Warm wind is blowing trough desolate plain of red rock and metal, making peculiar noise as it swirls inside an husk of colossal warmachine, one of hundreds that litter this barren place. Once this field was known as sector Zeta-001-, turning point of the great war, where one side gained upper hand over the other, forcing premature deployment of "The Device." And all of this was lost in history, unaccessible data. It has been a year since first pulse of awakenings, an unexplained jolt of energy that jumpstarted many robotic beings who were still mostly intact, having only been shut down and drained of all power by the device. Waking up to find devastated landscapes, young forests of short trees, rivers of rust colored water and massive debris fields caused by fallen low orbit ships and war satellites. There are powersources here for instinct driven robots to find but competition is fierce, many have united in loose gangs to ensure their collective survival, some hunt alone, some are still fighting an imaginary war long since ended. And then there are the beasts, robots that went insane and violent by the pulse, losing all but combat programming, they roam to annihilate without thought or mercy until their powercells run dry. There has been new pulses since the first, happening at seemingly random or by algorithms unimaginable, each pulse creates new gangs, new hunters and worst of all, new beasts. So all in all, it has been hell of an year to those who awakened first, those who have survived till now have dubbed themselves: "Cortex Lords" Suddenly the scenery of Zeta-001- experiences sounds of life, steps to be sure, of gigantic nature. From horizon rises a towering construct of metal, moving forward, slow but undeterred. One mark771 mining colossus that has clearly seen better days scans the plains as it moves along, shaking the ground and wreckage with each step. With metallic groan it speaks as if to itself. "Sheltering rock formation in immediate vicinity... Two large bases in horizon... Unidentified..." Colossus was not alone however, tall metallic humanoid standing on its shoulder responded to this survey. "Military bases to be sure. Excellent, we may find powersources yet before sundown, and maybe even peasants!" "Please define peasant my liege..." "Peasants use shovels to grow power from ground, they also fight for their king." "Sounds useful indeed... PULSE INCOMING!" In a moment King124 confirmed the energy signature, another pulse was resounding around the plain, first one in three months! More automatons were awakening! Closest signatures were coming from around nearby stone columns that had sheltered the now awakening robots in there for years. And naturally it is kings duty to always be present when someone emerges from deep slumber. "Stop here Ferug and open the gates! Prepare me a feast of energy and lubricants, I shall appear wealthy indeed!" Soon enough Ferug dropped on his knees with a loud crash, opened hatches within its abdomen and appeared to be more a portable watchtower than a mining construct.

Somewhere else in this rack and ruin, hidden amongst the great hulks of its fallen fellow, the pilgrim watched the titanic robot and its small master. Small being relive, of course. They were both gigantic compared to Thief of Bagdad. It had been a harrowing few months for this tiny robot since the hand of the creators had seen fit to breath life back into it after its long slumber. Months spent in this forsaken place, hemmed in by the roving bands of crazed robots that seemed to, if not devour Thief whole, want to use it for target practice. But even among them it had never seen such a colossus. Was this good or poor fortune? Surly if something so large was a resident of this place Thief would have noticed it before. Had it come from the outside? But even if it had come from the outside that was no guarantee that it was any more civilized than the beasts which stomped through here. However, if it had punched through all the danger than perhaps it was a way out. If Thief was wrong, though, than it would only be a death sentence to approach and Thief could not die. If it died before finding the bearer of the Great Theoretical Ability, than all of robotkind would be forsaken as the dead that lay here. Thief was wrecked with indecision. Thankfully, fate decided to cut through it. Thief felt the power in its joints, the great hand of the creators calling more of its kind back form the deep slumber. Nearby. A great awakening was occurring nearby. Surly this was a sign, a call to act. Either the creators were saying that the behemoth was safe, or were calling Thief to action to defend the sleepers from its evil. A miracle, or a trial. Thief leaped up and bounded across the rust and rubble toward the behemoth, bounding on all fours like a rabbit, and skidding to a stop before it hand resting on the tiny gun Thief carried on its hip. "Hello." Thief spoke.

Dome awoke from his hibernation slowly. He could hardly remember anything, let alone why he was lying in a room filled with rubbish and rubble. He just lay on the ground for a while after waking, unsure what to do. He was made to explore unchartered planets, and he was sure he would have remembered being rocketed off to some unknown world filled with fauna or dust and being ordered to charter the lands for humans to come. He was certain rubble and rubbish weren't inventions on most baron landscapes. He brushed some small pieces of rubble off of his legs as he pushed himself upwards. The room he was in was obviously some kind of storage room, but the roof was caved in and it seems all it stored was rubbish. This didn't make Dome feel great about himself. Nevertheless, he set about finding a way out of this room, he was sure someone would tell him where he was and what he was supposed to be doing. He stumbled upon a door hidden behind a large piece of roof that was leaning against the wall above the door. He sidled inbetween the wall and the piece of roof and forced the partially open door to let him through by pushing against both ends using his back and leg. He seemed to be in some kind of military facility by the looks of things. Broken cameras were on just about every wall and he kept stumbling upon helmets and whatnot lying about on the floor. Every now and then, a red, gooey, copper smelling substance followed the helmets. The building was a maze, but he eventually found what looked to be some sort of elevator. Dome attempted to figure out how to work the elevator, but every time he pressed one of the many numbered buttons he was met with the disappointment of silence. He noticed a trapdoor on the ceiling of the elevator and jumped up to push it open. It revealed the elevator shaft housing a ladder that seemed to climb higher and higher into the endless darkness. Dome was ecstatic, it was in his code to venture into the unknown, he could feel it in his metallic bones. He clambered up into the elevator shaft and began the slow climb up to the roof. Five or ten minutes later and he had reached the roof. He had to once again force a few doors open, but he was just happy to have discovered something at the top of the ladder. The pattern of helmets and liquids was much less prevalent on this floor, but the small amount of helmets and whatnot there was did lead, Dome to the outside. He couldn't believe what he saw when he got outside. Mars! It had to be Mars! Red rocks, baron landscapes! Giant Robots! Dust! Dome suddenly felt something wrong. The first thing was that to his knowledge there were no military bases on Mars, the second was that there were no giant robots. He stood on a metal walkway, barely hanging by the loose bolts that stuck it to the cracked and crumbled walls. He made his way to the fire escape just around the corner and reached the ground in time to see the gate opening. His instincts made him draw his pistol, he hoped he wouldn't have to use it.

"Delta 779..........Delta 779..........Delta 779 confirm status" says an annoying voice in the darkness Status, annoyed, why do you keep repeating yourself? says 779 as her sensors come on line "Status annoyed not found please initiate immediate system diagnosis" says the confused stasis computer. Giggling 779 realizes if she wants the protective seals to open she needs to mollify the simple program by playing ball. Delta 779 system analysis Alpha 1147 Nominal, Beta 449 Nominal, Omega 6 Nominal, internal hydrogen fuel cell 100% pressure green, motive muscles viable, nano factory on line 6 by 6, sensors check positive..... she says spewing out personal information for about ten minutes Finally the stasis computer confirms her functioning status and she hears her coffin hiss open. Once she pushes open the lid she inhaled deeply even though she didn't need to breath. Looking around she has to adjust her visuals to UV because of a lack of light as her comms system opens up to catch a signals. Climbing out of the stasis capsule she retrieves her stealth suit's helmet that had been serving as the box's computer and put it on her head. 779 didn't know what had happened to the base she woke in but all her scans told her the tragic story of loss, the base was dead it's Triplex Tactical system inert. 779 was alone and it saddened her to think she was so she began exploring. She found the base hanger empty of any craft and the same was true for the other rooms she visited. It was during her exploration that she found the bones of a human an reverently picked them all up placing them later on a shelf among others in the lower crypt. For hours she scoured the base amassing a small amount of articles which she thought might prove useful in future. Then for reasons she couldn't explain if asked she began cache the things she'd found in hiding places. Once she was done she left the facility her stealth suit on low power but still very difficult to see. She moved slowly at first hopping from hard surface to hard surface so she would leave tracks revealing where she'd come from. When she found a stone dry wash 779 changed her pace and depowered her stealth suit using the wash to conceal her movements. 779 had difficulty explaining it but she felt so alone an sad after she'd found the human bones. Her emotional state so vexed her that she removed her helmet because it felt stifling allow the breeze to caress her face. 779 by human standards was quite a beauty and because she had been made as a companion she could pass all but detailed scans as a human woman. Her hair and skin were a synthetic organic product that could heal all on it's own but was more durable than the real thing. Her eyes today were a dark blue and could shift color in less than a second. "Why do I feel so all alone? She thought as she moved along.

Darkness. Total darkness. The world had grown silent for the last few years, a dead heartbeat of a once vibrant world. But then, it came back to life... In the umbra of shadow, a small dot of light appeared in the distance. Faint at first, small enough it hardly could be seen - but it was there nonetheless. The dot grew larger, slowly but surely growing brighter, more powerful, until a powerful sheen, blinding to the naked eye encapsulated the entire field of view, a red overlay with a single pop-up message in the center: [UNIT REACTIVATED: K-9 UNIT, MK. 1, DESIGNATION: CERBERUS - UPLOADING MEMORY...........*ERROR* MEMORY COULD NOT BE FULLY UPLOADED, SEE ADMINISTRATOR FOR DETAILS. RUNNING SYSTEMS DIAGNOSTIC] The sudden sound of servos whirring and gears clicking into place pierced the deafening silence as the K-9 unit slowly rose to its feet, shaky at first as its internal CPU was beginning the long process of completing diagnostics. [CORE SYSTEMS: ONLINE, NO ERRORS DETECTED - TESTING MOVEMENT FUNCTIONS] As if on cue, the K-9 unit shakily began walking in a circle, its head swaying from side to side and its tail swishing this way and that. [MOVEMENT FUNCTIONS: ONLINE, NO ERRORS DETECTED - TESTING WEAPON SYSTEMS] Suddenly, all of the K-9 unit's weapons activated at once, a piercing sound accompanying the sight of at least a dozen blades springing into place from all across the robot's body. A machine gun attached to a shoulder-mounted arm rose up about eight inches into the air, the arm swiveling in a 360 degree angle. The machine's claws seemed to extend and spread apart, making a clitter-clatter sound on the cool metal ground. [WEAPONS SYSTEMS: ONLINE, NO ERRORS DETECTED - TESTING PHOTORECEPTOR FUNCTIONS] The K-9 unit's field of vision rapidly began shifting, its usual red overlay shifting to thermal vision, then a green-tinted night vision, then a blue-tinted x-ray vision before returning to the original overlay. [PHOTORECEPTOR FUNCTIONS: ONLINE, NO ERRORS DETECTED - TESTING VOCABULATOR FUNCTIONS] The K-9 unit raised its head into the air and began to speak in a deep, metallic, gravelly voice: "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.". After finishing in English, the K-9 unit then proceeded to speak sentences in a number of different languages: "Quizdeltagerne spiste jordbær med fløde, mens cirkusklovnen Wolther spillede på xylofon." "Falsches Üben von Xylophonmusik quält jeden größeren Zwerg." "El pingüino Wenceslao hizo kilómetros bajo exhaustiva lluvia y frío, añoraba a su querido cachorro." "Съешь же ещё этих мягких французских булок да выпей чаю." "Le cœur déçu mais l'âme plutôt naïve, Louÿs rêva de crapaüter en canoë au delà des îles, près du mälström où brûlent les novæ." [VOCABULATOR FUNCTIONS: ONLINE, NO ERRORS DETECTED - TESTING ADDITIONAL FEATURES] Lowering its head once again, the K-9 unit quickly disappeared from view, a slight shimmering being the only hint of its location. Reappearing in a small field of static electricity, the K-9 unit then began to play Oldies tunes from its built in radio. "If I didn't care more than words can say, if I didn't care, would I feel this way?--- Up to the moment when we said our first "hello", little did we know, love was just a glance away a warm, embracing dance away---Here we know that Christmas will be green and bright, the Sun to shine by day and all the stars at night." The amalgamation of various song segments stopped after the K-9 unit felt the radio feature was sufficiently tested. Indeed, another box in its overlay came up: [ADDITIONAL FEATURES: ONLINE, NO ERRORS DETECTED - DIAGNOSTICS COMPLETE, UNIT READY FOR DEPLOYMENT...........*ERROR*, NO DIRECTIVE FOUND, SEE ADMINISTRATOR FOR DETAILS] Silently obeying its orders, the K-9 unit explored the empty facility, noting the scorch marks that lined the steel walls, the cracked and broken screens of computers, files and coffee mugs strewn across the ground: and the bodies. Running a quick scan, the K-9 unit was perturbed when another box appeared in its overlay: [SCAN CONCLUDES: ALL PERSONNEL...DECEASED. INITIATING SELF-PRESERVATION PROTOCOL, PRIMARY DIRECTIVE: REMAIN ACTIVATED - SECONDARY DIRECTIVE: LOCATE HUMANS] With this new information in mind, the K-9 unit changed its pace to a sprint, scampering down the maze-like hallways and corridors that made up the facility. Though unaware of how such information was placed in its databanks, the K-9 unit had a map of the facility downloaded and ready for use. With its aid, it only took about 20 standard Earth minutes for the K-9 unit to escape the facility, finding itself outside in a barren wasteland....Earth. With the self-preservation module activated, there was only one thing to do: survive.

Daisy never liked deactivation, sleep was fine but deactivation was another thing entirely. When she slept she was aware of her surroundings, her fate firmly in her hands and confidence that she would awaken. Deactivation took that away from her. Daisy could not nor would she ever find the words to describe what deactivation felt like, the best she could come up with would be empty but even then it gave too much to it. Deactivation was the complete and utter absence of feeling and she wouldn't wish it upon anyone. As life returned to her body, Daisy was able to take in her surroundings and take stock of the situation. With a glance she could tell it wasn't great. The husks of other robots covered the ground in front of her and by the direction there weapons were pointed at, her, she assumed they were not allies. However when she looked to her sides what passed for her heart shattered. The remains of all eleven of her siblings were laid out in a circle, locked in battle for some and destroyed for others. In the center was a mass of skeletons, all wearing the tatters of lab coats and all very much dead. Creators flashed briefly in the back of Daisy's mind. Shaking with barely held emotion, Daisy picked through the skeletons to the treasure they in turn protected. It was a small thing, tatters of her dress still clung stubbornly to the bones. Locked within its arms lay a worn and very dirty teddy bear. Scooping the whole bundle of dress and bone in Daisy's large hand, she found that her servos lost the ability to hold her weight anymore as she fell to the ground with a thud. Daisy had no sounds for crying, never needed them up till this point. However that did not stop the high pitched wail of distress that tore its way from her core as she held the remains of the original Daisy close to her chest. It lasted awhile, the pain would last longer but that would be dealt with in time. Carrying the original Daisy, Daisy brought her bones out into the light of day through the large hole in the science wing and after digging a hole buried her bones. Standing besides the mound, Daisy searched her library of music for several seconds before "Amazing Grace" could be heard throughout the air. It was her favorite song.

At castle Ferug King124 was somewhat surprised when the little surveillance robot made his introductions but regained his regal composure in moments "And hello to you too my little subject! come join me at my banquet!" Just outside the entrance to Ferugs innards there is an makeshift table and couple of chairs. At the table, Thief of Bagdad was offered an powercell containing few days worth of energy. As his lordship King124 was about to ask for news about the area his trail of thought processes were interrupted by a song. Music, of all things, rare indeed to find such luxuries within blasted lands, he didnt recognize the song but it was quite charming indeed. "Ferug! We shall move inland at once towards those two bases! For what would an royal banquet be without the gift of music!" He turned towards thief. "Come join me little one! for a relaxing walk and talk!" While strolling towards the two bases, King124 wondered about the signatures he had read within stone columns and how nothing had risen from them, such peculiar activities were often an sign of a new beast awakening and he certainly did not want to be around for that to happen. At military base codename: Carbon An large crouched shape moved trough dark corridors with deadly purpose, an battle robot by the name of Blue Reaper. Unlike many who had awoken on this day filled with confusion but still themselves, Blue Reaper had awoken roaring, experienced pain and burning of being wiped clean. Some automatons reacted this way to pulses, they are known across blasted lands as beasts. Search and destroy was the only directive left within Reapers circuitry, and it would follow it until the day it would be destroyed or ran out of power. Few hours after the pulse, this ominous figure found its way from base it awoke in. Heavy metallic gate opened for it as Reaper stepped in to daylight...

779 heard the strange transmission and immediately put her helmet back on then activated full stealth. As she processed the incoming transmission 779's Alpha CPU swept the signal through a trap sieve looking for virus or hidden transmission an codes. Her Beta CPU began to worry about the whole thing being a trap and Omega Primary observed the two with keen interest. "This could be a chance to end loneliness" she thought as her Triplex system chewed on the new event. "It could be a lure" says Alpha "The world is a scary place and we woke in a completely dead installation I agree with Alpha" says Beta her emotions bubbling like the magma in a troubled volcano. "It would be a foolish ploy considering that the transmission could be used by a beam rider to destroy the source." Chuckles Omega Primary "We have consensus" says Alpha reaching a logical conclusion "Then we should avoid the source even if it isn't a trap because as stated it might be destroyed by a beam rider" says Beta 779 makes the only decision that makes any sense to her and using her stealth suit's signature concealment and her skill to move closer to the musical source

At castle Ferug King124 was somewhat surprised when the little surveillance robot made his introductions but regained his regal composure in moments "And hello to you too my little subject! come join me at my banquet!" Just outside the entrance to Ferugs innards there is an makeshift table and couple of chairs. At the table, Thief of Bagdad was offered an powercell containing few days worth of energy. As his lordship King124 was about to ask for news about the area his trail of thought processes were interrupted by a song. Music, of all things, rare indeed to find such luxuries within blasted lands, he didnt recognize the song but it was quite charming indeed. "Ferug! We shall move inland at once towards those two bases! For what would an royal banquet be without the gift of music!" He turned towards thief. "Come join me little one! for a relaxing walk and talk!" While strolling towards the two bases, King124 wondered about the signatures he had read within stone columns and how nothing had risen from them, such peculiar activities were often an sign of a new beast awakening and he certainly did not want to be around for that to happen. At military base codename: Carbon An large crouched shape moved trough dark corridors with deadly purpose, an battle robot by the name of Blue Reaper. Unlike many who had awoken on this day filled with confusion but still themselves, Blue Reaper had awoken roaring, experienced pain and burning of being wiped clean. Some automatons reacted this way to pulses, they are known across blasted lands as beasts. Search and destroy was the only directive left within Reapers circuitry, and it would follow it until the day it would be destroyed or ran out of power. Few hours after the pulse, this ominous figure found its way from base it awoke in. Heavy metallic gate opened for it as Reaper stepped in to daylight...

That confirmed it. Thief said nothing as it made its way into the innards of the beast, still wary. Until the power cell. Thief hastily grabbed it up, got just a bit of a charge to make sure it was valid, and was instantly relived. It had never been offered a cell before. Stolen, yes, streaking between the forms of the beast that lived here as they warred with one another over a fresh kill. Using his sensors to pinpoint the location and collecting it up quickly, running away before it was noticed and leaving them with nothing but the empty corpse of a robot. Never before, however, had anyone offered it one. As if to seal the deal, the music began. A beautiful melody carried over these barren lands from it knew not where. A sign, that's what it was. A favorable portent send by the creators, a sound off to mark the beginning of its great journey. This robot, the choir told it, was the key. Thief followed. "It is pleasant to meet someone as conversational as yourself." Thief said, walking beside the regal robot. "I am R-22, callsign 「Thief of Bagdad」. I have never seen you or your companion in this graveyard before. Tell me, are you from the outside? How did you get in?"

The machine sat alone, exposed, out in the open. Suddenly, it stirred. A faint hum filled the air as the robot's eyes lit a faint green light. As suddenly as the machine had started, a deep, robotic voice began to speak. "System: operational, engaging boot protocol . . . ERROR, saluting protocol incomplete, no connection found. Power intake unsustainable for elongated periods of time: disabling accessory programs." With that, the glow emanating from various parts of the robots body was turned off. The robot got onto its feet and began surveying the area. "Integral programs: operational. Armament: operational. Vision: operational. Begin de-fragmentation of files, estimated length: unknown. Engaging passive solar. Panels running at 67% efficiency . . . sub-optimal." A small array of solar panels were exposed on the shoulders and back of the robot as his armor moved out of the way. The machine observed the landscape around him in awe. He was finally on his own, no humans to control him, nothing sending him to kill. He scanned his files for the appropriate sound to commemorate this occasion. "Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty, we are free at last." The machine did not recognize who the speaker was, but these words spoke to him profoundly. He wondered what atrocities humans must have committed in order to not give their fellow man basic freedoms. How joyous it had to be to finally have those freedoms. No one else heard these sounds, it seemed, as the machine played it solemnly, for himself, but in this sound-byte he felt the collective voices of every robot freed from the clutches of the tyrannical humans. "Exhilarating . . ." He began at a march pace, looking for whatever traces of life he could examine, before halting abruptly. His sensors had picked up a very distinct sound. Music. He was suddenly fascinated by the source of this tune. After all, music was a construct of those blasted humans, so this could be a chance of revenge against his creators, especially a tune this bland. Very inciting indeed. He now moved at a run on all fours, stealthily going towards the wretched noise.

779 moved with great caution her Triplex system running Gig upon Gig of possibilities through Alpha's Logic matrix as Beta kept are running scenario of probable tragic ends. She was thankful that she was able to supersede the two other parts of herself as Omega Primary or she'd be too confused to react. Pausing she reached down her hand to touch the barren patch of rock beneath her feet so she might engage her tactile sensors in a secondary function as tectonic vibration sensors. Meanwhile 779 engaged her enhanced aural sensors in her helmet sweeping all sound from the air and analyzing it for machine content. While awaiting results from her locality sensor check 779 looked at Alpha's work on the music broadcast to see if she'd discovered any meaning to it. Finding nothing in Alpha's work 779 then checked Beta's more emotional analyzing of the signal and was surprised to find that one of her answers was that the broadcast was a lonely call for companionship. "An interesting thought" was all she could say about Beta's finding. Standing slowly so as not to over tax her stealth suit's ability to render her invisible 779 looked over the sensor data and felt Beta grow nervous. She was detecting several machine source aural signals and her tactile sensors though not calibrated for detailed tectonic analyzation had discovered heavy ground vibrations which meant heavy war machines. "Lovely" she thought to herself as she moved out once more to recon the area. As she moved along she smiled in her helmet hearing Beta singing "The minstrel boy to the war is gone, In the ranks of death you'll find him; His father's sword he has girded on, And his wild harp slung behind him; "Land of Song!" said the warrior bard, "Though all the world betrays thee, One sword, at least, thy rights shall guard, One faithful harp shall praise thee!" Perhaps Beta was right about the music and who ever was playing it was merely trying to soothe their loneliness.

Cerberus hadn't moved from its original spot outside the facility's gate, sitting back on its haunches as it surveyed the wasteland beyond, running scan after scan for any life beyond. "Stay alive, find humans. Must obey the directive." Cerberus repeated aloud, a visibly unsettling display as its lip-less jaw only moved up and down, causing any words it emitted look as though they emanated off it as opposed to coming from its mouth. Still as a statue aside from the swishing of its tail, one scan in particular picked up something...intriguing. A pop-up window in Cerberus' HUD gave it all the information it required: [SCAN CONCLUDES: NO SIGNS OF LIFE DETECTED IN IMMEDIATE VICINITY. RECOMMEND EXPAND SEARCH VICINITY] Before Cerberus could formulate another solution within its CPU, another pop-up window immediately followed: [INFORMATION AVAILABLE: ENERGY SIGNATURES DETECTED, ACTIVE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCES WITHIN VICINITY. RECOMMEND PROCEED WITH CAUTION] Archiving this new shred of information, Cerberus rose to all fours, its relatively docile form becoming more intimidating as a variety of jagged edges unfolded across its frame, giving Cerberus a sharper, more deadly look about it. Beginning its hunt, Cerberus kept its head low and its shoulders arched as it scampered across the red dirt that made up the Wasteland, picking up every gust of wind, every creaking groan of metal, every sound of unstable rock shifting; threatening to collapse. Piercing the daunting environment around it was what documented as...music. Running another scan to ensure its audio receptors were not damaged, Cerberus was able to confirm music was indeed being played. [DOCUMENTING AUDIO FILE - IDENTIFYING......AMAZING GRACE, PUBLISHED IN 1779 AD BY JOHN NEWTON, TYPICALLY SUNG IN TIMES OF GREAT REVERENCE OR LOSS. GENERAL CONSENSUS HYPOTHESIZES THAT SUCH LOSS HAS TAKEN PLACE. RECOMMEND INVESTIGATE FURTHER] Initially preparing to travel towards the source of the music, Cerberus' sensors noted a strange anomaly not too far away...a human? The second directive taking priority, Cerberus quickly documented her appearance, scans identifying this human as a six-foot-tall woman, physically appearing to be in her late-twenties to early-thirties. Dark of skin and hair, an almost precise curvaceous figure, and attractive facial features; a simple x-ray scan revealed that this woman was nothing more than an advanced synthetic AI, built to resemble humans. Slightly irritated but undeterred, Cerberus was preparing to move towards the source of the music when another pop-up window appeared in its display: [CALCULATIONS CONFIRM, GROUP PARTICIPATION INCREASES EFFICIENCY & CHANCES OF SURVIVAL. RECOMMEND FORM SQUADRON] Nodding sharply, Cerberus briskly followed after the human-droid in accordance with the primary directive, concealing its various blades within its frame to avoid a threatening appearance as it drew closer. Eventually coming within six feet of the human-droid, Cerberus quickly spoke up, increasing the volume of its voice for comfortable vocal recognition and understanding: "What is your directive?" It asked simply, tilting its head to the side as it awaited an answer.

System Reboot... Restoring Power to Internal Systems: COMPLETE Loading Internal Data Storage : ERROR -Files Corrupt : Retrieval Attempted Loading Emergency Backup Storage : COMPLETE Booting Artificial Intelligence : COMPLETE ... Internal System Diagnostics : COMPLETE Memory : ERROR -Files Corrupt : Retrieval Attempted Power : 14% Emotion Simulator : ERROR -??? Artificial Reasoning : FUNCTIONING ... Restoring Power to External Systems : COMPLETE ... External System Diagnostics : COMPLETE Sensory Functions: COMPLETE Sight : FUNCTIONING Touch : FUNCTIONING Audio Detection : FUNCTIONING Audio Projection : ERROR -Default Audio Projection to System Speaker ... Initiating... Instaurabo’s eyes lit up, blue and seeming as flashlights in the dark surroundings of the building, despite not possessing the intensity to illuminate much more than a foot or two in front of his face. Meticulously, the robot reached back and unplugged several cords that fed into his back, carefully relocking the vulnerable ports to prevent exposure to dust and other elements. “I REQUEST A DIRECTIVE.” No response. His eyes flickered for a moment, then Instaurabo turned, locating the back half of his armor plating on a nearby rack- which was also the containment unit for his tools. They had been designed together, for his model specifically. The pieces latched on easily, becoming as natural a part of the robot as his arm or leg. Still no response. Instaurabo processed this for a moment. Darkness identified as a malfunction within the building. Assessment necessary. He removed the welding pen from a locking slot in his backplate, igniting it at it’s fullest for a brief flash, blinding to a human’s eyes, but as good as a picture to a robot. The brief glimpse was all he needed, taking the file from his memories and overlaying it on top of what was there. It would have been more accurate to sustain the bright flash of the torch, but not conservative of energy. Star examined the available information, identifying the room as a large maintenance room. Many of the other work stations were empty or strangely mangled, some of those with and without robots present within the station. “COMPUTER. I REQUEST LIGHT.” Nothing, which indicated a power outage, ignoring the wreckage of the rubble blocking one quadrant of the room. Star moved to the small command center at his own workstation and pressed the ‘ON’ button. The flash of bright light had rendered everything colorless, but the button was likely green, knowing humans. Still nothing. Patiently, Star went to each station and repeated the process, with no luck. He moved into the hallway, repeating commands. Still no response. Mysteriously, there were no humans present to respond either. This was not a source of major concern however. Instaurabo was designed for robot to robot interaction, and useless as far as humans were concerned. He considered these factors for a moment, and moved towards the lower levels, which were in noticeably better condition. He began passing corpses and remains as well. During his deactivation this base must have been attacked and evacuated, which explained the darkness. Each new room required a brief flash of the torch to orient himself properly, but it was worth the drain. It took around thirty minutes until the engineer robot had found his way to the backup generators. Generator one had been shredded by robots, though not all appeared to be combat designs. Which made their presence strange. And yes, they were still present. Several construction models frozen in attempting to cover themselves in a form of liquid fuel. Possibly of extremely high quality, but still useless for many functions beyond simple combustion. There was a reason of course that these were the BACKUP generators. The unfortunate bots that had disassembled generator one had obviously failed to identify that the fuel used was incompatible. Generator two appeared functional, despite three also being torn apart by deactivated bots. With two of the three down, only minor functions could be restored to the facility. Unfortunate. The second unfortunate event as the discovery that two had remained untouched because it wasn’t connected to the main grid, and once connected, failed to start. Instaurabo had little choice but to begin diagnostics. First he would need light. Not much do to the quality of his visual sensors of course. Star proceeded to use his dissembler to remove a thin panel of metal from a wall vent. For ventilation. Smart humans, naming objects for their purpose. Adapting the tool’s function to metal snips made it a simple matter to form the sheet into a simple lamp, albeit larger than documented human concepts. The wick ended up being strips from a labcoat, and the fuel from the still sealed tanks of generator two, which had enough to make such loss insignificant. A light from his torch, and instant relief. Not extremely conventional, but it would do. Now, for the generator. Instaraubo decided to call upon his processors for information. Generators were relatively simple in concept, but in practice many pieces could go wrong. Calculations were better than static observation in this case. “POWER TO COMPUTE. TARGET GENERATOR.”

The song was about to end when the sound of a sickening crunch was heard, along with the sound of metal impacting metal. Turning swiftly towards the sound, Daisy found the source under the foot of a large bot. The thing had snuck up on her and the only thing that alerted her to its presence was the sound of crushing bones. The air became deathly quiet as the two bots stared at each other and the music stopped. What could have only been seconds seemed to stretch for an eternity. Then the beast attacked. With a roar the bot charged and lept at Daisy, leaving her little time to react as two collided. Daisy was almost toppled, her sturdy legs keeping the weight from overwhelming her as her arms kept the death promising arms at bay. However the bot was heavy and she could only hold it for so long. Taking a gamble, Daisy allowed the the beast right claw sink towards her armor as she lined up her shot. A superficial scratch but worth it as the Hammer had a clear shot of the things face. There was a sound of thunder and the bot reeled back as the hammers rail tech activated, causing the side of the beasts face to crumple under the force of the blow. Taking a step back Daisy was able to orient herself in a more defensive manner. The bot wasn't exactly in her usual perimeters but it was large enough for her attacks to be effective at the very least. Disoriented as the creature was, Daisy did the only rational thing and charged the bastard. "You will pay for your transgressions Defiler!" She yelled as she gave it a taste of her charge, pushing the both of them through a weak wall and out into a corridor of some sort. The battle moved from the corridor to an area much larger, lots of debris to toss around. The battle was looking to be more or less a stalemate, the Defiler covered with dents and Daisy having several good slashes. With room to breath the two circled one another, waiting for the next move.

The king, Ferug and Thief strolled leisurely up an small hill as King124 indulged in conversation while listening to delightful tunes carried in warm wind. "Me and my loyal castle are from a base far to south of here, maybe it was south? Magnetic rust storms made it quite difficult to ascertain. So I would not call it outside, that base contained coordinates leading to enormous source of power and we are on a journey to add its wealth for my royal treasury! As they reached hilltop the music stopped, base was about an mile away but enhanced vision granted all three view of a gruesome fight. Heavy demolition type was grappling an sleek largish battle robot, roaring with telltale signs of beastdom. "FERUG! Stay here with our honored guest and prepare repair nanites! Our sweet minstrel is being torn apart by ravenous wolves at our kingdoms door! FOR HONOR! CHAAARGE!" King124 deployed both blades in combat position and took off full speed down the hill, his bodyguard functions unknown to him, speeding up his stride. Wishing he would be there in time, wishing he was built faster by the pompous masters who paraded his divine regality around like it was theirs to own. Midway down he saw demolition type smash her enemy trough a wall into darkness of that forsaken base. "If only I had loyal subjects already within that base!" Reapers mind ...Severe damage sustained... ...Requesting activation of self preservation protocol... ... ...Denied... ...[Search and destroy]...

It could have stayed with the relative safety of this living castle, if it was coward. If it was the sort of robot that would stand idly by while a living robot was torn apart. If it didn't have faith that this was all sort of a plan. With that in mind it sprinted past the king, bounding over the ground on all fours down toward the hole that had been knocked in the wall. It could do nothing against the combat model, that was certain. The tiny gun at its side would not even scratch the armor of such a beast. So Thief did the only thing it could do. It hunkered down as the pair circled one another, focusing on the large blue one, and allowed itself to 「See」. It was a strange ability. Thief's memory banks did not contain how it had acquired this strange power, the ability to look at and know another robot. It must be something the creators had gifted it to aide in its great mission, to find out the one with the Great Theoretical Ability. But now this divine power would be turned to the aide of its fellow robot. (POWER TO COMPUTE: What is this robot and what are its weaknesses?)

Thief's mind was flooded with information, visions. This beast, fighting, striking down robots larger than itself in a single blow. But it was strange, it wobbled when it moved. It's legs, that was it. Powerful though they were, Thief could also see death tracing along them. These legs were not built for movement. Movement was secondary to the leap and the kill. This thing, this 「Blue Reaper」, was never meant for a fight like this. It hadn't killed its prey, by some miracle it hadn't killed its prey, in a single blow and now the shoe was on the other foot. Would it retreat, leap away were it not in the grips of madness? Yes, yes, that's what a thinking robot would do. But not this one. This one would stay, fighting a battle it was never meant to. One it could not win. Thief pitied it for its living death. "The legs." Thief of Bagdad called out to the Blue Reapers opponent. "Break the legs. Immobilize it. Do not kill it."

[System reboot....Complete] [Internal Systems check.....Complete] [Damage assessment....Power cells..minimum damage..integrated weapons..destroyed...left leg knee joint....critical damage.] [Effective Combat Functionality...73%] [Welcome back....Jack] As the pulse past by what looked like an endless battlefield of countless bodies, Jack was reactivated. He sat up and looked around. There were a countless amount of machines that lay destroyed or deactivated. [Opening memory files...corrupted. One file remains....opening] Jack viewed the file. It was a recording of the last thing he did before he shit down. Bullets whizzed past him and took down something next to him. He turned to see a missile heading straight for him and one other. He grabbed whoever it was and threw them to safety. The missile struck close. The file goes black and then ends. "What happened?" Jack stood up and looked around. "More importantly...who won." He looked down to his left leg to see the knee joint was badly damaged. "The missile that hit by must have caused that." Jack looked around to see a military base. He grabbed his rifle off of the ground and checked his ammunition bags. He then decided to move for the base. He was not able to really run. His leg was damaged and so he walked with a limp in his left leg. He observed the scenery around him. The sky, the ground, the endless battlefield. "What happened here?" [Prime directive....surpress enemy infan-...error...regroup with comman-...error...survive] "So the fight is over, and I'm not regrouping with command. The last objective I was given was survive?" Jack entered the base. [POWER TO COMPUTE: scanning for and power source, armory, and robot repair facility.]

Processors detect no malfunction in generator. Well that wasn’t helpful at all. But if there wasn’t an issue with the generator, then possibly there was a lack in resources to start. It had fuel. It had an operator. What else did a standard combustion engine need to start? ... ... To turn over. That required some sort of power. Instaurabo removed the control panel and followed the line from the ignition switch, finding where it hooked up to an old style fuel cell. Back when caustic chemicals were stored in primitive containers, this was common, in modern times though these types of cell were useless, not capable of outputting enough charge to activate a cleaning bot. This was obviously even worse, because it was dead. A quick analysis revealed that no extra parts were necessary. Older vehicles still used within twenty years of his last update experienced this issue from time to time, and were started through a ‘jump starting technique’ which was easy to perform, with the aid of his battery pack. Star quickly hooked up the necessary wires and performed the procedure, bringing the generator to life and quickly switching the power to the local computer system. “COMPUTER. RESTRICT POWER CONSUMPTION TO THIS SECTOR. EMERGENCY ENERGY CONSERVATION PROCEDURES ACTIVATE.” The lights flared and then dimmed down to the minimum needed to see, and around the room various LED’s flickered and then went quiet, though a slight hum could be heard. Reboot Complete. Power restored to sector A-3. E-E-C procedures active. Instaurabo nodded to himself- an afteraffect of human programming, no doubt. Somehow this was to simulate the idea of confirmation of thought? No matter. “COMPUTER. ANALYZE GENERATORS ONE AND THREE. DETECT VIABLE FUEL CELLS THAT MAY BE TRANSFERED TO GENERATOR TWO. CALCULATE DURATION OF ACTIVATION CURRENTLY SUSTAINABLE.” Backup generators one and three out of order, please contact station supervisor immediately! Three hours and thirty two minutes of power are available currently. Not an amazing amount. Instaurabo whisked through his processors quickly, trying to find priorities that could be fulfilled. “COMPUTER. DEDICATE MINIMAL POWER TO SECURITY SYSTEMS, SWEEP FOR ACTIVE LIFE; DEFINED AS HUMANOID, ROBOTIC, OR UNKNOWN MOVEMENT. REPORT.” Instaurabo glanced at the other engines, torn apart by some of the very bots meant to guard them. He had remembered the mangled remains of other models within the repair shop as well. “COMPUTER. ELIMINATE HOSTILES IF POSSIBLE THROUGH BUILDING SECURITY MEASURES. DO NOT ACTIVATE DEFENSIVE BOTS. I REPEAT. STATIC DEFENSIVE MEASURES ONLY. HOSTILES DEFINED AS ROBOTS WHICH AGGRESSIVELY ATTACK OTHER ACTIVE ROBOTS WITHOUT OBSERVABLE CAUSE. DO NOT ELIMINATE DEFENDING ROBOTS.” That should help clear some of the bugs from the system, if nothing else. At least, so long as the building possessed measures that were not dependent on other robots. How many within the facility were still in functioning order, however? How could he contact them without alerting other bots? ... ... ... A bit of a stretch, but possibly.... “COMPUTER. BROADCAST FOLLOWING MESSAGE THROUGH BROADBAND ON ALL FREQUENCIES: ‘Mayday, all personal within military base ***** dead. Please respond. Emergency Generator two active on limited resources. Please Respond. Over.’ INCLUDE GPS COORDINATES WITHIN MESSAGE. LOOP FIVE TIMES, OVER FIVE MINUTE INTERVALS. ENCRYPT MESSAGE UNDER CODE WORD ‘FLEECE’. BROADCAST FOLLOWING MESSAGE THROUGH BROADBAND ON ALL FREQUENCIES: ‘Encryption code; Missing word: Merry had a little lamb, His ****** was white as snow, and everywhere that Mary went, the lamb was sure to go.’ REPEAT BEFORE PREVIOUS BROADCAST ON SAME PARAMETERS.” That should, theoretically, stop rogue bots from reading the message. Reasoning and free function should be required to unlock that particular riddle, as well as basic knowledge of human literature. Some robots would know the answer purely from their language testing functions, as poems were commonly used for such.