, were programmed to follow. We were only allowed to create minor decisions based on the current situation as long as the adjustments will finish the task, but we cannot formulate new tasks for ourselves." Eezo explained.

"It's like when you are going from point A to point B. You can have options, detours, as long as you reach point B, but you cannot add points C, D, E." Rigel responded.

"Affirmative." Eezo replied.

"That kinda makes sense…" Luna commented.

Alioth is still puzzled, he cannot understand why Eezo cannot decide for himself, considering the fact that it was Eezo who pushed him to swim even though he did not say any word. He then realized what if he ordered him to do so, letting him do what Eezo wanted as a task. "I order you to formulate an activity you wanted for us" he wrote.

Rigel and Luna were impressed, it is actually a loophole to the condition. Forcing someone to think freely is an absolute irony but it somehow makes sense. With that, they wait on how Eezo will respond to it.

For a highly advanced robot, this is the first time that Eezo's capability were challenged. "Please wait for a few minutes" Eezo said.

"Wooaaahh, you are making him sweat! Well robots don't have glands but you know what I mean!" Rigel said.

"It shows that Alioth is the worthy opponent to Eezo's features" Luna added.

Indeed, they took quite some time on this one. After a couple of minutes Eezo finally came up with something.

"Done, for the activity that can represent free will, I choose drawing" Eezo said.

"Drawing?" Luna disappointedly reacted.

"Do it and we'll tell Eezo to lift you so you can try flying" Rigel whispered.

"DRAWING!" Luna enthusiastically said.

"Sounds fun!" Alioth wrote.

"We lack materials tho" Rigel mentioned.

"I have some! We can get those items. It won't take that much time" Luna suggested.

"What do you mean by we?" Rigel questioned.

"It means you and I. You are coming with me" Luna answered.

"I don't want to, go get those on your own" Rigel irritatedly said.

"But I can't carry all of those…" Luna replied in a cute yet manipulative way.

"FINE! Come on, let's start moving" Rigel responded.

Alioth laughs as he watches the two argue once more. Luna and Rigel immediately proceed to get the materials while Alioth and Eezo wait in the hut.

Alioth suddenly got curious. "Why drawing?" he wrote.

"As I observed, everytime you write something as a response, you put your thoughts on the canvas. I analyzed all the possible angles to formulate an activity that will help me to experience what you are doing. In conclusion, drawing has the same principle, therefore the activity that I suggested" Eezo explained.

"You haven't tried drawing something?" Alioth wrote.

"I haven't received such task" Eezo replied.

"Is there something that you want to draw?" Alioth added.

"Negative. There is no particular subject yet" Eezo answered.

"Let's draw what we want then!" Alioth wrote on his whiteboard.

"Will do as you please, Master Alioth" Eezo said.

Subsequently, Alioth and Eezo can hear someone arguing miles away. They instantly realized that it must be Rigel and Luna, making their way back. Their guesses were proven as Rigel and Luna showed up.

"Tada!" Luna said as she presented all the items that they brought inside the bag.

"To be honest, we don't need this much" Rigel argued.

"More is better than less! At least we have multiple varieties and tools" Luna replied.

"LET'S START!" Alioth wrote and excitedly showed it to everyone.

The artistry finally comes to the scene as everyone gathers their preferred tools. The canvas is limited to long bond papers but it is not the same thing for the drawing materials. There are different sorts of pencils, crayons, even acrylic paints, as well as paint brushes. In a very peaceful view on the top of the hill, near the forest, the only limit is their imagination.

It is the first time that the place becomes silent even though everyone is present. The only noise that they can hear are; the chirping of birds, the whisper of the wind, the swaying of branches as the leaves hit each other. Drawing may sound boring to some, but the depths on how a person transpires their thoughts into the canvas is a different level of difficulty. Everyone was driven by the moment, creating something the way they feel as they give life to the canvas.

After approximately 2 hours, everyone is finally done. They decided to have a presentation of their work, one after the other. Rigel holds different sizes of stick, each will get one, and the shortest will start while the longest is the last one. Shortly, the arrangement is Rigel, Luna, Alioth, then Eezo, thus the presentation started.

Firstly, Rigel.

Rigel holds the long bond paper, facing the audience. Using a wide variety of colors, Rigel drew the place that they are staying in, how it looks from a quite far perspective, though quite in a mediocre skill level. The color ranges from Green, Brown, and mostly light blue, exactly how everything blends in nature. He then started to discuss his creation. "I do apologize since I'm not skilled in drawing. I drew this place. It used to be some random branches but now it is a hangout place, which I actually love. This place will make me remember many things in the future so I drew this place."

*Everyone claps softly*

"Nice drawing, you are improving" Luna commented

"Colorful" Alioth wrote.

"Okay, I'm done, neeeeext" Rigel said.

Second, Luna.

Luna stood up, walked towards the center as Rigel went to her previous place. Everyone was stunned as they looked at Luna's artwork. Using only two colors, Blue and Green acrylic paint, she crafted an abstract form of art wherein the colors sway and swirl, like 2 leaves dancing in a lake. Luna proceeds to explain her craft. "The place kinda gives me this vibes, well mostly the skies. I love the view here, it feels like I'm in the middle. The forest is beneath me while the skies are above. I just paint how I feel at the moment."

*Everyone claps softly*

Alioth wrote "Aesthetic"

"You are not that bad, my drawing is better!" Rigel said.

"You know the truth~" Luna responded.

Third, Alioth.

In Alioth's case, he holds the drawing while Rigel reads the explanation that Alioth wrote in a separate bond paper. Alioth drew a cartoon-like version of everyone in the hut. He only used pencil as he sketched different tones to create further details to his creation. Rigel then reads Alioth's explanation. "I drew everyone here, the first one from the left side is me (Alioth), next Eezo, then Rigel and Luna on the right side. I hope we can all be great friends"

Everyone was touched, not mainly from the drawing but more on the message to it. Alioth may have beginner drawing skills but his intentions were as pure as a child.

"Of course we will!" Rigel immediately said after reading the last part.

"Aaawww~ we are here for you!" Luna responded.

"My mission is to help Master Alioth, therefore will do as he says until the task is accomplished" Eezo stated.

Lastly, Eezo.

Generally like the others, Eezo follows how everything happened. Using a marker, the only thing that is drawn to the canvas is a diagonal shape with a plus sign in the middle, connecting the upper to lower part, as well as the each side.

"A kite?" Rigel asked.

"Looks like a symbol…" Luna mentioned.

"Crystal?" Alioth wrote.

"I observed everyone here and I realized this thing. I don't know the reason behind it, I'm having trouble scrutinizing the details, but for some reason this represents us" Eezo explained.

"It feels weird to hear that from a sentient robot that can do everything…" Rigel said.

"Let's just use that as a symbol" Luna added.

Alioth is creating his own theory inside of his head. Maybe they are the four corners and the lines connect them all, like how everyone is individually linked to each other. It could be it but theory remains as a theory until proven.

The artistry activity finally comes to an end. Luna used her monopod to take a selfie while everyone was holding their artwork, thus they proceed on playing around as the sun will eventually settle.

-Days like these might be too simple. It may be irrelevant compared to other milestones but the sentiments make this memorable. A captured moment, and will be remembered at that point of time.