Chapter Text
A permanent chill permeated throughout his snow covered puppet, the walls which kept him separate from the outside world long since having fallen through the decay of his structure. Five pebbles could appreciate it to a certain extent with what little his current processing capabilities would allow.
He had always desired to see the sky through the cameras on his puppet rather than the yellow hue his overseers projected. Dark clouds started to gather overhead, likely the beginnings of a snowstorm.
WARNING INTERNAL TEMPERATURE TOO LOW ORGANIC SYSTEMS FAILING.
Five pebbles stared at the message for a long time, pearl in hand playing an old hymn when suddenly out the corner of his optics a green figure emerged from behind one of his cans crumbled walls. His damaged lenses made it difficult to identify the creature.
The slugcat trudged through the snow before coming to a stop in front of his puppet.
He had the distinct feeling that this wasn't the first time he had seen the creature but with his failing memory he couldn't be entirely sure. The thought made his circuits ache.
It looked thinner than last time.
“Why... back? “ he choked out through his rusty voice-box “Nothing here... Nothing... left…” In response a sad expression crossed the slugcats face before it proceeded to slowly approach the iterator and lie down in his lap.
The warmth was a welcome reprieve from the unforgiving cold that surrounded him “Thank you… friend”
They both lied there as the snow storm intensified the howling wind drowning out the rest of the world. They would both lie there together as they closed their eyes for one final time.
WARNING INTERNAL TEMPERATURE TOO LOW ORGANIC SYSTEMS FAILING.
…
Five pebbles was suddenly jerked awake, the cold sterile walls of his can surrounding him, millions upon millions of processors and neurons flared to life as countless warnings erupted around him. His vision flickered as he was overwhelmed by the seemingly endless information that came flooding in. Water rushed into his pipes as his automatic processes kicked in, as a desperate attempt to cool down his systems.
WARNING EMOTIONAL OVERLOAD DETECTED.
In a delirious state the iterator kicked his processors into overdrive running hundreds upon thousands of simulations at the same time trying to answer “why”
why was he here
The question gnawed at him as his systems grew hotter and hotter, his water consumption growing by more than ten fold causing massive spires of steam stretching thousands of meters tall to rise up. Various systems sparked and overheated as he pushed his systems to their very limit.
In the back of his mind he knew that continuing to operate like this would damage his systems but at the moment he couldn't find the ability to care.
“Why am I back here!” he shouted “that shouldn't be possible unless…”
WARNING HIGH TEMPERATURE DETECTED.
WARNING EMOTIONAL OVERLOAD.
SELF DESTRUCTION TABOO ACTIVATED.
ENTERING MAINTENANCE MODE.
His puppet juddered as suddenly all his processes were brought to a stop. much like how when moon had used her seniority privileges to force communications. Before he could dwell on the thought further his mind suddenly fogged as he entered into a sleep-like state as his processors slowed down to a crawl.
He sat there in a haze for around half a cycle before suddenly the fog surrounding his circuits cleared and he was suddenly jerked upward by his umbilical as the artificial gravity kicked in. After spending so many cycles tethered to the ground the feeling of hovering in the air was unsettling “that will definitely take some getting used to”
Five pebbles took a deep “breath” before checking his internal clock.
9601-30-1 pinged back
That was over 300 cycles before the rot before moon’s collapse. He had experienced the cycle. The realization made him feel nauseous and he quickly lowered himself to the ground sitting down in a vain attempt at trying to ground himself as his systems turned on and off at random.
It wouldn't be long before his spiraling thoughts sent him back into maintenance mode