A Human?

*Tmp, Tmp*

The sound of something tapping upon Indra's head came.

*Tmp, Tmp*

~System rebooting. Conscience activation- successful. System in full functionality.~ Indra's voice came.

The black that Slate had seen before now faded, becoming the scenery of the forest as his vision returned.

"I dunno. Seems like it's not even functional anymore, I haven't gotten any response from it." Came a female voice.

"Meh, it's stupid technology. All ya gotta do is kick it and it will start working."

*TUMP*

Something struck Slate in the side.

"The hell..?" Slate clasped his head, looking up.

"See? Told ya. It's working now."

Slate saw a large man and a young girl standing before him, both human. The girl knelt down before Slate, looking him in the eyes.

"Hey there, scrap pile. Are you a Utopian by any chance?"

"I-wait.. are you.. humans?" Slate asked in surprise.

"Uhm.. yeah? I mean, what else would we be? What else do we look like?"

"I thought all the humans were dead..?"

"No, we are just good at hiding." The girl spoke.

Indra stood to its feet.

"Huh." The man walked forward, tapping his knuckle against Indra's chest. "You seem to be in perfect condition. Other than a few scratches here and there."

"How did you end up here anyway? Just wandering?" The girl asked.

"I would like to ask you how you are even alive. I thought the only living humans left were the ones who created the Utopians."

"What? You mean… the guys from the UHDC?" The man asked.

"UHDC?"

"You don't know what that is? Really? The Utopian Humanity Defense Corporation?" The girl inquired, raising her brow.

"No.. I don't have any memories of my past."

Both the man and the girl blinked in surprise, glancing at one another. "Uhm.. may I ask, how long ago did you wake up?" The girl asked.

"Yesterday… why?"

The girl sighed. "Wooo. Well. This is gonna be a huge surprise to you but… the UHDC is gone. All the people you are thinking of… they are dead. That all happened about… two hundred years ago? Two hundred and fifty?"

"Wait… so you mean.. everything I've been told to fight for.. is gone?"

"Not necessarily. I mean, there are still humans? So you could, in theory, kill all the Ligrass and free us but, well, that's hopeless. Most of the Utopians are either dead, rogue, or they have given up." The girl spoke. "Oh, and my name is Amiyah. This is Milo." She motioned to the man.

"My name is Slate, although, my unto goes by the name of Indra." Slate answered. "May I ask, what if the Utopian's bodies..?"

"Lost. Nobody knows what happened to them, although, we do know they were not destroyed. Someone took them and now… well. They are missing. They might still be out there, and they might not." Amiyah spoke.

Slate looked down at his cold metal hand. "So then… what purpose do I even have for living..?"

"Hey, I got it." Milo said, "if ya don't know what ya wanna do with your life, you could be our personal bodyguard."

"Milo!" Amiyah hissed.

"What?"

"Bodyguard?" Slate asked, confused.

"Yeah. Okay, so look. We are what ya call scavengers. We work for the big boss and we go out, find shit that might be worth somethin, and bring it back to 'em for a reward, ya know? Who knows, maybe the boss will give ya a job down there and a place to stay. You could be the hero of our outpost, eh? Sounds good, huh?" Milo explained.

~To be used as a tool by these savages would be an insult to this mecha's name. Do not acce-~

"Sure. I don't see why not, I've got nothing better to do. You think your boss would be able to give any insight on where the Utopians' bodies are?" Slate asked.

~You are a dumb bitch and I hate you.~

"Not sure. He keeps the most important information secret from others, if ya wanna know, you gotta pay him. That is generally how it goes around here." Amiyah said. "Although, I suppose it is possible."

"I see.. I have a few other questions, if you don't mind me asking." Slate said.

"Go for it." Amiyah spoke.

"How exactly does a Utopian go rogue?"

"Eh, it's when something goes wry with their mainframe. The connection between the frame and the conscience gets all screwed up and then, boom, the frame just looses control completely. All there is to it, really." Milo explained.

"Huh.. I am fairly certain I met one of these rogues."

"Which one?" Amiyah asked, "there are twelve of them in all."

"It went by the name of Kumara."

"Oh. And you fought him?" Milo asked. "So that must have been what all that noise was about over in the Lost."

"The Lost?"

"It's the term we use for dangerous areas that the Ligrass often visit and roam. Those areas are generally lost to man, thus the name. Us scavengers have to explore the Lost to find valuable resources to bring back to our camps."

"I see. And to answer your question, yes, I did fight him. He was.. strong." Slate laughed, then sighed. "Really strong."

"Yeah, you are lucky to be alive. He is one of the strongest Utopians. I don't know how you aren't dead." Milo laughed.

"Indra… Hindu god of Thunder. You know, I never heard of your Utopian. And I've done my research, there is no data on you at all." Amiyah said.

"Has your AI been able to tell you anything useful about your Utopian's origins?" Milo asked.

"No. My AI is a stubborn wench with an attitude, and she likes to keep secrets from me."

"Oh. Well. Uhm." Milo said, surprised. "Sorry?"

"Secrets? Like what?"

"I've tried asking her about my identity. She won't tell me anything. Not just that, but she explained to me that Indra has two forms, but she then said 'error, data cannot be found' when I asked about the other form." Slate said.

"Well, that could actually just be a system error, and she may be programmed not to tell you information about yourself. Actually, most AI are, but that hasn't been a problem for a long time, as most of the Utopians woke up a long time ago. The purpose was to ensure that, if you were captured, the Ligrass could not find the location of the UHDC base, but, that didn't work very well."

"That is evident." Slate said. "They're all dead."