“So, what model are you?” Kaden asked, gently poking the fire with a stick. The rain was really heavy outside of the scrap metal lean-to, and for a moment he wasn’t sure whether the temporary shelter would hold or not. Water pooled just outside the metal roof, and the soil became rich in sediments and fallen foliage.
The robot was silent for a moment, before answering. “I’m a model T-4-376. Therefore, I have emotions, fluid movement, pain receptors, and biomass consuming. It may not look like it, but I do have a mouth.” Kaden’s eyebrow raised slightly in response.
“Here, I’ll show you.” The android reached his hand into the rainy weather, picking up an orange gourd like fruit that had fallen from a nearby tree. Kaden had no idea what fruit it was, but it was like a combination between the shape of a pear and the color of an orange.
Kaden watched in slight shock and disbelief as a panel on the front of the android’s face slid up, revealing a mix of human-like teeth and machine-like pistons. In one bite, the android popped the whole entire fruit into its maw, before the panel shut. Its digital emoticon made a simple facial expression as if someone was eating, and Kaden realized that when its mouth was open, its digital face would show only its eyes, making its anatomy look more natural.
“Ah…” Kaden said. “So that’s how you eat. Do you get energy from that? And where does it go afterwards?” The android’s expression changed from that of eating to that of amusement. “You’re a curious one aren’t you? Well, either the waste product goes out as a gas, or comes out as a compacted brick when I choose to. Now, can you tell me who you are?”
Kaden hummed. “I’m Kaden, generalist engineer of the USSC Eternity. If you might have realized, the ship took a wrong turn and ended up going through a rogue wormhole, which threw us for a loop and properly wrecked a ton of our equipment.”
“If you don’t know, if you go through an unregulated wormhole most likely set up by wanderers or bandits, it can have varyingly different speeds and have tons of turbulence. There was even a moment where part of the ship was being spaghettified. It was probably what caused the ship to fall apart once we reached the end.” Kaden sighed. “One of my friends was on that ship. Some redhead botanist. Really great chick, we hung out after our shift and played video games in the lounge. Now I’ll probably never see her again. Or worse.” Kaden hung his head slightly away from the fire. The android’s face turned slightly somber. The pitter patter of rain made the moment all the more saddening.
“Well, I did my best to save the ship.” Kaden said, lifting his head for a moment. “There was a time our main engine stopped functioning, and that would be an utter disaster as that could lead the ship getting stuck in that wormhole for all of eternity. And people trapped in wormholes don’t function as they do outside a wormhole. Inside a wormhole, you don’t feel tired, you don’t need to eat or drink. For others outside a wormhole, it just looks like you enter one entrance and immediately come out of the exit. And for those who are stuck in there for eternity… “ Kaden’s voice darkened. “Let’s just say they begin to lose their humanity and do unspeakable things.”
“But luckily that didn’t happen!” Kaden said, perking up. “With a mish mash of duct tape, lighter fluid and some illegally smuggled vodka, I managed to force the engine into overdrive, where it used its last guts to push through the wormhole, before ceremoniously exploding not a moment too soon.”
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The android had a face of dumb shock. “That’s impossible.” the android firmly stated. “Our escape from that wormhole was a mute thirteen percent. And I know all about your human superstitions, so getting out was doubly as difficult.”
“Hey!” Kaden said, his face pulling into a wide grin. “Thirteen percent is better than zero, so if there’s a chance, there’s a way! And what happened to our chances after I jury rigged that engine?”
“It went up to eighty-nine percent, but still.” The android started. “That maneuver was completely against protocol! Not to mention it was reckless and random.”
“When the chances are that low, us humans will do anything to survive.” Kaden stated, slamming his fist into the dirt.
The conversation fell flat, as the pitter patter of rain continued, the dark clouds and some hints of thunder and lightning rocking the landscape. It was relaxing, watching the rain pour down, smothering the area with a somewhat cool and melancholic touch of delightful wet smell.
It felt like it had only been raining for about half an hour, but the clouds began to break and the sun began to shine again. That was indeed a short thunderstorm.
“Oh hey.” Kaden noted. “Rain’s over.” He pulled out the geolocator from his pocket. “I got this from my escape pod. It should lead us to our ruined ship. We should try to find it before someone else gets to it.”
“How do you know whether there are people on this planet?”, the android asked.
“Humans have gone all over the galaxy by this point. There are always some humans on some hospitable rock somewhere.” He flipped open the geolocator, pulling out the antenna and fondled some of the buttons. “It looks like parts of the storage room as well as the armory managed to land just a few miles away. We should hurry right now, since the weather is now clear.”
The android nodded, mumbling something under his breath, before stepping out from under the lean to. Kaden did the same, taking most of the essentials from the escape pod and creating a makeshift backpack with some of the scrap, duct tape, and rope. After filling up the pack, they were ready to go. They would come back to this place, so he made sure to mark their location on his geolocator.
“Where is our vessel?” the android inquired. Kaden hummed and pointed to the small hill in front of them. “Just past the hill. The main storage area should be over there. We can pick out most of the useful supplies and hey, maybe we can get our hands on one of those nifty 4D storage devices we were transporting.”
Kaden whistled as he walked, while the android said nothing.
“Now that I think about it,” Kaden mused, “I never asked you for your name. I only knew that you were a tier 4 model, and probably one of hundreds of others. Do you have a name I can call you by?”
The android looked to the horizon as they walked. “I do not have a name. I only went by T-4-376. I heard that humans have names, and honestly, I would like one of my own.”
“May I give a suggestion?” Kaden asked, which the android replied by nodding.
He thought about it for a while. The android seemed hardworking, never wishing to go down, and always wanting to keep moving forward. Not to mention it managed to leave its pod without an arm. It needed a military based name.
“How about Corporal?” Kaden asked. The android’s expression turned to that of a loading pinwheel, before turning into a check mark emoticon. Kaden smiled. “I chose the name because it’s gender ambiguous, not that I know what gender you choose to be, and it fits your style as a stoic and hard working individual.”
Their nature walk came to an end, as their heads peaked over the edge of the hill, revealing the scenery below them. To their astonishment, most of the ship was left intact, with just a few boxes strewn about the place. Kaden was about to whoop for joy when Corporal stopped him and pointed towards a nearby dirt road. A cloud of dust, the roar of a distant engine. And it was coming closer.
“Shit. God dammit. Scavengers.” Kaden said, gritting his teeth and clenching his fist. “They’ve probably seen the ship streak through the sky and pinpointed its exact location. We can’t let them take it. This is our burning wreck!”
Kaden pulled out and wielded his emergency axe in the air menacingly. “To battle! Heeyah!” And he made his way down the mountain, trying not to slip on the rocks as he stumbled down the hill. Corporal was close behind him, an expression of grim determination on its face.