“Who are you?” Cyne asked. “No. What are you?”

“My name is Muriel,” the sphere replied, it had a feminine voice, like a real person rather than a floating spherical bot.

“That’s not what I mean, you’re nothing like any bot I’ve ever seen before,” Cyne said, his pistol still trained on the bot.

“How rude!” Muriel exclaimed, “I am not a bot! I am an advanced Prototek AI capable of ten thousand functions!”

“Right… so you’re some type of artificial intelligence?”

“Affirmative. I am an independent sentient armed with knowledge that a human cannot hope to possess in an entire lifetime, perhaps several. Naturally, mindless bots cannot be compared to me.”

“I have questions,” Cyne said, sliding his pistol back into its’ holster.

“Ask away, young man.”

“Just what is this place?”

Muriel stared downwards towards the ground, silent for a brief moment.

“I cannot answer that.”

“Fine. Who is the girl in the pod?”

“I cannot answer that.”

“What is your purpose here?”

“I cannot answer that.”

Cyne growled and began to pace around the room. “Is there anything you can answer?” he muttered under bated breath.

“Forgive me, it appears large portions of my memories are locked behind a safe wall. I do not know the reason for such a safe wall but I still possess all of my normal functions and capabilities.”

“So what can you do?”

“I can sing, I can dance, somewhat, and I can-”

“No, I mean… practical stuff.”

“Oh. I can integrate myself with nearby technology, I can hack into networks, I am proficient in over a million languages, and I can cook. I have more abilities, but listing them would take too much time.”

“So how much do you think you’ll go for on the market.”

Muriel’s eye flickered. “That would be highly immoral,” she exclaimed. “I am a sentient being capable of independent thinking, to sell me off would be no different than slavery!”

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“Calm down, it’s just a joke,” Cyne said, his gaze wandering to the girl in the pod.

Muriel flew over to the pod, stopping just inches away from the glass. “I have spent years down here. It is my task to guard her, to make sure no harm ever befalls on her.”

“How long have you been down here?”

“I do not know. Time has become a blur to me, but I assume hundreds of years have passed since I was given this task.”

Cyne tilted his head quizzically. “Just who is she?”

“I cannot answer that.”

“It was rhetorical.”

Muriel turned to face Cyne. “I have a request.”

“What is it?”

“I want you to free this girl from her prison.”

“Is it not your job to protect her? How can you trust me so easily? I’m just a scavenger who was lucky enough to find this damn place.”

“I have a feeling about you. You would not hurt the girl.”

Cyne turned away from Muriel. “You don’t know that,” he muttered, making his way to the door.

Muriel followed close behind, hovering over Cyne’s shoulder. “I am a good judge of character, I know you are a good person.”

“No, I’m not,” he said, stopping by the door he gave the girl in the pod one last look.

“Please. Help her. I know good exists within you.”

“Looks like you’re not as good of a judge as you thought,” Cyne said, walking out of the room.

Muriel did not follow him out of the room. Cyne felt her burning gaze on his back as he walked further and further away from the room.

As he approached the first row of humanoid bots, Cyne noticed the snow crawler girl hiding behind one. Despite trying to hide from him, her arms were sticking out from behind the statue. It was a little charming.

“You can come out. I know you’re there,” Cyne said, the corners of his lips stretching into a slight smile.

The snow crawler girl peeked out from behind the statue. Because of the panic from before, he had never managed to get a good look at her face. She was tan, and her features delicate, her black hair tied into braids fell to her waist.

“What do you want?” Cyne asked, approaching slowly with his hands up to show he meant no harm.

The girl broke cover and rushed over to the middle of the path. Blocking his path, she raised her arms out to stop him. Cyne moved to the right, and the girl followed, scurrying to intercept him.

“Did you overhear the conversation?”

The girl nodded tentatively.

“Look, I have trouble getting by as it is. I don’t need to get caught up in all this. Now can you let me pass?”

The girl shook her head this time, her braids swinging back and fro.

“I’m not going to-”

The girl shushed him with her tiny finger.

“She. Needs. You.”

“So you can talk!”

With a mysterious smile, the girl pushed him to the door. Despite himself, Cyne decided to go along with the girls' wish.

“Fine. But this is your fault if this ends up getting me killed. Wait, this whole damn situation is your fault,” Cyne complained, letting himself get pushed through the doorway.

“You’re back! I mean, I knew you would come back. And you brought a little friend with you. What’s her name?”

“I… don’t know.”

“That raises some concerns, but I’ll choose to ignore them for now. Have you come to a decision regarding my request?”

“Yes, I have. I’m going to free her, but she won’t be my responsibility.”

“That is fair. To disable the pod, please tap on the display board twice.”

“What's been stopping you from doing that?” Cyne said, making his way to the pod, the girl followed close by, clinging to the edge of his jacket.

“Something is barring me from connecting to the pod. And I have no fingers.”

“Fair enough.”

Taking a deep breath, Cyne tapped the display twice.

The pod slowly split in half, cool mist blowing out from the gaps. Cyne was forced to take a step back.

The mist swarmed out from the pod, blocking his perception. A slender knee shot out from the mist, hitting Cyne straight in the chest. With the air forced out of his lungs, he tumbled to the floor.