I had just managed to mostly fix my tools when my sensors detected something approaching. Welp I had hoped to have myself back together by first contact, but no such luck. Well, my speakers were working so I should be able to communicate. I got myself into the center of the aisle of junk I was in and waited as the sound of crunching footsteps approached.
Turning the corner was a tall bipedal animal with a large cranium. It was wearing clothes, but not surprised they didn't match any records. Well they were all black and it was night, so I could assume they were for concealment, but they were bulkier than expected as if they were also meant to serve as padding. So was this some kind of stealth soldier? Suddenly I was feeling a lot less confident in making first contact, but it was already approaching me so it was now or never.
"? ﾸﾎ□︎⬥︎✏︎ ⬥︎ ︎ ︎⧫︎⬧︎ ⧫︎ ︎ ︎⬧︎ ⬧︎□︎❍︎ ︎ ?￢ﾙﾓ︎■︎ ︎ □︎ ︎ ❒︎□︎ ︎□︎⧫︎✍︎ ⧫︎ ︎■︎?￢ﾙﾏ︎❒︎ ❒︎ ︎?￢ﾙﾏ︎ ︎⧫︎✍︎ ⬥︎ ︎●︎●︎ ︎⧫︎ ⬥︎ ︎●︎●︎ ❍︎ ︎?￢ﾙﾏ︎ ︎□︎❒︎ ︎⬥︎ ︎⬧︎□︎❍︎ ︎ ⬧︎ ︎●︎❖︎ ︎ ︎ ︎? ﾸﾎ"
And I couldn't understand a word it was saying, but it seemed interested in me so that was good, maybe. I just need to keep it talking and the translation programs should sort it out.
"I mean no harm," I said, knowing it couldn't understand me as of yet either, but my tone should convey the message on its own.
" ︎ ︎ ⬧︎ ︎ ︎⧫︎? ﾸﾎ ︎⧫︎? ﾸﾎ⬧︎ ⬧︎⧫︎ ︎●︎●︎ ︎ ︎⧫︎ ︎❖︎ ︎? ﾸﾎ ✋︎⧫︎ ❍︎◆︎⬧︎⧫︎ ︎ ︎ ︎❒︎□︎?￢ﾙﾏ︎■︎ ⧫︎ ︎□︎◆︎ ︎ ︎ ︎□︎■︎? ﾸﾎ⧫︎ ?￢ﾖﾠ︎□︎⬥︎ ⬥︎ ︎ ︎⧫︎ ︎●︎⬧︎ ︎ ⧫︎ ︎ ︎⧫︎ ■︎□︎ ︎⬧︎ ︎ ⬥︎□︎◆︎●︎ ︎ ︎ ︎? ﾸﾎ"
Ok, it's still talking that's good, but it seemed to be pulling something out of its pockets. A blow torch? What the, was it going to attempt to repair me.. or dismantle me!
"Please stay back!" I shouted before entering full reverse.
" ︎? ⧫︎ ︎ ︎⬧︎ is ︎ ︎⧫︎⧫︎ ︎■︎ ︎ weird ⧫︎ ︎ ︎⧫︎ ︎ ︎⧫︎◆︎ ︎●︎●︎⍓︎ ?￢ﾙﾓ︎■︎ ︎ □︎ ︎ sounded ●︎ ︎?￢ﾙﾏ︎ speech."
Yes! Almost there just a bit more.
"Can you understand this." The being was silent staring at me for quite some time before a look of comprehension entered its eyes.
"✡︎□︎◆︎ need me to ⧫︎ ︎●︎? to put ⍓︎□︎◆︎❒︎ ●︎ ︎■︎ ︎◆︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎❒︎ ︎◆︎ ︎⧫︎⬧︎ back together? □︎? ︎ ︎❒︎ ︎ ︎□︎ ︎⬧︎? ﾸﾎ"
The being they started rapidly saying words quickly filling in the gaps in the translation program.
"...Jesus, car, pumpernickel-"
"Thank you I can now communicate. Your help is greatly appreciated."
A grin appeared on its face. "Oh my god, an honest to god robot and an intelligent robot by the sounds of it! Hey, who made you?"
That one was tricky. "An extraterrestrial race which you may call the Deltans." best to be direct in these sorts of things.
"Ah… so you aren't all better then?"
"No, I am in desperate need of repairs!" Yes, I was already filing this under a good interaction. But if I could convince it to help me that would be fantastic!
"I can see that, I meant- Nevermind listen my name is Nightshade and I'm a tinker. Now I will tell you I'm not the best with robots, but I might be able to help."
What an odd name, but that wasn't important. "Do not worry I am fully capable of self-repair in the event that you are unable to, however, if you would be willing to gather the materials that would be a great help."
"Really? Sweet! Well, you won't find much good around here, but if your willing to follow me I could take you to my lab. I don't have much, but the stuff I have is good."
That might be worth it, I would get less stuff, but it would be of better use and I would have access to whatever was in this lab. "Is it far? I am in desperate need of repairs."
"Oh it's far, but I can get us there quick if you're ok with letting me carry you."
What? "I estimate the top speed of your race at 28 MPH and you are likely incapable of keeping that up for long how can you get me there fast?"
"Oh, I specialize in darkness manipulation. I can do all sorts of things and one of them is teleport using them, it should only take two, three minutes tops."
"What?" This creature was obviously crazy.
"I can show you if you want."
Well, it wouldn't hurt and perhaps it is confusing some sort of tech or natural ability for something it was not. Either way, it seemed unlikely to harm me and I could use one of my cutter arms if necessary. "Very well."
"Wow, you could not sound more suspicious if you tried. Well alright, come on." At that, it knelt down and picked me up grunting a little with the effort. Then it simply walked over to the nearest bit of shade and.
[ERROR DATA IMPOSSIBLE EMERGENCY SHUTDOWN INITIATED.]
No! Cancel!
[PLEASE ENTER ADMIN OVERRIDE]
Seven NOX DELTA VERDI
[OVERRIDE ACCEPTED. DATA USE?]
Save it for later review. Ok, what the hell was that. A piece of its clothing glowed and then… what the?
"Explain please?"
It laughed and shook its head. "Sorry to freak you out there, I guess you've never experienced tinker tech before. What I just used was called my "Shadow Jump." It works by forcing use through a hole in spacetime it makes and then quickly closes it behind us. It's good for about 30 jumps before it needs to be recharged."
"It is unlikely that a race with your reading would have such technology. Why shadow to shadow? What if your destination had no shadows?"
"Wow, you must really be in bad shape, like you never heard of tinkers. Listen everyone knows powers are weird and arbitrary alright. I use shadow it's just what I do."
"What?"
"What are you from a different planet? I-"
"Yes, I told you that!"
At that, it stopped short and frowned apparently thinking.
"Alright fine. I have my textbooks laying around here, how about I give you those?"
"Yes. That may prove most helpful if you could also bring me materials for repairs."
"Oh, right sure." It said walking over to a door and opening it to reveal a room full of spare parts.
I disconnected one of my roaming Camera and headed toward the door. "Please put my camera on the table and place the books there as well, I will read them while I repair."
It simply watched me go to the room before shaking its head and doing what I asked muttering something under its breath.