[Automatic] (An Aarmau AU)

[Chapter 8] A Strange Discovery

Two days.

The constant reminder continued to repeat in my head. I had two days to finish this android.

It seemed like a life time ago, that Prince Aaron came to my shop to ask for help with his android. In reality, it was only about two weeks ago. Still, it's crazy how much can happen in a short period of time.

I promised him I would have this done in two weeks, and I try never to break my promises. I could've just given up when I found the control panel to be a burnt up mess, but no, I continued to work on it anyway.

Maybe you're just trying to impress Aaron.

I shook away all other thoughts, and continued working. I couldn't get distracted now, not when I was so close to finishing.

So far, I had completely replace both the outer, and inner plating. Along with most of the wires, power core, and even upgraded its heating structure. Now if it ever got to the point of burning out, it would shut down before any damage could be done.

I was very proud of my work, Katelyn said it would be impossible, and yet I did it. Nothing feels better to a mechanic, then fixing something, and making it better then ever before!

It was almost completed, I just needed to test it before I put it into the actual android. Any wrong moves and I could completely destroy its entire inner structure.

I know a lot about that.

Luckily for me, I already had a test android ready. It was just a small shell droid, that I had thrown together with a few spare parts, but it would work for what I needed to do.

Hooking the connection cables to the shell, I could only hope this wouldn't explode in my face. The last thing I needed way another destroyed control panel.

Once everything was hooked up, I carefully placed the droid on the floor. I picked up the small remote I had connected to it, and pressed the power button.

It came to life almost instantly, and before I could say anything, it started talking.

"The Nether had always been know as a dead region, until recently, signs of life have been reported coming from the portal-"

I let my arms drop to my sides, and listened to the android.

"Ru'an has tried many negotiating tactics with the Nethers leader, a shadow named Shad, but to now avail. Many believe Shad has plans to attack the earthen regions, and become supreme ruler of-"

"Stop!", I screamed at it, probably loud enough for my neighbors to hear.

The android listened, and seemed to realize where it was. "May I ask human", it asked, "Where might I be?"

"Uhh", I answer, "My apartment"

"Well that is not right", it stated, looking around, "I am property of the Falcon Claw government, I must issue an emergency call now"

"NO", I said frantically, "T-That's not needed. I was assigned by Prince Aaron to fix you"

It seemed to look up at me. "Why would I need fixing human?", it asked, "I should not be able to break"

"Well, you did", I told the confused android, "Your control panel was completely fried, I had to replace almost everything"

"That's not righ-right-right", it said, steam starting to flow from its head.

"Shutting down internal systems"

"NO", I screamed, diving for it, "NOT AGAIN"

I reached down to manual turn it off, but as soon as my metal hand came into contact with the droid, a bolt of electricity made me fall to the ground, paralyzed.

"All systems down"

Xx

"Aaron! There you are"

I turned to find my father walking towards me, a happy, but forced expression on his face.

"Hi dad?", I said a bit confused, "What's going on?"

"Well you see son", he answered, "I've just got back from another meeting, and Ru'an and the Nether have come to a peace agreement"

Those words surprised me. "A peace agreement?!", I asked, somewhat skeptical, somewhat excited.

"Well", he continued, "Sort of. Shad and some of his high ranking officials will be coming to Falcon Claw for our annual party"

"What does that have to do with peace?"

"We decided", he told me, "That during their stay here, we will discuss more on the topic of peace"

That made more sense, I knew they would never agree to any old peace treaty.

"Do you have any idea what they might propose?"

My dad looked down, a bit grim. "I'm not quite sure yet, but whatever it is, it won't be easy"

I had heard those words many times, was does peace have to be so hard to find, and so easy to lose?

"I see", I told him solemnly, "Whatever it is, I will help accomplish it, for the good of our people"

He put his hand on my shoulder, a proud expression on his face. "You're going to make a fine ruler some day", he told me.

I nodded, and he started back down the hall, his back to me. "Always remember Aaron", he told me, as he continued down the hallway, "No matter what happens, you'll still always be my son"

Before I could responded her rounded the corner, and was gone.

What did he mean by that?

Xx

I slowly woke up, feeling very dizzy. I tried to remember what had happened, but nothing came to mind.

That was, until I saw the android lying on the floor next to me. Everything came back at once, the information it told me, talking to it, watching it over heat...

I crawled over to it, and detached the connection wires. After a quick inspection, I found nothing wrong with the control panel, only the droid had broke.

This was a huge relief, I thought for sure I had messed the panel up again. I came to the conclusion that the reason as to why the droid over heated, was due to the amount of energy the power core produced. It was made for big androids, not these little ones.

Everything should work once it put the panel back into its actual body. Then the android would finally be fix, and then I could finally get a whole nights rest.

I carefully place the panel into a small box I had found, and put it on my desk. Tomorrow I would return to the palace and reattach the panel, then this job would finally be over.

A sudden thought made me stop, if I was finished with this job, would I ever see Aaron again? Would I ever see Katelyn?

Would I lose the friends I'd fought so hard to keep?