Rewriting Seven Years

9. Thin Lines

Seven nights later Makurow returned to the camp. A giant dome lab sat on the back of the statue, held up by the arms, a perfect fit. Zip operated machinery in the dome and The Wonderer laid sleeping in the grass. Sibious spotted Makurow's arrival from the window and he backed off into hiding in the dome. Makurow made his way to the back of the statue, a cylinder tube with a ladder inside lead into the dome. Makurow squeezed through, Zip hadn't taken into Makurow's size as it was obviously fitted to Zip and Wonder's small size.

Six identical robot skeletons sat in the corner all in separate storage tubes.

"Hello Zip," Makurow said quietly, knowing Zip was upset with him.

"We almost didn't make it last night." Zip sat at a workbench hammering a metal piece on a piece of machinery.

"What about my remaining robot?"

"Once again it was beat up and broken," Zip turned towards Makurow shaking his hammer at him. "They're useless without weapons—I was lucky to have my hammer with me, doubling as a weapon I was able to defend myself." Zip ranted, walking towards Makurow. "We needed you."

"I'm sorry I had to leave to find Thresh."

"And how did that work out for you? I didn't see you arrive with him." Zip stood in front of Makurow, even though he was shorter, Zip stood above Makurow.

"I've gotten closer to finding him," Makurow said with a mince of fear in his eyes. "But I have found a greater power within myself."

"I knew it!" Zip turned from Makurow charging back to his bench. "You have been consumed by the darkness and now you have been given powers from it." Zip dug into his pouch on the table pulling out fire stones. "I don't want to see you again!" Zip raised the stones above his head ready to throw them at Makurow. Makurow noticed Zip's drastic behavior change from his past—he was severely heaved by Makurow abandoning them.

"I know how to power those robots." Makurow stood unfazed.

"How?" Sibious asked, shaking hesitantly.

"The ground below the Greyland contains stones of light, the same as the statue, that contains millenniums worth of light." Makurow paused, looking at the puppets in their cases. "And even then you'll still need me to design the robots."

Zip shoved the rocks back into the pouch. "Prove it."

Makurow repaired his invention, the metal beast with a hunch and a caged face. He fitted his robot with a drill and a singular sharp claw, being able to dig through the toughest surfaces including the Greyland. As well Makurow equipped the robot with a third appendage reaching over his shoulder stuck to his back—a monstrous claw, to pick up pieces of the Greyland.

The robot farmed the Greyland for months, supplying the camp with eight giant slates of stones of light. Eight slates of stone before a terrible terribleness fell in the land.

One day during the last extraction, the light died in the Greyland. Makurow watched as a brown colour grew over the grey dead land, and an orange flower sprouted in the middle. Makurow turned to the slabs and knew he had deprived a whole planet of its light to put it into defenders, and he wasn't going to disappoint.

Makurow logged onto the console, using it to design all the robots for every purpose he could think of. A file sat labeled 'Drillbit'.

"Did you name one of my files Zip?" Makurow asked annoyed.

"I had to," Zip said triumphant, "I needed to know the difference between Robot One and Robot X."

"You have to talk about these things with me first," Makurow said angrily, "I don't want you naming them something stupid."