Beyond This Place

Chapter 2

In the morning, Len has made some but little progress. He can definitely say her name, no doubt about it, and simple words, but he can't seem to grasp anything more than one syllable. His vocal chords barely seem to be able to form legible words, and the next time Neru goes to check on them, Rin decides to ask about it.

"Why can't Len talk?" Rin says, trying to be amiable about it. Neru smiles sadly at the words.

"He's a dangerous one, as you've seen," Neru says, scribbling on her omnipotent clipboard. Rin wonders what she writes. Does she write what the robots think and say to report to the scientists? Rin bristles slightly as she thinks of this violation of her privacy. "They made it impossible for him to communicate with the other robots. You know, so no rebellion can be planned, so he can't go against his creators. Humans fear death a lot. Once we're dead, nothing can make us come back the way we used to be."

Neru looks at Rin, and Rin is a little disturbed by the hard looks that Neru seems to give her a lot. Len glides up to the bars and looks at Neru expectantly, only just noticing her presence.

"Hey, Len," Neru says lightly, reaching her hand through the bars to ruffle his hair. Len trills softly at the affectionate gesture. Rin recognizes the low warble as something equivalent to "hi."

"Why don't you ever pay attention to me?" Miku calls from her cell, waggling her finger playfully. "I thought you thought I was special, Neru?"

"You're special, all right," Neru shoots back in an equally playful tone, and Rin can tell they're close friends. She smiles faintly, thinking Neru must be pretty awesome to get a robot who abhors humans like Miku to make friends. "You're just not as cute as these two!"

Miku huffs jokingly and then turns away. Rin looks at the cell on the other side, almost expecting the silent woman in the red cloth to pipe up as well. But as ever, as always, the brunette woman is lying motionlessly away from them.

"That's Meiko," Neru explains, her voice low. "I can tell you about her if you'd like, but she never talks. Ever. I really feel sorry for her, because if I were her I'd be pretty broken too."

"So she's not dead?" Rin says, almost naïvely. Len rolls closer to listen and Neru shakes her head.

"A long time ago, my father decided to make servant robots. He said they would help the world, mellow even the fieriest of souls and stop wars. But we didn't have the technology to make what he envisioned. He managed to start up a company that he called the "Sol Corporation", because he thought that the magnitude of the project was so great, just like the sun in the sky," Neru began. "He wanted to make robots so badly; he managed to convince two people to sell themselves off in exchange for money to their families. Meiko was one of them.

"We couldn't make robots from scratch, so we used Meiko and the other one, Kaito, as bases. But we didn't have the best technicians, the best scientists, and we made some mistakes. Meiko's eyes were mottled and she could no longer see. Her body turned weak and almost completely unresponsive, and at that point we were too afraid to continue on with Kaito. Meiko constantly asked to go home and she cried a lot. She was seventeen at the time, and I was ten.

"We threw them away into cells where they were to stay forever, because we didn't want to see our failures. After a while, Father managed to salvage the knowledge to make robots from scratch, and that went a lot smoother. We now make a lot, in case you can't tell."

"How long has she been here?" Rin asks. Her eyes look around guiltily, and she feels almost bad for being so functional compared to the woman. Neru bites her lip.

"Six years," Neru says. Rin quickly calculates that Neru is sixteen now and Meiko twenty-three. She presumes Neru is some sort of intern because her father started the company, as her age is too young to work. Len frowns sympathetically.

"Well, I just told you more than I was supposed to," Neru almost sings out. She gathers up her long, white coattails and gets up. "See you guys later, I guess?"

"Yeah," says Rin, though she wants to ask about Kaito desperately. Neru raises her hand and waves a little wave before disappearing behind the sliding door once again. Rin stares into space for a while before turning to Len, who looks at her with his deep blue eye. The other eye is fiery and emotionless, as usual.

"Hey, Len, how's it going?" Rin manages, despite the constant fear that never leaves her heart when she looks at him. Len smiles—he seems to be in a good mood—and rubs against her, leaving her feeling rather awkward. Rin pushes him away as gently as possible, and Len looks at her with an unintelligible face.

"He seems fond of you," Miku calls from the bars, grinning lopsidedly. Len flushes slightly and Rin shrugs. She doubts it, because he doesn't seem to need to be attached to anything—after all, he's a killing robot. He has no reason to care for anyone.

"Rin," Len says and rubs her hand between his, being careful not to cut her skin with his pointed fingers. Rin smiles weakly at him and allows him to warm her hand for a few moments. His metallic hands are surprisingly deft and gentle as he kneads her palms between his and sighs softly.

The day passes rather uneventfully; Len commences to sleeping, curled on the white bed sheets of the bed he has designated for himself, and Rin can't help but think he looks so peaceful as he lays there, almost unlike a killer—save the gun hanging down the side of the bed from his back, the knife-fingered third hand that drapes above the gun, and his red eye that doesn't even close when he rests. He's sleeping on his drill hand and his body obscures it from view. Rin reaches over to pat his clothes—Neru supplied him with a new set and proceeded to wash the stiff clothes from the night prior. They were hardened from dried blood and Len had seemed quite uncomfortable, fidgeting all night. It made Rin wonder briefly about how they could feel like humans, yet the humans thought they were so different.

For the rest of the day Len ponders over attempting to speak with Rin for a while and then sleeps peacefully out of boredom as Rin walks around, occasionally sharing a word or two with Miku. Miku seems to be a friend to a lot of the robots, yelling across the room occasionally.

When night falls and Rin's body begs for rest, her fans whirring loudly to try to keep her from overheating (a surefire sign that she needs to shut down for some time), Rin falls upon the blankets of her bed. It's uncomfortable how the two beds are clumped together, their mattresses touching, and Len burbles softly in his sleep and tries to snuggle against her. Rin cringes and pushes him away, causing him to roll away amiably. In the thin warmth of the blankets, Rin manages to close her eyes and shut down for a while.

In the depths of night, Rin awakens suddenly. The lights are all off, most of the scientists gone to their dorms, and there's an empty space beside her—she can tell by the lack of warmth beside her. Her eyes eventually adjust to the lack of light, and she lifts her head subtly. Len is standing next to the glass panel that divides their cell from Meiko's, his hand against the glass and his fingers curling around the rim of one of the circular holes.

Len is standing there, doing absolutely nothing, though Rin sees his mouth open and close as if he wants to speak. She sees him breathing heavily, and suddenly he opens his mouth wide and takes a huge breath.

What comes from his mouth is the last thing Rin expects. From his mouth comes not a whimper or purr or trill or yelp. Instead, words rise forth, clear and normal.

But it isn't speaking. It's singing.

Rin can barely comprehend what he's actually saying in the song, her mind too awed and focusing on how he's forming words. His melodious notes flow over the otherwise silent air, and she hears Miku stir from her cell but not awaken. And even Meiko stirs, turning to face Len.

Her eyes are completely bandaged by white gauze that stretches around the circumference of her head, but somehow seeing her face is like being electrocuted, as Rin has never seen it before. Rin thinks she sees Meiko smile faintly before turning away again, pulling the white sheets over herself for the first time, and becoming still.

Rin wonders if she's dead for a moment, but she hears her deep breathing that is so unlike Miku, Len, and her own and she relaxes. Len stands there for a while, his song abating before coming back again. Len sings for a while and Rin falls back to sleep to the sound of his voice long before his voice dwindles off and he climbs back into bed.

Len is still sleeping peacefully the next morning when Rin stumbles out of bed. She looks at his peaceful form with some confusion, pondering whether the events of the night were simply a dream, but Len awakens before she can wonder too much. Rubbing his eyes carefully with his right hand, Len sits up sleepily, his hair messy. Len beams at her and smiles effervescently, evoking a half-hearted wave from Rin. Len gets out of bed and stumbles up, only half awake.

"Was that you singing last night?" Rin asks in a small voice. Len looks at her in surprise for a while and then nods. He looks at her questioningly and his head tilts to convey what he cannot with his words.

"You can sing but not talk?" Rin asks, incredulous. Len nods and looks at the floor in slight embarrassment. "Are you sure? Try to speak again."

Len opens his mouth and attempts several times, his voice flying upwards in pitch as he attempts to form words. After a while he closes his mouth tightly, blushing at his inability to speak, and looks at her hard. Rin examines his face and finds no sign of his lying.

"Hmm," Rin mumbles. "Maybe your vocal chords can't replicate the monotony of speaking. Maybe it can only form tones, which explains why your voice comes out so pitch-y."

Len nods, his eyes raised to the ceiling in thought as he ponders slowly, chewing on the possible theory.

"Well, I guess you could try singing instead of speaking, but with more subtle note jumps to make it more…natural?" Rin says. Len looks at her almost eagerly and tests out his voice hesitantly.

"Does—this—work?" Len says uncertainly and then looks nervously at Rin. His voice is melodious, somewhere between singing and speaking. It flows through the air and Rin finds she can understand him, and she can't help but smile reassuringly at him to the best of her ability.

"Fair enough," Rin says and then pats him on the back. Len croons happily out of habit, despite that he can speak now. Rin can't help but laugh lightly at his antics and squeezes his hand once more reassuringly.

"Um, hi," Len says, obviously awed by being able to speak. Rin looks up and sees Miku grinning from her cell.

"You two are silly," she says, laughing softly. "Well, you can speak now, Len?"

"I guess so," Len says, his voice still soft in disbelief. Rin notes that his voice is startlingly similar to hers, but lower in pitch and more boyish. Miku nods and smiles.

"Well, I hope you guys get along well," Miku says, falling back on her bed. Rin notices various things in Miku's cell that they don't have—a small table, for instance, covered by a soft, green cloth and decorated with a vase filled with young, green onion sprouts. They somehow bring fresh hope to Rin's heart, looking at those green onions. Though they're small, they seem strong and it makes Rin feel happier somehow. Perhaps that's the reason why Miku has them, to give herself hope.

"Rin?"

Rin is staring at the sprouts until she realizes someone is calling her name. She turns to see Len looking at her apprehensively, and he silently gestures towards the bars. Rin raises her head and sees the black-haired scientist from the day prior. His dirty glasses shine dully in the light, tinted black from hard work, and he opens the door quickly and stoops inside. Suddenly Rin wants to hide.

"B25-757? Come here," the scientists says, and Miku suddenly raises her voice.

"Don't let him take Len, Rin," she yells, her eyes suddenly wild, so different from their calm, happy state of only moments earlier. "Don't—."

The scientist stalks over purposefully, almost angrily, to Miku's cell and reaches through the bars, pressing hard with two fingers against her throat. Miku burbles angrily before Rin sees her eyes roll back into her head and her body falls back in a crumpled heap, leaving Rin shocked and horrified. She's torn between whether to check on the fallen girl or check on Len, who she looks over to hastily. Len is warned now, and his body presses itself against the wall, far from the bars. The scientist stoops over again, his eyes hard from behind his foggy glasses. "B25-757. Here. Now."

Len glares defiantly, but that doesn't stop the scientist from walking over briskly. Rin sees hesitation in his step, and she suddenly realizes that he might be scared of Len too. But purpose overrides fear and the scientist roughly grabs Len by his left arm, purposely immobilizing the dangerous-looking drill. Len snarls with unbridled anger and his third hand instinctively flies up and claws at the scientist's face. The scientist yells in pain as the knives attached to the balls of his hand's fingers cuts five deep gashes into his cheek, and Rin sees blood well up. Her stomach twists and turns in disgust.

But the scientist doesn't let go. He roughly grabs the jointed pole on Len's back with his other hand to stop its movement and then begins dragging the snarling Len off. It's loud and messy, and when the scientist at last disappears behind the sliding door with the robot in tow, all Rin can think about is the specks of blood on the floor, brought forth by Len's hand, and the desperate look Len gave her before he disappeared which wracks her body with guilt despite everything.

Rin stands there stunned for a few moments. Len is gone, and she supposes she should feel happy because he was just a threat to her life, wasn't he? But suddenly she feels a terrible loneliness that trembles and lurks through her veins, especially with Miku gone. Remembering to check on the girl, Rin walks over to the unmoving robot.

Miku's eyes are closed tightly as if in pain, and Rin reaches her arm through the lowest hole in the glass, straining to reach Miku's neck. Luckily, Miku is sitting up despite her unconsciousness and Rin manages to brush at her neck and not knock her over. She pushes her arm further into the hole and presses as hard as she can on the little panel on Miku's neck, which is where she suspects her power button is.

Sure enough, a fan begins whirring in the other robot, making itself known through a small ventilation panel on Miku's bent legs. Miku stirs and groans, bringing a hand to gripe at her forehead while her eyes remain closed in an expression of pain.

"Ugh, scientists," Miku says, her mouth only moving subtly, which makes her words sound slightly slurred as she begins starting up again. "I told you they were nothing but a pain. They're always testing us, doing horrible things."

Her legs stretch out and she stands, her eyelids finally lifting. Her eyes are annoyed, her eyebrows upraised in an expression of exasperation.

"What are they going to do to Len?" Rin asks, surprised that she's worried for the bodyguard robot. Miku sighs.

"He was taken?" Miku asks. Rin nods, almost ashamed of herself, and Miku hits the glass in frustration, startling her. Miku sighs another few times before she speaks again.

"We never know. Sometimes, they come back completely unchanged. Sometimes, they lose their memories and don't remember any of us anymore, and sometimes it's the other way around. Once, a robot came back looking completely different, yet he still had the same mindset as before," Miku says, her voice tired as if she's seen too much in the laboratory. "And sometimes…They don't come back at all."

Rin's heart seems to freeze at the last option. Despite how horrifying he can be, she doesn't want Len to die. It seems too morbid, even for him. Rin slumps, angry and tired, onto her bed. She's beginning to think like Miku—that the scientists think of them as creatures with no emotions, and she finds herself gripping the white bed sheets in anger.

Calm down, she tells herself, breathing slowly. Her hands unclench and she tries not to think about it, but the absence of Len's steady breathing almost makes her feel empty. With a long, annoyed sigh, she turns to face the concrete wall and buries her face into the cold stone.