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aealrizen · 1 month

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“You’ll be under the direction of Zeera Viden,” Benjamin continued, breaking the three away from their silent, internal conversation. “She’s a rough lady that used to follow Brigadier General Valin quite heavily, but I think she’s started to come around and not be as prejudiced. Don’t give her a reason to think you’re up to something, and she should remain cordial. If not, then just ditch her and come back. We can think of something else.”

The names meant nothing to Midas, but he didn’t miss the grimace Ian made when the general’s name was mentioned. Nor did his miss Whip’s obvious eye roll and noise of disgust. Peering over to the tablet Ian was looking at, Midas could only notice that the woman in the picture had a split eyebrow from a small but noticeable scar, and a nose piercing. Which was odd considering how much metal was coveted. She must be rather high rank. Or at least somehow rich enough to afford such trinkets. “Who’s Valin?” Midas asked, curiosity getting the better of him.

“Euh. Cyborg hater,” Whip huffed, sagging into his hand as it supported him by his cheek.

“We used to work with her during the war. She was never very fond of the idea of cybernetics in humans,” Ian clarified, forcing himself to be polite to not cause trouble.

“What was that she always said? ‘Humans were meant to use machines, not become them’,” Whip added, his voice growing forced in mocking as he repeated the words he’d heard so many times. “She was the reason we were on the front lines as often as we were. Stupid woman thought we were just tools and not actual people.”

Ian could only purse his lips in bitter memory, but still couldn’t bring himself to blame her for her actions. He and Whip had made an impressive team that was hard to match afterall. “Her words ended up motivating a lot of dehumanization propaganda towards cyborgs in the past. It was… easier for people to accept the war when it wasn’t against people.”

“Hmmm…,” Midas hummed, not quite sure how he felt about either side of the topic. He wasn’t sure Brigadier General Valin’s concerns were warranted considering the specialists of old had long ago learned there was a limit to how much cybernetics could be pumped into a person. There was a reason that full body cyborgs were considered as such despite only being 40% mechanical. Any more and the body started to shut down. Humans could be supported by machines, but they could never become them.

Or at least that was what he could remember from databases he’d examined of the old world. Where he’d gotten access to such databases was beyond his memory, but the facts were still there. Apparently there was still a concern though. Ignorance often did bring fear. Which made Midas have a question he didn’t think twice about asking out loud.

“What about you guys?” Midas spoke up, looking at Chipo and Benjamin. “Do you think we’re human?”

He didn’t realize it wasn’t an appropriate question to ask until Whip sat up from his slouch, and Ian tensed uncomfortably. “...Midas, that’s not really something you should ask…” Ian hushed, eyes flicking to the others.

“Why not?” Benjamin asked in return, breaking out of his own stunned surprise. “I think it’s one that should be asked more often. Maybe I’m not one to talk since I wasn’t even alive when cyborgs were more than just a rumour most times. But I think you’re all human enough to warrant being treated as such. It’s not like cyborgs have done anything worse than what some non cyborgs have.”

The response was somewhat surprising, but also reassuring. Enough that Midas gave Benjamin a more confident grin, not having much more to say after that. Even Whip seemed strangely softened by the comments, a faint smile as he also chose not to respond.

“...Thanks,” Ian spoke up quietly for the three of them, sliding the tablet slightly to let Benjamin know it was okay to continue.

Benjamin only gave a nod in response to the gratitude, reaching over to swipe the tablet to the next page of the file. “She’ll meet you at the south eastern gate in an hour. I’ve already notified her of the additional support, and let her know that you’ll be staying in Eutoli to help the citizens unload and store the supplies. That should be enough to let you stay for a while.”

“It’s perfect,” Ian acknowledged, skimming over the details listed in the digital documents. It seemed it was a standard shipment for the most part. But there were some items on the list that Ian knew would be worth a good enough price for scavengers to risk stealing. “Is there anything else we should know?”

The pause Benjamin made when asked to continue started to spike Midas’ anxiousness about him and this place again. But it seemed that he was just nervously considering if he should speak up or not. “Everything about the task is in the files, you’re free to copy them to a secondary device. But… I do have a more personal request, if you don’t mind,” he explained, hesitating long enough to get a response.

It made sense. Benjamin was doing them a huge favor by assigning them this job. It was fair for him to ask for something in return. Ian just hoped it was something they could give him, while Whip was expecting it to be reasonable. “What is it?” Ian prompted.

“My niece,” Benjamin started, getting a mix between a worried and amused grin. “If you see a girl named Aina Morna while you’re out and about could you give her a message for me? Let her know that she’s still welcome in our house any time, regardless of what the rest of the family says?”

It was a surprising request, and after a moment's shock Ian could only chuckle. “Sure thing. I’ll just send her a message now,” he agreed.

Before Benjamin could fully register what Ian had said, Midas was able to realize what Benjamin had just confirmed for him. “I knew it!” he burst, jumping to his feet and pointing his fork at Ian. “You act like a weirdo around her because you know her! Aina’s your-.... Uhhh,” he blurted, trailing off as he had to pass the family tree through his head to figure out the relationship. “Granddaughter?”

“Weirdo?” Ian repeated, mildly offended.

Whip could only snort in amusement. “Absolutely weird,” he confirmed to Ian. Considering how readily all the other kids had been adopted by Ian, it was strange that he’d always kept Aina at a distance. Most people just assumed it was because she had the C-Tech brand despite being largely ostracized by them as well. But apparently it had been because Aina was a relative to the woman that had demanded Ian not interact with her family line. Which Whip then tried to confirm the relation to Midas. “It would be granddaughter. But only if they’re from the same person.”

“Uh, she’s technically a great granddaughter like Olie,” Benjamin corrected, mildly confused. “Her mother is my sister. You know her?” HIs question didn’t sound upset, just horribly confused.

“Yeah, she fixed up my leg after a morillo bit it, and is always trying to get in my brain,” Midas answered bluntly, causing Whip to snort once again while Ian sighed and lowered his head to his hand.

“Midas. Phrasing,” Ian chided gently, shaking his head.

Benjamin flipped between being shocked with concern, to disgruntled confused, and then ended up snorting and laughing as Midas hummed in a half frozen state of recalibrating his mind.

“Uhhh. I mean she’s trying to figure out a way to directly communicate with my internal network like she does with Whip and Ian,” Midas clarified, staring at the table as he tried to figure out the more proper way to describe what his relation was to Aina.

“You two must get along great then,” Benjamin laughed heartily, not bothered at all by the weird comment once he realized what Midas had actually meant.

“Not really,” Midas admitted with a mildly scrunched nose, only able to remember them being awkwardly quiet around each other when they weren’t stumbling over words as he tried to talk to her without scaring her.

“Really? You’re so similar though,” Benjamin chuckled, rubbing a tear from his eye.

The comment caused Midas to scrunch his nose even more in bafflement, and Ian reached over to gently pull on his shoulder to get him to sit down again while Whip laughed loudly. “Finish your breakfast, we have to leave soon,” Ian prodded with a mild sigh.

That was enough to motivate Midas to return to his omelette after a short “Oh,” scooping another fork full into his mouth.

----

It would take awhile to transfer through the satellites, and Ian wasn’t sure if she would even get the message. But eventually Aina would get a notification for a message drop that would prompt her to break away from her current task to touch with a finger tap.

‘We met your Uncle Benjamin. He says you’re welcome home any time. Thanks for always watching out for us. And I’m sorry.’

It was a simple message, but one that caused Aina to stare at it for longer than necessary. They were words she felt like she’d heard before. At least the first part. But for some reason the last two sentences made everything seem different. Albeit confusing. Like they weren’t just words said to be polite, and the people who said them actually meant it. It was too much to consider right then though, so the message was left without a response as she flicked it back to a minimized state, commenting to no one that it was strange.

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First

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I was halfway through the first picture before i realized it was a scene from the previous section X'DD So I gave up and just did 2 pics for this one.

#cyborg #ocs #original story #post apocalypse #rizen #sci fi #web light novel #original characters #writing #midas #aina #long post #chipo

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