Machinery (2/?): A Transcendence Short

Oxbridge University
New York

United States of America

May 2113

Freya gave the desk an irritated few taps while Nico waited for the video call to begin. “What the hell is taking her such a fucking long time, doesn’t she understand that this is a shitty life-and-death situation?”

“Give the woman a break, she’s been studying for finals too.” Nico groaned. He redialed the other’s number on Skype and waited again, “As long as she answers, we’ll be good. We’ll be fine. We’ll be able to settle this without having to panic and eventually settling for the university counselor or some shit.”

“I’ll kill her if she doesn’t answer,” Freya started, but a small beep noise came from Nico’s tablet. The male’s brown eyes widened as he started at the screen and the wild-haired girl immediately scrambled to the bed, nearly knocking over the chair in process. “Salazar? Is that you?”

“What the fuck do you guys want?” an irritated voice came. Staring at the screen, Nico and Freya saw a very unhappy Marion Salazar staring right back at them, her hair tied up and a paintbrush in her right hand. “This better be important, I have a goddamn plate to do and then God-knows how many papers due within the next twenty-four hours.”

Stopping the lady from cussing them out any further, Freya decided that it was best for her (or Nico) to spill out the truth. Her mouth hardened into a thin line.

“Just…listen to us. It’s about Ansel.”

Marion immediately shut up at the mention of the male’s name. Her eyes widened and the two of them could hear the paintbrush falling onto the table, scattering paint everywhere. Despite the mess, Marion didn’t say anything, merely staring at them with the same expression on her face.

“…Ansel?”

“He’s been acting so fucking weirdly, it’s a little unnerving.” Nico explained. He adjusted his glasses before continuing, “Free hasn’t been himself lately. He’s just so…blank. Like a fucking robot or something. He barely wants to go out and just stays in the dorm all the time now. When I go to check on him, either he’s sleeping or he’s working on some assignment for his film theory.” The male exhales and rubs his eyes. Marion merely stays silent. “Freya tried to get him out of bed but he wouldn’t budge.”

“…where are you now?”

“Freya’s room. Janica let us stay here for now while she went off on another date. Ansel’s in his and Nico’s room, sleeping.” Marion managed a slow nod. Freya folded her arms over her chest.

“What’s going on with him, Marion? Both of you have known each other for a fucking decade, probably, and now that we tell you about it – it’s like you know exactly what’s going on with him,” the curly-haired girl insists. “Hell, when we told you that it was an Ansel problem, you just…changed. Completely.”

From the screen, the two watched as Marion took a moment to compose herself. She herself rubbed her own eyes, and it was at that moment when they realized how exhausted she looked. Freya’s eyes softened, “Ansel’s our friend too, Mar. And whatever is going on with him is freaking us out and we want to know before something happens to him.”

Marion exhaled, lifting a hand to slowly massage her temples. “Ansel hasn’t contacted me for some time.”

“What?”

“He and I – we have this certain ‘arrangement’ going on. If that’s even the right term,” she mutters. “I told Nico about it when I first contacted him – thanks, by the way – anyway. Our arrangement is to pretty much have a weekly venting-slash-relaxing session with each other. I keep tabs on him and he keeps tabs on me. Well. A few weeks ago, he stopped. Like, he just stopped. Didn’t message me on time or anything, and we know how time-oriented the guy is.” The two listen on, “I message him a reminder, casually ask him how he’s doing. No reply. Nada. So I think, huh. Must be because finals week is approaching.” Marion rubs her eyes again. “He’s been ignoring me for the past few weeks. I felt that something was wrong and tried to talk to him, but last week he just asked me if we could stop. For a while.”

Marion’s voice falls cold at that point. Freya and Nico exchange worried glances. “He just…asked you to stop? Flat-out asked that?”

“Yeah. No explanation or anything. He asked if we could stop first because there was a lot going on. I was going to Skype him, but the asshole went offline before I could call him.” Marion buries her face into her hands and groans, “And then Nico messages me about wanting to talk, and I fucking hoped that it wasn’t about Ansel but boom – it’s fucking about Ansel.”

“…so what’s wrong with him?” Nico manages. “What about him not talking to you has gotten you so wound up?”

At that, Marion folds her arms over her chest. “Technically, I’m not allowed to say anything. It’s Ansel’s choice whether he wants to keep it private or not. But all I’m going to tell you is that Ansel has something going on with him. He’s been going through it since high school and it’s something that he’s incredibly sensitive about,” she explains. Freya doesn’t say anything while Nico gives a frown. “Keep this shit quiet, please. For now, Ansel just needs my – our support. Support and everything. He needs us as much as possible. And I swear to God, he doesn’t say shit so for now, we should just be there for him. Okay?”

Freya nods slowly. “Yeah.” Beside her, Nico gives a tentative smile.  

* * * * *

Perihelion Studios

January 2121

Ansel, why haven’t you fucking said anything to Elena yet? Marion peeked into Ansel’s work area and saw him quietly eating while Jae-hwang hung around, staying away from the processing computer as much as possible.

“Thank Christ you’re eating, I swear you’re starting to look skinnier.” She scolded, entering the office. Ansel jumped in his seat, clutching onto the sandwich that the Korean had delivered half an hour ago.

“I’m eating,” he defended. “And drinking this…iced tea?” behind him, Jae-hwang scoffed.

“That’s some very good iced tea.”

“That’s some healthy iced tea right there.” Marion gives him a frown, “Healthy is what you need, Free. Healthy and decaffeinated.”

“I’m having this lovely chicken-pesto-spinach sandwich, isn’t this healthy enough?” Ansel pauses to eat, “Which tastes amazing.” Marion stayed silent after that and sat on one of the couches, taking her phone out. Jae-hwang squeezed in next to her and soon answered his phone, proceeding to talk loudly about his schedule with Rayne. Ansel gave the male a glare and (un)politely asked him to shut the fuck up, to which Jae-hwang responded by flipping him the bird.

One of these days, she thought to herself. The computer made a faint ding noise, which made Ansel turn back to the screen immediately, the sandwich left on his lap. Immediately did he start working lightning speed once more, which caught the attention of the male next to her as he ended the call.

Marion blankly pointed at the sandwich. Jae-hwang’s mouth formed an ‘o’ shape, realizing what the makeup artist had been talking about much earlier.

“…I think I get what you mean now, Mar.”