Chapter 3:
The Fall of the Patriarchy
AFTER A-KA was thrown in a prison cell, he stared without moving for quite some time. He didn’t understand why he had stepped forward to confess that Heishi was looking for him. He hugged his knees and sat in the corner, his mind stuck on one thought in particular. What would his own end be like?
Humans were intelligent animals. For the sake of preserving his own life, he had long since memorized the many articles of the law. As A-Ka thought it over again and again, he felt that the problem at the moment was not necessarily that he would be disposed of, because the law did not mention the punishment for humans who attempted to escape unsuccessfully to the outside world. The only crime that they could link to him was the crime of leaving the borders of the Ant Nest, but A-Ka had been very careful not to reveal any of his movements in front of the surveillance cameras. As long as the law-enforcing robots couldn’t determine if he had secretly left the Ant Nest, his guilt would be absolved.
The question of Heishi was even easier to resolve. Since he didn’t have an identity and he was not an escapee from the other sections, it was possible that he and A-Ka would both be deemed innocent—assuming Heishi didn’t reveal to these robots that A-Ka had sneaked out.
But as soon as that clone brought up the lawsuit, A-Ka would be arrested for the crime of theft and disposed of.
A-Ka was pleased that he had made a correct decision subconsciously. On the surface, it looked like he had saved Heishi, but in reality, he had saved himself.
At this point, A-Ka glanced at Heishi sitting across from him, considering how he would communicate his thoughts to him when it was likely they were being surveilled and their every movement recorded down. He found that Heishi was also staring at him. They were two cells apart, and the bars of the prison cells were made out of crisscrossing horizontal and vertical laser beams.
“Heishi,” A-Ka said. Heishi wordlessly looked back at him. “What exactly did you come here to do?”
“It has nothing to do with you.”
“You…!”
A-Ka was at his wits’ end with Heishi, who looked around at his surroundings, eyes filled with suspicion. Just as he was about to reach out his hand to touch the laser bars, A-Ka yelped, “Don’t touch it, don’t touch anything!”
“Shut up,” Heishi said coldly.
“Then go ahead, touch it. Don’t blame me if you die.”
Heishi was silent for a long time. Finally, he decided not to test it out and put his body in danger.
“Don’t say anything.” In the end, that was the only thing A-Ka could tell him.
Heishi stood there quietly, watching A-Ka.
Mulling it over again and again, A-Ka wondered how he was supposed to explain this entire situation to Heishi. This grown man whom he had picked up and brought back seemed to be an indescribable lunatic. He didn’t know anything. When he was being interrogated, he probably wouldn’t lie either. The deadliest thing was, he knew absolutely nothing about the current situation: the City of Steel, the status of humans in society, or their relations with the robots. Between the two of them, A-Ka was the only one who understood their situation was quite thorny.
When A-Ka lifted his head, he found that Heishi was still watching him.
“Listen, Heishi,” A-Ka said. He realized that there might be a need to demonstrate the fact that everything around them was dangerous, so he pulled out a thin screwdriver from his shirt pocket and tossed it toward the laser cage where, with a sizzling sound, the plastic tool was cut cleanly into two pieces that then clattered to the ground.
Heishi stared at the remains of the screwdriver.
“Don’t say anything,” A-Ka warned. “No matter what you’re asked, don’t say anything, or else you’ll die. First, tell me honestly, why did you come here?”
“No real reason. I need to find a way out. You can stay here and keep waiting.”
A-Ka gritted his teeth. “I saved you twice, Heishi! Is this how you treat the person who saved your life?”
A noise came from outside, and the two of them grew wary, each sitting back down in their cells, but A-Ka couldn’t stop sizing up Heishi. A-Ka thoughts moved between the man and the clones’ revolution. He closed his eyes, when suddenly he heard a muffled boom in the distance, and the walls shook slightly. Soon after, the entire prison region went dark, and the laser bars flickered. From afar came the sound of shots being fired.
A-Ka jumped to his feet. Someone was trying to cut the power source! What was going on? According to the information that he had received from the chip, wasn’t the revolution of the clones supposed to happen tomorrow?
The lasers hummed as they lit up the faces of the pair. The situation was getting stranger and stranger. After a few more seconds, the lasers went out and all remaining light vanished.
A-Ka ran out of the cage, but with one tumble, he slammed into someone’s embrace. A powerful arm held him, making his heart jump.
“Let me go!” A-Ka yelled.
The person—Heishi, of course—grunted without emotion and pushed him aside.
I’ve really had enough of him, A-Ka thought.
As soon as the cells opened, all the prisoners tried to find a way to escape. In the pitch black there was little chance of finding the way out, so A-Ka could only do his best to remember the path.
“This way, Heishi! Come with me!”
He ran toward the exit on the left, but near the exit he heard the sound of robotic treads moving, as if there were many patrolling guards coming their way. Turning on his heel without thinking, he ran back into the depths of the prison.
“There’s danger. Turn around!”
A-Ka raced into the depths of the tunnel, where there were rows upon rows of prison cells. As soon as the lasers had disappeared, all the humans inside had grown agitated, and the prison was filled with chaotic shouts as they pushed and shoved at each other. A-Ka staggered when someone shoved him, and he steadied himself on another person.
“Heishi, Heishi!” A-Ka shouted, but there was no response; he had probably run off, but A-Ka couldn’t spare any more time to find him in the darkness. A jumble of voices were shouting:
“We’re free!”
“Get out quick!”
“Something’s gone wrong with the energy system!”
“Everyone be careful! Get down!”
In that moment, A-Ka felt someone with a robust physique throw themself onto him, and they rolled about on the ground as lasers scattered like fireworks overhead. The robotic guards opened the main door to the hallway, and the light beams zipped through the air as pained cries and fresh blood spilled all around. A-Ka’s heartbeat seemed to stop in that instant; he felt some slippery fluid on his skin, and his head swam.