Author's Note: Welcome back to my little story! I just wanted to take some time to say thank you to all the people who left positive reviews on the first chapter. It is my first story though, so any criticisms you have, not matter how minor it may seem, would be greatly appreciated.
And yes, this IS one of those "Last Human" stories (Yeah, I know, real creative of me) And to risk sounding like a terrible Creepypasta writer, if you don't like it, simply don't read it. I won't be personally offended.
Also, I plan to release a chapter whenever it's done, but I'll try to get one out every week
But I've drabbled on incoherently for too long now, so let's get on with it!
As Judy stood in front of the 'pod', completely frozen with fear, she (or more accurately, her subconscious) allowed her thoughts to run wild with all sorts of thoughts. How'd it get down here? Is it intelligent? Will it hurt me? Were some of those thoughts; but they were merely a few drops of rational thinking in a vast sea of mad speculation.
While she was lost in her own head, the creature inside the pod shifted. They were barely noticeable things, like a slight twitch of an arm, or a small spasm in the leg as it's body slowly began to wake up.
It doesn't seem to be a morning animal, then her subconscious told her. At that point, she genuinely thought she was going crazy, so her subconscious remained ignored.
Why was she going coo-coo? Even she wasn't so sure anymore.
She began to focus more on the creature, trying to see if there was anything it could use to hurt her. Then she noticed the holes in it's chest. There were roughly five of them, spread out across the whole front section of it's body armour, two of them being little more than dents, another two being noticeable breaches, but the fifth was by far the most eye catching.
This one was surrounded by a patch of dark red, presumably blood that had long since gone dry, and it looked like it had once trickled down the chest before running out of steam. The hole itself, however, Judy couldn't actually see (but she still assumed it was there) as there was a flat, relatively large and unmistakeable lump of something frozen. The red tinge the ice had gave it away as frozen blood.
Suddenly, most of her thoughts about it hurting her went away, leaving her with a large amount of sympathy for the thing. After all, it was the injured one. As she looked, it seemed to regain consciousness as it's head slowly moved to face her direction, albeit it was looking directly ahead of itself, and not at her. It's leg moved forwards to take it's first step after who-knows-how-long, but it immediately faltered, sinking down onto it's knees, before toppling over onto it's front where it lay for a few seconds.
Judy, who had been standing directly in front of the door, took a few steps backwards as to avoid being crushed by the thing. The thing let out a long groan before placing it's paws either side of it and began to push itself up, moving it's head up before it was level with Judy's visor. It immediately froze when seemed to see her. It stared at her, seemingly leaning forward as if to confirm what it was seeing.
"….Wha..?" It said in a raspy voice.
Judy found out a few things from it's voice.
Well, his voice anyways.
One of those being the fact that the human was a male, another being that he seemingly didn't understand what he was looking at. He also had an accent, but during the heat (Or cold, given the location) of the moment, she couldn't quite pick up on what it was. His voice sounded like it hadn't been used in a very long time.
The human, as she was now sure that he was indeed one, put his gloved paw to his golden tinted visor and proceeded to clear off some of the of frost that had accumulated on it for what presumably was quite a while.
"No, that can't be right…" He spoke to himself in a less rusty sounding voice than before, this time reaching out with the same paw that he had used to clean his visor. Judy, meanwhile, continued to stare at the human, unsure of what he was doing. Her paws remained frozen at her sides and her violet eyes were transfixed in fear on the reflective surface of the human's visor.
The human curled his fingers, excluding his index one, into a ball and moved that paw towards her in her universally recognised 'poke' gesture, one Nick had made her annoyingly familiar with. As the finger drew closer, Judy's vision began to grow blurry as her eye began to cross in a vain attempt to see the finger that grew ominously in size as it got closer.
It wasn't long before it made contact. When it did, it made a small tink sound. The human let out a small gasp and quickly withdrew his hand and attempted to stand up, only to make a grunt of pain and sunk back down to his knees. He only stayed that way for a a few moments, but it seemed to last a century to Judy.
Then they both heard it.
Drip.
The sound, however faint it was, instantly filled Judy's sensitive ears. The human seemed to notice it too, as his armoured head snapped down to look at the now thawed out wound and his gloved paw manoeuvred itself underneath the now visible hole that a small, but visible stream of fresh blood that was making its way down the fabric of his body armour.
"Uh oh… no no no no!" He said, springing to his feet, albeit with a grunt of pain. Judy opened her mouth to speak to the human for the first time, but was immediately silenced by him stumbling into her, his knee connecting with her armoured head, which sent her tumbling to the ground. He paused, his blank visor turning to look at her for a few seconds before he continued to make his shaky way to a large, rusted and ancient looking cabinet on the wall. At some point in history it had been white, but now neither of them could tell.
The human ripped open one of the two doors on the cabinet as the rusted metal of the hinges groaned in protest after being disused for so long. He reached inside and rooted around for a few long moments, at least they seemed long to Judy's still swimming vision.
His hand abruptly stopped, and after a second of waiting, pulled out a surprisingly white roll of bandages. How did Judy know? She knew because the second it was clear of the cabinet, the human tugged on one side of the roll and, when it came free, pulled out a long strip of the bandage before tearing the section that held it to the rest of the roll in half. It then hastily, but not recklessly, wrapped the torn piece of glorified fabric around his chest, covering the still bleeding wound. Even though he had now successfully stemmed the bleeding, it didn't stop entirely as Judy could see a patch of red begin to work its merry way through the bandage.
Undeterred, the human simply repeated the wrapping process one more time, and the bandage stayed white. Now that he was no longer at risk of bleeding out, he turned attention back to Judy. She was still on the floor, but had sat up while he had been tending to his probably ancient wounds. He turned his head to look at the roll of bandages that he had dropped on the floor, and then to Judy, before shaking his head and mumbling something to himself. Even with her highly sensitive ears she couldn't tell what he was saying.
The awkward silence between them lasted quite a while, the human kept quite because he seemed to want to, and Judy did so because she didn't want to break what she perceived to be his sanity in his fragile state, but that's just what she thought. In the following minutes, the human had gone from standing next to the cabinet to sitting with his back against the now closed door of his 'pod'. He would occasionally turn his head to face Judy, and then would look away. Each time he repeated the action his body continued to slouch more and more as the realisation that Judy was indeed real and wasn't some hallucination created by his blood-deprived mind hit him like a deranged elephant on the Night Howler serum. Then, the human seemed to get an idea as he shakily got to his feet, attracting the no-longer terrified bunny's attention.
He turned to face the small computer screen that Judy had previously used to release him and, pushing her makeshift stand out of the way, stepped up to it. He then removed the gloved that covered his left paw, revealing a startling sight for Judy.
Instead of having a fuzzy, padded paw like she expected, his paw lacked any form of fur completely. The exposed skin was a light tan colour, and had what looked like flat claws on the outside section of the finger. He then began to gently tap away at the primitive-looking computer, mumbling things to himself as he did so.
This time, Judy was able to hear some of his remarks. (Editorial note: Any parts of the following quotes that is '…' is part of the sentence that Judy failed to hear)
"I hope … is still online"
"Huh, generator four still has …."
The last thing he said was:
"Is that? No, it can't…"
With that last sentence filling the air, the computer emitted a loud beep that easily overtook it's predecessors place in the cold air. Judy pulled her ears to the sides of her head to prevent both a headache and deafness from claiming her.
The human seemed unfazed by the noise, probably because it was focused on the screen. Judy couldn't see enough of the screen to accurately guess what was on it, but the human seemed relieved by whatever was on there.
"Sir?" A voice asked. Judy flinched when she heard the voice. It was similar to the human's, but more robotic and monotonous sounding.
The human let out a sigh of relief at the voice.
"Ross, is that you?" the human said. That was the first time Judy had heard it say something directly to something else.
"Sir, it is good to see you active once again." The voice said, somehow sounding more monotonous than before
"I'm surprised you're still functioning Ross, but I need you tell me, what happened?" The human asked, curiosity entering his voice as he spoke.
"After you entered stasis, protocol dictated I shut down the whole area to conserve power. An anomalous lifeform entered the area, so I reactivated the only units that had survived the shutdown. The anomaly then activated the emergency release on your pod." Ross replied. Judy then realised that the voice was coming from the computer.
The human glance back towards Judy, before looking back to the console.
"What did you activate?" He asked, a tone of authority creeping into his voice.
"The remaining units were a R.O.V unit and the station's current Maintenance Unit who you have had previous encounters with." Ross replied. Any thoughts Judy had of it having its own personality were supressed at the mention of protocol.
"Can you have them meet with us here?" The human asked. Judy then realised what he was trying to do.
He's bringing in backup! Isn't that a good thing? Her subconscious pondered, and this one time, Judy actually listened, but didn't add to it.
"One of them is already present. The other is currently fifty seven metres away." Ross reported, a hint of realisation breaking through the rest of it's monotonous voice.
The human looked around the room before turning back the screen. "Where? Is it that?" The human pointed to a small box in the corner of the room.
"Affirmative. I will attempt to reactivate it, but it seems to be in lockdown, or is refusing to move." The computer said, sounding slightly more interested than before.
There was a pause before it spoke again. "Sir, I have been running scans of the room, and I have isolated the most likely candidate for what the anomaly is."
"And what might that be?" The human asked, tilting his head curiously and looking at Judy, who by this point had stood up and was watching closely, her police instincts kicking in.
"It appears to be a female Oryctolagus cuniculus, (Editorial note: Yes, that really is the scientific name for European rabbit, of which I assume Judy is.) also known as a 'rabbit' or 'bunny'. However, there are numerable differences to what records have shown, such as it's adaptation to standing on it's hind legs. It's brain has also evolved to the point of being on par with that of a Homo Sapiens, also known as humans. It's vocal cords are sufficiently developed to allow it to be capable of speech, but I am uncertain of whether or not it has learned English, or speaks in a natural language system unique to it."
It paused before continuing: "Since it entered the room and released you, it's heartrate indicated that it was terrified, but it's heartrate has since decreased, showing it has become adjusted to your presence."
The human and the computer continued talking like this for some time, but Judy was barely paying attention. She was far too busy battling with her own mind about whether or not to talk to the both of them.
Last time I wanted to, he hit me in the head with his knee! One side would argue.
Yeah, because he was bleeding to death! You would've done the same! The other side would then reply.
It carried on like that until Judy mentally yelled at herself to stop bickering and to just do it. And so she did.
"H-hello" She said, far too nervously for her liking, but she'd make do. The human raised his head but didn't look at her.
"Ross, did you hear that?" He asked, his calm voice betraying none of the emotions he felt. He was hoping he was just going crazy and that the rabbit really wasn't talking to him.
"Affirmative." Came the robotic reply.
"Am I hallucinating?" He questioned the computer, actually hoping it would say something like: "Sure! You be going coo-coo!"
"Negative."
"Am I crazy?" He was desperate now. He genuinely wanted any other explanation other than: "Yep, that bunny be talking to you."
"Negative. You are displaying zero of the known signs of insanity." The computer said, seeming happy to know that his user wasn't totally crazy. It was then that Judy started to get ever so slightly annoyed. I mean, here I am, trying to make first contact and he's refusing to accept me as something real! The human simply sighed and turned towards Judy, finally confronting the thing that had caused him so much unease.
"So… you can talk?" He said, already knowing the answer, but wanting to hear it from her.
"Yes." Was her simple reply. She wanted to say so much more, but she couldn't find the right words. Her subconscious had seemingly run out of smart-ass remarks, so she assumed company was the literal cure.
"Do you have a name? Or was that only a human thing?" He asked, his voice a strange cocktail of sarcasm and genuine curiosity in its rawest form.
"Uhh, yes! My name is, uh, Judy Hopps!" She stammered out, her stuttering making it sound like she forgot her name.
Well, if you forget, there's a whole city who know it off-by-heart who can tell you.
At least her subconscious was still on top of things in the back-sass department.
The human let out a scoff at the mention of her last name. "Hopps? Really? Next you're going to tell me you have over one hundred family members, aren't you?"
"Well, I do actually have over two hundred siblings." She said innocently.
He just stared at her thought his emotionless visor. Starting to feel uneasy, she decided to continue talking to him. She didn't really have any other options.
"So… what's your name?" She asked, immediately regretting her childlike tone when she said it.
"Well my name is Richard-"
Thud Thud Thud!
He was immediately cut off by a loud banging sound, whose origin seemed to come from behind Judy.
"Ah! Is that the Maintenance Unit?" 'Richard' asked the computer behind him, keeping his back to the machine.
"Affirmative. Activating maintenance hatch…" The voice was drowned out by a distinct pneumatic hiss as the door behind Judy opened, revealing a dark, towering figure.
The first thing Judy noticed about it was the 'eyes', of which there were three. One was a large glowing orange circle located in the centre of upper-centre of the chest and the second was a smaller red circle directly underneath the first. The third, however, was a green square adjacent to the second circle and flickered on and off at random intervals. The figure itself she got a good look at when it stepped into the brighter light of the room they were in. It was roughly the same height as 'Richard', but was covered in bits of dull grey panelling made from an unknown material. One hand was comprised of three relatively large blocky fingers, while the other hand the standard five, but was partially obscured by yet more panelling. There seemed to be no actual head, but instead a bulkier section at the top of the torso.
Its legs and arms were mostly the same, but ended it their own respective appendage. Each was covered by metal panels, with small gaps in between showing wiring and other machinery. The back had a large box bolted onto it that Judy assumed contained whatever was powering the thing. It even had an exhaust stack on the left side, something that was actually illegal in the most areas of the 'clean' city of Zootopia.
At the same time, the small box from earlier had activated and began trundling to the middle of the room, something Judy only noticed when it collided with her side. It was small compared to Richard, but was almost three quarters of her height. Instead of wheels, it had tracks (Or treads, she wasn't sure of the name) that allowed it to move. The sides were slanted and there was a small gap that ran from the front to the back of the miniature vehicle. There was a hole in the front where what looked like a double lensed camera was sticking out, presumably those were its eyes.
Who built all these? They're amazing! She thought. And it was true. Despite their dirty demeanour and clunky movements, there was a hint of precision and calculated finesse to their every move.
"These things look like they come from the back when mammals were feral…" She wondered aloud, something she would come to regret.
"Wait, how long ago were mammals feral?" Richard asked, suddenly sounding very worried.
"A couple thousand years, why?" She answered, tilting her head when she did so.
Instead of answering her directly, he turned his head toward the 'Ross' without actually looking at it.
"Ross, what's the date today?" He said in a calm voice.
"The date today is Monday the second of May, 3043."
Richard whirred around so he was fully facing the computer.
"What?!" He half yelled, not out of anger, but out of confusion. While Judy flinched slightly, not one of the machines even reacted.
"Would you like me to repeat the date?" Ross monotonously asked with no hint of emotion in its voice.
"No." Richard said quickly, seeming ever so slightly remorseful. He sighed before saying: "Move yourself over to external storage, we're not leaving you here."
"Affirmative…. Task complete."
Richard then moved over to the console and removed something that resembled an old USB device and unceremoniously shoved it into one of his pockets.
"Well then, let's get moving." He said as he walked towards the doorway she had come in through earlier.
Judy suddenly remembered why she was there in the first place.
"Yeah, uh, there may be a problem with that…"
He came to an abrupt halt as soon as she said that.
"And what might that problem be?" He asked, somewhat sarcastically.
She smiled nervously. "T-there was an accident a-and…" She said sheepishly, slightly fearful of how the human would react.
"And?" He said in the way mammals do when they want you to finish a sentence.
Judy took a deep breath in before she spoke. "The roof collapsed." She said bluntly.
"Well, why didn't you say so before?" Richard said with a chuckle. Judy however was confused and relieved. She decided not to say anything more when the larger of the two machines walked over to Richard, his heavy feet clanking the entire way.
"We're both lucky that this MU is here, or we'd all be stuck." He paused briefly to turn towards the machine next to him. "Are your drills still functional?" The large red light turned green briefly before going back to its orange hue.
"Good, I need you to go dig us out of here, can you do that?" he asked. The light flicked green again in response. The flat tips of the machines fingers folded outwards until they were flat against the sides. In their place, a small drill head pushed themselves into position.
The machine then began to walk off down the dark hallway and into the dusty room Judy had been in before, followed closely by herself, Richard and the small tracked robot. They all moved back as the hulking figure got to work drilling the large pile of concrete, metal supports and other assorted debris.
"Why does he have drills in his fingers?" Judy asked over the roar of spinning drill blades and flying detritus hitting the cold walls.
"It has drills because when you work in an underground subway, you're going to have to dig something out at some point." He said blandly, his stressing of 'It' off-putting Judy.
They stood in silence, or the closest thing they could get to it when there's an advanced AI machine drilling it's way through a collapsed ceiling about five feet in-front of you. Then, the machine jerked forwards slightly, and stepped back, revealing a breach in the makeshift wall. It raised the paw with the drills before driving it into the top part of the wall, before retracing the paw and kicking the lower section, both disintegrating into tiny fragments upon impact.
Judy ran forwards into the freshly revealed artificial light, and towards a very frightened looking red fox standing a little ways back from the mess the MU had made.
"Nick!" Judy half cried, half squealed as she jumped onto the stunned predator.
"Judy? I thought you were dead!" Nick returned her tone, but with a heavy dose of shock thrown in for good measure. They hugged each other tightly before Nick remembered exactly what he had just seen.
"Soo, Carrots… who's your new friend?" He questioned, looking up at the behemoth who had taken a few steps forwards, its mechanical gaze fixed on Nick.
Another voice answered the question, one coming from behind the MU.
"It is a Maintenance Unit." The voice's owner stepped into view, and the sight of it caused Nick's eyes to widen to an extent he didn't think was possible.
It was a human.
But not just any human; it was Richard.
Nick chuckled nervously before talking.
"Carrots, is that a-"
"Yep!"
"And it's, uhh, alive?" Richard put to fingers to his wrist where he waited for a few seconds.
"I think so, can't be sure." He said, the sarcasm almost physically visible.
"So, uh, how did you, y'know, uh, survive?"
"Smooth." He chuckled at the fox's nervousness.
They were interrupted by the small tracked vehicle bumped into the back of Richard's leg, emitting a small beeping sound as it did so. It was then that a sharp pain ripped through Richard's abdomen. He looked at the bandages he had wrapped around his wound a while ago, and he saw a red patch that was slowly spreading outwards from his wound.
He suddenly felt weak, and would've collapsed if the MU hadn't caught him, wrapping his arm around the machines shoulder. Nick and Judy noticed the spreading patch of fresh blood as Nick radioed for an ambulance while Judy guided the machine throughout the large tunnel. The machine pushed the large metal door open and continued towards the exit, the little tracked robot trundling along faithfully behind the two slightly hysterical animals.
The rest of the team had departed with the captured convicts, but promised Nick to return with drilling equipment after he told them what happened. As they ascended the steps of the subway, the human and the machine were exposed to natural sunlight for the first time in one thousand years.
As they reached passed through the exit, the bystanders gasped with shock and horror at the well-known, thought-extinct super species.
And Man and Machine stood shoulder to shoulder as they entered a new and strange, but familiar world.
One that had moved on without either of them.