Synthetic

Chapter 06: Unhelpful Hands

The sound of grinding metal broke my paralysis, and I felt the passage tilt and swing violently. Whatever was attacking us scrambled for grip, the metal surface whining as its many silicone palms held fast against the tunnel's insides. We were thrown against the wall, and Ciela lost hold of her gun. "NO!" she cried out, watching the precious weapon tumble into the darkness below. I felt my robotic components go still. One less weapon to defend against the abominable thing we were facing.

"Well?! Don't just stand there like a tin can! Do something!" I heard Ciela cry out in utter fright, trying to pry the hands' vicelike grip from the segment of vent we were inside. I nodded in reply, but my hands didn't seem to obey me, freezing and twitching.

"You should not disobey your protocol. You will be terminated if you do."

"You have already broken the rules! You will be terminated if it gets you!"

"Killing it is wrong."

"Everything you've done since yesterday is wrong!"

"This will result in immediate destruction of you and the hu-"

"WAKE UP, STANLEY!"

I felt strong, sweaty hands shove my head into the wall, my entire body shuddering with the impact. "Now is not the time to start those stupid episodes of yours!" Ciela roared; her ill-lit form trembling and doused in sweat, eyes bloodshot and brimming with trapped tears. Instead of three hands, there were five; stretching around our makeshift cage with flexibility I didn't expect from a sentry. Springing to life in a panic, I swiftly drew my blade, slashing into one of the machine's joints. It screeched again, sending a chill to my very core as a piece of its shell toppled into the endless blackness below. Another swing flung a hand into the pit, which flailed and snapped at the air like it was still trying to grab me.

Ciela tore at the limbs still hanging on, managing to free two of the remaining hands with manic kicks and shoving. A flash of blue (sentry lights, no doubt) illuminated the area around us: a bleak-looking warehouse with rails crisscrossing around the walls, the floor nowhere in sight. At least we knew where we were. Things seemed to be slightly better, with the multi-handed sentry snarling just above us, until a crunch from the ceiling silenced everyone.

We heard a chain groaning, a harsh ping, and finally, air flying by our segment of the passageway as it plummeted from a great height to the ground.

A crash, then everything went silent.

I got up with a start; signal lights bright, albeit a bit chipped. The crumpled remains of the thing attacking us were on the ground, but the smell of fresh blood alerted me to something far worse. I crouched, panicking and tearing at the bits of rubble in my path. "Ciela?!" I shouted instinctively. "Please respond! C-can you hear me?!" Something within me hated itself for harming this innocent girl's life but gasped in awe and pleasant surprise when it saw her body intact. I tuned into my acute sense of hearing. Her heart was still beating determinedly, and her lungs were still taking in air.

For once, a genuine smile formed on my face. I hoisted her body up, jumping a little when I saw a blue eye lazily open. Her body tightened momentarily, before she grasped the situation.

"Am...am I dead?" she groaned, placing her hands on my torso for balance as she shakily held herself upright. She had some minor cuts along the side of her belly, yet she was mostly unscathed.

"It's a miracle you aren't!" I replied, grinning widely. "I'm just happy to see you alive, Ciela."

She seemed to deflect this remark with a huff, rubbing her bruised forehead. "Believe me, I'm surprised any of us lived through that. Speaking of which," she paused, anxiously checking back at the small pile of rubble we had brought down. "...is that...thing...still there?"

A grating, metallic screech from above answered her.

Whirling around to the sound's direction revealed a figure clinging to a platform, hanging upside down like a huge, ghastly white spider. It had a sentry's chassis; dented with large scrapes and bent backwards as its four remaining hands gripped the surface behind it. Much to my horror, it had no head in sight; just a familiar lean, metal arm sprouting from where it should have been. Quicker than I could anticipate, a shattered shriek tore from its speakers as it dropped onto me, limbs outstretched.

I was knocked to the ground instantaneously. The contorted, ghostly pale machine grabbed me by the shoulders, gripping my head and furiously yanking it, like it was trying to pull it off. I cried out uncontrollably, managing to land a kick on its underside. However, with my sight hindered by its attack, I couldn't do much more than miss. Another strike with my blades dented its metal shell, just missing a vulnerable joint. However, this only seemed to anger it further. With a low, garbled noise, it pinned my head to the floor, tearing at my throat and eyes like a wild beast.

However, I was saved when the sentry recoiled with a howl of pain, clambering off me to nurse itself. With the mangled machine's hand off my face, I caught a glimpse of Ciela armed with her raygun. "Come on!" She snarled through gritted teeth, running up behind me and pulling me back to my feet. "You having a nap or something?!"

I drew the blades in my arms again, anticipating our adversary to strike again. So far, it was milling around on the floor, clearly disoriented from the ordeal. Ciela fired at it again, striking the sensitive joints of its fingers and causing it to reel into the darkness. Yet, it didn't seem to be done yet.

Angrier than ever, the device's speakers came alive with an enraged yowl as it reared up on its crumpled legs and charged us, its two remaining hands swiping at us with growing speed. Ciela aimed for its knee, but all its exposed areas were moving too quickly. It hadn't helped that we were in the corner of the vast warehouse.

"I'll try and confuse that thing, so get behind it while you can. I'll stay here!" I whispered harshly to Ciela, hoping to distract it before it could tear me limb from limb. About to strike, I could only hope I'd stand a chance against it this time. I lunged, aiming for its exposed spine as my partner tried to dash around it. However, our plan quickly went afoul when the machine swung its oddly large, handless arm into us with inhuman speed, knocking both of us into the corner. Ciela yelled briefly and collapsed against the wall, the snap of bone and crumpling steel shocking my senses.

I hit the wall hard before regaining my footing. With the nightmarish machine closing in on us, I rose and prepared to fight. However, drawing the blades in my forearms only resulted in a jolt of pain with a grinding sound; my servos were jammed.

Motors #111 and #112 critically damaged.

I had no choice but to get up, gritting my plastic teeth as I prepared for a last stand against it. Yet, it seemed to be warier in its assault, stopping abruptly before it could finish us off. Eventually, it went still as a frozen ghost. It got back onto all five limbs, frantically feeling the ground before it was sent careening into the shadows; whimpering like a startled animal as it effortlessly scurried up the walls and back to whence it came.

"THAT'S RIGHT!" Ciela bellowed hoarsely, triumphant after warding the horrid thing away. "Run and hide, hand-head!" She composed herself when she noticed I was looking at her oddly. "Relax. I don't think anything's that broken." She panted, tucking her gun back into her bag while nursing her forearm.

"I'm sure it's your wrist," I remarked apprehensively, eying a sickly brown bruise behind her dominant hand.

"...On another subject...what do you think that thing is?" She asked, shivering with leftover adrenaline. "S-something like that shouldn't have been able to move -"

I shook my head. "One thing's for sure. It's no ordinary sentry." I pondered on it a bit further. "Do you think...it's like me in a way? Does it feel memories like I do? Perhaps that's the reason it's so irrational."

"If it's haunted by some rabid animal." She snorted. "I still can't believe it ran away! I guess even that atrocity is terrified of some good ol' firepower," A small smirk crept up her face.

"Yeah." I gave a small snicker in response, returning the gesture before it faded. "I'm wondering why it decided to run off like that..."

"Let's not find out," she replied, shuddering at the realization. "Come on. You got another way to the storage room?"

I quickly nodded, checking my internal map.