Near Human

by Element of Power

Chapter 9

E-30 stepped out of the tree line, making his way to his makeshift base in the center of the clearing. In his arms was another load of wood, recently cut from nearby trees. Once he was inside his fortifications, he dumped the wood into a dry stockpile. He had been keeping himself busy, collecting supplies while he waited for his drones to come back. When they did, he would better understand where he was, and be able to devise a plan of action.

He sat on the ground, searching the sky for his mechanical bugs, but he saw none. Then, he realized something. "I didn't actually tell them to come back, did I?" He shook his head, regretting his mistake. "Maybe I can connect to them from here..."

Not knowing what to do, he tried using his scanners to seek out his robotic minions. Eventually, the three shapes were revealed to him far off in the distance. "Now, I can talk to them?" He picked the closest drone, focusing on its presence. Suddenly, his vision pixelated before focusing again. Looking around, he noticed that he was in a completely different place. He was in a tree, looking at some kind of home build into a different tree, with decorations hanging from the branches. When he looked down, he saw the metallic shell of his drone. 'So, I can look through their eyes, like cameras. Interesting...'

He left the eyes of his drone, with his surrounding returning to normal. He got up and got ready to leave, grabbing a few chunks of metal for his tiny bots to store inside his body. "That meeting with those Diamond Dogs was extremely helpful. I should definitely check this place out, see if there's anyone that could help me. If nobody's there, I could just grab some stuff."

He ran off into the woods, locked onto his target drone. He made sure not to stop, since he didn't want to encounter any other weird, potentially dangerous creatures at the moment. By the time he reached his robot, about an hour had passed. Since the sun didn't actually move from it's position in the sky, E-30 couldn't tell how close nightfall was.

He glanced at his drone in the tree, before slowly sneaking toward the house. 'The drone will keep watch.' He silently reached the house, crouching under the window. Peaking over the edge, he searched the inside for anything living. Both this and a scan told him that there wasn't anything inside at the moment. Checking behind him, he went to the door and entered the tree.

The door creaked slightly as he closed it behind him, inspecting the contents of the area. The main eye-catcher was the large cauldron in the center of the room with shelves on the walls lined with various colored bottles. 'Is this a witch's house? If they aren't here, I should take some bottles. It could be useful.'

E-30 picked up a random bottle from the shelves. The glass was white, and a label said "Blind". Carefully holding it, he picked up a different container. This one wasn't glass, and was heavier. Turning it in his hand, he found a label and read it. The text just said "Acid".

"...I really shouldn't hold these in my hands." He looked around until he found a small basket, and started to put the items inside. At one point, the glass bottle clacked hard against the other bottle, and he immediately stopped what he was doing. 'If I put them in here like this, they will absolutely break when I run.' Getting an idea, he went outside, and filled the basket with leaves, providing a protection for the bottles. E-30 went back inside, grabbing a few more bottles that he found. "Repel, Grow, and Heal. I don't know how far the healing could go, but I don't want anything happening to the only fleshy parts of me."

As he carried his basket of loot, he noticed a book on the self next to him. Opening it, he saw words and drawing scrawled across the pages. At the end of a line of drawings was a picture of a bottle. "It's like a guide, I definitely need this." Right before he could grab it, his vision pixelated, disorienting him. Once it went back to normal, he saw that he was once again seeing through his drone. It had warned him about something in its vision, something that looked like a zebra headed for the house.

He didn't have time to inspect them, though. The creature making their way to the house he had invaded was likely to be the owner. 'I would try to greet them, but I broke in and stole their things.' With that bridge burned, he sneaked to the opposite window, silently opening it and pushing his body through it. Once he was through, he grabbed the basket, closed the window, and zoomed off. The sun had gone down while he was inside, and the moon was shining through the trees.

The return trip to his base was longer than the original, but he didn't want to trip up and break the valuable bottles he was carrying. He made it back inside his walls, eager to store his haul. He lined them up on the floor, taking a look at what he had. The acid caught his attention first. Carefully opening the special bottle, his peeked inside, trying to scan it to find out what it was. His scans said that it was "Fluoroantimonic acid", a super acid. "Uhhh... okay.." He closed the bottle and placed it away from himself.

He realized that he needed something to hold them, if he was going to carry them with him anywhere. A quick command sent his army of tiny robots out into the forest, gathering material to construct a backpack. Once the bots pieced the bag together, they returned to his body.

E-30 walked away from the bottles and the backpack, looking back into the forest. "There are still two more drones for me to check out. Let's see where they planted themselves." He scanned for the drones, once again seeing their outlined forms. Focusing one the next closest one, he entered its vision and looked around.

This robot had also hidden inside a tree, and was watching another house. The observed house was on the very edge of the forest, and it was covered and surrounded by plant and animal shelters. There didn't seem to be much activity outside, but movement could be seen through some of the windows.

'I should get closer.' Before he could do so, he saw a purple flash. In front of the house, a purple horse popped into existence, just like the large white one had done when she was chasing him. Teleportation. As the horse walked into the house, E-30 remembered something. 'Wait, I teleported into this world... where's the machine?'

It felt like a pit opened in his augmented stomach. All this time, he hadn't thought about the machine that brought him here. He hadn't even looked for it when he first appeared in that castle. 'I have no idea where it is...'

Panicking, he left the vision of his robot. He paced around the room, trying to figure out what to do next. "I have to go back and get it. I don't know if I want to go back to Earth, but I definitely won't let those horses have it." With the dilemma resolved, he started getting ready once more. He went to his bottles, and took the one labeled "Blind". After a bit of deciding, he grabbed the acid as well. He placed both bottles in special pockets inside his new backpack. He looked at the remaining metal in his cart, and remembered the metal he had stored inside his body. "I don't think I have enough to stay safe. I need to go get more from Onyx." After securing the bag to his back, he grabbed his cart and rushed out in the direction of Onyx and his pack.

Author's Note:

"Remember that I have power; you believe yourself miserable, but I can make you so wretched that the light of day will be hateful to you. You are my creator, but I am your master; obey!"

Comments

[Lord BLACKHUNTER]

Glad to see a new chapter. Looks like things are getting interesting too.

[TR]

IT'S ALIVE

[Scholar Andrew]

Oh shit, waddup!

[Dogman15]

Zecora won't be happy.

[Tempest_Flare]

11046179
Thank you for the permission

[Midnight Blues]

This guy is kinda weird. Like apparently he can secrete volatile fuel for a flamethrower and gas for a chainsaw. Although the chainsaw could be electric. Also for being an army built Cyborg he seems to have no combat experience which would be the first thing any army base would test. The lack of actual physics is messing with me. Also, earlier didn't you say he only have a few nanobots in his blood but suddenly he has enough to actually leave his body and from several pounds worth of machines. I feel like he just pulls whatever the author wants for a situation out of his ass. All in all kind of half-assed fic still worth time to read if only just. better then most pony fics that come out nowadays.

[Archaon]

Well this just decended into aggressive stupidity (although it was well on its way before).
I'm just gonna bow out at this point.