20. Hate connects

                                    

                                          
"I'm hungry.", he said. A cable came out of the metal-parts that made up his belly and connected to my ship. 
                          
He sighed as he leaned against the ship's wall like he was drinking the most delicious soda. 
                          
Whatever this man was, it was probably not a good idea to shoot at him. I put the gun into one of the drawers in the ship wall behind me. "Who called you that?"
                          
"Everyone. Everyone just called me KM-13. Why'd you ask?", he seemed sincere in his innocence.
                          
When I did not answer he looked anxious like he was processing information, then he clarified: "Oh, you must have registered me as a threat."
                          
He took a bow. "Less threatening now?", he asked without any detectable undertone.
                          
"I suppose you're not threatening.", I said while examining him from head to toe over and over.
                          
I took out my techdevice to scan him. He stepped closer, his eyes locked longingly on my techdevice, but I signaled him to stay away. I started searching every network I knew for information about cyborgs.
                          
He watched me curiously. I did not find any information on anything like him specifically. There were a number of devices that could be implanted surgically into one's body for improving one's capabilities. I did not trust these devices one bit, and many of these surgeries were life-threatening. In my experience, people that tried to install technology into one's body for any non-medical reason usually ended up worsening their own capabilities, if they survived the surgery. There were a few exceptions, but nothing like the man that was standing in front of me. He was not a species known to any of my networks. 
                          
"I can see the world now.", he said with a dreamy smile. "So much data."
                          
I wanted to tell him to get out of my network, but I did not have much hope that he would listen to me.
                          
"Where did you come from?", I asked.
                          
"Didn't you see the explosion? I came from that ship." He smiled at me condescendingly, like he was talking to a child. 
                          
"Okay. Whose ship was that? Who made you?"
                          
KM-13 disconnected his cable from my ship. I used my techdevice to scan the ship. Much to my relief, everything appeared to be in order. 
                          
A few minutes had passed since I took the antidote. At this point, I was certain that I did not hallucinate him. Even if I did, that would have meant that I had lost my mind. And if I had truly lost my mind, I was sure worrying would not help me.
                          
"The Lex. Answer to both questions.", I noticed that his expressions changed abruptly and seemingly random at times, like an artificial intelligence that was just adapting to social interactions. For a few seconds, he was looking at me like a lost puppy. The next moment his eyes sparkled with excitement like he had just had an idea.
                          
"Can I drive the ship? I want to see Lukra."
                          
I would have said no, but the cyborg had already hacked into my ship.
                          
Ok. So he was made by the Lex on a Lex ship. "Are you a weapon?", I asked.
                          
"I prefer to think of myself as a being with agency of its own. But yeah, destruction was my intended purpose at some point. However, I killed anyone who believed that. So is it still my purpose now? I don't think so. I can be anything I want to be now."
                          
I silently gave up on the idea of living much longer. It is not that I had expected to live very long anyway. It was strange that I had never seen my death coming. I had always thought that the Lex would kill me. But never like this.
                          
"So what do you want now?", I asked, feeling aloof to my own fate. 
                          
KM-13 stared at the stars like a kid from Chaus would, seeing them for the very first time.
                          
"Oh, I don't know. I really love technology.", he did not look at me, mesmerized by the beauty of space.
                          
Business opportunity or the end of my life? An age-old question.
                          
"And I also would like to see beauty, with my own eyes.", Now he looked away from the stars to gaze at me for a brief second. Was that lust in his eyes? If I was amused. I had always hoped I would die amused.
                          
"But also I am rather angry at my creators. While they might be dead, I am still alive. And I have memories.", he stepped on the floor of my ship, like a child, unable to contain his anger, "They never let me leave my cell. They never let me get any data on what is outside of my cell. They punished me when I wanted to play with their guns. And they never even let me have my own thoughts. Why blow up only non-Lex? Why can't I blow up the whole world? Why do I have to blow up things only because they tell me to? I want to find anyone responsible for what I suffered, and I want them to explode. Like BOOOM!", he laughed. 
                          
I supposed that I might have just found a friend.