I don't remember anything about my past, all I know is that on August 1st of 2050 I was awoken by a young scraper using a blade of some kind to awaken me. I didn't know who she was, so I stood to my feet as a form of defense after probably sitting down for at least 5 years. As I got up the young scrapper had a look of terror in her eyes, so I gently sat back down to not scare away my new visitor, a smile replaced the quiver in a moment.

"Hello... Wrench, my name is Penelope." she said. "Why do you call me this name Wrench?" I asked. "Because silly, it's welded to your chest." she responds. As I look down, I realize she is telling the truth, on the top right of my slender mixed-metal body there was a nameplate that read Wrench in slightly faded red letters.

"So it is (I calmly reply now, understanding that she was not a threat), but your name Penelope is not welded to your chest, so how do you know you are Penelope?” “You ask a lot of funny questions you know,” “I don’t understand what’s humorous.” “Well anyways you silly robot, I know my name is Penelope, because that’s the name my parents gave to me.” “Parents?” “Yeah my mom and dad, but that was 12 years ago, when they named me of course, I could’ve changed it if I really wanted to, no one would probably notice, but it sounds good, so I kept it.” “Do I have parents?” “Ummm, I guess, I would say you have more of an owner or a creator, than parents.” “Owner, like a dog?” “No, well kind of, you see, you aren’t natural like me a human, you’re made from parts ‘cause you're a robot.” “Why do you call me robot, I am Wrench, see.” I point my fingers on both hands to my nameplate. “No, robots are your species, there are actually a lot of you around here, big ones, small ones, mean ones.” “I’m not any of those ones I am a Wrench one.” “Hee hee, you’re funny.” “If that was funny, then I enjoy making the funny.”

I look around the room/tent I have been brought to, there are metallic parts all around me, that seem to belong to less alive machines such as toasters or lamps. There is a single light that floats slightly rising up and down a few inches each way; it didn’t radiate heat, interestingly enough, instead it seemed to be holographic. As I saw the two large flaps overlapping each other, I thought of my escape. “So, Wrench, what do you think of my hideout? It isn’t much, but it lets me build in peace, (she looks around) Wrench, Wrench!” After exiting the tent I see a barren wasteland of sand and about a dozen shriveled up trees, cactuses, and other plants can be seen in the distance. As I ready myself to run to the nearest civilization, I feel the young one pull on my arm, “What are you doing young human?” “ My name is Penelope and you can’t go yet.” “Why not?” “Because you don’t know the dangers of the Desert de Muerte.” “If you are worried about me perishing due to lack of substance, do not worry, I am Wrench or as you say a robot.” “No, it’s not that.” “Then what is it?” “They are other scavengers like me, but they aren’t as nice and when they see you, you will be shot down for parts immediately, due to your model.” “I have many questions.” “You see, you’re a model from the 30’s, so your parts are more older, more detailed, more complex, and you’re single made, or one individual created you, instead of a company.” “I will bring a means of defense then.” “Means of defense… A gun! No you can’t kill these people, they're humans.” “But your words have explained to me that they don’t care about the life of a Wrench, so why should I care about the life of a human?” “Okay, I get your point, let me get my guns, (she begins walking back to the tent as she echoes) I’m coming with and we’re not killing anyone. I followed her back into the tent and she said to me, you can have this, it’s a M-49, it’s set to stun and before we go, we need to get you oiled up. She pulled out a can of oil that stated, USE BEFORE DECEMBER 31, 2050, “Good thing I used this, before it expired. (she says) Oh yeah, while you were taking a nap, (she says as she does sarcastic quotation marks with her fingers) the government thought it would be a good idea to make the new artificial gas expirable like food. Which was a terrible idea, because now all gas over 5 years old is now semi-worthless, I say semi-worthless, because it can be used but it’s not as strong.” As she finishes, she covers my joints in oil. “That feels much better.” I say as I move my elbow, knee, and neck joints. “Okay finally ready! (she exclaims) I brought two luminous pistols and a AA12 Atchisson Assault Shotgun.” “Why do you, the small human, get the three firearms, while I, the large Wrench, get only one.” “Well, it’s because that’s the only gun I have that has a stun mode and I have to make sure you don’t kill anybody.” “Okay I understand.” I put my right hand over my left side, where my heart would be, if I had one, and stated in a strong voice, “I, Wrench, promise not to kill anyone on this mission.” “Okay, that sounds believable.” “It is believable, I speak the truth.” “No, no, I believe you, but just this mission though.” “Well what if I need to terminate in the future?” “There will be no one to terminate, everybody deserves a second chance.” “Okay, an error has been made and will now be fixed.” I say as I pretend to shut off, reload, and turn back on, as I do this a light giggle is let out. It makes me happy to make a funny. “I, Wrench the robot, promise to not kill anyone.” “Good job, that’s a lot better.” “But what about if there’s an animal and one of my associates becomes hungry?” “Well you can kill animals, just don’t kill all the animals, we need some to support the food chain.” “Okay information processed.” “Okay, now that that’s over, let’s go, oh yeah, you can have this.” As we exit the two tent flaps, she hands me a ZiP pistol, a smaller gun that has more of a green tint, than other guns. “Much appreciated… Penelope.” A grin begins to grow across her face in happiness.

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After walking and sharing conversation with Penelope for three hours, we finally reached a small town, but it is not like we just walked past bare sand for three hours, I noticed many strange cyborg animals, such as a jack rabbit with a thin metal sheet crumpled up into an oval shape for a tail, and four small metal spheres that it used as paws. Additionally, there was a snake that instead of only scales, it had a spherical wrap that ringed across its long body. Penelope spotted out the first cactus we had seen for miles and she explained how that meant there was civilization nearby. Sadly, there were not any large beasts to test out my firearms, though Penelope seemed to be quite anxious and fearful of such beasts. Maybe she has had a negative experience with the beasts. What are the beasts you may ask, they are man made creations that are made of a rusty metal coat with large yellow eyes and if you look them in the eyes deep enough, you can see a small green flame. They have the shape of a human, but have some unique features, such as large eyes, long foot long claws, and feet that can position themselves 90 degrees downward and spin, so they can dig and travel through the ground. Additionally, they have an eerie array of yellow teeth that stretch from ear to ear, leaving a large smile, as described by Penelope. The official name of the beasts are the Akai Shi, which translates to the Red Death.

As we entered the town there were many humans and robots that stared at us, but many of them looked away as soon as they noticed the gun in our hands. Each human wore different clothing, but there was a main characteristic, all clothing worn was long and had a brown, dark red, or gray tint. There were many robots too as Penelope had said, there were tall ones, short ones, ones that were wider than others, along with some that were thinner than my arm. The robots however were almost all the same rusted chrome, which made me stand out, due to my more duller gray color. “Hey Wrench, (Penelope says as she knocks on my wire filled leg.) I’m hungry, we should go get food somewhere.” “Wrench does not consume food, but will help Penelope.” “Great!” she exclaimed. I use my super vision I seemed to have been built with to virtually create a map built of green lines in my metal cerebrum. As the images began to convert and download, I noticed that there was only one visible residence in sight, all other buildings appeared to be either condemned, uninhabitable, or a shack of a home. The name of the food providing residence appeared to be called Sandy Pete. I alerted Penelope of this newfound information and began to walk, knowing that the human would follow me.

Sandy Pete was an interesting integration of a meeting place for food. The walls were a dark orange that had a dark brown hue and the carpet was a dark blue sea welcome mat behind the two large swinging doors that stated, “Once You Enter, It’s Like You Never Leave.” It was an interesting slogan, however it did match with the eerie feel of the establishment. Additionally, there was molde creeping up in all visible corners of the restaurant, along with thick cobwebs that housed many spiders with three big eyes (for their size of course), instead of numerous little eyes. The entire floor was made of a dark spruce color, yet the material seemed to be thick metal versus wood. “Howdy, Strangers.” The bartender announced to us as we began to walk closer to the counter. Not understanding how an establishment like this would work, I began to let the large human with a wide brimmed cowboy hat carry the conversation. “May I interest you in some Bud Dark.” I looked down at Penelope and she showed a face of excitement, guessing that the face she presented could only mean that Bud Dark was a food supplement that Penelope would enjoy. I began to try to mimic the facial gesture Penelope had presented with my non-physical, but virtual face. “One Bud Dark human!” I proclaimed, believing prominently that the gesture required a voice as such. Penelope giggled. “Okay good sir, one Bud Dark coming up.” He gave a light snicker, similar to Peneope’s, but his exert in sound didn’t sound as welcoming.