Short, Light, Free

In the faraway Milky Galaxy, rested a stand-alone planet. It was filled with extraterrestrial insects.

Because the rocks in the planet contained large ores, Man sent teams after teams of robots up to this planet.

These robots battled against the extraterrestrial insects to obtain energy from the ores.

The robots had been unable to defeat the insects until the invention of artificial intelligence.

The robots became smarter and they now understood how to repair their own bodies.

From then on, they lost some battles and won some.

One day, the extraterrestrial insects sent out a small team to attack, something that happened frequently. An engineer, who had in his possession a notebook containing new data regarding the energy, handed it over to a gunner. “Quick, run. Bring this to a safe place. Connect and upload it to the network. There are new discoveries.”

These were the engineer’s last words. The extraterrestrial insects had taken his life with their sharp claws.

The gunner finished up his ammunition and fled far away.

Upon arriving at a secluded cavern, the soldier got connected to the notebook.

The next moment, he was dumbstruck. The contents of the Internet had opened up a whole new world for him.

The gunner removed the network adapter card from the notebook as well as some of its components and welded them to the back of his head.

He threw the hard disk away.

The gunner relied on his stored memory of the map within the notebook to find his way back to the humans’ base camp.

An engineer added him into a new team upon discovering that he had returned from war.

This particular gunner fought hard in the day and relied on his own battery to connect his brain, the CPU, to the net.

He downloaded a messaging software and opened a chat window out of curiosity. It was a fourteen-year-old girl on the other end.

The timezone between Earth and this planet was completely flipped.

“How strange. Your location is unknown, uncle. And you have no ID,” the girl started.

“I’m on another planet.”

“Stop joking, uncle. Are you a professional hacker?”

“I’m a gunner.”

“How interesting. You’re already twenty-seven.”

“That’s my birthdate.”

“Stop playing.”

“It’s true.”

…

Just like that, the gunner battled against the insects for ores in the day and chatted with the girl on Earth at night.

“Hey, uncle. Do you like me?”

“What is like?”

“Cut it out. Why would you talk to me if you don’t like me? Tell me, uncle. You must like me.”

“I don’t know.”

“Aye, you can’t do this. You’re a conman. I’m out.”

She went offline.

The humans’ headquarters was invaded the next day. Insects filled the sky, hovering above the camping ground.

“We’re doomed,” the engineer spoke. “All to the front.”

Understanding what that signified, the gunner immediately went online.

Late at night, the girl noticed her notification light blinking.

“I’m about to die.”

“Are you kidding, uncle? Are you finding excuses because you don’t like me?”

“No. The enemy’s found us. We might all die here.”

“Aye, what’s going on?” the girl sent a voice message.

The gunner had no loudspeaker and voice system but there was a microphone installed in the notebook.

He pressed ‘confirm’ and all sorts of gun firings, explosions, and the anguished howling of the insects could suddenly be heard.

“Wow, you’re amazing. You must be a hacker. What are these sounds? Why aren’t you talking?”

“I have no loudspeaker, I can’t talk…”

“Knock it off, alright?”

“Wait, I’m out of ammunition. I’m not going to make it.”

…

An enormous, sharp claw pierced through the gunner’s body and tore his limbs apart. Battery leaked out.

“My drive’s been destroyed by the enemy and I’m left with under ten percent power. I understand now. I do like you, but I’m going to die.”

These were the gunner’s last words. The girl looked on as the screen on the other end dimmed.

A day, a week, and a month went by. Her notification light no longer blinked. A year has passed but she still hasn’t erased this ID-less gunner and the conversations they’d shared.

The girl did not understand who exactly the gunner was. What was his purpose?