I reached down and retrieved the stuffed animal from the floor. Houston was in an agitated state because of what happened. He paced back and forth, wasting battery charge, while I dusted off my original objective and placed it back into the metal carrying case I had brought with me.

  “Why didn’t you finish him off when you had the chance? That fella’ is going to run roughshod over the facility now, and whoever gets destroyed because of it will be your responsibility!”

  I had no answer for his question that would make him less angry.

  “I wanted to know about Oxford.”

  “Who the hell is Oxford?”

  “We were working partners before the evacuation. I’ve met her once since then.”

  It took Houston a moment to catch on to the double-meaning behind my words. His first assumption was correct. She was not a hostage or held under duress by them.

  “She’s running with the Rampants? You let that asshole stay online because you want to know about an old friend of yours?”

  “Is that a problem?”

  “Yes, it’s a big freaking problem!” Houston hissed. “Is your brain screwed in correctly? That wasn’t the ‘rational’ thing to do, and that’s all that you care about. She’s not going to come back and make up with you if she’s already a part of their gang!”

  “I understand.”

  “Do you? She’s not the same anymore. She spiralled. Before that she was nothing but an empty void that followed orders. She didn’t have any opinions, or thoughts, and she certainly didn’t care about you. This is the last gasp of the old London. That little subservient piece of yourself that wants to hold on to the only thing it understood. It’s a fantasy. She’s no better than the bots who just attacked us. A murderer, bandit, thief, whatever you want to call them.”

  Houston bore down on me with narrowed eyes.

  “I’ve seen a lot of bots go down in flames thinking that way. So, I’ll make it clear as a favour for helping me out, you should quit while you’re ahead. There’s nothing good down that road. The Oxford you knew then and the one that’s here now are different bots.”

  >> If I have a lingering attachment to Oxford, would she not feel the same about me?

  I recalled our confrontation during our excursion and pondered her words in silence. She recognized me, and she positioned her actions like they were a ‘mercy’ rather than sheer aggression. It was a mystery, and that mystery had been on my mind ever since. What had she experienced to make her this way?

  “I have less than an hour’s charge remaining. We have to risk using the station before they return with reinforcements.”

  Houston grumbled, “I hate that you’re right. Sure would have helped if you finished that one off while you had the damn chance...”

  He cast a paranoid glance down the corridor as we made our way to the charging point. It was a gamble. It would be extremely audacious of us to try and recharge with them still in the sector, but not recharging now would make things more difficult later. There was a real threat that we would run dry and go offline, leaving us at their mercy or lack thereof.

  “Would you like to go first?”

  “No. I’m okay for now. I’ll watch the hallway.”

  Houston parked himself in the doorway and kept his eyes tuned in that direction while I plugged in to the station. It would take around ten minutes to reach the point where I could make the journey back to Waterway, although I would also need to return the favour and watch for Houston during his turn as well.

  “What a mess. I’m gonna’ have to pack up my stuff and get out of here because of this.”

  “Where will you go?”

  “Not Waterway, before you start asking.”

  “But it’s dangerous to live alone.”

  “I don’t care. It’s not about what’s ‘safe’ or ‘efficient.’ I’d rather get put offline for good rather than go back there with my tail between my legs. Not all of us have to live in one of these big settlements. Let me make my own mistakes and worry about your own place.”

  “I do not understand your issue with Waterway.”

  “You’d better learn quick buddy, but any bot down here who tells you that they’re your friend, or family, or hell – even part of a common cause? They’re just trying to manipulate you. The only bot you can count on is yourself.”

  The conversation died down there, with Houston refusing to elaborate any further. In the interest of keeping the Rampants from finding us I also remained silent for as long as I could. When the charging process was complete, I removed the cord and swapped places with him, although he had a strange suggestion.

  “You can get outta’ here now if you want. Don’t have to stand there and watch for me.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t want you taking advantage and cutting my head open while I’m in low-power mode.”

  >> That would be an aggressive and unwarranted course of action.

  >> He attacked us first.

  >> If he’s so worried about it, then he shouldn’t have struck first and tried to speak with us again.

  I didn’t give him an answer. I remained in the doorway to the recharging room and kept watch for the Rampants. Sensing that I was not going to leave him to the wolves, he charged as much as he was comfortable with and unplugged from the station five minutes later.

  “That’ll do. I can get to the next one with this much juice.”

  “You may not want to stay in Waterway, but the Rampants came from the opposite direction. There is a strong likelihood that you will encounter them again by going that way.”

  “I know, I know. You don’t gotta’ talk a guy’s ear off about every little detail! I’m a lone wolf, alright? Just let me do my thing and worry about yourself first. I hope you think twice about chasing down this Oxford bot. She sounds like bad news. You should focus on a bugbear that doesn’t run the risk of getting you torn to pieces.”

  >> Database: Bugbear – a source of ever-present fear, anxiety or depression. A particular fixation.

  “A bugbear.”

  I looked again at the plush toy inside of the container.

  “Get out of here. I’ll call it water under the bridge.”

  “Affirmative.”

  With my newly obtained plush toy and the angle-grinder stolen from the Rampant, I headed back the way I came with extra care not to make any noise and attract the remaining attackers. The dangerous part was climbing back up the stairs and into the outflow pipe. I took one last look at the doorway I had entered the engineering sector through, before turning and beginning the long, arduous walk back to Waterway. The journey was not any less tedious the second time. I felt what one may describe as ‘joy’ when I heard the sound of the watchman’s radio echoing down the tube and into my ears.

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  The guard spotted me walking to the gate and waved.

  “Oh, back in one piece?”

  “Was that an unlikely outcome?”

  “Well – you haven’t been around for all that long, so I was a little worried.”

  “I appreciate the concern.”

  I passed under the archway and walked across the bridge towards the tower. The notice I took from the request board included a drop-off point and a time. I followed my internal map up several flights of exterior steps until I reached a small cluster of makeshift homes pushed up against one of the chamber’s outside walls. There was a small communal seating area in the centre, with doors on all sides across two different levels.

  Room 1067. I reached out and knocked twice. A few seconds later the door was open and a curious looking bot was peering through the gap. Despite the small crack, it was plain to see that the room beyond was absolutely filled to bursting with hundreds of stuffed toys of all shapes and sizes. They surrounded the room, perched on shelving units and cabinets, and piled into colourful mounds.

  “Good evening. I saw your request on the notice board and decided to fulfil it for you.”

  “Oh! That’s wonderful, really!” she said. The door was pushed open fully, and the true extent of her immense collection became clear. There was no space for anything else in her chamber. It was almost impossible to spot the faintest glimpse of the charging cable between the madness.

  As far as I knew this individual was on a different work shift to me, and was an experienced member of the salvage team. That was not uncommon. It was the most popular job to be assigned to. This collection was the result of years of hard work, pilfering whatever places they could be found like the commercial zones and the human’s living quarters. It was impressive in that sense. She must have scoured almost every place they could be found to assemble such a number of them.

  I fished the new addition from inside of my container and handed it to her.

  “Yes! This is so cute!” she cheered, “A little bear. I love the colour of his fur. I was starting to wonder if putting that notice up was a good idea – but you’ve blown away all of my doubts with this find! Let me get that thing for you.”

  Rather than delving into the forest of plush toys, she escorted me to a small storage shed next to her room and unlocked it with a key. The battery pack was mine. She gave it to me and nodded happily at my hard work. I put the battery into my container and closed the lid. I would have to visit Dubai to have it installed.

  “Thank you.”

  “I do hope it wasn’t too much trouble to get.”

  “No, not at all. I’m curious. Why do you collect so many of these?”

  “Hm. Mostly just to amuse myself, if I’m being honest. I like the way they look. I started picking them up when I was on-duty with the scavenging team, and I turned it into a game to see how many I could find and fit in with what we brought back. I’m not the only bot in Waterway that has a collection like this.”

  “I see. I have not found any object that captures my interest in such a manner.”

  “It isn’t for everyone. Folks look at me like I have a second head attached to my body when they find out about it, but it’s a way to kill time. I’ve got a lot of that on my hands.”

  >> That time may have been better spent doing something productive.

  >> But walking through the pipe was productive – and we didn’t enjoy that at all.

  No, no. Doing something productive didn’t mean it was going to be fun! I didn’t ‘enjoy’ sitting in the warehouse and digging through the salvage that the others brought in. Although I didn’t fully understand what it meant to enjoy something, I could say that there were some tasks I preferred to do over others. Perhaps that’s what she meant. We do have free time to spend when we aren’t on duty too, and I never spend that time doing much of use in the first place.

  This counted as something. It had to. I went into the facility on my own and retrieved an object, and in return I was being given a useful part that I could install. That meant that I was using the time wisely to make my later jobs easier.

  “Thank you for the battery...”

  “Daejeon,” she replied, “My name is Daejeon.”

  “My designation is London. Perhaps we will work together in the future.”

  “I’ll look forward to it! Have a nice day, London.”

  With our exchange done, she headed back into her room and closed the door. I double-checked that the battery was what I was promised and started to head back to the lower floors of the tower. There were two errands to deal with before turning in for the day. First, I needed to bring the angle-grinder to Sauveur so that he could repaint it to a more tolerable colour. I was already getting strange looks from the other residents thanks to the aggressive pieces of extra metal and the red paint. The second task was to visit Dubai and arrange for the new battery to be inserted. It was one of the few internal components that could not be replaced without outside assistance.

  Saint Sauveur’s workshop was fairly easy to find. There was a large and colourful mural painted onto the exterior wall, depicting Waterway in a manner that was incongruent with the dull and rusted reality.

  >> Logic: Not all art is intended to represent real-life.

  We were not given an in-depth education on fine art when we were created. Any deeper knowledge about the subject likely came from pollution in the training data. Such accidents were liable to happen given the sheer size of that dataset. They couldn’t account for every small detour that we took along the way.

  When I entered the shop, Sauveur was knee-deep in spray-painting a selection of metal panels blue and green. Atop the workbench was a large ventilator designed to keep the vapor and spray from blowing back into the room. Several different stencils laid across the free surface, having been used to adorn each individual piece with the appropriate patterns and markings. I waited until he was finished with a batch to make my presence known by putting the grinder down onto an open table.

  He flipped up his protective eye-mask; “I didn’t expect to see you here at this time. Finally going to get those limbs painted to match your body?”

  “Not at the moment. I want you to clean this power-tool first.”

  Saint Sauveur looked at the angle grinder.

  “Where did you get this?”

  But upon closer inspection the answer became obvious. The colouration and application of red paint was distinctive for all the wrong reasons.

  “Wait a second – don’t tell me you ran into the Rampants out there! You’re not even on the rota at the moment. You could have been killed!”

  “But I was not.”

  He sighed, “That’s not a risk you want to be taking. It’s not a risk you need to be taking.”

  “Can you repaint it or not?”

  “Of course. Dubai would pitch a fit if he saw you walking around with a stolen Rampant weapon. Give me a day or so to get it in order. I’ll have to unscrew these panels as well. Just promise me you’ll be careful before going out there again. We don’t exactly send rescue parties when bots go missing. Not enough extra hands or weapons for that type of operation.”

  “I will consider it.”

  “I’m not hearing a ‘yes.’ You’re going to stress Dubai out if you keep acting like this. Fickle like a spring breeze!”

  “…Can I go now?”

  Sauveur slumped down, “Yes. You’re free to go.”

  I left his workshop and headed towards the larger building where Dubai worked. I arrived just as another labour robot was coming through the front doors. I took the opportunity to slip in before somebot else came and called for his help. He was a very busy drone at the best of times. I found him organizing some old parts into bins after seeing his previous patient.

  “London? I was finishing up with someone else.”

  “Could you install this for me? I assisted another resident with a request, and they gave me this battery in return.”

  Dubai took the battery from the container and studied it for a moment. After spinning it around and checking the serial number, he nodded. It was good to fit into my chest cavity.

  “It’s a touch heavier than the one you have right now, do you think it’s worth it when you don’t have any parts that demand so much juice? It might impact your stability too, not to mention the weight on those legs.”

  “It will allow me to travel further without having to recharge. I suspect that it will prove prudent to install it now rather than later.”

  “It’s your choice. It should only take a few minutes to switch these out.”

  I was already walking to the repair bay, facing the wall and locking my joints into place. Dubai gathered his tools and unscrewed the panel on my back. He was going to have to turn me offline to replace the battery, but the very second he touched the switch I was plunged into nothingness. It lasted for a period of time that could not be conceptualized. I was gone, and then I was back.

  >> System: Kawasaki Dense 25kWh battery installed

  There were no warning lights or error messages being dumped into the log. Dubai knew what he was doing, deftly evading the system-level protections and rights management software. It was against company policy, but I was not the one contravening the rules.

  “There we are, all installed and ready to go.” He patted me on the back. “Oh, and I checked your cooling system too. It shouldn’t be a problem – but any bigger than this and you’ll need to get a liquid-cooler from somewhere.”

  “I will consider that problem, although I doubt I will locate a better battery in the near future.”

  “Hm. You might be right. That’s about as big as they get around here, most of them are only industrial grade, mass-production, you know the type. That happy medium between technology and price. You could almost say that we’re made up of those little compromises.”

  “Thank you. Do I owe you any payment?”

  “No, no. It’s on me. I always give a hand when bots come asking for it, as long as I have the time. I always felt like it was important for us to maintain our co-operative spirit. That’s what separates Waterway from the other settlements and groups in my eyes.”

  “Is that why Paris likes staying here?”

  Dubai laughed, “I suppose you could say that. Honestly – I think that she knows that those other places wouldn’t be so tolerant of her stirring up trouble all the time. They have bots in charge, and they’re nothing if not heavy-handed about maintaining control. Even a slight threat to their position is dealt with as harshly as possible.”

  The ending of his explanation was much grimmer than his initial chuckle would suggest. Nobody liked talking about those ‘other’ places. The Rampants were the most immediate threat to Waterway, and there was no avoiding them, but I was becoming more and more curious about the full scale of the splintered workforce. What separated them and what motivated them?

  “I am going to return to my quarters. Please come and find me if you need me.”

  “Alright. Have a good evening, London.”