Derbitage Sample

One thing Armilla had difficulty adjusting to was that Derbitage was a city of noise. Everywhere she looked, people spoke, shouted, argued, bartered, begged, and whispered to the others around them. She could hear the creaking of metal, the cries of beasts, and the deep scraping of construction in the distance. Trying as she might, she could not process any of their individual conversations. Each speaker overlapped with each other like a live encryption she could not understand.

Derbitage was not exclusively a city of auditory noise, however. It was also a city of visual noise. Everywhere Armilla looked, buildings made of scrap and rotting garbage sprouted up out of the ground. Discordant wires crisscrossed across the rooves of houses and filthy gutters lined the packed dirt streets. Electrified gases cast a mystifying glow onto their surroundings, obfuscating the intermittent lighting from the system’s heart. Stores were packed from floor to ceiling with filthy boards and specialty scrap, some carried jury-rigged approximations of machines she had seen and used back in the city.

The sheer volume of noise was staggering. Armilla had never experienced so much of anything at once and it overwhelmed her senses. She struggled to keep her visual sensors from examining every new object as she was used to doing because there was simply not enough time to categorize them all. Armilla turned away from the physical static to watch her little companion scurrying along beside her, expertly navigating the endless sea of garbage.

Ticket: “It will not take a long time to arrive there.”

Armilla plodded alongside Ticket, her relative height allowing her uniform steps to keep up with her. At a moment’s notice, she picked up speed, weaving through several alleyways before stopping at an open square littered in compacted cubes. People sat on these cubes and ingested nutrients from artificial shells atop larger, chest height cubes.

Ticket: “Do you know where you would like to eat?”

Armilla did not understand the question, and Ticket didn’t hesitate in rewording her sentence.

Ticket: “Remember those motions I showed you? You can use those to tell me things.”

Armilla did not agree or disagree with her question, nor did she have a direction to designate, so she remained stationary and stared at her.

Ticket: “Do not worry, tall person. I am able to show you.”

Ticket lifted her arm up above her head and squeezed onto Armilla’s hand. She began walking in a direction and tugged Armilla forward.
Ticket: “Please, follow me.”

Armilla nodded, resuming her uniform steps shortly behind Ticket. She approached some sort of merchant with a dirty uniform. He appeared to be different from the edrans she had seen at home. Ticket hopped up onto a nearby stool and spoke to him.

Ticket: “Hello, tall person. I would like some dog noodles for myself and a pack biscuit for my friend.”

The vendor nodded and ducked back into his stand. Within moments, he returned with a tan brick comprised of organic wire, and a rounded pyramid coated in some sort of roasted grain. He placed them into a grey carton and handed them to Ticket, who exchanged them for a chip with digital paint on the corner.

Ticket: “You have been thanked.”

Armilla had her hand taken once more and led her to one of the sitting cubes. She stood in front of it and dropped onto it with enough force to startle Ticket momentarily. Ticket climbed onto the opposing cube and opened the carton.

Ticket: “This is food. You must eat this, tall person.”

She examined Armilla for a moment, and a strange expression crossed her face.

Ticket: “Usually tall people put food in their mouth, but the mouth you have is not a mouth and there seems to be no substitute. Do you eat, tall person?”

Armilla recalled obtaining nutrients through a specialized tool in the past and nodded.

Ticket: “Then do what you must to eat this.”

Ticket handed Armilla the truncated pyramid, leaving it in the opened carton in front of her. Armilla watched Ticket crawl into the space between the differently sized cubes carrying the organic wire. She turned away from Armilla and lifted it to her face. She remained like that for over a minute, and once she had finished, she climbed back onto the smaller cube.

Ticket: “Where I come from putting things in your mouth in front of others is shameful. Do you have shame, tall person?”

Armilla did not understand the question. She stared blankly at the hooded person opposite her.

Ticket: “Shame is a feeling that is felt. When you act in a way that others you care about do not like. It is a feeling that you have.”
Armilla continued to stare.

Ticket: “It is a feeling that you have that makes you feel like you want to get smaller and go away. When people you like do not like what you have done, it makes you not like what you have done as well and you feel their feeling too. The difference is that the feeling you have is for yourself, not another.”

Ticket: “Do you understand, tall person?”

Armilla did not understand.

Ticket: “If you can feel worried, you should not feel it because I will help you understand later. If you do not feel worried, then you do not need to either.”

Armilla pointed at the truncated pyramid inside of the carton.

Ticket: “You have not eaten the food. Do you need me to assist you?”

Armilla nodded.

Armilla watched as Ticket hopped up onto the table and picked up the pyramid. She lifted it to Armilla’s face and pressed it against the place her mouth used to be. Immediately, she realized that the tubes back in the city served a similar function. Armilla wanted to ask Corner what the function of food was, but she didn’t know how to ask. Perhaps it was some sort of vestigial function the edrans enjoyed. Ticket took the pyramid back and held onto it loosely.

Ticket: “Do you have another place that you can put this? A place with teeth?”

Armilla shook her head.

Ticket: “Maybe you do not need it then. I will eat it myself, and you will tell me if you want to get some food another time. Do you understand, tall person?”

Armilla nodded.

Ticket hopped off the big cube and returned to her previous eating position before climbing back onto the small cube.
Ticket: “Do you want to continue our journey? I have some things I need to do.”

Armilla nodded. Conversation was becoming a little easier for her, and she was beginning to get better at nodding her head.
Ticket hopped off the cube and walked over to her, taking Armilla’s hand and leading her out of the noisy square. Derbitage was busier than ever now that some time had passed, and Armilla struggled to keep her eyes on Ticket as she led her through the city. As Ticket moved further into the heart of the city, conditions only worsened. Heaps of garbage were piled up on the sides of the road, people openly carried weapons and seemed to watch Armilla as she walked by them.

Ticket: “Do not pay attention to them. They are fond of unbroken things. They like to break those things because they are broken too.”

Armilla took note of this. She noticed that there were many more of those “food” stands, but the ones here appeared to have much dirtier wears and vendors. One of them was a robot missing one arm and both of its legs. It sat on a cube of garbage, toiling away in front of a smoking grill. Armilla recognized it as a robot used for construction, but it seemed content with its new job vending.
Ticket pulled Armilla into a shaded alley littered with organic detritus and knocked on an unassuming tin-lead alloy door. After a few moments, the door swung open.

Ticket: “You are not allowed inside of here. Please be obedient and do not move before I return. Knock on the door if you are in danger.”

Armilla nodded and peered around at her surroundings. People seemed averse to walking through this specific alley. She watched people pass by the roads, paying little attention to her presence in the shade. Occasionally, someone would peek into the alley, notice her, and leave. Armilla stood in silence for a while longer before the door opened once more and Ticket appeared.

Ticket: “It is good nothing has happened to you. Let us continue.”

Armilla followed Ticket out of the alley and through a busier main road. The path continued for a while, but when she reached the corner she heard somebody calling out just behind her.

Android: “Miss!”

Armilla ignored the superfluous noise and continued, but Ticket turned to face the voice behind her. It had come from another android. He was tall and lanky, and wore a blue-gray suit with a slim necktie. Upon further inspection, Armilla noticed that he possessed four eyes, which was two more than she or the gremlin had.

Android: “Hey, miss. I can’t help but notice you two seem to be lost. You know you don’t really want to be wandering around in this part of town, right?”

Armilla thought about how to express that she was unaware of both what part of town she was in, as well as why she would not want to be there. Unable to produce a satisfactory response, she didn’t respond at all.

Ticket: “I am aware of where we are as well as where we are going. We do not need your advice.”

Android: “Oh, hey, sorry then, it’s just I haven’t seen this gal around lately. Is she new around here?”

The android pointed to Armilla, looking at her with a wry grin.

Ticket: “Yes. This tall person is new here and I am helping her to understand the city. Although she now has a mouth, she cannot speak.”

Android: “Can’t speak, huh? Any idea what happened to her? It’s not often I see someone brand new like her just waltzing around the bad part of town.”

Ticket: “She has been like this as long as I have known her. Perhaps you should consider being more like her.”
Android: “If I did that, I’d lose my charm.”

The android put one hand on his chest and frowned sympathetically, but Ticket seemed unmoved by his gesture. She made a motion to walk past him, but he stepped back into her path.

Android: “Oh come on now, you gals aren’t even giving me a chance here! It’s not often I get to see another android, especially not one like her.”

Android: “She looks beautiful. Just look at her! Not a speck of dust on her yet, I can practically see my own reflection in her synthetic skin!”

The android smiled widely at Armilla, but she couldn’t tell if he was trying to be friendly, or if he was trying to examine his own reflection.

Ticket: “Please move out of our way. We are not interested in whatever you are offering.”

Ticket stared impatiently at the android and began to walk again, but he easily followed with his long legs and fluid movements. He bent backward and shrugged, giving his best attempt at a pout.

Android: “Hey, ladies, I didn’t mean to insult you or anything. You two are perfectly capable of defending yourselves. Maybe we got off on the wrong foot here. My name’s Sam.”

Sam: “Like, all I’m asking is that you hear me out. This place has a lot of ins and outs, and I just want to help you out is all. So, what do you say, are you willing to at least give me that?”

Sam held out his hand for either Ticket or Armilla, but Ticket seemed uninterested in anything he had to offer.

[Reach Out]
[Do Not]