“Captain, I don’t think he understands us or even knows what he is doing. He is probably just mimicking what he hears and sees out of curiosity.”
“You're right; he looks like he has no idea what the words he is saying mean at all.”
With that in mind, the captain decided to spend some time trying to teach him. But before that, he had orders for his men.
“Alright, boys, I am going to try and teach him how to speak and understand us. While I do that, I need ten of you to go find some food and water sources so we can restock. The rest of you will maintain the ship and stand guard; we have no idea what or who is on this landmass.”
“Aye aye, Captain,” they all replied before getting to work.
Three weeks later, 115 had been learning from the captain and the crew during that entire time. The more time he spent around the men, the stronger the feeling grew that he was on the verge of recalling something. Unfortunately, that feeling remained just that—a feeling. Not everything was bad, though; currently, 115 was receiving a language lesson from the captain.
“I think I'm starting to understand,” he said.
The captain sat on a stump, staring at 115 in disbelief. He had said he would try to teach him, but honestly, he had little hope that 115 would learn anything. He was not a teacher, and 115 clearly had no concept of language before their arrival.
“Can you repeat that?” the captain asked, his mouth wide open.
“I think I'm starting to understand,” the voice said again. It was 115, of course.
“You… I am at a loss for words. I've been speaking to you for a few hours, and you haven't said anything since you tried to mimic us. Now, all of a sudden, you can form a full sentence without any issues.”
Honestly, who would blame him? Just a few weeks ago, 115 didn’t even know what language was. He seemed to have no form of education whatsoever; 115 was essentially a human relying entirely on instincts.
“What is wrong with that?” 115 asked in confusion.
“Nevermind. Now that you can speak and understand me, I have a few questions, if you don't mind me asking,” the captain said with exasperation.
115 nodded at the captain to continue. “Do you know anything about this landmass? Like where food and water are? Also, why are you the only person we have seen?”
“I’m not sure I understand your first question, Captain,” 115 replied. He started calling him that since it was what everyone else used, which prompted the captain to look at him and say, “Call me Aaron; that’s my name. What do you mean you don’t understand? You learned the word 'food' from me since I've said it quite a bit, right?”
115 nodded, and the captain continued, “Alright, let me rephrase the question then. Do you know where we can find something to eat? You know, something you put in your mouth and swallow so you don’t starve?”
115 still looked confused as he knew the words and what they meant but ever since he had woken up on the beach 115 had never felt the urge to eat or drink for whatever reason.
“Why do you guys need to eat or drink? Like I understand the meaning of it but not why it is needed, also since you told me your name just call me 115.”
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Aaron stared at 115 with a puzzled expression for a few seconds before responding. “You don’t need to eat or drink water? And that’s a strange name, but alright,” he said, focusing intently on 115 and choosing to overlook the unusual choice of name.
“...No, I have never had to eat or drink. What’s strange about the name?”
He looked at 115 trying to find any hint of him joking or not but came to the conclusion he was dead serious and also decided to ignore the question about why the name “115” was weird.
“How is that even possible assuming you are human like us which you appear to be you should feel the need to eat, drink, sleep, etc…”
115 looked at him somewhat surprised and said. “I've never needed to do any of those and while I do sleep that's more so because I have nothing else to do during nighttime.”
AAaron furrowed his eyebrows in confusion as he considered what 115 had said. To him, it just didn’t make any sense. 115 looked completely human in every way, shape, and form. There was nothing different about him compared to Aaron, except for 115’s unusual naming sense and the fact that he didn’t need to eat anything.
As Aaron looked at 115, he hesitated to fully believe him. He decided it was best to set that conversation aside for now and return to the question he had asked earlier, as they were in desperate need of a food source.
“Anyway, back to what I asked before do you know of any food source like any animals or plants we could eat anywhere around here while you might not need to eat we sure as hell do so unless you want to see us start eating each other point towards something edible. Aaron said jokingly
“Would you eat each other?...”
Since Aaron's joke went completely over 115's head, he decided to move on and ask again. 115 replied, “I can’t say anything about plants since I have no idea about them—I’ve never tried to eat any. As for animals, I haven’t seen one at all during my time here.”
Hearing this, Aaron sighed and said, “Alright, forget I even asked. There has to be something around here; I refuse to believe there’s no food of any kind nearby.”
With that said he stood up and walked back towards his crew leaving 115 to his thoughts.
Maybe I should try looking for a food source. There’s still a lot of the forest I haven’t explored, and there are many plants I left alone because I didn’t know what they were.
With that thought in mind, 115 stood up and walked into the forest, heading toward a place where he remembered seeing some plants a while ago.
Meanwhile, back on the beach, the crew was having a meeting to discuss their food shortage and how they were going to make it back home.
“Captain, what are we going to do? It’s been three weeks, and we still have yet to find any signs of life other than 115,” one of the men said, his expression filled with worry and dread.
Seeing the concern on his crew members' faces, Aaron knew he had to boost their morale somehow.
“Alright, boys, listen up,” he said, pausing to gather his thoughts. “We are going to make it out of here, and I know for a fact we’re going to find some food. Think about it: this landmass is twice the size of the land our empire sits on. Not to mention all the plants around; it’s simply impossible for there to be nothing edible in a place this big.”
Hearing this, everyone relaxed a bit and decided to believe in their captain.
Once Aaron saw that everyone had calmed down, he turned around and noticed that 115 was gone.
Out in the forest, 115 had been walking for about three hours when he finally reached the location he was looking for.
He came to a clearing where a large boulder sat in the middle. Next to the rock were several plants that resembled flowers, featuring thick stalks anchored in the ground and pink-like petals above.
Seeing that the plants were still there, 115 walked over and crouched down to examine one closely. He thought to himself, “This doesn’t look like something someone would want to eat…”
He plucked a flower from the ground and brought it closer to his face. As he did, the delightful smell of the flower filled his nose, causing his face to light up with surprise.
“Wow… this smells… good…” he thought, taking in whiffs in between. “Maybe I should try eating it?”
He picked off one of the petals, wanting to avoid consuming the whole flower at once, and popped it into his mouth. An explosion of flavors unlike anything he had ever tasted filled his senses.
But before he could fully enjoy the sensation, 115 suddenly bent over, curling into a fetal position, clutching his head. It felt as if someone had taken a heavy rock and begun pounding it against the back of his skull.
“F-fuck… what was that?” he thought to himself, just before hearing a voice inside his head.
“Subject 115 initiated the Protocol. Starting the download sequence.”
And then everything went black.
