Chapter 5: A New Heading
6H was tired.
It had been multiple hours at that point. Phil was still flipping through the same book she had handed a few hours prior. Meanwhile she was stuck skimming through shelves upon shelves in search of a map.
"Has there been anything of use in that book?" 6H said.
Phil was still silent. He seemed to be deep in thought. However deep a machine could be, 6H supposed.
33E was still out. Her wound was healed almost entirely, but 6H assumed that she was still exhausted. Much like herself.
Androids didn't sleep in the traditional sense. Even 6H didn't fully understand how it all worked. But all she knew was that it was intended to reflect their human creators as a form of "restoration," so to speak. Add in the ability to conserve and reroute energy to other systems, and you have an effective method healing one's self.
6H glanced at 33E. She groaned as she rolled over. 6H sighed, continuing to flip through a book.
Suddenly, 6H jumped at the sudden slamming of a book. Phil stood.
"THIS BOOK…" Phil said, starting intently.
"IT IS USELESS!" he threw it at the bookcase next to 6H, she recoiled in surprise.
"Wh- what's the matter?" 6H stammered.
"EMPTY! IT IS EMPTY!" the machine cried.
6H ran over, picked up the book and quickly flipped through it herself. Indeed, it was an empty book. She frowned.
"You took hours to read through an empty book?" 6H said pointedly.
"PHIL IS ALWAYS THOROUGH!" he said in frustration slamming a fist on the desk in affirmation.
6H sighed once more. Her Pod floated over and began scanning the book. Unsure of it's reasoning, 6H set it down and let her Pod do whatever it needed to do.
"If nothing else, can you help me find a map?" 6H pleaded.
"FINE. BUT DO NOT WASTE ANY MORE OF PHIL'S TIME." Phil demanded. "YOU ANDROIDS STILL NEED TO INFORM ME OF THIS YORHA."
"R-right." 6H said. She still wasn't positive of how to handle that. But she figured it'd be best to focus on the task at hand, at least for the time being.
33E awoke. She outstretched her arms and legs, trying to wake herself up. Opening her eyes to an unfamiliar ceiling. She looked around and quickly recalled her situation.
Ah. Right. The machine… She wasn't fond of the situation, but so long as it bore fruit, she would let 6H off the hook.
33E sat up slowly, getting a feel for her repaired form. She clasped a palm over her chest where the spear impaled. It had healed entirely now. As if she wasn't even touched. She let out a quiet sigh of relief.
"Find anything?" she called out. All color escaped 6H as she took notice of 33E. She instinctually threw the book she was holding at her. Impacting 33E on the head.
"Ow-" 33E rubbed her head.
"Oh god- I'm sorry!" 6H darted over, inspecting her patient.
"But no... We haven't found anything yet." 6H said almost sheepishly, rubbing 33E's head where the book struck.
33E sighed. "Well, what... do you need me to do?" she said hesitantly. 6H lit up slightly in suprise, not expecting 33E to volunteer herself. She Pointed over to another column of books across the room.
"If you could dig through those books and look for any that have maps, that'd be great!" 6H said. She was excited to actually work alongside her partner in any capacity, since she couldn't exactly help in combat.
33E shrugged, walked over the bookcase and started rifling through the tomes it contained.
They were all collectively in search of a map. Phil taking the ladder and quickly grabbing, inspecting and dismissively tossing books to the floor below. He occasionally missed, hitting 33E in the head. She would grumble to herself, still too tired to care.
Eventually, 6H pulled out a dusty and weathered stack of papers, loosely bound together in a crude fashion. Wanting to avoid any potential damage, she carefully placed it on the floor and began lifting and placing pages. They had an unnerving rigidity that indicated their fragility.
The first few pages were almost completely faded. Only the occasional character being just barely legible. 6H called her Pod over as she continued to carefully flip pages.
Eventually, when details finally revealed themselves to her, they were vague shapes with illegible labels and crudely spotted markers dotting the page. 6H leaned into it, trying to read the name enscribed on the top of the page. Many characters were faded.
"… Plains… Sea… Trade?" 6H said, confused. However, it seemed she had stumbled across a map.
"Hey, I think I found… Something." carefully, 6H lifted the map to Phil's desk. The other two quickly crowded around with peaqued curiosity.
"Pod, run an analysis based on data collected so far." 6H said, still trying to make our any additional details on the map.
The Pod whirred to life. Soaking in the sploched and fairly faded ink on paper that seemed like it was about to turn to dust if handled even slightly wrong.
"Analysis: A fractional amount of the land mass outlined shares properties with data collected so far. However, scans indicate that leadure is thousands of years old. Land mass has likely undergone dramatic changes."
33E scoffed in frustration, "Fractional doesn't provoke much confidence."
"If nothing else it's a starting point." 6H said, still looking at the page with intent. "If we can provide a good enough data set, the Pod should be able to make predictions based on it."
"YOU ANDROIDS ARE EXCEEDINGLY FASTINATING." Phil said, striking a pensive pose. "YOU ENLIST THE ASSISTANCE OF MACHINES TO MAKE PREDICTIONS ON LAND MASSES? WHY?"
"For tactical advantages with minimal risk." 33E said, giving Phil an annoyed side-eye.
"Would you two quit?" 6H interrupted. "This might actually be what we're looking for. But-" she points to strange marks around the page. "What are these?"
6H point to stroked ink that vaguely formed a dashed path of sorts. Her cohorts inspected with newfound curiosity.
"TRADE ROUTES." Phil declared. "THESE MUST HAVE BEEN AGREED UPON TRADE ROUTES FOR TRAVEL BETWEEN CITIES."
"That would explain the damaged title." 6H said, pointing to the header at the top of the page.
33E, quickly loosing interest, looked up and around the room. She froze when looking out the window behind the desk.
On a hill in the distance, an android that appeared to be in YoRHa attire was prone. On 33E's taking notice, the android slipped behind the hill.
"Shit-" 33E cursed, shoving Phil aside and running to the window.
"We don't have much time." 33E said, "We're being watched."
"Hostile machines?" 6H asked.
"DAMNNABLE ANDROIDS!?" Phil asked.
"Close. It seems our target is tracking us. They were YoRHa alright." 33E said.
Quickly, 33E and 6H fled the building from the front. Phil following closely as they left.
33E stood in the center of the courtyard, looking for their stalkers. 6H leaned towards Phil.
"Sorry we have to leave so quickly. But we'll be back to give you a proper explanation of YoRHa, if you'll have us." 6H smiled at the helpful machine.
Phil let out an artificial sigh. "IT HAD BETTER BE A GREAT EXPLANATION."
6H pondered for a moment, before getting an idea. She stepped back and placed a hand on her chest in a salute.
"Glory to mankind." she said.
The machine cocked his head, "MANKIND?" he shook it, "ARE THEY NOT EXTINCT?"
33E peered back to the two as 6H scratched her head, "No. Not yet. They're waiting. Waiting for us to make this planet safer for them. Once we fulfill our duty, they will return." 6H nodded, "That is YoRHa's purpose."
Phil took another pensive stance, "IT WOULD BE NICE. TO MEET A HUMAN." He nodded in kind.
6H smiled sadly, turning back to 33E.
"We should leave." 33E tapped her boot on the stone path.
"Right." 6H agreed.
The two began the jog back down the ridge. 6H looked back, waving. Phil waved in kind.
"GLORY." Phil lifted a hand to his mechanized chest. "TO MANKIND…"