Vecto awoke without a head. He heard the snaps and grinds of locking mechanisms, the hisses of self-welded wires, and the hums of activated hardware. He didn't require a head to interpret sound waves, but he took solace in knowing that someone just installed one.

"Rise and shine," said a voice. "Give me a sec . . ."

Vecto's vision activated. He saw a black ceiling about three meters high-or about ten feet.

"How's that?" the voice continued.

Vecto sat up from a low work table. He swiveled his robotic head to see his Alpha Squad teammate, Gyro, sitting in front of the table. Gyro would have smiled if he had a mouth. He was nearly six feet tall and had pitch-black skin, no hair, and solid green, concave eyes.

Vecto watched as Gyro placed a dismounted mechanical arm on the table. He scanned the humanoid figure to make sure it was indeed his friend. The bioscan confirmed Gyro's DNA: part Magnatronian, a trace of human, and part unknown. Vecto followed up with a quick scan of his surroundings. He was in the Alpha Squad base on the planet Acaterra-in Gyro's quarters, to be precise. To his right was Gyro's rest capsule, and behind Gyro on the wall was a framed cross. A hologram of Gyro's ex-girlfriend, Charisma, floated in the air nearby, along with the time and date. It was the morning of April 18, 3013, Earth standard. It meant Vecto was out of commission for six days.

Gyro pointed at Vecto's head. "Can you speak through it?" The words issued eerily out of the darkness that was his body, as if from tiny speakers hidden in the depths of a cave.

"Yes, of course," Vecto responded through the speaker in his head. "But unnecessary," he added, and this time, the words seemed to come from the air above his torso.

Inside his chest was his Flummox Capacitor orb, which emitted invisible shields. These shields enabled him to amplify his voice without using the speaker in his headpiece. He had always preferred that method of speech. It felt more natural.

"Yeah, well, you can't always rely on your orb for everything," Gyro said.

His orb . . . yes, his orb. It was still intact, along with his consciousness inside, but Vecto was incomplete. For one thing, he was missing an arm. For another, his robotic body was . . . different than he remembered. He checked to ensure the orb he carried within his chest was functioning optimally. A quick internal scan revealed no derivations from the norm. The invisible shields it emitted were still under his control. So at least that hadn't changed. The familiarity of it was deeply reassuring. Whatever else had happened, he remained himself.

"I couldn't salvage your old body, so I hope you don't mind the new one I made," Gyro said as he welded a motor into the new arm he was building for Vecto. Sparks dimly reflected off Vecto's crude metal body.

"Thank you," Vecto said in a monotone.

"Just wish I had some Dinishmen technology," Gyro went on. "Sorry I couldn't make your body parts float or use that laser conduction or whatever they call it. Good ol' wires are as much as I can afford."

Vecto scanned his component pieces. They were bulky and awkwardly connected, and the technology was inferior to what he was used to. But they were strong and sturdy. Powerful. "I appreciate the assistance. It will suffice."

Gyro laughed. "Don't get too robotic on me! You can talk like normal now. I know you've got some emotion in there."

Vecto laughed.

Gyro closed a compartment on the robotic arm and spun it around to check it. He then pressed the arm to Vecto's shoulder and initiated the locking mechanisms.

"You know, I want to thank you for blocking that blast," Gyro said as he tested the arm's connection. "I couldn't have used the Giga Ball without you."

Vecto nodded as Gyro worked on the joint. He replayed the moment of his destruction.