The Destruction of Batana

EXPLANATIONS

My ears were ringing as soon as I saw the last piece of my memory. I roared in pain. The tattoo rushed to release the needle on my neck. I fell on the floor holding my head. They all rushed to me.

“Lian, are you okay?” Natania asked in panic.

I can't hear their voices. My head feels like it's hit by a rock.

“Jin, June. Bring Lian into the room.” Ador gave the order.

They both nodded and held my body.

I stepped on gontai. My views are mixed. For a glimpse I can witness the past pieces. For a glance I can see the face of Mother who stands in front of me while raising high an object in the form of a syringe.  Those pieces of memory tormented my head. I grimaced in pain. Just when the two brothers put me on the bed, I was unconscious.

***

I woke up about fifteen minutes later. My head still hurts. It's just not as painful. I don't know what's going on. Maybe it was because my brain suddenly received all the memories that were blocked by EM. It caused shock to my brain, causing me a lot of pain.

I walked around holding my head. I approached the door of the room. My view is still not so clear. It's just, I'm too curious about the continuation of my past story. There are a lot of things I missed. At least I need some information so I can understand the maxutd of Mom's last words.

Door creaking. Jin and Jun who seemed to be standing guard at the door were shocked almost simultaneously.

“Hei, Man. You need to rest. It's an order from Tatu.” Jin.

“Yes, you were grimacing in pain during your fainting.” Jun added.

I shook firmly. “I don't have time for that. Where's Tattoo. I have to..” I stopped for a moment. The pain in my head did not go away. “I should know my past soon.”

“On that... You are not allowed to look back on your past memories blocked by EM.” Jin put on a serious face.

“Tatu says it's too dangerous.” Jun is hoarding.

I don't care about the words of both of them. Passing between them. But my move was stopped by them.

“I have to meet Tatu!” I exclaimed with a breath.

“Cannot!” Call them together.

I looked at the two of them with a sharp look.

“Lian, you're sober!”

I looked over and found the Tattoo standing behind me. The tattoo rushed up to me and told me to go back inside the room. I refused his orders. But urung so see the face of the very serious Tatu. I had no choice but to obey him.

At first I thought that Tatu would not explain anything about his past. But I was mistaken. Tatu asked me to go into the room to tell him all about his past while he was working in Batana.

“Lian, I know you're very curious about your mother's past. But let me tell you everything. Yeah, even though I feel bad about telling you everything. Because while working at Batana, it was a bitter memory for me and Natania.” The tattoo looked sad.

The room was silent for a moment.

The tattoo took a long breath. “But before I tell you all about my past, let me explain a few things to you.”

“As you witnessed in your memory, we all did all those projects not for no reason. All this on orders from the head of state. I'm sure you already know. Zenzen. The man who is now the leader of the bandit herd. Then Zenzen changed his name to Kaza Trium. He became head of state of the Titantrium. A country located in the north. It's just that now the country has been removed from the world map because it is considered as a country that caused the incident of the rise of RP-2. And I'm sure at the moment the country is completely uninhabited.”

“You know, Lian? This city we inhabit is not a true Blacksmith City. This city is just a duplicate form of the original city. Bandai Besi City is the capital of Titantrium. It is considered to be the city with the most advanced technology. Everyone still cannot forget the technology that came from the Titantrium. Therefore they rebuilt the destroyed city.”

“Then, how about Batana? Why doesn't everyone know Batana?” I cut the phrase Tattoo.

“That's because we manipulated the memory of the people.”

I squinted my eyes. Half do not believe in the words of the tattoo.

“Maybe this is hard to believe. But it really happened, Lian. Some survivors of the RP-2 revival incident carry a transmitter capable of manipulating everyone's memories. The transmitter was emitting a wave that was able to make everyone forget about Batana. It's just that the tool only works for residents who live in cities or villages. And also the tool could not affect the members of Batana. However, we keep that memory in this city. Because we know that the people of this city still believe in the promise that Batana gave to all mankind. About a better life.”

I'm nodding. It is fitting that the nomadic tribes that I met at that time could remember about Batana. They may not have been affected by the wave.

“The residents of this city believe the spaceship we sent will pick up back all of humanity and take us to another better planet. batrice disagreed with the project. Maybe because he was made aware of your words, Lian. About making adaptations. Hey, isn't man able to survive despite the alternating times. Of course it is because we have no choice but to adapt. This sparked a conflict between the Batana group. In the end, we could only obey Zenzen.”'s orders

I was silent for a moment. Back to asking questions. “What about the Zenzen minions he puts in every city he controls? Why are the minions not affected by the wave?”

Tattoo nodded. “Most likely Zenzen know our plan. He had arrested some members of Batana and forced them to find a neutralizer of the wave. Zenzen is very smart. There was hardly any room to defeat him. And everyone was so scared of him. No one dared to face him.  He even changed his face so that everyone was unaware that he was the former head of state. I don't know what kind of technology he has. Everyone thinks he's not human. He's like a shapeless mist.”

I swallowed spit. “That means there are some members of Batana that he still holds, right?”

“Maybe yes and may not. I don't know if the Batana members he captured are still alive or not. But there was a possibility if they had no choice but to submit to Zenzen. You know what, Lian? Surprisingly we had absolutely no idea about Zenzen's past. All the information about him was like being swallowed by the bowels of the earth. There's no trace. I'm sure Zenzen manipulated all information about his identity. Ah, but let's put that aside and move on to the real topic.” The tattoo justifies his sitting position. “ Lian, I remind you once again. The EM embedded in you right now is a very dangerous object.”

I'm nodding. Ruzdora has explained it to me repeatedly.

“The reason we stopped making that project is because it concerns the dead lives of all humans. It was originally used as a tool for humans to survive in space. It was created to allow humans to breathe beyond the earth without worrying about oxygen. It also acts as self-protection and doubles the power. We never know what will happen in space. There could be aliens or strange creatures blocking the journey of the spaceship.

I smiled thinly. Whether that's a good reason or not. I can't make a comment.

“Then, what is the fate of all the people you sent into space.?” I asked back.

The tattoo closed his eyes for a moment. “Well, it's him who worries me. We broke up contact with them six years ago. Me and Natania are communicators with the plane. That day we, as usual, asked for a daily report on them. But suddenly our communication devices no longer receive signals from them. We've tried various efforts and ways to get back in touch with them. Unfortunately, we never managed to contact them.”

I almost jumped. That's a very surprising fact. “Tatu, you know, right? If everyone finds out you broke contact with people in space, you could be in danger.”

The tattoo looked sad. “I know, Lian. I know more than anyone.”

I sighed for a moment. “Alright, it doesn't matter now. Tattoo, there's something I want to tell you. It's about the Zenzen sentence he told me”

“What is it, Lian?”

“When I was taken prisoner by him, Zenzen told me things. Including if I had met him when I was six. But it's not important. Zenzen told me one thing about his past. If he had been taken by a doctor. And the doctor did an experiment on Zenzen's body. So that makes it so. That is the reason Zenzen hates all humans and wants to make everyone submit to him.”

Tattooed speechless. His face did not look as surprised as he had already heard that fact. Until our conversation stopped because someone entered the room. Adors. The old man seemed to have heard our conversation since.

“Hey, Son. What Zenzen said about the doctor was a mistake.” Said Ador with a scowling face.

“Ador, I don't think you need to tell Lian” Struggling Tattoo.

“No, I have to tell her. So that everyone no longer misunderstands about me.”

The room was silent for a moment. The tattoo and Ador look tense. The tattoo finally gave up. Let Ador explain everything to me.

“The doctor Zenzen is referring to is me.”

I'm slack. This is a more surprising fact. He's the key to all Zenzen's problems. But why won't the tattoo tell me?

“Sorry, Lian. I lied to you. We did not know of Zenzen's past before meeting Ador. But after meeting him, I now know the reason Zenzen could do such a heinous thing. Because this old man is the cause.” The tattoo stared intently at Ador.

“Be quiet, Tambun Man!” Ador growling. “Do not say that. You say it like I'm a big criminal. Let me explain what happened that day. It's time for you to know how noble I am.”

The tattoo shook his head. Rough grunting.

“Everyone thinks I'm a despicable man. That's what I called when I was a doctor. Everyone thinks I'm a crazy guy, but who cares about it. Those words never hurt my feelings. I became a doctor because I wanted to help others. I make people who can't walk back walk. I make people who can't look back see. I make people who can't talk back talk. I make people who don't have hands back have them. Was my action wrong? No, the wrong thing is who uses it. I just created those robotic skeletons and attached them to them. It was just a tool, the one controlling it was its owner. Of course it's not my fault.”

Non-rigid. Ador's face looked red. The veins on his neck hardened.I seem to know the reason Ador always prided himself. He does not want everyone to humble himself. I'm sure he's had some tough, painful days. Like Vero who lived the day cheerfully, like Bundara who was assertive, like Marko who likes to be soft, and jora who always gave his attention to others. Isn't that all reasonable? To have a painless day. To heal the wounds of the past.

Ador continues his story. “Until that happens. Elite area expansion allocation. That man is cruel! There is no complacency! Even though they have lived well and prosper, they even hurt their neighbors. Argha! I am also human. That day, I saved a very unlucky kid. They lost family. One or two have permanent disabilities. No one cares about them. Only I can save them. Be I collect them in my lab.”

“I'm sure if it's not a lab.” Cut the tattoo in a whispering voice.

“I told you to shut up!” Ador glaring. Makes the wrinkles on his face look spooky. The tattoo no longer speaks.

Ador cleared a moment. “There was one very concerned child. His body was covered with burns. Some parts are even paralyzed. His family died in the great fire. He is still very young. He is Zenzen. The poor boy I once thought of as my own son.” Ador whining. He seemed to be holding back his emotions.

“I decided to save him. I gathered the best tools and iron chunks. I created a work that I had never created before. Tools that protect them from various threats. At that time Zenzen looked very happy. She smiled like most of the other kids. Seeing him running with laughter using my work is an incredible happiness.”

Ador. “But I was wrong. I was wrong all along! All the laughs he showed, all the good manners he had, they were fake! It's all a lie! There was no real smile. Deep down in his heart, there was hatred and revenge. In the end he misused my work to get his revenge. I tried to stop him. I even tried to kill him. But my heart is like saying something else. In the end Zenzen himself attacked me. Makes me have to sit in a wheelchair like this. Makes me not want to bring back those tools. To me sitting in this chair is my punishment. But the big question in my life, why didn't the boy try to kill me? Why did he let me live and disappear without a trace?”

Longitudinal. I don't know what to say. Looking at Ador's frowning face, I knew that he was very angry with her. But on one hand, he still held great hopes on Zenzen.

After a few seconds of silence, Ador spoke. “I'm constantly looking for the whereabouts of Zenzen. I've been searching for years. You could say all my life. I can't believe he's head of state. At the time, I didn't know it was him. His name and face changed, I no longer recognized him. He really did his plan. Makes a lot of people submit to him. He made the members of Batana not dare to oppose him.”

“Hey, if only I knew his true nature, I wouldn't want to follow his will.” Woe to the tattoo with a smelly face.

Ador's ear-wringing tattoo. He made her scream in pain and rubbed her red ears.

“Gosh! Can't you just shut up! Look Lian! The boy is still being sweet and willing to listen to my story.” Ador pointed me with his face.

“Mr Ador, sorry if this is disrespectful. Have we ever met?” I asked with low air. Afraid that Ador would yell loudly and curse me.

But there, Ador laughed. His hoarse voice was heard like a witch in the middle of the wilderness. Whether it's a happy laugh or a witty laugh.

“You don't remember.” Ador slashed his eyebrows.  Because you're still at an age that still can't remember anything. Hmmm, you were about three years old. I met Batrice in a town. At that time I was looking for the whereabouts of Zenzen. Surprisingly, I was even involved with the Batana association. I finally got to know Batrice. Oh! I almost forgot your innocent father.”

I almost denied Ador's words. He said my dad was innocent? Of course it's not polite. However, I stopped to rebuke him. He could have snooped and no longer accepted my question. Or worse, he won't speak a word to me.

“I really don't know if Zenzen became the head of state at Batrice's place of origin. I really missed that opportunity. In the end, my efforts over the years were in vain. Zenzen Resurrects Border Guard Robots. And now he's the leader of a herd of brutal bandits. I can't approach it one step.” Ador squeezed his fingers. “If there is a next chance, I will no longer let go. I will definitely teach that bastard a lesson!”

“I'm sure you won't be able to, Ador.” Casual tattoo.

“Basic Tambun Cheaper!