Mech

Chapter 18: Family Reunion

I sat on the edge of the drop with my feet dangling down. Above us lay a very large tin plate that was propped up by the wall of junk behind us and a single steel beam just before the drop. At the rear corner the tin was bent upwards, creating a hole one could drop down through. That's how we got in. The only other way to access this area was to crawl through all of the rubble around us. It was like a maze. I let Catt out of my backpack and she was curled up in my lap, purring softly as she slept. Sitting on the ground against the wall of junk, Mitzi opened a med-kit salvaged from the workshop before it was destroyed. She carefully applied liquid stitches to Jason's chin. That would turn into one nasty scar. Max sat next to me with the pillar to his left and stroked Catt's soft fur as we peered out across the destructive landscape we had no choice but to call home.

"It's so cool that this lil'guy made it this far!" said Max.

"Yeah," I replied, "It's amazin' any'v'us have really."

Max nodded, "Yeah, you got a point."

Aaliyah came up from behind me and sat, leaning her arm against a partially deflated tire, "What a beautiful creature. I used to have a dog when I was little..if the library were still there I could show you.."

"Wait," I said, "You mean this cat ain't yours?"

Aaliyah shook her head, "I do not remember her. I have suspicions that I may not have access to all of my memories in this robotic shell..perhaps if I get my own body back I'll remember."

I nodded. Just like the memories of the operation were wiped, maybe the idea of this animal being here was also erased in order to protect it. Max looked down and shivered at the drop.

"Ya know, I've never really been scared'v heights." He muttered, "More scared of lookin' up. Ever since I was little s'been like that. Don't know, somethin' about lookin' down..gives me the creeps."

"Why's that?" I asked, curious. Max didn't talk much about himself or his past, he liked to make the present better instead of brood over the past.

"Well," He started, "Before I joined the group with y'all, I was with my dad. He had me on his shoulders, he said don't look down or I'll get scared. So I looked up'n...well, that's why Cycoffs freak me out so much.."

I gasped and grabbed his hand, "Max..your father..he.."

Max shook his head, "S'alright. I was young, just like y'all. General Trenton grabbed me after I ran away...Dad told me t'run and next thing I know I have a whole new family. I guess if it didn't happen I never would'a met you." He smiled, but I knew there was pain behind his eyes. Next thing I knew there was a metal clang behind us.

"Gather around, my children! I found something I think we need to discuss!" Esclave shouted.

I picked up the sleepy kitty, whose eyes fluttered open, and set her down next to me. Her back arched, then slumped down as her front paws stretched out forwards. Once she was done with her stretch, she shook her head and her ears flapped from side to side in a blur, then she pattered after me towards the others. Esclave sat amidst a pile of scrolls and unrolled blueprints. Everyone gathered around her and waited for her to explain what she had discovered.

"This is the blueprint for the bio preservation tank. AKA, that thing our robo-friend's real body is being kept alive in."

She held up the page to show us the pencil sketched cylinder outlined in blue and red pen. It seemed like a design for a science fiction tv show. There were tubes that pumped air into the person's lungs and a separate set of tubes that connected to veins in the arms to pump vital nutrients into their system. A crown-like device was supposed to be secured around the person's head that detected the electric activity in the brain and was synced with a chip that had to be pre-installed in the brain stem (or something like that). The purpose of this was to sync the person's consciousness with the Utopian system, which would allow the broadcast of their personality and being to the robotic counterpart. It was all nonsense to me, all the fancy medical and engineer-y lingo scribbled across the page made no sense in my book, but there was clear evidence it worked.