“Duck!”
She was pushed to the ground as soon as she heard the warning. Her head was pinned, her nose in the dirt. The moment she tried to raise her head, she heard an explosion. A heat wave rushed over her back. She got goose bumps after realizing that she would’ve been hit directly had she not been ducking.
“What are you doing, wandering around like that. Are you an idiot?”
The android that had pushed No. 2 down was clearly an older model.
“Th-thank you. Sorry about that.”
“What are you doing here?”
“Uh, well … where am I? I got lost.”
She was going to be reprimanded, she knew it. How the hell could an android get lost? She thought she would be suspected as a defective model. But her reply was unexpected.
“Well, I’m not surprised.”
“What?”
“This is an experimental area that simulates conditions where location data is not obtainable.”
I see, thought No. 2, relieved. She had lost track of how far she had walked and which direction she was heading in, so much so that she was about to cry. But apparently that wasn’t due to her incompetence.
“But how did you get in here? It doesn’t look like you’re an experimental subject or a staff member?”
“W-well, I got lost.”
“Huh? In this small orbiting base?”
This time for sure she expected a scolding, but again she was wrong. She burst out laughing. No. 2 stared at her, surprised.
“You, would an android say that?”
“I’m sorry …”
“I thought you were joking at first, No. 2.”
She laughed again.
“You know about me?”
“Yeah. I know about you YoRHa very well.”
No. 2 widened her eyes in shock. Why? Who was this android?
“I’m Seed. An older-generation experimental model.”
Seed was apparently in charge of the weapons and equipment for the YoRHa squadron. It made sense—no wonder she had data of No. 2 and the rest of the YoRHa as well.
“From up close you really do look like humans, don’t you?”
“Have you seen humans?!”
“Yep.”
Seed had said that so nonchalantly, but to No. 2 it was so incredible she seemed almost divine. There were very few androids that were allowed to meet with the humans on the moon. The more androids that came, the more bodyguards needed. Therefore, for an android to have seen a human meant that it was one of the chosen few. Just thinking of it made No. 2’s heart beat faster.
And that wasn’t all. Seed had more to say.
“I lived with humans, shared experiences, and stormed the battlefield with them.”
“Battlefield?! You’ve been to Earth?!”
“Only three times.”
“Wow!”
Only three times? That was a lot. Seed was a veteran who had fought on Earth three times. And unbelievably, No. 2 was talking with her right now. Her excitement made her babble a bit excessively.
“We’re also going to Earth soon but I’m a bit worried …”
“Hey, hey, isn’t that a top secret mission?”
“Oh! That’s right!” She covered her mouth with her hand in a hurry.
“You’re funny. If you’re bored come again. I wanted someone to talk to. Oh, don’t enter the experimental area though, okay? You wouldn’t last,” Seed said with a snicker.
The Earth is blue.
The first human to see the Earth from space had said that, Seed taught her. Apparently she was just passing down information. She had heard the story from some of the humans on whose side she’d fought.
“But from the ground, it’s not blue at all. Everywhere you look is the color of sand. I felt duped.”
For her first landing, Seed had touched down in the desert. She had apparently landed in the middle of a sandstorm and fought Machines there.
“After the battle with the Machines, I was told to look up. I was so beaten down, I just wanted to go home, so I was like why am I doing this—and when I looked up the sky was blue.”
The sandstorm had passed. The blue sky extended forever, nothing in its way, recalled Seed, nostalgically.
“Earth from space and space from Earth are both blue. Even though neither of them are actually blue. Isn’t that interesting?”
“Are you still worried?” Seed asked, staring at No. 2’s face.
“I’m worried, but now I’m looking forward to it too.”
No. 2 occasionally sought out Seed between her trainings. She was told to come see her again, but No. 2 genuinely wanted to see her. Even though she was a “chosen one” who had fought alongside humans, she was really openhearted and friendly. It made her happy.
At times she would whine or confide in her about her worries, but Seed never criticized her. She always teased her by saying “You’re whining again?” but her tone of voice was gentle and her eyes smiled when she said it.
On this day, Seed was again telling her stories of her battles on Earth as she was repairing her chassis. Apparently there was a specialist that performed maintenance on her chassis, but she chose to do it herself unless there was a serious issue.
Seeing her expertly swap out parts for her right femur was exhilarating.
“Ms. Seed, why did you …”
“You don’t need to use a Ms., just Seed is fine.”
It made it feel like they were a bit closer, which made her happy. She decided to ask her a slightly rude question. They were at the point where she didn’t have to worry about formalities, and could focus solely on her curiosities.
“Seed, why did you take over the role of testing new equipment?”
“Is it weird?”
“No, that’s not what I meant. I’ve heard that the experiments can be … pretty rough.”
There were often many blemishes in the prototype equipment, and the experiments, which simulated various situations, put quite a bit off stress on the chassis. Not to mention older models had less durability relative to the new YoRHa. To be honest, it was extremely dangerous. Then why did she want to take part in such a thing?
“Well, I should be retired by now, after all.”