ChromaTober | FMS 2023 writing challenge | Hosted by @LoneRanger253

Day 13 | Cold

AU: Robot!Sabre
Type: —
Characters: Sabre, a Blue Steve
Note: This au is more like a world exploration with major events from RQ happening.

— — — — —
Sabre POV

I and the current crew - Orange, Luca (LC), Shy Orange Steve and Red - decided that it's a good idea to go resource gathering before moving onto finding Blue Steves. None of us wanted to freeze in their snowy landscape with as tall as a snow giant ice spikes. I was sent to find anything north to our temporary camp. Orange went south, Red west and Shy east. 'There some berries for food to gather from the way we'd come from so I guess that's why Red went there - he has exceptional knowledge when it comes to survival and other topics. It's quite intriguing, I'd like to ask him questions about it for research and expand my database.'

Out in the wild, I found some sheep and cows roaming around. I had to kill the latter for the leather, but it did give more food for backup if necessary, so I didn't feel as bad. The sheep were easy, those I could just shear. I checked my inventory to see if I had any shears or iron to make one. I didn't. 'Well, no matter, I can still do it.' My right hand retracted into my arm and switched into the shear tool. 'I'll just need some cleaning to do afterwards.' With that, I got into shearing the sheep I found. I had some wheat to bait them towards me and keep them near to make my job easier. 'Okay, 10 pieces of wool. Not bad.' I concluded and set my path back towards the north, cleaning my shear hand to the best of my ability and then switching it back to my normal hand.

Actually, it just occurred to me. I don't remember them giving any timespan for us to find resources?

Checking audio data...
No requested data found.

'Yeah. I assume it's a day or two, based on the previous times, but they were different since we were all together. I'll just try to be quick and get back as soon as possible. '

As I rolled further into foliage in my skate-like feet, I noticed the amount of trees thinning and life becoming scarce.

Scanning environment...
Environment scan complete:
- Current biome: Oak Forest
- Biomes 12°N:
-> Meadows (2km)
-> Snowy Slopes (800m)
-> Frozen River (500m)
-> Ice Spikes (10000km)
- Surrounding biomes: ...
- Temperatures:
-> Outside temperature: 18°C
-> External temperature: 20°C
-> Internal temperature: 22°C
* —> ! Temperature 1km ahead drops steadily to 5°C
*—> ! Temperature further ahead drops to -20°C
*—> ! Temperature in the Frozen Spikes: -25°C — -30°C
*—> ! Further information unknown...
-Weather:
    -> Current location area: Sunny, Partly Cloudy
    -> 10km N: Sunny —> Low pressure area: Storm incoming
                                                                     ! —> Deemed to arrive to [Current location]: 8h 30min 42sec

'Hmm, interesting. Perhaps that's where the Blue Steves live?'

Scanning for life forms categorised as [STEVE]...
[STEVE] life forms found... In location:biome: [Ice Spikes] | [Frozen River]
Register as {New spieces}?

'Oh. I wasn't expecting to already find them. Guess that makes our journey easier. I should-' static 'Huh?'

Growing [Ice] and [Temperature: Cold] signals detected...
Location: [Ice Spikes] to [Meadows]
! Caution: Freeze moving fast to your location. Advise seeking safety.

My systems warned me as my artificial eyes already noticed the ice freezing the land and trees from a afar. I started skating back on the uneven ground as fast as I could.

Activating cold shield.

Not even 100m further, my feet were already frozen in place by whatever unnatural freeze this was and started crawling up me, starting to damage my components.

! Warning: External temperature has dropped sharply. Internal heat regulator malfunctioning.

'Thanks computer, it's totally helpful!'

I was covered in ice in 3 seconds, after which my location was changed immediately. A teleportation of sorts since my data of coords was different after half a second of glitching. I was still covered in ice, but I was falling, as my Y-axis was showing, the number changing in a faster pace. Or was I sinking? I couldn't know since my blindfold was covered in white, though luckily it kept my optics clear and safe from damage.

Unable to commence environment scan. Retry?
Internal temperature: 5°C & falling

'... There's not really anything I can do. Without my heat regulator and no ways of movement or sight, I'm paralysed, immobile.' I checked my coordinates again.

Current location: [Frozen River] - Y-axis rising

'Rising? Frozen river? Why am here?' After a while, the coords stopped and kept moving on land - or whatever was underneath me. 'Maybe someone got me out of the river and is now bringing me somewhere?' We certainly weren't going back to where I was before. Quite the opposite actually - we were going further into icy landscape where Blue Steves lived according to my scans. But until then...

Deactivating mainframe...
Status: Hibernation

—————

Status: Waking hibernation
External temperature: 10°C
Heat source detected: [Fire]
Heat regulator functioning. Restarting mainframe...
Rebooting systems...

My vision slowly returned from black and I was able to see in front of me, though my lenses were slightly frozen over, making my sight not clear, ice vignette in the corner of my vision, indicating my "health" status.

! Note: Energy levels at 35%

'Oh, seems like the cold took more of my battery than I anticipated. Note to self: Cold is not good for battery.'

"Hey, you awake?" A foreign voice spoke, footsteps on chilly stone following. It was then I realised that I was curled up against a bigger stone near an "oven" fire, the heat warming me slowly to more bearable temperatures, and a furry blanket was over me. My vocal box hadn't restarted yet, so all I could do is lift my head and turn it. Even that took good effort because my joints weren't yet unfrozen. I looked at the person with half closed eyes.

"That was uhm... That was quite fall... err.." the man's voice was quiet, as if afraid to say something wrong and shy, awkward, not sure of what to say.  "Yeah... quite a.. uh, a pickle... ... (awkward silence) I just hope.. that you're okay.. more or less. I'm really sorry about what happened...by the way... A young icicle couldn't control her powers and.. this happened. We'll try our best to get back into shape." In the end, he smiled, but it was small and one of regret and worry.

Internal temperature normalised.
Regulating external temperature...

I 'sighed' and and fog like particles left my mouth which surprised and confused me. 'I shouldn't be able to [BREATHE]..?' The Blue Steve, who I now saw to have light blue hair, almost white, and warm winter clothes, perked up, lit with hope.

External temperature regulated.
Vitals stable.

I managed to fully turn to him. "Uhmm... Thank you, for saving me. And warming me up, I really appreciate the efforts." I smiled to him. My relatively quick recovery must've surprised him.

"Y-Yeah... Of course.."

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And I've lost ideas- :'D Figuring out how to do the system analysis things took quite a lot of time. Hope you liked something new :>