Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Jimmy was, at his core, a robot.
He had specific coding that caused him to react a certain way to certain stimuli.
He did not do anything that he was not programmed to do.
He could not attack anyone he perceived as a friend. He could not allow any of his friends to come to harm. It was impossible for him to disobey any of the rules hard-coded into his system, in malice or compassion.
He was a rather simple machine.
Despite this, there was something about him that caused the Commander to feel uneasy. Even the Commander himself wasn't sure what brought on these stabs of distaste. What was normally a linear path in his mind of cause and effect was instead a single blip. He had no idea where it came from, and he was almost certain it would move at any moment, even if he didn't know where to.
This sort of uncertainty quite displeased the Commander.
The Commander always preferred to maintain an air of authoritativeness. He maintained responsibility for all that occurred on the BattleTram, and to his fellow team members. Part of this involved having a good grasp of any event at any moment, and damn well understanding their intentions.
That being said, this prickling sense of distrust that bubbled up into his throat did little to boost his confidence. This was not going to reduce him to cluelessness. That damn robot had something malicious about him, and he was going to figure out what.
It was the android himself who broke the unsettling silence.
"Is something wrong, sir?"
"No," The Commander spoke suddenly. If there was one thing the Commander knew about himself, it was that his mouth tended to move a bit faster than his brain did. Of course there was something wrong, you idiot.
"Yes," he corrected. "Why are you looking at me weird like that?" he shouted after a moment's hesitation.
"I'm not looking at you at all, sir. I have been directing my focus towards the road for the past 56 minutes."
"Well," the Commander sputtered. "Stop not-looking at me weird like that."
The BattleTram swerved briefly as Jimmy struggled to come up with the proper response to this request. After a mere half second of juggling a few hundred thousand possible strings, he gave up.
"I don't understand, sir."
"Stop calling me that."
"Am I displeasing you by calling you sir, sir?"
Great, he was a smart-ass as well as a potential threat. The Commander felt about as secure as a young boy, wrapped up in warm, soft blankets and strapped tightly and firmly to the belly of a roaring jet plane.
Straps, he thought to himself. Experimentally, he timed himself to see how quickly he could reach up to his seat belt buckle. He wanted to know how much time he had to escape if Jimmy decided to jump him.
He decided that this sort of complex mathematics and statistical analysis could wait until the drive was over and he could get someone else to do it. Keeping a hand wrapped firmly around the freedom buckle, he let his head roll to the side.
All this uncertainty would make any man tired. Perhaps it would be safe to rest his eyes for just a moment.
After all, robots don't have souls.

Chapter Text

"Hey, could you go get me a soda?"
"Of course, Commander."
Jimmy practically skipped out of the room, chipper almost to the point of being creepy. Ok, yeah, it was creepy. One thing the Commander had noticed about him was that he seemed to enjoy following orders. Whether it was simply in his programming, or a result of the simple, universal desire to feel useful, he couldn't tell. Either way, unsettling as it was, it was a good way to keep the both of them happy. He could have the robot do all the things he didn't want to do. It kept the Commander happy, because he didn't have to do them. It kept Jimmy happy, because he got to follow an order and make the Commander happy. It was a sort of mutually accepted truce between the two, while the Commander was still deciding if keeping the robot was a good idea.
Jimmy ran back into the console room gently carrying a can of soda, placing it next to the Commander. The Commander smiled, a slight hint of relief washing over his face. If it was this easy to keep the android under control, he was going to have a much easier time keeping calm around him. Even if the others had already abandoned him to go do who-knows-what-but-probably-something-terribly-fun without him. Yeah, spending the entire day alone in the BattleTram with Jimmy wasn't high on his list of things he was okay with doing. But at least with his current level of obedience, he could tolerate having him around.
A sudden loud, crashing noise brought the both of them to attention. There was a brief moment of silence, as the Commander flashed through several images of what the noise could have been, good and bad. Perhaps he dwindled on this subject a bit too long.
"You stay here," Jimmy took the initiative and rose to his feet after a short moment of neither of the two moving a muscle. "I'll go check out what that noise was."
"Hey, wait-"
Before he could get out the rest of his sentence, Jimmy had already ran out the door. Come on, that wasn't fair. It was the Commander's job to investigate the unknown, even if it was likely just a book someone dropped or something. He felt annoyed at the show of eagerness to please, which appeared to turn into competition. Was there such a thing as being too helpful? He began to believe there was.
It wasn't long at all until Jimmy hopped back into the room and shut the door behind him, enthusiastic to wait to receive more orders. It almost unnerved the Commander to be in a sealed room with him, as manic as he was at that moment.
"A tray fell over," he explained after the Commander hesitated and stared, the robot taking the gesture as a prompt for him to speak. "I picked it up and put it in the cupboard."
"Uh, good for you, I guess?" The Commander spoke uncomfortably.
Almost on cue, the two heard a sudden, sharp banging on the door. Relieved at the excuse to open it, the Commander got to his feet, but stopped dead in his tracks when Jimmy raced to open it on his own. This irked the Commander. He was capable and willing to open that door himself; he didn't need an over-glorified metal nanny to do it for him.
The door now open, the two stood and watched as Crash stumbled into the room, fully in-uniform, save for his helmet. He looked rushed, as if he had something urgent that he had to do right that moment. His goggles were askew, with only one eyehole aligned and the other folded under itself on his forehead. He wheezed as he spoke.
"Hey, uh, have you guys seen-"
"A helmet?"
The Commander sighed. Of course Jimmy was going to answer first. Naturally. Crash took a moment to process the interruption, and nodded.
"Yeah."
"Bathroom, next to the sink. I saw it when I was cleaning in there earlier, and suspected someone was looking for it. I was busy, otherwise I would have picked it up myself."
The Commander hopped in place for a bit. He still had a chance to do something on his own, and by god he was going to take advantage of it.
"I'll go get it for you!"
"Nah, that's okay, I need to get back to the others, like, now," Crash muttered, speeding back out into the hallway. He turned around to mumble a quick "thanks, Jimmy" before closing the door behind him.
Okay, that was it. The Commander could sense that his importance was being threatened. He was not going to let himself be replaced by this... thing, no matter how helpful it was. He stood in place, frozen in frustration, teeth clenched and fists tight.
Jimmy hummed to himself.
"I wonder what he was in such a rush for."
The Commander mustered all the self-control in him to keep from socking the robot in the face right then and there.
He would wait. He would wait, and then he would be able to rid the team of this creeps-inducing automaton. He was sure nobody would miss it.
After all, robots don't have souls.

Chapter Text

Silence flooded the interior of the BattleTram. The Commander lay in his bunk, keeping a close eye on the clock.
He was waiting for just the right moment.
He breathed deeply, feeling numb in the legs and cloudy in the head. He tried to push aside these feelings for the moment. They were uncalled for, irrational, and would be detrimental to completing his mission.
The instant the clock struck 1 AM, he began to crawl out of his bunk. He had to be exceedingly delicate to not make noise or any sudden movement. His legs were shaking. He wasn't sure if this was from nervous tension, or the aftermath of the adrenaline from being so angry earlier that day. At this hour, even the sound of bare feet peeling away from flooring was too loud. He twisted around on the balls of his feet to avoid making a peeling noise.
Slowly, yet surely, he made his way towards the nearby shelf. Trying not to make too much noise, he groped around until his hands hit an object. It felt like metal. He smiled at the success of finding what he was looking for, and pocketed the object, before making his way out into the hallway.
After he left the quarters, he was able to relax a bit more. He slowly walked towards the laboratory. He had spent a day watching Jimmy, checking for any patterns, and deduced that the lab was the place he would be most likely find him.
Peering through the lab door, he was relieved to find the android on the charging station in the corner, just as he had expected. Holding his breath, almost as if Jimmy were a person who could be woken by noise, he stepped towards the robot.
The Commander looked around the area to make double sure that he had made no noise that had woken anyone else and prompted them to follow him. When he was sure that the coast was clear, he grasped the fabric of Jimmy's rashguard, pulling it up to gain access to his chest. The android's chest inflated, deflated, audibly pushing air in and out of his open mouth, simulating the slow breathing of human sleep. The Commander softly chuckled to himself. He could see how such a lifelike body being completely still during "sleep" could tumble not-so-gracefully down into the uncanny valley. He delicately thumbed at a seam, flicking open the android's chest panel. Inside was a network of wires and circuitry, interconnected in ways that boggled the Commander's mind.
He didn't know how they worked, but he knew good and well what he was meant to do with them.
He pulled the metal object out of his pocket, using the faint glow of the station to illuminate it and make sure he had grabbed the right thing. Taking a deep breath, he took a random wire from a random bundle, and placed it with a shakey hand between the blades of the scissors.
Just as he was about to press the handles together and complete the job, he felt a twinge of guilt. He shook his head, trying to rid himself of the feeling. Jimmy was a robot. An automaton. At his most complex, he was a bunch of electrical pulses running through some copper. However, he looked human, acted human, felt human. There was something about holding a blade to his innards that made the Commander feel like a murderer.
That's nothing. That was nothing to worry about. He's just a robot. He's just metal. The Commander took a deep breath and decided to count to three.
One. The Commander swallowed.
Two. His hand shook, and he had to keep one hand on the wire to keep it from falling out from his tremors.
Three.
He snipped the wire.
Jimmy's eyes immediately shot open with a loud gasp, and after half a second, he began to cry out. The Commander immediately brought his hand to the robot's mouth, muffling him to keep him from making much noise. Jimmy whimpered in distress, glancing down at the scissors, then to the Commander, then back down, and back up again.
And that's when the Commander noticed something.
Something that he hadn't noticed before.
Something that he should have noticed a long time ago.
There was a sort of... look in Jimmy's eyes. He had this look in his eyes when he looked at the Commander.
Fear. Jimmy's eyes were flooded with pure fear.
It felt so real. So sincere. The android, surprisingly enough, was genuinely terrified. This display of pure, raw emotion was something you'd never expect to see from a glorified wad of metal. It caused the Commander's stomach to turn flips.
Then he truly did feel like a murderer.
The Commander stared for a moment before bringing a finger to his lips, signaling for Jimmy to keep quiet. The robot nodded with earnest and the Commander retracted his hand from Jimmy's mouth.
The fear never left his eyes. He sat on the floor, stock-still, staring at the Commander with the most terrified expression on his face.
Still shaking from the shock of what he had seen, the Commander attempted to calm Jimmy down.
"Do-" he stuttered. "Do you know what that wire went to?"
Jimmy slowly began to move, squirming to test and see how many of his servos were still functioning.
"I think," he whispered. "I think it was a toe."
The Commander breathed a sigh of relief. "So, nothing too dangerous."
"Nothing I can't live without until I get repairs."
There was a long, drawn out silence as the two of them attempted to get their thoughts under control. As usual, Jimmy was the first to break the silence.
"What were you trying to do?"
The Commander sputtered. "I uh,"
The silence returned. The Commander didn't like that one bit.
"I-, well, it's nothing. Nothing to worry about. It won't happen again."
Jimmy nodded in agreement, his uneasy look finally starting to fade. The Commander looked at him in borderline awe. Jimmy had woken up to witness one of his own team members attempting to murder him, and already he was starting to forgive him. This level of pure trust and loyalty was something that the Commander had never come across in his life.
He put the scissors down, offering his arms to Jimmy, who still looked disturbed and shaken from the incident. Jimmy exhaustedly flopped forward into a protective hug, breathing deeply and shakily. The Commander grasped at the back of the robot's rashguard, the other hand placed reassuringly on his head. The Commander's eyes were wide-eyed and blank.
Perhaps, he thought, he had started out on the wrong foot, had an incorrect impression.
Perhaps, he thought, the new android was not something to be hated or disposed of.
Perhaps, he thought, Jimmy was something to be protected.
In the back of his mind, he told himself that this was a silly thing to think. Jimmy's face definitely showed emotion. But that didn't necessarily mean he actually felt it... right?
After all, robots don't have souls.

Chapter Text

"Road trip?" the Commander stood with his arms flush against his sides, eyes wide and mouth agape.
"Yeah," Crash replied, hastily wrapping one end of a long cord around his arm, letting Eaglebones carry the other end. "Jimmy said it would be good for us to just chill and stuff. He says we move too fast."
"We're going to Vancouver," Eaglebones added.
"Vancouver!" the Commander repeated. If there was one thing he hated more than anything else, it was other people making plans without him. He had only just learned to tolerate that robot - how dare he try to act as a higher authority!
"But what about our tour?"
"That's, like, a super long time from now," Crash shrugged. "Jimmy says we'll be there and back long before then." Jimmy says, Jimmy said, Jimmy said, Jimmy says. Give me a break.
"I think you'll find it enjoyable." The Commander felt a chill go up his spine as he heard an all-too-familiar voice speak. He felt a metal hand rest on his shoulder and every muscle in his body tensed. He took a deep breath and tried to relax, remembering the previous week's incident as he turned around to face Jimmy. He was only slightly reassured by the robot's look of innocence. He didn't entirely trust him yet, but made every attempt possible to calm down. Yet, he had a feeling that he at least wasn't going to look relaxed as long as Jimmy was touching him on the shoulder like that.
"Oh, sorry," Jimmy apologized, and loosened his grip, gently laying his palm against him. The soft touch caused a large amount of the Commander's stress to vanish, and he was almost shocked at how quickly he began to relax.
"Am I making you uncomfortable still?" Jimmy questioned, looking genuinely concerned.
"No, that's nice," The Commander spoke impulsively. Stammering, he immediately attempted to change the subject. "Hey, Crash, what've you got there, buddy?"
Crash held up the wire he was carrying.
"It's an extension cord," he explained. "Jimmy wants to drive the whole way, says we'll get there quicker if he doesn't have to stop and recharge every few days."
"But that means we have to have a big clumsy cord running through the BattleTram," Eaglebones noted, rolling his eyes.
"I'll sit in the front today," the Commander seemed instantly pacified, stuttering as if slipping in and out of a trance. "Uh, y'know, to make sure we're going the right way and all. Extra pair of eyes."
Jimmy shrugged.
"Uhh, okay. Fine by me. I'm ready to depart when everyone else is."
He wasn't sure if it was a change or just not noticing, but the Commander pondered how recently, Jimmy seemed a bit more... real. Almost like he wasn't just a bundle of circuitry and code.
The Commander made a dash towards the front of the tram, only to be stopped by Eaglebones grabbing him by the back of his rashguard.
"Jimmy, you go on ahead. I need to speak to the Commander in private for a while."
Jimmy nodded his understanding. He walked out of the hallway, leaving the Commander to sputter in frustration.
"What do you want," he whined, practically bouncing in an attempt to hasten the conversation. Eaglebones didn't falter in the slightest.
"You've been acting strange lately."
The Commander looked borderline offended.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Well, not all the time. Most of the time you're just normal," Eaglebones snorted. "Normal for you, anyway. But when you're talking to, or about, Jimmy, you act completely different. Like a zombie."
The Commander folded his arms in frustration.
"Like how??"
"Like how? Well," Eaglebones offered. "You speak more quietly; you're usually pretty loud. You also tend to speak more formally, like he's a higher-up you need to appeal to or something."
"Yeah, so?"
"You're way too polite around him," he continued. "It's not like you."
The Commander didn't answer.
"Commander..." Eaglebones squinted and cocked an eyebrow, folding his arms, trying to keep the same counseling tone in his voice. "...Do you have a crush on him?"
The Commander looked like he was about to pass out.
"What? The robot? No! I mean... I mean no! I mean... What's it to ya?"
"I wouldn't think of you any less. I'm trying to help you."
"Well, er..."
Eaglebones walked up closer to the Commander, close enough to be audible as he spoke in a hushed, almost whispering voice.
"Alright, I won't pry. But give it some thought. If you suspect there's something there, I would tell Jimmy as soon as possible." He poked the Commander's chest. "It won't be easy, and I can't guarantee it will play out the way you would want it to. But it's best to nip this in the bud as soon as possible before it grows into something you can't handle on your own."
He patted the Commander's back and walked off to the bunks, leaving the Commander red with embarrassment.
"W-Where are you going?"
"I'm pooped. It's been a long day. You can go up to the front of the BattleTram if you want. Good night." He closed the door before the Commander could get another word in.
The Commander was left only with his own thoughts and recollections of what Eaglebones had told him. He began to think that maybe the man was onto something, but it was still quite dissonant in his mind. A crush? How would that even work out?
After all, robots don't have souls.

Chapter Text

The Commander sat uncomfortably in the passenger seat chair, hands in his lap and looking straight on at the road ahead. His mind was racing, many thoughts popping in and out of his head all at once. He couldn't stop thinking about what Eaglebones had told him earlier. His heart felt like it was about to burst, pumping blood through his body so rapidly and with such force. He closed his eyes and tried to compose himself.
"You seem tense. Is something wrong?"
Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope. There was no way he was going to calm himself down. He could only get close to a normal breathing rate and heartbeat when he pretended Jimmy wasn't there. This fact didn't bode well in his mind.
"I'm fine," he stated. Colder than intended, albeit.
The road dragged on in front of them. The roaring of the asphalt and the gentle bouncing and rocking of the vehicle did nothing to take away from the unnerving silence. The Commander took a deep breath. Breathing in, one Mississippi, two Mississippi, breathing out, one Mississippi, two Mississippi.
He decided he was ready to say something.
"Jimmy?"
The robot hummed.
"Yes?"
The Commander chickened out. He decided mindless conversation was better for the moment. He hesitated for a moment, trying to think of a conversation starter that might leave him room to change his mind later and spit it out.
"What's it like being a robot?"
Jimmy shrugged.
"I don't know, Commander. What's it like being a human?"
The Commander didn't have an answer to that. The tram was at risk of devolving back into silence.
"Do you, like, have emotions and stuff?"
"Hmm..." Jimmy thought for a moment. "I feel what I'm programmed to. I analyze the situation and react in the way my software deems appropriate."
The Commander almost felt disappointed, a sigh noticeable in his tone.
"So like... all you feel is just the result of electric pulses?"
"Isn't that all emotions are in the first place?"
The Commander opened his mouth to say something, but stopped before anything could come out. The robot was right. He slumped in his seat, thinking hard about everything all at once. It was tiring. He could feel it eating away at him.
He sighed. There was no way he could stall any longer. He turned his head away and spoke in a hushed voice that Jimmy could only barely hear over the roar of the vehicle.
"Hey, Jimmy?"
"Go ahead, I'm still listening."
"There's actually something I've been wanting to talk to you about all night. I've sorta been putting it off."
Jimmy looked curious. He turned his head to look at the Commander.
"What's on your mind?"
The Commander took a deep breath. This was it. He had a gnawing feeling that if he didn't say it now, he would never be able to say it again. The hesitation in his voice caused Jimmy to lean slightly towards him, keeping one hand on the steering wheel. He thought that maybe it was something that the Commander wouldn't want to say too terribly loudly.
"When I was talking to Eaglebones earlier, he got me starting to think that maybe-"
He was interrupted when Jimmy suddenly slipped, losing his balance from leaning too far over and turning the steering wheel unintentionally. He let out a deafening scream, loud enough to startle the Commander. The robot whipped his head around to face forward and righted himself, screaming loudly and spinning the wheel frantically in the opposite direction.
The Commander sat up with a start, darting his eyes back and forth to try to figure out why Jimmy was freaking out so badly.
"Robot, what's going on?"
To the Commander's surprise, the android suddenly burst out into tears. Loud, genuine sobs choked him as he attempted to right the vehicle, distracting the Commander momentarily from figuring out what was going on, and from finishing his sentence.
For a moment, the Commander felt as if he was floating. Then, there was a horrible, chilling, deafening sound, followed by a horrible, chilling, deafening silence.

Chapter Text

When the Commander came to, he found himself in a strange room he didn't recognize. He felt as if it were familiar, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Coming to his feet, he heard a strange ambient noise begin, almost like whispering. He rose easily, almost as if he weighed nothing. The noise settled as his movement did. A quiet, ambient ring washed through the room as he looked around. He was definitely in someone's house, but he had no idea whose it was or how he got there. He began to walk forwards, and the noise began again. He had expected for this to prove annoying, but the sound was strangely relaxing.
The Commander began to wander around the room, pulling open drawers and looking on shelves and in cabinets. He was surprised to see that they were all filled with his own belongings. His photos, his video games; even his microphone was set up on a stand over in the far corner of the room. The bed on the other side of the room looked quite inviting; however, resting was the last thing on the Commander's mind. He wanted to find out where he was and why he was there.
He opened the door, walking out into the hallway. Somehow, he knew that to get to the living room, he would have to turn right upon exiting his room. Sure enough, he made his way into the living room. Eaglebones, Crash, and Ricky were all waiting for him on several expensive-looking sofas. A fire roaring in the fireplace brought a feeling of comfort and security into the room. The Commander felt incredibly calm as he sat down in an empty spot on one of the couches.
"We've been waiting for you," Eaglebones was the first to speak. "Somehow we all knew we were meant to gather here. Turns out we were supposed to find each other, and putting us all in the same room must've seemed like a good way to do that."
The Commander was confused.
"Seemed like to who? What's going on?"
Eaglebones looked concerned. He motioned for Ricky to speak.
"We had a feeling you would get here last."
"We got here early because we were asleep," Crash offered. "We were already unconscious."
This explanation did nothing to ease the Commander's complete cluelessness.
"Am I the only one who has no freaking idea what's going on here?"
"I sure didn't," Crash continued. "Eaglebones had to explain it to us. He knows a lot more about this kinda stuff than we do."
The Commander turned his head to look at Eaglebones, hoping the glance would prompt an explanation. Although, he had a nagging feeling in his gut that he wasn't going to be happy with whatever he was about to say. Eaglebones cleared his throat.
"Do you, uh, have any questions?"
The Commander nodded.
"Uh... yeah," he leaned forward in his seat, almost in a daze. "Where are we?"
A chilling silence filled the room as he finished his movement. The ambiance that came with the motion dissipated as no one said anything for a rather lengthy time. Eaglebones followed suit, leaning forward in attempt to refill the room with the calming noise. He figured it would help as much as anything.
"Commander..." he began. He took a slow breath and letting it out with a sigh to let the ambiance of his chest movements resonate throughout the room. He smiled. "Welcome to the afterlife."
The Commander could have sworn his blood temperature dropped at least 70 degrees upon hearing this. He wasn't sure whether Eaglebones was serious. However, after waking up in this strange house with no explanation, he was prepared to accept pretty much anything. He looked to Ricky, hoping for further explanation. The smaller man looked around and shrugged as if accused of something.
"The BattleTram rolled down a hill or something, and crashed into a whatever. I don't know! You were in the passenger seat; we don't know any more than you would!"
The Commander did vaguely remember this.
"So, like," the Commander put a hand on his forehead, exhausted from attempting to take in so much information at once. "We're dead?"
"As doornails. Must've been a nasty wreck."
The Commander had to lean back for a moment. His mind was flooded with the images of him and his friends, laying motionless and cold amongst the wreckage of their vehicle. It wasn't a picture he too terribly enjoyed imagining. He thought about all he had left undone back on Earth. They hadn't made it to Vancouver and done whatever it was that they were going to do there. They hadn't gotten to go on their tour they had been looking forward to. Worst of all, however, was how he hadn't gotten the chance to tell Jimmy he loved him.
Jimmy.
"Hey, uh," the Commander started with a slight smile, trying to lighten the mood. "Did our robot friend make it out of the wreck okay?"
All at once, everyone's heads sunk down to stare at the floor as they all, somehow, had the same simultaneous influx of knowledge. Crash muttered a mumbled "probably not", and the Commander nodded with a shiver.
"So..." he started, hope rising in his voice. "If Jimmy died with us in the accident, he'll be here pretty soon, right?"
The room grew silent as everyone craned their heads to look at him. The Commander quite disliked the look they were giving him. That look was the kind of look one gave to someone when they were forced to tell that person something that they really weren't going to like. The color drained from the Commander's face as he waited for someone to break the silence.
Everyone trusted Eaglebones to tell him as delicately as possible.
"Jimmy's a robot," he started. "...Was a robot. I suppose I should be using the past tense now that we're all here."
He coughed. The Commander leaned forward, fearing what was coming next.
"...Anyway. Jimmy was a robot. An artificial intelligence. He may have looked real, sounded real, heck, maybe by our standards he was real. But for all this sort of thing is concerned, he's not."
The Commander swallowed nervously, hesitating before posing one last question.
"So... where is he now?"
"In pieces among the BattleTram's wreckage, probably," Eaglebones shook his head. "He didn't have a consciousness, at least not like the ones we know of."
The Commander felt an uncomfortable flood of dread pooling in the bottom of his gut.
"So..."
"...So as far as this world is concerned, now that his software is unable to run, it's as if he never existed at all."
The Commander suddenly felt all the energy keeping him upright being released out of him. He fell over onto the floor on his hands and knees, without making a sound. The silence was a jarring difference between the ambient sounds of movement they had all by now gotten used to. He hung his head low and squeezing his eyes shut. Inhaling deeply, he cried out softly in the most genuine, hopeless, helpless wail any of them had ever heard. It was heartbreaking to listen to, and nobody wanted to say or do anything for a long time.
In retrospect, it was something the Commander should have expected from the beginning.

After all, robots don't have souls.