VI: End Transmission

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There is something wrong right now...

I cannot quite explain it...

I have been writing the story of my last adventure for some time now...saving it on a few data disks that Brand left behind in the crate...

But he went to get some fresh water a few days ago, and never came back.

To this moment, I still cannot believe he is gone...he wouldn't have abandoned me...so...

I feel a deep well of despair rise in my heart. Perhaps he would have lived if he left me for dead...

And I wish he had...after all, I was going to die anyway...

I try to collect my confusion, straightening my thinking as best I can.

As I lie here now, finishing my tale, I see with my damaged sensors many, many Boomas, unsure of whether to organize an attack against a wounded and almost-dead Android...

Here is where I end my story.

For the past few days, I wrote just about as much as would fit on those two small data disks...and one day, I hope someone finds them...

But for now, they are all that remain. I think my Mag knows it too...the end is near for me, as well.

I point him over to the last storage crate, where Brand left a few supplies some time ago, and he manages to drag out a box of Dimate pills. Bringing them over to me, he places them on my damaged breastplate, and I manage to use my one good arm to pop in the perforated edge and give him a few.

"Eat them slowly...it's the last food you'll have for a while..."

He eats two, and drops the last one back in the box, dragging the whole box and tucking it under my useless left hand. I smile, or as close to that as I can, and then, as he snuggles under the same hand, I rest my head against the tree again.

I can feel it...I have lived for far too long. Most Androids enjoy a "long" five years if they are fortunate, or even maybe ten, if they are loved and taken care of.

My twenty-year-old tempered steel frame has finally had enough. I can no longer move, speak, or work; my hearing is almost dead, and I can but see the events of the world slowly unfold around me...

I glance over at my Mag...I hope he'll be alright in the days to come...after all, his system is equipped witha small solar charger...I wish I had one of those...

My battery is running low...the small gauge in my display is telling me I'm almost gone...

I guess this is it...I feel my arm shut down as my energy approaches zero.

Might as well say it now...

I love you, Brand...thanks for everything, my hero...

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/...ack, flic...ckering.../

/...never did.../

/...tell...my name...it.../

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