By David C. Daoust
Dakota Sun found herself back in her natural environment- the stark white walls of the lab. Dakota could not help but imagine these rooms were all made on the same assembly line somewhere in the Onion. All to be shipped out to random places she may visit. This was an idea that pleased her, this way, no matter where she went, she found her home. She loved her home, the most wonderful things passed through.
Dakota rubbed her hands together in anticipation. She just finished the first iteration of her new pet project. All she need do was hit enter and the machines would begin to fabricate her latest designs. And push it she did. She then spun about in her chair, to retrieve her cup of tea. She took a sip just as the lab was suddenly filled with an assortment of people, soldiers and lab assistants, entering the room, all surrounding the stretcher that held Suzanne’s ‘Wraith’ as they wheeled it into her lab.
Dakota wasn’t going to lie; she found the whole story incredibly fascinating. ‘Fascinating’ like, if it was a movie, she’d want to watch it, fascinating. So the fact that it was real- ghostly apparitions flitting through space, passing through walls, all to steal energy, like freaking energy vampires, and then vanishing without a trace- was thrilling. You know, as long as she wasn’t in any danger.
Dakota noted Sims as he entered into the room grimly, she knew he was there for her protection, and she had faith in his ability- though the small little girl that followed, which Dakota knew was Vincent, made the pair seem comical, partially because it was as though one of her favorite movie stars was in the room, but mostly due to the equally grim look on the small girl’s face. Dakota guessed the stone mask, that was the small girl’s current expression, had to do with Vincent’s unfamiliarity with the excess amounts of gizmos in the more advanced bots form, or maybe just a lack of knowledge of the full range of human emotion. Which led to Dakota wondering about bot emotion to begin with, she had witnessed some interesting things involving bots over the past few days.
Dakota’s attention was suddenly pulled away from her musing as the crowd of people parted, revealing the darkened form of an astronaut laid out in her lab, with all these people waiting for her to do something with it.
Where to start?
Dakota spun back around in her chair, as much as she would like to just go straight to taking it apart, it was smarter to start with scans. From her console she was able to activate half-dozen small hover disc scanners, which suddenly launched into the air. Each in turn took a swipe at the heavily armored figure, each in turn, turned up zero information. Which just made Dakota blush, she knew it was the same tech as the nanites, she had to make the right adjustments first. She coughed a bit, uncomfortable that others in the room may have noticed her absent mindedness. Beyond the lab assistants still looking at her expectantly, they seemed completely oblivious.
Whatever the Wraith was, it wasn’t moving, it didn’t seem to have any kind of power running through it, and when the second attempt at scanning it went through, it showed no signs of life within. All of which led her to believe it was a shut down machine. Droid, Bot, or Drone? She could not say. The alloys, unrecognizable by the computer, were almost alien. It was definitely foreign, which made her think drone, mainly because of the strict tech laws throughout the Onion. Droids all seemed to be ‘cut from the same cloth’ sort’a speak, and bots, well, given the amount of surprises involving bots lately, she supposed it could still be a bot…
Dakota finally left the small group of monitors she had been using to scan it. The assistants were there to assist, but Dakota didn’t really have any work for them. Usually she would be gabbing, but it was too early in the investigation to have anything to say.
Dakota began examining the textures, to try and get idea of the materials and alloys used in its construction. There were markings on the chest and shoulders. The symbols were like ‘Old Martian’ but different, it was a dialect she was unfamiliar with. Which was interesting ‘cause Dakota was familiar with stuff, extensively.
Dakota followed the seam up the central carapace, which sealed the unusual dome helmet in place, until she felt a latch; gripping it, she twisted. There were five in total; each one released a blast of air as she loosened it.
Dakota was tempted to take bets on what was inside, especially as the lab assistants peered in, heck even the soldiers that still lined the walls, edged in closer to see what was within as she pulled at the dome.
The helmet did not move though, she twisted and pulled, even took a break at one point… Finally, with an unusual pop, the dome came away. She handed the oddly shaped and somewhat heavy object to the person next to her, as she gazed within the space suit…
Dakota had fully expected to find gizmos within, maybe a small data-sphere port. Instead she found within the massive armored suit, a form no bigger than a human child! A living form at that! How the computer had missed it was beyond her. It was a form so small that it could not possibly fill out the suit. It had pale white skin and a bald head. Its unnaturally black eyes were squinting as though someone just turned on the light unexpectedly or, more aptly, as though the sudden light hurt its eyes. It began to speak. Dakota recognized the dialect as a form of Old Martian, though strange and heavily accented.
“My nannies…” the terror was clear on the small face, near tears, its shaking voice that of a small child. The panic exuded from the childlike form gripped Dakota’s heart with sympathy, as it cried, “My nannies are gone!”
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