It had been days since we entered the upper stratum. There had been constant sounds of fire—bursts of lasers, buildings burning miles away to the north. The sky occasionally opened, releasing sudden rain through massive faucets, turning on and off without rhythm.
Sigh… I hope they're okay.
We were only 1/10 of the way to the next level. I do hope we survive this.
We've done our best to avoid the automatons. Today, we entered another building to hide from them.
The rumbling of the kettenkrad echoed against the pavement as we rolled inside. The ground was dirt-covered, and the smell—
"Wait a minute," Yuri muttered.
"Cough—ugh," Mino gagged. "What is that smell? It's so putrid. I hope this building gets destroyed."
Yoku, stone-faced: "-_- Okay… that's too far. Adam! Looks like there are animals here."
My eyes widened. Sure enough, scattered across the vast building were livestock—cows, sheep, chickens.
It seemed the robots hadn't attacked this area for a reason. Maybe they saw it as a farm, or a production facility. Or maybe… they were programmed to avoid it. Just a guess.
The stench of animal manure and feed filled the space.
A strange wave of nostalgia hit me—memories of when my grandfather would take me to the farm, feeding chickens and turkeys. That was long ago… comforting, in a way.
"I guess they didn't attack because this is a production facility," I said. "Let's stay here for a while."
Kineki and Mino looked at me like I was insane.
Sigh. "Come on. I'm sure there's a room somewhere without the smell. We're still human, after all."
Hours passed.
Yuri and Yoku, along with the kids, were having fun. This was probably the first green pasture they'd seen in a long time.
Yoku climbed onto a cow. "Hey Adam! This one's crazy!" he shouted, laughing as the black-and-white beast tried to throw him off—though he easily overpowered it.
Meanwhile, Kineki and Mino were chasing chickens, pulling feathers.
"Hahaha!" I laughed. "Hek—help!" one of them screamed, running from a surprisingly angry hen.
Yuri sat on the fence, resting. Having only one arm… it must've been hard to join in.
We laid down a makeshift picnic using polyester scraps. Our feast: canned food, bottled water, a couple of old wrappers, and my favorite—Nutrition Fact biscuits. I devoured mine with glee. So tasty.
Yuri ended up yelling at the kids, teaching them how to wash their clothes by hand.
I lay back, feet on the pasture, staring at the dull, dusty sky above. It had been so long since we'd seen anything like this. Maybe… this wasn't so bad after all.
Later, as we were preparing to leave, we found a tank—a fish tank—filled with sardines, darting back and forth like silver shadows. Kineki was mesmerized, trying to follow them with his fingers.
Yoku grinned. "Yeah… I think it's time to go in the water. I can't even remember the last time I bathed."
I didn't need him to say it. I already knew.
"There are some empty water tanks," I pointed out.
We changed, then I stripped off my shorts and dove in.
The water was deep—10 meters. Good thing I was a strong swimmer. Otherwise… I probably would've drowned. I was a swimmer when I was a kid.
Yuri sat beside the tank, letting her feet touch the water. She didn't say much.
We put the kids in smaller tanks—just enough to splash around.
I floated for a moment, gazing up at the half-broken ceiling above.
Peace.
Finally.
Where did the food from this animals come from?
Suddenly, yoku jump while still wearing on his boots and military uniform, as his erractically moving, and drowning "Cough… wait! Yoku, I think this is a bit harder"
Then an Roboto appeared on the side, "Make a long breath and youll float"
He had long arms and multiple of it, with sharp and dull fingers, probably for extracting animals or maintaining it…
I tried to grab him, but he was pushing me away "Dammit, stop moving"
"Well! Ill die if I don't" he was completely submerge on the water…
For a couple of seconds of me trying to get him to the shore…
…
"hey you okay?"
"yeah… let me just… rest"
I was completely tired after all this, and clothed up, wearing with light clothes…
"Who are you" I pointed to the AI
He looks at me, as he was bigger… well im the one who one who should run right now "Don't worry, im a Autonomous Maintenance Robot, and my Job is to Maintain…"
…Silence, he ws like that AM ai… well the am ai was a computer and he was, well… moving…
Suddenly kineki swings his metal rod on the robot, hitting on its head "Die! Die!"
"Wait… its only a maintenance robot!" stopping her… she was extremely furious…
The robot tumbled, was almost he was hit on the camera lens, "I am… a maintenance robot, my only jo-"
He was suddenly hit again by mino… and this continued… after a while…
"I could call the supporting robots for aggressive outsiders but I cant… "
Sigh, what am I gonna do now… should I leave this paradise, this haven, and go out to the world, where I might die… What about our goal and my Job, was it our job to begin with?
"Hey Yoku… why do we want to go to the upper stratum"
Still being dizzy lying on the floor "Uh… I don't know… was it your idea?"
I sigh, this guy… "No, I think it was yours"
"Oh… right… I don't know… im just curious, whats out there at the last part"
Adam was tired… yeah, im curious too, but was it worth it to die for just a bit of knowledge
Maybe thinking of everything, on what to do on the future doesn't make me happy… but I still want to…
Hours has passed and it was now cold and night, we were getting tired…
The ai speaks "Theres a therma room, that is suitable for you all"
… we followed him, and there was a warm room, the kids quickly rested together, and yuri was having an auto recovery mode, yoku was on the side aswell…
The sound of the hum, the constant fire… I cant sleep, sighs I gaved up after shifting all the time, and explored, I saw yoku robot, and the ai together… it seems to be learning
Well, even if it did learn would it matter, what about me… human life are to short to learn everything, and even if we did we have a limit of what we can learn as we always soon to forget
"Greetings" the ai was on the side watching the fishes from above, there were many as they made vibrating sounds echoing, I feel like being surrounded in water of a blue room…
"These animals, no matter how much or how good the facility or the quality of the food, its fertility rate was always dropping, and we didn't know what was the reason, soon by a few centuries… maybe all animals would be extinct"…
Adam just looked at the Artificial Intelligence Am… Did it realise I was alone and I wanted company. "Hey, why did… you know help us"
"We have a built in system, empathy on our program if your happy so our we"
Are all robots like that on the doctors island? Was yuri like that? What about those autonomous monsters