3 So... I'm an Automaton now...

The robot was in horrible condition. Too many scratches, crushed parts, and holes all over the surface of that dying machine. Even its eyes were gouged out. If this robot was a human, it would be one terrifying gore case. I thought that this android had been here for years, but there was something out of place. It did not have a hint of rust. If it had been scrapped long time ago, it should at least have some. Either my thought was wrong, or the metal used for this robot was unique to withstand rusting.

"W…h…o… a…r…e… y…o…u…?"

"Are you… talking to me?"

"W…h…o… a…r…e… y…o…u…?"

For some reason, the mechanical doll was repeating those words. It did not respond to my question earlier. I tested out to see who was it that this robot was calling. And so, I tried moving away to different directions. That robot was still asking 'who are you?' endlessly.

"Huh, seems like I'm not the one it's trying to talk to. Welp, Imma leave you here. See ya."

As I trudged away, I realized something odd.

"Eh?"

Something had changed with how the robot's voice sounded. No matter how far I kept my distance, I could still hear the robot's voice as if I was within earshot. I tried distancing further from it, but I still heard its voice without problem. 

From the distance, my eyebrows lowered in confusion, wondering how it worked.

"…w…h…a…t… …a…r…e… y…o…u… d…o…i…n…g…?"

The robot changed its lines.

"Huh…"

That legless doll suddenly changed question. As I walked closer to it again, I asked again, "Are you talking to me?" while trying to keep a composed expression.

Suddenly, I heard a beeping sound in my head. There was a superfast loading bar that had the label "Connecting…". Soon, I could hear the robot's voice in my head.

*"(Connection established. Unidentified automaton, please respond. Question: What are you doing?)"

*author's note: dialogues with brackets "()" represents inner voice of a character.

"Whoa!"

I got startled hearing voices in my head. That robot sounded like a young woman, albeit flat-toned. At that moment, too, I thought of that robot as a literal woman.

"(Response null. Connection was successfully established. Retrying… Unidentified automaton, please respond. Question: What are you doing?)"

Hearing her question, I answered her, "So you ARE talking to me. Geez, you should've responded when I asked you whether you're talking to me or not. You were asking 'Who are you? Who are you?' to I don't know who and you did that repeatedly."

That female robot replied, "(Answer: I perceive no response from you earlier. It appears your voice is now fully audible through this frequency.)" 

"Oh, I see. You can't hear me before, huh."

"(Question: What are you doing previously?)"

"Huh… I was checking whether you're communicating with me or somebody else."

"(Reply: You are the only automaton within the radius of five kircas. Therefore, I am primarily reaching you out.)"

"Hold up, five kir-what? The hell is that?"

"(Answer: Kircas is a fundamental unit of length in La Dunia Continent metric system.)"

"That's a length unit!? Ergh, forget it. Let's switch question. Tell me, why did I get to hear you even though I was far from you?"

"(Answer: I've established connection with your brain module. Previously, I was attempting to locate fellow automatons by transmitting different soundwaves up to five kircas in radius for three years now. It was a success. I managed to reach you out. Following that, I locked the frequency setting and baited you to come here.)"

I held my wrinkling forehead, "B-Baited me, huh…" Shit, this is a bit much for my brain to understand. Goodness, even the metric system changed.

"Urgh… Putting that aside, tell me, how can you 'connect' to my brain? I mean, if I have a receiver unit in my head, that'll be sensible."

"(Reply: That is only possible because I can connect to fellow automatons.)"

This wasn't the first time she used that term "automaton".

"Automatons? What's an automaton?" I asked her again while closing our distance.

She replied in a rapid speech.

"(Answer: Automatons are mechanical beings created by a group of supreme beings called the Vector. We have highly complicated system in our bodies that allows certain abilities that share similarities like—)"

"Okay stop. You're going to make my head explode."

"(Reply: Such thing is not possible. Automatons can hold a large number of memories in the brain module. Information as previously is only about the size of atom. Therefore, your head part will not explode.)"

"What?" Is she referring me as an automaton? "Okay, okay. Let's put it this way: define automatons in twenty words or less and make it simple."

"(Standby… Answer: Automatons are mechanical creatures created by the supreme beings.)"

"Okay… I got that." Automatons are basically robots. Noted.

"(In addition, you seem to not realize it yet, similar as I am, you are also an automaton.)"

A shot of rage burnt my feelings all of a sudden.

"Screw you! I'm not an automaton! No matter how you want to put it, I am still a human. Well, my body might not be human anymore, but that doesn't change the fact that I am an authentic human being!"

"(Warning: Your temperature rose significantly. Recommended action: cooldown on all systems.)"

"Gaah… Dammit."

I held my head as I couldn't hold myself from throwing a tantrum to what she just said. My fingers slid down to the bridge of my nose. I couldn't stop sighing, questioning whether this was an actual reality or just a shitty dream.

"Argh… All this bullshit will make my migraine go wild again…"

"(Reply: Automatons could not suffer from illness. Therefore, you cannot have migraine—)"

"Will you shut up for a moment?"

It had been a long time since I engaged myself in soul-tearing tribulations. My brain could hardly comprehend what was going on. I had turned into a mechanical creature—no, a robot of some sort named automaton? This was straight up outrageous. I knew I'm no longer human, but who would've thought I had turned into an android?

"Sorry for shouting to ya," I said to the robot. "Give me some time."

"(I do not matter of your recent outburst. I will refrain from over-responding. Though, that reaction earlier proved that you are a unique being. You are understandably in a state of confusion, so, I will assist you to answer all your questions.)"

"Huh?" I looked at her. "You… You will?"

"(Reply: I do need your assistance, but it appears before I can acquire any form of help, I must assist you first.)"

"Heh… Fair enough," I approached a bit closer to her and asked, "So, what are you? For a robot, you seem to have self-awareness."

"(Answer: I am a mechanical being known as automaton. My serial number is A-123. I am created by one of the supreme beings.)"

"Okay. You even have a serial number. Though, do you have a name?"

"(Negative. I do not recall of owning a name. Some automatons do have names presented to them, but it appears I wasn't given one.)"

"I see. I already said this before, but why do you think I'm an automaton as well?"

"(Answer: Only automatons that can intercept the signal I transferred. You are the first one to come into my search radius within these three years. With that idea, I concluded that you are an automaton.)"

"Okay," I crossed my arms. "Hate to break it to you, but I'm human...well, previously. I don't know why I ended up down here in this… younger version of myself and this body that's… well, mechanical."

"(Reply: The only possibility that matches your situation in my database is that you are a reincarnated soul, now reborn in that body you are currently have.)"

"Wha—reincarnated? Me?"

"(Yes. Though you are more of an anomaly. History shows that living beings will reincarnate as another living being, either the exact same or a different species. However, on your case, it is a whole different case. You have reincarnated from a human to a non-living being.)"

"That's just…"

"(Reply: You seem to have retained your memory from your past life as well. Therefore, your denial is understandable. However, I must remind you that no matter how you want to deny it, you are what you are now, living your second life.)"

I squinted my eyes at her, heavily annoyed. As my anger peaked, I let out the longest sigh ever.

"Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaah… Fine, I give up. Be that way, then."

"(Question: Have you accepted your situation now?)"

"Yeah… Sort of," I said, rubbing the back of my head. "I'm not used to this fantasy bullshit stuff. It might take some time before I truly get over this."

"(Reply: Understandable. Normally, I will ask automatons for identification such as from what factory they're from and what their registration code is. As the situation now, it is not necessary.)"

"Heh, is that so?"

"(As you are not aware of what you are right now, I will transfer a copy of information from my database to you. It should be helpful in understanding what automatons are.)"

"Huh, okay. Though, how are you going to do it? Copy and paste?"

"(Reply: Almost similar to that function.)"

"Eh?"

By the end of her words, a notification pops up in my HUD. It was a document file about automatons in general and in specific.

"It actually appeared…" 

"(Apologies, I could've transferred it directly to your memory core, but most of my functions are currently inoperable. Therefore, you must manually read the whole book to understand the basic principles of automatons.)"

"Are you a computer? Well, forget it. So, how am I going to access this file?" 

"(Reply: Use 'open console' command by saying it.)"

"Simple enough. Open console."

A hologram screen appeared in front of my eyes, floating before me. I tried fiddling around with it and see what I could access.

"(Do you require my assistance in using the console?)"

"No, thanks. I got the hang of it. I never thought to see hologram screen again so soon."

"(Understood. It appears there is a similar device in your previous world that presents you the aptitude.)"

"Indeed." 

I then accessed the file she sent to me and found out it was a digital book that boasted a whopping 4.500 pages. Ouch. That's too much to get over with. This ton of pages must've been made from a very long time. I wonder who's the author… N. Omega and R. Osborne? Whew, what scary names.

"(Please be advised. That module was for technicians to read. Some parts may not exist like in the master file for safety reasons.)"

"Well, that doesn't matter. As long as I understand what I am, that's all there is to it."

"(Affirmative. It will be more efficient if I transfer directly, but my current condition prevents me from performing such action.)"

"No worries. I have all the time right now. So yeah. I'll just sit there and take my time to read this bulky document."

"(Reply: Very well. I shall patiently wait until you are finished.)"

I sat down not far from her and began reading the e-book from scratch.

At first, I expected myself to take months to finish the book at once. When I read it, I realized my mind now has a photographic memory. I remembered each word of each passing pages even though I only read through it once. This body is amazing and scary at the same time.

Six hours had passed.

Food and drink should've been an issue, but as my eyes journeyed through the book, I learned that automatons didn't have digestive systems, therefore could not feel hunger or thirst. With that coming to light, I continued to read.

Probably, a day passed.

I couldn't keep track of day and night. But when I asked the "A-123" robot girl, she told me that I could see the flow of time through the console menu.

Three days later, I decided to stop reading it. There was waaay too much sci-fi in there, so I thought it might be best to just go back to the e-book when the occasion rises. At the moment, I understood the basic of what an automaton is.

Ooooh boy. I have reincarnated into a mechanical being called an automaton. And this world is called Radunia, a fantasy world where sci-fi and magics exist.