Sylvie lay on the grass, the sun was shining down and a warm breeze was spreading tranquillity through the air. She'd approached the moon of Saturn, however due to a barrage of satellites and shiny panels that surrounded it, she found it very difficult to navigate her way to the ground.
She'd managed to salvage her ship, but the crash landing pushed her against the cockpit at a weird angle and she ended up damaging her leg. She lay on the ground for a while just letting the leg self-heal, the level of damage it had taken meant she wouldn't be able to walk for several hours. What a clown she was.
Where was she going to go? The moon wasn't too big, so she'd be able to navigate the whole thing in a few days, probably. Looking around, she was fairly sure she'd found the sanctuary. The weather and atmosphere was similar to mars, an atmosphere built ideally for humans. This wasn't a place built for grotty Evos.
Sylvie could hear a vehicle in the background, it was tumbling closer to her. Shit. She wasn't able to get up and run, if she was about to face someone hostile she'd be in big trouble. As the noise got closer she noticed it was a rather large jeep that was driving towards her off road. The design was quite alien to her, with its six wheels, open top, and green matt camouflage. Of course, it was Evo technology, so she'd never have seen it before. Either way she'd have no choice but to sit there and see what happened, her legs weren't responding to any stimulus yet, she'd probably have to wait an hour or so until she'd be able to move them again.
The vehicle finally stopped in front of her. Sylvie blinked as she saw the figure of the being that stepped out. Was it a Serv? No, she'd never seen a Serv model with a face like that before, and his shell... his shell was a unique colour. Her eyes widened, no joints, he didn't have any joints. And his shell was made of flesh! This... another human!?
"Oh my, you seem to have hurt yourself," said the human,
"S-stay back!" humans were block-0, they could completely enslave her. Did this one know?
"Don't be scared, I'm not here to hurt you," the human continued, "you're a Serv aren't you?"
"What about you? You're a human... right?" she'd need to find an opportunity to kill it "Is this the sanctuary?" but this one didn't seem hostile, so she'd be able to ambush it, she was sure. Just buy time until her legs are healed.
"Oh, no no, I'm not a human." The being smiled, "I'm an off-network Evo, my mind is placed in an advanced humanoid cyborg unit."
"What?"
"I'm an Evo. Not a human."
"So, that's a robot body?" holy crap, they have technology advanced enough to make fake humans?
"Indeed."
Whatever, Sylvie still needed to buy time. The fact that it was an Evo made her assumptions of it not being hostile go down the toilet.
"Could you happen to be, Ms Sylvie?" asked the Evo,
"...How do you know that name!?"
"Shall I take that as a yes?"
"I didn't say that."
"My young friend Go-bot mentioned a Ms Sylvie and Mr Ava. Two Serv units he was acquainted with."
"Go-bot? He's here?"
"Indeed."
"That means, the human. Aphrodite!"
"Ah, so you've come here for her." The Evo offered his hand, "I'll drive you to her and Go-bot."
She had no choice, this was probably her only chance of finding the two. Besides, there was something about this Evo, something peaceful. Like he wouldn't hurt a fly. She extended her hand, "Fine."
"Thank you, my name is Locke by the way."
Locke, she'd heard that name four years ago. Things were slowly starting to make sense.
***
It was a fairly quiet journey, Sylvie enjoyed the scenery as the jeep rolled along the long fields. She'd been in the vehicle for almost an hour now. Her legs were almost healed. Locke had told her she'd be taken to a village of some sort. That was fine, if she was healed by the time she got there, it wouldn't matter if they ambushed her, she could escape, or maybe even take them all out.
"We'll be approaching out destination soon." Said Locke,
"The village you mentioned?" asked Sylvie,
"Indeed." He cleared his throat, "Um, but there is something you need to know."
"What's that? You got a bunch of war machines sitting there waiting to ambush me?" she chuckled, "as expected from an Evo." Sylvie knew what she said didn't make sense, it wouldn't be an ambush if Locke told her about it.
"No no, I don't have any ill will to you Ms Sylvie."
"So what is it?"
"The village, it's not an Evo village."
"...Then what is it?" the sanctuary, thinking about it, the name implied what the village was already, shit. It couldn't be!
"Uh... A village of humans. Mostly, anyway." Despite shouting over the sound of the engine, Locke's voice was rather meek.
"A whole village of humans!?" Sylvie growled.
"No wait! They're not dangerous!"
"Like hell they aren't! Those things can enslave us Servs, so this was a trap after all!"
Locke stopped the vehicle, "Not quite. None of the humans in the village are 100% complete, and in fact, a large number of them are simply Evos like me." He sighed, "although I made the mistake of not telling that to Go-bot and Aphrodite when they first landed here."
"What do you mean like you? Like, Evos with human bodies?"
"Yes, we were trying to recreate an environment ideal for humans to flourish in. However humans are a community based species, so throwing our first humans into an empty village wouldn't work. When it started out we put a bunch of humanoid androids, programmed to think they were human, in the village. They all had detailed memories programmed into their minds that washed away any hints that they might have been mechanical."
"I guess that makes sense, so how many biological humans were there?"
"About 50% are biological now. Although you won't be able to tell the difference."
"So there's still dangerous things in that village!"
"No wait, even then, those have defects of one sort of another. None of them but Aphrodite are perfect."
Were random mutations due to failed experimentation enough to make the humans ineffective? Sylvie wasn't sure how it worked, how a human would have greater over control over a Serv. Apparently incomplete humans weren't a threat in this way? To a degree it made sense, perhaps, after all, if they were effective, they wouldn't be considered failures, right?
That's it! Sylvie convinced herself. All those humans would be safe. After all if they weren't, they'd already have been used as weapons.
"Are you ok?" asked Locke,
"I'm fine. Take me to Go-bot and Aphrodite, like you said you would." Who knew why Locke was ok with giving Aphrodite away. It didn't matter either way.
***
The jeep finally reached the main gates of the village. The two got out of the vehicle and Sylvie waited as Locke manually pushed the gates open. She braced herself for what she'd see when she walked in. How many humans would she see? What sort of society did they build? Her body was tense, it felt like she was trying to stop bolts of lightning from exploding out of her joints.
The two walked in.
Skeletons, everywhere. Rows and rows of decomposed bodies. They were definitely human, they were the right shape.
Everyone was dead. All the humans.
They'd been killed and then left on the streets to decompose. Skulls were cracked, limbs were chopped off, some people had obviously been beheaded. And this was only in the area that could be seen from the main gates.
Everything was desolate. The houses were just as dead as the people, dusty and broken, completely dilapidated. Sylvie wasn't sure how she felt about humans yet, but this sight disgusted her regardless.
"Try not to be intimidated, the humans are quite docile I assure you," said Locke,
"What!? What humans!? These ones are completely de-" Sylvie started, but then she looked into Locke's eyes. They were the eyes of a robot that was broken. It was a robot that had gone mad. He was staring long into the distance, focused on absolutely nothing, yet somehow, he was talking as if he was completely fine. The words that were coming out of his mouth felt programmed, like it was a lie he was telling himself. The humans had died a long time ago, and he couldn't handle it.
"Ah, it does seem like it's quite a quiet day again though," Locke's blank face started to smile, "no-one seems to be greeting us."
So, was this mad Evo lying about Go-bot and Aphrodite too? Was Sylvie wasting her time here? How much of what it had said was truth, and how much was a lie?
"O-ok well, maybe you can take me to Go-bot?" If that silly thing really was around. She'd be able to extract its data and find out the truth about what happened. Then again, in four years a lot could have changed.
"Ah yes, I'll take you to Go-bot and Aphrodite."
Sylvie shivered. Maybe Go-bot was around. But maybe he'd be in a state she wouldn't like too.