Near Human

by Element of Power

Chapter 8

Thunk. The last nail was hammered into place, holding the wooden defenses together. E-30 stood back to check his handiwork. A large wall surrounded his meager house, reaching to a height of 8 feet. On the inside, support beams were angled against the wall, and metal nails were thrown in to keep it from falling apart.

He didn't want to use metal for anything else, however, since he would need it to fix himself. 'Besides, this is just to keep me out of sight of anything. Animals won't bother me if they don't see me from the tree line.' At least, that was what he was hoping. For now, he would have to risk it. It was mostly to keep things like the Medusa chicken out. If there was anything larger in the forest, the wooden wall wouldn't offer any real protection.

E-30 walked back to his little shack, passing the birdhouse he made. His bird friend chirped at him, seemingly content to stay. "I'm glad you like it." he said, as he headed through the doorway to his makeshift bed. Even though it wasn't night, he wanted to try to sleep. "I've got to try to get into my head again. There's definitely more information for me to find, and you never know what might happen in the future."

He laid down in his bed of leaves, getting into a comfortable position on his very uncomfortable bedding. He laid there, waiting to fall asleep.

'When I'm in, I have to find out if I can force myself to sleep...' It took almost an hour, but he eventually drifted off. Once again, E-30 found himself in a dark, empty space. This time, he knew what to do. He took off, speeding faster and faster in a single direction, aided by the pulling sensation he felt last time, coming from a small light in the distance. In much less time, he broke through the light, and into his mindscape. He made his way through the rushing cloud of data and memories, over to the face in the ceiling. He still felt unnerved by its presence, but he confidently said "Data." He floated through the left side's eye and stood before the access pillar.

Once he activated it, he searched through the information, eager to learn something. While E-30 learned a few useful things, like instant sleep and heat sensing, he kept seeing blueprints for random machines. "Why would they add all this?", he said as he swiped past chips, motors, and heavy duty tools. As he swiped, he came across something that made his mind race. "Drones.... this is perfect!" He looked through the files, eager to see how to build it. While he tried to understand it, he noticed something in the bottom corner of the file. It was a symbol that resembled a bug. "Or the robot bugs."

He touched the symbol, and the symbol changed to show the word "Deployed". Satisfied in his findings, E-30 touched the wake up button, rushing back to reality. He got up off of his bed, and saw millions of tiny metal bugs pouring from his body, scuttling through the door. He followed them out, while the machines made sure to not to get crushed by his feet. He watched as some of them climbed up the defensive wall, and into the forest. The others made their way to his cart full of metals. The one's in the cart ate away at the metal, taking about a fifth of its contents. "At least there's still some left." he said as he watched the bugs hurry away.

Soon after, the bugs that went over the wall came back, supposedly having gotten what they were looking for. E-30 stood back as they all came together, crawling over each other to add materials to the machine that was slowly being built. The blue bird hopped out of it's house, curious about the scene before it. It swooped down, trying to peck at a passing bug. Others around surged toward the bird, frightening it and sending it flying over to E-30, landing on his shoulder. He looked at the bird. "It's okay, just let them work."

It didn't take long as the machine in the center of the bug pile grew in size and complexity. Sparks flew here and there as parts were joined and welded. Finally, the bugs dispersed from the build, receding back into his body. Left behind on the ground, was a sleek black machine that resembled the bugs that had built it. E-30 crouched down, observing the machine as it came to life, its eyes blinking and legs twitching into motion. Suddenly, a semi-transparent menu appeared in E-30's eyes. It was prompting him to command the drone.

He thought for a second. Then said, "Ok, search for any signs of civilization." He stood there and waited for it to respond. 'Maybe it doesn't understand that..' Then, the bug turned around and spread out a set of insect wings, before taking off into the forest.

"Hopefully, it doesn't get destroyed. I'll actually start to find out the lay of this land I'm in." The bird on his shoulder chirped, though E-30 wasn't sure if it was in agreement or not. Then, the bird flew off, into the forest. "It'll be back." he assured himself as he watched it go. He looked back at the cart of metal. 'There's still plenty left.'

"I'll make two more. That'll help the discovery process go quicker." As soon as he said that, the metal bugs emerged once more, eager to get started.

Soon enough, there were two more drones, flying out to search the landscape. One of them passed the end of the forest, flying to the town in the distance. Once it made it to the town, it flew down to the corner of a building, staying in the shadow it casted on the ground.

The second drone escaped the confines of the forest as well. This once headed to a house near the edge, surrounded by plants and animals. Seeing the high activity, it watched from a distance.

The third drone stayed within the forest, coming across a house built into a tree, light pouring out of a window. From a nearby tree, it sat and watched.

................................................................................................................................

Fluttershy made her way back to her house, the book safely tucked under her wing. Once she sat on the couch, she looked through the book, looking for a match to the creature her bird friend described. Page after page, she found nothing that resembled it. 'Then again, I haven't actually seen it...' "If my bird friend was here, he could point the creature out." She said. Fluttershy looked out the window hoping to see the little blue bird. At that same moment, the bird flew from the tree line, and right through the window.

"Oh, there you are! I was worried!" she said softly as the bird landed in her hair. "I need your help with this." She brought the bird over to the book, hoping to look through it together. Out of the corner off her eye, she thought she saw something shine at the edge of the forest, but when she looked back, she saw nothing. Ignoring it, she and the little blue bird looked through the book together.

Author's Note:

“Rose took my nose, I suppose. And it really blows.”

Comments

[Even Evil Has Standards]

Rose took my nose, I suppose. And it really blows.

Moses supposes his toses are roses. But Moses supposes erroneously.

[Bookworm]

Curious story, I need to see more of it.

[Alitaher003]

Scorch Trials?

[Element of Power]

10775256
Yep.

[Tenebrae Mortis]

Good to see you post an update

[RanBro]

yes and

[Vaguely Demented]

Wonder if Twi will endeavor to capture it when she sees proof her quarry is sapient.

[Vaguely Demented]

10778795
No she would heavily imply that she would be disappointed in Twilight if she didn’t go have a picnic, driving her one step closer to a mental break.

[TR]

I wonder when this story is going to come, cuz it's really good.

[Okamiluver]

Is this story getting any love?