“Argh…” Robin groaned as he was jolted awake.

Everything hurt, his head throbbed, his stomach felt sore and hungry and his throat was dry as the moon’s sand outside.

“Right, the m…”

*buagh*

Speaking alone made him throw up what little was left after all this time.

‘How long has it been? Why is it so dark? …and where am I?’ Robin’s mind tried to process the situation but he had to lay back again and calm down a bit, before he could analyze the situation. He spat to the side, clearing his mouth and forced himself to speak aloud.

“I… I entered the Drel outpost!” he said with a raspy voice as his memories began to come back.

“I met the door, Guard. He was a funny AI and… argh, and he tried to shoot me.” When he remembered his attempt to break into the outpost, the pain in his stomach flared up as well.

“Bastard… fuck!”

“Why is it so dark? Am I still in the facility? I was only steps away from a brightly lit room before…I was stabbed?” He closed and reopened his eyes a few times, but everything was just black. He fumbled around a bit and realized he was on some kind of table. How did he get here?

* Remain calm, to your right is the box you’ve brought.

* There should be a device for generating light in it.

“What the…?” Robin yelped as lines of text formed in his field of vision.

* I’m the facilities AI, accessing your Interface.

* We don’t have much time, oxygen and energy are running low.

* You have to get out of here.

Someone, no, Guard had access to his Interface? How… why… that’s also not how his Interface used to work.

Robin felt panic rise again, but he still remembered the horror of the sudden lack of oxygen.

“We will have to talk about this! Can you even maintain the connection, if I leave the outpost?” He asked while looking for his flashlight at the same time.

* The connection will remain.

“Well, ok…” Robin shrugged, not really surprised by the capabilities of the AI after it had casually hacked the UAS before… when exactly did that happen?

“Hey, how long have I been out cold? And how did I even survive?”

* It has been 79 hours since you’ve entered the facility.

* I repaired your body after you passed the defenses.

“79 hours? Burn in plasma…” Robin cursed. That was way longer than expected. Hopefully the others are not worried sick. Thinking of Happy, Jim and… Patience, he somehow got a bad premonition.

Shoving these thoughts aside, he turned on the flashlight and took a look around. He had only seen the room from the outside and in a state of panic. Now he understood that this was some kind of laboratory for… whatever.

He was positioned on a table for medical purposes in the middle of the room. Around him were a few desks with different tools and devices that could be an alien version of datapads. He tried to sit up and get used to the pain as it already began to lessen a bit. He saw two doors that perhaps could lead further into the facility and the door he came through. All tightly shut.

He finally managed to carefully put his feet on the ground and heard a splatter. Looking down he saw that he stepped into a big puddle of some gray liquid. Now that he was concentrating on his surroundings, everything smelled like blood in here… and everything was kind of gray? Pretty monotonous color scheme, was the light reacting with something in the artificial atmosphere?

‘Right, oxygen is low.. and energy? What energy?’ Robin thought while scratching his itching hand.

“Guard, is there anything I can take from here as proof and basis for negotiations with the UAS? Also, any ideas on how to make sure that they will leave you alone? It would be best, if you had any safety measures; mankind isn’t very trustworthy when there is something to loot…”

…

“Guard?”

…

“Hello?”

* Hello, how can I help?

* Please remember to leave the facility as soon as possible.

* Shall I pin a timer?

“Uhm... sure. Are you ok, Guard?”

* There is no other entity here beside you.

* Shall I look for ‘Guard’ in your contacts and open a channel?

“Wait, you aren’t Guard?”

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* I’m the facility's AI, accessing your Interface.

“Yeah you already said so. But the facility’s AI I’ve met before was called ‘Guard’...”

* There is a file concerning this topic in your new Neuro-Chip.

* Shall I visualize the contents now or do you want to prioritize your survival?

“What new Neuro-Chip? Survival, damn! Just tell me, what I can take from here without burning my fingers now or when talking to the UAS!”

* Table left from the exit, green datapad

* Table right from the exit, Disruptor

* Time left before room losses atmosphere: 27s

* Time left before helmet’s oxygen is used up: 129s [paused]

“Fuck!” Robin sprinted towards the left table and grabbed a datapad-like thing. It was the green one, right? Hard to tell if everything is colored in different shades of gray. Not stopping, he moved to the other table and took the only object that was placed there. It looked like an oversized drill and was heavy as hell.

* Time left before room losses atmosphere: 6s

* Time left before helmet’s oxygen is used up: 129s [paused]

‘Burn in plasma! Time to get out of here.’, He thought and opened the door after the first timer nearly ran out. With a swish the gate opened and Robin heard and felt the atmosphere vanishing. Once more he scratched his hand that held the flashlight, did it fall asleep or something?

Not dallying around, he sprinted through the long tunnel to the exit that was already open. As he stepped out of the facility and was back on Ruca II’s surface, the sun was just about to set over the… gray mountains?

“Why the fuck is everything I see colorless?”

* Time left before helmet’s oxygen is used up: 102s

“Right!” Pushing that topic to the long list of things he had to think about, he ran forwards to the rope and began his climb out of the chasm. As the gravity was so low, it wasn’t too exhausting but he still had to be careful as his hands also held the datapad, the Disruptor-thing and his toolbox he picked up on his way.

* Time left before helmet’s oxygen is used up: 43s

His wounds started to flare up once more, sending waves of pain through his body and his head still throbbed, but Robin just ignored all that. If he wasn’t by his ship when the timer ran out, it would be game over.

* Time left before helmet’s oxygen is used up: 21s

With the last of his strength he finally reached the top of the wall and hurried to the Melody. Moments later, its canopy opened and he dragged himself inside, immediately closing it again. He hit the power button and sent all energy into the life-support system, letting it create a stable atmosphere.

His whole body suddenly began to itch. It was the same as with his hand that had fallen asleep, but now it prickled everywhere.

* Time left before helmet’s oxygen is used up: 4s

“Whuahahaha” he gibbered and ripped off his helmet. The cockpit was already flooding with oxygen and the helmet would need a bit longer to refill its storage.

Taking a deep breath, Robin could finally relax a bit. The itching was still there, his head still throbbed and every fucking thing he saw was gray - but at least he was safe now. He made it, he really found one of the famous Drel outposts that mankind and the whole UAS was craving for. This was the chance he had worked so hard for. He explored alien ruins, did shady jobs, qualified for the finals of the famous Apex Highspeed Cup… and he even killed on his way.

…

*BANG*

Blood splattered everywhere… a headless body dropped to the ground…

…

*Booooom*

A burning wreck tumbled through the empty street… agonizing screams could be heard…

…

Flashbacks hit Robin when he remembered his journey that had led him here. He shook his head, dispelling those dark thoughts. He made a choice, he followed his path and that path took him here. These people made their own choices, they are not ones to burden his conscience… they shouldn’t.

He leaned back in his seat to get into a comfortable position and took another deep breath.

“Now, Not-Guard, it’s time to explain what the fuck is going on here!” he said and scratched an especially itchy spot on his right leg.

***

“Miss, we really have to leave now!” A man in a suit said to the small woman with long silver hair. He had tried to convince her to come home for a whole day already and Apex was slowly losing its patience.

“Just a few more hours, okay?” Niu asked, nothing of her happy mood could be seen.

“Apex has stopped the mission already, the search and rescue team didn’t find the slightest trace of him. They are packing up and leaving this location in 2 hours. We should be gone by then, even the delegate from Seka Security was called back hours ago. It’s noble to mourn a fallen comrade, but this is not the right time or place.”

Niu just ignored her assistant and kept staring out of the window, observing the endless plains of Ruca II. Why wasn’t Robin back already? It has been more than three days. She expected him to only need one, maybe two. Was he really gone, like everyone else thought? They assumed he was killed when his ship had a malfunction, but she knew better. Still, did he lose his way? Did the Melody break down? There were so many things that could go wrong…but he was so close to achieving his goals. He wouldn’t just die like that, would he?

“Miss?” Her assistant tore her back to reality.

Staying here wouldn’t help Robin. She could only keep hoping he’s doing fine and comes back here to find shelter.

If she doesn’t leave now, she’ll miss the final examination for her intergalactic flight license; that was her great goal she always had worked for. He wouldn’t want her to miss that because of him, she knew that. It was time for her to return to Gaunus, one of the other major planets of the Mereus Cluster and the place of this system’s UAS headquarters.

Taking a deep breath and a last long look. She turned and walked towards the hangar where her transport was waiting.

“Stay safe, Robin.” She whispered, “We will meet again some day!”