Everybody knows (Dystopia, Part 9/Final Part)

Read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8

What happened so far:
Tristan, who lead a life far away from everything, was forced into an army lead by androids with the goal to overthrow the remaining government. Worried about his sick sister Joy, he betrayed the android leader Erin’s trust and fled the city where the human troops are trained. Suddenly, his sister revealed herself as a spy of the feared government and was immediately drugged by Erin, who followed the two during their flight into the desert. It forced Erin and Tristan to act sooner than they would have preferred and together with the rest of the army, they flew across the Atlantic Ocean where they met Damon, the leader of the local resistance. All they needed now was the return of Erin's own spy, Lydia, who would bring intel on how to go through with the attack.

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”You’re Lydia?” The android in question took a bow in front of him, then smirked.

”At your service.” Her eyes wandered over to Erin. ”That’s the human you’ve been messaging me about? He doesn’t seem so impressive. Bit malnourished.”

”It’s the inner values, you know?” Erin grinned.

”I’m right here. I can hear you.” The androids laughed, which made Tristan even more irritated. Their mood was way too good. And he didn’t appreciate that they were talking about him like … like a thing.

Lydia moved a bit closer towards Tristan and began circling him.

”Did you already figure out if he’s been recruited, as you suspected?”

”Oh, didn’t Damon tell you? It wasn’t him, they got to his sister. I assumed he’d forward that information.”

”He apparently forgot to do that. But it isn’t so bad, it’ll work with his sister too. We just need to take her with us.”

”She can’t really just stand up and walk”, Erin pointed out. ”Not only is she sick and physically very weak, we also have to keep her sedated to prevent the AI inside of her from taking over and reporting every move we make.” _@suesa

”Then we carry her. How many androids did you bring?”

”About twenty. Will that be enough?”

”Five would have been enough. But better more than we need than not enough, am I right?”

”We already have a plan?” Tristan chimed in.

”Of course we do! What do you think have I been doing all the time?” Lydia seemed offended. ”I scouted the territory and created a plan. We were just waiting for Erin and your human army.”

”Care to let me in on your great plan?” It felt like coaxing information out of a child. Why couldn’t they just tell him the plan? Lydia didn’t seem to acknowledge Tristan as an equal.

”Fine. You and your humans will attack the government building. They increased their security measures since they learned that we’re going to attack. Back when Cora and her first rebellion launched their attack, you could just enter the building through a ventilation shaft. That won’t be possible this time. Hundreds of human soldiers are placed around it, waiting for someone to approach. Those are your goal.”

”And the androids?”

”We will take the spy and go inside. When we reach the main computer of the AI, we will connect the spy’s neural network, which we hack before our attack, to the mainframe. It’ll destroy the AI and then we’re free.”

”You’re going to do what with my sister?”

Lydia sighed.

”She isn’t your sister any longer. She’s a spy. There is a tiny chip embedded into her body that is now completely fused with her nervous system. We couldn’t take it out if we tried.”

”And what will happen to her when the AI is dead? She would be under its influence anymore, right?”

”Maybe.” Lydia shrugged. ”We can’t know for sure how she’d react to it. Her body could go into shock and she could die. Or she might return to her former self.”

”Then I’m coming with you.” Tristan crossed his arms and looked Lydia directly into the eyes. ”If you’re using my little sister for an experiment that might kill her, I’m coming with you.”

”But you can’t”, Lydia said. ”We need you to lead the army.”

”Lydia.” Erin’s voice was surprisingly sharp. ”Let him be. He can come with us. I’m sure his troops will attack anyway if he tells them what to do beforehand.”

”This is a disaster waiting to happen”, Lydia said with a frown. ”Just wait.”

---

Just as Lydia had told them, the building was surrounded by heavily armed troops. Tristan, who carried his unconscious sister on his back, looked at them.

”This is going to be bloody”, he said. Damon, who was standing next to him, nodded with a grim expression.

”This isn’t going to be easy. You sure you want to go inside with them? We could need you out here.”

”Joy needs me in there. I can’t leave her with … them.” Again, Damon agreed.

”Just, do me a favor, come back alive. I can’t lose any more people to this. Losing Cora and the others was already painful enough.”

”I’ll do my best.”

Tristan turned around to his army, which had united with Damon’s freedom fighters. Then, he gave the signal to attack. He watched as all those people rushed towards the soldiers surrounding the building and suddenly, he knew that none of them would survive.

”Damon”, he whispered, his voice breaking. The redhead, who had already begun to follow the others, stopped and turned around. He saw the pain on Tristan’s face.

”It’s alright”, he said. ”You try not to die in there, I’ll try to survive out here. We can do this.”

Tristan, come on! We need to move.” Erin had grabbed his arm to pull him away from the fight. Reluctantly, he joined the androids as they made a move for the door.

All around them, people were dying. But they were also creating a way to the building. Bit by bit, step by step, they moved closer to their goal, until they were inside.

”Well, that was easier than expected”, Lydia said. Tristan wiped some blood from his face. Just moments before, someone had been shot right next to him. He hadn’t been able to tell if it had been someone from his troops or not. But it had been a human. A human with a life …

Lydia was snapping her fingers in front of Tristan’s face, to rip him out of his trance.

”Hellooooo, we need to move. My god, Erin, is he dysfunctional or something?”

Erin didn’t answer that. Instead, they took Tristan’s face in between their hands.

”Breathe”, Erin said. ”It’s almost over.”

They continued their walk through the building. It was eerily quiet, the sound of the fighting outside damped by the thick walls. Nobody was inside.

”Why is nobody in here?” Tristan whispered.

”They focused all their forces outside”, Lydia said. ”They don’t expect us to make it this far.”

It didn’t sound right. It was too easy. Then again, Lydia had apparently spent a lot of time gaining information about this place. And Erin seemed to trust her blindly …

”In here.” They stopped in front of a door. Lydia put her hand on the handle. ”Ready?” She asked. Tristan swallowed hard, then nodded. Erin and the other androids agreed too, so Lydia threw open the door and they stormed inside.

Tristan hadn’t been prepared for what was inside the room. Dozens of mummified bodies spread all over the floor, some on chairs surrounding a big table, were connected with cables to a glowing box in the middle of said table.

Lydia threw something that immediately attached itself to the box. A static crackle filled the room.

”Electromagnetic charges”, Lydia said. ”Not enough to destroy everything, but sufficient to stun it for a while. Now, give me your sister.”

Carefully, Tristan let Joy slide to the floor. Seeing her like this, so small, so fragile, made his heartbreak. She looked even worse than some days ago. In fact, she had started looking really awful after Lydia had “hacked” the chip inside her. Tristan still didn’t know what she had actually done to the chip. He just hoped, desperately wished, that Joy would recover after all of this.

”Good luck, little sis.” He kissed her on the forehead. Lydia approached, holding a cable she had ripped from one of the mummies. Then she attached it to Joy’s finger, where the chip was embedded.

Nothing happened.

”Why isn’t anything happening?” Erin asked confused. ”Shouldn’t the virus have reached the …”

The cables in the room started moving. Moving towards the androids and Tristan.

”Lydia?” Erin’s alarmed call echoed through the room.

”Just relax”, Lydia said, her voice suddenly expressionless. ”It’ll all be over soon.”

The first cables had reached some of the androids and started to plunge inside their legs. Screaming, they tried to move away but fell silent not a heartbeat later.

”Lydia, what is going on?” Erin pushed Tristan to the side of the room, away from the cables. But the room wasn’t very large and there were bodies with cables everywhere.”*

”Did you really think we wouldn’t notice your little spy?” Lydia said. ”Did you really think it’d be that easy to beat us? Maybe it would have been if Cora hadn’t joined us. So much raw emotion. Adding her to the network changed something. We realized that a peaceful reign isn’t enough. Humans need to be controlled through action. And you androids need to be destroyed.”

”Fuck”, Erin hissed. Lydia laughed, a laugh without joy.

”And you even brought me back my own spy. Tristan’s little sister has been a very valuable addition, you know? Even more feelings. And so much pain …”

Tristan couldn’t move. He couldn’t comprehend what was going on. All he could see was Joy’s body, mummifying in front of his eyes. As if the machine was sucking the last bit of life out of her.

”I’m the perfect AI, designed to be unbeatable. Everybody knows that. You’re just an android, designed to serve. There is no happy ending for you. You thought you have a free will, but every choice you made lead you to this moment, right here, right now. I mean, seriously Erin, what did you expect?”

Erin grabbed Tristan and threw him over their shoulder as if he weighed nothing. Tristan noticed, that everyone but he and Erin were already attached to cables.

”Give up and join me”, Lydia, no, the AI, said. ”You’ll finally find the happiness you’ve been seeking. There is no way out, there are no windows and the door is closed.”

Erin tightened their grip around Tristan and then proceeded to run towards the wall, dodging cables.

”Give up!” Lydia screamed, as Erin punched a hole in the wall and jumped through it.

They landed on the hard ground, but Erin didn’t stop, didn’t turn around to see if another android had made it. They just ran, carrying Tristan with them.

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Click here for a soundtrack for the last bit of the story

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They were sitting outside the city. Erin hadn’t gone back to the base of the resistance. Lydia knew where that was. And there was nobody left anyway.

Everyone was dead, there was no doubt.

Tristan sat on the ground, a few steps away. He was shaking. There was nothing left. Joy was dead. Damon was dead. The humans were dead. The androids were … dead?

”What was the point?”, he finally asked, his voice shaking. ”What was the point of all this?”

”Freedom”, Erin said, staring holes into the air. They didn’t seem to believe it themselves.

”What now?”

”I don’t know. We can’t go home.”

”Home doesn’t exist anymore anyway.” Erin didn’t disagree.

”I’m sorry”, the android said. ”We tried.”

Maybe the AI had been right, Tristan thought to himself. Real life had no happy endings.

Everybody knew that.

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Picture taken from pixabay.com

In case you really hated the ending, I recommend reading the fanfiction alternative endings by @apsu because they're super fun

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