No âmbito da Semana da Leitura 2021, duas alunas do 10º. CTB, escreveram dois contos em língua inglesa e gravaram os respetivos podcast. Publicamos, neste artigo, o conto de Beatriz Antunes.

Este trabalho foi orientado pela docente Regina Vasques.

Our Minds

By Beatriz Antunes (10º CTB)

CHAPTER I

She had lost all her robotic functions, something had gone wrong. She was feeling human… “What’s happening?! This was NOT supposed to happen!”, Valia thought to herself on her way to the closest Teleportation Point (commonly used by the people of the Planet of Yorzor). She was on her way to buy some provisions when it happened and she knew she needed to go home as soon as possible.

“Son of a bucket! I should’ve listened to Zavr when he warned me about that suspicious, low-priced software I bought at the Knit Wit Market!”, the cyborg cursed herself. If she hadn’t gone and spent all of her Virtual Chips on some limited-edition digital art from her favorite artist, she would have enough money to buy the official monthly upgrade and not some cheap replica that pales in comparison. “He’s going to be so mad…”

The trip back home was very rough, almost as if the particles she was made of were as unstable as her half-robotic brain was at the moment. She felt very weak and tired, all of a sudden. When Valia arrived at the landing area near her house, she was welcomed by Typhis (a baby Draptilian that she once gave her lunch to and since then started following her around until she ended up adopting him) rolling on his back on their front yard’s synthetic grass.

Usually, Draptilians have four legs and a long tail. Despite having six eyes, their eyesight is not very good, so, to compensate they possess long narrow ears and excellent hearing. Typhis has quite common colors for his race: blue hair with black patches on his paws and face.

When he noticed Valia’s presence, Typhis stilled and started in her direction but stopped, started barking and didn’t approach her, as if sensing something was simply not right. “Good boy. Mama’s just feeling a bit sick, it’s nothing. I´m going to talk to Zavr and he will help, okay?”, she said, leaving him outside. She didn’t know who she was trying to reassure anymore, the Draptilian or herself.

The house Valia shared with Zavr and Typhis was quite big. From the outside, the house looked intimate and cozy. Tall large windows let in plenty of light and have been added to the house in a very symmetric way. The house itself is surrounded by a large synthetic garden with many automatic lights.

She didn’t have time to admire her home now, there was something seriously wrong with her. “I just need to find Zavr!”, she reasoned to herself, just as bursts of tearing pain pulsed through her head, “He will know what to do”.

Valia found him in the library – “Of course he would be here.” – reading on a chair. Black, shoulder-length hair reveals a lean, relaxed face. Freckles are spread elegantly across his cheeks and leaves a beautiful memory of his luck in the many fights he took part in.  Round green eyes read intently the words on the pages of the book on his hands. A number tattooed on the left side of his neck – N15368. Forever marked as one of the last pureblooded humans in existence. This is Zavr Walters, named after his great-many greats-great grandfather (one of the first humans to reach into space after the Sixth Great War), also known as the most intelligent non-robotic being on the OP-839 Galaxy and her housemate for the past 6 years.

“Zavr”, she said weakly, “I’ve got a little problem here”. At the sound of Valia’s frail voice, he looked up and barely had time to get up and catch her before she stopped hearing and felt herself being engulfed by the darkness, but not before seeing what seemed to be Zavr mouthing her name.

CHAPTER II

When Valia came to her senses, she could see she was laying on a completely white room with no windows, doors or furniture. She tried to sit down with great difficulty, pulling herself backwards until her back hit the wall.

She could barely move. All her flesh limbs hurt and her robotic limbs refused to work (that being her right arm and left leg, half of her brain also seemed to be shut down). The worsening pounding on her head wasn’t a really good sign either. “Great. Just what I needed”, she mused to herself. ”That stupid hacked software was probably infected with some virus or something, just hope that Zavr can fix the damage as soon as possible”.

The room wasn’t unfamiliar to Valia. In fact, every time something needs to be fixed on the robotic part of her brain, her mind sends her to this empty space. She usually takes a “nap” (figuratively speaking, as cyborgs can’t fully sleep) or goes through her memories, mostly the good ones, since it’s never good to dwell too much on the bad things of the past, but sometimes she couldn’t help but wonder.

After all these years, the human part of her was still pretty shaken up by being, quite literally, torn apart again and again. “I mean, humans weren’t made to be “upgraded” and didn’t need fixing or spare parts like cyborgs. Sometimes, they get sick but, in the end, they are perfect just as they are. With all their flaws and complex minds and feelings…”, Valia pondered.

She didn’t remember ever being completely human. She was “made” by her creators from a woman’s dying body. She will never be just one thing. She will always be part cyborg, part human. “But that can be a good thing, right? I won’t grow old, but I can learn and experience life, just as everybody else”, she mused to herself. She knew that people around her would die someday, unlike her. But her existence will only be lonely if she lets the dark thoughts in her mind take over.

Just as she calmed down her mind, and let the peace of the blank space around her fill her being, she realized that she didn’t hurt anymore. “Oh! I must have been so deep inside my mind, I didn’t even notice the time passing”, she said surprised, she didn’t usually get so caught up with her thoughts, “I must be waking up then”.

And wake up she did. To a world where she’s loved by her friends and the same world that would take that same friends one day.

She just has to push through the dark times to see the bright ones and she would be okay.

Or so she hopes.