Sigma/Star

Chapter 122: Wondershot

"If you have always known, why no reaction then? Are you trying to maintain the peace and unity within your own group, or just something different?"

"Something different." Chandana hesitated after her immediate reply, and the three of them stayed in the stillness for a moment. Above them, a cluster of birds were swirling around, ones that had found a source of constant food now on the island and had made a habit of visiting it frequently. "She's just so strange now." The woman turned to face the android behind her, staring up into the robotic eyes. "Roth already told me about the memory loss, of how there's nothing in there anymore. So what would the point be in fawning over her, right? We have nothing to gain from her in this state, and we have built ourselves on her memory. I do not want to risk shattering our foundation to worship an empty idol. The Allyson we knew still lives on, the same way Allyson's body continues to exist in this form."

Sigma sighed, his only answer to Chandana's speaking. The rebel leader placed a hand on Alpha's face, running her finger along the synthetic skin. There was a tear in her eye, slowly sliding out to run down her cheek as memories flowed through her. But the moment was over as soon as it had started, and Chandana returned to observing the oceans. "The real question," she continued, "is how you know and yet you deal with it. You are the only reason she is online at all, from what I've heard, and the first one to find out her memories were wiped, not to mention that you were the person closest to her at...that time. So how does the mighty Sigma stand to be in her presence knowing he can never have her back."

"Emptiness, mostly." Sigma had also resumed his watch out over the waters, noticing the different schools of fish swimming close to the surface. There was a reef, not far off the coast of the island, where a variety of flora and fauna gathered, and Sigma enjoyed when he had time to study them. There had even been periods where he had gone swimming, had let his body go still so he could drift amongst the fish and watch their patterns. They lived such a simple existence, so far removed from any of the complexities he alone represented. It was still a shock that the human race knew so little about the depths of the seas, or even the depths of the planet's crust, as proven by the Jahari's existence, and yet they had entire academies orbiting the Earth at any given moment.

"Emptiness?"

"I'm not a whole person anymore. I'm empty, slowly filling with information and personality and life. Allyson is much the same."

"I agree she is an empty vessel, but she can never be filled the same way you can. You were once full and then you were vacated, and now it is returned. In Allyson's case, she was made empty, her memories were gone the minute she was turned on, and there's nothing buried to unearth. Unless you plan on recreating her, but would that ever be the same?"

"If you're looking for a reaction, you won't find anything." Sigma stood up from the ground, watching the sand slide off his body and cascade to the beach. "You were only recently reunited with her, while I have been living with it for some time."

"But I knew she was missing from my life this entire time, while you only recently remember she existed," Chandana countered, but they both knew the conversation was over. It was all a test, on both their parts, to see how the other felt, and to see if emotions would come into play. If they could both agree that Allyson was lost now, that Alpha was the only thing that remained, and they were both completely alright with that, then they could move forward as a team, as a movement, as a rebellion. "Was that the only point to this then?"

"Mostly. If you feel like taking Alpha aside any time and trying to teach her things, go ahead. She has much to learn, obviously. Otherwise, I'm interested in your plans now that the message has been spread. You have shared some with the others, I'm sure, but you keep so much to yourself."