The planet Helos. A century ago it was a bustling colony of over 100,000 humans. A previously important jumping-off point to the Border colonies beyond, even entertaining ships from the Elven fleets. However, fifty years ago, a devastating zombie outbreak ravaged the colony, the Federation quarantined the planet, shooting down every ship that tried to leave. It took one week before every human on the planet was lost. At least that’s what Flow has been taught by her only family left to her. The recent beast incursion into the old colony had happened in Flow’s lifetime which made salvaging much more dangerous.

“Beast’s are certainly getting more active,” Flow said, swerving between the abandoned vehicles left on the highway.

“I will most certainly need some repairs once we return to the farm,” Clive said, examining his destroyed arm.

“I’ll give you a look over once we get back. Promise.”

Blinky ruffled beneath Flow’s cloak.

“I’ll give you a check too little guy,”

As night was beginning to creep in on the planet, Flow reached the end of the highway where the colonists had stopped construction with a large section collapsed. Flow took this section down to the surface, taking a dirt road through the ruined agriculture, scaring away the nocturnal animals in the path. Large machines that maintained the fields lay shattered in heaps of scrap. Whatever parts were salvageable had been long removed.

Speeding through the carefully constructed lots, past a broken-down tractor and a small crater, the farm was directly in sight. The old agricultural center stood out like a sore thumb in the entire colony due to the lights still illuminating it, the fence in place, and the two gun turrets that manned the front gate. This building was home to the only human being left on the planet.

“Home sweet home.” Flow said as she sped past the turrets, slowing down her bike as she entered the gate, pulling up at the inner courtyard. As she eased off the throttle, two red lasers tracked her movement. Noticing it, Flow groaned. “It’s me guys. Who else would it be?”

Strolling forwarders into the courtyard were two security droids, Brawn and Bouncer, more bulky and armored than Clive (yet with armor that was rusted and heavily patched). Each had a pistol aimed at Flow as she was taking off her helmet, after which they lowered their weapons and moved back to their positions at the barn.

“I swear one of these days they’re gonna shoot me by accident.”

“Come now. Protocols will not allow them to act in aggression unless ordered or forced into a position where they must defend themselves or their objective.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Flow retrieved her assault rifle and satchel from the speeder. Blinky flew overhead, now free of the confines of Flow's thick and dirty cloak. “You okay buddy?”

Blinky emitted a light beeping noise as Flow slung her rifle walking alongside the one-armed Clive towards the barn, passing by Brawn and Bouncer as they stood vigilant, giving only a small nod with their square heads to confirm they were there.

“We’re back!” Flow declared as she entered the kitchen area, a collection of very mismatched fridges, wires and machines salvaged from everywhere with a dining room table ripped straight out of dinner from the colony.

“Flow! Clive! How zorbing you are both back alive.” Chef descended from the rafters, a kitchen bot whose body consisted of three sphere’s with his left hand consisting of interchangeable kitchen utensils. When he was found he had lost his legs, which were now replaced by a hover engine ripped out of a speeder. His speech unit was taken directly from a serving droid, as such the way he spoke was strange, to say the least. “By jove Clive. You appear to be missing an arm.”

Clive looked at his broken left arm. “Yes. We had a rather unfortunate run-in with the beasts.”

“B-b-b-beasts?! Where did you go? The forbidden zones?”

“I believe it was near the old hospital-”

“C-Clive?!” Flow hissed. “I-It was nothing. Just a few close run in’s-”

“The hospital?”

Flow bowed her head as a soft, mothering voice intervened. Walking into the kitchen was Mom, a nanny bot that had lived on the farm for decades after her masters turned. She was a similar frame to both Brawn and Bouncer, with the addition of a radiator pad on her chest and upper left arm, designed to cradle babies (which were broken). Like every other droid, whatever factory radiance she had was long gone through decades of neglect and Flow’s patchwork repairs.

“Ah-ha ha, h-hey mom.” Flow chuckled nervously.

“Oh my. I probably shouldn’t have said that.”

“Flow, how many times have I told you; you must stay away from the beast’s habitats.” Despite speaking in a soft gentle tone, Flow understood she was mad.

“Y-Yeah but uh… well there weren’t any beasts in the old labs before. Must’ve moved in that day.”

Blinky bleeped, zooming close to Flow.

“Beside’s, we got a bunch of cool salvage plus a new energy crystal.”

“That is true,” Clive nodded. “But nothing that would power up the Icarus.”

“Well… yeah. But we can still use it.” Flow sighed as she walked past Mom into the makeshift armory, setting her satchel down on the bench. “Sarg?”

“The Sargent is currently charging.” Mom said as Flow unslung her rifle and pistol, placing both on the table. “And we have not finished our discussion.”

Flow groaned, closing off her mind to one of Mom’s incoming lectures while she began to shed her armor. “We need scrap and everything around us has been stripped already. There are still loads out there in the colony and stuff we really need, especially for the Icarus. We need to go out there eventually,”

“Flow, I understand the desire to leave this place, but these expeditions are becoming riskier and riskier each day. The zombie population is beginning to dwindle as the beasts are on the rise.”

“I know,” Flow nodded reluctantly as her breastplate came off. “But I’ll go mad if I stay cooped up in the farm for all my life.”

“It is our protocol to support humans, and for that, we wholeheartedly agree with repairing the ship. Nonetheless, you are becoming far too reckless. Each expedition you come back bruised and cut.”

Now free of her gauntlets, removing her tunic, covered by a loose black top that only just covered her chest, Flow examined her body and saw her arms were once more covered in bruises from both the beasts and zombies with a large bruise on her belly. “They heal up fast.”

“That is not the concern. It is our protocol to see to your safety. If this continues, we will have no choice but to confine you to the farm until the Icarus is fully restored.”

“Alright, alright.” Flow slid off her boots, pulling down her dirty trousers. “I’ll be more careful.”

“One affirmation will suffice.”

“Alright al-” Flow coughed to stop herself.

“Now. I recommend you see Doc and take a shower before you eat. You are filthy,” Mom said before departing. Flow childishly stuck out her tongue at her surrogate mother as she placed her dirty clothes in her hamper.

“Hate when Mom gets like that,”

“Mom only acts for your safety,” Clive said. “She does not want to see another lost child,”

“I know,” Flow said after ripping off her socks before throwing them into the hamper. She smiled when Blinky flew up to her and gave him a little pat. “Hey. Let me fix your arm,”

“You can do that tomorrow-”

“It’ll only take a sec,” Flow placed her armor back on the mannequin, sandwiched between two other sets. “And it was kinda my fault,”

Clive held up his broken arm. “If you insist.”

****

Fixing the arm was easy. Due to Clive’s design, all Flow had to do was remove the damaged pieces and replace them with fresh components. In half an hour, the arm had been reattached. Flow then took a cloth to his hands, wiping away the blood and chunks of loose flesh.

“There we go, all done.”

As Flow put her tools away, Clive examined his repaired hand.

“Sorry for the mess. There really is so much I can do with salvage by the looks of it.”

“The maintenance is satisfactory,” Clive reassured her. “It is, in all honesty, it is thanks to you we have all been able to last this long. Long after our creators have turned or perished.”

Flow smiled. Before she taught herself how to repair along with the garage boys, the bots wherein a sad state of disrepair, with four bots of their community having been lost. Friends that were long lost to the cruel planet. The machines and the garage boys certainly did their best but with themselves falling into disrepair it was becoming increasingly difficult. Now, with a human touch, Flow handled most of the maintenance for the bots, patching most of them with whatever was available, even if they were looking more and more like patchwork robots.

“Just think,” Flow spoke as she packed away her tools, “once we get off this world I can… I can get you guys new bodies. No more rusted parts. No more scrap. We can get you guys some actual parts that don’t need to be changed every week.”

“There is a high probability that our particular models have become obsolete,” Clive pointed out.

“Then… I’ll just get new droid frames, yank out your data banks and shove it into the new ones.”

“That would violate various terms of warranty,”

Flow pouted. “Come on. Just humor me for once,” Blinky hovered to her side, giving out two bleeps. Flow smiled, patting the little droid on the top.

“I apologize. Humour is not something I seem to have a firm grasp on.” Clive stood up. “Now, I’d recommend you report to Doc for a medical examination as Mom says.”

“Yeah ye-” Flow stopped herself. “I’m gonna go see him now.

“And a shower. I will bring you food.”

“Thanks,” Flow stood up from her bench, cranking her neck. “Here’s hoping the shower’s got enough water and heat this time.”

****

Flow sat still in the infirmary, or rather the old laundry room that was hastily converted into both a medical unit, shower as well as being used for laundry by the only human on Helos that hadn't turned. Doc, the floating medical droid, examined Flow’s various cuts and bruises.

“Good news. There is no sign of infection and no serious injuries.” Doc said in his usual cheery voice. “Only a handful of bruises and grazes, and your natural growth and repair are seeing to their recovery as we speak.”

This was no news to Flow. Her body seemed to have healing abilities and natural immunities that exuded normal humans. Coupled with her ice powers, no droid or recovered information from the colony could explain this.

“See. Nothing to worry about buddy,” Flow said to Blinky, who was orbiting around the two of them which Flow interpreted as worry for the droid. As a scanner drone, Blinky was incapable of speaking himself, and it was impossible to install one given that he was too small to fit a vocal modulal on to allow him to speak. Therefore he communed through beeps and hovering patterns.

“Though I must point out as your doctor that these ventures do leave you more bruised than previous expeditions.” Doc continued. “Viewing data retrieved from Clive, the beasts seem to be growing more vicious by the day while the zombie population is in rapid decline. The rise in beasts seems to contribute to your current physical ailments. I would recommend you stay away from areas with high beast activity-”

“We’ll never finish the Icarus if we did that,” Flow said as she sat up, pulling her top overhead. “If we want to get off this planet, we need those parts,”

“I do understand the need,” Doc continued as Flow stripped off her remaining clothing. “But as your doctor, I am required by protocol to inform you to avoid taking unnecessary risks.”

“I know, I know.” Flow arraigned her clothes on the bench. After a full day of salvaging, the one thing she wanted to do now was to wash herself of the sweat and grim of the day. “Is the shower working?”

“Indeed.” Doc nodded. “You should have ten minutes today.”

“That’s it?”

“The boiler is running low on power and is in need of maintenance.”

“Stupid thing…” Flow groaned as she walked up to the shower unit; a large semi-circle device that was ripped from a hotel building. To the side was the root of the problem; a makeshift boiler and water pump. Both were made by Flow and the maintenance droids, and like most mechanical units on the farm, it wasn’t perfect. Far from it. While the pump worked most of the time, the amount of water it could pump was low, with some cases only having thirty seconds of water. The boiler worked better, yet overheating was another issue that happened much too often, meaning Flow’s chances to shower were very inconsistent.

“Oh well, better than nothing.” Flow pulled the release lever, tugging the door open, stepping into the small space.

“I’m off to recharge. If you need any medical assistance, please let Blinky know so he can power me up.”

“Alright. Goodnight.”

As Doc flew away, Flow closed the shower door. Pressing a large red button, hot water began to pore over her. The tensions of the day, as well as the sweat and grim, went down the drain as Flow used all ten minutes before the shower stopped.

Refreshed, Flow left the shower unit grabbing a hold of a nearby towel. Mom had entered the infirmary carrying a tray of hot food and some fresh clothes.

“One thing I’m looking forward to once we leave is a shower I can spend hours in.” She said sitting on the bench where mom had placed at her side, vegetables and a single slab of meat.

“Chef says we are nearly out of meat. I suggest you go hunting tomorrow for more,” Mom said.

“Might be a chance to test out that new rifle Sarge was working on,” Flow took the tray, twirling a fork. “I’ll go out after I do some work on the Icarus tomorrow.”

“What do you have planned tomorrow?”

With the fork in between her teeth, Flow counted on her fingers. “Those terminals in the cabins. And then getting the engine to work this time. Gonna use the crystals I got today for that.”

“Just remember to take regular breaks. You get too engrossed in your work and I often have found you asleep at your workbench.”

“I know mom,” Flow said, gulping down the last of her food before handing the tray back to her. “Well, good night.”

“Flow,” She was about to walk off before Mom called out for her. “Please put on some clothes.”

Flow blinked before realizing she was still naked. “Oh, right.” Flushing red, she rushed to the fresh clothes Mom had left out for her.

“This is a habit you need to get out of. It’s simple decency to cover yourself around others,”

“I know, I know. I was gonna,” Flow groaned as she slipped into her nightgown. “Alright, night.”

“Good night Flow,” Mom said again before finally departing.

Blinky floated close by Flow’s left shoulder, giving small beeps. His single light was beginning to weakly blink red.

“Looks like you’re on your last ropes huh,” Flow gave her complaint a gentle tap. “Come on. Let's get you charged.”

****

Flow’s room was more or less the annex of the barn, a large room with reinforced sheet metal above as a roof with plated floors lined with rugs and mats that had been found out in the colony (and cleaned by Mom) and two lamps giving some luminescence to the otherwise cramped room. Though it was difficult to differentiate it from an attic as it was full of shelves with scrap along the racks of crudely put together machines and gizmos that Flow had made using what spare scrap she could find. A small workbench had been set up with a few selections of tools, though nothing compared to what was below in the hanger.

As Blinky settled on Flows nightside table, settling on a small plate as he shut down, Flow sat at her desk, taking some tools to work on the monitor she had ripped from the car, swapping components from her old 4-inch screen to the new, and to her joy, 7-inch monitor.

“And we’re… on!” Flow cheered as the monitor flickered into life. Ecstatic, Flow retreated to her bed, swapping out a cartridge from her collection to test the display.

An old sitcom began to play, one that Flow enjoyed watching over and over despite seeing it many times. While she could not make much sense of its overall plot, the general premise was of a cargo crew that traveled the galaxy, from the metropolis of Meridium to the elven fleets to even the dwarven kingdoms. It was silly, often bordering on fantasy, but that and the fourteen other shows and movies she had found out in the colony was her only connection to what the galaxy was like beyond this lost little world.

After the episode finished, Flow placed her new display on her bedside table, once more examining her bed as she usually did when such thoughts came to her.

Her bed, like most furnishings of the farm, was a makeshift design taken from an old stasis pod that had fallen from the sky and landed close to the farm. Most of its outer protection was burnt off in the atmosphere or wrecked in the crash. All data within the pod was corrupted beyond salvaging, and the only thing legible on the blackened hull was on the pod's nameplate with only the letters F, L, O and W readable.

That was all Clive, Mom, and Doc had to go on when they pried her from the wreckage nine years ago. Her origins were a mystery, as all her memories of that time were nothing more than a blurred image of two people as the door closed. Doc had told her that she must have been in stasis for a long time, possibly over a century or longer, something that was dangerous especially for the nine-year-old she was back then. As the only human in a colony that had been overrun with a zombie plague, she became a rallying cry to the poor droids that were still functioning after fifty years, masterless with nothing to do. What early memories she had was watching the small community of just Clive, Mom and Doc begin to grow as robots came with food and knowledge to take care of her. She was happy, living her life playing with the robots that came to see this unaffected human, as though their long existence finally had a purpose once more.

However, it wasn’t all good. A year later she would venture into a forbidden zone with her robot dog Barky (A name she had given her). It would be one of her biggest mistakes in her life (as far as she knew) as not long into the expedition they were jumped by a hoard of zombies and Flow watched her best friend ripped to pieces as the ravenous abominations took bites out of her. The next thing she knew, everything around her, zombies and even the destroyed carcass of Barky had frozen solid.

She had no idea what she even was. Even now at eighteen, laying on her back while making an ice sculpture out of thin air, it was still a mystery. Doc, on her examination after the incident, had no explanation as to her abilities, only that her metabolism, immune system was abnormally higher than normal humans. He could not even begin to explain how she could create ice out of nothing, even with in-depth medical records of humans.

There was so much about her life she knew nothing about, like who she was, what her actual name was, and this strange power that gripped her. All she knew was that she wanted to get off this planet. Not just for her, but for her family which had shrunk considerably in the past nine years particularly with the coming of the beasts.

“We’re gonna get outta here,” She said out loud as she finally dropped off. Tomorrow was another day on the solution to her problem and the salvation of the farm.

The Icarus.