Your senses dim, and the world grows dark...
…?
I can breathe.
My visored eyes flickered, trapped in a digital snowstorm, but I could slowly make out images again. The static disappeared and my vision returned. At first, I wondered if my visual centres were broken, as the world seemed to be waving and swirling in front of me. But then I gradually remembered the fight, battling the Core, and I realised I was underwater.
Then how can I be alive?
The water seemed to be shining, almost bouncing with light. Cautiously, mirroring the human emotion of curiosity, I extended a hand to investigate why. My metal fingers reacted to a thin membrane. It took me four milliseconds to deduce what it was – a bubble. Curly's bubble.
...Curly.
Turning around, I struggled amongst the platforms and catwalks in the flooded chamber and found her. Curly Brace, the one like me, collapsed and shut down. Perhaps permanently.
While I was not designed to process human emotions that weren't necessary for war, a strong wave of sadness ran through me, striking me like an electric shock. She gave her oxygen bubble to stop me from deactivating?
I factored in the possibilities and potentials and paradigms. There was no result; there was no logical reason she would have done this. She was better equipped, more able, and had further knowledge of the environment. Yet she believed I was more fit to complete the mission at hand.
But why? I couldn't think of any correct conclusion.
I took a moment to wonder about this, before my eyes scanned the chamber again. Carcasses and corpses of past robots were laid like abandoned dolls across the ground. Chains seemed to swing in slow motion, hanging from the ceiling and swirling in the current. As my vision detected an area, hiding in the corner, my memory fired up in something that could emulated excitement and remembered something.
I looked at the tow rope I had strapped to myself earlier, then back at Curly. Would it help? Crouching down, I held her metallic throat and feel a stimuli. Electric currents, weak but plentiful. She was still operational.
She was not among my primary objectives, but as much as the robotic part of me insisted, the human part still argued; the water was killing her. Taking the tow rope, I gently hoisted her onto my back.
As I attempted to find an escape route from the submerged arena, my head flicked back and looked at Curly. Her face... She looked like she was at peace. I wondered if there was enough volts still within her, and if she could understand what was happening.
Do robots go to heaven?
I advanced through the open security locks with a quickened pace. For once, I had found a question that I would rather not have answered.