Mission in Zone 17

by Angela Olah

That evening, on the empty main street of Zone 17, a somewhat strange-looking person began following me. Half human, half… well, something else. His skin had a plasticky sheen like the freshly stretched tissue hadn't dried yet. Amateur work is clearly done on the black market.

At first, he just wandered aimlessly a few steps behind me, but soon enough, he was walking purposefully beside me all the way to the entrance of the Reconstruction Center.

I stopped at the door. So did he.

I looked into his eyes, dazed and slightly too bright. His synthetic retina pulsed with a faint blue shimmer.

"Hey there…" he rasped.

"Hey," I replied, waiting for him to cough up the mission code.

"Uh, I'm here… for the Mission," he said.

That's not how the procedure usually goes, but the guy looked so pitiful I couldn't help but feel a little sorry for him.

"Great. Which mission are we talking about?"

"I could tell from far away you were different. You're… you're stable. You're someone I can talk to."

"Thanks."

"Listen, I just need a little info. Just a smidge. Is there gonna be combat? Or is this one of those wandering-around, shuffling-through-zones, system-reset gigs?"

"You know I'm not allowed to give out any information. You go through the missions one by one, and at the end, you get your rebuild or your reboot..."

"Oh, come on… just tell me something!"

"Ever heard that it's not the goal that matters, but the journey itself?"

"What? Just tell me if there's gonna be fighting. Last time, they said it'd be a simple transition, and then they sicced an overclocked jelly-drone on me. Stuff like that, you gotta be prepared for, right?"

"…Fine. But only because you called me stable: there won't be any combat."

He let out a breath. Then, he just stared at me as if his mind hadn't caught up yet.

"For real? So it's the walk-here-walk-there version? Do you even know how much a single teleport permit costs? You wouldn't happen to have one I could borrow?"

"No."

"What?"

 "I said: I can't lend you anything."

"Okaaay... but I can tell you're the person one can talk to... How many zones do we have to pass through? Five more, right?"

"Where'd you get that from?"

"I just know." Well, he tried to wink. I couldn't contain my laughter as one of his eyes popped halfway out of its socket. It was bizarre how he fumbled with a vast metal finger to push it back in. Indeed, a reconstruction was long overdue for him. 

"You know, huh?" I muttered, already aware I ought to have moved on from him. He didn't even know the password to the mission. But I wanted to assist him, damn my tender heart. 

"Five. See? I guessed it, didn't I?"

"It's not five."

"Oh, come on..."

"The whole point of the missions is to follow the instructions. You'll get your… reconstruction reward at the end anyway."

"What? That's not everything, though, is it? There's a big cash reward, too, right?"

"Not telling you."

"Why not?"

"Because I made the decision not to. That's all. You get it, right?"

"What? No, come on... Why do I have to drag every answer out of you?"

"Your problem is, you're impatient." I leaned in a little. "And have you heard the saying, patience creates zone-units?"

"What?"

"Enjoy the journey! The reward's secondary. The real treasure isn't always physical. When was the last time you saw your own core mind, huh? Exactly."

"Oh… okay…"

Awkward silence. That spaced-out look returned. I almost asked if he even understood what I was saying.

"Hey, listen…"

"Yeah?"

"What number stop is this on the Mission route?"

"What? What do you mean?"

 "I may have miscalculated something. Technically, I should've turned back ages ago..."

"You're saying you don't even know which mission you're on? You don't even know which zone you're in. And here I thought you just forgot the password."

"These missions are dead boring. The zone here and the sector there are usually all about finding some Main Protocol Warden. Am I right? I am right, aren't I? Do you know how much money I've burned on transport modules? I just hit the required point in each zone, teleport, move on."

"Okay, got it. This is the worst case of brain chaos I've heard. And I don't want to hear more. Who are you looking for now, and what mission are you doing?"

"Alright, alright, you're right. But hey, couldn't you lend me something? I swear it'll bring it back the next time my core mind passes through here."

"How am I supposed to trust you? You just said you never revisit zones."

"Aw, sorry, man... I don't mean any harm."

Silence. Yeah, I shouldn't have, but I felt sorry for him. He looked absolutely miserable, and these missions were made for folks like him. They're not even that hard. But why is it so impossible to follow instructions? Is his core mind already too damaged?

"Hey... at least tell me what mission this is!"

I laughed.

 "I'm not telling you."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm not."

"Then, at least tell me what the reward is."

"I can't."

"But why not?"

"Because I said so."

 I put my hand on his shoulder, then quickly pulled it back, worried he might fall apart just from the touch. I looked into his clouded eyes, barely able to keep a straight face.

 "Accept my decision, and that's that!"

"Well… if that's what you want..."

"Come on. I'll make some synthetic tea."

I took out the keycard, and the airlock opened with a soft hiss. Inside, it was dimly lit, flickering with energy plasmas. The air was clean and warm, much more pleasant than outside.

I invited my newfound… passenger into my private cabin.

"So… will you tell me about yourself?"

"Life sucks, man. Where do I even start? Weapon recalibration costs a fortune. Don't even get me started on armor polishing. And teleportation? That's a whole damn paycheck."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"Yeah, me too. You know what, buddy? Do you have anything besides tea? You know what I mean?"

"Sadly, no. But I'll give you some advice: if you didn't try to blast through all the missions simultaneously, you may still have some money left.

He sighed, then dug something out of his bag.

"Think I've got something decent here… 'soul-system wine.'"

He began unpacking his belongings, which included mechanical parts of all sizes, scanners, and data modules. Some of them might be his parts, I thought. 

"Where did you get this?" I held up a blue, elaborate box. Something shook within when I raised it. 

"Aha! You recognized it. That means this is the 'Heart of Lívia' mission. I'm supposed to give it to you, right?"

I laughed. He gave me a thoughtful look.

"You know… you're a cool guy. I mean, for a protocol-warden hybrid."

"I'll take that as a compliment. Tea?"

"Yeah! Pour it on!"

The tiny cup disappeared in his giant hand. He awkwardly tried to sip from it, watching me delicately holding the cup between two fingers.

The wine completely slipped his mind.

"Still don't get how you convinced Rodrigo to hand over the reward…"

"Have you ever heard the saying that curiosity is half of good health?" He replied and winked again. With a loud clink, his eyeball burst out and rolled across the floor. 

We both laughed. We toasted to his renewal as we clinked our teacups.