Zanthras was terrified.

She had been on this colony for the past ten years of her life. She had survived numerous lethal events. Famine, disease, critical malfunction, civil war, serial killers and so much more. Shepherd 7 was not a safe place to live in, a crisis occurring once every year at best. Desperation and resignation had taken hold of Zanthras numerous times. Danger had never been as close as it had been today, as she always managed to be lucky enough to avoid the brunt of the events.

Yet none of it had never amounted to the outright savagery she had just witnessed. Watching two people brutally kill each other. Death was common in this depressing universe. But somehow, Zanthras had always managed to avoid seeing a murder. She heard of it of course. But it was another thing entirely when you saw someone die in front of you. Brutally at that.

“You never did answer my question.”

Zanthras flinched at the synthetic voice. It went without saying she felt nervous around the one who put her on edge in the first place. The grey’s blood was still on his hands, yet to dry. It was also not the only stained part of his body. She’d have liked to be as far as possible from the android. And the cooling body on the floor as well.

413X hadn’t obliged such comforts. For her sake and its, he needed to be fixed. Whatever skill the grey used had done serious damage to the chassis. It was like a blender had had free rein on his insides. She had to make sure 413X didn’t shut down due to overheating of lost coolant.

She had been worried he’d kill her next after she said there wasn’t any such technology around. Other than the disappointing face he made; he didn’t give much of a reaction. At the moment, she was trying to find some spare parts to at least seal the open wound. An effort that required a lot of Zanthras’ attention. It's for that reason that she was rather scatterbrained when she answered.

“Lizardman are usually incapable of producing milk, as far as I’m aware. My mother said they were originally additional muscle for defense and nutrition sacks on our home planet where food was scarce. Now, that doesn’t mean there aren’t females of our species that have mutated or enhanced their biology to produce some. Why I have no real idea. I work with machines, not vanity projects.”

It was a minute before 413X responded.

“I, uh, meant your name. But good to know. I guess.”

If lizardmen were capable of blushing, Zanthras would have been a tomato. Not that she would have ever seen one, but still. She had a habit of running her mouth when she was nervous.

“The name is Zanthras. Zanthras ConstrictorClaw if you wish to know my full name.”

413X simply nodded. Either to process the previous information or to remain still as Zanthras worked on him. Regardless of which reason, she was glad they’d gone back to silence. God forbid they continued that awkward conversation.

Finally, she had finished. It was by no means a perfect job. It would have been easier to replace the entire torso but there hadn’t been such a complicated spare on hand. She had been able to weld the wound closed with some spare metals, while also replace the broken tubing for the coolant. But from now on, 413X had a clear weak point anyone with eyes could make use of. Unfortunate, but better than a complete shutdown.

“Wait. Does that mean men from your species have breasts?”

And leave it to the android to deduce such an embarrassing fact. Zanthras was not built for this type of discussion. So, she took the easy way out.

“Alright 413X, I am going to turn on your sensory module. Please don’t kill me.”

413X was rather confused as Zanthras remotely activated 413X’s internal systems.

“Why would I kiaaaaahhhhhhhhHHHHHHHHHHH!”

413X started spasming as their nervous system became fully functional. The easy way out was incredibly painful for 413X. Zanthras wasn’t surprised. The internal damage and surface cuts, along with her admittedly suboptimal patchwork, must have felt like pouring salt into the wounds. When he fell off the table, he was on probably didn’t make things better.

Something that 413X was most definitely thankful for was the fact that the extreme pain was just temporary. Soon enough the agony turned into a dull ache. That was just the internal software doing a test run. Set everything to extreme sensitivity to make sure everything was working and then tone it down to regular levels. Standard procedure.

413X didn’t see it that way.

“Who’s the sick son of a bitch who put pain receptors in a god damn robot!? I’m a fucking kill him!”

Technically, it was Zanthras since she had built him from various parts. In reality, it had been a company that had designed 413X’s model. But in the end, Zanthras' was the one who decided to install all of the features. She didn’t have to put the pain recognition software in there. Best not to tell the android that.

Best to let him blame someone else at the moment. The android still scared her. She didn't need to give it another reason to terrify her, like threatening her life.