It didn’t us long to find the trail left behind by the army of clinks that were returning to whatever place they were built from, which acted as a hub. The place Lucy saw gave only vague details of its existence that we could pull from our old world knowledge. Like us, it was a manufacturing plant for mechanical devices similar to household and civil appliances. Whatever had taken it over managed to find schematics for the clinks and program them to be hostile and brutal in the execution of their programming.

Once Norman was taken away all the clinks in the city followed suit. There were heavy tracks everywhere the clinks marched making it easy to follow their route to the outside of the city where they headed west. Lucy and I collected what we could to protect ourselves and followed the convey of clinks who marched without break – an army. It was a miracle for us that the clinks had separated among the city and not all converged on our one location, no doubt that we would’ve died rather quickly.

It was clear that Lucy was filled with grief when we walked – she often loved to hear about the philosophical knowledge that I kept in the belly of my synthetic self, but now all she did was focus on the path ahead. I could never figure out why or how Norman and Lucy had fallen in love.

When we first found Norman, naked and wandering the world, he was scared and missing most of the physical components on his body that would’ve let him believe he was human. Norman was the most human out of the three of us and undoubtedly the smartest – he came up with Lucy’s and my name, even his own. Thankfully Lucy and I were made in the factory and were dispensed before the bombs fell, making us the only thing to witness the end of humanity. Close to thirteen years afterwards we found Norman outside of Paris.

Some part of Norman’s programming was still missing which only gave him a vague idea of what his directive were – everything else was quite simply himself. Not long after he was showing us emotions and how to express these emotions through physical actions such as affection and facial gestures. In a sense I feel that Norman is the reason we are still functioning – without him we would’ve been waiting at that glass pyramid until the end of time, waiting for something that would never come.

We knew nothing about this “eve” that was the missing puzzle piece of our function, without her we were simply storing worldly knowledge without purpose. I envied her in a way – having at least some semblance of purpose where all she needed to do is find a habitable environment to host the seeds she carried. I guess she was designed to be a last resort if we couldn’t succeed in meeting; she could at least start vegetation.

The first time I saw something called a kiss was one night when we were all staying in a sort of home called a “villa” – when the three of us were finding new places to squat within the city. We started a fire on the balcony of the villa and watched the French city at night, nighttime was the most peaceful time to watch the once lively city. We sat there watching the moonlight try to break through the thick clouds above us. Before meeting Norman we never thought about the things that went on the world – the only thing that concerned us was our power supply and completing our objective.

I was sitting there staring over the edge of the balcony when I looked over to my right, on the other side of the small fire, to see Norman’s and Lucy’s faces touching at the lips. It was such an odd gesture, but for some reason they continued to do this as the days went on. They grew close, experiencing an old world phenomenon called “love”. I was happy for the both of them and we all grew to become close friends who explored the city of Paris finding old world relicts that we could learn from. One day something changed, we realized that we wouldn’t last forever.

When are batteries began to worn out – there was no way to recharge them without the original manufacturer. We found replacements within cars, machinery and household appliances. A single charge could last anywhere between a year to ten depending on the machine using it, made from a mixture of plasma and radiation that always kept its metaphorical wheels spinning around. There wouldn’t be enough intact cars to keep the three of us going forever – that’s when Norman decided to venture out to find this fabled Eve, our missing puzzle piece. Lucy was against the idea at first, but we couldn’t stay in this state forever. I wanted to go in his place, but it was futile. I had no real knowledge about surviving in this new world and would’ve fallen apart somewhere in the wasteland. It was a testament how long he managed to survive out there not even knowing who he was completely. This is why Lucy felt so compelled to find him and so did I in a way. Lucy already knew how much he meant to her, there’s no point in me telling her what she already knows.

Two days passed and the clinks did not stop for a moment to rest – this began to stress down our batteries. We were both armed, but not enough to take on an entire arm. If one of the clinks separated from the rest, we could jump it and take its power source. The railgun came with four battery packs and enough steel balls to take down at least fifty clinks. The thing was clunky and needed to be rested to get an accurate shot with it, unlike Lucy’s rifle. She told me the time she spent holding out in Paris taught her a lot about combat with the clinks; being able to use their weaponry and knowing their hive-mind tactics.

We kept our distance to the crowd of clinks, the only time we became too separated is during the dust storms that forced us to find cover. The third storm in five days brought a few clinks down in the process – shrapnel protruding from them. We now had fresh cells to use. The clink’s batteries gave us both an extra boost in both mobility and sense, as is we were finally able to exit a low-battery state of functionality. In the five days we spent trailing the army we never once were able to see Norman which meant he was probably up front of the convey, or very well protected. On the end of the sixth day we managed to reach the compound.

It was hard to tell exactly what time of day it was, but I was guessing it was around sunset judging by the tint of orange in the clouds above us.

The compound was symmetrical and gigantic in its design; it could most likely host a small town in there. We were waiting on a ridge that overlooked the front entrance of the building: a massive steel door that lifted upwards to let the crowd of clinks into the compound. Norman must’ve been in the center of the crowd - we couldn’t see him at the front of it, most likely the strategical route in protecting him. It gave me a chilling feeling to think what their plan was with him, the next step in the clink’s design perhaps? There was no way to know for certain.

“Whatever they plan to do to him, it won’t take them long.” Lucy said, she was looking at the whole of the compound while I focused my railgun at the large doors where the last of the crowd was entering.

“We need to get in there somehow and figure out where they are keeping him, see any other way to get inside?”

She was pondering my question as she scanned the outside of the building. It was doubtful that the front door would simply open for us without a firing squad waiting on the other side…that’s when the idea hit me.

I looked over at her and said “It’ll be risky, but I think I have a plan.”

Lucy glanced over at me with her eyebrow raised – I may not be good with abstract thinking, but my software did process things rather quickly.

“I’m going to cause a distraction, focus their attention on me; you will need to sneak through the doors once they open.”

She was considering my proposal; clearly this place was built not to be penetrated, certainly not from two of us.

“What will happen to you, there’s an army of them.” She said.

I looked at the railgun and knew that I would be able to keep them at bay, even with their advanced battle strategies it would be difficult to flush out an enemy who has a range and height advantage.

“I can hold them off long enough for you to get through, I’ll pull back once they get too close – that’ll give you enough time to find him and do what you need to.”

She needed to get into the compound, we both knew as much.

“Just be careful, ok?” she said while placing a hand on my face.

“I will, now hurry.”

And just like that, she was sprinting across the gap between us and the compound. A minute later she was beside the huge door. Her rifle was ready to meet any unwanted attention that would come out from there. Now it was time to get their attention.

The railgun took me a bit of time to figure out; it required that you held an auxiliary trigger that powered up the charge to whatever voltage you wanted, max in this case, then a primary trigger used to fire the projectile. There was a smart scope that measured distance and wind, as well as gave the shooter a counter for how much voltage would be behind the projectile. There was probably enough to pierce right through the steel door.

The charge was quickly at max capacity and the voltage shook the tip of the railgun – sparks spewing from the end of barrel. I just hoped that nothing important was directly behind the door.

The railgun fired and a bright, purple and yellow beam of light shot across the top of the hill and smacked the front of the steel door. The entry hole wrapped in on itself and then exploded outwards back towards the direction of the blast. About a meter sized hole was left where the steel ball met its mark on the door – I could see outlines of figures on the other side of the hole. The shot pierced right through.

Lucy was in position behind the frame of the doorway, waiting to meet whatever was coming. The door began sliding open only moments after the initial shot.  On the other side was five clinks waiting with their rifles already aiming towards the opening – I could see that there was at least a thousand more behind them, standing side by side in a massive hangar. One of the columns was filled with destroyed clinks lying on the floor which massive holes in their chests, smoke still spewing from them. I wondered how many would come after me.

As the door was opening I was already charging up the next shot to 30% capacity, more than enough to disable a clink. Behind the five, one by one more clinks woke up and joined them in looking for the immediate threat. The problem was that none of them would leave the doorway – they stood at the opening accessing the area around them. I needed to give them a reason to come out.

The next shot from the railgun blew the clink in the middle right in half and took out several others behind like an old game called “dominos”. The others caught on quick and fired into the distant landscape. A few rounds smacked the ground a few yards away from where I laid on the hill, but nothing close enough to cause concern.

More clinks were coming online as gunfire rattled around the hangar – another shot from my railgun and one of the firing clinks fell to the ground, its head no longer existent. The other clinks followed the light of the beam until their gaze was facing my direction. Once they had an idea where I was, they marched on towards me and fired their weapons in burst – spreading out in each direction as they headed my way.

In the corner of the scope I could see Lucy creeping around the corner of the hanger doorway, crouching as she ran through the rows of dormant clinks – she barely managed to escape the vision of a clink that awoke just moments after she passed him. Lucy was no longer in my line of sight – there was close to a dozen clinks charging my position now. 

I just needed to hold out. 

Next Chapter: Chapter Fifteen: Lucy