It was a cold, stormy night in Piedmont, California. Piedmont is a city nestled among the hills, to the east, right between Berkeley and Oakland, right across the San Francisco - Oakland Bay bridge - on the north-east side of Alameda County - just a few miles away from Oakland.
On this evening, Avdiel Carlos - a frail 75 year old man was drunkenly stumbling his way through the streets and the layers of tremendous concrete structures he had to overcome whilst traversing the harshness of the storm in order to make it to his house in one piece. He was soaked in water, with his rice hat slightly bent down from how wet it has gotten. But Avdiel was no fool, in fact he was a great scientist, a genius inventor and an acclaimed information technology specialist who was stumbling on his way home through a dense October thunderstorm, mind-numbingly drunk, yet carrying over himself an umbrella.
His nose was bleeding, but Avdiel wasn't paying attention to that, nor feeling it. The rain he got soaked in before he came to the decision to open up his umbrella up has washed away most of the blood, regardless. Yet every drop of rain he did feel or see drop on him reminded him of and felt as if it were a bullet. To be exact, it was the rain that dropped on a piece of glass or on cars that made a loudly rushing "pitter-patter" type of sound.
Now, Doctor Avdiel Carlos was not a veteran, he didn't serve in the military at all, but his wife did. He was remembering her vivid descriptions of her experience of greeting the Android War during a thunderstorm in Novgorod, whilst Avdiel was further driving the innovations of computer and information technologies in corporate America. She became absolutely condemning towards thunderstorms when the Android War began in 2042.
Valerie was a high-ranking officer in the U.S, army. She had to be close to ground in the Eastern sector all throughout the operations during the war, so the couple seldom saw one another, and when they did - they were mostly in the company of Vonny, their son, who managed to grow up through his developmental age safely with his father during the war, yet due to this - Valerie didn't often get a chance to share her military experiences with Avdiel, let alone see her son. Avdiel was trying to convince her out of there, but she felt that she had a duty to use her career experience and knowledge she had developed throughout her service and was comfortable being a working woman, realizing the importance of her presence during this specific war, which could be considered a technological outbreak as it were...
This war was ironically also among the highest peaks of government surveillance ever enacted in the history of the Western Civilization, and Valerie was instructed not to overshare government information or discuss war tactics and strategies with anyone who does not have proper clearance, which unfortunately also included most of her family.
Avdiel briefly recalled the memory of Valerie begging him to cancel the dinner reservation he made for them as a surprise at their favorite most expensive (and delicious) Japanese restaurant on the night of their 31st wedding anniversary.
But that wasn't the only surprise on that day, as an unreported thunderstorm unexpectedly hit the Bay area, a thunderstorm similar to the one that Avdiel was experiencing during his walk home, but on that day about a year and a half ago - Avdiel was just 74, Valerie was 71. Vonny was 5 and was eager to see his baby sitter, Rachilia - who was to take care of the kid while his parents were out for dinner to celebrate on that evening.
What Rachilia, a witty and usually cheerful high-school senior from Oakland did not expect to encounter that day, besides the unexpected thunderstorm that made her walk over to the Carlos' residence atrociously annoying - was a woman she thought she knew well, surprisingly to her - scared to death of the rain and it's "pitter-patter". Consequentially, Rachilia showed up to the Carlos' residence drenched. She did not bring an umbrella with her.
Rachilia was greeted by Avdiel, whom she immediately asked to use the bathroom in which she proceeded to wash a bit of leaked make up off and dry her hair with a smart hair drier helmet that Valerie convinced her husband to purchase, as she began to faintly hear Valerie's voice. Vonny was in the bathroom with Rachilia, he was playing in foam, taking a bubble bath, as Valerie's voice bellowed distantly.
"Honey, for fucks sake, please! I realize you've been breaking your neck over this reservation, but I am NOT, I repeat - I am NOT getting into that car!" Valerie desperately cried out, not fully aware that a guest has since joined the residence.
"Hey... keep it down! Rachey is here already. I don't understand, what's the big deal I - " Avdiel said before. getting smoothly interrupted. It was a talent of Valerie's to do so, really.
Somehow, she knew exactly which tenor of voice to set in order to gently slide into a conversation without the fellow communicator feeling that they got interrupted.
"I... don't feel good." she said and then hugged him. "It's the sound... reminds me of that... that godforsaken night." - she continued muffled, as she let out some tears into her husbands shirt. Valerie was a trained professional and rarely showed emotions in this way, so it certainly surprised Avdiel, She was seldom this vulnerable, even with her family.
Okay... okay, it's okay, we'll just stay home. I'II try to see if I can ask them to deliver." Avdiel responded.
"Thanks love... I'm sorry..
"It's absolutely fine."
Rachilia got out of the bathroom to witness a woman she was sincerely frightened of out of the usually stern and strict manner she carries herself with - broken down, in tears, and witnessed Avdiel for the first time as the bearish-like comforter in their relationship instead of the complacent and agreeable gentle old man she usually saw him as.
"... ugh..." Rachilia blubbered in astonishment. She didn't know what to say.
"Hey, Rachey, sweetheart" Avdiel responded as he transferred her payment for the night to her, visibly - through a signal sent by his glasses which she received and acknowledged through her watch. "I called you a ride, just go home for the night. We decided to stay at home, we'll take care of Yonny" he assured the shocked young lady.
"Oh.. if you say so Dr. Carlos! It's mid-term season - so, yes, umm... thank you!" Rachilia responds with an intonation of surprise all the while her gaze shifts ever so slightly, not knowing whether to pay attention to Val's unusual emotional out-pour, or to just pretend its not happening out of her respect and fear of the woman.
"You've been a lovely nanny so far, so just get home safe and take care of whatever it is you have going on then." Avdiel reassuringly told the young lady as Val quietly sobbed into his shirt.
"Thanks!" Rachilia responded with a smile. She was just happy that she could save money and time while not getting drenched, so she bid Vonny farewell, waved Avdiel goodbye and left, as Valerie went to dry herself up with a few kitchen towels, avoiding Rachilia.
Valerie developed a severe post-traumatic stress disorder during this war. In fact, it happened on the very first night. She has never seen a battle this hopeless and one-sided in her life.
It was the night when the Android War begun. Valerie and her team were arriving to Eastern Novgorod from the airport on a military helicopter. It was the night during which Val was sent to discuss military strategy on a comm. Tower at the Omnibu robotics manufacturing plant in the city of Novgorod. The tower - which was placed high above the patches of smoking pine trees provided a clear view of the land, focusing on the factory grounds and it's near by provinces which were mostly occupied by the factory workers and their families. It provided view of the suburbs, fancy apartment buildings, parks, the nice homes and even some gated communities, built when Omnibu decided to invest in the Russian worker market there by building this manufacturing facility, in which the development, programming, manufacturing and construction of humanoid weaponized androids was taking place for the world's arms market to indulge in.
Except, a seriously upset hacker (who was labeled as a nazi among the mostly federal news media) decided that he's going to hack this facility on this night, and so he did - programming the highly competent killing machines to do among their many other functions their primary function, which for them as weaponized robots - largely consisted of the capability to follow orders to use their weapons, which in this case was mass man slaughter across the city.
The RS1 was a weaponized robot android, invented to among performing human actions such as movement also be a highly capable and highly effective automated soldier that is well able to perform field duties. These machines were armed, dangerous and at this point free roaming across the town after successfully breaking out of their manufacturing and storage fachities.
As mentioned, the hacker was upset, in fact he was seriously upset about something.
But that's a story for another time.
As the helicopter circled around the tower, the team was provided a view of the carnage taking place below them, as humanoid machines were ravaging the immediate vicinity of the factory and it's respective suburban neighborhoods, most of which had families with children living in them. They were going on further and further forward onto the city from the direction of the factory. There was a message in the sky, it was projected by a hacked holographic announcement board above the factory which read in English and Russian:
Here's your goddamned money. Now burn in hell with it.
Вот вам ваши проклятые деньги. Теперь горите с ними в аду.
- anon
As Valerie got out of the helicopter with her squad on the landing pad, she overheard the pilot's intercom from the field, whilst the grayish storm-clouds were quickly approaching the factory grounds. The noise was repetitive, but not in an unnoticeable way. There were screams and pleas in the distance, followed shortly by gun fire, all of which eventually got drowned out by the sounds of thunder and rain which began setting in as Valerie and her team were landing on the tower's heli-pad.
From inside the tower in a conference room which had a tall glass observation deck - the city was clearly visible. The were flashes of light in the dimly, seldom lit power-cut neighborhoods from artillery fire, as people were running all around as if a hyperactive ant colony, trying to get out of their homes, get to their cars and flee. The cars were all disabled. Some were stopped on the city streets. Neither the local government nor Omnibu International (technically a foreign corporation) was intent on getting press involved, until absolutely necessary while the city was under a lock-down. The fortress-like factory gates were wide open, seemingly stuck open. There were still a few androids trying to make their way through the gates, which were shot down with rail-guns one by one by the spec-ops team that was recently positioned at the factory entrance to make sure no more of the things got out.
Despite wanting to avoid press interference - international military committees discussing how to handle the situation was an obligation by the mere fact of the company's global presence and the matter at hand, hence Valerie and her team were there on behalf of the North American Western Sector. It was a devastating situation. Most of the factory workers, including some high-level scientists died on duty, trying to escape the prison of their own creation, while the federal agents on ground were first instructed to avoid leaving any witnesses of the outbreak of these killer machines.
Death was coming in pairs.
The raindrops were hitting the glass of the observation deck window rhythmically alongside the flashes of gunfire, Valerie recalled when she told Avdiel that she "heard them almost as often as the shots fired across the city" when she finally was able to find a moment to describe the situation.
The rain piter-pattering on the glass of the observation deck, along with the view of the city deck was increasingly getting more and more distracting as the factory's head personnel and the United Nations West and East Sector Command teams were being briefed on the situation.
During this meeting Valerie zoned out at one point after realizing what's going on. To her ears. the conversations and loud shouting-matches of the personnel and various government and military officials questioning the employees how this could've possibly happened got drowned out in the noise of the "pitter-patter" of the rain against the glass window and the sight of the flashes of gunfire in the city. She never before felt this way and proceeded to excuse herself to the bathroom at that one moment, wept, then came back, all focused and stern - and proceeded to request to either shut the blinds or switch rooms, as she said that the rain was giving her a major headache with which she wouldn't be able to work - which it was.
The comm. Tower's glass windows in Novgorod were coincidentally made of the same type of glass that the Carlos' residence window glass in Piedmont was made out of, even when comparing the thickness of the glass, hence the eerie similarity in sound of the "pitter-patter" that projected across the room making Valerie so damn uncomfortable. Her mind began racing as she recalled the memory of that night, and after Rachilia left, she slowly walked over to the living room couch and laid down on it, turning the TV. on to drown out the sound of the rain, covering herself and her ears with a thick blanket.
It was truly saddening for Avdiel to see Valerie like this. Especially when it comes to rain. He reminisced at this point of them going on a date under long before in downtown San Fransisco, on which they had a seriously romantic evening. This was before their marriage. In fact, this date was so romantic that to this day, Avdiel remained heartbroken that Valerie was so set against the rain after the war. They were having dinner and walking on the pier on this particular evening in November 2025, when all of a sudden unreported storm clouds appeared on the horizon and began quickly moving in, engulfing the city in rain and thunder.
They got cotton candy after they ate which they planned on enjoying as they were observing the ocean off of the pier's edge, and then - all of a sudden, a storm cloud came in and it began raining as they then looked into each other's eyes in a type middle-age love that has been growing on them for some time, like beautiful grape vines in a courtyard. They then, dropped their now drenched cotton candy paper sticks onto the wooden planks and kissed while the strong wind swayed their hair around, the thunder loudly beckoned, and the lightning slashed it's way further in the ocean behind them, as they rubbed their sticky sugary hands on one another, which somehow washed away all of the sugar and stickiness on them due to how rainy it was. It felt like teenage love. It was pure and intense.
The rain was making a similar pitter-patter sound, as rain usually does - but it was against the wooden planks rather than glass. The two got married shortly after this day in the Spring of 2026.
But times have changed, and those romantic middle-age teenage like memories seemed like a distant dream, as they were drowned out by the hurdling career driven aspirations of the pair and their often difficult work environments.
In a few weeks after deployment to handle the situation in Novgorod - Valerie was announced M.I.A. via a telegram to Dr. Carlos on the beginning of the third week into the war. On the day Avdiel got the first telegram - he just came home from an office party at Omnibu Headquarters in San Fransisco. The party was in celebration of the up-scaling of their self-driving transportation division. Dr. Carlos got formally invited as a guest of honor, but as he wasn't working there anymore - he managed to sneak in quickly and quietly for a chat with an old friend and for the food, which was always exceptionally good at these types of events and especially when it comes to the Omnibu HQ.
Avdiel came back home early that evening. He bid Rachilia,who was babysitting Vonny that evening farewell and remained in the living room thereafter to sit with Vonny on the couch whilst catching upon his mail and messages.
Vonny's head was laying on Avdiel's lap as he was checking his e-mails and letters. He opened the telegram and read it. Avdiel got stunned. He tried to not display any emotions, but wasn't able to withhold a tear drop which landed right on Vonny's cheek as the kid was watching a cartoon on his glasses, to which he leaped up and with his 5 year old brain immediately responded by laughing at Avdiel when he saw the old man trying his best to pull together a smile, making an awkward face. Avdiel wiped the tear off of his face smiled at Vonny and tried his hardest to calmly say:
"Hey buddy, I think it's time you go to bed for now. Daddy has to handle some work, I'll come over to read you a story in a bit."
"Okay!" Vonny said as he gleefully leaped and tightly hugged his father, slightly choking him with his boney arms.
"There, there... run along now!" - Avdiel barely uttered out as he stood up with Vonny dangling from his neck, grabbed the kid by his arms and turned him around, nudging him to move along, which he did. Avdiel was using all the strength he had to hold back from breaking down and sobbing into the kid's shirt right there and then and barely managed to not do so.
Shortly after Vonny left, the man rushed to the kitchen to pour himself some brandy. His tears were dropping into the glass he was pouring himself the drink into, with his hands shaking so much, that he was barely able to hold the glass and bottle while pouring the drink in. He poured half a glass and slammed it immediately, with some spilling on his shirt, and the glass falling down on the floor - shattering.
Valerie never retumed and was soon declared deceased, on the fourth week following her deployment to be exact. It was such a strong hit for Avdiel, and was incredibly unexpected as she usually did not perform any duties on the grounds and mostly handled intelligence. This sent him spiraling into madness, having already lost trust in corporate America, he then lost trust in the government and military of the Western Sector. It was the most heartbreaking news of his life.
As for the people of Novgorod, you can probably imagine their disappointment when they eventually found out that the factory which seemed to be the promising boom to the city's economy, long needed and awaited for - turned into a war. This was heartbreaking news to them as well.
Whatever did happen to Valerie during her deployment? Well, she got ruthlessly gunned down by androids after a malfunction of a maintenance entrance way in a bunker of the facility. Her and her team were chased down by the androids to the very top of the glass observation deck of the same comm. Tower they first got deployed to and shot, without a single chance of any of them leaving the facility.
Avdiel was of course not informed of the specifics of Valerie's death, but he knew it had to be something horrible due to the lack of information given to him, while the news have already caught up with the terrible onslaught by the beginning of the second week of his wife's deployment.
All these memories were like time traveling scars on in Avdiel's mind, time traveling - because he constantly felt them reopen, as though the cuts were made a split second ago, especially in most recent times. So, in fact - this evening, as he was on his way home from a local bar, Avdiel didn't even feel a single raindrop physically, as again: he was that drunk. He was drowning in the irritating sounds of the raindrops hitting his surroundings, making him reminisce on these scorching memories he was trying to get away from by drowning his consciousness in the pool of liquor he was indulging in that night.
But that was not the only thing tearing him apart on this particular night, it was also what he was about to do and what more he had to go through to get to this point in his life.
None of it was according to his plan, yet again, and he was completely out of it.
At this point Avdiel managed to limp into his neighborhood. The old man felt as though the world was dead set against him, as though everyone and everything around was wishing for him to dissolve into nothingness. Every reflection he saw of himself in the puddles along the way caused him to become more bitter about his life and himself, his losses, his weaknesses, his helplessness. The street lights were blinding his eyes and the rain seemingly rather than feeling like God's tears on sad nights like these, felt more like God pissing on him. He was reminiscing the night as though he was the claw from a claw machine trying to put a puzzle together, which I gather is incredibly difficult if not impossible to do. Avdiel looked down onto the ground as he was unlocking the front door and noticed a drop of blood fall from his face which reminded him of getting into a fight with a cyborg in the bar right before he got kicked out of there. Avdiel drank a ton of beer and gin on that night and practically didn't say a single word, except when he told that cyborg to "go to hell' and when he rudely called out the newly hired barman for kicking him out.
He clumsily stumbled into the house, dropping some letters onto a table by the entrance as he was greeted by his cat who meowed to him in salutation.
"Oh why thank you sir Oswald." - Avdiel mumbled as he gathered his umbrella.
Why was Avdiel thanking his cat? Well, he figured that this timed Oswald congratulated his owner, as it was his birthday. Not Oswald the cat's, it was Doctor Avdiel Carlo's Birthday that day. He turned 75 and he was the only person he had in the house to communicate with on that day. In other words, he was almost practically alone.
One could say he was alone, but that wouldn't be entirely accurate.
Avdiel was about to go into his home lab and make his next big breakthrough, but he first decided to make some tea, after which he grabbed the cup and came over to the window looking towards his front yard to take a look at nature through his own eyes one last time. He looked at the street through his "retro" 2000s window blinds and did his best to casually sip on his jasmine tea and not breakdown or fall down on the ground in tears.
The reason he was the only human in the house and the reason Vonny, his son who would've turned 7 next month was not around, whilst Avdiel was wasted on this night in particular, is an inconceivably depressing tragedy that struck the scientist's already deprecating existence.
As if losing Valerie to a war of robotic manslaughter wasn't enough, about 9 months ago, Avdiel lost his son Vonny to brain cancer.
But none of that mattered anymore as he was drunk out of his mind... making his way to the lab he had built in his basement, as he was about to commit to another invention that would change his life forever...
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