1. In the Robot World?
“You think you’re attractive?” The man burst out laughing, mocking the silent girl. “You’re so stupid, Alexa,” the man continued while laughing.
Alexa Ivvona, the girl with shoulder-length black hair, fell silent with a devastated feeling after catching her lover making out with another woman.
“Hey. Who would want an old-fashioned girl like that?” the man’s friend replied, and then his laughter echoed again, overpowering the sound of the music in the room.
Alexa stared at the man who was her lover angrily, her breath rising and falling and her hands clenched tightly.
“So, all this time you’ve been using me just for your pleasure?” Alexa asked in disbelief.
“Yes. Why? You don’t accept it?” the man said with a disdainful laugh. “Hey, come on. Do you think I’m interested in you? Not at all. If only I hadn’t lost the bet, I wouldn’t have wasted my time just to date you, damn it!”
In disbelief, Alexa could only stay silent in her place. The people in the pub laughed at Alexa.
“I heard you live in a very smelly slum,” said a woman dressed sexily approaching Alexa. “Now I can see it, and you, gosh, smell!”
Again, the thunderous laughter mocked Alexa’s appearance which was indeed quite ordinary and her clothes were a bit shabby. However, Alexa had a reason for that.
“Hey smelly girl, move aside,” said another woman while pushing Alexa’s shoulder until she stepped back.
Alexa was still silent, confused about what to do other than accept all the insults and curses thrown by the man and his friends. Alexa’s gaze shifted one by one to about six people in the pub room. Four men including Alexa’s lover, and two women who were messing up Alexa’s hair.
“Hey, come on, go away. You’re bothering me,” said Bram, Alexa’s lover, shooing her away roughly.
When Alexa didn’t move at all and that made Bram angry, the man pulled Alexa out of the room and pushed Alexa’s body until she fell to the pub floor. Everyone who saw that laughed again.
Stumbling out of the pub while crying. Alexa felt her heart broken because of the game played by her lover who had been in a relationship with her for a long time. Is that the end? Maybe.
Walking while daydreaming, Alexa did not realize that she had arrived at the crossing, just waiting for the traffic light to change so that pedestrians could cross. But when the light finally changed and Alexa stepped forward, the sound of a longhorn and the glare of the lights directed at her made Alexa speechless.
"Is this the end of my life?" the girl thought to herself.
The glare of the lights made Alexa close her eyes. However, who knows what happened, her body seemed to float in the air.
The next minute, what was heard was not the sound of people pressing against her body because of the impact. What Alexa heard was another sound that was even stranger and noisier than the voices of people. Not only that, the ground where the girl was standing seemed to vibrate.
The sound was very loud like a deafening explosion. Alexa's heart beat fast feeling something strange. The girl tried to open her eyes to look around her. When she opened her eyes slightly, her eyes were completely round when she saw that her surroundings had been destroyed.
"Watch out!" Loud shouts from all directions made Alexa turn her head.
"Get down!" Another voice gave the order so that Alexa automatically lay down while covering her ears with both hands tightly.
The explosions, gunfire, and attacks that occurred in both directions made Alexa's heart beat so fast that she almost jumped from her place.
"What is this? What happened?" Alexa asked confusedly.
"What are you doing there? Get out of the way!" Someone forcibly pulled Alexa's hand from the middle of the battle.
A man who pulled Alexa's hand took her to the back.
"Take care of it, and get ready," said the man without looking at Alexa who was still confused.
Alexa was scared where she stood, her legs even shaking badly.
"Where am I? What is this place?" asked the girl while looking at her surroundings which were so foreign.
"Hold that weapon or you will die," said the man in a cold voice and left Alexa there with increasing confusion.
With a weapon in her hand, Alexa looked around her, there were many injured victims, and people walking around there. The conditions in that place were not good at all.
"If you have nothing to do, help. Don't just stay silent," said someone to Alexa. "Follow me," invited the person again.
From her appearance and long hair, Alexa knew that she was a woman, but her clothes were a bit strange with her white hair tightly braided.
Following the white-haired girl, Alexa did as she was told. While observing, Alexa began to understand a little that the situation that was happening now was not the situation in the past during the world war, but this was something completely different.
Who knows how long it took Alexa to finally get tired after helping this and that, going back and forth here and there while confused? The treatment method also felt strange to Alexa.
The girl sat weakly in one corner of the room. In that tired and confused state, how could Alexa think?
"Are you okay?" Someone approached Alexa.
The girl looked up and shook her head.
"No. I'm not okay. Don't ask, I want to sleep for a while," said Alexa while closing her eyes.
Alexa hoped that what she had just seen and experienced was a dream, and when she woke up everything would return to normal. The girl remembered her lover's betrayal so her mind became chaotic. Alexa was sure that what happened was just a dream.
However, what happened? Alexa was still stunned when she woke up from her sleep. Only this time Alexa was in a large room.
"This is not my room, and it's not my world either. The sound of the explosion... what happened?" Alexa thought when she was fully awake and her tiredness had disappeared but her confusion had not disappeared.
"Are you awake?" The voice sounded friendly.
Alexa turned and found a girl approaching her while carrying something.
"You fell asleep after helping me earlier," said the girl.
"This, where?" asked Alexa.
There was no answer, the girl herself stared at Alexa with a probing gaze.
"What world is this?" asked Alexa again while trying to stay calm.
"And what are you?" asked the girl back. The white-haired girl who had made Alexa struggle to help her earlier.
"What do you mean? Me? Well, I'm human," answered Alexa after a few moments of thinking to give the right answer.
However, the white-haired girl was silent for quite a while without blinking and just stared at Alexa.
Alexa realized that the white-haired girl's irises were very beautiful, light grey with curly, whitish eyelashes.
"You're not human, are you?" guessed Alexa doubtfully.
"And you're human?"
Alexa guessed that the white-haired girl was surprised but all Alexa saw was a flat expression.
"Yes, I'm human. However, you're not human, are you?" Alexa wanted to make sure.
"Yes. I'm a robot, my name is Azura," said the white-haired girl introducing herself.
"Ah, Azura, a robot. Oh. I... wait. Robot?" Alexa seemed surprised to hear that.
Robot?
Alexa looked around the fairly large room. Every object in the room was strange, looking like modern technology that had never existed on Earth. When Alexa looked out the window, the houses were shaped like aeroplanes and were in the air. They were round with a pitch-black color but there were some windows that were open.
"Me, in the robot world?" thought Alexa. "No way. How did I... I..." Alexa was now panicking and turning around. "I have to go. Why am I here? This is not my world," said the girl even more confused.
Azura who saw Alexa was also confused but the girl did not show any confused expression at all, only a blank expression.
"Can you go out first, Azura?" The deep voice of someone entering the room caught Azura and Alexa's attention.
A tall man with a muscular body behind the uniform that was attached to his body. His face was handsome but there was no expression at all.
Azura nodded without protest at all and followed the man's orders then closed the door.
Alexa wanted to prevent Azura from leaving her with the strange man. However, Alexa realized was the man also a robot.
"Sit wherever you want," the man said coldly.
The girl was silent but still paid attention to the man.
"I'll explain something to you so sit down and listen. I'm sure you can understand something in your way," said the man who had sat on a chair not far from Alexa.
Strangely, Alexa felt calm when she looked at the man with round eyes and light brown irises. Alexa suddenly forgot where she was now.
"Can you hear me?" said the man trying to get Alexa's attention.
"So, where am I?" Instead of answering, Alexa asked.
The man stared at Alexa silently.
"As Azura said, this is a robot world. You are in the Stars," replied the man.
Hearing the answer given by the man-made Alexa stunned me. For a moment the girl digested his answer.
"Stars?" Alexa repeated, thinking she might have heard wrong.
"Yes. A nameless star that is far away in the sky. A dead star that is unknown to humans, and invisible to humans on Earth," the man replied.
"Human? You know I'm human?" Alexa was surprised again. "But how did you know?"
The man remained silent without taking his eyes off Alexa.
"I know a few things. Luckily you appeared near me, otherwise, the enemy might have killed you," the man said.
Alexa was surprised to hear the man's words again. How could he say it without any expression at all?
"I think it's time for you to meet the Old Man. You will hear the explanation and the reason for your being here," the man said, then got up from his seat and left Alexa who was still silent in her place.
What did that mean? Alexa didn't understand at all. Enemy? Killed? Oh, too many things crossed her mind right now. But who would meet Alexa?