Discovery 3.5

(Horror)

The not-Robot in front of Horror stood frozen as the question it asked him reverberated around the metal hull of the flying machine. The humans beside him was still as well, but Horror noticed sparks dancing in their eyes. The dark brown eyes the humans had a few seconds ago were pulsing with blue energy, and Horror was reminded of something Robot used to do as he thought.

~Red eye turning rapidly, eventually moving fast enough to produce the pulsing image of a rotating circle. The still form of his friend, Robot, was worrying. Robot didn't like staying still, because it reminded him of the bad times. What could he possibly be doing?

"He's thinking, Horror." Steroids smiled down at it as Horror poked its paw at Robot "Robot is different from the rest of us. He thinks much more quickly than even you, because he is a computer. If he's pausing for this long, that means he's calculating something really important."

"How does Robot think?"

"I… Well…" Steroids rubbed the back of his head. "I'm ashamed to say I don't know. I didn't work with programming. I was a physicist!" He was holding his head up proudly now.

What was a physicist? "Physicist?"

"Ah, right. Those don't really… exist… anymore." He put his paw… (Hand, Steroids called his paw a hand) up to his face and scratched at his chin "How do I… hmm… I guess I can explain a physicist as someone who studies the universe and everything in it?" Steroids nodded as Horror watched with mild confusion "Yeah… that works. But I wasn't just a physicist, I was a nuclear physicist!" The pride was back.

"What does this have to do with Robot thinking?" Was Steroids monologuing? He told Horror to stop him if it happened again.

"I'm getting there, Horror, just hold on." Steroids was patting its head, causing the radiation flames to dance across his hand. "See, before the end of civilization, there weren't any beings like you…" Oh no, a speech about the past. Those took forever, and always were about the old days, with flying machines, and iced cream and things like that.

They never made any sense.

"Oh, don't look at me like that, Horror. You know my stories are interesting." Steroids sighed as Horror ginned toothily at him "Alright, I'll cut to the chase. Sentient beings like you and Robot were things of stories, so the only examples of thinking beings were us humans."

Horror nodded along. Horror knew it was unique, but it didn't expect the past to have nothing like Robot.

"Even on the eve of the apocalypse we didn't truly understand the human mind. How it works, how it remembers…" Steroids faded off, looking deeply into where Horror saw from. "And I guess no one ever will, now."

Horror patted its paw on Steroids leg in sympathy. Even it knew survival was unlikely, no matter how invincible it felt sometimes.

"Unless we find the Throne…" Horror started, grinning slightly as a smirk grew on its friend's face.

"…Nothing will be safe ever again." Steroids finished with a smile. "That's why Robot's scanning the area for others, remember?"

"For help?"

"That's right buddy, we're looking for help to find the Throne." He coughed slightly into his hands "Right where was I?" He pondered for a second, then snapped his fingers. "I remember now. It was when I first met you, and you didn't try to kill me on sight, that I realized how little I knew about true sentience."

Steroids was moving his hands around again, as if swatting at something in the air. He always did things like this while talking.

"-you were alive, and you were intelligent. I swear you're smarter than me in some ways, with how quickly you remember things. And when we met Robot, I felt myself falling even further behind, because he thought so much faster than me, at least I thought he was, until it hit me."

Horror panicked. Was he hurt? Did he need fixing? Was he in pain?

It looked up at Steroids, who had on a face of amusement. "What are you doing, Horror?"

"You were hit! Where?"

"It's an idiom, Horror. I wasn't actually hit by anything physical." Ah. Idioms.

Idioms made no sense, even when Robot attempted to explain them.

What was a cat? And why did it want to steal Steroid's tongue? Ever since its two friends have tried to explain a 'cat' to it, Horror had been watching Steroid's back.

Horror would not let this 'cat' steal its friend's tongue, no matter what.

And don't even get it started on the phase 'back to the drawing board.'

You draw in the ground, not on boards.

Idiots, all of them (Not Steroids though, he's nice).

Well, they did destroy themselves in the end, so maybe it makes sense?

Steroids was still shaking his head as Horror checked one last time for any errant cats, then looked back up at his friend's face, which was currently being held by his hands.

What?

"Alright, Horror, can I continue?" At its nod, Steroids started again. "Right, so every thinking being I've ever met thinks in different ways. Someone I knew once before liked to inject their emotions into everything. You, on the other…" He stopped, then coughed and started over "Alternatively, learn many things quickly, but can't take a joke." Horror stuck out its paw to take one, but Steroids just laughed "See? That's what I mean. And Robot…"

"I have found six beings within 2000 kilometers, approximately in the same location." Robot interrupted while pointing off towards the setting sun.

"Ah, good. Shall we pay them a visit?" Steroids asked.

"Affirmative." Robot replied, his red eye blinking at the two across from him.

"I hope these people are nice!" Horror spoke up, causing Robot and Steroids to face it.

"What do you define as, nice, Horror?" Robot questioned him.

"Not trying to kill us when they first see us, of course!"

"That would be wonderful." Steroids mused as he started walking in the direction Robot indicated. "Maybe they'll even have some food."

Robot and Horror looked at each other, and faked a sigh.

Who needed food anymore, anyway?

The memory faded, and Horror had to wonder, again, where these memories came from.

They weren't Horror's ~Well, sorta…~ but it felt like it had experienced them itself. Not-Robot had reminded it of this fact earlier, but Horror still hadn't figured it out.

Maybe it never would.

Horror supposed that now wasn't the best time to wonder about the inner workings of its mind, and decided to wait for not-Robot and the humans to move again by plopping down and playing with the grass.

Horror didn't have to wait long, thankfully only a few seconds and blades of grass, before not-Robot spoke up, responding to his earlier question.

"I did see a campfire, yes. Do you know what it means?"

Means? It was a campfire, not a stupid idiom.

"It was a campfire. It makes you warm." ~It was the last thing I saw…~ "But it also was the second and last thing I saw."

"What do you mean?" Asked the second human, one without flesh bags on his front, who then clarified "Second and last? How is that possible?"

"I awoke to fighting. I heard the… How to say…" Horror turned its head to not-Robot and began speaking again in Trashtalk. "I heard sounds of combat. Explosions and roars and smashing. I opened my eyes to see beings I recognized as siblings trying to kill be, and I… fell asleep? Something of the sort. And then I saw the campfire, and recognized it too. And then I woke up, and knew things I didn't before."

Horror watched the two humans nodding, and grinned. They learned quickly, just like Robot and he did. Good.

"You said that was the second," The human with bags of flesh on the front questioned in English "but what was the last? Are you seeing it now?" ~They do not understand. It was the last thing I saw, not… me?~

Horror kept talking in Trashtalk "No, it was the last thing Horror saw, not me." At their confused faces, he clarified. "I am Horror, but not the same Horror. Horror did not have giant glowing monsters and flying humans, Horror had Steroids and Robot, and bandits. Horror is Horror, but I am Horror too." ~You are Horror. I am Horror. We are Horror.~

"A... second life?" the human without flesh bags asked in English "Did the first… Horror? Die to the campfire?" ~I am not weak. I would only accept death on my journey to the Throne.~

Horror shook its head. "Horror did not die. Horror is here, with me. No silly fire would defeat Horror. Only journey to the Nuclear Throne would provide enough challenge to kill Horror."

The not-Robot twitched, and looked towards it, rapidly speaking at it in Trashtalk. "The Nuclear Throne! Describe it, if you would."

Horror blinked. They knew of the Throne? But this was not-Robot, how did they know? ~Does the Throne live here too? But we don't need it if this world isn't ended.~

"Why would you know about the Nuclear Throne? You do not need it."

"Need it? What is it, exactly?" the human with flesh bags asked in English. "We heard it from 1103, and we believe it to be important." ~It is. It would end the apocalypse!~

"Throne is very important. Throne saves the world from the apocalypse." At their shocked faces it continued. "Horror's world was over. Throne was said to be able to restart it, or save it. But you have flying machines, you do not need it." The humans had turned towards each other with flashing eyes again, leaving Horror to return its attention to not-Robot, who was walking over to it. "What is wrong, not-Robot?"

"Horror's world was dead?"

"Yes?" Horror replied, confused "Did I not explain that?"

"What caused it to end?" not-Robot's voice was… cautious? That was the correct word, right? ~Right. He seems… scared, I believe.~

"Steroids said that he was only human that survived, because it was so fast. Big explosions that spread… ~radiation, but… odd radiation~ radiation, but not. It destroyed humans and left behind us! And Steroids, but he said he was kept in a tube for many years." Horror nodded and waited for the humans behind not-Robot to stop sparking. It did not want them to miss anything. That was polite!

Not-Robot seemed to understand as well, as he was shaking slightly while looking at the humans. Horror hoped he would stop soon, it was a waste of energy.

Was this what Steroids meant by people-watching? If so, it was entertaining watching their eyes spin like that. Horror could see the appeal.

"Um, Horror." The quiet voice of the human with flesh bags spoke towards him "Who is this Steroids you are talking about? Is he someone from… the old Horror's world?"

"Steroids is Horror's first friend!" Horror nodded and grinned at the humans and not-Robot "Steroids taught me Trashtalk and science and math and fighting. Steroids was friends with Robot too, but Robot always said he didn't understand friendship, so Steroids just said Robot needed to learn how to love, then started laughing."

"Did he…" He watched the flat human pull out a small piece of glass and hold it up towards him. "Did this Steroids happen to look like this?"

It was a picture of a massive human, like Steroids, but not. ~His body is Steroids, but his face has fur on it. Steroids came too!~

"It is not-Steroids." The humans frowned, but Horror continued "Steroids doesn't have fur on his face. Not-Steroids has the same body though."

"Do you think that Steroids is like Horror then? And Robot too? Do you think they're with Unit 1103 and Dr. Promer?" Who was Dr. Promer? They pointed at not-Robot when they said Unit 1103, so was not-Steroids named Dr. Promer? ~Not-Robot know Trashtalk, he has to have learned from someone.~

"Does Dr. Promer speak Trashtalk?"

"Maybe? We haven't asked him."

"Not-Robot speaks Trashtalk. So Robot taught him."

The two humans were sparking again, as was not-Robot.

Horror groaned and sat back down on the grass. Why did humans think so much? It was annoying how much these humans behaved like Robot, freezing when they thought.

As Horror waited for the humans and not-Horror to start talking again, he wondered about where he was.

This world Horror was in now… It was different from the world Horror used to be in. It was like Steroids used to describe the world before the apocalypse, with plants and flying machines…

Wait.

Did that mean there was iced cream? ~Really?~

Could he finally know of this mysterious object Steroids spoke of? ~We can?~

Steroids said it was the thing he missed most of the old world, and now… ~Oh boy.~

Now Horror had a chance to find it. ~Yes, yes, yes!~

Horror nodded his head to himself and Horror. Horror would find this iced cream, and he would discover its secrets. ~What was it? Was it a gun?~

This iced cream would be his. ~Hurry, go find it!~

Well, soon. ~Why wait?~

The humans and not-Robot were still frozen, so he had to wait. ~Do they know the way to iced cream?~

Yes, Horror would wait for their help.

Maybe if he found the iced cream he'd find not-Steroids. ~And Steroids too? Maybe he's awake…~

Would not-Robot remember then? ~I hope so.~

Horror couldn't wait to find out.