Dre responds: “It wasn’t a nap it was a recharge, now what is that let me take a look”.
“No it was given to me, why should I share!” - exclaims Razzo
The robot ignores the rude comment and rolls its eyes as Razzo as it collects itself. It remains still as it completes a mandatory evaluation of how its internal systems are running. They wait silently in the cold tattered structure for a brief moment without saying a word to one another just staring at one another. After zoning back into the present Dre raises a brow.
Dre mutters: “So you're really going to act like this and not show it to me? Fine I don’t even want to see it…” and following that brief moment zero’s in on Razzo’s wrist looking intently at the finer details that are presented there. From the rough scratches on the carved out stones to the imperfections in size from one stone to the next along with the specific dye and symbols that are painted on the bracelet. Dre breaks down the compounds that make up the bracelet through an in depth analysis and extends its one arm to the middle of the tent and generates a new hologram of the bracelet broken down based on the various compounds. Some components have missing gaps in them where there isn’t enough data to define the specific element to go in place. But it painted a picture of the main shungite stones with four other elements twirling around them.
Dre then speaks quietly but directly at the nincompoop: “The bracelet you are wearing is supposed to be a conductor correct? It is a composite made out of primarily shungite as well as several other minerals that while together allow the bracelet to be a type of output. The way in which it is made is interesting too, it wasn’t simply melted together or compressed but the way in which the minerals were combined was through high movement that with time the friction caused them to conjoin and then through the process. Based on the design, I assume that it will be used as a sort of energy conductor for you?”
“Woah you figured all that out just by looking at the bracelet?” - says Razzo wide eyed
“Yes and no, I did start up by the end of the conversation you were having with the leaders”.
“Well then you know what Kronos said”.
Dre nods its head and asks a question: “Well does it work?”
Razzo looks down at his hands and remembers what Kronos showed him. He begins by touching his fingers together and slowly spreading them apart. But as he does this his energy stream is a lot more chaotic, it's a coiled string of blue yellow and red with sparks flying all around it. He tries to rip it off like Kronos did but he ends up just pulling more energy out, and as he tries again he pulls more energy out. At this point the string is beginning to look more and more like a thick rope so Razzo starts wrapping his hand with the energy. Both Dre and Razzo take a moment to look at each as the panic begins to build up and Dre, not wanting to see the results of all this energy output, runs out of the pop up house. Razzo, stares at this drawn energy in horror and out of dread and runs out after him.
Dre exclaims: “Don’t come here I already lost an arm I don’t want my circuits fried too!” (valid concern)
“I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH IT!”
“KEEP IT DOWN YOU TWO WE HAD ENOUGH OF YOUR LOVERS QUARREL!!” - someone yells from one of the pop up houses without stepping out to assess the situation.
Razzo in a quick panic looks around at everything in the area and thinks to himself if I whip the energy at the light post nothing should happen, right? Razzo goes and slings the energy at the light post and the light post sparks and then goes out.
The old man comes back out of his pop up house and exclaims: “Great now you’ve taken out the light post you’re on a roll kid, I ought to report you to the authorities”.
Razzo answers embarrassingly: “Sorry I’ll try to fix it…”
“Just like you fixed the fire? You best leave it before I show you what we do with hooligans like yourself back in my day!” - scoffs the old man.
Razzo begins to get frustrated, walks back into his pop up house and grabs the electric fire that Kronos started. Razzo places the fire on the ground back where it previously was and then pulls out a ball of energy using his finger tips and rolls it into the size of a fist and whips it at the electric fire lighting it up creating a massive flame that illuminates the area. Razzo stands there staring down the old man as the flame that he created illuminates his face in the dark. He then gestures towards the old man with both arms without saying another word.
The old man grunts: “That’s better”.
He goes back into his pop up house without a thank you. Razzo smirks and shakes his head hoping for more of a reaction and praise from the old grouch.
As the flame dances a couple people come out of their pop up tent and gather around the flame to warm up. Some bring some snacks and sit, some begin talking amongst themselves all the while ignoring Razzo as if he isn’t even there. Razzo throws his hands up in the air annoyed with the lack of courtesy around and in the same moment Dre walks up behind him.
Dre whispers to him: “You need to practice with that thing so you have more control of what you dish out. With the fire it was a good result, with the lamp post not so much I must say. I don’t know what to expect next, maybe you’ll melt me where I stand or you’ll power the whole camp for the next two hundred years who knows”.
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Razzo nods his head in agreement as his frustration quickly fades away and the calm understanding that there’s much to learn washes over him. He then turns towards the lamp post and walks over to it. As he touches it he feels the energy resonating throughout it causing it to heat up and there’s too much of it. Razzo decides that at this point it doesn’t matter and stands back and starts pulling energy out of his hand. He starts bending the energy into various shapes and throwing it at the lamp post. After a few minutes of the same repetitive activity, the lamp post started to have sparks jump out of it.
Dre exclaims: “What are you doing you idiot, you’re going to overload the lamp post and cause it to explode when they reset the light!”
Dre moves in between Razzo and the lamp post as Razzo releases a small ball of energy and accidentally hits the robot with it. After the hit Dre falls down and its body shuts down for a brief moment before restarting and the robot shooting up to its feet. Dre turns towards a stunned Razzo and both of them stare in shock of what happened but Dre doesn’t react poorly to the additional energy, and Razzo doesn’t know how to react and just stands there awkwardly.
“Are you… are you okay, did I hurt you?”
Dre hesitates: “I actually feel amazing. But for the sake of my sanity let’s not throw things at me unless I say I want something thrown at me. Like oh here Dre have some energy and throw me a ball or something, like we don’t know exactly how much heat you’re packing because that charged me fully, but also coulda killed me and I got a lot to live for!”
Razzo sighs with relief: “Thank god it didn’t kill you, so far Automatons like me more than my own people. Probably the old man talking shit about me to the others…”
Dre goes over to take a closer look at the lamp post to see what state it’s in. As he goes to inspect the lamp post Dre goes and extends its arm towards it. As Dre touches the lamp post a bolt of electricity courses from the lamp post through Dre’s fingers, shocking the Automaton and sending it flying back. Razzo acts quickly this time rushing over to see if Dre is okay, as he approaches the robot he looks down at it to see if there’s still electricity coursing around it. He notices that there isn’t much electricity around him so he goes and picks up Dre slinging him over his shoulder. He carries Dre back to the tent and places the Automaton on the bed. He brings a chair over and turns it towards the bed that Dre is on and rocks a little bit on the chair back and forth. Razzo doesn’t know what to do and waits for a few moments before deciding on how he’s going to act. Then Razzo slowly goes closer to Dre, and out of curiosity takes a closer look where its other arm is missing. He hesitantly goes and touches one of the exposed wires on that side, gets electrocuted as well and as a natural reaction he flings his hand back only to remember that he can’t feel pain in his fingers. Dre shoots up and slaps the human arm away from its open shoulder.
Razzo says with a dumbfounded expression: “Why would you do that? I’m just trying to help”.
“Imagine someone poked around your insides while you had an exposed wound, wouldn’t feel good now would it?”
“No I guess not, I didn’t think of it that way, does it hurt when I touch it?”
Dre sighs: “Originally it wouldn’t have hurt as my type of Automaton is programmed without a nervous system or emotional attachment. But later on I added the programming to feel pain to be more understanding of beings so that I wouldn’t function in absolutes”.
“Hmm , yes of course I too like to feel things and function and stuff like you”.
Dre rolls its eyes: “You don’t get it, I wanted to be more alive, not just some walking book of facts and a screen to display it on”.
“I don’t think of you as that, so not to worry!” - replies Razzo up beat.
“Still wouldn’t you want to feel things at the tips of your fingers again?”
“Well with my last life most of the things my hands felt weren’t all that great and in this new life it’s looking a lot worse so I don’t know maybe probably not?”
Razzo reflects on how he used to feel pain and thinks about whether the current state that he is in is better or worse. Razzo decides that for now the question isn’t for him to worry about and he should probably focus on more important things like learning how to bend and draw energy without burning everything down.
Dre goes and walks out of the pop up house.
“Where are you going?”
Dre replies sharply: “I need to go for a walk. I’m not your prisoner too, am I?”.
Dre leaves before Razzo can say anything else. He’s left pondering his thoughts some more and returning to the state of daydreaming that he was in before the kid and the old man distracted him. He gets up from the chair and takes a more comfortable position lying down on the bed. After thinking about the past for a few moments he stops himself and thinks to himself why think about the past when it's already happened. So he tries to focus more on the now and on the future, the world has changed so much in the blink of an eye. From being a regular guy working in a factory without much changing in the future to fighting a rebellion against an alien invasion, well not yet actually and all he’s met so far is a sassy robot but better than the boss at the factory. His mind changes focus and reflects the boss that probably died in the explosion. He cringes thinking that he’s technically responsible for all the deaths at the plant and so he tells himself to focus on happy thoughts. Razzo wonders to himself where the aliens could have come from. Then his brain changes gears and tries to put the current puzzle together. He heard of the space station at the edge of the solar system that had wormholes that connected this star system with others but he never thought of the possibility that an invasion like this could occur, but did it occur? So much was unknown to him which forced him to reminisce again about the past and the warm comforts of his previous life and family which he had no idea whether they were even alive as of now. With the constant negative thoughts popping up from the past and creeping into his mind took the energy out of him for a moment. This made him despondent and even with these new found abilities he felt defeated. He hadn’t thought about this aspect of the drastic changes as he rarely thinks about the negative aspects of situations, often thinking to himself ‘why stress over something that I have no control over’. This was no longer an option for him as he takes a deep breath and realizes that now it’s all up to him to decide where he’s going. Razzo almost felt suffocated in that moment by the weight of the world crashing down on top of him without a means to support it. He didn’t know how to help against an invasion, he didn’t know how to help people even when they refused, and most importantly he didn’t know how he would fit in with this newfound responsibility. Ill equipped with the present due to a lack of preparation from the past Razzo let out a heavy sigh and turned towards the wall of the pop up house. With a hole allowing for a calming breeze into the house a foot above his head he began to relax. One last thought crosses his mind ‘then again how does one become equipped to carry the weight of the world?’ After a couple moments of blanking on the answer Razzo slowly drifts off into a hopeless sleep.