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Noise.
Lots of noise.
The noise was all I could focus on at that moment, it was so... beautiful...
Hearing those civilians scream and beg filled me with ecstasy... so much so that I couldn't control myself. All I needed was noise at that moment.
But sadly, everything that begins must end, right?
No more noise... pure silence. A silence so deep that it drove me crazy... I couldn't even hear the birds, it seemed as if all the noise on the planet had been silenced. I hated it.
The floor was covered in blood. I approached the lifeless body of a civilian. I crushed it, just to make sure it wasn't making any more noise. And of course it wasn't. All I could hear was the flat sound of his organs being crushed. But it wasn't enough.
I went deeper and deeper into the forest, trying to find something that made enough noise, but nothing was enough. I tried breaking things to make noise, but it wasn't enough, nothing was enough. I was going completely crazy, all the silence was killing me. I couldn't allow something like that.
I dragged my feet a little more, feeling my sand crumble away... dust returns to dust, doesn't it? Maybe I would die right then if I didn't find a noisy civilian...
I ended up in a rather strange place. There was a large hole filled with water in the middle, some very strange structures, and... a big red ball with a funny face... I sat down on some stairs, waiting for something to happen... maybe the civilians would arrive on their own and I could once again enter into ecstasy.
I closed my eyes, waiting for anything... until
“YOU MUST DIE!” A loud scream woke me up immediately. The big red ball had fallen right in front of me. Oh! But the noise... it was so glorious... so loud... I needed more.
Another noise pulled me out of my thoughts. It was as if a piece of metal had crashed into the floor. I had to go investigate, maybe there were more civilians I could squeeze every last drop of noise out of!
But Instead of a civilian... I found something more interesting. It was a red robot, cleaning some dust off itself, maybe the big red ball had scared it. I didn't approach it at first... I decided to watch from a distance before anything happened.
The robot started walking, the sound of its metal footsteps filling the room, but from where I was, I could barely hear it... I needed to get closer if I wanted that precious
noise.
The robot was climbing some stairs, the same stairs I had entered a few moments earlier. I tried to be as loud as possible so that the robot would notice my presence and start screaming... I really needed someone to scream at that very moment. But the robot simply didn't notice me.
Just as the robot was inspecting a large green ball in a corner, I decided to intercept it.
The robot was... smaller than me. I grabbed it by the shoulders and shook it, expecting some scream of terror. But there was nothing. All I could hear was the robot's metal limbs clanging together. So little noise? Really?
We stared at each other for a few moments. Neither of us said anything for a long time.
“You're supposed to scream now,” I said, somewhat annoyed. My language wasn't the best, but it was understandable... a little.
“[I SEE NO REASON WHY I SHOULD SCREAM.]” God! The robot was noisy... it was perfect...
I dropped the robot, the sound of metal hitting the floor was glorious... I needed more. I needed more of that little robot.
I crouched down and stood right in front of it.
“[ARE YOU FAMILIAR WITH HARKEN? SHOULD I BE QUIETER?]" Harken? Who was Harken?
“Oh no... not more silence.” I was really upset at the idea of more silence; silence was disgusting.
“[UH? THEN SHOULD I BE LOUDER?]” Oh please! This robot was a quick learner.
Is there any way to make it louder? Maybe by torturing it like I usually do with civilians...
...where are this thing's organs?
I began to explore the robot's body. It didn't seem to mind much; it didn't complain or push me away. The silence was pissing me off.
The robot's body was quite different from that of civilians... it didn't have that soft skin... it wasn't terrified by my presence... it was so... different, in a good way.
After a while, I reached the robot's chest. It felt strange... there was a small hole in one part... I pushed up with my finger, opening a compartment.
“WHAT ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO BE DOING?” the robot complained. Oh, could the robot never shut up? All the noise it made just by talking was beautiful.
I didn't quite understand what was inside the compartment... were they its organs? They looked different from those of civilians... its ‘organs’ were quite thin and quite brightly colored, some of them sparking.
Anyway, I would have to torture it to make those beautiful screams escape.
I tried to take out an organ, but I just pulled on it. It was longer than I expected... Was it even a real organ? Anyway... because of the pull, the robot
went back To complain.
“[NO—DON'T PULL THERE.]” The robot put its hand on mine, trying to pull me away.
I responded with another pull. The robot got overexcited, jumping a little.
Whatever it was doing at the time was working...the robot started making noise.
“[AAHG—WHAT ARE YOUR INTENTIONS!?]” the robot began to question me.
“I'm going to torture you until I satisfy my hunger.” I pulled again, this time grabbing more organs.
“[PULLING ON MY WIRES? I-I DON'T UNDERSTAND HOW THIS COULD BE TORTURE...]” Wires? So that's what these things are called? Well, okay. Torture or not, I was achieving my goal... The noise felt so good.
“PLEASE—I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY YOU'RE DOING THIS.”
“I need noise, and you, my friend, are the perfect candidate to bring me to ecstasy... just keep screaming for me.” The robot seemed to understand, nodding its head... I hadn't told it to make noise
for me!?
I pulled again, and some of its wires started to spark.
“I SAID: KEEP SCREAMING FOR ME!” I opened my eye wide, the noise felt so good.
“MY APOLOGIES! I WILL BE AS LOUD AS POSSIBLE!” Pulling on the robot's cables really had an impact on it. I could see smoke coming out of its head, its voice sounded choppy, and I also felt heat emanating from the robot.
Time flew by, the robot was noisy, between the sound it made every time I pulled its cables and the sound of metal clanging together every time the robot took those little jumps... I was... very close to ecstasy, it was almost comparable to the noise those civilians made every time I finished them off. This was just what I needed.
An unintentionally strong pull made the robot scream, excessively loud. And it was perfect. My arena shattered with excitement, I felt I had reached that point.
But in comparison... the robot wasn't responding... had I really killed it? Just like I killed all those civilians? It was a shame... if it had survived... maybe I would have kept it.
I got up, determined to find a new source of noise... I was about to leave when I heard something.
It was the robot! Apparently, it was alive!
“You're not dead,” I replied from where I stood, and the robot approached me.
“[WHY SHOULD I BE?]”
I didn't know exactly what to say, so I said nothing. Instead, I watched as the robot left the place, closing the compartment in its chest as it walked away. I followed it.
After following it for a while, the robot turned toward me.
“[WHY ARE YOU FOLLOWING ME? STOP IT.]" The robot pointed a strange grayish thing at me.
Suddenly, something pierced me. I lowered my head to watch my sand return to its original place. Whatever that was, it was loud, very loud.
I like this guy.
You're loud. I like that."
“[THANKS... I GUESS.]”
I stood next to him, and we started walking.
“[SO... YOU NEED NOISE TO SURVIVE...?”]
“Exactly.”
“[YOU'RE LIKE HARKEN... BUT THE OPPOSITE.]” I still don't know who Harken is.
“[SHE DIDN'T LIKE ME... SHE SAYS I'M TOO NOISY AND IT DRIVES HER CRAZY.]”
“You're too noisy and I love it.”
“[THANK YOU...]”
Neither of us spoke for a while. Silence again? Unpleasant.
“Keep talking.”
“[ABOUT WHAT?]”
“Anything.”
“[MY NAME IS KILLDROID. I AM A ROBOT DESIGNED TO ELIMINATE CRIMINALS.]”
“Were you looking for criminals in that place earlier?”
“[AFFIRMATIVE... I AM MONITORING THE MOST FREQUENT PLACES WHERE CRIMINALS PASS THROUGH. ACCORDING TO MY DATABASE.]”
“That's interesting.”
We ended up arriving at a place that was like a large courtyard. It was very sunny, and there was a building in the middle. I didn't really know what we were doing there until I heard them... civilians.
Killdroid had led me to the civilians? How kind of him!
Killdroid ran towards the civilians... and I heard it. The same noise as when Killdroid had pointed that thing at me. Over and over again. The explosion was also accompanied by screams, metallic sounds, and the occasional taunt.
My sand fragmented again with excitement. If being near Killdroid means being exposed to all this noise all the time... then I never want to leave his
side!