Crutch: a sci-fi short story

II

In normal conditions, the journey would not take more than a few hours, according to the route calculation that was carried out. Unfortunately, this estimation took into account a robot with full mobility and not an automaton with lower limbs completely damaged .The impairment of the android’s legs increased the journey for more than ten hours.

The sun was at its radiation’s peak when the navigation system reported two possible routes to the destination. The difference between them was that the faster path passed through the narrow side of a ravine. After a few milliseconds of processing, R0b started the long, but safer, way. “Better to be safe than sorry, specially since I don’t have any spare parts left.” As it continued to crawl, he triangulated the best position to recharge its solar batteries that have just entered their reserves.

The dynamics of marching (or working) all day and have to rest just one night per month was one of the biggest differences between organic troops versus automated soldiers. The physical superiority and speed in logical reasoning were other points that the robots took advantage, while inspiration and improvisation in the battlefield were the ultimate human characteristics that the machines have failed to replicate, time after time. At least for now.

Five hours have passed since R0b awoke and staretd its crawling journey to the research station. It was dawn when the automaton spotted a clearing and prepared the process of rest and recharge, but something unusual caught its attention. The small expansion of rocky terrain hid something nefarious.

“What the hell happened here?” R0b wondered while it absorbed the putrefied vision. Traces of burned entrails, corrupted storage units, assault rifles, plasma shotguns, portable revolvers, among other warlike items were scattered by the sand nearby indicated the confrontation that occurred in this place. According to all automaton sensors that instantly began scanning the surroundings ,this battle left no survivors.

The strangest thing was that, according to the state of the bony and metal remains, this clash took place decades ago. Even after all this time, the vibrations in the environment were so disturbingly heavy that even the android took a few seconds to absorb what had happened. After a while, it crawled to the epicenter of this massacre searching for something that it could use.

After this moment of contemplation, the robot’s sensors began the compatibility sub-routine and identified a couple of spare parts for it to partially repair itself. There was no unit equal to R0b, but a cybernetic arm of an old model, was torn off by an explosion, would be enough to replace one of the crawling automaton’s leg.

The sensor also informed that an empty plasma rifle could function as a crutch. At the end of the day, R0b would finish its journey to the research station using the newly installed parts. “I’m almost there” was the last of its thoughts before going into stand-by to recharge its batteries at the solar peak.

III

The night was at its darkest when R0b awakened and the starry sky was the first thing its optical sensors captured. The night vision was automatically triggered and the locomotion routine started, already taking into account the physical updates: the other’s unit arm functioning as a left leg and the empty rifle used as a crutch to support the right side of the robot.

After hours of an improvised march, R0b took a time right in the entrance of the main building to stare at the fluttery red flag. Within a few seconds, the nearby perimiter was identified as a headquarters for an exploration mission of centuries ago. This probably took place decades before the incident in the crater, according to the estimate of the cyborg’s processing unit.

Supporting itself on the improvised crutch, the android entered the installation and began to scan the environment for any trace, human or robotic. Without success, the next scanning was made looking for abandoned transmission equipments. With a little luck, a high-frequency device left behind would be found.

Covered by a thick layer of a mixture of sand and dust there it was, a rather old and kinda rusted transmitter that seemed minimally functional. R0b found some parts spread out in the main room and after a quick fix, the old machine started to issue a non stopping distress signal. According to the internal calculations, it would take a few days until the signal would be captured by someone. The humming of the space noise, resulting from the absence of an established connection, filled the base giving little comfort to the deformed robot.

“And now I wait…” R0b tried, without success to, feel a little better as it instinctivelly evaluated what would be the next task. Another striking characteristic of the automated soldiers is their inability to rest. Although this feature is an advantage on the battlefield, this habit is extremely irritating when in contact with other organic species.

While it explored other environments, the robot discovered an optical lab full of lenses scattered on top of countertops and immediately realized that the station was the first step to build a telescope. Curious about what other secrets the base could hold, R0b continued exploring while the emergency transmission didn’t bring any results.

It didn’t take long until R0b found the remains of the hidden telescope. If it had feelings understandable by humans, happiness would be the best way to describe how the automaton felt.

Almost sighing, the robot thought. “Now at least I can look home.” And so, it began to repair the extensive damage to the telescope so that it could have another glimpse of its home planet. The maintenance was estimated to be completed within a month.

Now that it had another goal to focus on, the transmitter’s noise became almost imperceptible. Four weeks have gone by as the robot was finishing the last adjustments to attach its optical drive to the telescope. The hiss in the background was still audible even if R0b did not notice it anymore.

The connection to the telescope began and the cyborg began to looking for the quadrant of his home planet, but did not recognize what he saw. The first inconsistency warning was the natural satellite was not orbiting as usual.

This discovery was followed by another one, much more terrifying. Meanwhile, the noise from the transmiter seemed like it was becoming louder, even though this was not the reality. This hissing now flooded the whole station, inebriating the robot’s sensors.

The Earth was shattered. The remains showed by the telescope was identified as the aftermath of a nuclear conflict. In addition to the damage to the physical structure of the robot’s home planet, the electromagnetic field completely fried the antennas and satellites of all neighboring planets and space stations.

R0b was all alone in the galaxy. Unable to fully understand the meaning of this, the automaton had no reaction. Astonished, it simply remained seated.

And the distress signal’s noise continued. Forever and ever.