Eternal Winter

The airlock hissed as it cycled through. Lance pulled off the gas mask as he slid out of the suit and hung it up. He sighed as he gripped the circular handle and rotated it, causing the door to swing open. Alloura barked at him.

“Down girl! I’m okay! I’m okay.” Lance said out of breath. “What’s up with you?” He dragged the Pretorian by the foot to the mechanic’s shop. When he got there he hauled it up onto a nearby table, brushing off spare tools and parts.

“Hey! Out! Out!” Lance ordered Alloura. He took off his shirt to reveal an undershirt. “Alright. Hyrum, turn on my playlist.” He said.

“Alright, Lance. ‘My fav’ on Spotify.” A sound played and an ad came over the speakers,

“Wanna break from the ads? Tap now, and with Spotify premium, you can skip all the ads.”

“Stupid ads. It’s the apocalypse and there are still ads.” Lance grumbled. He began grabbing tools and his laptop as the music began to pipe from the speakers. It was nice, the Malevolence had a small, fully automated nuclear reactor. It managed to create enough energy to power an entire city for a few minutes. With that much power, Lance could do practically anything, even fix a six-year-old robot. Lance grabbed his laptop and set it up next to the Pretorian’s head. He twisted the screws on the top of the head and placed the panel aside and plugged the computer into its head. Nothing happened, the robot must have lost a lot of power. Lance wasn’t surprised, it had been three years plus since it had turned on. He removed the chest plate and peeked inside. The inside was covered in ice. Lance sighed and walked to grab a portable heater. He melted the ice and dried the components, then examined the battery. Thankfully, it was intact. Lance temporarily disconnected the battery and grabbed a wire. He frayed the end and connected both sides to where the battery used to go. He flicked a switch and power flooded the system. A soft hum began emitting from the robot, and a notification popped up on the laptop, saying that a new device was connected. He clicked “Interface” and static emitted from the Pretorian. The front of the head flashed, revealing that the entire front of the head glowed. It flickered as the AI was connected. A tab popped up on the computer, with text displaying saying that it was to input commands. Lance made his way to the computer.

“Sir, I don’t think this is a good idea.” Said Hyrum, his AI that he made as soon as he graduated college.

“And why do you think that, Hyrum?” Lance asked.

“Sir, I am getting a feed from the connection. There appears to be a signal.” Hyrum responded.

“What? That shouldn’t be happening. Hyrum, can you throw it up?” Lance asked as he rushed over to where he had created a digital whiteboard that was connected to Hyrum.

“Already throwing it up, Sir,” Hyrum said. A sound visualizer appeared and a series of morse codes began playing. “Translating…” The morse code faded and Hyrum began translating.

“‘-OS SOS. K1-3N STATUS: LOW POWER. REQUEST ASSISTANCE. SOS SOS SOS. K1-3N STATUS: LOW POWER. REQUEST ASSISTANCE.’ Sir, the message is repeating.” Hyrum finished. Lance then looked back at the machine with confusion, fear, and amazement. He stepped back to the computer and ran a command to run diagnostics. A chart was pulled up displaying the machine’s status. Its power level was low, and the AI was shut off. Some secondary systems were offline but most primary systems were ok. He ran another command to boot the AI. The lights flickered for a few moments, then turned a solid glow. He could hear Alloura barking at the lights, she never did like the lights flashing. The computer said the AI was on, but the Pretorian wasn’t doing anything.

“The icing and time spent offline must have wiped the directives. Huh. Hyrum, make a new project.” Lance called out to him.

“And what shall I name this one?” Hyrum asked.

“Hmm.” Lance pondered. “How about, ‘Terry’?”

“Sir, might I suggest the name ‘Mayday’?” Hyrum asked.

“And why is that?” Lance asked.

“It is a machine that had called for help. Like a plane.” Hyrum responded with a prerecorded chuckle.

”Perfect. Now we just have to make a personality for this hunk of junk.” He said looking down at the robot. “You’ll be with us soon, ‘Mayday’.”

After a few hours, it felt like Lance had gotten nowhere. He had cleaned the Pretorian up and shined it up. Then he painted it over. Next, he decided to go a little further and attach weapons to it but realized it had already had wrist blades built into its arms. He had tried to pass it off as long as he could, but he had to get it over with. He lowered it onto a rolling table and moved it over to the tech board.

“Ok. Hyrum, bring up Mayday’s x-rays, memory chip, ‘brain’ model, and the SOS signal,” Lance commanded.

“Ok Sir, bringing it up,” Hyrum responded.

“Also, bring up surveillance of Alloura, I want to watch her and see if any sound comes out that humans can’t hear,” Lance said.

“Ok. Do you want her in a specific place, Sir?” Hyrum asked.

“Um…. maybe my bed, to keep her relaxed, maybe,” Lance responded, scratching his head.

“Alright, sending her now, and pulling it up, now,” Hyrum responded as a video cam of Alloura sleeping on Lance’s bed appeared. He began to get to work. First connecting wires and clamps to the robot and his computer. Lance stretched and placed his hands on the keys. The programming began flowing from him, his fingers tapping away at the keys, pouring his work into the metal. With grit and determination, Lance stayed up all night, music playing in the background, punctured only by the sharp ticks of the computer.

Lance rubbed his eyes bleary and glanced over at the clock. It was two-forty in the morning. He groaned, he had stayed up much too long. The computer in front of him had shining lines of code running down it. The Pretorian next to him sat limply, occasionally flickering.

“Hyrum, did I- did I just finish?” Lance paused, glancing up as if to look at Hyrum.

“Yes Sir, I believe you have.” Hyrum’s light Australian accent soothed Lance’s aching brain. He pushed away from the table, the rolling chair under him rolling over the rough concrete to the Pretorian. Lance looked down at it, flicking dirt off the shoulder. He tentatively asked Hyrum,

“Is it time then?”

“When else would we?” Lance sighed at Hyrum’s incompetence. Hyrum may have been able to take commands, but he couldn’t understand expressions. Lance rolled back to the computer and clicked the upload button. A tab popped up asking for confirmation. Lance paused, looking sideways.

“What if this doesn’t work? Hyrum what- what will happen?” Lance’s voice cracked.

“Well then, Sir, then we’ll just go back to what we have been doing,” Hyrum said in a relaxing voice.

“An endless cycle, then? Looting only to come home and work on another project?” Lance scoffed. “I just- I don’t know.”

“Yes, Sir. That is what will happen.” Hyrum responded. Lance stared at the concrete between his feet. This has to work. This will work.

“Alright then.” Lance gently shook his head, “Start it.”

“Initiating data transfer…” Hyrum said. But there was nothing. “Sir, this will take a moment,” Hyrum said. Lance sighed.

“I’ll be with Alloura in my room, call me if there are any developments,” Lance said.

“Of course Sir,” Hyrum responded as Lance walked up the stairs as the lights began to shut off. He moved through the center chamber to his room. He slipped inside and lay down next to Alloura, who promptly laid her head down on his lap. Lance laid his head back on the comfortable pillow, feeling as if he was flouting, feeling himself drift off.

“-ir! Sir! We have a problem!” Hyrum’s voice rang through Lance’s mind. He bolted straight up.

“What is it, Hyrum?” Lance called.

“Mechanics room!” Lance felt his heart drop as he threw himself off the bed and ran down the stairs. As he reached the bottom he raised his hands. The robot was standing, its arms outstretched, looking around quickly. Its head turned and locked eyes with Lance, and it took multiple quick steps back, moving as far away from him as possible.

“Hey! Hey! Easy, easy! It’s alright!” Lance tried to comfort the Pretorian. It had wires trailing from it, and its eye was flickering. Lance took a cautious step forward, closer to the Pretorian. He admired it under his breath.

“Wow. It worked. You’re alive!” The Pretorian’s back hit the wall and it stumbled to the side. As Lance got closer it cowered away from him. He stopped, holding out his hand.

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to hurt you. Easy.” The robot twitched and the eye flickered. Out of nowhere, its eye dimmed and it fell. Slumped to the side, its light went out, and the shop became quiet. Lance hadn’t realized the hum from the robot was so loud until it wasn’t there anymore. Lance crouched down and examined the Pretorian. The power cord had been pulled free, and it lost power. Lance sighed as he grabbed the Pretorian and hauled it back onto the table. He placed his hand over its head and smiled.

“You’re alive.”