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Mrs. Shroud walked through the hallways of stryx She was once again on her way to her son’s room to try to get him to come out of his room and rejoin society. Many of her attempts didn’t yield much success but today she felt confident that she could drag him out of his room and away from whatever project that he spent all his time on for at least a few hours. When she rounded the corner she paused when she saw the small figure standing in the middle of the hall.
She slowly moved closer, taking careful steps into the hall until she finally recognized it. There he was, her youngest son standing there as if the two years didn’t matter. As if everything was still ok. As if her eldest hadn’t locked himself away in his grief, as if her husband didn’t grow more distant every day, as if she didn’t wake up at her desk every morning. As if he wasn’t laying cold in his grave.
She stood there for a moment, the shock of seeing her dead son not allowing her to move. She wanted to fall to her knees and cry, to run to him and embrace her son and never let go, she wanted to stay in this moment forever. Her grief had carved her up and tore apart her family. Every morning she awoke to an empty feeling in her chest. She would do anything just to see her son one last time.
On closer inspection however it was clearly not Ortho. Despite how much she wanted to pretend that it was her son that stood before her miraculously back from the dead, she had an analyst's brain and she couldn’t help but pick apart the figure that stood before her.
She hadn't seen her son since the funeral but she could still picture him as clear as day. The thing in front of her looked uncannily similar to Ortho but his hair was clearly artificial and he was covered in metal plates. It stood unsettlingly still, its body didn’t even try to simulate breath and its dull eyes stared straight ahead looking at her but not seeing her.
As she further studied it she felt more and more disturbed. What was this thing standing in her home looking so much like her son? It stood on the line between machine and human though it was clearly anything but. There was something about the way it was mimicking a human that made her skin crawl. For a moment she believed that she might have gone mad or that this was a hallucination caused by the lack of sleep and the unhealthy amount of caffeine she had consumed to cope.
She hesitantly took a step forward and that’s when it seemed to truly register her presence. Then it spoke. “Hello, chief engineer of Strxy,” it said. Its voice was high pitched and robotic, only a vague reminder of the real Orthos. The bit of emotion in its voice sounded fake and hollow. She froze and they stood in a stalemate. Its lifeless unblinking eyes stared at her and she felt the overwhelming desire to close her eyes. To shut out the sight before her but she looked right back at it, not daring to look away. The only sound in the hallway was the gentle hum of machinery but her heart rate thundered in her ears. She was vaguely aware that her hands had started to shake slightly. She was overcome with the desire to run, to hit it, to shout, to do something other than stand her staring at it.
“Your heart rate has increased” it said “there is no need to be afraid.” She had seen all manner of terrible things, people consumed by blot, technical mishaps that ended in mutilation, she had seen all the horrors that the world had to offer and kept smiling but this, this truly scared her. It stepped forward and held out its hand. Its movements were stiff and unpracticed like a deer that was still learning to walk. “it’s nice to meet you” it continued “my name is Ortho Shroud.” At this there was no denying this thing was some sort of copy of her son. She took a step back, overwhelmed by this robot pretending to be her son.
That was when Idia rounded the corner. Over the past few years she had seen her son so little he was practically just a faded memory and a voice behind a door. Throughout all the time he had spent holed up in his room she had tried to get him to come out of his room but every time she tried to talk to him she would get one word answers or nothing at all. All she could manage was to get him to eat real food every now and then.
The first thing that she noticed was that Idia looked tired. His hair was a mess and the shadows under his eyes were so dark that they could rival a raccoon. If she had to guess she would say that he probably hadn’t eaten in days and his hands were covered in small cuts.
“Ortho! That’s where you went” he said as he ran up to the robot and hugged it. The robot put its arms around him, copying the movement. Idia pulled away and looked it over. After he had assured that there was no damage he turned to his mother. “So mom, what do you think?”
That’s when she registered what Idia had said. Had he really just called that thing Ortho?
“What?” She breathed out “Ortho? Why would you…” The idea that he could refer to this thing as his brother when the funeral was still fresh in her mind unsettled her. Months had passed and most everyone had moved on but the image of her son laying dead beneath an phantom would haunt her forever.
Idia’s face broke into a grin “I know right isn't he great? He’s just a prototype so a lot of his functions are still pretty basic. I'm totally going to level him up more, there are still tons of features I want to add. I was thinking maybe laser beams.”
“Idia that’s-“ she began “he’s not..” she opened and closed her mouth trying to find the right words to say. Eventually she settled on “has your father seen this?” Her voice sounded strained even to her own ears.
Idia ignored the concern in her voice, “No, he hasn't. I showed Ortho to some of the staff but those normies totally freaked out when they saw him. Started saying stuff about things like “ethics” totally scared Ortho.” The robot had no reaction to anything that was said or even gave a slight hint that it had experienced any emotion over this incident but Idia continued muttering about the staff and low tier they were.
She knew that Idia had been asking for parts for a While and that he was building something. Was constructing this thing truly what he had been doing this whole time? Building this metal replica of her son? “Idy” she slowly started “did you build this thing?”
His grin faded and he got a bit sad. He took a long look at the robot. “Yeah” he looked almost ashamed as he said this.
She couldn’t seem to breathe for a moment. When she could finally speak she said a bit of anger sliping through “how could you do this? Why would you do this?” She could feel her eyes watering with all of her unshed tears. She couldn’t understand how he could do this. how he could stand there and hug it and call it Ortho like he hadn’t reconstructed his dead brother out of cold metal and circuits.
Idia looked down at his feet as if he had been caught stealing cookies instead of rebuilding his dead brother. He quietly replied “I mean it’s not like he’s coming back. Plus I remember him perfectly so it’s just like he was before.
Her first instinct was to react with horror, to begin screaming and never stop. To even insinuate that this thing was even anything like Ortho made her want to cry. There was one thing that kept nagging in the back of her head, how desperate he must be for any bit of Ortho to be in his life, to not forget the boy who had brought so much light to their lives. Deep down she knew it reminded her a bit of herself. She wanted to run from this thing impersonating her son and take Idia with her but she hadn’t seen him smile like that in a long time. What he said broke her heart into a dozen pieces. If this was the thing that would get him out of his room to stop blaming himself and drowning in his grief then she could endure it.
So instead she took a breath and asked “how about we go get some ice cream?” Idia nodded enthusiastically while the robot looked forward blankly and gave a single nod.
The three sat in the empty cafeteria with bowls of vanilla ice cream. All of the staff had left the room when they saw the robot. By now some rumors had spread and everyone was well aware of Idia’s newest creation. She kept stealing glances at the robot that sat next to her. Despite the fact that she had come to the decision to coexist with the robot it still put her on edge. “so laser beams?” She asked Idia. He briefly took a pause from devouring the ice cream to answer her “yup! He’s already totally OP but they would be sick!”
“How does he work?” She asked at this he lit up and began ranting about his inner workings and all of the features Ortho was equipped with. She felt a soft smile spread across her face. It had been so long since she had a real conversation with him. She had almost forgotten how much she loved talking with him.
Throughout their conversation the robot simply continued staring straight ahead, not moving an inch. “His code is self learning so he’s only going to get better with time.” Idia finished up his rant with. She nodded in agreement, he did seem rather advanced.
“He sounds very well constructed, Idy.” She complimented him. He grinned at her “well of course he is I constructed him.”
She gave a small chuckle at her son's words. She glanced once more at the robot that sat next to her. As she was around it more the differences between it and her son became more and more apparent. It didn’t react unless it was directly prompted and thought it seemed very aware it had none of the energy or relentless curiosity of a child.
She collected the finished bowls of ice cream and the empty bowl they had placed in front of the robot. Idia had insisted it had to be there so he “wasn’t left out” even though he couldn’t eat.
“Thank you mom” it said looking up at her. It hurt to hear a thing so close to her son say those words to her. She hesitated for a moment before saying “your welcome Ortho.” It felt strange to use her son's name once more In spite of her previous reluctance she was slowly warming up to the robot. It wasn’t really Ortho and she knew that but she was being given a sort of new son. Not a replacement but another boy she could see learn and grow. It would take time for her to get used to it but she could take this in stride.
“Let’s go find your father. She said as she took her sons hands in hers. The Ortho’s hand was as cold as the one he was modeled after but Idia’s hand was slightly warm and was sticky for ice cream and a bit of motor oil.
With that warmth there was hope they could continue living. They could move on and build something new. In whatever way they could.