Perhaps I was being too casual. You might ask where I got that idea? Well, from all the trouble I managed to stumble into during my journey with my new super team…
Our journey, as I mentioned, started in the abandoned mutant village and then moved into the city. Let me tell you a bit more about this enormous city's structure. First, the city had three massive walls. The first great wall enclosed settlements reminiscent of the Wild West. The mutant villages were two small settlements located south and north of that wall. From the part of the mutant village near the second wall, gigantic pipes, like sewage pipes, ran through it. According to Rose, these colossal, manhole-like pipes were a system they used for mass mutant harvesting. It wasn't hard for us to open these lids. Jose cut a few sturdy iron bars with his laser finger, and we hopped inside those covers.
As we navigated the underground tunnels, we came across inexplicably dead bodies of creatures. It was then that I once again found clothes from a corpse and wore them myself. The Zaron creature's clothes looked comical on me, but nobody in the city seemed to bat an eye.
While moving through the sewers, I accidentally tripped a trap, and a snare, powerful enough to completely bind my leg, snapped shut with brutal force. If Rose hadn't intervened, acting even faster than Jose's sensors, I would probably have lost my leg.
Rose had scooped me up and rescued me from that trap. In Rose's arms, I felt incredibly safe. The woman's arms might have looked slender, but they seemed to be made entirely of muscle. That's why, from the moment Rose took me in her arms, an inexplicable sense of ease washed over me. Playing the team leader had exhausted me so much that the instant I saw another leader, I just surrendered to her protection.
The funny thing was, when I wasn't the leader, I wasn't on high alert. And when I wasn't on high alert, I wasn't a very careful person. When I wasn't careful, I couldn't stay out of trouble. It turned out that that whole fake leadership gig was the biggest thing keeping me alive…
When we entered the city, we were met by strange, multi-story metal structures resembling the ice domes mentioned in history books and attributed to Eskimos, shaped like snail shells. The human-like structures from the previous wall had vanished, replaced by these alien-looking architectures. Interestingly, seeing these architectural structures made me feel more normal than strange. It was as if this was what we were meant to encounter from the start.
The Zarons, Xerolms, Ornas, and Mokkos here had paler characteristics compared to those in the outer wall. They barely spoke, moved little, and wandered like living specters.
"What do you think is the reason for this?" I asked Rose.
"The reason for what?"
I pointed at a Zaron constantly walking into the wall as if trying to pass through it, stuck like a simulation glitch: "For this…"
"I have no idea," Rose said.
"Maybe he broke up with his girlfriend," Diana offered.
"I have an idea!" Jose said, approaching us. Whispering: "You don't see any human mutants here, do you? These creatures have probably been living for so long using mutants as energy that they lost their minds when the humans left."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"These creatures are as if… as if they don't have much sense. I don't really think these creatures could survive on this planet through evolution or natural selection. They seem to have been carefully engineered… As if someone needed mindless farmers who would want to produce mutants. Perhaps these creatures lost their purpose when their mutants were taken away. They're like shepherds who've lost their flock; they've lost their entire reason for being."
"That's very plausible…" Rose said.
"If you want to say this robot is talking very logically, I understand," Jose said, using clean-up robot gestures and winking.
"Don't make those gestures at me, do them for my sister," Rose said disgustedly.
"I already do that for her," Jose said.
"So, what I'm getting is, you're saying these creatures were created by someone just to produce mutants?"
"Possible…" Rose said. "…we've encountered such planets before. Especially in star systems not under SWR control, there are many such planets. The SWR rarely travels to areas outside its control because it wants to avoid expenses unless there's a major event. For example, we saw a colony called Golyan…"
"There…" Diana interjected. "…there's a strange ecosystem. There's an alien race, and they have very fertile meat. I don't quite remember what those aliens were called, but…" She put her index finger to her cheek and thought for a while. Then, unable to find an answer, she continued. "Anyway, these creatures roamed in herds. The people of that colony created artificial humans; just to shepherd those creatures. Because those creatures were quite stupid and could easily get into trouble. They needed to be monitored 24/7, every second, without blinking, and intervened with suddenly."
As I hung out with these two mind-weavers, one of whom was a half-mind-weaver, I realized how vast and full of miracles the universe was. As I understood it, if you were in star systems under SWR control, you were under very strict control… But the outside was still full of unknowns. Jose had sidestepped the unknowns when he told me I was the only human in the galaxy. Yes, perhaps I really was one of the few humans born naturally. Perhaps I was also one of the rare humans whose body had no mechanical enhancements. I was still one of the rare humans who possessed simple human culture and traditions, perhaps even a little faith. Or, to put it more correctly, I was perhaps the only simple human in the universe. Human… If they asked what my characteristics were, the only thing I could say was that I was human.
But the galaxy, contrary to what I thought, was not that dead. The problem was, if you lived in areas permitted by the SWR, the galaxy became a dead galaxy. Because under their gaze, you couldn't live very comfortably. Colonies, planets, and countless other things; under the SWR's supervision, they turned into things crushed by fascist rules, far from life. At least, that's what I gathered from Rose and Diana's accounts.
"What do you think it means to be human?" I asked Rose and Diana. I didn't think I would catch them so off guard with this question, as both of them were surprised by my query.
"Why are you curious?" Rose asked, looking at me.
I sat on a bench in the middle of the street and took a breath. As ghost-like creatures passed us, I leaned back against the bench, and my shoes touched a muddy puddle. The sun wasn't setting because there was no sun, but we were tired, and we knew we had been walking for a very long time. That's why we needed a place to stay. That's why both Diana and Rose were quite impatient. As for me… I wanted to get rid of the discomfort I had felt inside since I arrived on this planet. More accurately, I wanted to relieve the boredom that had settled within me since facing John Crowrift, losing my friend Hulk, and seeing the mutants tortured on this planet.
"I'd been sleeping for 400 years. Then I opened my eyes, the whole universe had changed, and I don't remember anything except for a few odd things from before I went to sleep. Most humans have become robotic, those who haven't have mutated… Even if the family values of my time exist, they've changed. Culture exists, but it's not like anything I know. I feel like I'm the only living human in the universe."
"You are, sir," Jose said.
"Not exactly, is it?" Rose said. "After all, there are still naturally born humans in a few colonies. But… Look, Mehmet… I want to tell you something. Why would a human accept death when they could be immortal? We don't blame people for not being simple humans… Immortality isn't that expensive. Becoming an advanced being just requires a few mechanisms brought by fugitives. No one wants their child or wife to die from a simple illness. Besides, no one wants to have children either. Simple pleasures mean nothing compared to those obtained with neurological chemicals. The only reason growing colonies increase their populations is an increase in their workload. But a three-meter-tall muscular creature can eliminate a workload more easily than a human. Or a solid robot… In that case, who needs humans?"
"So you're saying there's no need for humans…"
"No one dies, no one needs to be replaced."
"Then I'd like to ask the same question again. What does it mean to be human?"
"Ah… Asking that to a mind-weaver is really funny."
"Then let me ask you this first, what's it like to be a mind-weaver?"
"Do you really want to talk about this here?"
"Oh… Should you save your stupid questions for when we find a house?" Diana said.
"No… It seems the gentleman wants a small enlightenment, sister. Perhaps we can spark a glimmer in his foolish mind," Rose said and sat beside me. "Could you ask your question again?"
"What does it mean to be a mind-weaver?"
"What does it mean to be a mind-weaver? I'm going to tell you what it means to be a mind-weaver, and you'll understand what it means to be human through the eyes of a mind-weaver."
"Very exciting…" Diana said, and Diana sat on the other corner of the bench. Jose also came up to us on his wheels and listened intently.
"We mind-weavers live very long lives; of course, there have been scientists who estimated how long our lives would be, but you won't see a mind-weaver die of natural causes. Even a half-mind-weaver lives almost as long as an immortal. I, for instance, have been alive for about 200 years. My birth year must correspond to 2630.
My father, a loyal client of our master Raiden, was blessed by our master's daughters. He was a wealthy nobleman. In those days, neurological pleasure chips weren't so widespread. That's why people were still slaves to carnal pleasures.
My wealthy nobleman father, however, had different pleasures. That constant human lust for power had consumed him to such an extent that he enjoyed using this lust for power against the mind-weavers in bed. He had given himself the nickname "tailor" in bed. Since he saw mind-weavers more as objects than humans, sometimes he would operate on them with his own hands before sleeping with them, modifying those mind-weavers according to the characteristics he desired. In that blood-soaked bed, sometimes after surgery, sometimes during surgery, he would be with mind-weavers who had no anesthetic effect. Then he would discard those mind-weavers like trash and ask for new ones.
Don't think there was even the slightest crumb of love or mercy in the man. He allowed me to be born because he wanted to spend time with a half-mind-weaver born from himself. A mind-weaver born from his own power…" Rose took off her helmet and then showed the underside of her neck. There were many stitch marks. "He made these stitch marks. He found my double chin too much and wanted to remove them. He took them when I was younger…" Then she opened the front of her outfit and showed the stitch marks in the middle of her breasts. "He thought my breasts were too shapeless."
As she said all this, I hated myself for a moment for finding Rose's alluring body beautiful. I was disgusted by my own inner world and my masculinity.
"Anyway… What was I saying. Immortality existed back then, but it wasn't this cheap. I can't imagine what would have happened if Quartez hadn't built those huge factories on planet QLQ-21, if those mechanical chips hadn't been distributed cheaply on Earth in 2685. Why? Because thanks to those mechanical chip systems, humanity is gone!" She suddenly gritted her teeth. "You're asking me what humanity is, right? Humans were a community of despicable beings constantly craving power. Each of them had only one desire, and that was power… They were mortal, that's why they didn't hesitate to do whatever it took to live their lives in pleasure and luxury. I don't know what it was like 400 years ago, Mehmet, but since you started sleeping, humanity has been nothing but a parasite.
It's a good thing humans became mechanized and most of their emotions disappeared. It's a good thing rationality entered human organs, limbs, veins, and cells mechanically so that this galaxy became habitable for others. It's a good thing those neurological pleasure chips exist… Let them live as they wish in those fake worlds inside those chips! I wish they were all neo-humans, standing stiff as walls! Because whenever they see something that gives pleasure, they see it as their right! And they will do everything they can to take that right! Because what you're curious about and call humanity is this! This is the true nature of humanity!" After shouting in a burst of anger, Rose took a breath. "God, or whatever it is, I offer my thanks to it. Humans, thankfully, gave up their humanity due to fear of death. Thankfully, they could no longer move their limbs easily. Thankfully, the chips in their heads calculated possibilities for them and restricted them. Thankfully, the Supreme World Republic reined them in. Otherwise… Otherwise, this galaxy would continue to be an uninhabitable place.
Diana was applauding as if she enjoyed the story. Jose must have been tense, as he had retracted his head into his body, waiting curiously to see what I would do.
"I understand…" I said. "…I understand your anger. I…" For some reason, my mind went back to the time I laid my head on my mother's sick, pale body, and I felt emotional. "…I understand you."
Humanity, perhaps, had indeed changed a lot over time. But as I thought of my mother, that woman who was a symbol of sacrifice for me, I couldn't curse humanity. And as I thought of Joe Stone and Oscar Destan, who were with my father… It was as if… I don't know how to put it, but… Someone had tampered with humanity's core settings. At least for me, it was like that. My father, that man looking at the puddle with a bottle of alcohol in his hand, mourning for his soldiers and his country, was the symbol of humanity for me, so how could I curse humanity?
"You can't understand because you are also human," Rose said and stood up, but I suddenly grabbed her arm. Even I was surprised that it was me who did this, because a timid man like me was acting with such self-assurance for the first time.
I had stopped her, but I didn't know what to say. The humanity I knew was full of sacrifice and sorrow. The humanity she knew was pleasure and lust for power… I wish I could put her into those fragmented memories of mine. I wish I could show her my mother's frail body, reaching out her hand agonizingly to caress my cheek. I wish I could show that Oscar Destan, despite being reluctant, played games with me and my robot dog just so I wouldn't be sad. I wish I could show Joe Stone's efforts to heal my mother without any possibility of a cure. I wish I could show my father's grief due to the situation of his country.
"Are you going to say something?" Rose asked.
We stared at each other for a while. "I thought so…" Rose said, and after freeing her wrist from me, we continued on our way.
"When are we going to eat then!" Diana shouted from behind.
"First, let's find a shelter," Rose said.
"I don't think these creatures would object if we just walked into any house," Jose said.
I watched them from behind for a while. I sighed deeply… Then I followed them.