--Point of View: Crim--

I knew not who this person in front of me was but when they called out Katie’s name, I could not help but pause. Did they know each other? Were they a friend? If I just killed them outright, I would never know so I did the sensible thing and asked.

“Stop! Don’t move. Who are you and how do you know Katie?” I growled, baring my teeth.

The man froze in place, his hands shooting up towards the ceiling. I imagine this was to show he was unarmed although it mattered little to me.

“I’m Tom. A friend of Katie.” He said with a surprising amount of composure despite the fact he was quivering.

“Oh, Tom. I know you. You are part of Katie’s team. Where is she and why are you here? She promised to keep my existence a secret.” I asked, watching his man closely.

“She tried to sneak out to see you again today, like usual, but instead she was caught and taken back to headquarters for questioning. The higher ups know of this place now and are planning to send my team and a squad of soldiers to investigate.” Explained Tom, slowly lowering his arms, his voice becoming a bit smoother.

I rolled his words around in my head for a bit, making sure everything lined up with what Katie had told me previously. She did mention the fact she snuck out and it’s not hard to imagine that would not go over too well with her leaders. My old village elder was a strict man back in the day.

“I see. She wanted to warn me I’m guessing. That sounds like her.” I said, relaxing my tense body and taking a seat. It was obvious this man was telling the truth and even if he was lying. He would not benefit from coming here to tell me any of this.

“Yeah, that is what I think she would have wanted. She told me about you when she first mentioned this place to me. She and I like to discuss the old ones from time to time. She’s very knowledgeable about artifacts and tools while I specialized in their written language. We often bounced ideas off each other.” Tom remarked, relaxing a little as well.

“She did mention a few close comrades but still, I would have preferred to have remained a secret. Although, given the situation I am glad you came to tell me. I very well could have wandered into this facility while your people were here. Bloodshed would have been almost guaranteed.” I closed my eyes and tried to picture it but quickly thought better of it.

“That is almost certainly what she was afraid of. I can tell that much just by looking at you.” Tom commented, his eyes traveling the length of my body. “You are, well, quite scary if I’m being frank.”

I could not help but chuckle, something I do not think Tom was expecting because he looked quite surprised.

“I am aware I’m not the friendliest looking creature here in the ruins, but I am the only one. At least the only one I know of beside you humans. It’s a boring place.” I commented, standing backup to glance back at the lab entrance. “When do you expect your people to show up? Today? Tomorrow? While it’s easy to stay away from here I can’t help but worry about Katie.”

“If they can assemble people fast enough, I would think today. It sure sounded like that was the idea. It takes about an hour to drive from our base to the ruins and about another hour walk through the subway to reach here. So, at the last we have about two hours.” Tom stated, his hands moving while he talked as if to aid with the math he was doing in his head.

“That is not long.” I said under my breath, trying to decide what the next best move would be.

“And you said you were worried about Katie? Why? Is it dangerous in there? She mentioned some exciting discoveries but nothing dangerous.” Tom asked, his face now that of concern.

I thought back to not even an hour before when I was down in the lower levels of the lab. The room full of cages that would have once housed creatures just like me. That was not what made me worry though, it was the other room. Hundreds of sleeping, iron soldiers, almost like dolls, stood single file as if awaiting some sort of signal to awake and fight.

“I was just exploring the lower portions of the lab and I did not get very far before I came across something of concern. We have time so it would be easier if I simply showed you. There is no immediate danger, but my gut is telling me otherwise.” I explained, turning to walk back into the lab once more.

“Oh, I don’t know if I should…” stammered Tom, looking down at his feet and then all around.

“If you value your friend, it would be best to know what she may face later. Correct?” I said simply, pausing to wait for his answer.

I could tell he was having an internal conflict, but the right answer did eventually win out.

“Okay, you’re right. I would not be able to live with myself if I did not warn her of what could be impending danger. Let’s go. Lead the way.”

Nodding once, I faced forward and strolled down the long hallway leading into the research lab, Tom walking a short distance behind me. I could practically smell the fear washing over him. Nobody talked as we made our way down the main corridor, Tom’s head whipping from side to side as he peered through the windows as we passed. He seemed a lot less afraid when there was something of interest so nearby. Katie and he were a lot of like in that regard.

Soon enough we would reach the ramp that descended into the lower levels. Tom stuck a little closer to me from this point on, at my suggestion.

“The area up ahead is where I’m getting these bad feelings. Stay close just in case. I can’t protect you very well if you wander off to ogle some random gadget.” I whispered back to him.

With a furious few nods, he hesitantly drew closer to my side. We came off the ramp into the large center room with the podium and glass windows situated on opposite walls. I motioned with a paw to the glass facing the west. Even from here, you could make out the silhouettes of the soldiers. Tom craned his neck to see and took cover behind me when he saw what I had seen.

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“Crim! Are those people? What are we doing here?” frantically whispered Tom, clutching onto my tail to use as a shield.

“Not exactly, I think. I’m not really sure. That’s why I brought you down here.” I said calmly, forcibly free my tail from his grasp with a strong flick.

While Tom was no longer holding onto my tail for emotional support, he did still trail behind me until we got close enough to actually see these sleeping men in detail.

“Wait. These almost look like machines. Robots made for war. My goodness though, these are far more advanced than anything the empire has developed.” Gasped Tom, his fear once again vanishing an instant when his curiosity took over. That was going to get him killed one of these days.

“Pardon my ignorance but I’m not from your time. What is a robot?” I asked, taking a seat in front of the window, waiting for an answer.

Tom halted his approach towards the door, obviously wanting to take a closer look to offer me an explanation. “Uhm, well the easiest way to describe it is a machine that’s made to act like a human. These are made to be soldiers in place of real, living, humans.”

I was surprised I understood everything he said. He was much better at explaining things then Katie was. “I think I understand. That is very impressive. Humans have come a very long way.”

“That we have but even then, these are a level of magnitude beyond what we have now. The destructive power just one of these robot soldiers must have.” He said, trailing off at the end as he stepped inside the room to have a closer look.

I sighed and rose to follow him, not wanting him to wander too far from my side. If what he was saying was true, then my hunch was correct. They would be dangerous if they ever decided to wake up. Let’s hope they did not.

Tom already had his nose pressed against the closest console he could find, eagerly typing away to unlock whatever treasures it may hide.

“Truly fascinating.” Remarked Tom, adjusting his glasses for a moment to better read the dim screen. “It appears that all but a handful of these androids are fully functional and could theoretically be turned on if full power were restored. They are in some sort of hibernation to protect themselves in the event of a power failure.”

Tom typed away a bit more, not hearing what I was saying at first.

“What would they do if they woke up? Would they attack us? Can they think like us humans do?” I asked, walking up directly behind him in an attempt to regain his attention.

“Oh, uhm. That’s an excellent question Crim. I have no idea. Judging purely on speculation I would suggest we never find out. They look to be heavily armored and packing a lot of firepower. I couldn’t even tell you what type of weapon that thing has built into its arm.” Explained Tom once more, pointing to the left arm of the nearest machine, its lower half replaced with what looked like a small cannon.

“Right. In that case why don’t we get out of here then and not risk waking any of them up. You’ve seen what you needed to see so I suggest we get going. It’s already been an hour and I will need time to flee this place before your friends arrive.” I commented, making my way towards the exit.

“Yes yes, you are probably right on that regard.” Tom said slowly, side stepping to inspect a large cylindrical case I had not noticed the first time I was here. It had a small console screen much like in the room full of glass tubes on the first floor. I shuddered when I thought back to that day just last week.

“Are you coming then? Or should I leave you behind?” I asked, slightly annoyed.

“Sorry, I was just,” he stated, leaning down to peer at another monitor before standing back up and walking over. “That wall unit is supposed to have something called a CK-1 inside but its empty. The monitor said it was under repairs. Hmm..”

Tom went quiet as we walked, his mind probably trying to process everything he had just seen. I could almost hear the cogs turning inside his head he was thinking so hard. The return trip was uneventful though I did have to steer Tom away from the other rooms as we passed them, his head almost stretching around the corners to peek inside. An interesting fellow he was.

We made it outside without any trouble, the lab now behind us again. Tom had brought out his notepad along the way to scribble down some notes, muttering to himself as we walked. After a few more seconds of scribbling, he turned to me.

“Well, Crim, thank you for showing me the lab. I think you were correct. Those droids are definitely something we do not want to toy with. I will warn the other members about them before we go inside. We don’t need somebody causing an accident.” Tom said with a slightly forced smile.

“I just don’t want Katie to be harmed. That place holds a lot of dangers. I can just feel it.” I said, shaking my head a little. “Please do be careful in there.”

“You know, even if people called you a monster, you seem pretty okay Crim.” Tom remarked.

“I’ll take that as a compliment, but you should probably be heading back. We took longer than I had originally planned thanks to somebody’s enthusiasm.” I spoke.

Tom ran a hand through his hair, looking way. “Yeah, I’m sorry. That was my bad. I just get excited when this kind of stuff is involved. I’ve never been able to put my hands on old one technology. It’s incredible.”

“Katie said the same thing. It must be pretty amazing. I can’t fully comprehend it.” I remarked.

“She and I do share the same passion,” he agreed before quickly rummaging in his bag. “Oh, I almost forgot. I brought you something you may find of use.”

Tom fished around in his bag for a few more seconds before pulling out a small rectangular shaped box and some rope. He then approached me with whatever it is he had. I took a step back, cautious.

“Oh, don’t worry. It’s nothing bad. This is a radio. We use it to talk long distance with people. They normally don’t work worth a shit down here but this one is a high output version. Should be able to penetrate these thick walls. I have a matching one I’m going to give to Katie when I see her.” Tom explained, holding up the radio for me to see.

I was impressed at his quick thinking and ingenuity. I would not have thought about something like that and it honestly sounded like a very good idea.

“That would be very useful I imagine. How does it work exactly? You will have to explain.” I asked, leaning down to take a closer look.

Tom quickly demonstrated how the radios work, showing me the button on the side you pressed to talk and vice versa to listen. It was a little hard to manage with my large paws but found if I held it just right, I could manage. Thankfully, they were built heavy duty.

Once he was done showing me how to operate it, he fastened it to the rope and made a large necklace for me to wear around my neck. It wasn’t going to win any beauty contests, but it was functional.

“There we go. If anything happens inside there, I’m sure Katie will call for you. I don’t know how tough you are, but I think you would put up a better fight than any of the men we are sending down there to protect everyone.” Tom said calmly, having thought a few steps ahead.

“Thank you, Tom. That makes me feel a bit better about the whole situation. I hope it doesn’t come to that but if Katie does call, I will be around. She’s the only friend I’ve had since I arrived to wherever I am now. I would prefer to not lose her.” I said with a small smile.

He nodded and returned the smile. “I want to ensure she is safe too Crim. She’s my best friend and we’ve been through a lot together. Knowing that there is a giant red beast on call to save her if things go astray is reassuring. Kind of.” He said, snickering at the last bit. “Okay though, I do need to get going. You take care Crim. Be mindful of others in the area from now on. This place is going to be swarming with troops, both below and above ground. I wish you save travels.”

“Likewise, Tom. Say Hello to Katie for me and tell her I will be nearby if needed.” I said before turning to leave in the opposite direction. I would head home and watch the approach from a far. If what he said was true, it would be hard to miss.