time was almost seven o’ clock in the evening. The place was like a huge
dumpster. Electric parts everywhere, bodies and body parts could be seen-and
smelled. Yet, one person was hiding amongst those garbish.
A wingless griffin, she was almost 30 years old. Her thin and well-built body
carried a lot of scars-sign that she has been though a lot. Her fur was light
orange and she had long red hair tied up to a ponytail. She was wearing a
t-shirt that was almost torn and a pair of short jeans. Yet, even with those
clothes on, she still felt very hot. She was sweating both from heat and from
anxiety. She crawled quietly through the smelly garbish.
She knew that the robots’ radars weren’t working now.
It
was a very small base, where they kept parts of robots and weapons - it was
worth destroying. She pulled out a round cylinder from her pocket. There was a
small keyboard at the side of it. She had to type the ignition code and get out
of there in seconds. As she was typing, she noticed with the corner of her eye
a dark figure flying above her. She looked up but she only saw the red sky. She
shrugged it off, hoping that the machines didn’t know she was there.
‘This
is for you Jimmy…”
She said as she tossed the grenade towards the camp.
The robots heard the noise of the cylinder hitting the ground and turned their
radars to where it was. That gave her time to flee without being noticed. She
started running - she only had one moment - but suddenly something made her
fall. Her foot was caught between two metal tubes. She gasped, trying to pull
her foot out of the deadly trap but it was too heavy for her. She had only half
moment left. There was no way she could make it… this was the end
-----
The
year was 2254. The Dragon Isle was still isolated from the human world, but the
dragons managed to destroy themselves. After making machines better and better,
people came along, governors and people with a big influence that believed that
machines could be used to enslave the “unobeytient” anthros. Many anthros were killed
and from their bodies they made killing machines. Yet, small groups of anthros were brave enough to fight back. By forming little
cities and villages, they did whatever was possible to fight against the
machines. Dana was one of them. After
loosing her family due to a robot attack at her village, she swore that she’d
fight the machines with all her might. And she begun
with a little base some miles outside her village…
-----
Now,
trapped there, only a few seconds before her death, the only thing she could
thing about was her son, Jimmy. She only hoped someone would take care of him.
Her foot now ached a lot-the metal tore through her flesh. “20…. 19…18” She
started counting the seconds she had to live. Suddenly, she saw a black figure
approaching her with lightning speed. Within seconds, the figure removed the
metal tubes away from her foot and tossed them away as if they were made of
paper. It grabbed her in its huge arms and run away. But even it was not fast
enough. It realised that, and it quickly set her on
the ground and hugged her tight in its chest-as if protecting her
-----
Dana
opened her eyes. It was nigh time. She sighted and watched the smoke coming out
of her mouth. It got quite cold at night.
“Wait a minute” she frowned as she thought. ‘I’m not dead? How come? The explosion… the… that thing!” Suddenly, a feeling of
something probing her leg made her gasp and she tried to jump, but something
was holding her on the ground. She looked up and saw a robot was kneeling down
and doing something at her foot. She screamed and struggled to get loose. But
the robot’s arm was locked on to her leg very tight and no matter how much she
kicked; it didn’t let go of her. Finally, exhausted she started crying.
“Please…
don’t hurt me,” she whispered… although she knew it was in vain. Machines did not
listen to anthros talking. They were not programmed
to do so. They were only programmed to follow orders and to kill! But to her
surprise, the robot spoke to her.
“You
have a malfunction on your leg. I can fix you.” Dana looked at the robot
surprised - not sure if it was because that a robot was speaking to her or that
it was actually helping her! She examined the robot. Obviously, before
he was “turned” he was a mountain dragon. He had straight, long hair all the
way down to his waist. His body was huge and bulky, his joints attached
together with thick black wires. On his stomach there was a big “globe” thing
that had a very light purple color. Must be some kind of a weapon, she
thought. She watched him work. His left
arm was holding her leg tight while his left fingers had changed into small
needles that pumped some kind of fluid onto her wound. It didn’t hurt anymore.
Finally, the robot stood up.
Dana
could only watch in amazement. “Th-thank you…” she
whispered. She looked at her wound. There were no stitches, yet, the bleeding
stopped and it seemed as if it was already in the healing progress. She looked
up. The robot was still there eyeing her.
“So…
you’re a machine… why did you help me?” “I’m not like the rest” The robot replied. “I
don’t understand…” The robot didn’t answer her. He just looked at the sky
as if he was thinking… or remembering. Dana was confused, both from this robot
and from her emotions. Even though there was a robot close to her, she didn’t
feel threatened at all. She noticed that his body was also scarred and patches
of metal were missing from his body.
“Looks
like you need some help” She said “Why don’t you come with me tomorrow? I can fix you…” The
robot looked at her “I know about robots and stuff… eh… better to know your
enemy, right?” she blushed and coughed. She felt very sleepy and tired, but
yet she couldn’t go to sleep. No matter how “safe” she felt at the moment,
there was a machine close to her. She didn’t want to go to sleep…. just in
case!
-----
-----
She
woke up with a yawn. As soon as she opened her eyes, she gasped! The robot was
standing in front of here, right where he was the night before. His eyes glowed blue for a second as if he “woke up”.
“You’re
still here?” He
only looked at her. She thought she saw his lips contract. As if he really had
emotions…
Dana,
followed by the robot, started her way back to the village. Although her leg
was healing, she was still limping while walking. Every now and then she would
catch a glimpse of her machine saviour. He was
following her like a little puppy, like he needed her. It was very hot, but he
didn’t seem to get tired. Of course not, he was a machine. Dana, on the other
hand, was sweating and her limping made things worse. Finally, they saw the
village appear.
The passed the gates of the village. Dana
was walking close to the robot afraid of what the villagers would do when they
saw him.
It
was an old lady that saw the robot. The robot didn’t expect a scream, and he
spun to the direction it was heard from, his arms changing in to huge cannons.
After that, everyone in the village started running around, screaming. They
thought that the machines were attacking them
“NO
WAIT! STOP! HE’S NOT DANGEROUS!” Dana was trying to calm them down. She walked
towards the robot and touched him gently on his arm. He turned and glared at
her. “You don’t want to hurt them, right? Put the gun away… please?” With
slow movements, the robot changed his limps back into arms.
“Listen
up everyone” Dana
said looking over the panicked crowd “um… this… this robot will not hurt
you! He… he saved my life. He needs help!”
“You’re gonna help that machine?” A man called ”Have
you forgotten what have they done to us?” Dana sighted. “Ok… if you
don’t feel safe with him being here then… umm… I’ll keep him locked in!” This
was ridiculous! She knew no one trusted a machine! Still, she did lock the
door, not so that the robot couldn’t get out, but villagers couldn’t get in.
“Come
close… you need to be cleaned…” The robot approached he, as
she dipped a piece of cloth in some sort of liquid. It was a special liquid
that could clean up metal from almost all kind of dirt. She started. First from his back. Then moved to his
chest. And finally, his legs. She could feel no
heartbeat, no breathing, nothing… yet deep inside, something told her that this
machine in front of her was more alive than some anthros
themselves.
“So…
do you have a name?” Dana asked as she was cleaning him. He hesitated. He didn’t want her to
know his name… it was too… funny. Finally, he spoke. “Cleave…” “Cleave… nice
name. I’m Dana!” She said and extended a hand, but she got no response. She
signed and sat on her bed. “I still don’t understand… who… what are you?
Why… ummm… why are you like this? Machines are not
supposed to…um…you know…”
Cleave could pick up another person on his radar
“…Feel?”
he finished her sentence. She sighted. She didn’t know what else to do to
make him talk to her about himself. She walked towards him.
“Look…
I hope one day I’ll find out who you are… but now… it’s late. Umm do you want a
room or something?” “I do not sleep” “Of course not. But I’m an anthro and I
sleep! So…” she
gently pushed him out of her bedroom “Goodnight and… call me if you need
anything”.
She
closed the door behind her and leaned against it. She thought… could this be
real? Could a machine actually be alive? Could it have feelings? A soul? Where did he come from? He was obviously not like the rest…