Combined Chapter
Zandar stood in the lone laboratory as he pondered his mistakes, the ash of the burnt notebook had long disappeared into the wafts of time.
Yet now, he was powerless.
He scoffed at himself, to end up becoming consumed by his very own pursuit of knowledge and becoming the new god's very first neuron.
He pondered his journey, he pondered his choices up until now.
He wondered why he didn't listen back then.
But a thought took root.
Given the choice, he would have done it all again.
He would find a way to fix this mistake of his. He must. And the last unknown must be protected from his mistakes.
Zandar wouldn't dress up his actions as a savior or something of a hero for this plan. No, he only wished to preserve his senior as he was the sole remaining unknown. The only person that could spark erudition within his rational heart.
Something no amount of calculation could derive an answer for.
Zandar did not do this out of some lofty moral argument.
Zandar simply wanted to preserve the best research topic remaining after he had destroyed the entire lab, metaphorically.
He sighed as he would have to stay away from his senior, who knew what machinations that droid head would do in order to derive and define his senior.
He would leave today and continue on to free humanity from the shackles he had brought upon them.
Research a way to free humanity from the cave.
Zandar walked up to Yun's room before knocking on it three times.
"Senior, it's me. I've made a decision." Zandar announced.
The door opened as Zandar's curiosity once again rose from within his heart. A small miniature model of his senior?
"I'm guessing you are leaving." Yun asked with a casual tone as he tinkered with the small doll.
Zandar nodded "You are correct senior. I can no longer stay here, I will leave and find a way to undo my mistakes." He resolutely announced.
Yun nodded "If that's what you believe. Wait here, my gift is almost done." He pointed to the seat as Yun continued testing the small doll.
Zandar's eyes widened, a gift? He thought.
He had never thought his senior would even give him a gift or even acknowledge him after all that time.
The doll soon stood up and walked around on the table as it fitted a small model monocle onto its right eye.
"There we go, looks just like me now." Yun marveled at his masterpiece.
Zandar tilted his head in confusion, "A Yun doll. This Yun doll is programmed with my personality module and acts as a direct communication line to me. Of course absolutely un-hackable." Yun tilted his nose as if to flaunt his cryptology prowess.
Zandar held the small doll as he pondered, "What do I call this doll then? Senior? Junior?"
Yun thought about it for a bit "I guess just call it Yunbot?" He suggested.
Yun took the doll back as he placed a small letter into its hands before placing it into the box wrapped with ribbons.
"Here, you know what the gift is already but some things are better off seen at a certain time." Yun sighed as he handed the small box to Zandar.
"I wish you luck on your endeavors. But hopefully you'll listen to my advice this time. Not all mistakes fixed, are proportionate to the cost. After-all, don't you value efficiency? Just consider if fixing it will cost more than the mistake itself."
Yun soon walked with Zandar before seeing him off.
The ship took off into space as he pondered on whether he had made a mistake.
No its fine...
Surely right?
Zandar soon arrived at the planet he had designated as his new work space.
Everything was placed in a perfectionist way as he opened the box containing the doll.
The small list contained the Yun Doll operation manual and the features of this autonomous doll.
The corner of Zandar's lips curled up as he held the small doll in his hands. Following the instructions he turned on the doll by pulling out a small plastic tab behind the neck.
The opening soon sealed shut as a spark appeared within the doll's eyes.
Its mouth opened as an annoying song continued to echo and resound from the chamber.
Zandar's eyes blinked with surprise as he found himself submerging within the joys of elation. This trick was much like the senior he knew.
He soon tried to turn off the doll only to realise there was no off button. The manual had mentioned nothing about an off button nor did the doll have a visible off button either.
Zandar's eyes veered off to observe the letter in the doll's hands. Perhaps the method was written in the envelope?
He reached out to grab it only for the small doll to smack his hand away.
"No touchy touchy." Yun's simulated voice rang out. The doll shook its finger at him before storing the letter within its little inner coat pocket.
Zandar asked, "May I ask why this letter can not be read?"
The doll replied "I was give instructions by my creator not to let you touch this letter or read it. And if you were to touch this letter..." The ominous ending left Zandar's imagination to run wild on the consequences his senior had built into this tiny doll.
But his curiosity just couldn't be sated.
Just like his motivations when designing Nous without care.
His fingers moved in an attempt to snatch the letter away as the doll jumped up to escape his grasp.
And from the back, it pulled out a small axe attempting to chop off the offending appendages.
Zandar's hand immediately pulled back with shock as the small doll taunted him again.
"My creator knew you would try so he installed some self defence protocols." The small doll smugly spoke.
Zandar's mind had enough, "Senior, I know you can hear me. It would be great if you could explain why your gift to me is a finger chopping doll?" He asked with an edge in his voice.
This time the voice that came out was a bit different, the voice that Zandar knew well.
"It's not a finger chopping doll." The voice protested.
Zandar chuckled "Dear esteemed senior, if thats not a finger chopping doll then I don't know what is." He jabbed his finger towards the doll that was lying flat.
"It's only a finger chopping doll if you do something you shouldn't. Don't worry, it won't do anything drastic." Yun placated the distraught Zandar.
Decades passed as the ascension of Nous brought forth further changes within the cosmos as Zandar spent all of his time in fixing his mistakes...
And a game that spanned the same length of time.
Trying to pry the darned letter away from this little doll.
For years he had always tried to snatch the letter from this doll that had kept him company.
Machines couldn't help him, any detection methods failed. It was as senior had said.
This doll had max level security in the form of cryptological sequences and a finger chopping axe.
Zandar soon routinely took out medical supplies as he started treating his own wounds while the small doll cleaned the blood off and sharpened its axe.
"You really won't let me see what is in the letter?" Zandar questioned once again.
The small doll shook its head and answered with a resolute "Nope, not happening".
Zandar chuckled "So much like your creator. I will be executing my plan soon."
The doll nodded as Zandar soon uploaded his thought shards into different forms, each with its own imperfections of the being known as Zandar. And with a press of a button they were sent off into the cosmos each being updated until Zandar's death.
He sighed as his work was done.
Without any wind up, a blade of causality flew towards Zandar's neck.
The Yun Doll simply observed as it could not fight this badly fashioned auntie.
"Creating an Aeon, an achievement that countless geniuses could never achieve. Even you, their creator have no right to destroy them." Her voice was distorted. A mix between male and female.
A garble of glitches covered her face.
"Lord of Silence? A prisoner obsessed with the Knowable Domain. While you seek to maintain their cognitive boundary, I must break this cage and unleash the numerous posibilities.
After correcting these fallacies, I must ensure that they will never be born again. Therefore, those writings and inventions... including the "Complete Zandar One Kuwabara"
... shall leave no trace in this world."
Polka gazed at the small doll on the work bench sharpening its small axe as it took out a small envelope and used the axe as a letter opener.
"I did not take you for someone who would make a doll to stave of solitude." She mocked.
Zandar burst out laughing as he gained a final surge of energy.
"Lord of Silence, give me some time to read this letter prepared by my senior. A mercy of the victor you could say." He asked.
Polka nodded as he would die either way.
The small doll hopped down before walking past Polka as it kicked her in the shin and displayed a rude gesture before moving on. Polka raised an eyebrow, "Quite the petty little fellow." She observed.
Zandar's raspy laugh put her off immensely, she had never seen a man about to die, so happy.
"Senior has always been like this." He grasped the letter the small doll had produced from the letter.
The doll soon began to read in Yun's voice.
"Dear Junior,
I'm sure by now that your time is up. This letter is filled with the words I had never had time to say to you. After-all I feel inadequate in front of you. Many believe I am a genius. I am not. I am nothing more than a plagiarist. I've always felt our relationship has been one sided, I personally do not believe I could act as your senior.
All those moments you came up to me with interesting topics, I simply had no idea how to respond. Perhaps we've had our differences and arguments, but the fact that I am your senior and you are my junior has not changed.
When I found out you were leaving, knowing you, I developed this little fellow. A little companion to accompany you through your journey. I believe there is no wrong or right, but rather an internal own justification.
I'm aware how you see the world you changed and I thought about it for a bit, what would make Zandar happy?
And nothing is more precious to a genius than failure and unsatiated curiosity. Hence I made use of my skills to create a little game for you.
I'm sure by know you must have have tried numerous methods to figure out what the letter was. I made sure the doll would have sufficient defence against you.
By now, if the doll is reading this then...
I hope this game containing the unknown was fun for you junior. And that in your final moments, I could properly act as a senior for once.
-Genius Society #0 Yun, Your Senior"
The little doll finished its reading as it flashed a new set of commands.
"Please provide feedback on this decade long game of ours." The little doll soon started flashing as it recorded the audio.
Zandar coughed once again "Thank you senior. Your game was brilliantly designed. Perhaps there is a sequel? And in the next one, I'd prefer a more intellectual battle with this simulated you rather than being chopped at with an axe. It rather hurts."
Polka soon lost her patience as Zandar barely finished his sentence before dying.
"Thank you senior."
And thus spoke Zandar One Kuwabara.
The doll soon looked at the silent Polka before initiating its commands.
"Feedback upload complete"
"Remote configuration applied"
"Cryptological offline maintenance applied."
"Downloading package module."
"Shutting down Yun Doll."
"....."
"....."
"....."
"....."
"Goodbye dear junior, until our next game."
End of Volume 1: Zandar's Recollections