I stood with my two robots, watching the ugly, dark blue, boot-sized creature that sat on my desk. The creature, named Hulk, wore denim overalls with straps fastened over its shoulders. Its round belly protruded between the two straps like a bowl. I was involuntarily preoccupied with this bizarre creature's ritual of chugging a bottle larger than itself in a single gulp.
"Did we have alcohol?" I asked Jose.
"Sir, we have alcohol, but not for consumption."
"What do you mean?"
"What he's drinking is disinfectant," IVA chimed in. "That refrigerator is actually a medical supply depot."
After Hulk drained the bottle, he tossed it aside and let out a gigantic burp. "I've been thirsty for so long, it felt like medicine," he said, wiping away tears. He patted his belly and asked, "So... what were we talking about?"
"You were about to tell me who you are. Otherwise, my friend Jose was going to blow your brains out."
"Ah, yes... That's where we left off. Such a lovely question... Who am I?" He bit his cheek and thought for a moment. "I won't lie. If you're going to shoot me in the head, then do it. Playing the honesty card and the responsibility it places on a person's conscience, I can honestly tell you that... I am your father."
"Get the hell out of here!" I said.
"I know it's hard to swallow, but I had to say it. Come, son, give your dad a hug. Don't be shy, come on..." He closed his eyes and spread his arms wide, sending random air kisses that were utterly disgusting.
"Sir," Jose interjected. "I was reviewing the photos I took at Ukar's Science Facility and I found a similar creature." As soon as he finished speaking, Jose projected a hologram onto the table.
It was a creature similar to Hulk, but with half of its body made of metal, wandering naked among tree leaves. Seeing it, Hulk turned to the hologram and said, "That's your uncle. His name is Mehmet, just like you. We named you after him, actually." Jose projected another hologram. This creature was the same species, but a different part of its body was metal. "This is your aunt." Then another blue creature... "This is your aunt on your father's side." And another blue creature... "And this is your Uncle Joseph. That rascal used to drink like a fish."
"Why you little…!" I lunged at the creature's neck and pinned it to the table.
"I have already mentioned that your genetics contain a propensity for violence. We must consider the possibility that your mother's treatment before your birth was insufficient," IVA intervened. "If you wish, I can prepare a neurological treatment."
"For this? Just because this bastard pissed me off?"
"Doctor Ma'am, please intervene. He's going to kill me!" the blue creature shouted. Yet, I wasn't even squeezing his throat properly. Hulk stuck out his tongue and began to writhe. I tried to pull my hand away, but Hulk's grip was so tight I couldn't free it.
"Let go of my hand, or I'll tell my friend Jose and he'll deal with you," I said, and only then did he release me.
"Fine already," he said, faking a few coughs.
"Now, will you tell me who you are?"
"I'm Ukar's assistant, Hulk."
"Assistant? You don't look like an assistant at all..."
"Oh yeah?"
"More accurately, you don't look like a smart person at all."
"That's because you made me drop my glasses and my lab coat," he said, whistling at Jose like he was a dog. "Come on, buddy. Go find my things and bring them back, hurry up."
"Sir, would you allow me to blow his head off?" Jose asked, pointing his finger at Hulk.
"What's that? Are you going to poke me?"
"You might want to be afraid of that finger, because the beam that came out of it riddled Goliath in one go," I said.
"What? Goliath is dead?" At that moment, Jose wandered around a bit and found Hulk's belongings, which had fallen in front of the refrigerator. When he put on his glasses and white lab coat, Hulk looked a bit smarter, as anyone would. "What about Ukar?" he asked, pushing his glasses up.
"He's dead too."
"Sh*t..." he said and petted Jose's head like a dog as Jose bent down to give him the coat. Jose pointed his laser at him and pushed Hulk back. It seemed this creature named Hulk petting Jose like a dog would eventually be his undoing. "It's a good thing Ukar is dead. But if Ukar is dead, who's looking after the Science Facility?"
"No one... The Science Facility has also been destroyed," I said.
"Completely destroyed? All those living things died?"
"Yes..."
"Damn... All that research went to waste. Curses... Who could have done that?"
Either he was faking his sadness very well, or I simply couldn't believe the creature's sincerity. In any case, Hulk's way of speaking was certainly grating.
"John Crowrift might have," I said.
"He doesn't have that kind of power..."
"Do you know him?" Jose chimed in from the side.
"I've never met him face-to-face. He just used to write to Ukar all the time. He was the one who established that science facility for him. Is John dead?"
"No... I mean, he might be, but we weren't told anything about it."
"I just tried my luck. That guy doesn't seem like he'd die easily. But there's one thing I don't understand. How did John destroy the facility? Or why?"
"John destroyed the facility thanks to us. He used us... I have no idea why he destroyed it."
"Isn't that very interesting?" While scratching his head with one hand, he put the other under his chin and started scratching it. His fingers wandered through the sparsely sprouted white hairs. It was clear he was deep in thought.
"You're Ukar's assistant, are you?" If I hadn't asked, he probably wouldn't have spoken for a few more hours. He was that deep in thought.
"Yes..."
"You don't seem too sad about Ukar's death."
"I was going to keep this a secret until my grave, but I feel I have to reciprocate your honesty with honesty. I... I am someone who has faced one of the problems of our age that most assistants experience."
"What problem?"
"You know... Every assistant is exploited by the professor they work for in many ways. Assistants look to their professors' hands. Knowing this, professors don't hesitate to use it as a sword against their assistants."
"So you were abused?"
"Yes..." He squinted and put his hand to his temples. "Ukar sexually abused me."
"Ew..." My blood ran cold, and I recoiled.
"I know you're upset, my friends... Yes... It was a tough... What? 'Ew'? Did you say 'ew'?" He suddenly got angry and turned to me.
"With you? How disgusting!"
"What are you saying, you vile man!" he said, pointing his finger at me. "You shameless man! You're saying 'ew' where you should be saying you're sorry, huh?"
"I'm so sorry, but..."
"Be sorry for your stupidity! Be sorry that you're not smart enough to understand the perfection of the body under these overalls!"
"How did you get here?" Jose asked.
"Shameless man... A man with no respect," Hulk said, pointing at me.
"How did you get here?" Jose asked once more.
"Disgusting man..."
"HOW DID YOU GET HERE?" Jose shouted.
"How? Okay... Calm down, fine... I'll tell you. First of all, you must have figured out that I hate Ukar."
"We got that."
"What was I saying... I was fed up with Ukar's abuses. I was chasing the first opportunity to escape the planet, and about 150 years later, you came. As soon as I saw you, I knew you were my ticket out. Ukar had told me to hide your ship. While I was hiding your ship in the depot, I got inside and hid. You didn't notice me hiding in your ship until you left the planet and arrived at this cave. Ta-da... It's that simple."
"Doesn't this cave have any security? How could we not detect you?" I asked.
"Actually, the computer should have given a warning," Jose said from the back. "You were the one who accessed the computer before I connected. Normally, the first thing I do every time I arrive is connect to the computer, but you acted before me."
"Yes... About that... I pressed every button that appeared in front of me without reading. The computer probably showed me a warning, but I just didn't care. Shouldn't an alarm have sounded?"
"I took it out. It was so simple that even I was surprised," said Hulk. "All the technology in this cave looks like it's from 400 years ago. Look at the cables," he said and pointed to the ceiling. "I haven't seen this many cables in a long time."
"They are from 400 years ago already..."
"What do you mean?"
While all this was being discussed, a call sound was heard from the computer. Jose came up to me and said it was a call from the Bioethics Inspection Institution (BII).
When Jose projected the video call to the middle of the room, I was met with the manager, a mechanical bug-like creature named Toxa.
"Master Mehmet... It is quite normal for you to withdraw and seek solitude after a mission. It is our duty as an institution to consider this normal, but I want you to know that you must not delay your other work."
"Yes... As for the other work... I thought I only had one job. So, how many jobs do I have left?"
"After you woke up, you had a total of three jobs. You have completed one."
"How long do I have to complete these?"
"A job must be completed within 60 space hours at the latest after it arrives at our institution. Since we don't have another human available right now, you have to handle all three of these jobs."
"Yes, I know."
"If we cannot complete these three jobs in less than 60 hours, our institution will have to pay a large compensation."
"Understood, sir."
"We trust you, Mr. Mehmet."
As the hologram closed, Jose turned to me and said, "Just so you know, 9 hours and 43 minutes have already passed in space hours."
"So we still have time?"
"The flow of time on planets is different. So the earlier we leave, the better. And the total journey will take about 34 hours. That means we have about 26 hours to complete the jobs."
"But I wouldn't say no to a little nap."
"You can sleep in the vehicle, sir."
As I threw myself into the spaceship with a few question marks in my head, I didn't want to leave the creature called Hulk in the cave. He could mess with the computers and cause trouble. I also didn't want to throw him out of the cave and watch his head explode in the atmosphere. I could have left him on a planet, but I couldn't do that during a mission. So I chose to take him with me. I also warned Jose to be careful of him.