Curiosity and Know-How
Fandom: 9
Characters: Scientist and 2
Word Count: 982
Warnings: None
I have made this next doll far more precise than my previous invention. I am confident he will be able to survive. I am confident he will be resourceful enough to evade any machines that may seek him out. They seem to increase in number and variety every day. He will need the know-how to repair himself and the desire to learn. Yes, the need to question, to seek out the answers that 1 will certainly be too afraid to find on his own. I am confident as I stand before my Fabrication Machine. I know that I must grip this feeling tightly in my mind. No matter how the earth quakes or how piercing the sudden, deathly silence becomes as victory is only barely taken once more, I must keep that need to learn – that precious curiosity – aglow in my heart. I take the second of my dolls in hand as the memories of my childhood – a lifetime ago, it seems now – fill my soul with a warmth I had long forgotten. A time of pure, innocent curiosity filled with questions of how this new world worked. A time when, as I grew, I had to know how this worked, what was inside it, could I put it back together, make something new? A time of joyous learning untainted by money, control, or power, learning for learning's sake; a time before the thunderous roar of war plagued the land; a time long before the desolate silence that will eventually come over this country; a time before hiding and cowardice. I can't afford another mistake like 1. No, I can't even think of that failed experiment now. I push him out of my mind and reach for the button once more. This time, certainly this time, I will have humanity's savior from the best part of myself. Surely, the love of learning will be enough, surely.
2 smiled at 6 softly as he passed along his frantic sketches. He liked to think he was closer to 6 than the others were, at least of those that remained. He didn't dismiss his drawings as madness or ignore him simply for the fact that 1 did not want them to pay him attention. No, 2 couldn't follow such orders, subtle or direct. 6 was an important part of their clan, their group, their family. He deserved as much attention as anyone. Even more-so than the others for the simple fact that he knew something they did not, something very important. He rolled the drawings up into a tube and gave 6 a nod as he headed for his roof-top niche. 5 would not be joining him today. 1 was lecturing him or giving orders. One was nearly the same as the other since 5 rarely felt confident enough to leave their sanctuary even under 2's guidance. It was forbidden by 1 and 5 could not disobey 1 without extreme cause or convincing.
2 sighed at this thought, and placed 6's new drawings with the others. He turned to look out over the deserted world that now belonged only to them and the Beast. He lowered himself to sit on the edge of the roof with a slight groan, removed his illuminating hat, and ran a hand over his head. He'd been out around the edges of the areas deemed safe by 1 late into the evening, looking for parts and scraps of metal he could use in repairs and inventions. He was tired and his mind roamed. He wondered, what had happened to 3, 4, and 7? He always wondered about them when he found himself at rest, when his mind was not questing for other answers. Could they ever be retrieved, or was 1 right in assuming they were gone once taken by the Beast? 2 couldn't seem to find it in himself to agree with 1, even when he was likely to be right. He felt they were still out there somehow, if only in spirit.
He turned slightly to look back on one of the unfurled pictures given to him by 6. It was perhaps the first he had kept. Other – earlier – drawings had been destroyed by 1 right away. Their leader had claimed that he did not want the madness spreading to the rest of them. 2 had always had the sneaking suspicion that these earlier drawings had been more accurate, and 1 did not want them knowing what this strange symbol meant. 1 was always trying to keep them from knowing. He seemed to fear it. 3, 4, and 2 had to know, however. They could not seem to live without some kind of knowledge though 2 would admit his was more abstract and active knowledge than that which 3 and 4 had sought to acquire. So, it was disconcerting for 2 when the twins disappeared that fateful day not so long ago. They had already lost 7 who was openly defiant of 1. It did not improve 2's skepticism of their leader's intentions for them. If he was slowly picking off those who defied him or threatened the safety of their sanctuary, who was next? 2 knew the answer to that question, though he kept posing it to himself over and over. The only questioned left was, when? 2 did not have it in himself to accept the fact that one of their own would do something so horrible long enough to move onto this question. He would rather be caught by surprise when 1 sent him to his death than to believe something so very malicious of the one who claimed to live only for their safety. In the end – no matter how old 2 sounded, acted, became – his heart was still that of a trusting, curious kid who wanted nothing more than to love the world as much as he wanted to know how it worked.