Gabriel and Siu carried the robot while following Sokka to one of the labs. The rest of the squad had removed the robot's clothes. After turning a few corners, Sokka led the squad to a brightly lit lab. The room was wide and there were a handful of other cadets.
An older man approached them. "Sokka, let me see what you have."
Sokka pointed his hands toward the robot. "This is a robot that infiltrated the colony. We can only guess it's from the Fire Nation."
"I fried it," said Gabriel. "I now realize that may have been a bad move. There's no way we could download any useful information."
"Yeah, but it's totally safe," said Sokka. "I'm afraid it would randomly come to life while I'm studying it. Maybe the robot deleted any records after it was done using the information."
"Feel free to come into the lab, Sokka," said the man. "One other person may come."
"I'll go with Sokka," said Gabriel.
The lab was spacious. There were multiple tables with different pieces of machinery. There was also a section at the back where small tools were stored. In that section, there were machines. The walls were pristine and white. The other cadets paid Sokka no attention as Gabriel lifted the robot onto the table.
Sokka grabbed a few tools in the back. He and Gabriel sat beside each other, though sometimes they also needed to stand. It was like they were going to perform a surgery.
"Did you do any robotics at school?" Gabriel asked.
"Yeah," said Sokka. "I won a few competitions with Suki while we were in the robotics team."
"I took a few robotics classes, but I wasn't in the team. I just wasn't cut out for it. I'm not too bright when it comes to science, but I'm interested in technology, and I excel in robotics and shop classes."
"See, you have some gifts. Don't call yourself dumb."
"Oh yeah. I always gotta remember the quote by Einstein about judging a fish by its ability to climb a tree."
Sokka had managed to separate the robot's head from its body. "Well, now the robot's brain can't control its body."
"It still has the heart, though," said Gabriel.
"Some robots have power generators in two places," said Sokka. "If you remove the head, the robot can move mindlessly."
Sokka showed Gabriel how to remove the robot's limbs. Eventually, the robot was in five pieces.
"Now it can't hurt us," said Sokka. "It's just a disembodied head and torso, in the small chance that it can reboot."
Gabriel laughed a bit.
They spent a bit of time removing the metal plates from the robot's torso and limbs. The robot's limbs were thin rods of metal that looked a bit skeletal. The fingers were also skeletal. Sokka separated a hand from one of the arms and he saw wires of different colors sticking out. The torso was full of wires and circuit boards.
"How did you fry the bot?" Sokka asked.
"I used an electrified knife and threw it in between the plates at the neck," Gabriel answered.
"I guess the weakness lies in the torso and neck," said Sokka. "Those wires are harder to cover up. It takes good aim to stab between the plates. Or you could just use a ton of ammo or explosives."
Sokka managed to remove the power core at the middle of the robot. It was a dark box attached to multiple wires. He opened the power core and saw that it was a big battery that could be fueled by a power generator.
"I got the heart," said Sokka.
Gabriel opened a compartment where the robot's stomach would be. He saw an empty compartment and the smell of detergent filled his nose slightly, though the inside of the box was dry.
"It looks like the robot's stomach," said Gabriel.
"Well, if it wants to be convincing, it should be able to pretend to eat," said Sokka.
"It was with us for a few days," said Gabriel. "I'm guessing it got swapped with Sergeant Choi during the power outage. Unless the switch happened while the squad was sleeping."
"That digestive system is quite basic," said Sokka.
"I'm guessing the robot opens its stomach when no one else is looking," said Gabriel. "Maybe it stores food and feeds other people."
"I'm gonna open the head now," said Sokka. "There must be some interesting hardware hiding in there."
Sokka used some tools to take the pieces of the head apart. After removing pieces of metal on the top, he saw a cavity where there was a small machine in the middle. After pulling it from the head, Gabriel separated the wires. In his fingertips, he was holding a small red box with multiple areas to plug wires in. There were a few lines scattered all over the box.
"That's quite a CPU," said Gabriel.
"I've never taken apart a robot like this," said Sokka. "All the robots I've worked with were smaller and less complex.
"I know a robot's CPU looks like this. It's much more complex than what a computer uses. The robot must have a lot of mechanisms if its CPU is designed like this."
Gabriel pried open the rest of the head and pulled a bigger machine. It was a large black box and the robot's eyes came with it. Now that their detective work was complete, they sat down together.
"This must be the motherboard, then," said Gabriel. "This might also be the place where it stores memory. A lot of the robot's parts are burnt, though. There's no way we could download information."
"I actually don't know if I can do that," said Sokka. "I've never uploaded to or downloaded data from a robot before. I only know how to give a robot the ability to follow basic orders. This device is more complicated than what I've seen. I'm not sure if it still follows basic orders."
"Maybe it behaves almost like a human. It either obeyed Staff Sergeant Kipmi's orders or it obeyed whoever was controlling it. It replaced Sergeant Choi, though. I'm not sure if she's still alive. She clearly didn't give the robot her personal information and that was how I caught the impostor."
There were ashes scattered around the robot's metal parts.
"Those ashes used to be the robot's skin," said Gabriel.
"Whoever built this can replicate skin really well," said Sokka.
"It's not very thick, though. I made a cut with a knife, and no blood came out. The inside was completely red."
"The last thing that we need to do is to identify the metal that was used to build this robot."
"How are we going to do that?"
"I will run it through that machine in the back. It will tell us what elements are in the robot. That thing can identify different atoms."
Sokka pointed to a tall machine with a scanner and a table. He grabbed one of the robot arms. He let the forearm rest on the edge of the table. Gabriel turned the machine on. A screen lit up with instructions. Sokka activated the scanner. On the screen was a picture of the robot arm.
The scanner overhead began to do its work. There was a mechanism on top which emitted blue light and ran through the entire surface.
A few moments later, the screen showed some calculations. The scanner had run through each component of the robot, from the beams making the arm and the wires.
"The wires are made of copper," said Sokka. "The rest of the robot is made of a mix of titanium and polium. The outside is made of titanium, while the inner beam is made of polium. Some parts are polium alloys. Let's grab some more pieces. I'll grab a piece of the outer plating."
"In that case, I'll grab the inner parts of the limbs," said Gabriel.
With a few scans, they found that the robot's outer shell was mostly made of titanium, while the rest were alloys, mixed in with polium. The inner parts that make the limbs were made of polium, with copper wires on the inside. After running a few tests, they called it a day. The supervisor just told Sokka to leave the robot inside. The other cadets sometimes watched Sokka but said no words.
"I'm surprised we didn't get any attention," said Sokka. "Well, I wouldn't want to explain myself to them. I don't want them to worry about any potential robot attacks."
"That robot's partially made of polium," said Gabriel. "I wonder if the Fire Nation is mining their own polium."
"They have a spacefaring company that's loyal to them," said Sokka. "Maybe both sides are mining at the same time."
"Yeah, well, I've made a lot of suspicions that someone close to me is working for the other side. I'm guessing that the Fire Nation is also stealing our polium."
"I'm not too sure about that, but maybe they're changing their game plan and this time they want to use more robots."
"Well, I was on an escort mission, and I had to help protect the polium while it was being delivered to a refinery. The Fire Nation probably wants our resources as much as they want us out of Polus."
They walked out of the lab and to the dining area. Gabriel and Sokka went their separate ways and ate at different tables.
"How'd it go?" Kipmi asked.
"We found out that the robot was made of a mix of titanium and polium," said Gabriel. "It was quite sophisticated in its design. It even had a box where it could store food."
"No wonder it stuck with us for a few days," said Siu. "It was able to pretend to eat."
"I had no skin samples left because all the skin burned," said Gabriel. "I also can't access the memory because I fried it."
"Well, there must be something useful that came from the analysis," said Larsen.
"We learned what the robot was made of and how it was built," said Gabriel. "It had thin rods for limbs and a box in its torso which was protected by titanium plates. The fact that there was polium makes me think that the Fire Nation is mining for the metal too and they're probably going to attack us with robots sooner or later. It's also possible that they've stolen some of ours."
"Yes, we've always wanted to protect our resources," said Kipmi. "That's the main thing our army's doing in Polus. Though I have to admit that the Fire Nation's last attack on our mine was suspiciously timed. I might even think I'm crazy. That's funny considering I used to think your theories were crazy, Hoodman."
"Maybe the Fire Nation camped outside our mine and just waited for a convoy to leave," said Larsen.
"Makes sense, considering their force was so big that we had to leave Tanbur and some of the miners behind," said Siu.
"What's the best way to destroy it?" Kipmi asked.
"A well-placed electric shock between the armor plates, or just a ton of explosives or bullets aimed at the neck, head, or chest," said Gabriel. "They're much tougher than the robots we have to fight during training."
"We have a lot of heavy weapons in this base," said Kipmi.
"Good," said Siu. "By the way, what's our next move?"
"Well, now that I've talked to Lieutenant Williams and explained everything to him, I think we need to be prepared in case the Fire Nation attacks this colony," said Kipmi. "Our commander says he's talking to his superiors about any strategies with dealing with robots. They even have the camera footage of the whole fight, so there's no denying that a robot infiltrated the base. The colony heads said that no other spies have been caught so far. Everyone else passed the biometric tests and any tests for identification. By the way, Hoodman, you're innocent. The cameras don't lie. You were just defending yourself."
"It's possible that the impostors are in the military," said Siu. "Just can't seem to trust anyone these days."
"We might need to start scanning people with x-rays," said Gabriel.
Everyone went their separate ways within the city. Gabriel felt accomplished. Although there were a lot of struggles, at least he managed to catch an impostor and study a robot with Sokka. He didn't have any leads on who swapped Choi with a robot. He was still a bit worried about the Fire Nation attacking other mines, even though he also thought that they could mine their own metal. He was getting increasingly paranoid that the Fire Nation was going to attack the colony. They probably gathered all the intelligence they needed from the robot Choi, assuming the Fire Nation was behind it.
He had been a bit calm, and his mind was mostly occupied by his detective work. Although he was a little more relaxed, he had to be prepared at any time to take up arms and defend the base if necessary.
The squad spent the next few days talking about each other's personal lives. They had gotten to know each other before the power outage, though Gabriel still wasn't sure if his comrades were sharing the truth. They were still talking more about their families, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. They all came up with simple questions that had a high chance of exposing the impostor, like asking about missions they did previously. A robot would have no such memories.
Gabriel also spent a lot of time with Sokka and Suki. The two cadets were often at the robotics lab and continuing to work with polium, experimenting with creating weapons. They had to make do with what they had, as they obviously had no access to the polium that was being mined. They also had no idea how to refine the metal.
Sokka often told Gabriel about what he was doing, and Gabriel often felt like protecting him, as he was still dreading an attack. Gabriel also feared that Sokka's extensive knowledge of robots would make him a big target for the Fire Nation. Gabriel also asked Sokka if he could upgrade his knives so that they were made of polium. Sokka had been open to the idea, as polium was a great conductor of electricity and could also be used with copper wires. He also said that polium could store electric currents like a stun baton, but more lethal as the knife was sharp.
Even while on vacation, Gabriel felt like he was stuck in a routine, not that he cared. He had few chances to let his guard down. Most of the time, he was patrolling and sometimes staying with Sokka and Suki a lot. Sometimes he also briefly talked with other cadets. He never said anything about a possible Fire Nation attack, though he often stuck with them like he had been assigned to guard them. He just tried not to be too protective. He was still determined and patient at catching any moles within the civilians or military. He also wasn't sure how the whole campaign would end. Maybe they would need to defeat the Fire Nation and end up taking Polus for themselves, at least for a little while.
He hadn't been complaining about having to go on a detective mission, even though he wasn't getting paid to solve mysteries. It was still more active than standing guard, though. He was also thankful that there were no charges against him. No one in the squad was blaming someone. Gabriel wasn't angry at Choi, either. He just guessed that she had been kidnapped. The orders were to stay at the base and wait for the Fire Nation to come to them, though, even though he sometimes wished he could be part of a scouting mission, whether to find Choi or important Fire Nation bases.
Every day felt the same, though Gabriel was becoming less willing to trust his squad mates. He was still afraid that there was another infiltrator, though it would take him forever to find them if he also wanted to investigate the civilians. After spending weeks exploring the small city, he was still a bit unfamiliar with the place, and there were thousands of new faces for him to see. One day, he might need to walk through the endless maze of hallways and tunnels if he needed to defend the colony.
Eventually, once Gabriel and his squad's vacation ended, they found themselves standing outside on the spaceport on their first day back. He and his squad were the only Myrmidons there, along with Lieutenant Williams. Colonel Kuruk stood in front of thousands of soldiers. There were multiple speakers scattered around the wide space, beside landing pads for shuttles. No matter where they were standing, every soldier could easily hear their commander. Wide spaces like spaceports were often used to gather soldiers and their vehicles. They had more than enough space, despite having a few dozen shuttles parked. There were no other vehicles.
"The Fire Nation is probably going to mount an attack on this colony. I and the other officers have been dreading it. We must be more vigilant now," Kuruk said. "A robot infiltrated the base. No other impostors have been reported. We won't be having reinforcements, as the other units are scattered around the planet protecting our other bases. The defense is up to us. We need to hold out as long as we can and take as many enemy soldiers as possible down.
"They may attack with robots this time. For that, we have energy weapons. We'll keep most of our heavy weapons at the base. If their infantry robots are built the same as the infiltrator, you must destroy the robot's power core. We're going to need our heavy weapons all around the colony. We have some armored units to help us. The rest of you will stay inside the city to defend in case they get past our first line of defense."
Hundreds of tanks rolled out of their base's garage, along with multiple artillery pieces. The thousands of infantry soldiers set up turrets behind the tanks. Most of the terrain around the colony was flat, forcing the soldiers to dig their own defenses and set up multiple sentry guns around the outskirts of the city, behind the layer of heavy weapons.
Later that day, Gabriel met up with Sokka. Sokka had told him that he was a bit more scared and worried about the coming attack, especially seeing the Earth Kingdom forces gathered around the city. He was also strangely calm, even through he was going to start Marine training soon.
For the next few days after that, Gabriel and the Myrmidons were stationed closer to the center of the city, practicing which angles to hold. They were also practicing their positioning. At the same time, they went through drills with the civilians to remember where the emergency exits were in case, they couldn't use the normal exits.