It was just the settlement’s sixth bright and happy day when the settlement’s citizens had watched the robotic soldier march toward their new home. Giro, The Machine had stopped in place as they all turned to look at him.

One of the two children of the settlement walked up to him, unsure, yet too curious not to, as the rest grew more nervous. By now, Giro had already found the perfect gift to prove his good nature.

Giro switched out the spear for his sword and shield, lopping the shield right off of its connector with a loud bang. The boy was scared, and the mother was barely a few feet behind him as she stared in confusion as to what Giro could possibly be doing.

Giro switches out what’s left of the shield for his hand, watching the vile glow with its bright red Error-and-Warning signal. He grabs the shield, as the sword is switched out for the non-lethal Ion Spear. The boy and his mother watch as Giro offers it to the boy, as everyone else stares with concern.

Giro offers it again with a simple arm gesture, the boy having fallen over from the scare. Finally though, after a moment of hesitation and confirmation from his peers, the boy decides to accept the gift of The Machine.

Giro takes a step back and out of the way, before turning to the side to walk past the settlement. “Who are you?” The mother asks Giro, as he looks at the bright and shiny sun. Giro turns around, and points at the name Dialora gave him, the one he etched into the faceplate just below his visor.

“Giro? That’s… Oddly cute…” She says, as the rest of the nine settlers come to meet their new friend. “Is this a gift?” The boy asks, and Giro gives him a simple clap, only to then realize that means nothing to them. “Nod your head up and down, or shake it left and right, for yes and no.” His mother says, a serious look still on her face, even as she explains a common expression to him.

So much so, she finds herself confused; He hadn't already known it. The robot nods his head, feeling it grind away the dust and dirt, tearing apart the vines that yet still cling to his body. “You don’t mean any harm… Do you…” She says, releasing her poor son from her protective, yet oppressive grip.

Giro stares at the sun again, deciding he would rather look at the sun than at her less interesting face. “Are you listening to me?” She asked, and while yes, he WAS listening, he did not want to waste a moment more without his celestial guide.

It had been hours and everyone already moved on, merely stealing themselves passing glances at The Machine as it stood there. But there was something off about him, he wasn’t standing like that six hours ago. The youthful mother’s head lolled upwards as her arms rested on the window sill, only now realizing what The Machine was so hyper focused on.

It was Orion’s Star, the Sun. One of the oldest known things in their world, a celestial body that brings eternal sunlight to guide their eyes. The denizens of Orion have an ancient past they know horrifyingly little about. The oldest story of theirs speaks of the Sun itself, the ancient name of Orion’s Star.

The mother, deciding to walk over, simply asked him. “You like the Sun? That’s what we call it, Giro.” She explains as he continues to watch, nodding his head ever so slightly, so as to not lose sight of the sun, of which he is glad to now know the name of.

She pats his shoulder, feeling it jostle with motion on the kinetic orb, using a special spell to keep his torso and arm together. “You should come visit the settlement, Giro. You’ve got your whole life to stare at that dumb’ol thing.” She tells Giro, and his body clicks and hums with movement once more.

“That sounds good, I hope. Come on, you can come meet everyone.” She continues, as Giro follows, deciding that maybe she had a point, maybe meeting people was worth it. “I’m Coletara, by the way.” She says, resting the back of her head in her arms, as Giro’s body continues its little noises.

“Are you SUPPOSED to click like that?” She asks with a twinge of concern, as they arrive at the settlement’s town hall. Giro shakes his head, the cuboid head swiveling on the kinetic orb. “That’s not good…” She says, rubbing her chin as her son walks up to visit the settlement's visitor.

More people emerge from their homes, just humans, no special creatures among the lot of them. “So is he our ninth member? I can’t imagine how Paudriel will feel about this.” A young man speaks, Giro determines that he must be around the age of seventeen.

“No, he’s just a visitor, Zalrok. Besides, Paudriel’s religion only exterminates mutants, not automatons.” Coletara explains to him as Giro questions what they could possibly be talking about…

Orion’s primary religion, preached zealously by one of the high twelve, it is a caring yet spiteful religion on an eternal crusade to wipe clean Orion of the heretic and the mutant. The primary mission is already finished, they now only need to wipe away the existence of the tainted blood.

“That’s good, I doubt Giro would survive even a minute against a Templar like Paudriel.” Zalrok says, having looked up to Paudriel since he was eight years old. “So where is the big guy anyways?” Coletara asks, looking at their jolly mayor.

“He was given a mission, had me promise to watch you all in his stead.” He chuckles, nudging the monocle that covers two purple eyes. “He’s ALWAYS busy. Don’t see what’s so special he had to tell you to; watch us.” Coletara replies as she raises an eyebrow, fully aware that the soldier usually never even has the courtesy to at least TELL them that he’ll be gone for a while.

Giro on the other hand, has been fighting off his defensive and offensive functions so as to not scare off his friends. The Lonely Doctor certainly filled him with everything he would have needed to take on a Templar.

Or more likely just slow the thing down, Giro wasn’t entirely sure how powerful Templar specifically were, but he was halfway certain a simple foot soldier like himself couldn't really do anything to one of the world’s ten million.

Giro’s newfound emotions took hold of these hard-functions, clinging and altering them as though the Stranger’s magic was created with something like this in anticipation. Just as Giro thought, he felt these functions slowly transform into fears and anxieties swaying his decision, from staying to removing himself from this place.

Normally he would have no fear, ready to throw himself at even the most powerful man in the world, but thanks to the Stranger, he was ready to consider preservation of his newfound life.

“Giro? Are you okay?” Coletara asked as her son shook the plate on Giro’s leg, snapping him out of his stupor, surprising the sundered machine that getting lost like that could even happen to him.

Giro looks at Coletara, nodding as he lifts his leg and her son takes a step back to her, still holding the gift Giro had given him. “Oh, thank goodness… Here, meet my first son, Pelzy.” She says, smiling as she gestures to the young boy in front of Giro, while everyone speaks amongst themselves.

The boy reaches to Giro, just as Giro had done in the presence of the beautiful sun. But unlike the sun, Giro knelt before the boy, allowing him to hold Giro’s hand, something he would do for others, that HIS gift would not for him. Not that Giro was upset, or anything, no, he’s a soulless robot, that’s not possible for someone like him, or so his old nature tried to tell him.

Everyone stops to watch as Pelzy, technically two years older than Giro, holds the deadly machine’s hands. Content with this new connection, Giro stands up again, deciding he has seen enough, and stares at the sun once more, not wanting to give up any more precious daylight.

Pelzy, not wanting to give up this moment with his big new friend, had opted to stare at the sun with Giro. Normally it would have been very dangerous for the young Pelzy, but as a denizen of Orion, Pelzy’s eyes were already leagues tougher than any earth human’s.

(Please do not stare directly at the sun.)

Giro had prepared to set off for the night, but Pelzy asked him to stay just a little longer, promising the sun would be back sooner if Giro had patience. And so Giro did, he waited hours and hours as Pelzy slept, deciding to have faith in his friend’s word.

As Giro waited, he watched the three linked moons of Orion orbit overhead, deciding they were a somewhat decent substitute while he began to get bored. There was one giant blue moon with two smaller ones linked to it by what looked to be either a colossal rope, or perhaps chain. It was hard to tell.

Giro supposed it was just another weird Orion thing he didn’t understand, nor cared enough to learn if given the chance. “Are you enjoying the moon, buddy?” The Mayor asked, barely visible under the darkness of the darker moon.

“That one is Yin, in a few weeks his brother Yang will be obscured by the blue moon.” He begins, despite Giro’s previous decision that he did in fact not care. “I’m actually attuned with Yin, you see. That’s why my eyes are purple.” He says, surprising Giro as he removes the monocle.

Now this was something that had Giro’s attention. “It came about naturally as I would enjoy watching Yin. You see, one fateful night, Yin’s pillar dipped into Orion’s atmosphere, and shot me with a hit of energy.” He explained, pointing at the small pillar that jutted out from the purrple moon’s surface, barely visible…

“Who knows, though. Maybe if YOU’RE lucky, you can attune yourself with the sun in some way.” The Mayor says, surprising Giro again, enticing him with the very idea of getting closer to the simple star that inspires him. “I’m Qual. It’s nice to meet you, Giro.”

They shake hands, Giro finally deciding to actually look at Qual, thankful for what he was given. “I need to head in, I haven’t slept for a couple weeks, and I don’t wish to miss the next time it actually dips into Orion’s orbit.” He said, pointing at his house before walking away.

As the night carried on, an amorphous Ne'er-Do-Well decided they might have their way with the yet still young settlement. “Ho~ Ho~ Ho~” He snickers to himself, rubbing his hands before caressing his large handlebar mustache.

Giro watches as this circus-act of a man sidles up against the side of the building, his legs moving rhythmically yet silently as he continues his debased cackling. In mere moments Giro is already upon the man, spinning and crackling his Ion Spear against the ground in front of him.

The Ne’er-Do-Well’s head snaps in the direction of Giro, somehow not having heard Giro walk up to him. “H-Hello~...” He says, with a bright nervous smile, fearful and uncertain as to how to deal with this one-time guardian. “I’m just, um… Going into my house! See?” He asks, but Giro wasn’t at all convinced.

Giro shocks the man with his Ion Spear, deciding that either he was Paudriel, or he couldn’t be Paudriel. The Ne’er-Do-Well’s body lays smoking on the floor, defeated, only to then suddenly explode into a puff of black cloud, allowing Giro to return to his moon-gazing…

End of Chapter 3: “Juricut.”

Thank you for reading.

“Yep, thanks.”

“Ah, yes, thank you!”