0:01 (One Past Midnight)

4. We are not alone

The duo had traveled quite far and fast for the remainder of the day until the sun started its descent behind them. They had reached and were now moving beyond where the coast had been once upon a time. The ocean seemed to have vanished entirely. Some remains and ruins were still visible where once there had been coastal towns and cities. It now formed an easy to follow line that indicated where the coast would have been about 200 years ago. With the sea gone all they could see was a beach extending as far as the eye could see.

Melissa was getting both sleepy and cold, so LRU_NULL made the call to head down to the seemingly infinite beach before the sun went down entirely. This way Melissa could get some sleep and they could seek shelter for the night. In doing so they wouldn't have to worry about how long the journey would be to reach the mainland on the other side, nor how long this endless waterless ocean stretched. Having no trust in the ability of its robot body to keep Melissa safe in an uneven area, DrOS had consciously flown past the city ruins and was now seeking flat ground among the peaks and valleys that were once the ocean floor.

Flying low DrOS found a decent spot, in a very slight valley, close enough to shipwrecks. With both wooden and metal scrap available they would be able to start a fire and build a shelter for the night.

Before long a makeshift camp was made by the robot while Melissa was dozing off. As she was falling asleep she mentioned that she could hear indistinct ruffling and some howl-like noises all around, she was however uncertain about distances. The robot could hear nothing so it flew up a small distance and scanned the region all around with both its optical and infra-red eyes. No movement or heat patterns were detected even at its most finely tuned settings. Having found nothing, DrOS set up another set of specialised sensors to work, which detected the same as it always did. These were the same readings as it got in the colony: some form of radiation that didn't seem immediately harmful to humans and had been present ever since DrOS was put in charge of colony 147.

Convinced there was no immediate danger, the robot lowered itself back to the ground and proceeded to patrol the immediate area until Melissa awoke the next day. Throughout the night LRU_NULL did pick up creaking noises from the nearby shipwrecks akin to material contraction. Since the noises remained at a fixed distance throughout the night, they assumed their initial assessment on the origin of the noise was correct. Though DrOS and Trisha were both convinced they were entirely alone, they remained on high alert all night as a precaution; nothing happened all night.

Melissa woke up and was greeted in a cheery manner, this was definitely Trisha. She was a little surprised as DrOS had seemed to be the front-personality on all occasions except on their first encounter. She decide to make a remark about it.

"No DrOS today?"

"Our AI guardian is rather busy right now, we're still both in control of this machine, though." Trisha replied with a soft smile, attempting to sound reassuring.

"What's it busy with? Did anything happen while I fell asleep?"

Trisha lowered the machine to Melissa's level.

"It is plotting our course for the day, it is convinced we can reach our destination before the end of the day." Trisha told her.

Melissa, knowing her teacher well, felt she was holding back some information.

"So, what aren't you telling me?"

Despite being mechanical, some mannerisms unique to Trisha were shining through and her unease as well as her surprise were showing clear as day.

"It's hard to explain in any human form, but something about our sensor readings doesn't make sense; it's too consistent." Trisha hesitated on whether to continue explaining but decided to leave it at that.