The Day We Met

Aside I: The Day We Met

Nothing could have survived; the entire factory had been reduced to nothing more than a vast pile of scrap and rubble. 09 didn’t know what it was exactly that he had blown up, but either way his mission was over. There were light droplets of rain dancing in the cold misty wind, it was a slight dampness in the air, not enough to calm the searing ash and burned metal that was fuming into the sky. The demolished factory site was completely desolate; this one was far more out in the middle of nowhere than the others he had destroyed. Surrounding the scrap pile was hundreds of miles of dry and empty wasteland. 09 stood at the centre of the rubble and looked around at his handiwork; he really did love blowing things up. A dark haired, pale skinned boy who looked no more than 13, he was The Great Destroyer, self-proclaimed of course. Still, he was suddenly at a loss of what to do next. His only remaining mission was vague and unattainable, and he was too far from any sort of civilization, so enjoying himself with some petty vandalism was out of the question. He scuttled up to the highest point of rubble in the sea of waste that lay before him and surveyed everything that sprawled into the distance. The sun was setting, and it was getting hard to see, except… “Hm…?” 09 said to himself, it looked like there was a light flickering underneath a pile of twisted metal and concrete. He hopped down and ran up to the mess; he lifted the hulking mass of debris with his single left hand. He gasped; It was a glass tube, with a naked, 8 year old girl curled up inside. She was possibly stuck in cryo-stasis until 09 had destroyed everything. She was skinny and fragile-looking, but entirely unharmed; every part of her body, from her pale and

smooth knees, to her bright orangey hair, was spic and span. She had survived an explosion large enough to destroy an entire factory, she wasn’t even scathed, and if anything, she emanated a healthy, almost holy, glow. The door of the tube was left ajar, and she was draped messily over the opening, she seemed to be dazed and floating in and out of consciousness. Her bright green eyes fluttered open sporadically. “You look familiar,” said 09; he stared into her eyes, “does the word s2 mean anything to you?” he asked with great suspicion. The girl gasped and jumped back, “whoa whoa, I’m not here to hurt you or anything, I think, don’t overreact!” he rummaged through his bag and found a big red jumper, “here…” he held it open, and gestured it towards her, “…” “So you can stop being naked around me. Ok?” “…” “Man, can you speak? Or are you a mute?” “…” “So you never learned how to talk… a regular Kaspar Hauser aren’t ya?” 09 pondered for a moment, “but looking at you, you’re entirely biological, a true blue human being. That makes you pretty rare.” “Rare…” “Yeah, rare. Like me.” 09 lay out some of the contents of his bag, a blanket, some food, nothing too fancy, some bread, some water, a bag of biscuits. The girl was examining the jumper, she stared at 09 and then messily put it on. It was a few sizes too big for her, which was perfect, because it covered up all her naughty bits.

“Rare like me” she repeated, “… I almost feel bad for you. Bringing you to life like this; it probably would have been better for you if you stayed asleep.” “?” 09 sighed, he wondered if he suddenly had a huge burden on his hands. He supposed it was pretty nice to have someone to talk to for once, but a retarded naked eight year old girl wasn’t exactly the grand prize or anything… he watched her as she picked up and examined the bag of biscuits. She didn’t seem to know that she had to open it to get the treats inside. “No no, you’re meant to open it first,” he said, he leaned forward to snatch the bag off of her, she scowled at him and shimmied a few inches back. “Hey, I’m only trying to help!” he leaned forward even further, this had proven to be too much for the girl, she yelped and punched him in the face. The power of the attack sent him flying back. Him. 09. The boy who had taken down killer androids, survived nuclear explosions, and was self-defined as invulnerable. Her punch was perfectly focused, all the energy was concentrated on the first two knuckles of her perfectly formed fist. Whoever she was, she was a born fighter. 09 sat up and rubbed his cheek. The girl had managed to open the bag somehow, she was devouring the contents with glee. “A thanks would be nice at least. Thanks?” “Tfhancs?” the girl spluttered out with bits of biscuit spraying from her mouth. “Ugh.” “Thfanks” “You’re welcome. Although I guess you don’t know what that means…” he continued to rub his cheek, “I don’t think I’ve ever been punched like that before.

You’re something else.” He unscrewed the water bottle and handed it over to the girl, “so do you have a name?” The girl didn’t reply. She was staring into the sky. 09 looked up to see what she was staring at; it seemed like the clouds had dissipated and the night sky was clear. The entire stratosphere was in view from where the couple were sitting, all the billions of stars spread across the black winter night sky like an endless ocean. 09 gasped, and then wondered what it must have felt like to see the night sky for the very first time. He looked at the girl again, she was transfixed on all the shapes and colours in the sky, her crumb-ridden mouth was agape. She pointed at something, 09 looked up to see. It was a shooting star. “That?” he asked “it’s called a Supernova.” “Nova…” “Supernova.” “… Nova…”