Dawn of the RACU

Prologue: The Meeting

In a forest there is a large, eight-foot tall tree trunk about 7 yards in diameter in a small space bare of trees at the front.  What is strange about this tree trunk is a six-foot tall and thick metal door on one side of it, facing the clear space, faint sounds echoing from the inside.  One might think, Why would there be a hollowed out tree trunk with a giant metal door in--

"Are you just going to stand out there all day or are you going to come inside?  It's dangerous out there, you know!!"  The metal door still closed, a rectangular slit as long as a forearm and as large as two stacked one on top of another horizontally appears, two bright blue eyes full of life and intelligence staring out.  Locks on the inside of the metal door unlock, the sound seemingly echoing throughout the entire forest.  Faint returning sounds reach the tree trunk, followed by a howl that did not sound like it came from an organic source, but rather a mechanical one.  As the metal door surprisingly opens rapidly inwards, revealing the thickness of the metal to be about 2 inches, a woman in around her eighties with hair a dull silvery grey, a mechanical right leg, and wearing a faded light green uniform stands within the tree trunk, her bright intelligent blue eyes standing out against the aged features.

*     *     *

Inside the stump is a very well-oriented household, even including windows, though with a strange brown tilt to them, as if from the inside they were dirty.  The space was small, a small futon with a small bookshelf full of old books next to it on the right side of the "house" when looking into it from the doorway area.  Shoved in the back left corner of the house, a work station with a computer, piled with what seems to be countless amounts of paper.  To the immediate left of door after walking completely into the residence, another metal door installed into the floor, similar to the entrance of a storm room was closed.  Between the door and the work station a small electric stove jutted out from the wall, a pot on the stove, heating up what smells like steak.  Crammed in the middle of the space was a rectangular table that barely left  walking space between the stove, futon, work station, and bookshelf.

Hearty laughter, sounding like a sweet symphony in the empty air, emanates from the woman, now standing to the left, the steel door closing as fast and as spontaneous as it had opened, the automatic locking of bolts adding to the music of the woman's voice.  "Hungry, I take it, judging from the way you're gravitating toward that stove."  She smiles and motions to the futon as she walks to the stove.  "Sit down, I have plenty to share."

*     *     *

"I apologize for rushing you into this cramped space right after our meal," the woman said after climbing down the ladder.  She had just locked the door that was installed into the floor of the residence.  Right after the meal, the sound of metal scraping against stone was heard outside the residence.  The space was indeed cramped, with a sink, dresser, miniature refrigerator, and twin-sized bed taking up most of the space.  Judging from the length of the ladder, this place must be at least 10 yards below the ground...

"We're 15 yards underneath my study," the woman says with a small smile, looking up at the door at the top of the ladder.  "You can never be too safe -- or paranoid -- when it comes to those metal menaces!"  She sits at the foot of what is assumedly her bed, and sighs, extending her metal leg.  "We have some time to kill, just to ensure any possible threats will pass right on by.  There is a foldable chair behind the dresser.  I always prepare for a guest or two; you never know when you might run into an organic companion, or when you might next run into on, in this world.

"So we don't die of boredom in place of steel, would you like to hear a story?  I know just the one!  It not only explains how this living nightmare came to be, it also offers a solution!  Just sit back, relax, and enjoy!"