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The mainframe had many questions it asked Sarge over the next few hours. Sarge took the time to eat the boiled carrots and meat cubes as he tried to further explain sympathy, compassion, kindness, and other emotions that humans experienced.

He wasn’t expecting the mainframe to understand any of this, but it became surprisingly receptive to what he said after he called it out for hurting him and Chomby. Sarge began to get tired and mentioned he could sleep on one of the couches upstairs if the mainframe wanted to talk more when he woke up. The mainframe agreed and allowed Sarge to head upstairs. Because he had more time to look around the storage room, he happened to find a jug of distilled water that he took upstairs with him.

Despite getting as many amenities as he could to feel comfortable, Sarge had trouble sleeping. With so many things flying around his mind, it was impossible to calm down. So, he took the time to talk with Chomby.

“You were very silent when I was talking to the mainframe. Is everything okay?” Sarge asked the soundbyte.

“Didn’t expect you to blow up like that,” Chomby admitted. He held his arms out for a hug. Sarge accepted. “I also didn’t realize you felt like you weren’t a hero because I was gone. You never mentioned that at all.”

“Didn’t feel like it was worth mentioning,” Sarge released the hug. “Since you came back, that feeling had mostly vanished. It kinda got buried because the trauma of losing you, and the joy of getting you back. What mattered to me most, and still matters to me, is making sure you’re fully recovered. You’re the one who died, not me.”

“You’re the one who had to deal with me dying, though,” Chomby said. “Buuuut, I suppose that kinda worked in our favor. Your blow up turned into a learning experience for a formerly-malignant, AI of mass destruction. Color me impressed.”

“It’s not like I was acting it out.” Sarge put a hand to his head, remembering that unsettling, hateful smile he made earlier. “All of what I said is how I truly felt. I’m not a hero. I just talk a lot.”

“You’re a good listener, though,” Chomby said with a nod. “Maybe I do all the ‘fancy jumps’ and the fighting, but you do the thing I’m not good at – you show compassion. If I recall, you told me that compassion and showing ‘follow-up care’ is important for any heroic endeavor.” Chomby chuckled. “Looking back, that kinda explains why you made some gift baskets. You wanted to check up on those families from the apartment fire to make sure they were okay. You were right about that, though. At that moment any fighting or fancy footwork would’ve meant nothing to them. They needed kindness.”

From that point, the two continued talking about their circumstances. Being able to talk to Chomby about everything, now that he felt he wasn’t holding anything back, felt cathartic. Being able to relieve a lot of that stress allowed Sarge to sleep.

Sarge was midway through a dream about being late for a class at school when he heard a very loud knock on the cabin door. He jumped awake and had to recollect where he was.

“Sarge! You in there?!” A voice called. “Sarge! Someone ate really gross eggs!”

Sarge mouthed that last sentence. His eyes lit up in surprise as he jumped off the couch and ran to the front door. He saw that it was locked. He knew he didn’t lock it last night.

“Xylophone Eaters Never Open Nets,” Sarge said after tapping on the door two times. He then unlocked the door and opened it.

He could see Xenon, midway through turning off his cloaking device, standing at the door. “Oh, thank heavens!” Xenon dropped his hands to his sides. “Sorry to surprise you, Sarge, but I heard from everyone you were kidnapped by a robot, so I tracked your phone to here.” Xenon looked Sarge up and down. “Are you hurt? Did they do anything to you?”

“Other than forcing me to walk to a cabin in the middle of the night, no.” Sarge scratched his head. “Gonna be honest, Xenon, dunno if the mainframe wants anyone else here. It was very specific on only wanting to talk to me.”

“So you met it, then?” Xenon asked.

“Yeah.”
v
“Am I supposed to leave?”

“Dunno. I really don’t.” Sarge looked toward the living room. “I could go ask it, maybe… if you’re fine with waiting a bit?”

“Of course.” Xenon nodded and took a step back. “I left the car running anyway. I’ll go turn it off quickly.” With those words, Xenon turned around and dashed toward the car.

Sarge spun around and began walking toward the living room. When he turned toward the hatch, he could see Starfish was in the process of pulling itself out of the cellar.

“Oh, hi, Starfish!” Sarge said in surprise. “Heard the door knock?”

“U-u-u-unrecognized l-l-l-l-lifeform d-d-d-d-detected i-in v-vicinity. E-e-eradicate?” Starfish asked. “D-d-danger t-to D-detective S-s-s-sergeant W-w-w-wolf?”

“No!” Sarge raised his hands and shook them emphatically. “Don’t! He’s a friend. He just tracked my cellphone signal out to here. He thought I was in danger.”

“L-l-l-lifeform c-c-c-care f-f-f-for D-d-detective S-s-sergeant W-w-wolf?” Starfish dragged itself over to Sarge and climbed onto him. Sarge didn’t flinch. He had grown used to Starfish doing this, ever since it ‘hugged’ him for almost an hour straight.

“Yeah.” Sarge nodded. “Is it alright if he comes in? I was wanting to request you guys ask the military for help, but I feel Xenon could be better at explaining that than me.”

“Processing.”

Starfish’s eye zipped around the room for a moment. “M-m-mainframe w-will a-allow L-l-l-lifeform X-x-x-xenon e-e-e-entry. L-l-l-lifeform X-x-xenon s-s-stop h-h-hurt o-o-of D-d-detective S-s-sergeant W-w-wolf.”

“He certainly will.” Sarge smiled as he went back to the front door.

He saw Xenon was just walking up the pathway. The two locked eyes for a moment as Sarge gestured for Xenon to come inside. Once the alien did so, they sat down in the living room. Sarge got permission from Starfish and then tried to explain everything that happened to the best of his ability. Xenon seemed to be fixing his gaze onto Starfish. His eyes were lit up with both curiosity and humor.

“You’re the only person I’d know who’d be so nonchalant about having a giant robot on your shoulder.” Xenon smirked. “Aren’t you afraid it’ll hurt you?”

“The mainframe seems to be getting a grasp on sympathy now, so no. But,” Sarge looked at Starfish, then back at Xenon, “considering all that I’ve gone through, I feel we gotta get the military involved. I’m not up for fighting Unit_00.”

“Shouldn’t be your burden,” Xenon said, now looking at Starfish. “What says you about letting me talk to your mainframe about getting the military involved? Poor Sarge here is still recovering.”

“C-c-confirming X-x-xenon, C-c-cartaker o-of D-detective S-sergeant W-wolf. R-request…” Starfish’s eye zipped around. “P-p-permitted.”

Xenon and Sarge looked at each other. Sarge felt his tail begin to wag as he felt like another weight was taken off his shoulders. “Seems like having a ‘caretaker’ may have changed its mind.”

“Suppose that adds up. It considered you the strongest anomaly, so if you have a caretaker, it may see them as strong, too.” Xenon squinted his eyes. Sarge knew he was smiling. “When I get this taken care of, why don’t we take you to get some donuts and coffee?”

Starfish moved over to Xenon’s shoulder and told Sarge to eat food, drink water, and rest. Sarge opted to come with, but Starfish stated the mainframe did not want Sarge to be hurt. Though Sarge didn’t understand how that would hurt him, he didn’t question it and decided to just sit in the living room. He saw Xenon and Starfish descend down into the cellar, and then everything went quiet.

“Man, I really misjudged Xenon,” Chomby giggled.

“Xenon’s a great guy. Can’t believe he tracked me down all the way out here,” Sarge let himself relax onto the couch. “Though, if it was anyone else, I wonder what would have happened.”

“What do you mean?” Chomby asked.

“The mainframe noticed Xenon was my ‘caretaker’. He was in charge of me in that sense, so it saw him as a form of authority. I feel that’s the only reason it’s allowing him to be here.”

“So if someone like Corporal Lunar showed up?” Chomby asked.

“It’d throw him out, possibly. If he resisted, it would attack, wouldn’t it?”

“If it’s to keep you safe, probably. It seems to have developed a protective feeling toward you.”

“I don’t know what I’m supposed to make of that, honestly. I hope it’ll let me leave,” Sarge groaned. “I’d like nothing more than to go back home and just take a nice hot shower then listen to some lofi or something.”

“I’d be down. Haven’t gotten to listen to it for a while. Been craving the taste of low fidelity,” Chomby said cheerily.

“I’ll let you pick the track list. I think we both deserve a rest.”

The two continued to talk for several more minutes. There still wasn’t any sign of Xenon or Starfish from the cellar. Sarge assumed it was because they would spend a while talking… but he hoped Xenon was okay. He wanted to go down and check for himself, but he remembered the back wall of the storage room needed some sort of ‘authentication’ thing that only Starfish could provide.

Sarge did find he was getting hungry again, so he decided to grab a can of soup from the cellar. While he was down there, he pressed his hand against the back wall. Unlike with Starfish’s touch, the wall never lit up, and it stayed shut. Sarge figured as much but just turned around and moved to the kitchenette. He found a single pot in one of the cupboards and used it to cook the soup on the stove.

He then went back to the living room and ate his meal on the couch. He figured he’d leave some of the broth for Xenon. Xenon’s diet was strictly liquid-based. It was a part of Xenon’s biology that Sarge found weird, but he didn’t look too into it. Usually Xenon drank fruit juices, but he sometimes enjoyed a good, hearty broth.

The soup tasted like salt, much to Sarge’s chagrin. He felt he would have enjoyed it better if his ears weren’t constantly ringing. He noticed they had began ringing right when he sat down to eat. He assumed it was just a bit of temporary tinitis, but as he slurped his last bit of soup, he realized the ringing actually never stopped.

“Odd.” Sarge stuck a finger in his ear, seeing if there was a bit of wax causing the ringing. When his finger entered the ear canal and blocked out all the outside noise, the ringing stopped. He then unplugged his ear, and the ringing continued.

“You hear that?” Sarge asked.

“Yes, it’s really high-pitched. Kinda hurts a bit,” Chomby replied, though his voice was muffled behind a bunch of static. “Is it because of the mainframe?”

“Barely noticed any static while we were out here. This is different.” Sarge lifted a hand to his right earpiece and pulled it off. The ringing stopped immediately. He was curious and lifted the earpiece back up to his ear. The ringing began again.

“Something’s going on with the earpieces,” Sarge said, getting to his feet.

“Take ‘em off for now. We can always talk in the mindsc-”

The static behind Chomby’s voice suddenly enshrouded it. Sarge couldn’t hear what Chomby said. He tried tapping the earpiece, but that did not seem to fix it. In fact, it was beginning to get even worse now.

The noise escalated to a point where Sarge had to fully take the earpiece off, as it was beginning to hurt his ears. “Ack! The heck is happening?” He closed an eye to look at Chomby. “Something’s messing with our earpiece!”

“I’m aware,” Chomby snarled. “What do you think it is?”

“I dunno,” Sarge stared down at the earpiece. He could hear its static noise had gotten louder, and the high pitched ringing from before became more prominent.

Sarge tried to think of what was happening. Did it involve the mainframe in any way? Was Xenon still talking to it? The only thing Sarge could think of was the Sonic Blast Cannon he was hit by a week ago.

The hatch to the cellar bursted open. Sarge jumped and backed into the couch. Xenon flew up the steps and immediately shouted. “Sarge!” His voice was panicked.

“What?!” Sarge asked. He inadvertently made his voice sound just as panicked. “What’s going on?”

Starfish crawled out of the cellar. “I-i-i-i-intruder… D-d-d-detected.” Starfish moved to the center of the room and lifted all of its tentacles. They began to spin around, slowly increasing speed until they were spinning fast enough for Starfish to float off the ground.

This wasn’t the same reaction Starfish had when Xenon approached. This was different. Did someone else happen to find this place?

Xenon sidled past Starfish and ran over to Sarge. His eyes were wide. “Sarge, call Corporal Lunar. NOW!”

“What, why?” Sarge asked. Though he wanted an answer, he already pulled out his phone and the paper Corporal Lunar gave him.

“The mainframe agreed, we need their help.” Xenon said as he turned toward Starfish. “But something’s just arrived.”

“What is it?” Sarge started typing in the number.

“I don’t know. The mainframe said an aerial unit in the area was intercepted. Something tried to attack the mainframe through the aerial unit.”

“A hacker?” Sarge asked, now placing the phone to his ear. It started ringing.

“Something that both took out the robot and knew how to hack it!” The two watched as Starfish slowly inched toward the front door.

“Do you think…?” Sarge began to ask, but then someone on the phone picked up.

“Personal Device of Corporal Lunar. This is Private Erik. Corporal Lunar is currently in a meeting. May I ask who’s calling?”

“Detective Sergeant Wolf,” Sarge tried to say calmly, but his voice came out more panicked than he expected. “This is urgent. We need Lunar NOW!”

Private Erik didn’t reply, but Sarge could hear a flurry of movement, a set of doors being opened, and a bunch of indistinguishable voices starting to pick up in intensity. He then heard the phone get passed to someone.

“This is Corporal Lunar. Detective, is that you? What is happening?”

Sarge looked at Xenon frantically, then he looked at Starfish. “We’re at a cabin in the woods. Track my cellphone if you have to. The mainframe gave permission for your assistance, but something is here.” Sarge gulped. “It took out one of the mainframe’s aerial drones, and it’s… uh…”

Sarge heard a knock on the door. It was a singular knock… and it was loud. It was almost as if something was trying to break the door down.

“Get Units 2 and 3 ready to mobilize. Get the coordinates for our lock on DSW. Head there now,” Corporal Lunar yelled to people Sarge couldn’t see. “Stay safe, Detective, we will be there shortly. And stay on the phone if you can. We need as much information as we can get. What is currently happening?”

“S-s-s-s-s-s-s-sooooooomeone,” a voice droned out from the other side of the door. “A-a-a-a-a-ate. R-r-r-really. Grosszzzzsh. Eggggggssszzzzzzsssshhhshshsh”

Sarge felt like his ears were tricking him. He could have sworn that was Xenon’s voice, but Xenon was standing right next to him.

“Esssssssss. Aaaaayyyyyyyy. Aaaaarrrrrrrr. Geeeeeeeee. Eeeeeeeee” The voice said, though it now sounded like it was crackling.

“Our… code,” Xenon whispered. “Sarge… It’s spelling out your name.”

“It’s copying you, Xenon!” Sarge hissed. “It heard you?! How did it hear you?”

“D-d-d-d-dooooooooooezzzzzzzz,” the voice said. “S-s-s-s-s-s-s-sSSSarge n-n-nnnneeed a-a-a-aaaaa… h-h-h-hhhhhuuuuuuuug?”

Sarge could have sworn his heart stopped at that exact moment. Those were the words from last night. Starfish had asked him that exact same thing from before. He wanted to assume this was another one of the mainframe’s units, but Starfish was acting like it was an intruder. So… what was it, and how did it know?
There was another knock on the door. This one was more aggressive than the last one. It made the cabin shake.

“Sarge, we need to hide. NOW!” Xenon grabbed Sarge’s arm and yanked him toward the cellar. Sarge followed.

BANG! With the last knock, the door flew directly into Starfish. The robot reacted fast enough to turn itself sideways. Its tentacles ripped through the door with ease, causing an earsplitting ringing noise that quickly dissipated as the two door halves toppled to the ground.

Xenon shoved Sarge down into the cellar before he could get a good look. The alien guided him to the back wall. It was currently opened, allowing the two to slip through.

“Detective! What was that?” Sarge heard Corporal Lunar ask through the phone. “Detective are you okay?”

As the two rushed down the stairs, Sarge put the phone up to his ear. “No. Whatever this thing is… just broke in. We need help. Ple-” the phone started to ring with static, just like his earpiece. Sarge cut the call, but the ringing and static continued.

Xenon and Sarge ran into the room with the mainframe. Xenon closed the door behind them before looking to Sarge. “It knows you, Sarge? Why did that thing say your name?”

Sarge felt himself shiver. “I… uh….” He shook his head. Now wasn’t the time to panic. He looked up at the monitor and spoke quietly. “Mainframe, you said it destroyed an aerial drone and tried to hack you?”

“Yes,” it typed.

Sarge looked at Xenon. “Maybe that thing at the door is the thing that destroyed the aerial unit. It probably already got information.”

“What information?” Xenon asked.

The monitor typed. “Aerial_Unit_Drone_Starfish unresponsive… terminating connection.”

“S-starfish?” Sarge felt his eyes water. He knew it was just a part of the mainframe’s hivemind, but hearing it was now unresponsive made his heart sink. “It destroyed Starfish.”

“Another hacking attempt, probably,” Xenon said, resting a hand on Sarge’s shoulder. He recognized Sarge was upset. “We should probably hide by the door. When it comes into the room, we can sneak out and get to safety.”

“But what about the mainframe?” Sarge asked.

The two looked at the monitor. It typed out. “Lifeforms cannot hide. All units equipped with thermal detection. You will be found.”

“I KNEW it had thermal vision!” Xenon snapped a finger, then looked at Sarge. “Alright, buddy, then we’ll have to distract it. I think I should distract it this time.”

“But what if it kills you?” Sarge asked.

“Then it kills me,” Xenon said darkly. “But, can’t let it hurt you. Not going to let it hurt my friend-”

“No!” Sarge snapped. “You are NOT pulling a Chomby on me, Xenon! Don’t you DARE!”

Sarge’s mind began to race. He looked between Xenon, the door, and the mainframe. Every situation he could think of would be difficult, if not impossible. He needed as much information as he could get. But he knew they didn’t have much time.

“Mainframe, what is the thing that came to the door? Did Starfish recognize it?” Sarge asked.

“Entity identified as Prototype Collector. Unit_00 created. Meant to collect resources for factory building.”

“Then why did it come here?” Sarge asked. “Is it trying to collect you?”

“No. This location is one of many. Mainframe will be removed from this location shortly. Sending Aerial_Unit_Drone_13 to residency of Detective Sergeant Wolf. Help from Corporal Lunar required. Sending Land_Unit_Drone_10 to current location. Protect Detective Sergeant Wolf and Caretaker Xenon. Stop Hurt.”

“Is there a secret way out of here?” Sarge asked. “If not, can you at least tell us about the collector robot? Any weapons?”

“No alternate entrances.”

The monitor then immediately typed out a line of text. “Aerial_Unit_Drone_Starfish scan processed. Unit_Collector_02 identified. Micron, Carbon-fiber claw on left appendage. Micron, Carbon-fiber claw on right appendage. Bipedal maneuvering mechanism. Heat sensor on visual cortex. Vapid Storage. Data Storage. Data log – decrypting.”

“So, it doesn’t seem to have a Sonic Blast Cannon, or an EMP?” Xenon asked.

“Supposedly. That’s good,” Sarge said. Sarge then closed an eye to look at Chomby. He mentioned what was happening.

“No EMP? I know I’m not strong enough to take on a destroyer, but a collector unit sounds feasible. Didja wanna zip up?” Chomby asked.

“We can’t. Right now, the mainframe doesn’t know you’re alive. If it does, it may change its entire directive… and then we WOULD have to fight Unit_00.”

Sarge looked at Xenon with his open eye. “It’s a bit risky, but doable. No lasers. Walks on two legs, I assume, given that ‘bipedal’ statement. Might be able to trip the robot and book it.”

“And what of-” Xenon pointed a hand to his head and twiddled two of his fingers up and down. This was how the two signed for ‘Chomby’.

“No.” Sarge shook his head then looked at the mainframe. “Do you need time to transfer yourself to another server?”

“Local storage of files transferred. Beginning shut down. 2 Minutes remaining. All electronic elements of this unit will be terminated and unusable. Land_Unit_Drone_10 arrival in five minutes. Stand by. Goodbye.” the monitor shut off.

“five minutes,” Xenon said. “Wonder what the land drones look like?”

“Dunno.” Sarge shrugged. He felt his heart begin to race. “I’m a bit nervous, but less so, knowing we’ve got the mainframe on our side for this. We just gotta survive for five minutes.”

“Not a destroyer,” Xenon said.

“And it isn’t a destroyer. Yeah.” Sarge nodded. “Though, still scared.”

“Same.” Xenon said. “But you said we could trip it?”

“Maybe. Got any rope?” Sarge asked.

“Not this time,” Xenon sighed.

“We doing the Under Drop Method?”

“Sure. You lost a lot of weight. Good to do the hard part?” Xenon gestured toward Sarge’s belly.

“Yeah.” Sarge and Xenon had created a few ‘maneuvers’ together that would usually allow them to apprehend some of the more dangerous criminals. If it ever came to hand-to-hand combat, Xenon would usually fair better than Sarge. He had years of martial arts studies under his belt. But when it came to improvisational combat, Sarge and Chomby would usually excel.

The two heard a bang on the door to the room.

“It’s here.” Xenon whispered. He pulled out a flashlight and tossed it to Sarge before turning on one of his own. “No need to go in blind. It can see us regardless.”

“I’m aware,” Sarge gulped. He turned his light on and held it tightly in his hand. “Let’s see if we can escape first. Dunno how fast this thing is.”

“Took its time getting down here, I’d assume it’s slow.” Xenon snickered, turning his own light on. “Maybe we won’t have to trip it after all?”

“If we can avoid it, yes.” Sarge said as he moved the flashlight around the room. He could see it was a mostly-empty, room with metal plating on all the walls. The only things of note were the monitor and the door.

“D-d-d-d-d-detectiiiiiiiiiiiiive S-s-s-s-s-saaaaarge,” the familiar droning voice chimed in as the door banged again. “D-d-d-d-doooooo you neeeeeed a hyuuuuuwwwuuwuwg?”

“Why is it saying that?” Xenon whispered.

“Mimicry? Maybe it’s trying to get us to lower our guard?” Sarge asked.

“D-d-d-dDdd ee e tte et et eective A-a-a-a-anomaly. SssssaaaaAAAaaaaAArgeeeeeezzzzz. F-ffffffiiiiiind. Yoooyoyoyooou? Hhhhuhuuuuuhhhg?” It seemed to reply.

BANG! The door was dangerously close to being knocked off its hinges.

“Find? Anomaly?” Xenon asked. “Why is it wanting to find the anomaly?”

“F-f-fi-fi-fi-find A-an-an-anomaly!” It said. “C-c-c-collect D-d-d-deteeective S-s-s-sarge. AaaaAAnomaly. Fiiiind. Fiiiiiiiiiiiiind.”

Sarge felt a shiver run up his spine as he realized the robot’s intent. It wasn’t just saying random things it heard Sarge talk about. It was saying exactly what it was going to do – it was going to collect the anomaly. It wanted Sarge.

The robot banged on the door again. The force blasted the door to the ground.

Sarge shined a flashlight on the robot. Much like the destroyer robots, this robot was covered in a dark-gray carbon-fiber shell. Sarge could see long, metallic legs step through the doorway as the robot bent over. Sarge estimated it was about eight feet tall.

Once fully through, the robot pulled its arms through, revealing two, three-pronged claws attached to thin, cable like arms. The arms flailed around wildly for a few seconds, clanking and thrashing against the open air. The arms then stopped and bent themselves toward Sarge.

“Anomaaaaaly-y-y-y-y-y-y. F-f-f-f-found.”

~~~~~

Chapter 8 to this story. Enjoy some more! :D Hopefully it's sounding coooool!

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Sarge/Chomby/Xenon/Story ©  pikminpedia Me