Dust to Dust: Man 09

Reboot

The golem awoke to the hushed voices of his recent acquaintances. They weren't too far away to hear properly, and despite the snow surrounding him, his hearing should be fine.

I'm quite broken, aren't I?

The first attempts to move were greeted by the screeching of metal on glass. After a few jerky movements, much of the glass broke and fell away, leaving a torn and twisted Pile of metal. What followed was a methodical untangling of mangled pistons, bent braces, and loose joints.

Everything is compromised. Cracks, so many cracks. Junk. Salvage? Maybe, but...

Pile once again glanced upwards and stared at the hooded figures looking down on him. He began to pull any parts still somewhat functional together around his core, making himself as small of a target as possible. Any broken metal that was remotely sharp was pointed outwards, eventually making the golem look like a metallic porcupine.

Can't reach them, can' t escape with all mobility functions damaged. Could detach everything and return to the ground, return to-

THUNK

Pile tensely inspected the knotted end of rope that was dangling from one of his makeshift spikes. The (metaphorical) gears in his head slowly churned through what it meant, but it wasn't until he heard from above that he somewhat dropped his guard.

“Oi tin man, pull yourself up! Our new friend here says that if she doesn't see you at the surface unarmed in less than a minute, she'll turn you into a bobsicle,” shouted the green hood.

“POPsicle,” retorted the a feminine voice from the blue hood.

“What's a popsicle, anyways?” Travis quipped. “It's no magic I've heard of.”

“It's- it's something a traveling merchant showed me how to make. I was going to show you but...” The caster dropped her gaze, a slight shadow flitting across her brow. “I haven't seen you much since-”

The oddly out-of-place conversation was broken up by a metallic skeletonized hand reaching out of the hole, pulling the shambling remains of the recently molten golem. Anything not made of pure metal had been shed and left in the hole, as anything that wasn't metal had been completely ruined by the horrendous temperature swings of the last battle. All that remained of the once humanoid golem was a rough and grey skeleton. Strands and globs of slagged silver stretched from an enclosed cage where a normal human's ribs would be, reaching towards the various extremities in a veined pattern. Permafrost-laden dirt clumped at the joints, and as movement warmed the earth, it formed tightly around the joints and silver veins helped to maneuver the golem.

Travis approached the abomination and hung his arm over the golem's shoulder. “See? Nothing to hide. Base material and a shielded core, that's as bare bones as a golem gets.” The ranger leaned harder on the gray skeleton, which promptly collapsed under the light pressure. Travis winced at his mistake.

“The pistons and other bits weren't for show, I take it,” grimaced the man.

Pile attempted to shake his head, but the jerky, incomplete movement of his neck made his answer even clearer than he had intended. The blue robed mage, seemingly satisfied at the crippled state of her recent enemy, stepped forward and cleared her throat.

“Due to our current predicament, I am enlisting your help to return me to the nearest point of civilization. Your duties will consist heating, hauling, and general labor. If you create new weapons, I'll freeze your core and shatter it. If you try and run, I'll freeze your core and shatter it. If I find out that you've been slacking in your duties, I'll freeze your core and shatter it. Attack me, and I'll freeze your core and sell it to someone so vile that you'll wish I'd have shattered it. Do we have a deal?” The lady raised her hand out towards Pile.

The golem, unable to properly move after collapsing onto the ground, only took a moment to nod his head. Not that he had a choice.

Nodding her head in confirmation, the mage turned towards the second large hold in the ground where Pile's sled had fallen. Gesturing her arms and calling out to her magic, she began to move snow out of the hole and shape a long ramp for the sled. Due to the crushing weight of the metal sled filled with oil and machinery, the ramp was tens of meters long in order to make the two meter vertical aspect not as challenging. The ramp itself was hard-packed snow like they were currently standing on, otherwise they and the sled would fall into the drift once more. The she-wolf and Travis slid down into the hole and righted the sled onto its skids, fashioning the rope to the front of it. Once they had climbed out of the pit, they grabbed onto the rope at the top and heaved. After a few exertions, Bryn the mage crystallized ice blocks behind the sled in order to hold it in place as the ranger and canine took a break. This process repeated itself for an hour until finally, the sled reached Pile's side.

On the sled was Pile's greatest hope- his construction body and enough scrap and oil to have no worries about his reconstruction or energy. He latched onto the sides of the sled and began pulling himself up, preparing to connect his core to the construction body more. A hand on the thin metal rail where his shoulder used to be stopped him temporarily.

“So,” began Travis. “I'm off to grab something to satisfy our appetites. Even in this wintry forest, there's always something to eat when a ranger's hunting. Your new friend is going to do her very best to stare you to death while I'm gone.” he said, pointing at Bryn focusing all her attention on the golem and the sled. “I realize that you're pretty messed up right now, but if you can make it a bit longer, I'd be willing to bet a hot meal and a bit of warmth would do a lot of good between ya, yeah? Maybe hold off on lashing yourself back together until she doesn't want you dead.” The ranger patted him on the shoulder once more began walking off, a faint “See ya in a bit, mate,” was all that was left of him as the snowy air covered his departure.

Pile pulled himself fully onto the sled, opening his chest cavity in order to connect his core to the construction body. However, as the wires connected and his consciousness shifted locations, what went through his mind weren't plans of locomotion and weaponry, but how to make a stove.