175-7271-D3X
Dust swept across the old desert slowly burying the remnants of past battles. Jutting out from below the sand were the broken hulls of forgotten war machines. Winds whipped sand and buffeted steel, pitting surfaces until little could be identified. The twisted wrecks were now places for small creatures to scuttle and hide.
High above, a geostationary platform hung silently, ageing power cells leaking what little energy they had left into systems that once monitored the planet below. In the stillness of the observation chamber sat cold consoles. Droplets of frozen liquid oxygen hung, glistening in the air. Screen dimly glowing in the half light, a simple word burnt into its glass.
---- RESTART? ----
Vibrations rang through the platform as stabilisers ground to a halt, fatigued metal groaned under the relentless draw of gravity, the platform could hold its orbit no longer and began to fall toward the surface. Waves of heat streaming from the lower decks of the dagger shaped behemoth began to cause panels to warp and peel.
Parts of the platform came crashing through gaping holes in the observation chamber left by weapons fire years before. For a moment liquid oxygen rains in the chamber, pooling as it rapidly unfroze, splashing controls and simmering before quickly boiling away in the heat.
More panels tore off from all over platform, glass from the visual screens melting under the intense conditions. Fire suppression units burst into life in a final attempt to stop the platform burning but it was far too late for them to be effective.
Deep in platforms core, a fail safe device activated sending signal to the only remaining console, its screen flashed as pages of commands flicked by.
---- Restart Initiated ----
On the surface several small creatures scuttled out from the hollows of long dead machines and looked into the sky as silence gave way to the sound of screaming metal. The orbital platform slowly crashed through the atmosphere, pieces stripping away and igniting in wake of its fiery tail.
Nearby a patch of sand fluttered, a single antenna rose from the desert floor with a green light pulsing from its tip. A metal cylinder was now exposed with a small round window on its surface. Behind the glass of the window, an iris opened and closed, white light illuminated loose sand in rhythmic time.
The machine righted itself and stood up, it was slightly taller than an average human, built with heavy, yet compact, construction that ensured that it would out last battles and the harsh conditions on multiple worlds.
An exposed panel from its torso contained a small display which streamed information:
Activation Sequence Initiated
## Seeking Ident Authentication... Serial No: 175-7271-D3X
=== Runtime operation checks ===
Core --- OK
Inertia --- OK
Gyroscopic Matrix --- OK
Optics --- OK
Peripherals --- FAILED --- LEFT ARMATURE DAMAGED.
=== Operation checks failed ===
The platform above finally gave way and exploded violently, darkening the sky for a few seconds. White hot shards of steel peppered the area, the creatures scuttled back to safety.
The machine stood silent, a faint clicking emitted from its torso as servo tests were completed. Finally its arms and legs grew slack as it adjusted for the local gravity. It brought its left arm up to its head, the entire forearm had been torn from its elbow during the battle. All that remained were the decaying remnants of ribbon cables and fluid tubes that sprouted from the arm hanging like the tendrils of a jellyfish.
The green light of its antenna switched to blue and pulsed rapidly, the machine began to scan for transmissions, widening its scan slowly.
Nothing... it was alone on a desolate battle scarred planet, damaged... and alone.
Nearby an upturned transport sat buried up to the cockpit, the machine checked for movement behind the still intact forward screen. A creeping desert vine had long ago invaded the vehicle, sprouting spindly limbs that criss-crossed the interior. Desiccated remains of the plant now serving as a protection for some shelled mammals that huddled in the cool, dark corner of the abandoned vehicle.
In the reflective forward screens the machine could see itself standing in the harsh desert light, bent into impossible shapes by the curvature of the its near mirror surface. Stamped on its leg in stark white was its serial number, reflected back onto the sand.
“I am D3X” the machine said aloud.
Taking a few steps forward, D3X identified a sufficient part to replace its left arm, still attached to the motionless operator still mounted in the driver’s seat. D3X reached out and with quick motion shattered the screen of the transport sending glass flying into the air and animals scurrying into the vent work. It climbed partially into the cockpit, its right hand ratcheting the arm of its fallen comrade until the arm came away from its body. Severing damaged cables, D3X took to replacing its left arm.
Several hours passed, the violet star that the planet orbited grew fainter on the horizon. Shimmering light peeked through clouds as it changed from purple to blue then finally to black as it fell beyond the crest of distant rises. The light that shone down from the heavenly body died away, only the stars of other worlds pinpricked against the sky. The sands were black and cold as the heat of day gave way to the chill of night. To conserve energy D3X sat down, resting its servos and gears. D3X flexed its new arm, not fully functional but good enough for now.
Scanning for transmissions again, D3X’s sensors noticed a drop in temperature as dark clouds gathered silently overhead, thunder rumbling across the sky. Great arcs of lightning rained down over the desert, touching the tips of skyward metal left from the onslaught of years past. As each strike caressed the steel and sand, the contorted machines began to illuminate, lights that ached with delight drew brighter with the kiss of renewed energy. Capacitors filled with each wave of energy till they could hold no more.
A few of the fallen machines sparked to life, wheels and limbs began to crudely animate. In the half-light cast from ancient systems and the tempest above a ghastly marionette show was performed unaided, shadows leaping across the black sands. D3X cried out, sending signal bursts at the animated automatons but no response was given, no reply had come.
D3X stood up, sand draining away from its chassis where it welled in grooves as it sat. A great arc of energy hit D3X throwing it several meters backwards from where it was standing. Lying motionless, hardware began to replay the events that resulted in this desert graveyard. Visual systems hummed as overlaid images of battles danced using the night as a backdrop. D3X remembered being deployed to the surface, the first memory of a command to activate and seconds later following other units just the same walking from a pod after planet-fall.
D3X remembered bolts of high-energy plasma flying to and fro, the battle raging on all around the unit of fresh new troops. Then came the particle attacks, waves of highly charged sand were fired at the machines, any caught in its path would overload and die. D3X hid with others of the same unit behind the pod they’d all just arrived in. Once the attacks stopped they gathered and strode out into the battlefield. D3X remembers the enemy, they were humanoid, an evolved offshoot. Slightly taller than average with spindly arms and legs and long torsos. The enemy were coated in a thick grey warpaint to blend in with the iron rich sands of the desert, even their armour was the same colour making it hard to identify their bodies as they ran screaming toward D3X’s unit.
D3X also remembered their blood, it was red but much lighter than human blood and when viewed through visual filters it glowed bright, fluorescent pink. It didn’t take long for the robots to adapt to the painted camouflage. Several of the mortar shots were all that was needed to illuminate the screaming hoards coming toward them as the iridescent blood of their compatriots streamed across their bodies. Soon the battlefield was again quiet.
Several days this continued, each time the enemy would try different tactics, sending in their own inferior machine warriors which proved ineffective. Slowly one by one D3X noticed the other robots go offline, the area network became silent in the desert. D3X stood guard over the fallen for thirty days, nothing stirred save the sands beneath broken machines. The platform above gave a final signal, the war was over... nothing more to fight... shutdown imminent in three... two...
A flash of light over the nearest dune brought D3X back to focus, sitting up it quickly scanning the horizon and nearby surrounds switching through different visual modes and filters. Was this the enemy come back to fight? Were they poised to attack?
An explosion sounded and fired hot metal into the sky, whistling as they rapidly cooled in the cold night air. D3X climbed the dune, expecting the worst. It could see one of the fallen machines had been struck by lightning, igniting its plasma cells sending them into critical failure. By the flickering light several creatures crawled out and huddled around the radiant heat provided by the burning wreck. D3X could read on the side of the machine, “D1X” it said to the small gathering.
“Brother Unit” D3X said. D1X had been the first off the factory line after D3X, to instil a sense of belonging in the robots each unit would copy its operating system and files to the next, and the next until an entire batch was prepared ready for operation. “Brother Unit... deactivated... I was deactivated...”. D3X raised its head to the sky and cried out, pulsing waves of sub-sonic frequencies spilling data to the heavens.