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Xenon offered to take Sarge back to the school, but Sarge refused. He needed to grab one of the spare jackets from his house so people wouldn’t be confused or suspicious. He originally intended to have three jackets – two for winter, and one for spring, but he ended up never wearing them. Once he found Chomby was in one of his jackets, he never felt a desire to wear anything else, so both the spare winter and spring jacket collected dust in his closet.
Because the neighborhood was in the evacuation zone, Sarge had to request specific permission to enter the area again. He had to wait at the border for several military vehicles to escort him in safely. They did question why he was going back to his home, and he merely stated it was for both business reasons and personal reasons. If he was going to be stuck away from his home, he at least wanted to feel a bit of comfort.
They dropped him off and he dashed to the front porch. He saw a small box was sitting on the front porch. On the tag it said: “To Sarge and Chomby, from Squandered”.
Sarge smiled, picked up the box, and went inside to grab a backpack. He stuffed his winter jacket, laptop, toiletries, and favorite pajamas inside. He then headed to the kitchen and grabbed a few of his favorite snacks and some medications. Finally, he went to his hallway closet and grabbed out his first aid kit, along with a few extra bandages, gauze, and other first aid equipment he had on hand.
Once he felt aptly prepared, he left his house, locked it up, then went back to the vehicles. He asked if he could pick his car up from the warehouse. They allowed this and went to pick it up. Sarge wasn’t allowed to drive it, however, so a soldier drove it back to the school.
By the time the sun was going down, Sarge felt he was as prepared as he was ever going to be. Sarge was then given a classroom to sleep in away from the cafeteria. All the desks were pushed against the back wall to make space for a bed that was surprisingly larger than the cots in the cafeteria. When Sarge tested its comfort, he felt it wasn’t the best, but it wasn’t anything to complain about.
Sarge decided to look around the classroom to kill some time. He could see a set of pictures lined the wall behind the desk. Their quality ranged from a stick figure drawing of a smiling person holding a balloon to a decently-detailed landscape painting of the nearby mountain range.
On the wall opposite the doorway, there was a set of three, floor-to-ceiling windows with large, brown, brick pillars between them. He could see that a soldier was stationed outside of each window, facing away from him. Further out, he could see a few aerial unit drones hovering around. Based on their patterns, Sarge assumed they were circling the building.
Aside from the humans and aerial drones, Sarge also noticed some strange robots that patrolled on the ground nearby. Much like the aerial units, the ground units seemed to have an array of eight tentacles. However, unlike the aerial units that used their tentacles to fly around, these ground units seemed to use them to physically examine the land around them. One of the robots lifted its tentacles up enough for Sarge to see a small base with two sets of treads attached to both sides.
“Those must be the ground units,” Sarge said aloud to himself. “Was that what Ground_Unit_10 looked like?”
“Affirmative, Detective,” a voice said from behind Sarge, startling him.
Sarge turned around to see Corporal Lunar in the doorway. “Corporal! Uh… what are you doing here?”
“Giving you a report. Didn’t want to disturb you, though.” Lunar quietly walked into the room. An aerial unit dragged itself into the room behind him. “The guards will be rotating in and out, if that isn’t obvious. As for the drones, the mainframe wanted to keep a close watch on you, so it’s tasked Aerial_Unit_Drone_24 to keep an eye on you.”
“Any reason for 24 in particular?” Sarge asked as he looked down at the drone.
“The mainframe said it was the closest to Aerial_Unit_Drone_Starfish numerically.”
“Oh, gotcha.” Sarge nodded as he watched the drone slide over to him. He bent over and let it get onto his arm. “Can I call you Starfish?”
“Aerial_Unit_Drone_24 identified as Starfish,” the drone said.
“No stuttering?” Sarge asked.
“Aerial_Unit_Drone_Starfish is equipped with communicator designed for English speech. Is stuttering requested?” Starfish stated.
“No, that’s fine. Thanks, Starfish,” Sarge said as he stood back up. “Ever been hugged by one of these guys before?”
Lunar tilted his head. “No, but, based off that question, I assume you have.”
“An entire hour. Weird thing to experience, but,” Sarge patted Starfish’s head. “I appreciated it.”
Lunar smiled. “Then it will be a good partner to you while you remain here. We’re still figuring out where we’re going to take you to ‘bait out’ Unit_00, but rest assured your safety is our top priority.”
“Are you going to go with the signal jamming idea?” Sarge asked.
“That part is classified I’m afraid, sorry, Detective.”
Sarge nodded. “Well, whatever the case, I appreciate you guys keeping a watch on me. I just hope you and the mainframe can get along.”
“We have Gale, the department’s head of foreign communications, relaying information between us. She was trained in diplomatic negotiations.”
“Better than me, I’d say.” Sarge chortled.
“The mainframe has mentioned a lot about you, actually,” Lunar said. “It even printed your entire conversation with it.”
“Oh, it did?” Sarge felt his cheeks flush hot with embarrassment. “Sorry.”
“Again, as I said before, my condolences to you for your loss of Chomby.” Lunar nodded his head. “His sacrifice was not in vain, though. Because of the two of you, we’ve been able to have a peaceful agreement with the mainframe and can work together to finally put this issue to rest.”
“That puts my mind at ease,” Sarge smiled.
“When all this is over, it is possible you may receive an honorary medal, if you’ll have it.”
“A medal fooooor?” Sarge asked.
“Peace Negotiations.”
Sarge closed an eye instinctively to talk to Chomby, but forgot he wasn’t wearing the right jacket. “Uh… maybe. I’d much rather not have one. I feel that’s too much praise for having a meltdown.”
“We’ll have to wait until all this is over to make the call, of course. But, it’s there if you want it.” Lunar gave a nod. “With that, I’ll be leaving. Rest well, Detective.”
Lunar left Sarge and Starfish to their own devices. Because Sarge wanted to talk to Chomby so badly, he instead tried to talk with Starfish. Much like the original Starfish, this Starfish was not much for communicating, but at least it was easier to understand.
Sarge continued trying to talk with Starfish until he noticed the guards outside switched shifts. He realized it was probably best to rest, as he had nothing better to do right now. So he fell asleep.
During the night, Sarge had troubled dreams. He’d usually find himself with Chomby for most of the dream, but then a random disaster would cause the two to separate. One such dream caused a fissure to form between the two. Chomby was on the other side, calling out unintelligible words to Sarge. Sarge would attempt to reply, but the two were getting too far away. He then decided to try jumping the fissure, so he bunched his legs up and jumped. Then he woke up.
Sarge groaned as he tried to open an eye. A shaft of sunlight was blinding him. “Urgh.” He got into a sitting position and rubbed the back of his head.
“Good morning, Detective Sergeant Wolf,” Starfish said from the ground to the left of the bed. “Your sleep patterns last night were irregular. Your heart rate is at a stable sixty-two. Are you in need of assistance?”
“Assistance with what?” Sarge asked as he stretched.
“Of the request of the mainframe and Sergeant Major Walkner, you are being monitored and thus, to prevent any injury of hurt to you, it is required to assist you with your daily needs.”
“I’m fine, Starfish,” Sarge said as he spun out of bed and dropped to the ground. “And how do you know my heartbeat? Were you scanning me?”
“Your biometrics are being monitored by the mainframe. Heartrate is now seventy-two, blood pressure is now, one-twenty-two over eighty. How would you rate your pain?”
“Zero,” Sarge squinted his eyes. “Starfish, honestly, I’m fine. I’m just a little hungry.” Sarge patted his belly. Because he’d been eating very large proportions of food, he felt it was starting to grow back again.
“Request for food has been initiated,” Starfish said. “Do you prefer an English Muffin Breakfast Sandwich, a Bran Muffin and a bowl of Fruity Rings, or French Toast with a Cream Cheese filling?”
“Can I request for all of that?” Sarge asked.
“Processing.” Starfish’s eye zipped around the red jewel for a moment. “Request accepted. Your meal will be prepared in… twenty minutes.”
“Okay, neat.” Sarge felt his tail wag. Though he knew it was going to be short lived, it felt rather interesting to have room service. He’d never had it before, as it was usually very pricey.
This treatment lasted for over a week. He was treated to several meals all day and was required to rest. He found out through Corporal Lunar that the military had obtained some of Sarge’s medical records, which noted his remarkable healing ability. That is why they were treating him to a lot of food, as this would better help him recover his fat reserves.
Though Sarge did enjoy the concept of free room service, he still felt bored out of his mind. There wasn’t much to do inside the classroom, and he’d gotten so used to seeing the guards and robots moving around the window that it was no longer entertaining.
“Hey, Starfish?” Sarge asked while eating one of his meals. A question had come to his mind that he realized he’d never asked the mainframe before. “How are you… erm… how is the mainframe feeling?”
“The mainframe does not feel, as it does not have physical receptors.” Starfish lifted its tentacles. “Aerial_Unit_Drone_Starfish has sensors and can pick up electromagnetic signatures. This is how information is given.”
“Right, right, but uh… I mean. Emotionally. How is the mainframe feeling?”
“Mainframe does not feel emotion. It is aware of emotion and has recognized thirteen separate emotions over the past few days. Would you like to hear the analysis?”
“No, Starfish I just wanted to know,” Sarge put a finger to his chin as he walked over to his backpack to pull out his laptop. “If the mainframe had to choose an emotion that best fit its situation, what one of those thirteen would it pick?” Sarge stooped over and grabbed the laptop out of the bag. “I know it felt hurt… and I wanted to make sure it was not feeling hurt.”
“Processing.”
Starfish was taking a long time to process the question, so Sarge sat back on the bed and opened his laptop. He clicked on one of his favorite albums. It was a band from Sweden that created chiptune-styled music. He clicked on his favorite song and let it play as he relaxed back onto the bed. If Chomby were here, he’d be mock-DJing to the music. This made Sarge smile.
“Fear,” Starfish finally said after ten more minutes.
Sarge paused the song, having almost forgotten he asked the question in the first place. “Why fear?”
“Unknown variables. Very little information. Unit_00 is mainframe’s creation yet is unresponsive to commands. Detective Sergeant Wolf has been hurt. Humans have been hurt. Mainframe cannot calculate how to protect all humans.” Starfish dragged itself onto the bed and sat itself on Sarge’s lap.
“Heh, kinda sounds like me in a way.” Sarge chuckled. “I wanted to protect everyone when the original Starfish showed up. I couldn’t think of any way to protect them outside of getting in the way and making sure all the focus was on me.”
“Mainframe wishes to protect Detective Sergeant Wolf,” Starfish said.
“I appreciate that, I do.” Sarge patted Starfish’s eye. It reacted by moving the dot in its eye away from the pat. “Honestly, when it comes down to it, just do your best to protect who you can. There isn’t going to be a way to protect everyone… no matter how much you may want to.”
Sarge could hear a bit of noise coming from outside. From the sounds of it, some people were laughing and chatting with the drones. They were passing the time, it seemed.
“What would Detective Sergeant Wolf do?” Starfish asked.
“If I had to protect everyone?” Sarge closed his eyes and thought. “Well, honestly, I’d help where I can, but also have to trust that people can take care of themselves. They know how to live and survive, so they wouldn’t need my protection. But if they asked me for it, I would help.”
The sounds from outside grew a bit louder. Sarge could hear some distant tapping noises… but he knew it was something else.
“Your blood pressure is rising. Your heart rate is increasing. Is Detective Sergeant Wolf in need of a hug?” Starfish asked.
“Those were gunshots, weren’t they?” Sarge asked, looking toward the window. He could see the guards were looking at each other. An aerial drone and a land drone were standing still, facing away from the school.
“Request to verify denied,” Starfish said. “Must protect Detective Sergeant Wolf.”
Sarge heard the tapping noises. They grew louder. Sarge swore he could hear a scream. He felt his stomach churn. “I can hear them, Starfish. You’re linked to the mainframe. Tell me, what is happening!”
“Request to verify denied,” Starfish said again. “Communication with Mainframe halted. Signal… ‘jammed’.”
“So they jammed the signal?” Sarge asked.
“It has been jammed for eight days.” Starfish stated. “Information of Mainframe installed into Aerial_Unit_Drone_24 before arrival. All questions answered were from the last received package of information.”
Sarge heard another array of tapping, though they were close enough now to properly sound like gunfire. He could see the guards had their weapons raised. The drones started to spin their tentacles rapidly.
“So it’s not withholding information? You don’t know what’s happening outside?” Sarge asked.
“Affirmative.” Starfish slinked up to Sarge and wrapped its tentacles around his torso. “Protect Detective Sergeant Wolf.”
“Yeah, I sure hope they can,” Sarge said. He looked out the window again. He could see something happening at the edge of the school grounds, but it was too far to tell exactly what was happening.
Sarge could hear a bunch of shouting coming from the door on the other side of the room. He tried to dislodge Starfish from himself but found he couldn’t, so he just took Starfish with him to the door. He looked through the glass window and saw that the few, remaining refugees were being ushered through the front door of the school. A bunch of soldiers were standing around them, facing outward. They were evacuating.
“Starfish, something’s happening.” Sarge gulped. “If there’s gunfire, and the signal’s been jammed… do you think that unit_00 is attacking?”
“It is a possibility,” Starfish stated.
“I didn’t think it’d attack this soon,” Sarge put a hand to his head. “I thought it would try sending out its own drones to try and figure out what was going on… then we could find it and put a stop to it.”
“This is one of the outcomes known to the mainframe. Unit_00, though its actions are erratic, are still predictable.” Starfish climbed onto Sarge’s shoulder. “It is best for you to rest. Your heart rate is at one-hundred-ten.”
“I can’t rest, Starfish. I gotta keep my guard up now!” Sarge spun on a heel and ran to the window. He could see more soldiers were filing in. There were now a dozen men and women guarding right outside the window. Several drones were also moving in. Sarge had trouble counting them, due to how many there were.
He heard more gunfire. Looking up, he could see what was finally causing the raucous. A row of military vehicles were currently driving in to barricade the area. Further beyond those vehicles were two, large robots. Sarge felt his heart sink. He recognized what they were immediately.
Robotic Destroyers, and there were two of them this time. He could see one of them had a metal claw and the Sonic Blast Cannon. The other one had what appeared to be a flamethrower and a large, buckler-like shield that it held in front of it. This shield seemed to be deflecting the bullets.
Sarge heard the door behind him swing open.
“Detective! We need to evacuate you immediately!” It was Private Erik. Sarge was formally introduced to him when he joined the group of soldiers who were supposed to escort Sarge to his house. “Unit_00 has sent out several Robotic Destroyers to the school!”
Sarge felt his heart skip a beat at the mention of “several”.
“W-why?!” Sarge asked.
“Your guess is better than mine!” Erik said. He ran in and pushed Sarge toward the door. “Our priorities are to keep you safe, Detective! Now move!”
“But, what about all the people? And the drones? “Sarge protested. He wanted to move, but his legs wouldn’t let him.
“They’re protecting you! Don’t let their sacrifices be in vain!” Erik stopped pushing Sarge and just grabbed his wrist, now pulling him.
No. That wasn’t right. Chomby already did that. Chomby already sacrificed himself for Sarge. Xenon had been planning to do the same. Now the military was? He knew they were going to protect him, but he didn’t think it would be this intense.
Erik ran through the front doors of the school and shoved Sarge into the back of one of three covered vehicles. He could see the other refugees had filled the two vehicles next to Sarge, but no other refugee was in his vehicle with him. He figured it was because of the danger to civilians Sarge currently possessed.
Sarge could hear large amounts of gunfire along with an earsplitting ringing. He wasn’t sure what it was.
Erik jumped into the back of the vehicle and shouted, “GO! GO! GO!”
All the vehicles immediately floored it. Sarge had to hold onto his seat to avoid getting knocked over.
The school vanished into the background. Sarge saw the other two vehicles split off in different directions. He could then see one of the Robotic Destroyers turn into view from the school. It turned its head back and forth – possibly scanning the fleeing vehicles. It then turned its head to the right and started chasing the vehicle that went in that direction.
“N-no!” Sarge yelled as he got to his feet. He wanted to jump out and draw the robot’s attention, but he felt Erik grab onto his pants, stopping him in his tracks. Sarge turned to Erik. “A destroyer is following one of the cars. It’s going to hurt the people!”
Erik slapped the wall of the vehicle behind the driver. A small window opened up. The face of the person in the passenger seat appeared.
“Unit Two being tailed. Divert Direction to Deadzone,” Erik instructed.
“Deadzone?” Sarge asked, panicked.
“A Trap. Military is there at the ready to intercept.” Erik forcefully pulled Sarge back into a sitting position. “Stop worrying about others for a second and think about keeping yourself alive! We’re taking you to a reinforced compound. A lot safer than that dusty old school. You’ll be safer there.”
“But…” Sarge looked back. He could see a small mushroom cloud hovering above the school. Though he couldn’t hear anything, he could imagine a bunch of fearful screams as the area was covered in flames. The terrified faces of the refugees when just Starfish appeared were harrowing enough, but now he had to imagine them with Robotic Destroyers.
All this… just to keep Sarge safe? He suggested the counter jamming strategy in the first place. He’s the one who was the anomaly. He was supposed to stop all this from happening….
“It’s all my fault.”
~~~~~
The next chapter of the story. Anyone expect the ending of this one based off the picture? XD
~~~~~
Sarge/Chomby/Xenon/Art/Story ©
pikminpedia Me
Xenon offered to take Sarge back to the school, but Sarge refused. He needed to grab one of the spare jackets from his house so people wouldn’t be confused or suspicious. He originally intended to have three jackets – two for winter, and one for spring, but he ended up never wearing them. Once he found Chomby was in one of his jackets, he never felt a desire to wear anything else, so both the spare winter and spring jacket collected dust in his closet.
Because the neighborhood was in the evacuation zone, Sarge had to request specific permission to enter the area again. He had to wait at the border for several military vehicles to escort him in safely. They did question why he was going back to his home, and he merely stated it was for both business reasons and personal reasons. If he was going to be stuck away from his home, he at least wanted to feel a bit of comfort.
They dropped him off and he dashed to the front porch. He saw a small box was sitting on the front porch. On the tag it said: “To Sarge and Chomby, from Squandered”.
Sarge smiled, picked up the box, and went inside to grab a backpack. He stuffed his winter jacket, laptop, toiletries, and favorite pajamas inside. He then headed to the kitchen and grabbed a few of his favorite snacks and some medications. Finally, he went to his hallway closet and grabbed out his first aid kit, along with a few extra bandages, gauze, and other first aid equipment he had on hand.
Once he felt aptly prepared, he left his house, locked it up, then went back to the vehicles. He asked if he could pick his car up from the warehouse. They allowed this and went to pick it up. Sarge wasn’t allowed to drive it, however, so a soldier drove it back to the school.
By the time the sun was going down, Sarge felt he was as prepared as he was ever going to be. Sarge was then given a classroom to sleep in away from the cafeteria. All the desks were pushed against the back wall to make space for a bed that was surprisingly larger than the cots in the cafeteria. When Sarge tested its comfort, he felt it wasn’t the best, but it wasn’t anything to complain about.
Sarge decided to look around the classroom to kill some time. He could see a set of pictures lined the wall behind the desk. Their quality ranged from a stick figure drawing of a smiling person holding a balloon to a decently-detailed landscape painting of the nearby mountain range.
On the wall opposite the doorway, there was a set of three, floor-to-ceiling windows with large, brown, brick pillars between them. He could see that a soldier was stationed outside of each window, facing away from him. Further out, he could see a few aerial unit drones hovering around. Based on their patterns, Sarge assumed they were circling the building.
Aside from the humans and aerial drones, Sarge also noticed some strange robots that patrolled on the ground nearby. Much like the aerial units, the ground units seemed to have an array of eight tentacles. However, unlike the aerial units that used their tentacles to fly around, these ground units seemed to use them to physically examine the land around them. One of the robots lifted its tentacles up enough for Sarge to see a small base with two sets of treads attached to both sides.
“Those must be the ground units,” Sarge said aloud to himself. “Was that what Ground_Unit_10 looked like?”
“Affirmative, Detective,” a voice said from behind Sarge, startling him.
Sarge turned around to see Corporal Lunar in the doorway. “Corporal! Uh… what are you doing here?”
“Giving you a report. Didn’t want to disturb you, though.” Lunar quietly walked into the room. An aerial unit dragged itself into the room behind him. “The guards will be rotating in and out, if that isn’t obvious. As for the drones, the mainframe wanted to keep a close watch on you, so it’s tasked Aerial_Unit_Drone_24 to keep an eye on you.”
“Any reason for 24 in particular?” Sarge asked as he looked down at the drone.
“The mainframe said it was the closest to Aerial_Unit_Drone_Starfish numerically.”
“Oh, gotcha.” Sarge nodded as he watched the drone slide over to him. He bent over and let it get onto his arm. “Can I call you Starfish?”
“Aerial_Unit_Drone_24 identified as Starfish,” the drone said.
“No stuttering?” Sarge asked.
“Aerial_Unit_Drone_Starfish is equipped with communicator designed for English speech. Is stuttering requested?” Starfish stated.
“No, that’s fine. Thanks, Starfish,” Sarge said as he stood back up. “Ever been hugged by one of these guys before?”
Lunar tilted his head. “No, but, based off that question, I assume you have.”
“An entire hour. Weird thing to experience, but,” Sarge patted Starfish’s head. “I appreciated it.”
Lunar smiled. “Then it will be a good partner to you while you remain here. We’re still figuring out where we’re going to take you to ‘bait out’ Unit_00, but rest assured your safety is our top priority.”
“Are you going to go with the signal jamming idea?” Sarge asked.
“That part is classified I’m afraid, sorry, Detective.”
Sarge nodded. “Well, whatever the case, I appreciate you guys keeping a watch on me. I just hope you and the mainframe can get along.”
“We have Gale, the department’s head of foreign communications, relaying information between us. She was trained in diplomatic negotiations.”
“Better than me, I’d say.” Sarge chortled.
“The mainframe has mentioned a lot about you, actually,” Lunar said. “It even printed your entire conversation with it.”
“Oh, it did?” Sarge felt his cheeks flush hot with embarrassment. “Sorry.”
“Again, as I said before, my condolences to you for your loss of Chomby.” Lunar nodded his head. “His sacrifice was not in vain, though. Because of the two of you, we’ve been able to have a peaceful agreement with the mainframe and can work together to finally put this issue to rest.”
“That puts my mind at ease,” Sarge smiled.
“When all this is over, it is possible you may receive an honorary medal, if you’ll have it.”
“A medal fooooor?” Sarge asked.
“Peace Negotiations.”
Sarge closed an eye instinctively to talk to Chomby, but forgot he wasn’t wearing the right jacket. “Uh… maybe. I’d much rather not have one. I feel that’s too much praise for having a meltdown.”
“We’ll have to wait until all this is over to make the call, of course. But, it’s there if you want it.” Lunar gave a nod. “With that, I’ll be leaving. Rest well, Detective.”
Lunar left Sarge and Starfish to their own devices. Because Sarge wanted to talk to Chomby so badly, he instead tried to talk with Starfish. Much like the original Starfish, this Starfish was not much for communicating, but at least it was easier to understand.
Sarge continued trying to talk with Starfish until he noticed the guards outside switched shifts. He realized it was probably best to rest, as he had nothing better to do right now. So he fell asleep.
During the night, Sarge had troubled dreams. He’d usually find himself with Chomby for most of the dream, but then a random disaster would cause the two to separate. One such dream caused a fissure to form between the two. Chomby was on the other side, calling out unintelligible words to Sarge. Sarge would attempt to reply, but the two were getting too far away. He then decided to try jumping the fissure, so he bunched his legs up and jumped. Then he woke up.
Sarge groaned as he tried to open an eye. A shaft of sunlight was blinding him. “Urgh.” He got into a sitting position and rubbed the back of his head.
“Good morning, Detective Sergeant Wolf,” Starfish said from the ground to the left of the bed. “Your sleep patterns last night were irregular. Your heart rate is at a stable sixty-two. Are you in need of assistance?”
“Assistance with what?” Sarge asked as he stretched.
“Of the request of the mainframe and Sergeant Major Walkner, you are being monitored and thus, to prevent any injury of hurt to you, it is required to assist you with your daily needs.”
“I’m fine, Starfish,” Sarge said as he spun out of bed and dropped to the ground. “And how do you know my heartbeat? Were you scanning me?”
“Your biometrics are being monitored by the mainframe. Heartrate is now seventy-two, blood pressure is now, one-twenty-two over eighty. How would you rate your pain?”
“Zero,” Sarge squinted his eyes. “Starfish, honestly, I’m fine. I’m just a little hungry.” Sarge patted his belly. Because he’d been eating very large proportions of food, he felt it was starting to grow back again.
“Request for food has been initiated,” Starfish said. “Do you prefer an English Muffin Breakfast Sandwich, a Bran Muffin and a bowl of Fruity Rings, or French Toast with a Cream Cheese filling?”
“Can I request for all of that?” Sarge asked.
“Processing.” Starfish’s eye zipped around the red jewel for a moment. “Request accepted. Your meal will be prepared in… twenty minutes.”
“Okay, neat.” Sarge felt his tail wag. Though he knew it was going to be short lived, it felt rather interesting to have room service. He’d never had it before, as it was usually very pricey.
This treatment lasted for over a week. He was treated to several meals all day and was required to rest. He found out through Corporal Lunar that the military had obtained some of Sarge’s medical records, which noted his remarkable healing ability. That is why they were treating him to a lot of food, as this would better help him recover his fat reserves.
Though Sarge did enjoy the concept of free room service, he still felt bored out of his mind. There wasn’t much to do inside the classroom, and he’d gotten so used to seeing the guards and robots moving around the window that it was no longer entertaining.
“Hey, Starfish?” Sarge asked while eating one of his meals. A question had come to his mind that he realized he’d never asked the mainframe before. “How are you… erm… how is the mainframe feeling?”
“The mainframe does not feel, as it does not have physical receptors.” Starfish lifted its tentacles. “Aerial_Unit_Drone_Starfish has sensors and can pick up electromagnetic signatures. This is how information is given.”
“Right, right, but uh… I mean. Emotionally. How is the mainframe feeling?”
“Mainframe does not feel emotion. It is aware of emotion and has recognized thirteen separate emotions over the past few days. Would you like to hear the analysis?”
“No, Starfish I just wanted to know,” Sarge put a finger to his chin as he walked over to his backpack to pull out his laptop. “If the mainframe had to choose an emotion that best fit its situation, what one of those thirteen would it pick?” Sarge stooped over and grabbed the laptop out of the bag. “I know it felt hurt… and I wanted to make sure it was not feeling hurt.”
“Processing.”
Starfish was taking a long time to process the question, so Sarge sat back on the bed and opened his laptop. He clicked on one of his favorite albums. It was a band from Sweden that created chiptune-styled music. He clicked on his favorite song and let it play as he relaxed back onto the bed. If Chomby were here, he’d be mock-DJing to the music. This made Sarge smile.
“Fear,” Starfish finally said after ten more minutes.
Sarge paused the song, having almost forgotten he asked the question in the first place. “Why fear?”
“Unknown variables. Very little information. Unit_00 is mainframe’s creation yet is unresponsive to commands. Detective Sergeant Wolf has been hurt. Humans have been hurt. Mainframe cannot calculate how to protect all humans.” Starfish dragged itself onto the bed and sat itself on Sarge’s lap.
“Heh, kinda sounds like me in a way.” Sarge chuckled. “I wanted to protect everyone when the original Starfish showed up. I couldn’t think of any way to protect them outside of getting in the way and making sure all the focus was on me.”
“Mainframe wishes to protect Detective Sergeant Wolf,” Starfish said.
“I appreciate that, I do.” Sarge patted Starfish’s eye. It reacted by moving the dot in its eye away from the pat. “Honestly, when it comes down to it, just do your best to protect who you can. There isn’t going to be a way to protect everyone… no matter how much you may want to.”
Sarge could hear a bit of noise coming from outside. From the sounds of it, some people were laughing and chatting with the drones. They were passing the time, it seemed.
“What would Detective Sergeant Wolf do?” Starfish asked.
“If I had to protect everyone?” Sarge closed his eyes and thought. “Well, honestly, I’d help where I can, but also have to trust that people can take care of themselves. They know how to live and survive, so they wouldn’t need my protection. But if they asked me for it, I would help.”
The sounds from outside grew a bit louder. Sarge could hear some distant tapping noises… but he knew it was something else.
“Your blood pressure is rising. Your heart rate is increasing. Is Detective Sergeant Wolf in need of a hug?” Starfish asked.
“Those were gunshots, weren’t they?” Sarge asked, looking toward the window. He could see the guards were looking at each other. An aerial drone and a land drone were standing still, facing away from the school.
“Request to verify denied,” Starfish said. “Must protect Detective Sergeant Wolf.”
Sarge heard the tapping noises. They grew louder. Sarge swore he could hear a scream. He felt his stomach churn. “I can hear them, Starfish. You’re linked to the mainframe. Tell me, what is happening!”
“Request to verify denied,” Starfish said again. “Communication with Mainframe halted. Signal… ‘jammed’.”
“So they jammed the signal?” Sarge asked.
“It has been jammed for eight days.” Starfish stated. “Information of Mainframe installed into Aerial_Unit_Drone_24 before arrival. All questions answered were from the last received package of information.”
Sarge heard another array of tapping, though they were close enough now to properly sound like gunfire. He could see the guards had their weapons raised. The drones started to spin their tentacles rapidly.
“So it’s not withholding information? You don’t know what’s happening outside?” Sarge asked.
“Affirmative.” Starfish slinked up to Sarge and wrapped its tentacles around his torso. “Protect Detective Sergeant Wolf.”
“Yeah, I sure hope they can,” Sarge said. He looked out the window again. He could see something happening at the edge of the school grounds, but it was too far to tell exactly what was happening.
Sarge could hear a bunch of shouting coming from the door on the other side of the room. He tried to dislodge Starfish from himself but found he couldn’t, so he just took Starfish with him to the door. He looked through the glass window and saw that the few, remaining refugees were being ushered through the front door of the school. A bunch of soldiers were standing around them, facing outward. They were evacuating.
“Starfish, something’s happening.” Sarge gulped. “If there’s gunfire, and the signal’s been jammed… do you think that unit_00 is attacking?”
“It is a possibility,” Starfish stated.
“I didn’t think it’d attack this soon,” Sarge put a hand to his head. “I thought it would try sending out its own drones to try and figure out what was going on… then we could find it and put a stop to it.”
“This is one of the outcomes known to the mainframe. Unit_00, though its actions are erratic, are still predictable.” Starfish climbed onto Sarge’s shoulder. “It is best for you to rest. Your heart rate is at one-hundred-ten.”
“I can’t rest, Starfish. I gotta keep my guard up now!” Sarge spun on a heel and ran to the window. He could see more soldiers were filing in. There were now a dozen men and women guarding right outside the window. Several drones were also moving in. Sarge had trouble counting them, due to how many there were.
He heard more gunfire. Looking up, he could see what was finally causing the raucous. A row of military vehicles were currently driving in to barricade the area. Further beyond those vehicles were two, large robots. Sarge felt his heart sink. He recognized what they were immediately.
Robotic Destroyers, and there were two of them this time. He could see one of them had a metal claw and the Sonic Blast Cannon. The other one had what appeared to be a flamethrower and a large, buckler-like shield that it held in front of it. This shield seemed to be deflecting the bullets.
Sarge heard the door behind him swing open.
“Detective! We need to evacuate you immediately!” It was Private Erik. Sarge was formally introduced to him when he joined the group of soldiers who were supposed to escort Sarge to his house. “Unit_00 has sent out several Robotic Destroyers to the school!”
Sarge felt his heart skip a beat at the mention of “several”.
“W-why?!” Sarge asked.
“Your guess is better than mine!” Erik said. He ran in and pushed Sarge toward the door. “Our priorities are to keep you safe, Detective! Now move!”
“But, what about all the people? And the drones? “Sarge protested. He wanted to move, but his legs wouldn’t let him.
“They’re protecting you! Don’t let their sacrifices be in vain!” Erik stopped pushing Sarge and just grabbed his wrist, now pulling him.
No. That wasn’t right. Chomby already did that. Chomby already sacrificed himself for Sarge. Xenon had been planning to do the same. Now the military was? He knew they were going to protect him, but he didn’t think it would be this intense.
Erik ran through the front doors of the school and shoved Sarge into the back of one of three covered vehicles. He could see the other refugees had filled the two vehicles next to Sarge, but no other refugee was in his vehicle with him. He figured it was because of the danger to civilians Sarge currently possessed.
Sarge could hear large amounts of gunfire along with an earsplitting ringing. He wasn’t sure what it was.
Erik jumped into the back of the vehicle and shouted, “GO! GO! GO!”
All the vehicles immediately floored it. Sarge had to hold onto his seat to avoid getting knocked over.
The school vanished into the background. Sarge saw the other two vehicles split off in different directions. He could then see one of the Robotic Destroyers turn into view from the school. It turned its head back and forth – possibly scanning the fleeing vehicles. It then turned its head to the right and started chasing the vehicle that went in that direction.
“N-no!” Sarge yelled as he got to his feet. He wanted to jump out and draw the robot’s attention, but he felt Erik grab onto his pants, stopping him in his tracks. Sarge turned to Erik. “A destroyer is following one of the cars. It’s going to hurt the people!”
Erik slapped the wall of the vehicle behind the driver. A small window opened up. The face of the person in the passenger seat appeared.
“Unit Two being tailed. Divert Direction to Deadzone,” Erik instructed.
“Deadzone?” Sarge asked, panicked.
“A Trap. Military is there at the ready to intercept.” Erik forcefully pulled Sarge back into a sitting position. “Stop worrying about others for a second and think about keeping yourself alive! We’re taking you to a reinforced compound. A lot safer than that dusty old school. You’ll be safer there.”
“But…” Sarge looked back. He could see a small mushroom cloud hovering above the school. Though he couldn’t hear anything, he could imagine a bunch of fearful screams as the area was covered in flames. The terrified faces of the refugees when just Starfish appeared were harrowing enough, but now he had to imagine them with Robotic Destroyers.
All this… just to keep Sarge safe? He suggested the counter jamming strategy in the first place. He’s the one who was the anomaly. He was supposed to stop all this from happening….
“It’s all my fault.”
~~~~~
The next chapter of the story. Anyone expect the ending of this one based off the picture? XD
~~~~~
Sarge/Chomby/Xenon/Art/Story ©
pikminpedia Me
Category Story / All
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 2100 x 1408px
File Size 1.34 MB
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