“I’m sure you noticed by now that there are human beings inside of these cubicles.” Taiji’s brother kept his gaze forward.

 

I glanced to my left, taking in the pale, bodies. “Yeah, it’s hard to ignore. Why are they like that?” I looked back at Taiji’s brother.

 

“Because I created them that way.” He answered simply.

 

“You created them? You mean you grew them?” I felt a bit uncomfortable asking that.

 

“To put it that way, yes. These bodies have been created the same way my twin brother was created.”

 

“Through robot conception?”

 

Taiji’s brother glanced at me. “That’s right.”

 

I thought for a moment, then spoke up once again. “Why are you here? Where is here?”

 

“I have been living here for so long…I guess I’ve gotten used to the red sky by now.” Taiji’s brother stopped walking and looked at the ground. “Do you really want to know where you are right now?”

 

I stared at him. “Yes, of course!”

 

“Does ‘The Red Planet” sound familiar to you?” He slowly looked at me.

 

My mouth opened slightly. “We’re on Mars…?”

 

“Yes.”

 

I let out a small breath of awe. “So one theory was right…the Bermuda Triangle is a portal to another world.”

 

“I can surmise why you are here with me right now. Would it be because you had to escape from the government?”

 

“Well yes, but it’s also because your brother told me to come here.”

 

Taiji’s brother remained silent.

 

“Do you know why he would do that?”

 

“I have my ideas. What year was it when you were back on Earth?” He asked suddenly.

 

I blinked. “2015. Why?”

 

His face dropped the slightest bit and he let out a small sigh. “Six years…has it really been that long?”

 

“What are you talking about?”

 

“…there are some things you still don’t understand.” He pulled out a small metallic device and suddenly moved in front of me. “And now let’s hope you never will.”

 

Before I could do anything, he pushed the device against my forehead and my entire body seemed to pulse and go dead. I lost feeling in my arms and legs and ended up hitting the ground hard. I could feel pain erupting from the parts of my body that hit the ground but I couldn’t move at all. Soon my vision dimmed and went black along with my hearing. I was stuck in a conscious state of twilight and I couldn’t do anything about it.

 

What felt like five minutes later, the familiar pins-and-needles feeling took over my entire body and sounds returned to my ears. My eyes twitched and opened slowly. My head was leaning over my body and I could see many straps and restraints attached to my wrists, arms, and upper thighs.

 

I slowly looked up, grimacing from the wave of pins-and-needles flowing through my neck.

 

Taiji’s brother’s back was facing me and he seemed to be punching something into a computer.

 

“H-hey…” My mouth was extremely tingly. It was hard to form words.

 

Taiji’s brother glanced behind his shoulder. “Just relax. Everything will be over soon.” He finished at his computer, then walked up to me and fiddled with wires attached to ports on my forehead.

 

“Wh-what are you doing?” I tried to move but every one of my limbs was securely attached to the chair.

 

“I have no idea how that robot could have had a reincarnation, but I’ll get rid of it the same way I got rid of him. And this time I won’t fail.”

 

I realized what that meant and started to panic. “W-wait a minute—“

 

“I’m terribly sorry you had to get caught up in this kind of situation. But I’ll make it up to you by making your ‘death’ quick and painless.” He moved over to another computer and punched in more numbers.

 

“W-what is this going to accomplish exactly!? You already tried to kill your twin this way and it didn’t work, so how will killing me make the difference?”

 

“Oh don’t worry. I learned from my mistakes.” Taiji’s brother e of the knobs on the computer on and the little screen lit up a bright blue color. “You see those blue lines? Those are your brain waves. Soon they will be collaborated into my computer network and I can gain access to your computerized nervous system and reconfigure your brain.”

 

I strained my head trying to look at him. “You can’t do this! I have a life back on Earth! I’m not ready to die yet!”

 

“Funny how lives happen, don’t they?” Taiji’s brother snapped his head around and stared at me with a very different look in his eyes. “One day you wake up with a robot that looks exactly like you and you are forced into caring for it like it’s your own flesh and blood when it’s made of nothing but AI circuits and computers! Then it acts like a normal human until it gets angry and attacks you with the strength of a superhuman!”

 

“You murdered your own girlfriend! Taiji was trying to stop you!” I raised my voice a little.

 

He suddenly approached me and struck the side of my face hard. “You know nothing about my personal life! And you don’t know anything about the robot’s life either! It doesn’t have a life! It’s just a shell of hardwire and organic computer material! Just like you.” He ran a hand over his hair and moved back to the computer he was at. “And once I’m finished with you here, I’ll add you to my collection of growing bodies that you saw. You’ll be completely rid of all free will.”

 

“W-why are they all supposed to be like that?” The side of my face was stinging from where he struck me.

 

“What? Did you think I was growing a robot army? Well, that is the closest definition, isn’t it? You saw how easily people on Earth were influenced once a robot-human was created and when things went wrong. Well let’s see what happens when they are visited by robots designed to only follow one simple rule: destroy everything.”

 

H-he’s really gone insane. “Y-you can’t be serious.”

 

“And you coming at this time couldn’t be more perfect. The portal from Earth to Mars opens up every six years.” Taiji’s brother stepped to the side so he was looking at me. “It’ll be an honor for you serving in my army, being my robot twin’s reincarnation. It will be an interesting story to tell.” He chuckled and pressed the largest button on the computer grid.

 

The blue lights on the little screen started to move around sporadically and my head suddenly felt jittery. I let out several grunts of pain as I clamped my eyes shut and tried to squirm.

 

Taiji’s brother slowly moved one lever on the grid and the blue lights started to glow brighter and move around faster. As a result, it felt like my skull was being pulled apart slowly. I shouted and screamed in pain.

 

“Interesting. My other creations didn’t feel pain, or maybe they did. They were never vocal about it.” Taiji’s brother shrugged.

 

“P-please…stop!” I moaned, clutching the rails of my chair tight. It felt like my brain was being burned.

 

“Soon you won’t feel anything. Just hang in there.” He responded, crossing his arms and turned to watch me.

 

The pain continued on for what felt like a decade but was probably for about a minute. Soon I felt my senses shutting down and a drowsy feeling overcoming my mind and body. I was happy that the pain was residing so quickly and allowed myself to fall into a very deep state of mind. Again I felt like I was falling. Falling into a nice, pleasant dream…

 

“I’m sorry for all of that pain. But it needed to happen. I will take over from here.” A familiar voice spoke to me.

 

 

 

Taiji’s brother stared at Shinwoo’s still body for a moment before glancing at the screen on the computer. It was glowing green and the lines were all in a straight line from left to right. His mind had been opened up. He was now ready to be reprogrammed.

 

Taiji’s brother smirked and started to punch in more information into the computer. He heard a small sound come from behind him and glanced over his shoulder. Shinwoo wasn’t moving but a sudden, loud beeping sound suddenly started sounding from the computer. Taiji’s brother looked back at it and his eyes widened. The screen was blinking and a large red word started blinking over the straight lines: ERROR.

 

“What the…” Taiji’s brother snapped his gaze back to Shinwoo, who slowly lifted his head. “I-impossible!”

 

Shinwoo’s hands slowly broke free from the restraints on his arms and wrists and moved up to remove the ports and wires from his forehead. Taiji’s brother stared at him in disbelief as he stood up with no problem and slowly turned to face him.

 

His eyes were filled with nothing but calm seriousness. “Hello brother.”