Avatar Expedition (Sara Loughran)

Character: Saika from A World Where Justice is Just (Stories of Ibis)

I chose this character because she knows little about the world other than her own and she would likely have interesting thoughts and conclusions due to her lack of knowledge of world other than her own, which is pretty limited.

(this is a pretty rough piece of writing)

When on my journey throughout the First World after finding my way out of the simulation through the AI, I stumbled upon a seemingly abandoned warehouse. However, to my surprise, when I struggled to pull open the large, rusty door, the factory was very much alive and running, a stark contrast to the bleak and empty world outside its walls. As I stepped inside cautiously, I subconsciously clutched my wrist, only to be reminded that in this world, I didn’t have my Silverfist bracelet. In the case that something went wrong and I found myself in danger, I had no extraordinary powers to aid me. I was simply a 15 year old girl.

As I began to explore the warehouse, I saw long metal conveyor belts with various parts on them. Machines on each side would add more and more onto each part as it went by, making them seemingly in a uniform fashion. I wondered where the humans were. If this warehouse was working there surely had to be people working here, right?

I walked past the machines and jumped backwards when I encountered a steep edge. I was standing on the top floor of an apparently half underground warehouse. The top floor had a cut out in the middle where you could see down to the bottom, where many machines, much more than I had seen at the entrance, whirred and spun, assembling parts that looked like human legs. The idea made me sick, but they couldn’t be actual human legs, I told myself. Humans weren’t made of metal.

I looked up, and across from me I saw a window, and in it, a person, with their back to me. They were working on a computer and clearly didn’t notice me. I wanted to go talk to them. If most humans were dead, they wouldn’t have any reason to kill any more of them. I tried to reassure myself that I wasn’t in any danger.

There was a door to my left, and I opened it and walked down the corridor to what I guessed was a door to the office I saw through the window. I knocked hesitantly, and slowly, I heard some shuffling approaching behind the door. The door swung open, and I was met with what at first glance seemed like a human face – except not quite. The eyes were clearly not human, unblinking and moving in a jerky and robotic fashion. I recoiled. “You’re not a human! You’re a robot!”

All the robots I had encountered in my world had been monsters or villains. I didn’t trust this thing, and I stumbled backwards as the robot looked at me curiously. “Of course I am. Why would I be a human? Humans don’t work at robot labs.”

My eyes widened. I couldn’t comprehend what was going on. This was something Saeko never mentioned to me. If this was a world where robots had killed all the humans, not one where a disease had wiped them out, I wasn’t sure I wanted to be here.