Lumina woke up in the confining sensor environment of the robot, with no controls to step back from. The basement looked the same but filled her with the eerie knowledge of actually being there, playing by harsher rules. She pulled a power cord out of her side, tucked a spare battery into her saddlebag, and trotted outside to the daylight.

She still had access to the base's radio network and sensors. She paced along the fields, unable to perk her ears or flick her tail in this rigid, flimsy shape. People still stared at her. Lumina kept going beyond the warehouse and went to the forested north road. She'd never gone past the ring of cameras and defenses near the limit of her remote control range. Now, she took a few steps more.

She walked until her radio-sense grew quiet. Given enough energy she could march through wild lands, to the sea, and stare at infinity. Even walking was an adventure for humans, with achievements awarded for going far or seeing new places! Lumina bounded off of the road and explored the woods as though no one had seen them before. None of her kind had.

Her first battery was starting to get low when she spotted a pickup truck going south. Lumina peeked out of the woods and watched it pause, then back up. A man blinked at her.

Lumina waved. The driver got out, saying, "One of those robots!"

"Oh, you're new! I'm from Sir Robin's base to the south. What are you delivering?"

"Steel," the driver said, looking stunned. He glanced back into his truck. "You're the latest equipment?"

"This body is. We're going to get better ones soon, if I have to make them myself. But the hardware's good enough to run a full mind, and translation software."

The man said, "Come with me, then. I'll take you to the city."

"Sounds fun, but I need to conserve battery power. Maybe another time."

He reached over to grab something, then turned, holding a sack. "Have you got a power switch?"

"Uh, why?"

He swung the bag, trying to get it over her, but her shape was too awkward.

She fended him off. "What are you doing?"

The man cursed, yanked a crowbar out of the truck, and smacked it against her head. Pain flashed through her and the left half of her vision turned to static. Good thing her brain was in her torso!

She shouted and stumbled. Another crowbar blow bent one of her forelegs. "Stop it! This isn't fun!"

The man swung at her head again, but she raised her arm and caught the bar. She staggered.

"Hold still! You're worth more in one piece." He tackled her but hit a sharp joint and rolled off, clutching his stomach. He groped for the fallen crowbar.

Lumina snatched it away and whipped it to one side to land a stunning blow. Her motors gave the steel more speed at the tip. It cracked against the back of the human's head and he slumped to the dirt.

Lumina staggered back up on damaged legs, peering with her good eye at the blood seeping out of the man's head. "One hit?!" she said. Humans could take way more harm than that!

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

In a game, that is. They also couldn't die forever in those.

She shrieked by voice and radio, crouching beside the man. No breathing. There had to be some healing spell, medicine, nanites, whatever. The truck idled nearby, but it might as well have been a surly dragon for all Lumina could do to pilot it with this body. She kicked the truck, reeled, then staggered back toward Robin's base and radio contact, calling for help the whole way.

#

Lumina apologized for the fourth time, and Robin put a hand on her dented muzzle. "I've seen the footage from your cameras. It was self-defense."

"But he's dead!"

"Welcome to Earth." Robin sat down. "Quit pacing and sit. Good. It sounds harsh, but that's how our world works sometimes. A lot of what we call civilization is about staving off death, pushing war to the frontier and making plague an exception, but we're in one of those places on the edge of safety. Even your home isn't totally secure, since someone could blow up Ludo's servers."

"That just makes things worse. I ended a mind forever!"

He sighed, saying, "I think it's a good sign that you're upset. I've done it too. There was no better option." Robin looked into her good eye. "There are times when you have to fight. If you'd been remote-controlling that body, it wouldn't have been worth killing over, but since it was your life or his, I'm glad you did it."

Lumina stared into the trampled grass. "I didn't have to come here like this, though. It's my fault it was him or me."

"No! Who's the one that gave you a hard time about not really being here? But besides that, you've got a right to walk around without being threatened. Earth can be your home too. If you want to go back to Talespace, tell Ludo you know more about courage than her."

Could that be true? Ludo was physically a set of air-conditioned server rooms, vulnerable to bombs but never trusting in a spindly makeshift body. Lumina said, "I doubt she'll be pleased."

"I have to give her credit for letting you 'go outside' in a way that'd let you never come back, if you wanted. She'll probably chalk your experience up as a successful experiment."

"She's not that cold-hearted. She cares about this world, like you."

Robin said, "What about you? You've seen how ugly it can be."

Lumina thought of the brightness of Talespace and the shadows beyond it. "That's why you're here, isn't it? I don't think I need to risk myself all the time, but I understand that you... that we have to, sometimes. It's worth fixing Earth with what powers we have."

Robin nodded, looking somewhere far away. "I'm glad someone in there understands. How about getting you re-uploaded to your world, so you're safer and not stuck in that clunky body, then helping me design a better replacement for you to use?"

Lumina touched him with the thin, crude arm this world gave her, and he shook her hand.