The robot sat quietly on the floor, waiting for an answer, its last words still echoing in Nadia’s head.

  “What?”

  She realized that that thing had just asked her for commands, like with a master. That information freed an army of conflicting thoughts that began to scuffle for control of her actions. Some considered having a mechanized servant an unparalleled opportunity, while others were more focused on the clear dangers that such a monstrosity posed, in case it stopped following Nadia’s orders. Whenever the correct action lied, an undisputable truth was that Nadia was lost, and maybe the knowledge contained in that machine’s brain was worth probing.

  “Hi, I’m Nadia” She greeted, flashing a big smile.

  Firstly, some courtesy, since it is always a good idea to be polite when approaching a stranger.

  The robot didn’t return the consideration.

  “What’s your name?” Nadia inquired with more determination.

  “Answer: The designation of this unit is H-45Δ98”

  “A mouthful, wouldn’t you say?” Nadia teased the robot, bursting out laughing at her own cleverness. The chuckles reverberated in the long corridor, bouncing back with a distorted edge, making them sound like a maniacal sniggering. She shivered and grabbed the light jacket with a trembling hand, while a wave of loneliness threatened to overwhelm her.

  “What do you think if I call you Herm? It is a good name, I had once a hamster with called Herm, it was a very good hamster, his fluffy hair was the best…” Nadia asked before losing herself in memories. Her voice slightly broke, while a couple of water pearls formed on the bottom of her eyes.

  “Answer: The request is compliant with the applicable regulations, this unit can now be referred to as Herm” The robot cut the rambling Nadia with its response, then got back to sitting patiently.

  The cold and emotionless reply left Nadia unsure on how to continue the conversation. She was desperate for information, but how could she be certain the robot was trustworthy, or prove that it wasn’t. She concluded that these doubts could only be resolved after careful observation, and got back to the interrogation.

  “Great. So, where am I?” Nadia asked.

  “Answer: You are inside the facility labeled T45-2, located in the desertic sub-region of the larger continent, Dewura.”

  “What is Dewura?”

  “Answer: Dewura is a wild continent mostly inhabited by unruled tribes of savage meat-eaters. That is currently underway pacification by the forces of the Great Coalition of Radel.”

  Nadia eyes widened, that didn’t sound good, like at all.

  “Suggestion: This unit recommends with emphasis that the Control Source seeks shelter in a more secure location, far from here.”

  The following words from Herm further hammered home the point; she was in deep trouble.

  “Dangerous? Where? How?” With a panicked voice, she started pressing Herm.

  “Answer: This region is currently beyond the capacities of the Great Coalition of Radel to provide support in. As stated previously, the native inhabitants are lawless creatures capable of irreparable harm to the Control Source.”

  “I know, I was listening, don’t get cocky now.”

  She started pacing back and forth, arms wrapped around herself in an attempt to drive the cold that was slithering on her back away.

  “Can’t you protect me? Please?”

  “Answer: This unit is not in the conditions to secure the physical integrity of the Control Source. The Central Station has been unreachable since this unit activation. Information on the location and strength of the potential threats is critically missing.”

  “Are we at least safe here?”

  “Answer: T45-2 is a state-of-the-art production facility, boasting the most advanced security system at the disposal of the Great Coalition of Radel. It is therefore the safest place to be in the entirety of the continent Dewura.” With a tone resembling confidence, Herm reassured Nadia that she had nothing to worry.

  “Great! Thanks. So we can stay here for a while.”

  Nadia slumped on the floor exhausted, her shoulders dropping, finally freed of the looming fears. Without giving more than a glance to Herm, she quickly fell asleep.

  ***

  “So, this goes here, right?”

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  “Answer: Correct, the Transfusing Convertor of Energy has to be positioned in the back of this unit, as the Control Source named Nadia is doing.”

  “You don’t have to append prefixes to my name, Nadia is enough. N-a-d-i-a.”

  “Statement: Understood. The Control Source has decided to identify herself with only the designation Nadia. Spelled N-a-d-i-a.”

  Sometimes she had the sensation Herm was laughing at her behind its artificial eyes. At least it is what she hoped it was doing, since it was a superior alternative to the possibility to be helping a calculating murder machine to get back on its feet.

  She had worked the last two days to move around various objects that Herm identified as necessary for the full recovery of its functions. She even learned how to move a set of lifters, that could navigate the entire facility using hidden rails carved in the ceiling. That discovery, together with the precise instructions from Herm, was helping her to rack progress by the day. When the fourth day was near its end, they were finally ready to attempt powering on the motor functions of the robot.

  A silent stream of lines flooded the main display that operated as the head of Herm. The tiny characters were so fast that Nadia quickly lost any expectation of reading them, and since they appeared to be written in the same unknown language that it used speaking for the first time, the pursuit had no real purpose.

  The right leg started twitching, followed closely by the other, then the agitation spread across the metallic body, rapidly engulfing it entirely. Multiple small led began to blink and the sound of hidden mechanisms coming to life filled the enclosed space.

  With a reverberating stomp and loud shriekings all over, the gargantuan machine slowly straightens itself out. The slow motion ended with a barrage of steam puffs, bursting out of plenty of small holes still riddling the massive frame.

  Herm remained standing for a long minute, carefully balancing its body to detect the optimal configuration. Once it found it, it immediately set off to scout every room in the vicinity, and only after inspecting every nook and cranny, it finally stopped moving next to Nadia.

  “Statement: The examination of the current location has been completed. The number of threats found is 0. The primary structure shows severe damage in multiple places, and many tripping hazards has been detected. Excessive amount of vibration may produce a catastrophic collapse of the facility, caution during movement is advised.” With decisiveness, Herm communicated its findings.

  “Thanks, but I had already noticed. Difficult not to when you are dragging a ‘Transfusing Convertor of Energy’ around. But thanks anyway.” With a genuine smile, Nadia accepted the report.

  Now that Herm was finally ready, she could plan a route to visit more calm waters, maybe even attempting to search for other sentient beings, the sheer number of possibilities were overwhelming.

  “Herm, if I had to ask you for the closest and safest place that it is not here, and that contains humans like me, where would it be?”

  “Answer: No other life form corresponding to the definition of ‘human’, based on the analysis of the specimen called Nadia, is recorded to have been spotted in the radius of 400klas from here. Ever. Making the request impossible to satisfy.”

  “What? None… but that’s impossible! What do you mean by ‘based on me’, a woman? Try to be more flexible, include even men for crying out loud!” Nadia queried the robot again, her rage fueled by the shards of her shattering expectations.

  “Answer: Applying an expanded definition of ‘human’ has not raised the amount of results.”

  Herm replied to Nadia, giving her an apathetic look. Under the scrutiny of the translucid lens of its many eyes, she felt naked in all her insecurities, and finally realized she was truly alone, like never before.

  Her body slowly scraped along the wall till it reached the floor, she then curled up, arms tightly clutching her around. The faint sound of cries began spreading across the room.

  ***

  “Suggestion: This unit has recently noticed a sharp decrease in the performances of its Control Source, named Nadia. To invert this trend, it recommends Nadia to reach a location with a higher concentration of oxygen, which will lead to an increase in efficiency.”

  Nadia weakly reacted to the words spoken by Herm, looking at him with hollow eyes. It has been two days since the revelation of her solitude hit her like a truck, and since then she had behaved in an increasing zombie-like way.

  Judging that the source of the commands had an unspoken obstacle preventing her from moving, the automaton gently grabbed her with its robot arms, and moved for the entrance.

  The bright sun bathed the frail body of the woman in its light, giving her a welcomed influx of warmth. She visibly relaxed, and her head started to lighten up, with her thoughts beginning to articulate more clearly as the mist was retracting.

  “Hey Herm. How was it when you were less… experienced?”

  “Answer: When this unit established a connection with the Central Station for the first time, everything around it was clean and ordered. Many similar units moved in perfect synchrony, across one of the hangars of the excellent production complex hosted in the city of Esoro.”

  “Sounds peaceful, how I wish I was somewhere civilized.”

  “Not that you are not civiziled Herm, it’s just, you know, you are not… people.” Sounding flustered, Nadia quickly tried to correct herself, while her checks started burning. Herm kept looking at her with inhuman calm.

  “Yeah… that. So, can you tell me more?”

  From that seed a long conversation sprat, covering the many materials needed to produce a model like Herm, and its many variants. Moving to the look of the vegetation growing in the gardens next to the factory, and how the few engineers saw moving around were always wearing a protective suit, to preserve the pristine cleanliness of the place.

  Herm described with abundance of details the difference in reflection between an early dawn and a sunset, and how that can influence one aim when targeting markers more than a kilometer away. But there was time also for architecture, language, geology, and many more subjects.

  It was only when the sun finally lost its battle against the night, that Nadia sought the knowledge that would finally give her a source of drive and also peril.

  “This wonderful city, so sparkly and safe, where is it?” Her gaze locked on the horizon, purposely avoiding Harm, her mouth tightly closed in painful anticipation of another hard truth.

  “Answer: The city Nadia is asking about, is located at around 200km Northeast

  The stretched metallic arm pointed with unshakable confidence at the invisible, and for the first time since she woke up in this strange land, Nadia finally felt she had a goal.