The Disparate One

Oxford spun around his seat with his feet when he heard his phone vibrate and rang on his desk. He braked and looked over with heartbroken eyes. Chap’s number reminded him of where he was and what he was.

Oxford shook himself awake while fixing his appearance. He grabbed the towel and dried his hair before answering the call, putting him on speaker as usual. Chap’s voice echoed through the office.

“Where were you? I was looking for you just an hour ago.”

Oxford rubbed his face with the semi-wet towel before placing it by the side of the desk.

“I left the facility to do something,” he replied calmly.

“Well… anyways… put me in a hologram. I need to show you something,” requested Chap who was in his laboratory, standing near a giant flat screen with some images he captured from his microscope while conducting some experiments.

Oxford did as he requested, sliding his phone towards another device that produced a hologram nearby. Chap had the same device in his office, as well as everyone in the facility. Chap first appeared with a color blue, then the rest of the colors followed, completing his image of Chap standing next to the screen.

In Chap’s office, Oxford appeared sitting on his desk, next to Chap’s. Once they reached full clarity, Chap began pointing and explaining his two discoveries. The first was, Ray was indeed full, or probably made out of microbots. Chap still needed more samples from the test subject, different this time. His second discovery was that each microbot was made out of the same unknown material and had something engraved.

Oxford leaned towards Chap’s hologram who presented an image from one of his microscopes which had a “DPSN” etched onto one microbot. Chap then presented another image, the same, but with more microbots, all of which hosted the same four-letter word.

“So… we didn’t make him?” Oxford slightly jerked his head.

Chap still showed an unsure look when their phone rang in harmony. The rest of Oxford’s colleagues were calling. What a coincidence, Oxford was thinking of calling the others as well, hoping he could get something from them.

Tria’s hologram appeared, showcasing her magnificent black gown and her hypnotic smile. Ony was next to show up, he was in his cubicle, wearing his manufacturing uniform with a soda in his hand. He had his hard hat on, just in case. Then Sion, who insisted on not being put in a hologram. For the first time.

Oxford let Chap do all the explaining to the others so that they know what they would discuss next. The three intently listened. Oxford’s attention, on the other hand, wandered about Soothsayer. He thought about the odd, simple prophecy. “If you don’t stop, then you’ll eventually get what you finally desire.”

What do I desire? asked Oxford himself, keeping his eyes on the holograms to pretend he was listening.

Freedom was the first that came to his mind. For his entire life, he had never had a single day that didn’t involve his job. Unlike the people who lived on the surface, they had their own lives to live. This must be the cost of being a member of this organization. Vengeance came second.

“...earth to Oxford,” Chap’s voice burrowed through Oxford’s thoughts.

Oxford blinked several times when he found all his colleagues staring at him with a questioning look.

“Can I just say? I have never seen you this stressed in my entire life,” Chap commented, stepping away from Oxford’s desk. “W-well… I admit… even I have never seen myself this interested in my entire life…” he added.

“Any thoughts?” asked Tria with a concerned look.

Oxford wasn’t looking back at their eyes. He was still separating himself from his thoughts and his moment with Soothsayer. Now, he worried about whose blood the prophecy was thirsty for. Oxford shamefully shook his head No to his friends. All 47 test subjects he had had never made it this far, let alone caused some issues to a few of them.

“It’s kinda strange to think about it still… he knows how to build and improve a robot and yet he had no idea about himself… am I the only one bothered by that?” Ony spoke, glancing at the rest.

“That wasn’t the only strange thing… the staff… it showed a different behavior for the first time,” Sion’s voice reminded all of them he existed and in the call.

Oxford lifted his head, enough to look at their reactions while also recalling what Ray told him yesterday. His colleagues shifted their attention to Sion when they remembered his investigation about some non-threatening-looking staff that did nothing except glow. They gave it a nickname, “Glow Stick”.

After Sion told his side of his story with Ray, they returned their gaze at Oxford who was flipping through the documents in his tablet.

“He’s not human then…” he uttered when it got too silent.

“Oh!” Tria jumped with a light bulb. Everyone looked at her with their brows raised.

“I thought of an idea… but… maybe someone has a better one?” Tria turned herself down immediately for now when he glanced at each person.

They all exchanged looks without any signs of brewing ideas, they gave the spotlight to Tria seconds after.

“I watched this movie…”

“Oh boy…” Only murmured with a grin and secretly rolled his eyes.

“W-what? Alright. Do you have any better ideas than mine, which, by the way, you still don’t know?” a storm formed above Tria.

“Continue,” said Ony nonchalantly, holding on to his grin and chuckle.

Tria sighed and brushed her hair before resuming her idea.

“I watched this movie where they helped their friend re-remember her memories by bringing her to places where they always go to spend time with her. And at the end, she did end up recalling her memories!” Tria explained gleefully. No one got what she was trying to point out.

“Must be a wonderful movie…” said Oxford with a serious look, he leaned forward, “...if only we are Ray’s friends-”

“Oh. I’m not finished,” interrupted Tria with her hand, palm facing Oxford.

Chap snickered together with Ony who finally let out a tiny chuckle. Sion remained silent as a ghost.

“With that said, my idea would be something like this: You bring Ray with you to the surface and introduce him to different places, see if he’ll remember something. Of course… I wouldn’t be surprised if he knows all the famous landmarks there,” Tria elaborated.

“She does have a point there,” Chap praised, “Also, you did write in the document that Ray had a dream, maybe that’s our first clue of solving this mystery!” Chap now sounded like a child playing puzzle games.

Oxford finally showed changes to his face when he understood what she suggested. He never thought of it before. Now he was seriously curious about which movie Tria watched.

“Alright… I’ll see what I can do… I’ll speak with the management after this conversation, anything else?” Oxford stood up, readjusting his tie and preparing his necessary belongings for his departure.

“Keep us updated I guess…” said Ony.

“I’ll keep you guys up to date if you do likewise,” said Oxford before ending the call.

Once he got everything he needed, he left his office, boarded one of the elevators, and went straight up to the dome which was one of the things that made him insecure about the structural integrity of this entire facility.

Stepping out of the elevator, he was greeted by the silver robot stationed at the front desk in the lobby. Oxford requested a meeting with the management to discuss the idea he got from Tria.

“Of course… Follow me to the dome, please,” asked the robot.

Oxford walked behind the metal body who led him through the corridors that only led to the offices of the members of the management and the dome. These corridors were the only thing that stood out from their counterparts. It was constructed out of glass and metal frames. The glass gave this open-mouthed scenery of the dark ocean floor, the same as the tunnel where the train traveled from the facility to the Grand Central Terminal.

The silver robot silently nodded at the guards stationed at the giant door of the dome. The guards nodded back before positioning themselves aside, one of which pushed the button on the side that opened the door.

Oxford furrowed when he caught the robot hesitantly stopping. It looked around, searching for something, or maybe someone. The robot turned around with a reassuring gaze.

“Stay here. I think he’s still in his office,” said the robot before passing Oxford, leaving him alone to stand in the middle of the empty dome.

A minute later, he heard heavy footsteps from behind, it only belonged to someone everyone knew. Of course, how could they? They always saw his face, felt his presence throughout the facility.

“Hmmm… what brought you here this time around?” a gold robot appeared.

Oxford froze as if he was staring at Medusa.

“I-I need permission to bring my test subject with me,” he swallowed.

Cal raised his left ear, glistening Oxford’s clear face.

“Of course… and where will you be bringing him?” Cal stood tall, shrinking Oxford before him like a teenager asking their parents for a dollar.

“To the surface, he’ll be staying with me until my division found something interestingly new about him,” Oxford stood still, showing no emotions, not even sweat from his adrenaline rushing around his body.

Cal’s square eyes slowly became rectangles, staring at Oxford menacingly. He had a feeling Oxford might do something against the rules this time again. He despised this person, along with some others. Though, unlike those others, Oxford still happened to be breathing.

“Alright. I’ll send one of my guards over to his quarter,” Cal said emotionless.

Oxford raised a brow gently, not high enough or he would find himself high in heaven.

“It’s a new proper procedure, in case… someone decided to steal something valuable,” Cal eyed at Oxford with a tiny smirk.

Oxford hesitantly nodded his head as Thanks. He swiftly turned around and peacefully followed Cal’s assistant back to the lobby. As soon as Oxford left Cal’s sight, he wiped his smirk away and returned to his office.

Ray was standing under the shower, letting the freezing water trail down his skin. The gurgling drain was the only noise bouncing from the tiled walls until he heard the metal door swung open followed by voices, one of which was Oxford’s.

Ray turned the knob off when he stepped out and dried himself with the provided towel. He always found it unusually long for some reason. After he slid on his white general uniform back, he presented himself to his Guardian who was standing next to a guard holding a metal briefcase. Both bodies looked at him.

Ray froze in his spot when Oxford told him to sit down. Once he did, Oxford nodded at the guard before walking to his bedroom where he heard the rattling of his pills. The guard wasn’t bothered by it, he was focused on placing his briefcase on the coffee table, opening it. In it resembled a shiny anklet and an unknown tiny piece.

The robot gently took it out and placed it flat on his palm while he grabbed the tiny piece and closed the briefcase.

“Give me your foot,” ordered the guard, which Ray hesitantly followed.

Oxford returned to the living room with Ray’s pills in his hand when the guard held Ray’s right foot. The robot used the tiny piece on the anklet, unlocking it with a beep. That was when Ray knew it wasn’t for ornament, it was a tracker. For what?

Ray’s skin on his leg tickled from the cold contact when the guard wrapped the anklet, locking it into place with another beep. It brought weight to his right leg, though he was confident he could still run with it.

The guard examined the device, double-checking it, before standing up and handing the tiny piece, the key, to Oxford. Once everything was complete, the guard picked up the briefcase and waited at the hall with his choice of weapon.

“It somehow suits you,” commented Oxford while he watched Ray check the device, smoothly turning it around without a single rattle.

“Come on, you won’t be staying here for some time,” Oxford added with a wave when he walked out the quarter, meeting the gaze of the guard.

Ray quietly walked outside where he found the same guard staring at him and Oxford who was already a few steps ahead. He caught up to him despite noticing the guard trailing behind him emotionlessly.

“W-what do you mean? Did I do something wrong?” Ray asked, glancing down to his anklet pulling him to the floor.

Oxford shook his head No when he called the elevator.

“You’ll be staying somewhere else, basically far away from here, but not too far,” said Oxford nonchalantly with a yawn when they stepped into the small space.

The guard stood silently behind Ray with just a few inches of space. Its rifle with a knife attached to its barrel was armed. Ray uncomfortably kept his mouth shut, staring at Oxford’s reflection. Without saying a word, Oxford handed the pills to Ray and asked about his headaches.

“I somehow always experience it before going to sleep,” answered Ray with a questioning look, trying to recall the dream he recently had, but couldn’t.

“Can you tell me what you saw?”

Ray softly shook his head No, looking down. Their trip in the elevator became as silent as the P.G.P.

After minutes of standing and Ray shifting his weight alternately on either leg, they arrived at another foreign place, at least for Ray. Instead of a hallway, or a catwalk, escalators greeted them from meters away. Long lines near the escalators led to one of the facility’s crowded terminals. Ray eyed the images of a gold robot.

The sounds of people chattering and their shoes tapping on the floor filled the entire place which Oxford said to be one of the main lobbies of the facility. The ringing of telephones from the front desk and smartphones from everyone bore through the noise.

The walls, ceiling, and floor were made out of marble. Giant chandeliers hung above with their pieces of jewelry. There were poles placed evenly throughout the place, all of which were covered with CCTVs, some of them whirring around.

Oxford stepped out of the elevators and bore through the current of people to the elevators. Ray stayed close behind as he could while the guard was still on his back.

They rode the extremely long escalator through the marbled tunnel, at the top was the terminal with a few maglev trains just arriving to add more chaos.

Where the hell did all of these come from? Ray thought, glancing around where he could only see nothing but people.

The terminal had normal-sized holograms scattered around, each displayed the weather and other events from the surface such as traffic.

Ray was close to losing his sight of Oxford, his heartbeat quickened, now pushing people away. For a second, Oxford vanished from his view. He turned around to inform the guard about him getting lost, but the robot was also nowhere to be seen. His view spun around, scanning every face that passed by him. None of which had Oxford’s face. His breathing sped up when he covered his ears from the noise.

He was about to take his step on finding Oxford when suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder. He froze in the middle of the chaos. He figured it was the guard or one of the guards who thought he escaped. When he turned around, he was wrong, yet relieved.

“Don’t just stand there, the security will think that you are an escapist,” Oxford gripped Ray’s forearm and dragged him towards one of the giant locomotives nearby.

Next to the locomotive were a set of three-story towers with bridges that linked to the passenger cars. They approached the one at the front, walked up the long ramp, and crossed the bridge which gave Ray a clear view of how large this terminal was. Oxford pulled him again into the car.

It’s like a child! Oxford thought, rolling his eyes with a sigh.

Onboard the train and through the cars, Ray dragged his jaw across the carpeted floor, stunned by the glistening metals and stones that screamed luxurious craftsmanship. On the first car, they passed a bar, of course with people already drowning themselves. On the second, they arrived at the lounge and dining, where he found a small stage with some instruments displayed.

The third car was where Oxford brought Ray, it had private compartments on either side for people who prefer silence than anything else. Silence, not privacy. The dividers, even though scaled from floor to ceiling, were made out of translucent glass. Oxford slid the glass door open, revealing the four spacious, purple armchairs facing one another placed adjacently to the large window, displaying the outside world. In the middle of the four seats was a table. Both sides of the seats were shelves for luggage.

Oxford sat down with a sigh, softly catching his breath as he stared out the window. Ray sat on the other side of the table, next to the window. A minute later, Oxford looked under the table where he brought out a menu which he slid to his test subject.

Oxford explained that someone would be coming automatically to get their orders for them to enjoy the trip to the fullest. That was if they had one.

Ray read the menu front and back, Oxford didn’t bother, he had the entire thing in his mind. They should change the menu at least once every year.

A few minutes later, a staff member knocked on the glass door. She opened the door with a small tablet in her hand and a stylus.

The train gently shook when the locks released the locomotive. It slowly retracted itself from the platform and made its way to the main track towards the exit of the facility. The train was calm at the first dozen meters, then it started to gradually pick up speed.

Ray kept his body leaning towards the window as he watched themselves leave the terminal and into the space of endless fall. Ray softly gasped when his eyes met the facade of the facility, matching the ant colony Sion showed. The entire facility did look like an ant colony now that they were kilometers away and entering the tunnel. Darkness swooped and filled the entire window.

The staff member returned with a trolley covered with a white cloth. Ray’s heart jumped, thinking it was the same trolley he saw where Oxford brought out the black matter. However, upon removing the cloth, it was only the meals they ordered.

Ray’s watering mouth admired the triple cheeseburger leaning in front of him, dripping cheese and other sauces, golden-brown french fries, smooth carbonara, and a footlong hotdog sandwich. And a mango milkshake. Their scent was overpowered by Oxford’s dish, ribs smothered in barbecue sauce along with smoked brisket and wine.

They were digging in when the view from the window finally changed, presenting Ray the enormous pressure on the other side of the glass tunnel. Ray was fascinated by the sight of the murky ocean floor; he found a glowing dome in the distance. Ray glanced over to Oxford who observed his actions.

“It’s the dome where the management works,” explained Oxford as he scraped the knife along the bone, separating the meat.

Ray swallowed, noticing how thin the glass used for the tunnel. He gave another glance.

“This tunnel is older than me, meaning it hasn’t shown any signs of fragility, otherwise you wouldn’t be admiring the depths of the Pacific Ocean right now,” he spoke calmly, sipping his wine.

Ray peeled himself from the window when they entered another tunnel. Their compartment was silent, except for their munching and their utensils scratching the expensive china.

Ray threw the last piece of fry into his mouth when the train began reducing its speed. The train arrived at the secret station under the Grand Central Terminal. The towers, with their bridges, and the people lined up, were awaiting the train coming to its stop.

Once the locks were in place and the passengers were allowed to leave, Oxford left the train and guided Ray to one of the secret exits to the surface. This time, Ray managed to keep his eyes on his Guardian until they passed the wall of chaos and into a simple elevator. Upon boarding, Ray expected Oxford to speak, but he instead caught him inserting a card into the card reader where the buttons should be.

The elevator door closed noiselessly and brought them up. They pushed the door, passed the sleeping janitor, and into another crowded space. At first, Ray thought they were going to board another train, probably a connecting station, until they turned sharply to the marble staircase pointing to the bright windows.

They got to the top where they passed the front doors and finally into another world.

Ray was greeted with warmth and air polluted with everyone’s scent, combustion engines, and small orange tunnels nearby, spewing out steam.

“Welcome to New York City,” introduced Oxford.