City of Light

Chapter 2

The sun was gone, and the alleyway reeked of feces and rotting meat. It was so dark and the fog so heavy that you could only see a few yards in front of you. But then I saw it - a flickering light with no identifiable origin.  I thought I was dreaming or that maybe I had finally died and was approaching heaven. I slowly walked over, taking calm, deep breaths through my gas mask. The light gets brighter, bigger and more lively. The most life I have seen in two years. As I get closer, I here a sparking sound coming from the same direction, almost like from a welder. When I saw it, my world stopped turning.
A protector trying to weld its damaged parts. A human shaped body, with muscles that looked like black cables on the upper arms and shoulders plated with sleek, shiny, black armor minus the hole with steam coming out of it. Must be de-pressurizing. Still, on his arms everything from the elbows down is a robotic arm, intricate fingers made from the smallest components, Crafted perfectly. Its chest is a black plate with more than a dozen knife marks that have been welded over and over again shining silver like scars.  On the left and right are two more pressurizing holes rimmed by red glowing circles. In the middle is something written but I can't make it out. It's legs look powerful, strong, with more artificial muscle covering the inside of its thighs. Armor covers the outside of its thighs, again perfectly crafted mechanisms for its knees that were specially designed to absorb massive amounts of pressure. Everything below is all metal and all high tech with a solid rod supporting the ankle joint. It doesn't seem to have toes, just... I don't know what material it is. My eyes track to its face. I almost refuse to look.  I have the feeling that it was looking at me the whole time. A complete, perfect metal head in two parts. A back and front covering its face, if it had one. A thin red line goes through the face plate and where its eyes should be. It blinks red. A warning?
All of a sudden, it stops welding and with a click and a few ticks its head looks up to me. My spine is frozen in place and my eyes won't blink, my heart won't beat. Time froze. Slowly and calmly it extends its hand out to me holding the welder. It won't move, I slowly retrieve the welder from its cold, blood stained hand. It turns its back to me and points to a spot on its back Upper right shoulder. I'm hesitant to do it, I have never come face to face with a protector. A few moments later I come to the conclusion to help, to understand, and to care. To lend a helping hand to another being of this universe. I spot a long, rough, burn mark. I proceed to carefully try to maintain a steady hand. It felt like days, but I was finally done. I turn off the welder and back away, it turns around and stands up. I can hear the churning, the clicking and the hum of its metal organs working. It stands a few inches above me and looks down at me. I can feel it giving me a thank you, but it never says or does anything. We stand there and stare at each other for a few moments. Like I said, my life changed forever. A connection was made that day. I could feel it.