Flow would often dream of the same thing; a star, a large hole in space, and the two blurred people. When they began, they disappeared as fast as they came. This night was no different, even as she dreamt of far-off planets like Solar, and visiting Dawn City for herself.

Her slumber was interrupted by a loud beeping followed by something gently nudging her head. Slowly opening her eyes in response to Blinky.

“Alright I’m up…” Flow yawned as Blinky silenced his alarm. As she wiped her eyes of sleep, Blinky made several beeps, floating up and down as though excited for the new day.

“I said I’m up.” Flow chuckled as she got up from her bed. “Come on little buddy. Lots of work to do.”

Flow followed her daily routine, slipping on some clothes before descending the ladder to the kitchen where Mom was preparing breakfast, porridge with apples.

“Good morning Flow.”

“Morning,” Flow took her spoon.

“Greetings Flow,” Clive came into the kitchen carrying a duster. Besides him was Dustpan, a circular robotic vacuum that Flow restored six months ago. “I’ve taken the liberty of moving the salvage to the hanger. I assume you will be working on the Icarus today.”

“You know it,” Flow said before taking in a spoonful of porridge. “Lotta work to do today.”

Blinky gave a few beeps, floating by her left side.

“Oh, and then I guess I’m going hunting. We’re outta meat right?”

“Ahh morning morning everyone!” Chef descended from the rafters zooming close to Flow.

“Morning,”

“And yes. That burglo steak I prepared for you last night was sadly the last of the meat we had in stock. It would be appreciated if you could go out and bring back another animal.”

“But please be cautious. The beast’s have been getting close to the perimeter.” Mom said.

“Hmmm, guess I should check out the turrets while I’m at it.” Flow finished her food and gave the bowl to Chef. “Alright. Let’s get to work.”

Blinky beeped as the pair left the kitchen.

****

Once inside the hanger, Flow immediately changed into her jumpsuit before entering the workshop. Clive had saw to the arrangements of the various tools and scrap that had been acquired through her expeditions into the colony. This included various tools from spanners and hammers to power tools and plasma cutters. On a workbench sat projects that Flow was working on, and a long table used for maintenance for the machines.

“Alright you three! Rise and shine!”

Out of the corner of the workshop came three droids; Spanner, Bolt and Wench. Engineering droids that originally maintained everything on the farm before Flow taught herself how to fix and repair machines. All three were of different designs. Spanner was a floating bot with tools inside his chest cavity. Bolt was a small, thin humanoid machine with very thin hands designed for wiring and circuitry. Wench was a crab bot, used to ferry heavy components. None of them had vocal units, so they communicated with beeps like Blinky did.

“Okay. Let’s get to work.”

Flow flipped the breaker at the side of the workshop, flooding light onto the only object within the massive space; The Icarus.

Despite taking up the entire space, it was a small cargo vessel; a Terra-class ship designed for speed (According to what schematics they could pull from its computers). Flow had found this ship six years ago while exploring the fields a few miles away. Despite the crash landing, the ship was in remarkably good condition, at least for what it was. Seeing the ship was the primary reason Flow took up engineering. If she could fix this ship then she could leave Helos for good, both her and her entire family.

That said, restoring it was no small task. It took three full years to fix the bodywork and wings, ensuring that it could survive the vacuum of space. Then there was the interior which had been wrecked in the crash and Flow and the bots had just finished restoring it to acceptable conditions. The main challenge was the internal wiring and the engines. The latter of which was challenging as you required a special type of energy crystal and one that’s difficult to find in most of the colonies. The biggest hurdle was the warp drive. It was beyond salvaging which meant it had to be replaced completely, and the only place on the planet that had a replacement was the one place Flow was restricted to go.

Nonetheless, Flow would spend everyday working on the ship with what she had. Today was continuing to tackle the wiring in the cockpit and the terminals in the cabin. It was a job for Flow and Bolt while Spanner and Wrench worked on the engines.

The cabin consisted of a small living quarter with a communal kitchen and lounge in the centre with four cabins lining the corridor and a small stare well that led into the cargo hold. Most of the interior had survived intact but a lot of it had to be replaced, all with varying difficulty. The kitchen unit was restored due to the abundance of cooking facilities Flow had found in the colony, the lounge though was hacked together with whatever could be found. The white-tiled island table was completely out of place, as were the multi-colored cushions on the sofa. To the side were a terminal, radio equipment and ship computer that Flow had been working on to restore. With Bolt’s help, Flow began to fiddle with the circuitry underneath, swapping out some of the older parts or wrong parts, replacing them with fresh components. Blinky served as a flashlight for Flow, flashing his holoscreen to show Flow what more work needed to be done.

Once the work was finished, Flow connected the wiring up to an energy crystal which would give the electronics enough power to work. “Okay; here we go.”

Flow flipped the switch. A spark burst from the inner console as a small fire erupted. “Ahhh,” Frustrated, Flow flashed her hand, freezing the affected area, putting out the fire. “What went wrong that time?”

Blinky scanned the effective area, beeping before projecting a hologram.

“… Wrong one,” Flow and Bolt got back to work, repairing the damage. “Why is this stuff so complicated while the cockpit was simple enough?”

Both Blinky and Bolt beeped and squeezed, communing. Flow couldn’t understand them, but having lived with them for years she could work out what each beep and sound a machine makes when communicating.

“Alright, alright. One more time….”

After two hours of trial and error (and two more electrical fires later), the consoles began to wheeze into life after months of hard labor.

“Yes!” Flow and her two bots cheered excitedly. Flow tapped on the controls. The computer screen kept erupting in minor static, and the communicator could not connect to anyone outside of the planet, but the terminal was now in working order, at long last completing the interior of the Icarus.

“Alright, engines next.”

*****

The Icarus had two engines fixed to its wings. Small and narrow, and from the blueprints that Flow was able to dig up from the ship’s mainframe, were designed with speed in mind, adding to the cone shape of the prow.

“How’s it going?” Flow called to Spanner who was working on the left-wing. Spanner gave her a beep and a nod. Wench waddled to Flow's side, carrying tools and parts on his flat back while Bolt flew in carrying a ladder.

Setting it against the wing, Flow climbed up with Bolt flying up Wench’s cargo. Flow moved over to the engine, setting to work on another section, fiddling and replacing several parts of the wiring.

“Wrench! Could you grab the energy crystals! We’ll run another test when this is done!”

Wrench beeped before crawling back towards the workshop, passing a humming Chef who carried a basket of apples, flying up to the occupied Flow.

“Good afternoon to you all. I trust you are making good progress on the ship.”

“I think so,” Without looking, Flow reached for one of the apples. “We finally got the insides finished,” and took a huge bite. “All that’s left is getting the engines ready to go.”

Chef set the basket down beside Flow before examining the Icarus. “To think after so long, the ship is finally coming together.”

“Too early to celebrate yet.” Flow said lowering the service panel. “I still have no idea if this thing’ll actually survive in space.” Blinky beeped, hovering close to her shoulder. “First things first; let’s fire up those engines.”

Bolt and Spanner attached cables to both engines while Flow climbed down to the ground where Wrench was walking over with a power generator, fueled by four energy crystals. The power provided would not be enough to achieve space flight, but it was just enough to test out the engines. Moving back a safe distance at the rear of the ship, the two droids delivered the power lines to Flow, who attached them to the generator.

Once it was finished, Flow grabbed another apple from Chef’s basket while Blinky scanned the apprentice giving a blink from his central light informing the team everything was ready.

“Okay; engine test no…. What’s the number now?”

Blinky beeped.

“… Ah screw it. Test hundred and something. Aaaannnnd, go!” Twisting the switching, the generator began to hum into life. The engines began to roar as they ignited. Blinky flashed a holoscreen, showing the energy output of the two engines with a yellow bar filling up on both sides. For the engines to work in space, both displays had to be filled without overloading, something that she had not been able to achieve as of yet. “Come on you son of a bitch…”

The engine's power increased. Flow held onto Blinky to stop him from blowing away, leaving both Bolt and Chef to rocket across the room. The output increased.

“Come on…”

Flow began to brace herself as the thrust continued to increase. Spanner was knocked on his back before being blown across the room.

“Nearly….”

Both engines were filled with yellow.

“Come stop…”

The yellow changed to magenta.

“Now stop….”

Her hand hovered over the kill switch.

“Please…”

The magenta then faded back into yellow as a green outline covered the engine.

“YES!” Flow cheered. “YEAHAHA! IT’S STABLE!” She jumped up and down with Blinky in her hands before hitting the kill switch.

“Alright, guys! We did-oh…”

Finally turning around she saw Spanner, Bolt and Chef had been blown away by the thrusters, the apples spilled all across the ground along with several parts that were dislodged from their bodies on impact. “Opps,”

****

“Did the test go- oh excuse me,” Clive and dustpan walked into the workshop. Flow was at her workbench reattaching Spanners arm. Chef was hovering behind her with several cracks in his bodywork. Bolt was on the table with a broken hover unit.

“A little… mishap.” Flow said as she finished working on Spanner’s arm.

“My beautiful frame….” Chef said, examining his damaged bodywork. “I knew I should never set foot into the hanger.”

“I said I was sorry. I’ll get you another frame when we’ve finally taken off,” Flow said, taking a spanner to Bolt’s damaged hover unit. “There you go,” After some tool work, the unit whirled into life, allowing the small bot to lift off the ground. “Little fiasco aside, it’s good news. The engines are finally working.”

“That is good news,” Clive said with Dustpan squeaking. “That would mean our exodus is one step closer to reality.”

“Sure is,” Flow put her tools away, stretching the cranks gained from an entire day of work. “Nearly there. Just a few more bits and pieces.”

Blinky let out a few whines and beeps.

“Yeah, we’ll think of something, little buddy.” Flow finally got up from her workbench as the bots she repaired began to move away. Spanner and Bolt gave a few beeps and squawks, not sharing the same excitement that Clive had. “Okay okay. Sorry guys.”

The bots nodded, accepting Flow’s apology for sending them flying with the ship's engines.

“One confirmation will be sufficient,” Clive said.

“Oh drop it, will ya.”

****

After stripping out of her jumpsuit, Flow walked into the armory with Blinky ever hovering over her shoulder and a rucksack in her hand. There she put on her underclothes before taking her light armor. Unlike the one she wore today, this silute was a single breastplate, wrist and shin guards. Unlike the other two, it had no helmet. It traded protection for lightness, which suited the wilderness around the farm where the beasts and zombies were rare and few in number.

“Alright, let's pay Sarge a visit.” Flow said to Blinky, grabbing the rucksack from the ground and towards the weapon racks. “Sarge!”

“ATTENNNNNN HUT!”

Flow covered her ears as Sarge burst into view; a security bot like Brawn and bouncer with a personality modular installed. Unfortunately, Sarge had been used to train the local militia before the outbreak, and the person who programmed him went a bit overboard with his personality. While his gun-hoe attitude did get a bit much from time to time, Sarge not only helped Flow learn how to shoot, but he also maintained the armory (of four guns) and the ammunition for Flow to use.

“Good to see you, soldier. Are you ready for your mission?”

“I’m just going hunting and repairing the sentries,” Flow chuckled, holding out her rucksack. “Just need the rifle. You said you’d finished tuning it yesterday.”

“That I did,” Sarge moved to the weapon racks behind him and brought out her sniper rifle. “The firing pins have been replaced so hopefully it will jam less frequently.”

Flow took the weapon, rapping the sling around her before checking the box magazine. It had been fully loaded, as far as she could tell. Satisfied, Flow snapped the magazine back.

“We don’t have much rifle ammo left,” Sarge handed her a single magazine. “So use them sparingly,”

“I will,” Flow said, taking her pistol from Sarge along with two magazines for it. “All ready little buddy?”

Blinky gave a series of beeps while Flow sheathed her knife, throwing her rucksack over her shoulders before walking off.

“We’ll be back before dark!”

“Keep safe soldier!” Sarge saluted before Flow exiting the door, greeted by two lasers flashing on her chest and head.

“Seriously guys?”

Brawn and Bouncer stood down and walked back to their stations.

Chuckling, Flow walked through the Farms gates and off into the wilderness.

****

With the sun high up in the sky, Flow set off through the old fields. The area outside the farm was fortunately absent of zombies roaming the area, and the beasts rarely ventured far from the colony as their food was the zombies that infested the fallen city.

Yet there were packs of beasts that would occasionally go beyond the city in search of fresh prey, with a nearby farm being ransacked by the creatures while the few infected were eaten. It seemed to be good fortune they hadn't found the farm, though Flow had to guess the seven sentry guns placed around the perimeter kept it at bay, advanced high-powered guns that fired laser rounds that could easily pierce the hide of a beast.

“Ah shit.” Reaching the first gun (Gun number 4), Flow could help but swear (and glad mom wasn’t around) when she saw the beast's corpse before it, five in total. That was more than her last patrol, and it was likely not the full pack.

“Blinky?”

The small droid floated towards the turret, scanning it for damage before turning back to Flow, giving off two beeps.

“Good,” Flow nodded before walking away, keeping her rifle in hand just in case as they walked through the broken agricultural plots to the other auto-turrets. It was the same story at 3 and 2, dead beasts laying in front of it.

Gun 1 though had taken some damage in its skirmish as a single beast had gotten through and clawed at it before being killed.

“Aw great. They got right up to it.”

Flow repaired the damage, which was fortunately not bad. After swapping out some of the damaged wires, the machine whirled into life. Flow stepped in front of it, having it track her. With Blinky by her side, the machine didn’t fire as her partner transmitted the IFF confirming her as an ally.

Guns 7, 6 and 5, located on the other side of the farm and facing away from the colony, had no beast activity, though 6 did have two zombies that had wandered into the guns' arc.

From 7, Flow and Blinky moved further into the wilderness, past several abandoned farms that were long abandoned by the former owners in search of the herds that grazed the overgrown fields. It didn’t take long for Flow to find a herd gathered at the foot of a giant agriculture machine; swallows, a native animal to the planet, a four legend creature with narrow bodies, long necks, and elongated heads.

“Here we go,” Flow crouched into the bushes, slowly bringing her rifle to bear on the unsuspecting herd, inching her finger closer to the trigger as she scanned for her prey. Then, she pulled the trigger.

BANG!

The herd scattered at once, vacating the area as they ran off in a panic. Flow approached the only thing that was left, one of the swallows, a bullet hole smoldering from its head.

“Now… for the hard part.”

With her weapon slung, Flow began to drag the animal back with her.

“Where’s… Clive… when you need… him….?”

Blinky flew beside Flow as she dragged the animal back towards the farm. She let go to catch her breath before continuing. Finally, after much struggle, she made it to gun 7 before collapsing on the ground.

“Okay… next time, I’m definitely bringing the speeder,” Flow sighed, loosening her sling as she sat up. The sun was beginning to set in the horizon with one of the moons in the sky. The stars were beginning to come out, the vast cosmos beyond the small little world. Flow would often get lost on her thoughts, imagining finally leaving Helios and venturing to far-off planets.

“.... Say Blinky,” Flow brought her legs towards her as she looked up, “once we get the Icarus working, where would you wanna go?”

Blinky gave a series of beeps.

“Right, right,” Flow chuckled, lost in thought. “Say, suppose I find the ship where I came from… If you know, I finally find my parents or other people I knew before; do you think they’ll remember me? Well… guess I can’t remember much about them either,”

Blinky bopped, floating closer to Flow.

“I’ll make that my mission. Find a way to get my old memories back, remember who I am… and who knows, maybe even find my real family again.”

Blinky made a long, silent whistle sound.

“Hey hey, come on.” Flow gently tapped the droid's shell. “You guys will always be family, no matter what. I wouldn’t be alive if not for all of you,”

Blinky gave a few more whistles, flying back and forth in front of her eyes.

“Alright, come on,” Flow grabbed her rifle off the ground, slinging it over her shoulder as Blinky flew up to her level. “Let's get back before-”

Blinky suddenly stopped, making a few more sounds. Sounds that meant his proximity sensor was triggered. Realizing this, Flow readied her rifle, retreating back to gun 7. As she took position, she heard the howl of a beast.

The gun whirled into life as the shapes of the beast came into view, blending into the fields. White-hot shots of plasma hit their marks, burning through the hides. Flow took aim and tried to fire, but only scored a grazing shot on one beast before it was gunned down by the turret.

Blinky began to beep frantically again, this time to Flow’s right.

“Oh shit!” on instinct, Flow threw out an ice wall, just as a beast lunged at her from her right side bypassing the gun. As it was knocked into the air, Flow took aim and fired, allowing the bullet to pierce through its skull.

“Thanks, buddy,” Flow said through huffs and puffs.

The gun had stopped and four beasts lay dead, including the one on top of the ice wall. If Flow hadn’t been there, gun 7 could have been taken out as the beast had bypassed the firing arcs. They were learning, trying to find a hole in the perimeter.

“Shit… and that’s not even in the direction of the colony.” Flow said as she came to the conclusion.

Blinky beeped.

“Yeah. Let’s let the farm know.” Flow and Blinky set off back to the farm, “Oh, hold up.” before turning back to the swallow, thanking the creator the beast’s didn’t drag it away.

****

Once back on the farm, and stripped down from her armor, Flow gave the swallow to Chef before asking Clive to gather everyone for a meeting. After stripping down from her armor, giving back her weapon to Sarge, getting her food from Chef, everyone gathered into the conference (a long table in the kitchen). Everyone with the exception of Brawn and Bouncer was present. While eating her food, Flow talked about her expedition outside and the beasts that assaulted gun 7.

“Beasts?” Mom said as alarmed as she could given her smooth voice.

“Yeah, it’s like they’re testing the Farms defenses for holes,” Flow said before shoving food into her mouth with her fork. “The group that attacked gun 7 wasn’t that big, but if they attack in force I don’t think the gun’s can get them all.”

“That is certainly an alarming development,” Clive said.

“Indeed. It might be a matter of time before they try to assault the farm directly,” Doc said grimly.

“Ha! If that happens we’ll bury them under a hail of bullets!” Sarge bellowed, encouraged by the beeps from the maintenance bots and Dustcan.

“I doubt we have enough bullets to hold them all off,” Flow said with her fork between her teeth.

“And most of us are no combat units like Sarge, Brawn and Bouncer. Nor built for combat like Clive.” Chief said. “If it comes to it, we’d have to abandon the Farm and move further away from the Colony. The old watchtowers could work.”

Around the colony was a collection of towers that the colony built to protect the area in case of any hostile threat from the ground or an invasion from space. As they were far away from the colony, there was little in the way of zombies or beasts. However, moving away would mean abandoning not just the farm but a lot of Flow’s worldly possessions, and worse, the Icarus itself.

But that thought gave Flow an idea. “Buuuuttt,” she took her fork from her mouth, twirling it between her fingers. “If the Icarus is finished before then, we’ll be long gone.”

The news of the Icarus turned heads (of those who had heads) at the meeting. “I take it repairs are going well?” Mom asked.

“Uh huh,” Flow nodded. “Interiors done and we got the engines working at long last. Right guys?”

The maintenance bots beeped in unison, all three sharing their exhilaration.

“Although…” Flow raised two fingers, “ we’re still short a functional warp core and a ship grade energy crystal. Without both, we’re not going into space. In fact, without the energy crystal, we’re not going anywhere on this planet.” The news was certainly sobering to say out loud as both were very difficult to come by.

“Well then, I suppose a few trips into the colony will change that, no?” Doc asked.

“If it were that easy,” Clive replied. “Unfortunately finding what we need from the colony has proven exceedingly difficult. The energy crystals supplying power to the buildings and vehicles are incomparable with spaceships and all private vessels are gone. My old masters were among those that fled and where shot down by the federation for breaking quarantine.”

“It does seem we’ve reached a critical impasse.” Mom said.

Flow couldn’t help but agree. Finding the parts out in the colony was next to impossible. She’d know as she’s turned the entire colony upside down on her expeditions and found nowhere that had what they needed.

Almost nowhere.

“You know there is one place that’ll have what we need.”

“No.” Mom dismissed her immediately.

“Come on! There’s nothing but spaceships there! We’re bound to find a warp core and the energy crystal we need!”

“The spaceport was among the first zones of the colony to be quarantined following the outbreak and has since been heavily infested by the zombies. Every living creature that has strayed into it has been devoured, beasts included. It’s too dangerous.”

“The entire colony is dangerous and I still go out there!” Flow slammed her arms on the table. “A warp core and an energy crystal is all we need, and they’re both in the same place plus whatever else we’ll need for the Icarus!”

“The spaceport is off-limits.” Mom asserted. “Have you forgotten Farmer and Sweeper? Both were destroyed on a salvaging venture. It’s too much of a risk to take.”

“So what? I’m just supposed to spend the rest of my life on this rotting world until I die of old age or get eaten by zombies or beasts!”

“I think we’re getting a little sidetracked-” Clive tried to interrupt before Mom continued.

“We are programmed to prioritize your wellbeing above all else.”

“No! Who you were programmed to prioritize are dead or wandering around mindlessly in the colony!” Flow’s outburst caused every robot to shudder. It took her a few seconds of deft silence to realize what she had just said. Slowly as her temper cooled off she slumped down in her chair, keeping her gaze down ashamed to look her family in the lense. “S-Sorry… I-I shouldn’t have said that,”

“…. You’re tired.” Mom said. Her lack of vocal range made it difficult to determine what her mood was on this occasion, which made the situation more awkward.

“Yes, I think that will be beneficial,” Chef said. “We can always continue this in the morrow.”

“G-Good idea,” Flow wasted no time in getting up from the table. “Come on Blinky.” Her little drone companion was the only one who followed her to her room.

****

“I really did it now…” Flow lay on her back, covering her eyes with her arm. Blinky floated closer to her, trying his best to comfort her.

“… Sorry buddy. You know I didn’t mean that,”

After a low whistle, Blinky floated closer to Flow and nestled her left cheek. Flow chuckled, gently running her finger across his shell.

“It’s just…. Frustrating. Knowing we’re so close and yet we could lose everything we’ve built for the last nine years.”

Blinky floated upwards, hovering above Flow’s face while letting out a few beeps. Flow chuckled, knowing her little droid was trying to cheer her up despite lacking a vocal unit to speak.

“Do you think… Mom will change her mind? About the spaceport?”

Blinky’s low whistle said it all.

“And she calls me stubborn,” Flow sighed. Blinky flew off and sat himself down on his charging pad before shutting off, leaving Flow alone with her thoughts.

Slowly, Flow brought up her monitor, turning on the same sitcom she was playing last night, pausing it when the camera pandered to the wider city of Dawn City. She stared at the city for what felt like hours, her mind drifting to something from her memory. It was one of the few memories she had, the view of a city full of lights similar to what was on this picture.

Flow had long thought about what that city was; whether it was Dawn City, the capital of the Solar Federation. If so, maybe it was from where she came from, on a cruise ship that was attacked, with her parents placing her in her capsule before ejecting it from the ship. That was her best theory as to why she was frozen for so long. Any answers to her identity on her pod were long gone. If she wanted to find out more she had to get out and seek the answers herself. That meant she needed to get off this planet one way or the other.

Even if that meant doing something very stupid.