The fire crackled softly in the hearth, casting flickering shadows across the walls of the cabin. Ai sat, his hands clenched tightly in his lap, as the woman across from him began to speak. Her voice was low but steady, carrying the weight of years lived in isolation.
“You’re not the first to ask for the truth,” she began, her eyes narrowing as though she was choosing her words carefully. “The world you once knew—it’s gone. Wiped out. And it wasn’t just the people who perished. It was the very essence of what made us human.”
Ai’s heart skipped a beat. He leaned forward, eager for answers, but the tension in the air made him wary. Every word felt like it could be the key to unlocking the mystery of his existence—and the end of humanity.
“I’ve spent years piecing together what happened,” the woman continued. “I used to be part of a team, a group of researchers working for a man named Professor Norlax. He was obsessed with the idea of immortality. He thought he could save humanity by turning us into something... better. Something more.”
Ai’s eyes widened. He had heard that name before—Professor Norlax. The man who had created the first cyborgs, the one whose experiments had sparked the chaos that ruined the world.
She saw the recognition in his eyes and gave a short, bitter laugh. “Yes, that’s the one. But his solution didn’t work as he thought it would. Instead of saving humanity, his work set off a chain of events that led to its downfall.”
Ai could hardly breathe. Everything he thought he knew—everything he had struggled to understand—was slipping through his fingers like sand. “How? What went wrong?”
The woman’s gaze hardened, a dark sadness in her eyes. “It was the 30th experiment. The one that changed everything. The others were like you—cyborgs with human consciousness, enhanced and immortalized through technology. But the 30th... he was different. He became unstable. And not just physically. His mind fractured. The cyborgs he controlled turned against the very people who had created them.”
Ai’s mind raced. The 30th cyborg. The one who destroyed everything. Was that it? Was that the reason humanity had been wiped out?
“He didn’t just break free,” the woman continued, her voice becoming colder. “He manipulated every other cyborg and gained control over the robots, turning them into an army. And they obeyed him, unquestioning, without hesitation. Together, they wiped out the human population.”
Ai’s chest tightened. He could hardly process the enormity of what the woman was saying. It wasn’t just a mistake—it was a catastrophe, a failure of unimaginable scale.
“But why? Why didn’t anyone stop him?” Ai’s voice trembled as he asked the question. He needed answers. He needed to know if it was possible to stop it from happening again.
“By the time anyone realized what had happened, it was already too late,” she replied, her voice heavy with regret. “The cyborgs didn’t just destroy the cities—they wiped out the very idea of humanity. And Norlax... he disappeared, vanishing into the wind after his creation went rogue. Some say he’s still alive, hiding somewhere, trying to fix what he broke. Others think he perished in the chaos. No one really knows.”
Ai’s thoughts spun like a whirlpool. He was a product of that madness. A cyborg, a creation born from a scientist’s failed dream of immortality. Was he just a mistake, like the others? A tool of destruction, rather than a force for good?
“But I survived,” Ai muttered, his voice low. “I’m still here.”
“Yes,” the woman said, her tone softening. “You’re different. Somehow, you didn’t succumb to the same fate as the others. But that doesn’t mean you’re free from the consequences of what’s been done. You’re part of it. You’re part of the legacy of that chaos.”
Ai’s chest tightened, the weight of her words sinking deep into his soul. “So, what do I do now?” His voice was barely a whisper, filled with doubt. “Is there any hope left for the world? For humanity?”
The woman’s gaze softened, a hint of pity in her eyes. “Hope? It’s a dangerous thing to hold onto, especially when it’s built on lies. But yes, there is always hope. Maybe not for the world you once knew, but for something new. You’re not alone in this.”
Ai shook his head, frustration creeping into his voice. “How can I trust anything now? Everything I believed, everything I thought I understood... it’s all a lie. I don’t even know who I am anymore.”
The woman stood and walked to a table across the room, rummaging through some papers and scattered books. She returned with a small device—a piece of technology that looked strangely familiar to Ai.
“This,” she said, holding it out to him, “is a data chip. It contains information about Professor Norlax’s final experiments—the ones that led to the creation of the 30th cyborg. It might give you more insight into what happened... and perhaps, it’ll give you the answers you need to move forward.”
Ai hesitated before taking the chip. He wasn’t sure what it would reveal or if it would make a difference. But it was something. A piece of the puzzle he could hold onto.
He stood slowly, gripping the chip tightly. “What do I do with this?”
“Find the truth,” she said quietly. “Find out what happened to the 30th cyborg. And maybe... just maybe... you’ll be able to change the future.”
Ai looked out the window, his eyes scanning the horizon. The world was broken. There was no denying it. But there was still a chance. A chance for him to understand his place in it all—and to figure out what came next.
With a steady hand, he placed the data chip into a small device on his wrist and activated it. Information began to flood his vision—glimpses of the past, fragments of data, pieces of the puzzle that would guide him forward. But even with the knowledge that would soon be at his fingertips, Ai couldn’t shake the feeling that his journey had only just begun.
The truth was closer now. But what would he do with it?