Runner

Chapter 5: cake and consolation

We got back to a big room in the center of the base. There was a BIG cake waiting. this cake was the size of something that a human being would jump out of. "well," said Kil. "aren't you going to eat?" my response was grabbing a knife and cutting the cake and taking a relatively small piece. "C'mon man." said Mil jokingly. Mine cut him off. "we made this cake for you, aren't you going to eat it right?" 

"yeah. but i'm going to start small." I replied back somewhat nervous. I didn't want to be rude unless I had a valid reason. that was just part of my programming. I had different algorithms for different situations. if someone touched any part of my body my reaction would be to find the person that did it and react according to which part they touched. and if someone would vent to me or talk to me in a hurt tone. my first reaction would be to feel remorse.
Mil wanted to turn in for the night after cake. The next morning Kil took me on a little field trip. We were going to hunt for food. Kil threw me my weapons. "Shoot the animals. Not me." Then we hopped on a two seated bike and sped off. We started our trek back with about two hundred pounds of food. (not a lot FYI) but we passed a little girl that looked like she was totally wasted. she was leaning against a rock. Kil slammed the breaks and looked to see if she was alright. He hoisted her up and threw her in my lap. then we raced back to base.

We got back and Kil made me carry the limp figure to my room. As I did I noticed that her eyes weren't even open. I about killed myself opening the door to my bedroom and rather than eating that night I tried to check the girl and see what was wrong. she looked to be eight years old. Further inspection told me that she was an android as well. depending on what year she was made would tell me where her circuit panel was. I checked the serial number on her forearm. 7uc4. I checked the date on her shirt tag and her distribution was 1997, before aging in robotics was invented. That also meant that her panel was on the back of her neck. I opened a flap to find that some wires were disconnected. This girl was obviously sabotaged. I fixed the wires and oiled the circuits before tripping the ON wire. where was a subtle whirring and her eyes fluttered open. I looked at her face and started to ask her name before she immediately tackled me in a hug. "WHOA!" I yelled just before I fell to the ground. 

she got off of me and sat up. intently awaiting my saying something. "er... hi." I said. she threw her arms around me again. This time she said something unexpected. "I finally found you brother!" I jumped at the word "brother." I hit the back of my head on the wall and fell to my knees in pain. The smaller female android raced over and sat on top of my legs as she checked my eyes. "Is brother ok?" She asked "brother?" I asked as my vision refocused to see what she was doing. I jumped up and she hit her head on the floor. I felt guilty and picked her up and lied her down on the bed. I made a little chair out of pillows for her, then sat down myself with a pillow in my lap. "I know a lot about you from your launch forward. but everything before that is a mystery," she said. "Can you tell me about what happened with your time on earth?" 

I froze. "OK," I said. "I'll tell you about earth."