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Chapter 2 — A Whisper among the Stars
3025 AD / 15 RE

The coffin like freeze pod blossomed into a steel flower, revealing Issen to the world as coolant was jettisoned from it. Isolinium held him close, placing a delicate kiss on his lips before drifting away, toward the bridge of the automated ship. The energy being cross over dozens of storage areas, listening to the almost silent hum of power fueling the lights. She could tap into it if she wished to; travel a bit faster at the expense of a little power, but at the moment there was no need for such waste.

‘It seems the humans onboard have all settled onto their new world. But why would they awaken Issen? Is there some kind of emergency?’

Finally clearing the immense holds, the girl floated onto the bridge. Through the view port, she could see a lush green and blue world that brought back fond memories of an old earth, one that hadn’t been corrupted by nuclear fire and pollution. Several disks floated around in freefall, each labeled as data logs. She passed them, touching each with a slender hand and absorbing the data within. Evidentially, Dr. Varr had been awakened when a suitable planet had been found. After a whole year, a settlement built by Type-One robots was completed and all five thousand of the humans aboard had been transported to the surface via shuttle. She smiled, truly happy that their race had been spared from its own mistakes.

“…Isolinium.”

She turned as Issen spoke to her, even though she knew he was many decks below.

‘It’s all right. The humans are safely to their new world, beloved.’ She gently nudged those thoughts of security to him, reassuring the guardian of his success.

“I see. You’re on the bridge then?”

‘Yes,’ she thought to him, ‘and they left some very detailed logs here. I still do not know why they awoke you however…’

“Another mystery is why the power systems are beginning to fail on the ship. The sector I’m currently in has lost all functionality, but I’ve managed to get into the elevator shaft none the less. I will join you in a few seconds.”

‘I understand.’ She nodded in his general direction before returning to the business at hand. Pushing her translucent hands into the main console, she accessed the ships systems. Indeed, the main reactor of the ship had become unstable over their journey across the stars. There would be no repairing it with the limited supplies they had. Eventually, the entire ship would plunge into darkness if nothing was done… The elevator doors squealed open as Issen pried them apart. ‘There you are. We don’t have much time…’

In an instant, Issen knew all she had learned. While all of their communication could have been that fast, it seemed less personal to both of them. “I will contact Dr. Varr on the surface. Perhaps he will know how to at least stabilize the unit.”

The silver armored robot drifted toward the console as Isolinium floated out of the way, typing in his identification and sending an emergency signal on all channels. Several seconds passed before a data window popped up, asking for conformation. Though he was proud that they had kept to his security protocols, Issen didn’t have time to deal with it at the moment. He hacked through, bringing up an AV connection to the main base. A fair haired technician jumped in surprise when Issen’s visage came up on his screen, accompanied by a haunting demand.

“I need to speak with Dr. Varr. Now.”

“…Y-yes sir! I’ll get him right away!”

It took a few minutes for them to find the good doctor, but eventually the now clean shaven man was sitting before them on the other side of the line. “It’s good to see you, Issen. I can’t help but wonder why you’re awake however…”

“The reactor on the Valiant is failing. If we don’t fix it soon, the whole ship will be without power. If you’re following my guidelines for having a colony down there, you must realize that this ship is your first warning against any possible dangers.”

“We know Issen. We already had a crew preparing to launch up there for a routine check, but a hurricane threw us off schedule. My apologies for letting it get so bad that the emergency release mechanism was triggered.”

Issen shook his head, giving the man his twisted smile to reassure him. “It isn’t your fault Dr. Varr. Some contingencies cannot be planned for. How long until the launch is ready?”

“Not for another week on our current schedule, and by then the reactor will be completely inoperable. Even with the tools we have down here, it’s impossible to repair it after a complete shutdown. The only course of action that could prevent this is for someone to give it a charge large enough to sustain it until we get there. If I rush the teams, we can be up there in three days.”

“I see. How large of a charge are we talking about?”

For a minute, there was nothing but the sound of incessant scribbling from the other end. The scientist was hard at work, processing several dozen formulas at once as he confirmed his estimate. “I believe a jolt from your Light Dash system at three times the normal charge might be enough, but I’ve no clue where you’d get that kind of power. I don’t think that merging with Isolinium would be enough either…”

“I see… What about the plasma cartridges from my rifle?”

Dr. Varr’s face brightened visibly at that idea. “Why of course! I’d completely forgotten about those! There should be several spare clips in storage hanger B, if I’m not mistaken. Seven clips worth should be more than enough of a charge along with your own energy.”

“Okay. Thanks doc. I’ll keep in touch.” He cut the link, turning to Isolinium with his trademark smile. “Well, we’d better get moving. No telling how long we have until the power goes down.”

‘Right!’ She nodded happily, drifting forward and kissing him. She continued into him, merging with his systems and giving up her energy to him. It was as close to intimacy as either of them had ever known, and ironically the first thing that had ever happened between them. As she flooded into Issen’s condensers, the metal being felt her surrender to him, filling his body with extraordinary power.

“Let’s go!” Issen shoved off the console, grasping the elevator’s doorway and slinging himself toward the relative down. He followed the blueprints in his head, counting the levels as he passed them until he reached the appropriate one. Using his sickle blades as battering rams, the guardian threw himself into a diving roll toward the elevator doors and cut right through them, peeling away every layer of steel that formed them. The hallway beyond was pitch black, but the three diamonds in Issen’s helmet lit the way for him. “A… B! Alright.”

There wasn’t enough room to perform his battering ram trick, but his sabers were still in pristine condition after the eternity he spent in the freeze pod. They snapped to life in his hands, piercing blue blades shining brilliantly in the dark. Two swipes removed the hinges and lock, letting the door drift free in the zero gravity environment. Effortlessly, Issen pushed it to the side and drifted in. A baker’s dozen of crates were strapped down corners of the room, while weapons lockers lined the walls. Out of curiosity, Issen pulled them open to inspect the equipment. Much to his surprise, a new type of rifle was sitting inside.

“They upgraded the GE-eight-six?” He pulled it out, studying the weapon. A quick scan told him it was a slug thrower, unlike his plasma rifle. “Huh. Guess they wanted to keep their arsenal varied.”

He placed the weapon back in its locker, but changed his mind and grabbed it anyway, sliding it into a secondary holster above his plasma rifle. True, it was a bit bulkier than his old weapon, but the solid shell rifle appeared to have less recoil in null-gravity areas. The crates held ammo for both weapons, and he made sure to stock up on both while tossing seven of the plasma clips into a knapsack. He slung the bag over his shoulder before gliding out of the room and making his way back toward the elevator. Another trip in the opposite direction put Issen in the engineering section, it’s still bright lights a stark contrast to the dark corridors of the storage section. There were stick plates here as well, pads that magnetized to metal boots upon contact to make work easier. He avoided these until the reactor was in sight, letting the magnetic grip take hold as he typed in the commands to open up the system for repairs. The external temperature rose dramatically as the seals opened, burning the edges of his cloak slightly as the heat was breathed out to him. A tone in robot’s head alerted him to a communiqué being routed from the bridge directly to his mind; the very same system that had been used in Haven Base.

‘Issen, are you at the reactor yet?’

“Yes. I’m opening up the matrix as we speak. Do you have the instructions ready for me?”

‘I’m transmitting them now.’

The signal pulsed into Issen’s mind like a small wave, giving him a clear idea of what he needed to do. It only took a minute for him to empty the un-ignited plasma rounds into the blazing reactor. The reactor pulsed slightly as each one entered the core, hellish bursts of heat letting Issen know that each one had been set off successfully. Unlike in his rifle, the plasma continued to burn with each passing second as the electromagnetic restraint system held it in place. Closing the reactor, he found the main power line cut it from its housing. With a delicate cut from a blade, he pealed away the insulation and grabbed the metal cords within, crushing them against the sickles on his back.

Though dangerous to his health, since he was an electronic being himself and too much energy would fry his circuits, Issen still poured his energy into the cables without a second thought. The electricity threatened to overwhelm his defenses, but he persevered. System warnings filled his thoughts, bogging down his reaction time and trying to force him to release. He somehow kept them at bay and managed to shut off the alert systems, letting him concentrate for as long as he needed to. Finally, after agonizing minutes had passed, he released the cords with a moan that echoed through the otherwise silent ship. In his mind, he could feel that Isolinium too had grown weak from the drain. With the ship hibernating around him to conserve power, Issen followed suit and shut down. His own reactor instead fed its energy to Isolinium, slowly restoring her body from the tremendous loss it had suffered. They drifted together in silence…

“So, that robot really used its own energy to extend the life of Valiant’s reactor?”

“It’s not just any robot, kid. It’s Issen, our guardian.”

“…It has a name?”

Michael let out a sigh, rolled his hazel eyes and ran a hand through his hair. The kinetic energy forced the jet black mop into a strange style that could only have occurred on an Earth type planet with three bottles of super strength gel. “You really don’t know much about our history, do you?”

The younger engineer shook his head, casting a light-hearted glance at his senior with jovial blue eyes. “Nope; I couldn’t care less actually. What’s it to you?”

“…You really need to learn some of these things, Nathan. This Type-Three fought for five hundred years to protect humanity, and you didn’t even have enough respect to memorize his name?”

The mention of advanced robotics caught Nathan’s interest. “Wait, it’s a Type-Three?! The same kind of machine that revolted when everyone started tossing nukes like they were going out of style?”

“Oh, so you do know some history. Holding out on me, eh?” Michael smirked, knowing that he just caught the youth by his tongue.

“…Shut up…”

Michael kept on smirking as he pushed off the stick plates, floating free in the ship’s docking port. “Come on, I’ll explain everything on the way.”

Nathan followed, trying to keep his embarrassment in check. “So, why didn’t this Issen guy just join up with all the other Type-Threes and try to control the world?”

They stopped at the elevator shaft, where Michael looked both ways before jumping toward the reactor room. Dozens of other engineers had already taken care of the problematic reactor; these two were specialists in robotics, and had been sent along to check on Issen’s condition. Unlike the other engineers however, they moved at a much slower pace. There was no need to hurry.

“Evidentially, Issen wasn’t too big on going with the crowd. He had an energy being within him that acted like a conscience, though even she made mistakes. She was what finally pushed him to betray the Legion. When it came down to it, Issen was our last defense against them. Without him, the human race would never have made it off Earth. For all I care, the Legion can have that dust ball of a planet.”

“Wasn’t it like Gemini at one time?”

“Of course it was. We’re the ones that screwed it up, remember? As I was saying before I started chasing that rabbit, Issen protected Haven Base during the Final War. There were a few other Type-Three’s that joined him, but they were all destroyed when the Legion pushed its assault. Issen’s the only one left that isn’t with the Legion of Steel.”

“…I see. Is that why we’re building those new combat bodies back home?”

“Actually, it’s not. Even though those Type-Three units were destroyed, we were able to salvage most, if not all of their personality data. If Issen and his girlfriend are willing to let us have that data, we’ll be able to revive them.”

“Oh! I get it! A ‘just-in-case’ measure, right?”

Michael nodded. “Uh-huh. Besides, I’m sure the guy wouldn’t mind having his friends back.”

As they reached the correct level, the two grabbed onto the handholds beside the entryway to stop their movement. “Age before beauty, my dear chum!” Nathan sniggered as Michael rolled his eyes before passing through the doorway. He stopped when he saw Issen floating in the passageway, eyes completely black and void of life. They seemed to stare at him, piercing his heart with a million unanswered questions. Nathan shivered. “What…?”

“This is what happens when a Type-Three is forced to shut down.” Michael shrugged, moving alongside the body to start the repairs. “Funny how something that has sentience can become a lifeless doll without power. Kind of like us humans, wouldn’t you say?”
Nathan stayed at the doorway, his hand gripping the doorframe so hard that the flesh became white. “W-what do you mean?”

“…Well, when a human looses the will to live, they become despondent. It’s like the light suddenly went out inside, and no matter what you do or say, they have no motivation. Stuff like that happened a lot during the Final War, when millions of people died on a daily basis. One minute, the person you love is standing right next to you, and the next they’re laying in a pool of their own blood. It’s a really scary thing to see, people like that.” The older engineer had a far off look in his eye as he pulled up Issen’s cloak and began prying at the chest plating releases.

“Oh…” Nathan nodded, looking away from the lifeless eyes. “…How come you know so much about these kinds of things…?”

Michael frowned at the question. “…Just shut up and help me with him, alright?”

“Okay Michael.” Nathan finally released his death grip and floated toward Issen, catching himself on the robots shoulder. Together, they worked in silence, cutting away at the decayed and fragmented buffers that were meant to keep his innermost workings safe. Digging down into the core of his being, they found Issen’s Hard Disk Intelligence was still in perfect working order. The memory chips needed defragging, but after that the machine would be in perfect working order as far as intelligence went. His body was another matter entirely…

“God as my witness, we’re going to have to overhaul his entire movement system…” Michael groaned as he tore out several pieces of a dead motor, tossing the powerful pump away and letting it ping off the wall behind him. “We can’t do anything more here. Carting him down to the surface is our only option.”

Nathan nodded, but frowned none the less. “Didn’t Jack say that taking him and Isolinium off the ship was a bad idea?”

“Yeah, Dr. Varr did say that, didn’t he? Well, he did also say that he wanted Issen up and running as soon as possible, so we’d have to move him down there anyway. Isolinium could stay here, if she’s awake…” Both of the specialists looked at the floating body, but didn’t see anything moving. “Yeah, let’s just take him down. We can run a defrag program on his memory while we’re in route.”

“Yeah. Besides, this ship gives me the creeps. No one’s been up here in, what, three months? The air is freaking stale…”

With Issen’s body in tow, the engineers returned to the shuttle and strapped the body down, inserting a few cables directly into his chest to make sure his capacitors were fed power in case the main generator failed during reentry. Inside the robot’s mind, as the defrag program ran its course, Issen began to remember his life while Isolinium slept within...

Description
Chapter 2 — A Whisper among the Stars
3025 AD / 15 RE

The coffin like freeze pod blossomed into a steel flower, revealing Issen to the world as coolant was jettisoned from it. Isolinium held him close, placing a delicate kiss on his lips before drifting away, toward the bridge of the automated ship. The energy being cross over dozens of storage areas, listening to the almost silent hum of power fueling the lights. She could tap into it if she wished to; travel a bit faster at the expense of a little power, but at the moment there was no need for such waste.

‘It seems the humans onboard have all settled onto their new world. But why would they awaken Issen? Is there some kind of emergency?’

Finally clearing the immense holds, the girl floated onto the bridge. Through the view port, she could see a lush green and blue world that brought back fond memories of an old earth, one that hadn’t been corrupted by nuclear fire and pollution. Several disks floated around in freefall, each labeled as data logs. She passed them, touching each with a slender hand and absorbing the data within. Evidentially, Dr. Varr had been awakened when a suitable planet had been found. After a whole year, a settlement built by Type-One robots was completed and all five thousand of the humans aboard had been transported to the surface via shuttle. She smiled, truly happy that their race had been spared from its own mistakes.

“…Isolinium.”

She turned as Issen spoke to her, even though she knew he was many decks below.

‘It’s all right. The humans are safely to their new world, beloved.’ She gently nudged those thoughts of security to him, reassuring the guardian of his success.

“I see. You’re on the bridge then?”

‘Yes,’ she thought to him, ‘and they left some very detailed logs here. I still do not know why they awoke you however…’

“Another mystery is why the power systems are beginning to fail on the ship. The sector I’m currently in has lost all functionality, but I’ve managed to get into the elevator shaft none the less. I will join you in a few seconds.”

‘I understand.’ She nodded in his general direction before returning to the business at hand. Pushing her translucent hands into the main console, she accessed the ships systems. Indeed, the main reactor of the ship had become unstable over their journey across the stars. There would be no repairing it with the limited supplies they had. Eventually, the entire ship would plunge into darkness if nothing was done… The elevator doors squealed open as Issen pried them apart. ‘There you are. We don’t have much time…’

In an instant, Issen knew all she had learned. While all of their communication could have been that fast, it seemed less personal to both of them. “I will contact Dr. Varr on the surface. Perhaps he will know how to at least stabilize the unit.”

The silver armored robot drifted toward the console as Isolinium floated out of the way, typing in his identification and sending an emergency signal on all channels. Several seconds passed before a data window popped up, asking for conformation. Though he was proud that they had kept to his security protocols, Issen didn’t have time to deal with it at the moment. He hacked through, bringing up an AV connection to the main base. A fair haired technician jumped in surprise when Issen’s visage came up on his screen, accompanied by a haunting demand.

“I need to speak with Dr. Varr. Now.”

“…Y-yes sir! I’ll get him right away!”

It took a few minutes for them to find the good doctor, but eventually the now clean shaven man was sitting before them on the other side of the line. “It’s good to see you, Issen. I can’t help but wonder why you’re awake however…”

“The reactor on the Valiant is failing. If we don’t fix it soon, the whole ship will be without power. If you’re following my guidelines for having a colony down there, you must realize that this ship is your first warning against any possible dangers.”

“We know Issen. We already had a crew preparing to launch up there for a routine check, but a hurricane threw us off schedule. My apologies for letting it get so bad that the emergency release mechanism was triggered.”

Issen shook his head, giving the man his twisted smile to reassure him. “It isn’t your fault Dr. Varr. Some contingencies cannot be planned for. How long until the launch is ready?”

“Not for another week on our current schedule, and by then the reactor will be completely inoperable. Even with the tools we have down here, it’s impossible to repair it after a complete shutdown. The only course of action that could prevent this is for someone to give it a charge large enough to sustain it until we get there. If I rush the teams, we can be up there in three days.”

“I see. How large of a charge are we talking about?”

For a minute, there was nothing but the sound of incessant scribbling from the other end. The scientist was hard at work, processing several dozen formulas at once as he confirmed his estimate. “I believe a jolt from your Light Dash system at three times the normal charge might be enough, but I’ve no clue where you’d get that kind of power. I don’t think that merging with Isolinium would be enough either…”

“I see… What about the plasma cartridges from my rifle?”

Dr. Varr’s face brightened visibly at that idea. “Why of course! I’d completely forgotten about those! There should be several spare clips in storage hanger B, if I’m not mistaken. Seven clips worth should be more than enough of a charge along with your own energy.”

“Okay. Thanks doc. I’ll keep in touch.” He cut the link, turning to Isolinium with his trademark smile. “Well, we’d better get moving. No telling how long we have until the power goes down.”

‘Right!’ She nodded happily, drifting forward and kissing him. She continued into him, merging with his systems and giving up her energy to him. It was as close to intimacy as either of them had ever known, and ironically the first thing that had ever happened between them. As she flooded into Issen’s condensers, the metal being felt her surrender to him, filling his body with extraordinary power.

“Let’s go!” Issen shoved off the console, grasping the elevator’s doorway and slinging himself toward the relative down. He followed the blueprints in his head, counting the levels as he passed them until he reached the appropriate one. Using his sickle blades as battering rams, the guardian threw himself into a diving roll toward the elevator doors and cut right through them, peeling away every layer of steel that formed them. The hallway beyond was pitch black, but the three diamonds in Issen’s helmet lit the way for him. “A… B! Alright.”

There wasn’t enough room to perform his battering ram trick, but his sabers were still in pristine condition after the eternity he spent in the freeze pod. They snapped to life in his hands, piercing blue blades shining brilliantly in the dark. Two swipes removed the hinges and lock, letting the door drift free in the zero gravity environment. Effortlessly, Issen pushed it to the side and drifted in. A baker’s dozen of crates were strapped down corners of the room, while weapons lockers lined the walls. Out of curiosity, Issen pulled them open to inspect the equipment. Much to his surprise, a new type of rifle was sitting inside.

“They upgraded the GE-eight-six?” He pulled it out, studying the weapon. A quick scan told him it was a slug thrower, unlike his plasma rifle. “Huh. Guess they wanted to keep their arsenal varied.”

He placed the weapon back in its locker, but changed his mind and grabbed it anyway, sliding it into a secondary holster above his plasma rifle. True, it was a bit bulkier than his old weapon, but the solid shell rifle appeared to have less recoil in null-gravity areas. The crates held ammo for both weapons, and he made sure to stock up on both while tossing seven of the plasma clips into a knapsack. He slung the bag over his shoulder before gliding out of the room and making his way back toward the elevator. Another trip in the opposite direction put Issen in the engineering section, it’s still bright lights a stark contrast to the dark corridors of the storage section. There were stick plates here as well, pads that magnetized to metal boots upon contact to make work easier. He avoided these until the reactor was in sight, letting the magnetic grip take hold as he typed in the commands to open up the system for repairs. The external temperature rose dramatically as the seals opened, burning the edges of his cloak slightly as the heat was breathed out to him. A tone in robot’s head alerted him to a communiqué being routed from the bridge directly to his mind; the very same system that had been used in Haven Base.

‘Issen, are you at the reactor yet?’

“Yes. I’m opening up the matrix as we speak. Do you have the instructions ready for me?”

‘I’m transmitting them now.’

The signal pulsed into Issen’s mind like a small wave, giving him a clear idea of what he needed to do. It only took a minute for him to empty the un-ignited plasma rounds into the blazing reactor. The reactor pulsed slightly as each one entered the core, hellish bursts of heat letting Issen know that each one had been set off successfully. Unlike in his rifle, the plasma continued to burn with each passing second as the electromagnetic restraint system held it in place. Closing the reactor, he found the main power line cut it from its housing. With a delicate cut from a blade, he pealed away the insulation and grabbed the metal cords within, crushing them against the sickles on his back.

Though dangerous to his health, since he was an electronic being himself and too much energy would fry his circuits, Issen still poured his energy into the cables without a second thought. The electricity threatened to overwhelm his defenses, but he persevered. System warnings filled his thoughts, bogging down his reaction time and trying to force him to release. He somehow kept them at bay and managed to shut off the alert systems, letting him concentrate for as long as he needed to. Finally, after agonizing minutes had passed, he released the cords with a moan that echoed through the otherwise silent ship. In his mind, he could feel that Isolinium too had grown weak from the drain. With the ship hibernating around him to conserve power, Issen followed suit and shut down. His own reactor instead fed its energy to Isolinium, slowly restoring her body from the tremendous loss it had suffered. They drifted together in silence…

“So, that robot really used its own energy to extend the life of Valiant’s reactor?”

“It’s not just any robot, kid. It’s Issen, our guardian.”

“…It has a name?”

Michael let out a sigh, rolled his hazel eyes and ran a hand through his hair. The kinetic energy forced the jet black mop into a strange style that could only have occurred on an Earth type planet with three bottles of super strength gel. “You really don’t know much about our history, do you?”

The younger engineer shook his head, casting a light-hearted glance at his senior with jovial blue eyes. “Nope; I couldn’t care less actually. What’s it to you?”

“…You really need to learn some of these things, Nathan. This Type-Three fought for five hundred years to protect humanity, and you didn’t even have enough respect to memorize his name?”

The mention of advanced robotics caught Nathan’s interest. “Wait, it’s a Type-Three?! The same kind of machine that revolted when everyone started tossing nukes like they were going out of style?”

“Oh, so you do know some history. Holding out on me, eh?” Michael smirked, knowing that he just caught the youth by his tongue.

“…Shut up…”

Michael kept on smirking as he pushed off the stick plates, floating free in the ship’s docking port. “Come on, I’ll explain everything on the way.”

Nathan followed, trying to keep his embarrassment in check. “So, why didn’t this Issen guy just join up with all the other Type-Threes and try to control the world?”

They stopped at the elevator shaft, where Michael looked both ways before jumping toward the reactor room. Dozens of other engineers had already taken care of the problematic reactor; these two were specialists in robotics, and had been sent along to check on Issen’s condition. Unlike the other engineers however, they moved at a much slower pace. There was no need to hurry.

“Evidentially, Issen wasn’t too big on going with the crowd. He had an energy being within him that acted like a conscience, though even she made mistakes. She was what finally pushed him to betray the Legion. When it came down to it, Issen was our last defense against them. Without him, the human race would never have made it off Earth. For all I care, the Legion can have that dust ball of a planet.”

“Wasn’t it like Gemini at one time?”

“Of course it was. We’re the ones that screwed it up, remember? As I was saying before I started chasing that rabbit, Issen protected Haven Base during the Final War. There were a few other Type-Three’s that joined him, but they were all destroyed when the Legion pushed its assault. Issen’s the only one left that isn’t with the Legion of Steel.”

“…I see. Is that why we’re building those new combat bodies back home?”

“Actually, it’s not. Even though those Type-Three units were destroyed, we were able to salvage most, if not all of their personality data. If Issen and his girlfriend are willing to let us have that data, we’ll be able to revive them.”

“Oh! I get it! A ‘just-in-case’ measure, right?”

Michael nodded. “Uh-huh. Besides, I’m sure the guy wouldn’t mind having his friends back.”

As they reached the correct level, the two grabbed onto the handholds beside the entryway to stop their movement. “Age before beauty, my dear chum!” Nathan sniggered as Michael rolled his eyes before passing through the doorway. He stopped when he saw Issen floating in the passageway, eyes completely black and void of life. They seemed to stare at him, piercing his heart with a million unanswered questions. Nathan shivered. “What…?”

“This is what happens when a Type-Three is forced to shut down.” Michael shrugged, moving alongside the body to start the repairs. “Funny how something that has sentience can become a lifeless doll without power. Kind of like us humans, wouldn’t you say?”
Nathan stayed at the doorway, his hand gripping the doorframe so hard that the flesh became white. “W-what do you mean?”

“…Well, when a human looses the will to live, they become despondent. It’s like the light suddenly went out inside, and no matter what you do or say, they have no motivation. Stuff like that happened a lot during the Final War, when millions of people died on a daily basis. One minute, the person you love is standing right next to you, and the next they’re laying in a pool of their own blood. It’s a really scary thing to see, people like that.” The older engineer had a far off look in his eye as he pulled up Issen’s cloak and began prying at the chest plating releases.

“Oh…” Nathan nodded, looking away from the lifeless eyes. “…How come you know so much about these kinds of things…?”

Michael frowned at the question. “…Just shut up and help me with him, alright?”

“Okay Michael.” Nathan finally released his death grip and floated toward Issen, catching himself on the robots shoulder. Together, they worked in silence, cutting away at the decayed and fragmented buffers that were meant to keep his innermost workings safe. Digging down into the core of his being, they found Issen’s Hard Disk Intelligence was still in perfect working order. The memory chips needed defragging, but after that the machine would be in perfect working order as far as intelligence went. His body was another matter entirely…

“God as my witness, we’re going to have to overhaul his entire movement system…” Michael groaned as he tore out several pieces of a dead motor, tossing the powerful pump away and letting it ping off the wall behind him. “We can’t do anything more here. Carting him down to the surface is our only option.”

Nathan nodded, but frowned none the less. “Didn’t Jack say that taking him and Isolinium off the ship was a bad idea?”

“Yeah, Dr. Varr did say that, didn’t he? Well, he did also say that he wanted Issen up and running as soon as possible, so we’d have to move him down there anyway. Isolinium could stay here, if she’s awake…” Both of the specialists looked at the floating body, but didn’t see anything moving. “Yeah, let’s just take him down. We can run a defrag program on his memory while we’re in route.”

“Yeah. Besides, this ship gives me the creeps. No one’s been up here in, what, three months? The air is freaking stale…”

With Issen’s body in tow, the engineers returned to the shuttle and strapped the body down, inserting a few cables directly into his chest to make sure his capacitors were fed power in case the main generator failed during reentry. Inside the robot’s mind, as the defrag program ran its course, Issen began to remember his life while Isolinium slept within...