Chapter 4: Setting up the Goal

As three days had passed and I was fed up with basic knowledge of automatons, I closed the console and trudged back to the wrecked automaton.

"Yo," I said, raising a hand. "So, uh… I'm done reading that book about automaton."

"(Reply: You read faster than I predicted you would.)" *quick author note: remember that dialogues with brackets "()" symbolizes inner voice of a character*

"No, no. I haven't finished reading it. I just… had enough of those fictious things in there. I think I'll save the rest for later use. But for the moment, I suppose I already have grasped on what automatons are."

"(Understandable. Very well, then. May I begin enquiring to you now?)"

I responded in a resigned voice, "Yeah, sure. I'll answer if I can."

Some tiny movement noises roared from within that scrapped body. She then asked me:

"(Question: What should I identify you with?)"

"Huh?"

"(Since you are a reincarnated soul, your registration code is within the void – it is nonexistent. However, if you are formerly a human being, then you should have an official name since birth. It is uncouth and troublesome to contact you without a proper identification.)"

"Ah, that. Well…" I paused to think about the name I should use in this new world.

I can just use my old name, which is Goldwin Zal Gunawan. But now reborn as a younger version of myself and in a body of a mechanical being, penniless as an addition, I guess I'll just rip off the first name.

"My name is Zal Gunawan. You can call me Zal."

"(Understood. Name recognized and saved in my database. From this moment, I shall call you Zal.)"

"Cool."

She then declared, "(With this, I humbly request your assistance, Zal. I, Automaton A-123, am in dire need of energy. My reactor is close to permanent shutdown. Therefore, I request your aid in transferring some of your energy to my reactor by method of AET.)"

The "A-123" mechanical woman was referring to the term: Automaton Energy Transfer or AET for short. Automatons had a source of power supplying energy to their entire body systems from head to toe, and it is called a reactor. If an automaton's lifetime was about to deplete, they could either request for energy sharing to extend their lifetime or accept that they'd be scrapped just like this robot girl's condition.

In my response, I simply thought it was the right thing to do to help her. She provided me with ample evidence that here I was no longer human. She gave me a reality check. In addition, she gave me that "handbook" which helped me get on my toes to understand what I had turned into. Therefore, it was only natural that I respond to her request, but…

"It'll be my pleasure," I said, nodding. "It's a payback, after all. But before that, I wonder, didn't you already accept your fate to be scrapped like this?"

The automaton raised her voice, "(Eh?)"

"Pardon me for being rude, but why do you ask for more power as if you're struggling to maintain your 'life'? Weren't your actual lifetime already ended the moment you consented to be scrapped?"

She paused for a few seconds, processing my words before finally responding with her voice in my head.

"(...Answer: I never consented to be scrapped. No… It was likely a deliberate act from someone. My memory core was tampered. The recorded data of the time when I was scrapped were also missing. They were erased without proper agreement from my creator. Not only that, but my reactors were also still operating as of now, too.)"

"That's… very strange."

In the Almanac of Automatons (I named it myself), there is a procedure to follow when scrapping an automaton. One of them is that if an automaton is going to be crushed and dumped in the iron graveyard, not only their memories, but their reactor energy must be drained empty to prevent them from returning to life. These conditions aren't fulfilled for this automaton lady.

"You've got a mystery of your own, I see. I'm curious of how this will go. If I give you an energy of my own, what are you going to do afterwards?"

For a minute, she paused. The damp stench mixing with oil and rust made it no better. I patiently waited for her to answer, until… her voice seemingly indicated a sense of… anger.

"(I will find out who went against the rules and did this to me. Finally, I shall report them to the supreme beings – to my creator. Therefore… Therefore, justice shall be served.)"

I shivered as she said that in my head. Never thought a machine would be so vengeful. Meanwhile, In the Almanac of Automatons, it was clearly stated that automatons are machines, therefore emotions are nonexistent.

"Huh, well, isn't this interesting?" I said, chuckling a bit.

In my previous world… androids, robots, and stuff like that already obtained Artificial Intelligence that permits them self-awareness. However, initiation of emotions and feelings in their system was still impossible, even though the era was nearing the start of the 22nd century. It was what every robot maker wanted to achieve – to make their robots show true emotions like humans.

Seeing how this robot lady showing her urge for vengeance… As an engineer that also works in the art of mechatronics and AI, I am super interested on how this will unfold. Not only that, but her mystery of getting scrapped without consent left me curious of what truly happened.

A shot of motivation coursed through my skin. I want to help her out. Somehow, someway—

"(Are you still with me, Zal?)"

"Eh? Wha—what? Why?"

"(You were not responding for the past five minutes. Is there an issue with your systems?)"

"What? No. I was just spacing out. Sorry."

"(Very well, then. Please do not leave until you spared some energy to me.)"

"Haha. Don't worry, I'm not just going to leave like that. That being said…" I rolled my eyes to the dissected part of her torso. "…Even though I have given you a surplus of power, I'm curious, you know you're not going anywhere without a pair of legs, right?"

"(Answer: I fully understand that. It would take considerable amount of time, but I am capable of building my own set of legs to move.)"

"Bah, what nonsense!" I yelled. "With your current condition, you can't even lift your head, let alone building a complex limb such as legs. Heck, you don't have any arms, either. How in the world can you make it happen?"

"(If chance shows itself, I will—)"

"And what if that chance never presents itself? You're just straight up going to shutdown forever. Don't rest your fate on luck, babe."

"(Reply: If that is the case, then what I must do?)"

"Hmmf..."

She tried to do an impossible feat – something that she obviously couldn't do. I bet the AI in her programming was already malfunctioning. She was desperate to get herself out of here, yet she did not fully realize her entire condition.

"You will need someone's help," I said. "No matter how sophisticated you are as an automaton, your current state provides you no power to obtain whatever it is you're trying to do."

This automaton showed something that ordinary robots could not. On top of self-awareness, I could sense emotions coming from her voice, albeit subtly. I felt motivated to help her out – to see how she performs when in her prime. Not only that, but her case intrigued me. A mysterious case that begs to be solved.

I crouched to her, gently letting words flow out of my mouth.

"I will help you. Not just with giving you supply of energy, but to assist you with solving your mysteries to the very end."

"(…Question: Is that not too much? It is incomparable to the help I provided to you. Are you certain to go that far?)"

I smiled, "Heh, you already showed me something interesting: A value that I could never create nor find in the robots of my previous life. And that is emotion."

"(Incomprehensible. Automatons have no emotions.)"

"Yeah, say what you want," I chuckled. "I want to believe you do have them. Well? What do you say? Will you accept my offer?"

"(Excluding your words that I have emotions, I do require a major help. Therefore, I will accept your kind assistance with open arms.)"

"Hey, now, you don't have any arms, haha. Well, at any rate, it's a pleasure to start this uncommon cooperation."

"(Yes. Let us assist each other in the coming time. I am now in your care.)"

"Very well, then. Tell me what I should do to share energy with you. As a humanoid automaton, you have a unique specification, right?"

She spoke in my mind, "(Answer: Yes. Please find a device called the 'Trafo Coffin' hidden among the dead automatons. I will transfer the picture to you.)"

"Okie-dokie. Leave it to me."

As the image was shown in my eyes, I tried to find the object called Trafo Coffin. As the name suggested, it really looked like a coffin, but imagine it had features of a sci-fi architecture. Lucky enough, I found it within fifteen minutes. It was hidden by the foot of a mountain of scrap metals.

When I tried pulling it, it was stuck. I used all my might to get it out, where I got surprised that the entire mountain trembled. As the casket got out, a landslide of metal junks rushed towards me.

"Oh, shit—!"

I evaded just in the nick of time. I nearly risked myself to be buried alive.

"Phew. That was close."

And so, I returned to her, carrying the human-sized casket. She then instructed me, "(Order: Please lift my body and put me in the coffin facing upwards. And then, please carry it like you're carrying a backpack.)"

"Mm-okay. Simple enough."

Nodding to her instructions, I proceeded to carefully lift her from her place. Upon doing that, she spilled lots of blue, glimmering liquid from hoses of her half-torso body…