Chapter 5: The Encounter

[… It has been four hundred years. Has master's long wait finally ended?] Tito spoke. Its single mechanical eye flashed briefly. [AI, give me a report of the situation.]

[Understood. Today is xh&5*/2$ - *$5/&@... Error, please re*&%]

[It's broken, huh…] Tito heaved a sigh. Despite being an AI, its sigh sounded very much humanlike.

But it did not have time to feel pity for its fellow AI. As the personal AI of its master, Tito had a duty to fulfill.

Quickly, it manually acceded to the ship's database and learned everything the ship experienced in the last four hundred years.

It did not take Tito long to detect the many anomalies in the ship.

[Strange. The ship landed more than one hundred years ago. Why did the procedure E-1901 activated only now?] Tito asked itself. [This planet… Its conditions are perfects to sustain life. And this is… A human?]

Tito's CPU moved quickly to process the planet's information. [Is this planet an human colony? But these coordinates are not in my database… A colony discovered in the last four hundred years? But then, why did nobody answer our SOS? The ship has been sending signals of help all this time.]

Despite being a highly advanced AI, Tito was unable to reach a clear answer due to the lack of information. Fortunately, outside was someone that could help it to resolve most of its doubts.

[Bring the human inside. Treat his injuries and put him in the quarantine room.] Tito proceeded to order some auxiliary robots. Then, the light on its lone eye flashed briefly before it took a decision.

[Activate the protocol D-2350. It's time to wake master up.]

…

Two hours later, a woman opened her eyes.

"Where am I?" The woman tried to speak, but she soon discovered that she could not open her mouth.

The woman was startled, but as an experienced scientist and powerful ESPer, she quickly calmed down. She ignored the countless lights flashing around her and the bothersome beep on her ear and focused her mind in her last memories.

Then, her expression contorted.

"Aghghgh!!! Damn it, damn it!!! Arghhhg!!!"

The woman screamed and cried. Her voice returned to her and her eyes returned to normal. The tears frozen during four hundred years fell from her eyes and rolled down her cheeks.

Four hundred years, but to her, it was less than one minute. The pain was as strong as when she fell asleep.

When she finally calmed down, she realized that an AI was hovering beside her.

"… Tito."

[Master.] Tito mechanically responded. Unfortunately, its voice could not transmit its concern.

"How many years have passed?"

[… Four hundred.] Tito hesitated before answering. Although it did not want to answer, its master's orders were absolute.

"Four hundreds, huh… So much time… What happened to the war?"

[Currently, I don't have new information about the war, master.]

"Oh, and where are we now? Did someone receive our SOS?"

[I don't know, and nobody received our SOS.]

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"… Then, why did you wake me up?"

[… We fell on a planet with human life, but I don't know where it is. I'll explain the situation later, master. Before that, I need to check the state of your body.]

"I see... Proceed then." The woman spoke and closed her eyes.

Her body felt weak, but it was normal after sleeping for four hundred years. However, her soul felt even worse.

For Camilla, even after knowing that this was a planet with humans that could help her, she felt empty.

Everybody she loved was gone, and her only memories of them were lifeless data guarded inside computers.

Perhaps, death was better for her.

Closing her eyes, bitter tears rolled down on her cheeks.

…

When Bloed woke up, he was inside a completely white room.

White walls, white ceiling, white floor, white bed. Even the clothes he was wearing had changed from dirty rags to a strange white robe-like thing.

Quickly, Bloed realized something frightening.

'My weapons!!!' Bloed opened his eyes in panic. He looked around searching the only things that could bring him a little sense of security, but he soon realized that they were gone.

In fact, Bloed's weapons were nothing impressive, but they were the only things that could protect him against the powerful beasts and horrible monsters of the exiled lands. Without his weapons, he was nothing but a snack.

Bloed desperately searched for his weapons, but besides a bed, there was nothing more in this white room. Quickly, his uneasiness grew. Before long, he was hitting the walls and screaming as crazy.

"SSSomeune…! SSsommmone…! Sssommeone…!" For the first time in a long time, Bloed spoke. After so long, he had almost forgotten how to speak, but he managed to produce some strangely-sounding words.

Unfortunately, his words failed to be answered.

One hour, two hours, three hours later, Bloed finally stopped screaming. He tiredly lied on the bed, which seemed to be the only good thing in this place.

But when he was about to succumb to despair, someone, or something, appeared before him.

The roof opened, and a floating metallic sphere descended into the room. The sphere looked at the young human with its lone red eye and spoke.

[&%$%x*/¡?]

"Huh?" Bloed jumped back and retreated against the wall. Soon, though, he realized that the sphere was trying to communicate with him.

"Who are iou?" Bloed tried to reply, but he saw the lone eye of the sphere frown. After that, the sphere said a lot of gibberish before letting out a bright blue light.

Less than one minute later, the sphere spoke again.

[Hello, my name is Tito. What is your name?] Tito said mechanically. Bloed, weary and exhausted, opened his eyes in surprise, asking himself why the monster could speak human language.

This was the first encounter between Tito and Bloed.

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