When his eyes opened, they were staring up at a cloudy blue sky. A gentle breeze washed over him, rustling his hair. The swaying motion of golden wheat tickled the edges of his vision.

Heaven.

As he gained more of his senses back, things got a lot more dismal. Every bone in his body ached against the tilled farmland, which did little to weaken his impact. There was a strong chance something was broken, but he had no way to tell yet.

He moved his head, searching for the Clockwork, but it hadn’t landed on either side of him. Maybe Syndra had hauled the thing off. In which case, good riddance.

In any case, not Heaven.

Getting to his feet proved to be an intense chore, but he pulled it off, straining to use his arms to lift himself up. His vision was a little blurry, and every pump of blood to his brain sent searing pain across his skull.

And, to top it all off, the Clockwork was still there, hovering slightly over the ground.

Definitely not Heaven.

“You’re really something,” Orion said, trying to take a step forward. “Now you decide to hover? Not when we were running around the city avoiding being shot?”

The Clockwork watches him in silence.

“That’s fine. Don’t respond. Not like I expected it, anyway.”

He blinked hard, hoping to clear up some of the fogginess in his vision. In the distance, he could faintly make out what looked like a building. Probably a farmhouse. If there was help anywhere, it was there.

Without waiting for the metal nuisance, he began his slow trek to the structure. Like his vision, thoughts clouded his mind. Where was he? How long had he been unconscious? Were his dad and sister alright? Was Pamela alright?

Every couple of minutes, he would glance back at the machine to see if he was still being followed, and without fail, the Clockwork would be there, hovering a few inches off the ground with whatever propulsion system it had. At last, after what had to have been half an hour or more, the duo reached the driveway of the farmhouse that had taunted the edge of his peripheral for so long. There weren’t any immediate signs that someone was home, but there was only one way to find out. Orion approached the front door and knocked.

Some footsteps shuffled around inside and paused in front of the door. A few moments of silence passed before the person inside said, “Who are you?”

“I, uh… my name is Orion. I need help. And medical attention, I think.”

The door swung open to reveal a boy about his age. He had dusty blonde hair that went down to his chin and a deep tan from working the fields. “Orion? Who has a name like that?”

“I do, I suppose. Do you know where I can get help? I think I have a concussion.”

“We’ll have to wait until Mom and Pop get back from the field to drive to the hospital. Only Dad is allowed to drive.”

“How long will that be?”

“It’s about one o’clock, so a couple more hours. Here, come in and sit. I’ll fetch you a glass of water.”

Orion took a step forward, and so did the Clockwork, finally turning off its hover. The boy stepped back with fear and curiosity.

“Oh, that’s the Clockwork. It doesn’t leave me alone. Or at least I haven’t figured out how to make it leave me alone. Is there space for it inside, too?”

-◦=[ ]=◦-

There wasn’t space inside. Instead, the boy brought a chair from inside out onto the porch for Orion, as well as a glass of water. The porch had a cover, so heat stroke was less of a worry that way.

“I’m Rami, by the way,” the boy said, choosing a less comfortable porch chair to sit next to the stranger and his metallic golem.

“Rami? Who has a name like that?”

“Well, it’s not completely uncommon.”

“I know, sorry. I was making a joke because you said that to me earlier.”

“Oh. Sorry. I don’t really get jokes all that often. And sorry if I offended you. My parents say I am very blunt when I talk, but I don’t mean disrespect.”

“No worries. Thank you, Rami, for helping me.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“What are you doing out here? You look a mess.”

“I’ll be honest, I’m not completely sure. How much of the news have you been keeping up with?”

“Only when Dad turns the radio on. Are you the boy who stole that Syndra technology or the boy who has the robot Syndra is after?”

“Well, I don’t know anything about any Syndra technology, so the second one. We were escaping an attack when the Clockwork flew with me on its back, but I think we got hit by something. A cannon, maybe. And then I woke up in the middle of the field.”

“That would explain the noise we heard the other night.”

“The other night?!”

“Yeah. Not yesterday, but the day before. It was about six or something at night. A loud crash. Couldn’t figure it out.”

“Oh, no. You mean to tell me I was unconscious for a full day?”

“Seems so.”

“This isn’t good. I have to check if my dad and sister are okay. They know my address. They’ll hurt them.”

Orion tried to stand, but lost balance and fell right into Rami’s arms.

“I don’t think you should go anywhere yet, Orion. Let’s wait for my parents to get back from the field.”

“Rami, what’s going on out there?” a girl’s voice asked from inside the house.

“It’s alright, Max. We have a visitor from the city who needs help.”

A little girl no older than ten stepped out of the front doorway, wearing overalls and a hairnet. She looked at the strangers with fear.

“What happened?”

“He crashed and may have a concussion. I told him we’ll get him to the hospital when Dad gets home, because only Dad drives the car.”

“Only Dad drives the car unless there’s an emergency, Rami. We have to get him there.”

“Is this an emergency Dad would approve of?”

“He could die, Rami. Dad would approve.”

Max ran into the house and fetched their truck’s keys, while Rami helped load Orion into the backseat. The Clockwork watched with cautious eyes, ensuring his safety. Then Rami hopped into the front seat and turned on the ignition.

“Hold on to something back there, Orion. I’ve never driven before, and these roads are bumpy.”

“What? You’ve never driven?!”

Rami hit the gas too hard, sending Orion’s head into the backseat with a little more impact than he would’ve liked.

“We were going to start lessons next month. There’s less than a kilometer to go to the doc’s house. It takes about eight minutes on foot. And four on a tractor. We should get there in two.”

The bumps in the dirt road jostled his brain, but between spikes of pain and anguish, Orion could make out the Clockwork stomping behind the truck, never over ten meters away. Its persistence was admirable, if not obnoxious.

Rami eased on the brakes as best he could when they arrived, lessening the blow to Orion’s already hurting head, and helped him out of the truck.

“Here we are,” he said, leading him up to the front door of the doctor’s place. It looked more like a house than a practicing building. “Doctor Brown, are you home?”

“Is that Rami?”

“Yes, sir.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Found a kid with a concussion that needs your help.”

The doctor appeared through the doorway. “Are you sure you have a concussion?”

“I’ve never had one before, but I feel pretty concussed.”

“I’m afraid there’s not a lot I can do for you, then. I can tell you to get some rest, but that’s about it.”

“We drove here just for you to tell him to get some rest?”

“Why didn’t you call instead, Rami? You know I have a phone.”

“Only Dad is allowed to use the phone.”

“Unless there’s an emergency!” Max yelled from the front seat of the truck.

“How about I drive the three of you home, and we don’t tell your dad you took the truck out rather than call first?”

-◦=[ ]=◦-

The doctor’s driving was much smoother, and despite the road bumps, Orion’s headache seemed to lessen.

“Remember, rest, but no sleep yet. Wait until nighttime. If you’re not feeling a little better tomorrow, call me.”

“Thanks, sir,” Orion said, reclining back on the chair recently relocated to the porch.

“Of course. Oh, and good luck with that monstrous thing that’s been following you around.”

“Sorry about that, Orion,” Rami said.

“No worries. It’s the thought that counts, I guess.”

“So that follows you everywhere?”

“Yeah. And I wish it didn’t. It’s supposed to be programmed to protect me, but all it does is draw attention and crash into wheat fields.”

“Hmm. I don’t know how technology like this works, but maybe we could test it.”

“What do you mean?”

“Test it. You know, test when it works and when it doesn’t.”

“Well, it certainly doesn’t understand what I’m saying, so that’s out of the question.”

“Maybe it’s more for active threats. I’ll be right back.”

Rami dashed away to a shed, leaving Orion and the Clockwork with Max, who sat watching the two.

“You’re from the city?”

“Yeah.”

“Housing District?”

“Yeah, near the capital.”

“Mom was from the Housing District. She said there were lots of mean people there.”

“There are lots of nice people, too.”

Rami came rushing back with a baseball in his hands. “Here’s our test.”

“Are you going to throw baseballs at it?”

“No. At you.”

He reeled up for a throw, and as soon as the ball left his hand, the Clockwork reached out to block it. The ball pinged against its arm and dropped to the ground unceremoniously.

“I wasn’t ready. What if it hadn’t been able to stop it?”

“I don’t know. Sorry. Got ahead of myself.”

Rami went to pick up the ball, and the Clockwork got defensive, stretching its arms out.

“It’s okay, I’m just grabbing the ball,” Rami said, moving slowly. It let him grab it and return to his normal spot. “Ready this time?”

“Yeah.”

This time, when Rami threw it, Orion caught it with both hands, albeit with some trouble. The Clockwork never even flinched.

“Maybe it believed you weren’t going to hurt me.” Orion tossed it back.

“Could be. Turn around.”

“Turn around?”

“Yeah.”

Although suspicious, Orion turned the other way, leaving his back wide open for the next throw to hit. The only indication Orion heard was the same pinging noise of the ball hitting its metal body.

“Here’s my working theory,” Rami started. “It determines whether you can handle the thing coming at you and steps in if you can’t. You were completely able to catch the ball the second time, but unprepared the first and third.”

“Makes sense. Still doesn’t explain why it won’t listen to what I say.”

“I don’t know. Like I said, not my field. Maybe it’s not programmed to do that. It only finds and stops threats or something.”

Orion stared at the machine. It wasn’t a complete understanding, but at least now he could pretend to predict what the Clockwork would and wouldn’t do. Maybe there would be some use for it after all.

“Well, thank you, Rami,” Orion said, stretching his hand out. Rami took it.

“Of course.” Their hazel eyes held contact for a fleeting moment until they heard a door shutting on the other side of the house. “Mom and Dad must be back with the tractor.”