Standing still as stone inside this cramped cubicle, Haydee made not a flinch of movement as she stared with rather mild interest to the incredulous sight that was before her. Down below her frame, cuddled up into the farther corner of this chamber, was very much the huddled body of a live human male; one that seemed to stayed as silent and motionless as she did, doing little more than stare upwards with wide eyes to the taller figure.
After her denial of hope that there was other life in this unnamed place, she didn't see it as too much of a stretch for her to feel some shock at seeing an actual human being here. With how run down the front room was, the fact that anyone was still around, let alone in the only unlocked room in this hallway, came as quite a small surprise to the stoic machine.
But a welcome one, she lightly began to believe, as she could feel some spark of elation that an actual person was found here, and not another mindless drone who's purpose seemed to serve nothing other than the desire her own demise. As she already knew, humans were not deemed a foe unless given specification beforehand, or at least when given no option to perceive them as an immediate threat, so even when she was so close to a nameless human in a nameless land, her innate summations did not give herself reasoning to distrust him so indifferently. So with only the delay of her holstering away her now-unneeded firearm, the gynoid made a step forward towards the human to gather his attendance and allow -
Upon her first step inside, letting her intention to get closer be known to him, Haydee watched in disbelief as the sudden yet bizarre actions he immediately took; from quivering up like his body had become rigid and backing up into the wall like it was his life support, the human did not seem to welcome her appearance; but instead seemed inimical to her approaching form, staring upwards at her encompassing form with now miniaturized pupils.
He was scared of her. This was what her database of human emotions and body language was telling her as she continued to look down at his scrunched inward form. With how he shivered, with his heart rate high and his breathing abnormal, and how his body sweat in cold as his eyes were affixed on her form, she could see that this human was blatantly afraid of her presence.
She did not like this feeling. For reasons she couldn't fully explain, seeing him recoil away into the corner so meekly, trying to make himself be as small as possible, hit a nerve with her. A nerve she couldn't find harking back onto herself, as it was clear he was holding uncertainty to her presence. For what reason, she found hard to believe, but the more she kept still and observed, the more it became clear that he would not provide any kind of help with how much he feared her so.
She couldn't stand this idea of being deemed a threat by one who offered herself no cause for concern, she's rather this human see her as amicable, not abhorrent, as she sought no reason for otherwise. Her logical mind began to process this information, reeling it out as she made plans to how better to be seen with innate answers; and formulated the correct steps. Gently, Haydee lowered her body down on one knee, let her height lessen to better his own, and calmly did she reach out a hand to him and signalled for him to come to her. There was no reason to scare or hurt him, as he is certainty defenceless, not at all any threat to anyone as she quickly detected, exemplified by him visibly fixating onto the one hand she pulled out to him.
Seconds, even moments moved by as Haydee continued to wait for his response, and during that time, she remained affixed to his own motions, his tenses, and made not a single attempt to demand he come. All the while, the shivering human remained near-catatonic to her reached arm, as if refusing to get close, even when she was trying to offer no reason for alarm. But still, deep down, even when her own patience would wear thin as she believed his use was plainly for her own departure, she felt the idea of making him choose to see herself as a hostile threat a negative belief. All she should do was act cordial, and gentle to the petrified human.
And slowly, in turn with how she was treating his own agitated emotions, the lost human began to hesitantly reach forward to the machine. Still anxious, still greatly terrified for speculation only from herself, yet nonetheless his quivering hand came out to the affable gynoid. It pulled back a few times, it paused, and she could hear how heaving his anxious breaths were as his eyes paid attention towards either her hand, or her frame at large, as if he was tempting fate to show it's ugly, cold-blooded head.
But it never came, because she never moved at all. She let him control the pace and slowly uncurl in his own time, not making even a flinch as she awaited his palm on hers; and such actions were reward by his hand, still fearful, slide over his, and then, and only then, did she make a move and gently close her fingers over his to tell him he was safe. He continued to swap his sights on either her hand or her body at large, but she did not feel insulted by this, only understanding, rubbing her thumb on the back to quench any more prolonged fears that she may still be a threat to the harmless.
And it was then, when she finally saw the human slowly unravel from his crouched position and untense under her watchful graze, did he manage to blurt out a curt sentence that installed both appease that he was in enough mental health to understand, but also chagrin, over the reality she feared she had to face for an answer.
"Do. . . do you know where we are?" His voice was as shaky and weak as his body looked to be, his speech simplistic and basic, but most of all tepid, anxious. Her inbuilt sensors indicated that he was not truly cold by any degree, leading to her quickly deducing it wasn't a full physical problem that was befalling him. And even with her limited knowledge of human understanding, it was plain to her that he was clinging onto some idol of hope to help better explain to him this place's existence.
Hope that was quickly extinguished when she shook her head in reply, leading to her not only feeling a tinge of distress upon seeing his crestfallen face, but the minor uttering "Oh." by the barely registering human made her body feel to deflate more than a unpressurized balloon.
"I don't. . . " He muttered quietly, stammering her words to her as she listened without intransigence. "I can't. . . remember anything. I don't know where I am, don't know how I got here or why, I just. . . " She watched him gulp down air as she made no noise in return, only an endless stare of deep contemplation over why she felt for his distress. "I don't. . . know. . . what I should.
All I know about myself is my own name: Dale. Why is that the only thing my mind thinks to be worth remembering? Not my surname, not where I live, not even the slightest wrinkle about this strange place in any way; nothing. . . "
It was actually only when the perplexed and disturbed shivering human stopped his weakened confession of nascence to the gynoid, and instead stared with shocked eyes to herself, did the machine suddenly realize that her other hand had silently trailed over, and placed itself gently on top of Dale's outstretched own, sandwiched in between her two artificial ones. Even she felt shocked over when this had happened, as she barely recalled the moment her analytical mind told her to do this.
Unravelling the reasons in silent thought during her peer towards her own animate appendages, the robot could only estimate this was part of her own programming; to help calm the human down from his fracturing mental state. In swift turn, she deduced she did this for the benefit of herself; she strongly believed she needed him to open that door and progress onward to wherever her instincts were stating her need to be.
Strange, though; as the more she kept his hand between hers, the more it felt pleasant to her in ways she had not perceived as generally usual. He had a warmth to her that she felt even from her unresponsive impulses not designated in her fingertips, and simply looking at him at all, from whichever of the numerous scans she utilized, brushed within her a bizarre sense of purpose to not let him be astray from herself, at least for the moment that is now.
Deep down, these conflicting goals and feelings could not form together a coherent ideal, at least for a singular one, but what she could estimate from all this is the observed notion that this human, for all the blatant problems he appears to hold, is somehow related to her tribulations to some important degree.
Above it all, she promptly knew such ambiguous truths could not be uncovered either way by simply staying crouched down here in this deathly still room, but rather she needed to make a headway out before either would wither or rust with age, metaphorically speaking. So with her hand leaving his, leaving that lingering chill she still couldn't fully distinguish, she ensured it was still in his line of sight before the fingers twitched into a recognizable form.
She pointed to him. Then she pointed up.
To her relief, Dale understood clearly her own actions as he nodded to her plan without question. Quietly, moving only with blatant and careful stretches, Haydee began her pull on both herself and him from off the cold bleached floor, and to a standing position, all the while making sure she never towered too far over him.
When she finally let go, letting his hand retreat back to his dithering form, as his fingers slid off hers with only the barest of contact, did the gynoid fully look at him in full detail of the unshaded human. To her surprise, she found her scanners indicating that this human, with only the simplest of underwear covering his lower half, had disproportionately long legs for a human of his shape and size. Not to any extreme degree, she knew, but for a human his height, approximations 17.8cm in difference between herself and him, they seemed a tad off in dimensions. More so, now that he was out in the open light, she cleanly noticed how pale his skin looked to be. Is his body lacking Iron or vitamin B-12? Or is there an underlying problem of Chronic Anaemia in his history? She hoped it wasn't the latter case. . .
"I'm. . . sorry. . . " She tilted her head to his confession of contrite. As he shyly stood, looking away with an expression of guilt drawn on his pale-skinned face, Haydee could only stand in bewilderment to his remorseful statement, no less lacking in understanding his admission of shame towards only herself here.
"I never asked for your name in return." That is why he feels apologetic? A request of naming should not be made a fault when not properly inquired. It was, at best, a small transgression that could be easily overlooked, especially by one as disorientated as this Dale appeared to be. As such, she sought no need to care for his apology to any full degree.
At the same time, however, she also felt compelled to offer an answer to him with honest involvement. With how he seemed to feel so guilt-ridden over such a small omittance, it slowly ran through her a drive to calm his abundant fears and worries. So slowly looking around, the silent robot looked around until she found divine intervention appearing before her mouthless form. Spotting a layer of dust accumulating on the nearby white wall, the gynoid slowly pulled out her hand and twitched out a finger, as she calmly began to write letters into the rather archaic surface before she let her hand peel away when finished, and thus, did she hear him speak out her title in clearest speech.
"HAYDEE."
She did not make a move to acknowledge his refreshment of her name, it nothing more than the designation of her model and nothing more. But at least, towards the man before her, it alleviated his ease to a small extent as he faced her with less digression.
"Nice. . . to meet you, then." He stuttered out, his words obviously formal in tone, the proper attitude he was trying to force out, coinciding with his own hand slowly holding outwards in a ceremonial human handshake. "My name's Dale, though. . . I guess you already know that. . . by now. . ." She watched his forced smile slowly descend as droopily as his hand as she just stared at him with a continued blank expression. Underneath her shadow, this Dale felt to be under the pressure of the deepest ocean; she neither talked, nor showed any emotion, even as understandable as it was considered her design, the uncanny vision she aimed towards him did not help his anxiety. Even when he saw her as not an immediate threat, the cold, calculating mind of the machine matched too well with this room as a whole, leaving him to wonder in silent fear if she was going to force himself into something he could not begin to fathom its terror.
But instead, the gynoid only simply and calmly stretched her arm around to point to the door behind herself, exiting into a hallway as dead and silent as anything else here.
"R-Right." He blurted out, still tense by everything around him, not at least the only sentient being he has seen thus far. "I guess we do. . . can't stay here forever then." She mutely nodded in basic response. She did not pause for a moment more as the analytical one made a smooth sweep around from her position and headed straight towards the open door with a step forward: and it was then, for the first time from their meeting, did the human call out her name in blunt heed.
"Hey, Haydee; eh, please. . . if you wouldn't mind: waiting for a fraction of a second longer."
She stopped her walk, hearing her designation being fully called out to her for the first time as the gynoid peeled around her head to this remarkable statement of her name, standing still as a stone while her optical sensor's focused onto the human that spoke it; all for him, the shivering human that still looked as irresolute as he had been, to speak his reasoning for the exclamation:
"Can you, err, please wait a moment longer, I'm not. . . as fully dressed as I should be." He disclosed, the human that somehow forced himself to blurt out her name; was idly pointing to a hanging pair of pants on the side of the stretcher. Her inner detection module could pick up a number of things about him; but not could determine how embarrassed he was trying not to be. They did, however, see that the lower portions of his legs were chiller than a male of his size should be, so without a second later of thought did the gynoid mildly motion for him to do as he must.
He moved for the pair of hanging clothing awaiting his capture, grabbing them off the pegs it was attached onto and reached them down so he could push his foot through. . . and promptly paused when he noticed that the blank machine had not moved a single inch since he asked for her voluntary pause.
"So you're. . . gonna stand there and wait?" He timidly inquired as he too paused his own motions. The Haydee model made no attempt to answer his question, staying still and mute as she awaited him to finish his dressing; completely ignorant to the embarrassment that was rising from the male.
"Fair enough then." His words were a minor lie, as he did not feel it fair enough to dress himself under her stoic watch. Though feeling it awkward all the while, he still managed to eventually slip on his pants sooner than later to finally feel properly clothed, at least, as far as he could tell, given the circumstances. Seeing him ready, the silent gynoid readily stood back to allow him an open exit forward. Tepid he was, he still managed to walk his way out, and finally see what this outside looked to be.
He saw nothing more than a stretch of hallway, of a corridor, endless feeling, and completely void of any substantial colour of marks that could cool his rocked mind, the crimson glows only furthered his restless feelings. There was no outside noise to be heard at all, as it were, it was truly as lifeless as anything else here; save for this sentient machine beside her, who calmly motioned him forward while she already made her own gait. He did not retaliate against her to any degree, the human, though feeling calmer, still felt unease with this dreary and silent place, and he knew that, despite having few reasons to fully trust her, it was likely a better option than figuring out it all by his lonesome, and thus he began to take a curt stride behind her trail. All the while, did his soft pattering of nervous feet echo off these silent walls.
Strange as it may be to say, she found the sound rather amiable to hear.
But such thoughts came to a halt the moment he stopped forth into the next open room, and thus into the abandoned area, where she noticed his feet had paused that breaking silence.
And upon her spin around at her heels to question the humans cause for pausing, her body nearly froze when she saw how wistfully he himself looked as his own eyes scanned the area. Carefully, he took slow steps forward to observe, question and even hold onto one of the many scattered remnants of human origin. She saw, as she kept herself still, his own eyes trace along the body of a fallen pair of glasses, and with tepid touches did he feel along it's frame.
Though she questioned why, she did begin to think of over if any of this would bring back his memories. Seeing him stare with slow blinks, his fingers just letting the object fall from his grasp as he made no attempt to reclaim, and gradually pulling up his head to observe ever more at this assortment of discarded commodities, it made her wonder just what circumstances had led him to being here with able memory.
"I don't remember any of this. I. . . I don't. . . " His hagged confession became as shaken as his body as the human stood there with heavy doubt over everything. "It all. . . means nothing to me. I can't think of anything at all. What is all this, why is this all here? What does it all mean? Nothing's coming to me I- I'm not even sure if -"
He immediately stopped his quivering as he felt a hand grip onto his shoulders, and snapping his lidded eyes wide and forcing his body to convulse in a quick jolt as he quickly made a swift spin of his neck and looked towards the other one in this room. Where, standing right beside him, the faceless other had her other hand stretched out and pointing up to the other door in blatant description.
With a slow, unenthusiastic nod on his behalf, Haydee let him go as she made a swift turn towards the exit, not taking a single glance back at the human as she carried on forward. And said human, beginning to believe no such comfort can be given by anything in this forsaken realm, trudge along behind her, knowing that for all the questions he still had, it cannot be answered at all here.
Upon their exit out, the first action Haydee took was a brief stare towards that infernally locked door some long steps away. No longer did she feel it was able to mock her attempt to move onward, because now, with the believed necessary figure trailing behind herself, she felt it's stare irrelevant to her woes. It's body merely little more than a projection of strength, and above all; it's use soon to be trivial even in the most detailed of accounts when she finally passed on through.
But to the side of the human dragging his feet from behind, his first thoughts upon exiting that abandoned room was the curt statement over how bright this all was. Compared to the dreary, half-awake place that was the room before, the sheer pristine white and well-lit borders this new expanse showed him had caused his eyes to blink rapidly and made him pear away from it all. Within the singular moment that preceded, with his bearings better stabilized, he could finally take in what new place the machine had taken him to.
He did not know what to feel as he looked it all over, though considering past events, he could not consider it abnormal anymore. With how clean, clear and dust-free it seemed, all tidy and bright, it could be considered a nicer departure from the previous area. Yet still, all the inquiries his boggled mind could try and reach out were completely hushed in their place as he could see nothing that would answer a single one. Not that he had largely expected it too, the tepid male had already realized early on the answers he wished to seek were not something to be handed to him on a silver platter; especially not by the mute gynoid, who's only bother seemed to be on the ever forth.
He already knew it best to not object to her calls; not once, even with as placid as she physically treated him, did he forget about the gun she held within her grasp. Even with moments gone by of her not once making a dart towards that firearm, his eyes had still occasionally twitch towards the holster to ensure his abate hope that he was giving her no reason to reach for it.
So when she stopped her trail and directed his presence to stand on a breached square of the floor, the one that stood right in front of that impasse he could only assume was a door, he did so without a peep of retort. Stepping upon, he felt his weight shift a little down, but otherwise he felt or heard no change come as he stood facing the magnitude that is that door. For a singular second, he thought he saw a display light up on a panel on that supposed egress; but such chances were minute when he felt his whole body pressed forward when a new weight shoved right into his side.
To his bemusement, he found it was Haydee that was pressing up against him, her metal frame forcibly squeezing into his organic own as she ignored any pittance to the idea of personal space. He would have asked her, if given even a second to speak for himself, for why she was trying to fuse her inorganic body into his own as his frame did not positively approve to this involuntary constraint, but any words were halted in his throat as a suddenly loud ring, a deep drilling noise that echoed with boisterous attitude calling out from his front, followed up by an even deeper scrape thunder their way. And slowly, as Dale could only stare with frozen stupefaction, that booming door began to spread open. Shadows as dark as the deepest corner slowly creeped into the brightest light, and dust that had settled in the shallowest of gasps puffed into the air as that monster of an exit breached out wide with ceremonial melodrama that finally allowed them both to witness the sight from behind that once locked impasse.
When the creaking finally stopped, the doors spread out as wide as allowed, both the proud robot and wary human stood their ground to see what was held from behind that once-blocked way: Nothing more than a longer stretch of hallway, save for another, much simpler and smaller door reached at the far end.
He didn't know whether he should have been disappointed or relieved, his innate apprehension expecting something more strident to appear from the closed-off way, but either choice seemed to matter not to the momentarily-still machine beside him as she with thankful reprise pushed forward past him and off from his jammed appearance. She stopped her perceptive in the middle of the walkway to turn back towards the male. Standing up straight, eyeing the eyeless machine with a focused stare, it quickly dawned on him the purpose as to why she so pressed him out from his sleeping chamber and onto the pressure-pad still under his own unmoved feet.
"Well; it's open now." He stated bluntly, surprising even himself a little by how striking his words came out. "I guess that means: you don't need me for anything more, then?" Yet to his own surprise, the mute machine only shook her head in firm dismissal. Blinking to her, Dale watched her point over to him, then by her side, then over to the final door. "You. . . still want me to come? You're not gonna leave me alone?" Never was her main intention. Course, her purpose for bringing him here was largely to open the pathway, she knew better than to just leave him be so callously. Whatever his own purpose was, it was most certainly not back there, nor was it for the third option out, that already traversed area led to nothing but possible deaths and dead ends. For why he is here, she did not know, but she can assume confidently it must be along the same route she must go by, so for the least of ideas, his own life was likely best kept safe coming behind herself.
She didn't see it was a bad idea, really, this human coming with her. So long as he kept quiet and out of the way, would should she so casually push him away. For reasons that may only benefit himself, she would let him follow, and thusly, was she already prepared for his attendance.
Just a singular point was all it took for him to catch onto her conclusion, and the human, with only a simple sentence of "I shall accompany with you then, if I'll you'll let me." did the human step off the pressure plating and following as she began her stride to the door.
And in the final last moment from before they entered through; the thoughts lingered in Dale's mind were ones of how strangely nice Haydee smelt when she pressed up against his body. Pleasant, odd coming from such a machine, yet for reasons he could not explain; the word 'Honeysuckle' kept lingering in his mind just as fervently.
As always, upon entering through, the first thought that was written in Haydee's computed mind was to stop her tracks and observe her surroundings. Her optical sensors kicked in; scanning, highlighting and taking note from corner-to-corner of all the important details she should not miss. No matter how insignificant or common it may seem, the gynoid knew not to dismiss any minutiae but rather see them as possibly important specifics she would not need to focus if she needed to progress through.
Step step step
Though, in a fashion very much different, she did not do so alone, as pausing right alongside her stood the basically clothed form of a singular named human who's known perception conveyed to be less than even hers. And unlike herself, he also was to be less advised for the purpose of going onward, or at least, to not as be believed for what their own hidden purpose was deemed. To that, she only vaguely acknowledged his calm presence as she moved forward to the next step in escape.
Like the many bleach dead-silent rooms that have appeared before her, this one was no different with how it presented itself: with an obstacle in her way. Far off in the back, she could plainly see the door she needed to exit through, within a distance not too many steps. However, what broke her clear pathway forward was a blocked off grating going all across the distance, leaving the only possible gap towards the exit a singular door, one she already guessed to be locked up tight. To her mild amusement, however, she quickly concluded the unlocking of this door was to be done by the opening of buttons, two of them to be exact, of which she was confidently able to perceive both as they were indeed a pair buttons, both on adjacent sides of the idle door.
Knowing better than to just stand around and only think, the gynoid walked on past the human male and moved onward to the button on her leftmost side. Upon the last step away, Haydee looked it over for what she hoped was the final time, sharing a glance to the other button some distance apart before she moved her hand out and pressed in the mechanism.
The highlighting grew a bright green, and her hand paused its push forward as she turned her attention over towards the door in the middle: That hadn't budged an inch. Seeing this as not an easily solvable conundrum, the gynoid let her hand go from the button to let her mind analyse as per her normal; cleanly noticing that pressed button did not stay down without preceding force.
And tapping her chin, she took repeating glances both to her own button and the identical one but a way apart: She was tall, but even she could not stretch herself long enough to reach for both. There was no way she could hold both down as she were, and it's not as if she had an extra pair of arms on her anyway.
"Just how big is this place in its entirety if it needs all these pipes?"
But perhaps. . .
Turning around, the machine stared towards the other person that inhabited this room, who was at this moment focused up towards the ascending pipes and conduits that were commonly populous within the white-washed rooms. Though seemingly more neglectful to this riddle that halted their progress, nonetheless as she looked him over, she could see that her earlier estimate for his importance was for a use that extended more than a one-time stable weight.
Yet: she needed his attention to do that. And though, as straightforward as that really was, it did leave her with the question for how she would communicate to him when his attention was not on herself. With no vocal system built in, her attempts at making audible clues were limited, not just by words, but by any calls at all. Speaking was out of the equation, and so was anything as sharp as using her equipment to catch his attention, as she doubted scaring him with a firing round would do both him and herself any good. If only her body had a way of communicating in a different way. . .
"Where do they all lead to-"
Clap!
The sudden resounding echo of two strong forces clashing together rebounded off the bleach-clean borders and ringed into the ears of the unexpected human, halting the inconsequential question his mouth was trailing away to let his full body suddenly jump and turn swiftly towards the source of the sound.
Though she would have preferred to not scare him by any means, to the least, she was glad it got his attention as Dale was now staring towards the female, watching with shaken eyes her repelling her palms away from one another. With a firm leaned point, she guided his focus onto the space before the other button at a distance apart. He looked to her point, seeing the big round circle stationed over on by the grating, before looking back, to see her respond by pointing to her own button.
"You. . . want me to press it for you?" She nodded calmly, mildly glad she could respond to his question without the need for only speech. He nodded too in response, quickly scampering his bare feet over the tiles and towards the second button while she watched his run with an uncanny gaze, something he knew he hadn't gotten quite used to by this point. And not wanting to bother asking the unanswerable question as to when, he let his attention go over to the gynoid in question, who only stood there without movement as she seemed to await his own process. Seeing as he had no other option, regarding both his own say, and, as he already quickly summarized, the only option as to leave out, Dale pushed forward his button to the end: and in synchronised tandem, so did she, letting them both enter at the same time as she awaited the outcome.
When the immediate show of two emerald-encrusted glows from both of the identical mechanism burst into the scene, a curt buzz resounded out from somewhere, surprising the Haydee by zero degree as it quickly was followed by the machine's own vainglorious cheer as the grated door now opened wide. The view cleared to seep through as the two in turn retracted their hand to see their handiwork.
"Oh, er, I guess we did it, right?" Dale tuned up, turning to the gynoid that calmly looked his way as she readied her body to exit out; and in sequence to her moderate confusion, did she see him force a small smile on his own face. She gave but a curt nod in return, a more sedated reply to his expressive elation, but one that belated the internal questioning that was running through her.
Why would he smile for that? It was not a precarious or elongated trail they faced, but a simple pair of switches that needed to be worked in tandem, one that offered not a cause for alarm, so why respond to the outcome with a positive outlook? To quietly summarize; she believed it was down to the human having yet to face any real dangers or perils like she has, so in his position, this was the most critical conundrum he needed to solve so far.
Yet, even as she made her walk out with that human in tow, her mind still felt a tingling sensation of refreshment over his affirmative outlook to this puzzle, one she couldn't grasp its specific reason for.
Just before her exit out, she swiftly brushed it over with the belief such an attitude was beneficial to his mental state. The pair then entered through.
Striding in, it didn't take Haydee to make it past the last step in to notice the obvious sealed door that presented itself clearly to her from on the adjacent side. Locked up by a strong layer of mesh grating, the way past was not deemed difficulty to open, however, as by its side stood a digital pad with the insignia of locked down displayed on it's glowing screen. With no keycard on hand, she knew the way to open was concealed in this very room - of which she was sure to be out of sight; since the door didn't hold the only kind grating in this cramped room.
By off to the side, a long column rose up high in the room. Sprouting from the middle and lining up towards the wall on the locked eentryway's side, Haydee could only look up at it all as she took in some notable details it laid bare. Firstly, it was not one she could hope to reach by a simple leap and bound, as even with all her might, the ledge atop could not be reached by any ascending bounce. Yet, that is where the second concerning detail about this soaring seemed to be of high importance: Because as it reached upwards, so too did a grating vine upwards from her side, extending all the way up until it ended with the upwards-pointing triangles touching on the rim of the ledge.
Yet what caught her early attention was not it's placement, but the dividual shape of the meshing that piqued her detailing; instead of the squared-up holing of the same design found on that locked entry, this kind had rounded circles patterning up it's whole frame.
Taking it all in, the gynoid only stood for the briefest of moments as she saw the route forward was beginning to be laid out clear.
"Erm, Haydee, do you think you know how-" The call of the other in this room never got to finish his sole question when the machine decided to move forward without a single hint of her actions. Feeling it better to just stay back and sit quietly, Dale kept his trap shut as he instead watched as the gynoid moved herself in front of the grey grating, observing its entirety in silent examination before she brought her hands forward; and grasped the mesh with sufficient grip.
With a heave, Haydee's mechanical arms and synthetic muscles worked in tandem to pull her heels off the floor and hover free without gravity's demanding calling to them. Not stopping right there, she slowly brought her leg forward and tilted her toes upwards as she judged the distance to the nearest round outing and let her foot slide right into the hole-
A miscalculation.
That was the word best used to describe her reasoning for the slip up, and subsequently, her immediate fall. Because like a sack of bricks, Haydee's body quickly lost her grip on the meshing, and all her body could do was look up to the ledge above as it became further away from her wantful grasp, and await the forceful touch of the ground below
Course; she only really fell about a few feet at most, barely a height that she should feel a need to fear for, and with a resounding slap that echoed all around Haydee touched down on the floor, on her sharply, bare bottom first.
"Haydee! You okay?" She barely had time to react to her own understanding of the befallen situation when Dale suddenly jolted forward and peeled himself close to him. Shaking her head to wipe her mind free from unabridged ado and re-establish a connection to the real world, Haydee pulled her attention away from the unmoved grating and to the human, as he stared back a concerned look on his features. "Here, let me help you up."
As he pulled out a hand to her, Haydee sat there with a stare as she wondered as to why he felt so distressed all of a sudden. Course she would be fine, a small drop like that would merely graze her outer armour even in the most implausible of cases, so to why does he show involvement to her unsustain injuries?
To that she did not hold much time to process in its entirety, as within her peripheral vision a hand that belonged to only one other came forward to her while he looked to be wanting a try of pulling her up. Yet when she did push herself off the floor, expecting herself to do most of the lifting as opposed to leaving it to the scrawny male, her shock only increased when he felt her weight being pulled up much faster than anticipated, though only up until letting her body stand up on her own while her focus never left him.
"There, does that help?" She didn't quite know what the answer to that actually was. Physically, she sustained no pain or injury to tremble her model, but mentally her mind was awash with confusion by just how deeply robust his lean figure seemed to keep hidden.
"Is that any better?" Lightly nodding as her baffled mind still was dumbfounded by such a feeling, the Haydee slowly turned her attention back to the grating as she tried to replace the muddling thoughts with ones that will actually help her progress.
A thought that wasn't entirely lost on the human still beside her, as even as silent and expressionless as ever, it wasn't hard for him to imagine what was currently running through her mind, the tapping of her chin only hinting further to what steps and planning she was trying to think up. He looked too; seeing the grey circles of the mesh form a protruding pattern, one-by-one, in adjacent sides as they followed lengthways up. One hand pulling up, one food placed in, over and over, surely it wasn't that difficult to do. . . surely he could pull his own weight to help them both out.
"I can climb it." Either a belief, or a statement, neither she knew to be the exact truth of his sudden remark as she looked at him with an addled glance. Silent, she thought to herself by what manner would he accomplish his task? He was smaller, thinner, and though with an underlying strength about him, his frame could not be compared to her own. Lighter he may be, she did not see the correlation that he would be better suited to climbing this obstacle than she ever could.
. . . But she also knew nothing would get done is she dismissed even the slightest possibility of it working. Unlikely was only always a chance, not a rule, and denying the opportunity to try and let it work was not something she would deem a logical choice. With but a step back, Haydee gave him silent access to try for himself if he so wished to.
She had expected little to be accomplished when she let him have his turn to climb up - not to be harsh or cruel, but only facing a realistic conclusion to over this. Strange in shape he may be, she never sought to see the more scared and easily startled of them two to have a better advantage over climbing up such a grate.
So when his feet and hands placed onto the grate, his body leaning into the grey surface as he looked ready to attempt an ascend, it gave way for Haydee to stop all movement and even thoughts as she watched with absolute bewilderment at Dale managing to trudge his body up the grating. Foot over foot, hand over hand, in no time at all the skittish and less physically-gifted of the pair not only made a climb up that once-thought unclimbable side, but did so without even having a hint of trouble about himself.
Seconds were all it seemed to take for him to stretch his arm out and grab the final top of the ledge, and even less than that for him to scurry his body at the tips of those triangles and make a full stand up from up the ledge. For the first time since she had met him; she realized it was the first time she was looking upwards to him.
Something that flew right beyond the human's head as he never noticed the confused stare being burnt into the back of his skull as his only focus was on the forward way; and onto the small pillar where indeed something of interest seemed to lie.
The preceding call of "Hey Haydee; I think I found what you're looking for." was the holler that brought her back to reality of where she was. Snapping back, she continued her look as she was ready to answer him; only for her to remember speech was not a capability of hers. Instead, she swiftly remembered her other means of audible communication; and thusly, with a quick stare to her own hands, she already formulated the means to broadcast her intentions towards him. With a swift birth of her arms, the Haydee swung them down.
Clap! Clap!
"I'm coming down!" The barely visible one answered almost immediately to her perceived command, and the caller watched what little frame of his she could see make a swift turn and walk back towards the ledge, before he turned to ready his shimmy down.
It was from then, when Dale was beginning his descent down, Haydee notes just how ease of handling he had for such an encompassment. At no point did he show either hardship nor trail over his ascension, and with how he moved, the gynoid could see how almost natural his body made it seem. In a way, it was almost like these grates were built for him in mind. . .
Though any such further thoughts of this type were decidedly pushed away when she saw the human trailing up to him, a strange pep to his otherwise jumpy step before he stood before her and presented something in both his palms: A keycard. The keycard she knew they needed.
The keycard being handed towards her in the hands of a shy looking human that broke this placid silence with a quiet. "Is this what you were needing." Indeed, it very much was, as the gynoid took the keycard from his hands without a second thought. . . but not before taking an additional glance towards the one that held the distinction of being the person mainly responsible for its capture. She knew if it wasn't for him, she would have fared much longer, and with the probable chance of hitting her backside a lot more, if she tried to repeat her process alone. For that, she not only saw him as being not just useful but advantageous for the progress outward; but also one she began to feel glad is by her side.
So with a reassuring nod, the gynoid gave a grateful pat on the shoulder of the one who collected the keycard; which was gladly returned by a shy look away from the human - not out of misgiving, she knew to hold true, as the human male made a small smile towards her
Is that what the word 'cute' was meant to be designated for?
A possibility, but that was not to why she wanted the keycard in the first place. No, as she turned her focus away from this perky male, and onto the black grating that blocked her access, she already was making a step towards it with her hand ready. A simple insert in, and the obsidian grating was swished away by its mechanical gears, leaving it bare for both her, and the scampering over human, to exit through.
When Haydee did her usual stop and search, she quickly found the way through both feeling different and dissimilar to the room they conquered before them. Like their realm before, the exit out, placed at the farthest end of the room, was locked up tight by yet another onyx obstruction. And also coinciding with the room behind her back was that she could see more of those rounded-holes grates that Dale seemed to hold innate experience with.
However, on the other side that held variation the door did not utilize a screen-pad affixed to its side, leading her to believe it wasn't a keycard that was needed to unlock this blockage. And more so; rather than be an ascended grating that led to a ledge, this room instead had a whole angled route hovering above the ground floor, going across three whole walls, before it stopped its recess from across towards a alcove she can only see vaguely from her lowered position. In honest truth; almost the entire route had a cutout forit, as an opening in the wall led to an entire navigation over more alternative interferences, all caged away until the near-end; all beyond her presentable reach.
She could not do it alone. That was a statement she was assured of as she read through all plausible possibilities her mind reassessed. Though she couldn't formulate as to exactly why, what was made clear this was not a room that could be completed via pure independence, and for that, she made a strong following motion towards the nearest opening of the cutout before leading him to.
And though he trailed without discourse, one look up to the upgrade of the wall birthed within him a pit of silent culpability. The grating itself seemed a pretty trivial instruction by its lonesome, but what forced his stop was not the mesh's existence; but how high it was. Unlike before, the grating was not at a ground level for him, but at height above them too far out of reach for even Haydee to grab with a jump.
He turned to her, and through forced breaths he relented a pitiful confession of "I. . . I'm not sure if I can reach it. . . sorry." His words sorrowful, not entirely lost on the gynoid as she made multiple repeating glances between the repenting human and the opening up. The model did not react harshly to his afflicting admission, as instead, she believed his words without conjecture, feeling it fair to believe his words. They were a distance up, and even with his abnormally extended limbs, his height could not reach the nearest grating even with a substantial jump. It wasn't physicality he lacked for this, but rather a boost via leverage.
And the only other thing in this room that can be moved was herself.
She knew exactly what to do now: with a point; she directed his attention towards the area below the grating before she herself moved forward to place her body underneath. Spinning on her heels to a swift turn towards him, she crouched down into a fitting position. Knees bent, back arching, and with her hand cupping upon each other, the Haydee stood still as she awaited Dale to understand her message.
"I see what you mean." He confirmed her actions with his assurance, tepidly walking over to her crouched frame as he prepared himself to step, but only to stop as he took another look over. "Are you sure this is the only way?" The minor tilt of her head was the only evidence she acknowledged his question. "I mean; won't you mind me stepping on your hands or shoulder? It surely must not feel comfortable."
What a bizarre thing to address, the Haydee thought. Why would she mind it at all; she needed him to get upon herself to reach up. Something as trivial as dirtied plating mattered not to her, especially when weighed against the need for progress. Why would he be the one to care for such an insignificant issue? He has no reason to care about her in this way?
Shaking her head in rejection, she let her hand slip away for a mere moment to repeat the pointing to the grating before rejoining the cupping formation. "Alright but. . . please tell me if I'm impairing you in any way." Again, she perceived it as but another trivial matter, his weight was something she already estimated was not at any risk of overpowering her inner strength, so she kept still and ready for his adjoining moment with her.
With a hand finally placed on her shoulder, and his right foot being grounded to her hands, Haydee smoothly lifted his weight off the floor to arise towards his destination. Focusing and keeping her focal point locked to her muscular thighs, the humans ascension was only broken in silence with a worrisome call worrying that he's providing difficulty. She never answered his perturbed inquiry, only caring to focus forward as she saw his own body upwards as well; hand kept on the wall, and his other foot prudently tapping on his shoulder, upon the moment he could reach to the grating he took it without deliberate pause. Within a few seconds was all it took for him to scamper up the grating and off the machine as he quickly peeled his body up the ledge and into the cut of the wall.
Stepping away, Haydee took a number of steps to get a good glance at the human as his body now stood behind the dark meshing that made the cutout impassable to any means except the only two openings. With no other way to proceed on her behalf, the Haydee waited patiently for the human's full journey through.
And on his side, Dale knew he was far from confident enough to go without hesitation, but still he braced his body for the imminent pathway he was expected to finish. For them both, he believed, was why they were taking this path, and the acknowledgement that his amnesia will clear if he completed these obstacles was what gave him the drive needed to push forward without further delay.
Without being able to give a hand to help, Haydee had to stand back and watch him as he traversed through this tight pathway. The cutout was not the only part of this route he needed to get past, though, as it didn't take him long to come towards an obstruction in his way; a pull out of a wall the blocked a way straight forward. Thankfully, said obstruction was easily traversed by more of the circular gratings plugged into the wall on his side as they led up and around the blockage. To her satisfaction, it didn't take a second more for Dale to figure this out either, and he already made a grab for the meshing and started his climb upwards. Not long meeting the impasse for this indent, Dale switched from ascending to strafing as he hooked his arm around the grating to his right and climbed on, over the walled-up blocking his otherwise straight path and down as the stoppage ended, hitting the floor of the depression with the click of his organic heels and continued forward.
He turned the corner of the pathway, now going along the side of the wall that held the unattainable exit as he kept moving without delay. That is, until another impasse was found; no longer can his feet take him towards his destination, as the floor below had been seemingly removed from his route, leaving a significant distance between where he stood and the connected flooring on the other side. The way down might have ended on the same ground Haydee awaited his return, albeit with the floor sunken in a distance, but the drop did not look welcoming to a wanting harmless fall. So looking forward, he judged the distance past the open spacing: too far to jump, he believed, not wanting to risk it if a safer option was present, and low ceiling meant he wouldn't get a good jump in anyhow. So instead, he turned to the option viable option for spanning; the mesh ceiling that appeared above and beyond the empty spacing.
Seeing purpose for its existence, Dale easily jumped above and grasped onto the ceiling mesh's without worry of dropping as he prepared a focus forward, before he climbed forward.
Don't fall! If she could talk, Haydee believed this was the command she would have given him as she watched his body dangle above the open spacing. She felt it fair to be worried; the fall down did not look a pleasant conclusion if but a finger were to slip, and she had to steel herself from becoming frantic, as the repeated belief that she should stand underneath the open flooring was in cause to her worries he may very well accidentally fall. The only thing that stopped her from fully lurching forward was the fact she was confused over why such heavy concern for his well being. She needed him, an undeniably truth by now, but there was still some note over why such an insistence occurred by a largely unfatal position.
Thankfully, the opening gap was not particularly long, and it took just a moment or two more for Dale to successfully clamber to the end and let his toes slap onto the raised level to brush past the space with not an afterthought to its existence as he turned the second corner and onto the cutout of the third room. From there was when the cutout came to an abrupt end, letting his frame be removed from inside the wall and allowing him to step out onto a ledge in the open room. He paused his stride, only to take a look down at the Haydee as she looked to have remained unmoved since his first venture in.
He waved to her, the vaguely enthusiastic motion did not cause a stir in any involvement by the machine as the only reactions she shall give, at least, as much as she believed, will be needed when the impasse has been resolved. Slowly letting his hand drop, he turned his attention back to the course and made a silent walk onward towards the next interferencein his path. Like the moment ago, the area across was broken with a birth, a wide gap in the way, and one that didn't hold an accessible ceiling for him to climb around.
From below, watching him without a word, Haydee noted how this gap through was noticeably shorter than the one from before. A much more desirable distance, though she still felt a ping of not wanting him to drop, to that she perceived, she would guess in his position it wasn't a hardy task to simply bound forward and grab the ledge before her drop.
Yet it was to her genuine surprise to see that when Dale made a leap forward, he not only did so without even a balk to the distance, but he managed to get some much air with his bound he landed on the other side with two feet hitting the outcrop. She could not blink, but if she did it wasn't a stretch to say hers were going wild from the sight she just saw: She knew he had longer than average legs, but she never thought he could out-distance herself with such a clean sweep. That, combined with the previous physical attribute she witnessed from him, gave a rise as to whether or not her innate knowledge of humans was wrongly estimated. Her innate befuddledness was not a hindrance to the human in any respect as with a short distance more before a turn, he disappeared into the alcove and out of Haydee's predominant sight.
"I see a button in here, do you want me to press it?" Before he could repeat the truth that was her ability to reply verbally was non-existent; Haydee slapped her two hands together in a final clap. "I'll do it then." And within the span of nearly two seconds later the blasting of metal grates dissolving from her pathway became the tell he had found the unlocking mechanism, and the model looked over to the now unblocked door.
"Hmm, what's that?" The more quiet inquiry was picked up by Haydee, but without a follow up question nor his presence to back up the unanswered query, she did not feel a meaning to press on. Instead, she watched his form step out from the room beyond her and now into her line of sight, as she believed he was ready to come down.
Yet he did not make a sudden attempt to move down so suddenly, as instead she saw his eyes glance towards the ground floor, then a long look back at the route he just traversed around, before uttering out: "I don't think I can jump down from this height." He took another glance back to his entry into the cutout as he followed it up by "I think the only way down might be a return trip."
A sudden clap of her hands bustled the human's vision to look down towards the origin of the noise, where the creator of the echo was reaching out her arms towards in a signifying manner. Despite his heavy amnesia, what he did feel thanks for was that the details not related to past memory were still intact, as he quickly got her message loud and clear. "You. . . want to catch me?" She kept her raised hands still as she gave only a curt yet firm nod to him. "I do agree that would be the quicker option. . . " Very much true, she didn't feel it a right to waste it on a backwards repeat on that run, and leave his fate up to the empty spaces. . .
"If you're sure then. . . " He wasn't so much, but with some belief she wasn't as untrustworthy as her stoic appearance seemed at first relay, Dale calmly crouched down by the ledge as he began his dangle down. From in his shadow Haydee stood, having already made a move forward to be underneath his presence as she poised with her body, arms tucked in as she watched him slowly let his body drop with only his arms hanging on. . . "I'm dropping now."
Then he fell; and as Haydee promised, his body was dropped for only a second before two arms caught his weight with little effort. Her left arm under his legs, and the other holding his back, with how she held him it wasn't far off for him to be reminded this position was like a bridal carry: which only made him blink to this outlandish idea.
"Um. . . thank you, Haydee." She only nodded before her leg-carrying arms moved away to let him stand back on his own two feet, not once carrying to note about how their bodies looked to be. Instead, her mind was focused onto only the exit, a fault she cared not to see as she briskly began her walk to the exit.
"Oh, er, Haydee, would you mind. . . waiting for a small second?" She only made it a pair of steps forward before his appeal rang out to her. As requested, she stopped on a dime and swivelled around to see for what manner he had halted their progress.
Which was not an answer she got back swiftly. Because for the first few seconds of waiting, Dale made neither a noise nor a stare to her direction as he only seemed to be fidgeting in place as an answer to his reasoning. Yet in turn she did not make a move herself until he finally seemed to make an actual involvement for his request; and slowly lifted up his right arm to present something to her.
"I. . . found something interesting up there. I don't know if you may want it or not." To her surprise, what he appeared to be offering was a single keycard in his hands. Though at first a seemingly common sight, it confused her to wonder why this room housed such a key.
And it confused her all the more when she picked it off from the humans for investigation, and found not only was the base for it coloured a deep green, but also the key icon that glowed from the display screen: a vast departure from those she collected before. Especially when taking into account she had not a reason to seek its purpose so immediately.
That thought left her with some doubt as to why such an item was found here, not only by its shading but additionally the use of which she did not know. Yet still; what intrigued her the most was this human collected it for her without needing to be asked to, and as she realized, that likely he did so with also the thought of not knowing it's purpose either. He had no reason to collect it, yet he did so anyway, for the theory that it may provide a use in later places.
To that, she felt a little impressed by his aptitude, both in body and mind. To that, she felt glad she had him accompany her, at least for the reason she believed his own purpose coincided alongside hers. So with an appreciative motion, the gynoid gave the human a fair thumbs-up, and watched him smile with a grateful look before she tilted her head back towards the direction of the door while inserting the card into her backpack. Only a moment longer did they stay in the room before they exited out.
Another room, another closed off door. Though, in some respects she should feel grateful it was not the end door that was locked up this tie around, but instead, like the first room with the human scurrying alongside, this one held a grated door that was sealed off, so at least there was some variation to this implementation of locking going about.
Course, from where she looked, trying to see if the true exit was locked or not was little more than a mere pipedream since wherever its placement actually was, it was not on this side of the meshed area. As from beyond the locked door was a series of adjoining pathways broken away from the shadows of the black grating, coupled with the thick contained pipes running up and down the floor, the area beyond seemed both out of her reach and out of her sight.
But that was for a separate moment's thought, as for now, her preoccupation should be maintained on actually opening up this cage. Peering left and right, she saw neither one nor two buttons to activate the mechanism, nor a display screen on any place nearby, quickly quenched the idea the keycard she had been provided served an immediate problem. In fact, it momentarily seemed as if this door cannot be opened what this room was providing her; that was, until she finally spotted the most likely way their was for opening up this door - followed by the swift dawning on her that it was withheld by the coined logic proposed by one 1961 satirical war novel in using so:
As the possible button for unlocking was kept being the locked grating.
Bewildered by this presented paradox, the chin-tapping Haydee made a few steps forward to where the button seemed to lay before stopping short right outside the mesh to stare hard at the out-of-reach mechanism, letting her mind coming up with some ideas of how to best process this plan of action.
Yet what she didn't think was that she did not share this room in isolation. Coming up alongside her, the audible slaps of bare heels on the floor were only vaguely registered in the machine's head as she continued her attention on this so-close-yet-so-far device; and in doing so, never bothered to see the human think and look with his own accord.
"Hey, Haydee?" She swivelled on the spot to focus on the one calling her by her designation to look and see the human actually use the directive notion of pointing for something. "Might that provide some help in any way?" Looking to his point she found that, on the far off to the side of the room, was an inlet in the room the shape of an open vent. And more to that, as she observed more she also found that coming out from the parallel side of the meshed barrier was the very same shaped opening that seemed to lead to her advancement.
Though she gave a momentary pause to question why she had not spotted such a sight herself, the small outstretch of the wall to its side quickly washed out that question. She would have seen it's existence sooner or later, so with only a curt nod for his minor achievement Haydee sauntered her body over to the vent. In doing so, before she could even begin her crouch in she noted how this opening only appeared up to her chest, neither on the floor or up above like the others that came before. And while she noticed that on her own, her sensors took note of how this vent did not match the same perimeter of the one previously; they seemed to be rather shorter, if given her estimations were correct.
But such assessments she deemed as merely frivolous in the grand scheme of her headway, slightly reduced in size or not was not a major obstacle for herself, so without delay she already was arching her back to an angled tilt and poking her head through the vent as she tiptoed her frame forward so it can climb through and -
She was stuck. Well. . . not exactly stuck, so much as this was as far as her frame would let her go. She knew it was cramped when she had already pulled her torso in, but as she pushed with her legs she found her body was halted at her thighs, they refusing to budge even an inch more inside. For a few more times, she rocked her hips around in hopes it would help her squeeze into the gap, yet no matter what she did, she found her lower half was too wide and thick to squidge through. Even a wiggle of her sides did nothing to free her anymore from the gynoid-made wedge.
Calmly in turn, Haydee slowly stepped backwards a few steps so she could unarch her back and stand properly up in this caging room. She could tell right away that herself frame was not suited to this kind of vent, it's berth not wide enough for her to get into unless she had happened to have a bottle of lubricant on hand so it did leave her with the question as to how this would help. . . which lead to her remembering the preceding events that lead her to this room in the first place.
With a swivel of her feet, she turned around to find the other one here to see if his use could be found; and to find he wasn't looking in her direction in the first place. With her seniors taking a stronger look, she noted he was actually staring in the complete opposite direction of herself, with a hand raised over his mouth and cheeks. Whatever the reason for, she sought it not important, so with a booming clap that shocked him out of his opposing stare, she smoothly brought her hand out and pointed towards the direction of the miniaturized vent.
His response of "I think I'll be able to squeeze through that." came a singular moment after he wiped at his mouth and gave the opposite side a final second-long glance, the human practically took off from where he was standing and zoomed right past herself to drag his body through the vent. It was good then, the gynoid thought, that he was so enthusiastic to help them both progress through, as all he needed to do merely little more than crawl inside to -
"Arrhg!"
Like the spin of a rotor Haydee's neck spun in place as her attention became immediately focused on the one that made that noise of; if what her intelligence was alluded to, a squeal of sudden pain or injury. Yet when she looked over to the position of the only one that could have made such an organic noise, she found little to indicate a source of displeasure from the human, save for his right hand hugging his stomach for merely a moment longer, before the rest of his body squeezed inside. She watched and waited for a few seconds longer, but when she found no spoken note for any incident mentioned by him, she let him be without a word to focus on the more important duty of passing through.
Still, her mind did let linger as to why he made such a noise in the first place. For that, she would only determine a cause if she found a reason to.
Any such estimation had only little time left to be considered for any reason as the human she was systemising had already crawled right back out the vent to, seconds after, hop across the length of the room and unlock the door without a second more of delay. Pressing such matters of unseen injury to the back of her mind now that she saw him fully unimpaired from any reason, she moved forward into the meshed pathway and nodded to his adherence before she took a better look at the presentation forward from her.
Even inside, her direction was just as clueless as when she was locked out. The singular open pathway that this route had barely moved forward a few steps in before it turned into a corner and disappeared behind the shadows of the split thin mesh fencing, the way out little more than hidden from her sight. Refusing to believe there was a need to feel daunted she quickly ushered the man to follow as she made her towards that corner and walked along this darkened route. It wasn't pitch-black, as light still rained down from above - albeit in square patterned shapes - so the gynoid saw not to feel little hassle as she trekked her way through this curving route of twists and turns.
The human, it seemed, not so much; as though her focus was only on the forward, she still spotted with her peripheral vision the humans eyes constantly darting back and forth with every swivel on a corner. Every branch off from the pathway that led to a short end always elicited a careful glance from the human, as if he disbelieved that these shadows held no desire of malicious intent for him.
Though she knew to always be careful, she never felt it correct to fear every corner. Even when her hour here had taught there were dangers plausibly about, she knew better than to give into fear and be afraid of every darkened corner, though she still remained on guard for anything that would arouse suspicion. That said, she still balked at the sight of seeing him always make a step in closer whenever they passed yet another empty branch. For this, she felt grateful when she turned yet another, optimistically penultimate corner when the stretch ahead led to a second, and last, meshed door as she cleanly spotted the unmeshed exit door at the farthest end.
Feeling grateful to see a way out of this laughably easy maze, the gynoid was ready to make a ready gait towards the closed doorway if not for the sounds of electrical sparking echoing into her leftside hearing device. Like the start of the maze, this end had two sided branches that went up to the edges of the wall, so as she turned the corner, her head always made a swivel towards the left edge of the bordering pathway: and spotted that right on the far end was indeed a button plucked into the wall; albeit one that was radiating out vociferous sparks.
Loud enough to deafen out the sounds of a quickly approaching machine striding forward from the other side, one who's intent was for anything unkind, one whose approach was not registered by the Class 2C Model -
But one that was quickly spotted by the trailing human when his suspicious eyes turned the other corner and noticed inexactly what was stalking down these corridors. He could not fathom, not understand what it was he was seeing taunting it's way closer, yet he was not for sure it was for helpful purposes. What he did know; was how to respond in only one way:
"HAYDEE!"
Like a flash she turned, her body and mind poised to what the shout originated for; and without hesitation whipped out her firearm as her eyes instantly saw the oncoming foe:
One, two, three, four!
Four bullets, four shots, four marks hit, and with the final bullet lodged into its second lens it's head blasted wide in a shower of sparks and wires, curtly followed by its body falling backwards into a crumpled mess onto the pathway behind. She stayed still for the moments preceding, watching in case it somehow wasn't dead, using her time to study and note it was another of the Walking Contraptions that seemed to derive enthusiasm in her extinction.
Shaking her head to note how she let her guard down too easily, the gynoid placed her pistol back in its holster while her machine eyesight noted another, non-sparking button mirroring the one behind herself. The only reason that stopped her from quickly gallivanting down and pressing that button without lag was her memory; it was not her that first noticed its appearance, and acting accordingly the model turned around to take a look towards the human.
To her own disbelief, she found that the male had not only backed away behind her own position, but was now feebly slumped into the corner of the meshed border while his eyes stayed affixed to the eliminated body before them both. He looked so pathetic and useless as he curled up into a ball behind herself, looking like he didn't have an ounce of inner confidence inside his entire silhouette. Well. . . he did not possess a weapon unlike herself, so she thought not to be so dismissive of his choices over the human terminology known as 'fight or flight response', so she assumed it better to not let him be put down so forcefully, but rather she should choose to put her attention back onto the opening of the gate.
. . . Would have, that is, because only when she made a few steps forward, almost ready to bypass the fallen machine, a weak, pitiful whimper of a noise managed to whisper up to her ears:
"Please, don't leave me. . . Haydee."
She stopped, accordingly, and turned to see the body of the human still cuddled up into the meshing. As she stared, as she continued to not make a move and focus onto him, she quickly noted how frightened he was still: His heart still racing, breathing ragged, skin showing signs of sweat even with this otherwise cool dry temperature in the air, the machine no longer posed a threat, but the lingering effects of its existence still staggered around his mind.
He wasn't scared of her, that much was clear to her already; so why did that pang of dislike return in full force? It was not her that he was deeming as any threat, but the deceased machine lying by her feet, so why would the aggravation return again then? Was it an innate feeling that he should not be enraptured by fear of horror. . . he has proven useful, so she could understand why she should protect him if she could, at least until not needed. And mental fear can be a major problem, albeit not as heavily, as physical problems, so she could logically understand why she felt a need to help aid him from his turmoil. With her analytical mind set, Haydee began her return to him.
In a provenly effective repeat of earlier events, the gynoid slowly crouched down to her knees and lifted up her palm his way. Yet unlike previously, Dale showed little hesitation as near immediately he reached forward and grasped his shaking hand onto Haydee's. He nodded first, surprising the machine for a second before carefully did she ensure both were up and standing on their feet. And to rerun this unlikeness of repetition, Haydee did not let go of his hand at all even when she made a headway towards the working button, her hand kept firmly grasped onto his as she felt his own organic fingers do the same. She knew that when they both bypassed the inanimate once-animate, her walk should decelerate, every step taking a little longer to traverse than normal to ensure his mental state stayed calm.
Even when down to the far end, her other hand reaching out to press down into the round button, not once did she feel to release her grip on him. With the door unlocked, she did a recheck of her hand's grip before she turned and made her way, and only after, with the still unflinching body tiptoe around, and both escaped from that wretched shadow of a maze, did she let her grip finally slack for him, now that she deemed the threat as no longer an issue.
With the exit in sight, and his hand slowly letting go as the physical cue he no longer was holding fear in his mind, the final words whispered words of "Thank you - a lot, Haydee. I mean it." echoed in her head, she gave but only a singular nod to him before they both made a leeway through the door; feeling a new energy in her steps as they both did so.
Even Dale felt to sigh when he entered the room succeeding the metal one. Not so much out of fatigue, but out of relief when he saw how much simpler and less threatening this room was presenting to them. No shadowy mazes or hidden occupants that were anything but neighbourly, instead a simple flat stretch of a room with the exit door in plain sight.
Well. . . not entirely simple, per say, as there seemed to be one, though thankfully only, obstacle they had to skirt by to reach the end. Though, upon seeing it up close. . . it did start to recoup his once-waning dread. Separating this side from the other was a long stretch of a gap, a large estrangement from the floor that kept them both planted over on this side of the room, a minor similarity to that room of second passing, except the floor below was not so easily seen. Actually, he could not see anything at all; as so deep was this chasm he feared there very well may be no bottom to this well.
He tried not to make his gulp sound so audible when he took a single step away from the edge of the pit, and instead felt it better to look to the one who's presence seemed to quench some of his fears. By herself, Haydee was already studying the gap without his own input, her composed figure when staring to this abyss actually impressing the human as he noted her much more resolute she was then himself. Not wanting to feel like a burden to the helpful one, the human steeled himself from succumbing to the call of the abyss below as he forced his attention onto more helpful matters. So staring out like the person beside him, Dale began to see it wasn't a complete sheer drop for the fall, but rather another ledge had popped out from the cliff face over the farside.
Surely, he thought, that it wasn't there for just no reason. It seemed a fair distance below, not so far it would get drowned out in shadow, but it was not so close it was just a jump up to reach the top of the ledge. There was a reason, he was sure, as to why these additional notes were specifically placed in such an arrangement, ready to be solved by -
He felt a sudden breeze as a bolt raced past him.
And it took just one second later to realize just who it was that had barrelled right past him and made a sprinted dive over the edge as she leaped forward - and slammed her body into the face of the edge.
"Haydee!"
She fell, but not down into the bottom like was but a lifeless stone. Her actions were configured and planned, and though she relied on estimations, she calculated her risks before she made any such bound. She already knew her own physical limitations, her assessments already notched into her computer head like they were the unbiased truth, so before any such plunge was made a firm plan of action had been developed, determined and decided.
"Stay right there! I'll help you up!" Yet one major factor she had not implemented into the draft was the detail of the human's own reaction and following interaction. Because with just a moment later, before her own body was able to fully stand up on the offshoot the sounds of another body hitting the ragged wall caught her undivided attention, and she had but a few seconds to watch as the human suddenly crawled his puny body up not her own ledge, but the one that eclipsed even herself.
And but a second after, the time so limited she had yet to fully process what she had just seen happen, she watched as the human's head frantically popped back into her sight right above her own figure and stretched out an arm as he called "Here! Grab on!" Her whole body seemed to be slowed down in its entirety, as not only was her mind being dawdling with how she was re-examining that moment, but her frame felt to be freezing over, as it took her longer than average for her legs to stand upwards.
Without even having to analyse the situation antecedently Haydee's hand made a shot up high while she jumped on the spot, her ascent becoming elevated enough for his hand to extend farther out and firmly grasp her own. He did not waste even a second to begin pulling; even with her body mass weighing for more than any human her size would be, not once, during the short moment that left her body dangling in the air, did she feel his strength begin to falter in anyway. Even when it surprised her, she did not expect nor allowed him to fully hoist up her frame by himself, and when she was in range, she reached forward with her other and grasped the ledge. With her own strength did she pull herself from up the edge, shaking herself down as she evaluated her body did not feel a change in any negative manner; and not once forgetting who it was that was helping her up.
She stood up by her own strength, taking a careful look back down to the ledge as she thought a little harder onto the event that started with that first plunge. When she looked back, still rereading through the information she had gathered from what she had witnessed, she listened to the confession of "Glad you're alright." while she paid him some mind.
As Dale smiled at her, Haydee looked him up and down. He was far stronger than his slim frame let on. Yes, he was nowhere near as strong as she was, but certainly not some mere weakling, not at all. Haydee began to reflect, perhaps it wasn't right to judge someone based entirely on how they first presented themselves; what he lacked in offensive skills, he more than made up for it with his brain and manoeuvring abilities. She softly motioned with her head and hand for them to move on, as they began to walk down the white-washed halls that covered this uncaring land.
Not once forgotten to pat his shoulder in firm thanks for what he had done before they both breached the door.
For all the many threatening and puzzling rooms that the gynoid had traversed, the one thing that had never changed between them was each one being unique in its own original way. No matter if she faced searing blades, stretched chasms or cruel-minded contraptions, each room had a different route of reasoning for its existence and its direction for how to bypass onward.
That idea changed practically instantly when she began her examination into this new space: A stretch of hallway that beelined into a lone door, a stretch of black mesh that captured a space filled with long pipes of unknown operation, complete silence as barely a mechanical hum drifted in the air. The only thing that felt to have changed was she did not exist in this realm alone. What it left her with was no relief, but a sense of acknowledgement that this was yet a lead into a strange and different place.
An idea not lost on the human by her side either; as when he took a good examination of this room in its entirety, he began to think over why this particular room did not hold any threat or disconcert for how to progress. For a series of rooms that held an obvious focus on halting their progress, whether via temporary or more. . . permanent solutions, it seemed almost suspicious that the room they now occupied was just insipid with how innocuous it presented itself. No dangers, now ranches, no focus on unlocking any door to continue forth, it was just. . . inobnoxious with what it had.
He stopped, turning back around to the door behind him as he contemplated why this room was here. It held no purpose, gave no obstruction, it was even at its most difficult a room that gave breathing space for little reason. Perhaps, though; other than to make some statement. . .
It took only a moment more for Haydee to realize the soft pattering of human soles smacking against the tiles had stopped. Looking back, she saw his focus be aimed towards the wrong end, staring with wistful-seeming eyes over an exit to a less than comfortable area. She would have raised her arms and clapped down hard if his attention wasn't quickly bursting back into reality when he turned back to herself with a questionable look about himself.
"Pardon me for asking; but don't you think that this room is an overweening exit of some kind?" She tilted her head his way, clearly a little confused by this sudden inquiry. "I mean, with how it is presented it seems like it's trying to state something we should now, like the next place we are headed to wouldn't just be another hurdle-driven hardship, but instead an end to what we had to suffer through." As she listened, she began to understand his meaning. It was the same as another room she had passed through, and if it was like that kind, it would likely lead into something more different than some annoying hindrance.
And if it was anything like the area she had found this human with; well, she in no way saw that as a particularly atrocious turn of events.
How strange, she deemed, that after only seeing his use be for a selfish reason, the human more than proved to not only be capable of providing multiple uses for her, yet with that positive attitude he tried to put on, the calculated ideas he gave, the selfless actions he risked. . . it somehow made herself feel glad for his presence being alongside her own, at least; more so if it was just another Haydee model. Even if their time together may remain short, she would be fine with the experience she had gained would keep her going.
So with only a shrug of her shoulders, an action her database had pulled up to answer his question with simple prose, she then waved for him to come with her.
"Ri-right." He half-heartedly chuckled. "We shouldn't try to stick around and dawdle. I'm sure you don't want to be in this place any longer than I do." He didn't leave time for an answer, not that she would have given one, as his feet began to quickly catch up with her. Turning back herself, the gynoid calmly carried on forward, walking down to the end of the hallway while her ears listened to his footsteps pattering up to her own.
And as she was about to enter through the door, the human trailing right behind as he too followed in suit, she knew just one thing until their seperation:
She could not leave Dale behind until he was safe.