Chapter One: A Night Out

I land the ship and see the giant ballroom glistening in my windshield. It’s absolutely beautiful. The large round ceilings that adorn the main body of the building like crowns draw me in and also remind me how the rich people of this sector view themselves. The large marble spires that dot the parking lot shine bright and I see several homeless people crowd around them.

Crow: Poor guys.

Magma: Come on, Jamal, why are you getting cold feet now?

Turn around in the driver’s seat to see Cassidy and Jamal arguing with each other. I sigh and look at C.R.O.W.’s perch not that far from them. I whistle and it’s attention is immediately drawn to me. It flies over and lands on the head of the seat.

Crow: Hey, buddy, go check out the crowds. See if it’s gonna be bad tonight.

C.R.O.W. cawed and I opened the door for it to fly out. It looked over me one final time before pushing the hair out of my face and then flying out to do the job I assigned it.

Magma: Where’s the bot going?

Crow: It’s scouting out the crowd. I need to know how bad the noise will be.

Fog: Oh, right, you and loud noises. I forget about that all time, you know, since you fight in a bloodsport with guns.

I narrowed my eyes at Fog.

Crow: Wish I could forget that a loud sound can put me into a frenzy, but I can’t. I wish I didn't have to wear noise dampening headphones for the games, but I can’t. You, on the other hand, can forget about all of those things.

Fog: Woah. Just said-

Crow: I know what you just said.

Magma: Boys, let’s chill shall we?

I glared at Fog one last time before C.R.O.W. came flying back in and landed on my gloved hand. The drone gave me a series of caws and squawks. I nodded my head taking in the information it gave me.

Fog: How can you understand that thing?

Crow: I built it. Of course I can understand him. Its noises are actually morse code. Caw for a dot, and a squawk for a line. It’s a very efficient way of communication.

Fog looked at me dumbfounded before looking at Magma for some reason.

Magma: He means he understands the noises because of nerd stuff.

Crow: Nerd stuff-?

Magma: Come on, I wanna see how rich people eat.

Fog: The same way you eat, Cass.

Magma: You know what I meant.

Magma grabbed Fog by the arm and dragged him out of the ship. I stood at the doorway watching them run towards the building. C.R.O.W. squawked out some more morse code that translated to: “How are you feeling?”

Normally when people ask that question, they don’t want an honest answer. They want a “doing good”, “alright”, “fine, how are you?”, but I’m not like that. My brain is wired to not pick up on that kinda stuff, so I try to give them an honest answer and they look at me weirdly. But, with C.R.O.W. and the Crowbies, I can be honest. Because they’re machines.

Crow: I’m fine. Just confused as to why she would make me come here if she was just going to hang out with Jamal the whole time.

C.R.O.W cawed: “Maybe you should just stay in the vehicle. Your reminder for “The Uncharted Spaces’ Interplanetary Bird” documentary rings in ten minutes.”

Crow: Very tempting, but she needs me in there. I have this bad feeling that something’s watching us tonight.

C.R.O.W made some more noises: “I will watch the exterior of the ballroom.”

Crow: Thank you, contact me if anything is out of the ordinary.

C.R.O.W. cawed out a “yes, sir.” and flew off to the skies. There goes my only source of straight forward, honest communication.

I walk towards the ballroom and see the crowds slowly forming. Good thing I brought my headphones. I slip them on and hear nothing but my own heartbeat. I read somewhere that people the same as me like to hear their own body to help calm them down. I do that sometimes too, but how would I look in public if I just covered my ears and started standing still listening to my heartbeat? I’d look silly. So, I just have these headphones to ease the awkwardness.

I slip through the crowds of people and hear nothing but my own breathing and my heart. BUMP-BUMP BUMP-BUMP. It was nice just going through crowds and not being bothered by it. To finally feel “normal” I guess you’d call it. My mom wouldn’t call it that. She said there was no such thing as normal, but I disagree. I’m not normal.

Normal people would be able to do their job and not have their bodies act without them knowing. Normal people can look at people and immediately know what they’re feeling or understand what they’re saying without guessing and getting it wrong. Normal people don’t get caught up in hours of research about birds and work on machines. I’m not normal, I’m...you know what. Forget it.

I walk inside of the ballroom and notice that the outside was nothing compared to the lavish and ginormous inside. Everything seemed to be made out of marble and was outlined with golden accents. The smell of the gourmet food wafted throughout the air, and the slick, newly polished floors were so reflective I could do my hair in them.

This place was a lot better than my dirty and cramped home on top of a hill.

I was admiring the place more when I felt my shoulder be tapped from behind. I turn around to see Nebula. Ugh! What does she want?

She starts to talk, but I can’t hear her because of my headphones. I take them off and my ears are assaulted by all the noise that my headphones protected me from.

Nebula: -He’s not answering my calls, and I was just wondering if you’ve seen him.

Crow: Who?

She looked at me furiously. I wouldn’t have been scared of her if her left arm didn’t start glowing blue and electricity came from it. She took a deep breath and sighed, then her arm stopped emanating electricity.

Nebula: Recruiter. Have you seen him?

Crow: No, and what was with your arm?

Nebula looked at her arm. Her face was full of worry, but she got rid of it fast.

Nebula: I have no idea what you’re talking about. Enjoy your partying, number four.

Crow: Collin. My name is Collin Crow.

Nebula: I don’t care.

She stomped away from me and I scoffed. Helluva boss I have.

I try to put my headphones on again, but then feel someone else tap my shoulder. This time, someone I really didn’t want to see.

Amino: Hey, Collin, have you seen the others?

I wanted to scream and yell at Amino for everything she's done. Electrocuting me, betraying everyone else, and having the nerve to ask about them as if she cared.

Crow: Why do you care?

Amino: I- Collin, I’m sorry about the whole “betraying” you guys thing. Really, I am.

I rolled my eyes.

Amino: Fine. Just...answer my question please. Runaway isn’t answering, Eraser isn’t either, and Rook is telling me to just stop worrying.

Crow: I guess me and the big guy agree on something, you should.

Amino: Fine! Stay mad! Have a jolly fucking time, Collin!

Amino walks away from me and I scowl. She has the nerve to get mad at me. I put my headphones on and start to wander around the ballroom some more. While I wander, a waiter bot stops me and offers me a drink. I politely decline and continue to wander until I find the bar. I notice no one’s actually serving drinks there (probably because of the waiter bots). Maybe, no one will mind if I hide behind the bar for the entire night.

I quickly run over to the bar and jump over to the back of it. I was right about no one serving drinks here, but I noticed there’s a door behind the bar. On the door was a symbol of a wine glass. So, the waiter bots come from back here?

I didn’t have to wait for the answer to that, because as I asked, the door opened and a waiter bot came from it. It held its usual tray of alcoholic beverages and floated away from the bar. I was curious about whatever was behind the door and shuffled towards it.

I took off my headphones and took a deep breath. I slowly opened the door and saw a dark room with a line of waiter bots in a line in front of a machine. The machine was filled with a liquid that the bots allowed it to pour into the cups on their trays. This scene looked weird, but, then, I noticed another robot standing next to the machine. He wasn’t a waiter bot and he certainly didn’t look like he belonged there. Then, I saw something I wasn’t prepared for. Next to the robot, was a silhouette of a bird, but not just any bird. My bird.

C.R.O.W. was on the ground completely deactivated. I rose from the ground and walked into the back room.

Crow: Hey! What is my drone doing back here?!

The robot looked over to me and slightly tilted his head. I started stomping over to him, but I see him start to morph into the dark surroundings. Starting from his feet and going up to his head, I could see him blending into the dark room.

Crow: What the-?

I put up my fists in an attack stance, prepared for anything. Then, I felt a sudden prick in my neck and my senses went dull. I look to where the prick came from and see the robot with a syringe in his hand.

I swing my fist in his direction and he catches it while my knees give out. I slowly fall down and kneel while his bright red eyes stared through me.

Robot: Another distraction? Fine, I’ll deal with you. Have a nice sleep.

As much as i wanted to say “not in your dreams.” I couldn’t even manage to open my mouth. I felt my eyes droop and they felt heavier. In a moment, I wouldn’t be conscious. Great. This is just how I wanted to spend my night. I sigh as I close my eyes.