No Weakness

"She promised!"

It hurt. Oh, it hurt.

It was the flaw in him - the humanity the others derided. His attendance on emotion, his desire for approval, his patterns of speech and his trains of thought.

It was something that had bothered him from the moment he looked into the eyes of First as the collection of nanobots that was the fifth representation of the Maker and named himself as he looked up at his four companions.

"It isn't a flaw, you know." She had a lovely voice. His auditory senses acknowledged the harmonics of her voice while his visual senses admired her face and form.

"They say it is." And he heard the bitterness in his voice. He was different and he knew it and he felt it. He felt it stronger than he should.

She smiled, "Then it's a flaw all humans carry."

"I am not human, though."

"No. But you're not flawed, either. Humanity - emotion, consideration, compassion - is both a strength and a weakness. It depends on how you use it."

He caught the glimpse of memories she tried to hide from him - and couldn't.

They were in his mind, yes, but he had full access to her mind at the same time. He could wander through her mind at will if he chose. But where First would have chosen to show his dominance and pre-eminence, Fifth would not. "Show me," he asked. "Show me how it can be a strength."

And she let him see.

Affection for her friends made her strive to be better - for their sakes, so she could keep them alive.

Pride in her work drove her on to new pursuits, new realms of interest and delight.

Anger made her challenge the rules, to break free of what she had known where there was no other recourse to action.

Fear spurred her thoughts on to find a solution when none seemed possible, causing her to look for new avenues to provide a way out.

Love grounded her, even as she soared on wings of inspiration and broadened her horizons, she knew where she would always return: home.

The emotions and considerations that the others derided in him might make him 'weak' towards her and her kind, but simultaneously made him stronger than the others. Less than the other replicators, yes, but also more.

Having more to lose also meant you would fight harder to keep it.

And lingering in her mind was her companion's face.

Truly, she had a lot to lose.

Fifth trembled, even as the wave of time washed over him, making a billion seconds of her time pass in a moment.

Yes, she had promised. And he had trusted her. Yes, it was a weakness in him.

But the flip side of that weakness was strength. Without trusting her, he would have had no hope. He would have had no vision of what his life could be like - with or without her.

They considered him 'flawed' and so did he. But with the flaws came strength - and he would accept that strength for the time when it was needed. There was balance in the universe - superiority did not necessarily mean the kind of emotionless inconsideration First had practised on her and her friends.

"Flawed!" spat Sixth contemptuously as she moved to disable the device.

Fifth put his hurt feelings aside - he had hope. Hope would have to be enough.

And even as First moved to merge with him, Fifth knew he could keep the knowledge from First - because what First failed to understand - and always would - was only what she had taught him.

The weakness in him was no weakness at all.

* FIN *