_transmission 1_
"are_you_able_to_feel_the_warmth" Casper inquired turning its metallic body towards the white haired female slightly.
She didn't respond at first, her arms folded and resting on her skinned knees, simply staring into the crackling flames dancing inches from her worn boots. The fire flickered illuminating her young but worn face. Her eyes followed the tall red and yellow flames as they swayed with the turbulent, sand filled winds that always seemed to sweep the dusty zones at night.
Casper's wide optical lenses focused and unfocused on her expectantly. She didn't look over to meet his robotic gaze. She kept her eyes focused straight ahead as she lifted a piece of scrap wood from beside her and tossed it carelessly into the fire. Casper watched the flames leap and roar in the reflection on her pale blue eyes.
"sorry_for_asking" Casper spoke into the dead night silence of the zones, before adding in an attempt at comforting her, "i_am_also_unable_to_register_the_heat"
The girl nodded thoughtfully, her hand subconsciously reaching for the thick metal disc that protruded from the center of her chest. Casper padded away on his spindly metal legs that sprouted from the top of his head and came down around him on all sides in a very spider-like manner. The moonlight glinted off of his ghost shaped metal body in all directions as he made his way across the sandy desert floor.
The pale eyed girl looked back over her shoulder curiously at Casper as he secured their small radio in two of his spider-like metal limbs and made his way back over to the fire.
"What're you getting the radio for?" she asked, eyeing Casper suspiciously.
"we_should_see_if_anyone_is_broadcasting" Casper suggested in an attempt to get the female's mind off of the fire in front of her and its warmth that she couldn't feel.
The girl gave no response to this. She simply cast her gaze down from Casper's large round optical lenses to the radio he was holding in the suction cups at the ends of his thin, metal limbs. He used the pointy ends of his non-suction-cupped limbs to manipulate the tiny buttons and dials until a distinct voice could be heard under the sea of static.
"sounds to keep you…system failure…masses, anti-matter for the master plan," the voice boomed thickly and confidently, despite the white noise that tried to drown it out.
The white haired girl stood up abruptly and began to walk towards the tent, her long translucent hair trailing behind her in the turbulent winds of the wasteland. Casper quickly switched the radio off and scrambled to follow her.
"Those killjoys have no idea what they're doing," she mumbled, ducking as she entered the makeshift cloth tent they had crafted for the night.
"i_do_not_understand_your_opposition_to_the_killjoys" Casper offered as he followed her into the tent, "their_goal_and_your_goal_are_the_same"
"Maybe, but there's one difference between me and them," she spoke over her shoulder as she rummaged through their rucksack in the far corner of the tent.
"what_is_that" Casper prodded as he retracted his spindly metal legs and rested on the bundle of cloth beneath him, ready to call it a night and save some of his dwindling battery power.
The white haired girl finally took hold of something within the rucksack and pulled it out so that Casper could see. What emerged was her blank, white ray gun. Casper had seen this gun countless times; it had no form of decoration on its white body besides the small, black smilie face in the corner. Any zone dweller would recognize that ominous logo anywhere. Better Living Industries.
"I know what we're dealing with, Casper," she concluded, ejecting the empty cartridge from the gun and inserting a full one, "I know the enemy inside and out."
The last thing Casper saw before powering down for the night was worn leather boots exiting the tent and stepping out into the dusty night air.
_end transmission_