"Hey."
"Hey, you! You there!"
Two shadows in the darkening of early evening came lumbering across the road towards David and his astonished teddy bear companion, like two rather large and haunting lurches, whose loose fitting clothes seemed to dangle from their tall yet slender frames like curtains. They towered many feet above the boy, who was far too awash in his own sea of despair to even notice their approach before looking up listlessly just as realizing the light had begun to receede from above him suddenly into shadow. David's tearstricken eyes caught sight of their features - two scrungily dirt faced city workers, both adorned with thick, bristly moustaches and one with the added bonus of a smoldering, overaged cigar dangling from his cracked and vein-thin lips. They both (improperly) wore caterpillar yellow safety hard hats dinged with countless black scuffs and half snapped overalls torn through at both knees and smudged across the front with the same black ick that claimed their helmets. The cigar smoking fellow, who seemed decades older in the face than the other one, tipped his helmet back slightly, revealing piggish, watery eyes that probably never saw a day without being bloodshot. He gave a hard look at David, who immediately returned his gaze to his shoe, as he held his hand up against the rain. His partner, remained unmoving, staring at David and Teddy with a solid glare that seemed impenetrable.
"Hey there, son - What the hell are ya doin' on the side of the road? What just happened?"
Neither one of the workers seemed overly startled or concerned by the accident - in fact, they regarded the matter as more of an inconvenience, but David, in his broken state of inertia, would have never known it to be anything out of the ordinary, as he most certainly did not. Instead, he just stood and continued to stare solemnly down at his shoe, not making a single, solitary sound. At the lack of a response from the boy, the cigar smoker just rolled his eyes, and must have became rather agitated, for he grabbed his cigar firmly and hastily from his lips, and tossed it down to the ground so hard that it bounced twice before landing in a patch of wet grass, where it fizzled and extinguished into lifelessness.
"Shit. Must've been a deer or somethin'. Hey kid, was that your dog, or something?"
David remained motionless and silent. By this time, everything about him was soaked through - his clothes, his hair, his skin. Teddy's fur had begun to sag in gravitational distress against the rain. The other worker, who had been completely silent up to this point, snorted in a rather undignified way at them, and turned to look at his co-worker.
"He must be stunned."
The smoker nodded, and laughed in an arrogantly sloven manner that made him seem so very much like the animal that his appearance brought to mind. Neither one was any longer looking at David, nor had noticed the brimming eyes of the teddy bear beside him, curiously picking up everything they said and embedding it into his memory, should they ever need the information in the future.
"Hey, kid.. kid? Can you hear me?"
The other worker reached up to remove his own helmet, revealing a head half shaven, which upon closer inspection would be better described as cleaved. The scalp, along with the hair along the entire right side of his head was removed in an uneven fashion, almost as if a giant scythe had angled right through it, revealing not the bloody brown crust of deadened skin and bone, but the sharp, metallic flash of titanium alloy built around miniscule silicon trappings. His face, otherwise, was altogether orga in appearance, scuffed and grungy like his partner's. With a tilt of his head, the mecha worker turned back to David with his emotionless stare.
"It was much too large to be a dog."
"Well, what was it, then?"
The mecha stared for a little longer, before glancing up with a thought.
"Be right back."
He wandered back towards the truck and leaned into the passenger side, digging around the cabin for something. He returned just in time to catch his partner light another cigar as he cursed and swore at the constant rain that seemed to thwart his every attempt to get it lit. In the mecha's hand was a small device, curved and angled at the size of a small calibur pistol, tipped with a wide lens and a hollow shaft a hand and a half long. Giving a thoughtful glance to the back of the device, the mecha fiddled around with a few settings before lifting the device and aiming it at the back of David's head.
"We'll find out."
Depressing the triggger, a soft, ambient beam of sapphire blue light streamed out from the lens and right into the back of David's rainsoaked head.. as it penetrated its lazer through his flesh, it gave view to the mechanical workings that lie beneath, the undesputable evidence of David's true origin. The mecha worker frowned, and clicked device off.
"Hmm... just what kind of model ARE you, boy? I've never seen these parts or numbers before. Did you come from Cybertronics?"
David still remained listless and silent. Teddy, who was far too simply programmed to remain silent himself, and he openly answered his question.
"David is my friend. Mommy left us here in the woods, but she came back - but she was in the road when you were in the road, and she must have hit your truck."
The cigar smoker gave an awed look to his partner, who didn't notice it as he continued to eye David, and now the bear as he made his presence known for the first time. The smoker returned his head to the two before them.
"Your Mommy? But, didn't that thing's reading mean he's mecha, Will?"
The emotionless mecha nodded three times evenly.
"Yes, he is mecha. However, I do not recall any lines of mecha that require a 'Mommy'."
"Well, what do you suppose he means?"
"Perhaps a closer look will tell."
The mecha reached down and grabbed at the collar of David's rainsoaked jacket, and yanked it back. He slid his hand down the front of David's shirt, and felt the spot above where his heart would be. After a second or two, he withdrew his hand, a blank look in his placid eyes.
"Hrm.. No license, either."
" I guess he must have been some special order for some artistocratic harlets. Gosh, wouldn't it suck if we'd have hit his 'Mommy'?"
The smoker laughed, the sickening sarcasm dripping from his words with the putrid scent of his breath. He turned around and scanned the road, and the blood trails that led all the way up to the front grill of the truck. Sticking his hands in his pockets, he shouted into the rain.
"What do we do about this mess?"
The mecha shoook his head, placing the scanning device into a holster on the side of his thick, gnarled leather belt. Crossing his arms, he gave a scrutinizing look to David.
"Who cares? We'll hose it off once we get back to the station. It was an accident. It's not like there were any dents laid into it. As for him... Trash?"
The cigar smoker, still puffing away on his second imitation Havana wrap, grinched his teeth, and nodded after a quick moment of deliberation. David, after all this time, had still remained his solid pause, never once had he looked up again.
"Yeah, mightis well.. He doesn't seem to be too functional. If anything, we'll dump him off with the rest of the trash to be scarfed for a flesh fair or something."
The two workers looked at each other before cackling ominously, then with one grabbing David and the other claiming Teddy, they both returned to the truck and carelessly tossed the two misfortuned mecha into the rear of the loader. Climbing into the cabin, they sat there for a few moments, quite possibly to ensure that everything was in working order after the 'accident'... then, without a further note or designation, they started the engine and took off, back on their scheduled route towards the Dumping Grounds.
"Hey, you! You there!"
Two shadows in the darkening of early evening came lumbering across the road towards David and his astonished teddy bear companion, like two rather large and haunting lurches, whose loose fitting clothes seemed to dangle from their tall yet slender frames like curtains. They towered many feet above the boy, who was far too awash in his own sea of despair to even notice their approach before looking up listlessly just as realizing the light had begun to receede from above him suddenly into shadow. David's tearstricken eyes caught sight of their features - two scrungily dirt faced city workers, both adorned with thick, bristly moustaches and one with the added bonus of a smoldering, overaged cigar dangling from his cracked and vein-thin lips. They both (improperly) wore caterpillar yellow safety hard hats dinged with countless black scuffs and half snapped overalls torn through at both knees and smudged across the front with the same black ick that claimed their helmets. The cigar smoking fellow, who seemed decades older in the face than the other one, tipped his helmet back slightly, revealing piggish, watery eyes that probably never saw a day without being bloodshot. He gave a hard look at David, who immediately returned his gaze to his shoe, as he held his hand up against the rain. His partner, remained unmoving, staring at David and Teddy with a solid glare that seemed impenetrable.
"Hey there, son - What the hell are ya doin' on the side of the road? What just happened?"
Neither one of the workers seemed overly startled or concerned by the accident - in fact, they regarded the matter as more of an inconvenience, but David, in his broken state of inertia, would have never known it to be anything out of the ordinary, as he most certainly did not. Instead, he just stood and continued to stare solemnly down at his shoe, not making a single, solitary sound. At the lack of a response from the boy, the cigar smoker just rolled his eyes, and must have became rather agitated, for he grabbed his cigar firmly and hastily from his lips, and tossed it down to the ground so hard that it bounced twice before landing in a patch of wet grass, where it fizzled and extinguished into lifelessness.
"Shit. Must've been a deer or somethin'. Hey kid, was that your dog, or something?"
David remained motionless and silent. By this time, everything about him was soaked through - his clothes, his hair, his skin. Teddy's fur had begun to sag in gravitational distress against the rain. The other worker, who had been completely silent up to this point, snorted in a rather undignified way at them, and turned to look at his co-worker.
"He must be stunned."
The smoker nodded, and laughed in an arrogantly sloven manner that made him seem so very much like the animal that his appearance brought to mind. Neither one was any longer looking at David, nor had noticed the brimming eyes of the teddy bear beside him, curiously picking up everything they said and embedding it into his memory, should they ever need the information in the future.
"Hey, kid.. kid? Can you hear me?"
The other worker reached up to remove his own helmet, revealing a head half shaven, which upon closer inspection would be better described as cleaved. The scalp, along with the hair along the entire right side of his head was removed in an uneven fashion, almost as if a giant scythe had angled right through it, revealing not the bloody brown crust of deadened skin and bone, but the sharp, metallic flash of titanium alloy built around miniscule silicon trappings. His face, otherwise, was altogether orga in appearance, scuffed and grungy like his partner's. With a tilt of his head, the mecha worker turned back to David with his emotionless stare.
"It was much too large to be a dog."
"Well, what was it, then?"
The mecha stared for a little longer, before glancing up with a thought.
"Be right back."
He wandered back towards the truck and leaned into the passenger side, digging around the cabin for something. He returned just in time to catch his partner light another cigar as he cursed and swore at the constant rain that seemed to thwart his every attempt to get it lit. In the mecha's hand was a small device, curved and angled at the size of a small calibur pistol, tipped with a wide lens and a hollow shaft a hand and a half long. Giving a thoughtful glance to the back of the device, the mecha fiddled around with a few settings before lifting the device and aiming it at the back of David's head.
"We'll find out."
Depressing the triggger, a soft, ambient beam of sapphire blue light streamed out from the lens and right into the back of David's rainsoaked head.. as it penetrated its lazer through his flesh, it gave view to the mechanical workings that lie beneath, the undesputable evidence of David's true origin. The mecha worker frowned, and clicked device off.
"Hmm... just what kind of model ARE you, boy? I've never seen these parts or numbers before. Did you come from Cybertronics?"
David still remained listless and silent. Teddy, who was far too simply programmed to remain silent himself, and he openly answered his question.
"David is my friend. Mommy left us here in the woods, but she came back - but she was in the road when you were in the road, and she must have hit your truck."
The cigar smoker gave an awed look to his partner, who didn't notice it as he continued to eye David, and now the bear as he made his presence known for the first time. The smoker returned his head to the two before them.
"Your Mommy? But, didn't that thing's reading mean he's mecha, Will?"
The emotionless mecha nodded three times evenly.
"Yes, he is mecha. However, I do not recall any lines of mecha that require a 'Mommy'."
"Well, what do you suppose he means?"
"Perhaps a closer look will tell."
The mecha reached down and grabbed at the collar of David's rainsoaked jacket, and yanked it back. He slid his hand down the front of David's shirt, and felt the spot above where his heart would be. After a second or two, he withdrew his hand, a blank look in his placid eyes.
"Hrm.. No license, either."
" I guess he must have been some special order for some artistocratic harlets. Gosh, wouldn't it suck if we'd have hit his 'Mommy'?"
The smoker laughed, the sickening sarcasm dripping from his words with the putrid scent of his breath. He turned around and scanned the road, and the blood trails that led all the way up to the front grill of the truck. Sticking his hands in his pockets, he shouted into the rain.
"What do we do about this mess?"
The mecha shoook his head, placing the scanning device into a holster on the side of his thick, gnarled leather belt. Crossing his arms, he gave a scrutinizing look to David.
"Who cares? We'll hose it off once we get back to the station. It was an accident. It's not like there were any dents laid into it. As for him... Trash?"
The cigar smoker, still puffing away on his second imitation Havana wrap, grinched his teeth, and nodded after a quick moment of deliberation. David, after all this time, had still remained his solid pause, never once had he looked up again.
"Yeah, mightis well.. He doesn't seem to be too functional. If anything, we'll dump him off with the rest of the trash to be scarfed for a flesh fair or something."
The two workers looked at each other before cackling ominously, then with one grabbing David and the other claiming Teddy, they both returned to the truck and carelessly tossed the two misfortuned mecha into the rear of the loader. Climbing into the cabin, they sat there for a few moments, quite possibly to ensure that everything was in working order after the 'accident'... then, without a further note or designation, they started the engine and took off, back on their scheduled route towards the Dumping Grounds.