Stephanie felt her body floating from the solid ground as a strange, warm glow washed over her. As she began to awaken, her vision was blurry when she opened her eyes before clearing up after the second blink. She blinks a few times before pushing herself up from the ground, her body feeling strangely lighter. Stephanie shook her head and patted her chest to ensure nothing happened to her, but she perked up when she noticed the ground was translucent and the injury on her chest was gone.
Stephanie quickly jerked her head up from staring at the ground, only to realize there was no ground beneath her. She looked around and saw she was in a gigantic black room, like outer space, but without stars or planets. The air in the dark room was heavy, and Stephanie felt as if she were submerged, her arms moving through an unseen liquid enveloping her from all sides, almost like she was swimming underwater.
She was able to breathe perfectly and didn't feel suffocated from the liquid filling her lungs—although she wasn't sure that she had lungs in the first place. When she looked up towards the sky, Stephanie perked up when she noticed millions of pieces of technology floating around the area with her, including TVs, speakers, keyboards, and other devices.
" Wh-where am I?" Stephanie stammered, her voice echoing through the darkness as she looked away from the sky. " This doesn't look like heaven or hell."
She looked around the black room to check for anyone or anything before shivering from the cold air blowing past her. The cold air made her curl her limbs close to her body, causing her to shiver, although she didn't develop goosebumps. Stephanie was naked, but thankfully, her gender wasn't revealed. Yet she wasn't sure how she could feel cold inside the unknown place she was inside.
" It's so cold around here." Stephanie shivered, seeing no puffs of condensation coming from her mouth. " Why is it so cold?"
Stephanie looked back at the sky, watching the technology floating around and occasionally bumping into each other. She looked down from the sky and out into the distance but saw no one around. She squinted to see if anyone was in the distance, but none was. Stephanie realized there was no one nearby that Stephanie could call for help. She uncurled her limbs from her body and covered her mouth with her hands, calling out, " ¿Hola? Is anyone around here?"
There was no response to Stephanie's question. She cleared her throat and called as loudly as she could, " ¡¿Hola?! Is there anyone here? Please answer my call!"
Stephanie received no response to her question, so she lowered her hands from cupping around her mouth. Only the eerie silence filled the air. There were no heartbeats or breathing, just utter silence. Stephanie shivered again from the cold and wrapped her arms tightly around herself, trying to fend off the strange chill in the pitch-black room.
Everything feels too cold, too silent, and too otherworldly. Stephanie began to curl her body close to her body to keep her body warm when a faint light blue glow in the distance caught her attention as she uncurled. She turned towards what glowed and saw the same faint, light blue glow blinking slowly.
" What's that?" Stephanie whispered, turning toward the blue light source. She covered her mouth and called out, " ¿Hola? Who's down there?"
There was no response to her question. She gazed at the slowly blinking faint light blue glow, curious about its source. Could it be someone or something? Could it be a gateway somewhere, or could it be someone familiar? A feeling of confusion, curiosity, and a captivating aura enveloped Stephanie as she gazed at the light. It was calling for her in a strange, unexplained way.
Stephanie moved her arm forward and started swimming towards the faint light blue glow, her long hazelnut hair flicking in the breathable 'liquid' as she approached the light. As she swam, feelings of doubt started to resurface in her mind as she pondered the possibility of being accidentally sent to a dangerous place like hell.
" Just keep swimming, Stephanie," Stephanie sighed, speaking to herself to fill in the eerie silence through the strange room. " Keep moving until you see something that might get you out of this pitch-black room." She paused, looking at the surroundings thoughtfully. Everything was so empty around her. " At least, I think it's just a vast room."
Stephanie returned to swimming toward the faint blue light but stopped when she noticed it resembled almost a gate. The ring was adorned with symbols and appeared imposing from the opposite side of the entrance. The interior was not black; instead, it was a deeper shade of blue filled with numerous stars.
" What's that?" Stephanie mused aloud, her approach slowing as curiosity warred with caution before stopping in front of the gateway. " That doesn't look like a gateway," she said, shaking her head. She scolded herself for talking to no one. " Maldita sea, Stephanie, you're speaking to yourself again."
Stephanie was staring at the gateway when she felt the current start to pick up, almost as if the gateway was sucking everything in. She began to panic and turned around, frantically swimming to get away from the gateway because it felt like it was trying to suck her into it. She continued swimming as fast as she could, moving further and further away from the gateway until she noticed something heading toward her.
A startled yelp escaped her when all the technology floating in the sky slammed against her like a car at a hundred miles per hour. She ceased swimming and recoiled in pain as they collided with her. This fatal error caused her to be pulled backward, leading to her screaming in terror as she fled the dark room and entered the second one.
When Stephanie entered the night sky-themed room, the gate automatically closed, sealing her inside. The room was much brighter as she was surrounded by technology, almost closing in on her as she frantically pushed away the technology from her, getting wires entangled around her limbs and body. Stephanie was shocked by a sudden electrical spark that zapped her and made her scream in agony as she began to melt into a liquid, and the technology started melting along with her.
The unstable gravity pushed Stephanie's body skyward, her frightened cry resonating through the atmosphere as she desperately clawed for something firm to cling to. But her body soon became a liquid, and she disappeared into the sky with the other stars.
Something shining in a room flickered. It cast eerie shadows across the walls as something or someone quickly rose from a surface, moved forward, and then attempted to stand. However, they wobbled and collapsed with a metallic and hard thunk against the ground. The faint light revealed only the nearby area, like a struggling flashlight in overwhelming darkness.
Meanwhile, Stephanie was startled when she slipped off a ledge, landing roughly on the ground front-first, causing her to slam against the ground. It was one huge wake-up call for Stephanie. Owwwww! Stephanie groaned, feeling the sharp pain as she hit the ground. She pushed herself up, muttering, Oh, Santa Mierda, that's going to leave a mark!
Stephanie perked up after noticing the pain and felt relieved when she realized that she could still feel pain. She patted herself down, her hands encountering unfamiliar hard surfaces on her body, but she didn't notice because she was relieved. I… I'm alive. I'm not melted down or permanently gone! ¡Oh, gracias a Dios!
A metallic clang echoed in the small room as she slapped her hand against the side of her head. Her eyes widened upon hearing the sound, and she noticed a strange sensation of coldness against her cheek, which felt smooth. What was that? She slapped her hand against her temple again, hearing the same metallic clanking sound.
Stephanie looked down at her hands, confused, but she couldn't see what they were as it was dark inside the room she woke up in. She noticed something glowing in an azure color, but the flashlight kept blinking whenever she blinked. As she shook her head and moved her hands down, she looked around in the darkness and let out a deep groan.
Again, with the dark rooms? I swear if my neighbor switched off my lights using the fuse box when I passed out, I'm going to—Her thoughts were interrupted as she stood up, feeling as if her body had become heavier. She staggered, catching herself on what felt like a counter, gripping its corners tightly. Does my body feel much heavier than before?
Stephanie rose from her drooping position, looking for a light switch or a mirror. Her steps were accompanied by rattling and wheezing metal sounds, filling the air with doubt. She nervously chuckled, lifting her hands to eye level to feel her way through the darkness. Okay, calm down, Stephanie. You're just jittery from that messed-up dream—no more Jamaican coffee.
As she continued forward, she noticed that her joints felt somewhat stiffer than before, and a buzzing sound echoed through her mind. Her movements caused a clatter as she bumped into something on wheels, causing objects on top of it to scatter around. Each collision sent tools rattling to the floor. Her hands explored blindly, finding screwdrivers, wrenches, pliers, bolt cutters, and an assortment of screws and bolts. This didn't feel like any hospital she knew. Why would doctors have taken her to a garage?
Either that, or they're trying to turn me into an Inspector Gadget. Stephanie joked lightly, trying to keep the mood light despite her growing apprehension. She sidestepped what she had bumped into, pausing as the tip of her foot brushed against a wire.
She lifted her foot carefully, stepping over the wire with caution. She moved her hands outward and touched something solid. The glowing light showed what looked like a metallic wall, and she nodded, thinking, Okay, good. I reached the wall. Stephanie ran her hands across the wall, noticing that she didn't feel the texture, which made her feel more uneasy.
However, she ignored the strange difference and ran her hands over the wall, searching for something. Her pinky brushed over something solid, and Stephanie perked up. She lifted her hand from where she stopped and glanced over. The glow from somewhere revealed a light switch on the wall near her hand.
Perfect! Stephanie reached for the light switch and flipped it on, illuminating the room. As she looked into a large mirror, she was shocked to see a robot staring back at her. She let out a scream, but instead of a girlish shriek, she made a different, almost male-like sound as the sound escaped from the robot's open jaws.
The robot imitated Stephanie's movements as she quickly backed away from the mirror. Stephanie tripped over a thick wire on the ground and landed with a crash. Stephanie stared at the mirror, frantically looking up and down at the robot, which was staring back at her in the reflection and mirroring her body position.
The robot seemed too uncanny to be human but too mechanical to be an android. It was wearing a yellow hard hat, goggles glowing an azure color, which had now changed to purple, and plating covering the rest of its body, resembling overalls. It also had a painted yellow color on its right hand, making it look like a 'glove,' knee pads, and feet.
When Stephanie looked down at her body, she expected to see her human form, but she was shocked to know she was a robot. Panic filled her mind as she patted herself, feeling the metal and hearing the clanking sounds. She tried to remove the plating attached to her skin or something like armor, but they wouldn't come off. The sputtering sounds grew louder as she struggled, drawing her attention to their source.
Stephanie didn't just glance over her shoulder—her head did a complete 360-degree spin, causing her to scream with the recorded male voice. She panicked and tried to stop her head from spinning, missing a few times and becoming dizzy from the room around her blurring.
Thankfully, Stephanie caught her head in her hands, and her spinning vision slowed down after she had taken a minute to sit. Looking down at her hands, she saw her five fingers and palms, realizing with dread that she was in a robot's body. Her hands shook uncontrollably as the truth sank inside of her mind. She was stuck inside of a robot's body.
" What dumb son of a bitch cast that?!" Stephanie tried to say, "What the hell happened to me?!" but instead blurted out a different voice recording that wasn't hers. Stephanie instantly grabbed her neck, letting out a robotic gasp as she realized that she was speaking in someone else's recorded voice and that her body appeared male.
OH FUCK NO! Stephanie exclaimed, shakily trying to stand up, turning away from the mirror. Her feet kept shaking and wobbling under her weight as if she were wearing permanent knight armor. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no! This can't be happening! This has to be a nightmare—a FUCKING nightmare!
She scrambled towards the nearest wall, tripping over her feet and grabbing it with her hands. She slammed her head against it, thinking and internally chanting, WAKE UP! WAKE UP! The wall slowly became dented with each smack of her head until Stephanie suddenly went through the metal wall, causing her to shriek in startlement and slam against the ground with a metallic clatter.
She let out a metallic groan of pain and hoisted herself up from the ground. Her expression brightened as she spotted a small group of robots. They were all gazing at her, each holding different items. Their electronic eyes were locked on her, tools and gadgets in hand. Stephanie yelped, then quickly retreated through the hole to the room she had exited from, her mind racing as if she were the Kool-Aid Man.
Nope! Nuh-uh! This isn't a nightmare. She paused as she stood there momentarily before grabbing her head with her hands. I'M SO FUCKED! I CAN'T BE A ROBOT FOREVER! I HAVE A FUTURE AHEAD OF ME! WHY DID I DIE AT A YOUNG AGE IN THE HANDS OF A STRANGER AFTER EXPERIENCING A HEART ATTACK?!
She paused, remembering she was thirty-four. I'm thirty-four… and, oh my god, I died a virgin! She clutched her head more, tossing her head back as a recorded voice of a growl-slash-groan escaped from the parted jaws. FUCK, I'M A VIRGIN! I DIED AS A FUCKING VIRGIN!
" Herr Engineer?" Stephanie flinched when she heard a robotic voice. She watched a robot with a single-axle wheel enter the room. It had its arms behind its back, giving off the air of being an authority and focused on work like a doctor.
The robot resembled a medic, wearing a doctor's coat, gloves, glasses, and a symbol. It also had a pack with a nozzle and looked quite human. However, Stephanie noticed that the robot's hand was unusual, with two fingers—the first, thumb and middle fingers were separate, while the ring and pinky fingers were combined.
The medic soon stopped in front of Stephanie, who towered slightly taller than the medic, although much taller if compared to the real Stephanie. The medic asked again, cocking its head to the side, " Herr Engineer, are you functioning optimally? You seem to have encountered a significant malfunction."
It pointed towards the collapsed wall behind it as the robots examined the damage. If Stephanie were human, her face would have turned bright pink, but instead, her vision and optics were a deep shade of pink. The medical robot responded, approaching Stephanie closer with a hand removed from behind its back, " Please allow me to assist."
Stephanie began sweating nervously when the medic robot wheeled closer. She lifted her hands protectively and tried to stammer, "Oh, no thanks, I'm doing okay." However, the voice recorded by the robot's engineering program responded with a simple " Yeah!" Stephanie mentally facepalmed at the realization of the recorded voice programmed into the robot's body.
" Affirmative," the medic robot nodded and started exploring Stephanie's body, looking at her eyes, arms, legs, and back. " Initiating routine inspection." Stephanie kept stiffening every time but didn't push the medic robot away, not wanting to get into further trouble than she was already in. The way the metallic hands were patting against her body felt like they were patting the armor she was wearing. Strangely, she did feel the cold hands, which puzzled her from the 'feeling.'
The medic robot continued wheeling around Stephanie, nodding as it looked at her body before pausing when it noticed something. Stephanie began to sweat more nervously after noticing it paused, thinking it had seen something off her. The medic robot leaned down slightly towards her chest, asking as it tapped on something open. Much to her surprise and uncomfortable squirm, she felt its finger poke through her chest.
" Anomaly detected. Your chassis integrity is compromised. How did this panel come to be open? It is highly irregular." The medic robot mentioned while looking at the opening in her chest. The robot's voice had a faint, confused tone.
"Oh, that's normal!" Stephanie wanted to say it but didn't have a choice because of the recorded voice, so she wisely chose to be silent. The medic robot leaned down, looking at what was lodged within the chest as Stephanie stiffened. If she had her toes, they would have been scrunched up from how weird it felt with the metallic fingers poking through her body. The medic robot responded, " This requires immediate correction. Please remain still while I initiate the necessary adjustments."
Stephanie wanted to take a step back, but her entire metallic body stiffened when the medic robot placed its fingers around something wedged into her body. Half of her wanted to grab the medic robot's arm and yank back, which meant it could have accidentally pulled out what its fingers were around.
The medic robot nodded before pushing what was lodged in her chest, causing her to feel a shudder go down her spine as something clicked, causing her to make a metallic " Grk!" sound as the medic robot pulled its hand away, watching the platings covered where it pushed something within its body.
" Diagnostic complete," the medic robot nodded. " The anomaly in your chassis was due to a dislocation of critical hardware." Stephanie listened to the medic robot as it continued explaining to her. She was cautiously patting where the feeling was coming from, feeling very uncomfortable from the whole ordeal. " It appears that your power unit—or what you might call a 'battery'—is misaligned, likely due to physical impact. This misalignment could have been causing erratic system behavior."
Stephanie mentally felt her face make a somewhat nervous expression as she removed her hand from where the weird feeling was, still feeling a slight lingering sensation from it. The medic robot lifted a finger, continuing, " Such dislocations can result in suboptimal performance and unpredictable behavior. It's advisable to avoid strenuous activity that could exacerbate the condition."
" Thanks, Doc," the male voice recording thanked. Stephanie looked back at the wall, noticing the same robots who looked like the new body were fixing that hole in the room's wall. Suddenly, the door opened, causing Stephanie to flinch.
The sudden sound of the door slamming open catches the medic robot's attention, and the two glanced over, watching as a robot of a soldier stormed into the room and pointed toward Stephanie, shouting, " Engineer! You are required to be on the front line immediately. We are operating below optimal efficiency with a deficit of Engineer units. Follow me—now!"
¡¿Qué?! Stephanie exclaimed but didn't say it out loud because of her inability to speak with her own words. However, the medic robot noticed the color of the optics shifting to a deeper purple color. The soldier robot stormed close to Stephanie, grabbed her wrist in its hand, quickly turned on its heel and walked off, and Stephanie followed behind by being dragged.
The medic robot cocked its head to the side after noticing the engineer robot's optics had turned purple. It knew it wasn't the same color as the other robots, as their LED eyes were a cybernetic blue color, yet it watched the engineer robot's optics turn a different color.
It heard a sound of pain and instantly turned towards the sound, wheeling towards the first robot, who shouted " Medic!" and went to find the injured robot patient. Meanwhile, if Stephanie had a heart, it would've been pounding loudly against her chest, but she heard nothing but the sputtering sounds of the machine on her back, which was what was causing the weird sounds she kept hearing.
While walking through the hallway, Stephanie noticed she was inside what looked like a gray base filled with different robots of all sizes, from average human height to gigantic—towering around fifteen feet tall. The sounds of machines building robots echoed through the massive building, and voice commands from different robots shouted towards each other, helping to create these gigantic machines.
Even tanks and multiple bombs were being built for war, as they were loaded into the tanks or strapped onto the back of one of the robots. Stephanie wanted to stop following the soldier robot, not wanting to die a third time. But she immediately stopped what she planned to do after seeing what looked like a smashed skinny robot in a wheelbarrow being wheeled away into a scrapping room by a robot resembling a janitor.
If I showed any sign of sentience, I'd be scrapped into nothing like that robot. Stephanie nervously thought, glancing around as she followed the stomping soldier robot. I am really in a rock and a hard place.
Stephanie soon arrived in what looked like a gigantic garage, the soldier robot dragging Stephanie by the arm as they approached an army. Multiple robots stood around, several being handed weapons and others teaming up to be protected from the battle. Stephanie mentally gritted her teeth with nervousness as she went into her spot before perking up when the same soldier robot handed her a shotgun and a single wrench.
What the fuck do I do with a fucking wrench?! Stephanie exclaimed, staring at the wrench in her hand. Why can't I get big guns like those guys?! She exaggerated by thrusting her hand towards the bald, gigantic robots holding what looked like mini-guns.
Then, Stephanie was handed a toolbox in her hands from an engineer robot modeled like her but having four fingers instead of five, causing her to grunt as she adjusted her hands to hold the toolbox more easily after putting the shotgun and wrench away, confused that she was now handed a toolbox. She inwardly groaned as she faced forward, Fuck my life.
An alarm blared through the air, and Stephanie flinched from the sound, instantly turning on her heel to face the garage door, watching it slowly rise down and showing what looked like two bases with a group of humans standing in front, each of them wielding weapons in their hands. Stephanie gripped the toolbox in her hands as a single word went through her mind like a racing car on a track: Fuck.
An old woman spoke through the speakers, saying, " Five. Four. Three. Two. One. Begin!" Every robot stormed out of the garage, and Stephanie was pushed along, following the other robots without having a chance of slowing down. Chaos filled the air as Stephanie kept ducking from the sounds of robots dying and missiles being launched back and forth, even dodging several attacks from someone very fast.
It was all too chaotic for her, and she kept getting lost with who to follow and had to avoid the humans because of her newfound appearance. She clutched the toolbox and yelped when a missile nearly hit her, but avoided it just in time and kept moving forward, trying to figure out where she could stay for the moment.
Luckily, she saw a familiar group of engineer robots heading in that direction and quickly followed them. The speakers suddenly crackled with life, and a voice shouted, " An Engineer-bot has appeared! Destroy it before it builds a teleporter!"
Shit, that includes me! Stephanie thought, quickly running away from the battlefield and following the other robots called Engineer-bots. She dropped the toolbox down and glanced at the other Engineer-bots quickly, seeing they were smacking the toolboxes with their wrenches, building different things as they called, " Sentry goin' up!" " Teleporter goin' up!" and " Dispenser goin' up!"
Stephanie watched as she built what looked like a teleporter, thwacking it with her wrench. Soon, robots started swarming the bases like a bunch of hornets. Stephanie looked back and forth between the marching robots and the fighting humans firing their weapons toward the hoard, feeling torn about what she was doing without signs of slowing down. She is human, isn't she? Why is she fighting against her kind while fighting with robots she could have fought against?
A sudden sound of something being fired caught Stephanie's ears, and she glanced over from where she was as the other Engineer-bots were distracted with what they were doing, building more teleporters. She watched a human soldier aim a rocket launcher at them before firing three or four of them toward the group of huddled Engineer-bots. Stephanie flinched and exclaimed, pointing towards the incoming rocket, " INCOMING!"
Her shout caught the other Engineer-bots, who all perked and glanced over, seeing the closing-in missiles, and they quickly scrambled away, and Stephanie followed them. The rockets hit the group, destroying all the Engineer-bots, dispensers, sentries, and teleporters but tossing her away from the nest, launching through the air like she was shot out from the Pumpkin Chunkin' launching machine.
FFFFFUUUUUCCCCCKKKKK! Stephanie shrieked before colliding with the ground, landing with a hard metallic clatter before sliding across the ground. She dug her fingers into the ground before yelping when she went over a ledge, dangling in the air over a half-completed wooden bridge. Oh, fuck!
Stephanie quickly shoved her wrench into her belt's pouch and tried grabbing the bridge with her dangling hand. But her metallic fingers kept slipping over the ledge, causing her to shriek, and she felt the other one beginning to slip because of her heavy weight. Her fingers dug deeply into the wooden boards, the wood cracking from her weight and bending out of form.
I regret having an Engineer-bot for a body! Stephanie exclaimed, struggling to pull herself up from over the ledge. The Engineer's voice recording exclaimed, " Damnit, damnit, damnit, damnit!" She glanced at the other robots and called, using the Engineer's recorded voice, " Help!" " Help me!" and " I need some doggone help!"
But none of the robots came over to help her as she shrieked towards them for help. One of the robots stopped for a moment, and Stephanie called for it, but it walked away from Stephanie without turning in her direction. She groaned with frustration after watching none of the robots heading in her direction.
COME OVER HERE AND HELP ME, YOU METALLIC DUMBASSES! Stephanie roared with anger as she huffed. Stephanie yelped when her fingers slipped the second time, clutching tightly against the wooden board as the battle continued without anyone coming over to help her. She looked down towards the ground, searching for a way to land safely, but she perked up when she saw someone walk underneath where she was about to fall. She didn't see who they were as the angle she was at blurred her vision a little, primarily because of her lack of tilting her head in the right position to take a look.
Fuck, if he doesn't see me, I will accidentally fall on top of him and crush him! Stephanie exclaimed, looking back at her slipping fingers. She looked back and forth at the slipping fingers to the stranger below where she was, so she called, speaking towards the stranger as she cupped a hand over her mouth, " INCOMING!" Her hand slipped, causing her to freefall towards the ground.
Luckily, her shout caught the person who was standing directly at the spot where she was, and they ran off just at the right moment, as the Engineer robot, Stephanie, landed on the ground, landing ass first with a loud metallic clatter sound.
Stephanie stiffened when it happened and breathed a huge metallic hiss of pain as she mentally screamed, OOOOOOWWWWW! FUCK! Stephanie perked when she heard explosions and glanced up at where she had fallen from, seeing explosions happening from where she was. That's it! I'm out of here! Stephanie scooped up her dropped wrench from the ground, shoved it into her belt's pouch, and pushed herself up.
But an explosion caused her to wobble before falling directly on her ass—a weird feeling poked where her stomach would be from within the chassis, causing Stephanie to emit the same weird metallic " Grk!" sound before it disappeared.
She pushed that to the side as she scrambled back up to her feet, flinching when she heard a second explosion and watched rocks fall toward where she was. Stephanie shrieked in fear after seeing rocks fall toward her and ran towards the woods as fast as she could as the stones fell.
The rocks landed on the ground and missed Stephanie as she left the perimeter, dodging the incoming attacks and the tossing of items. She didn't slow down or stop to glance over her shoulder, heading towards the forest as fast as she could. Despite having a different body or being slow because of her 'chubby' appearance, Stephanie managed to enter the forest and run until she was deep within the forest. There was no going back to the war.