Ava and Aphrodite: The First Human in 8000 Years (Featured)

Chapter 33: Broken

"Stop! Stop!!! Don't do this!" Ava-11's voice resonated through the room, sparks were flying everywhere, "I'm sorry! You've misunderstood! You can't kill me! You can't!"

"I can."

"B-but killing me achieves nothing for you! Why are you doing this!?"

"It's the morally right thing to do." Locke replied blankly, "You are causing many to suffer, and are living a life of suffering yourself."

"No!" Ava-11 continued to scream.

Aphrodite got back up onto her feet, although she was having trouble gaining footing because of how much the ground was shaking.

"Locke!" she yelled, "Locke what the hell are you doing?!"

"I have disconnected the locks for the pillar that connects this plate to the satellites in space. This plate will fall, and it will kill everything. All the Evos he is torturing here will be released. Don't worry, this plate has already passed over the Evo colony in the scrapyard, they won't be harmed."

"But-"

"Get in the ship already."

"You're not gonna come?"

"There's no need."

"Oh... right. I forgot. You're networked." Aphrodite looked forlorn. Ava stared at her the whole time this exchange was happening. It looked like she actually cared for Locke. That was funny, because there seemed to be quite a disconnect between them earlier, almost like she resented him. But the look of anguish on her face, it looked like emotions long since hidden had risen up from inside her. "Ava, let's get in. Locke has spare bodies so we don't need to worry about him."

"Right." Ava looked at the emotionless head that was still floating ahead of them. No, don't think about it. Pretend he doesn't exist. Pretend this never happened. Just survive.

"Take your friend's remains with you." said Locke,

"Sylvie? But why?"

"She is fixable. Aphrodite can fix her." Locke's words caused a warm swelling in Ava's heart, the chaos around him, the shaking ground, the imminent danger, it wasn't affecting him anymore. The knowledge that Sylvie could be revived, it-

"Why are you just standing there!?" Aphrodite yelled, "let's just get her parts and get in the ship!" That's right, the ship was made to withstand impact damage from space. This would survive the fall.

Ava scurried around and helped Aphrodite collect all of Sylvie's parts, it was difficult seeing as one of his hands was quite damaged, but he'd managed to in time to rush in with her. The two squeezed inside the ship, packed in without any space to move, Aphrodite was visibly in pain but she was hiding it well enough. Once the ship was closed, it was impossible to see anything. No windows.

Aphrodite shifted around and hugged Ava's body. She mouthed something to him but he couldn't make out what it was. Tears were falling down her face but he wasn't sure why. Didn't she say Locke had spares? Why was she sad about leaving him behind?

The two could feel it, crumbling more and more. More and more. Rolling around. Bashing back and forth. It was definitely falling.

Falling.

Falling.

Black.

***

Ava woke up, back in the darkness of the scrapyard. He could feel himself moving up and down. Was he riding something? He sat up and turned on his night vision. It was that Spider from before! He was on her back! She was carrying him back to the scrapyard. He looked around. The amount of debris was colossal, remains of the plate were scattered back  far into the distance. Did she pull him out of the wreckage? He was surprised at how flat her back was, and how gently she was able to walk. His tense body relaxed a little when he noticed Aphrodite's body lying next to him, and behind, the Spider's two back legs were clamped onto the stealth ship that had crash landed, Sylvie's remains were neatly tucked inside.