There was no longer any point in holding on to the MurderBot body that I had in my [Inventory] since we wouldn’t be going back to the Guild to report. The MurderBots were about the same size as me, but our heads were more or less normal sized so it should fit on Shiro’s body okay.

I was already starting to formulate theories on what had happened to Shiro and I couldn’t help but want to pay a visit to this village on Shiro’s behalf. As tempting as some vengeance might be, making Automata into a blanket enemy that the organics could rally against was a really bad idea. Even trying to talk to them right now would likely be fruitless since the ones that did this and their friends and families likely would see this less as an assault or act of aggression and more like an act of vandalism.

I got the replacement head attached to Shiro’s body but it would be a while before he had recovered enough to come back online. I stood up and started walking back towards the road when Elita grabbed my arm.

“Don’t do anything stupid, Prime”, she warned.

“Yeah. I know.”

I got back to the road and looked up one direction then the other. It was the middle of the night now, and the night predators were slinking around the woods but none were interested in a couple of meatless robots. I heard some rustling through the leaves and saw a little ball of light pop out as Sparky followed after me. He stopped next to me and looked up so I squatted down and held out my arm for him to climb up.

“So what should we do, Sparky? Some people from this village tried to kill our friend.” I looked to the sky at what stars I could see through the branches above; in my old life I never really took the time to stargaze and the light pollution of my old world blocked most of the night sky from view. Here, there were swaths of colored nebulas in the sky and for the first time I noticed that they had three moons. One of them was pink.

I pulled IronHide out of [Inventory] and tried to open up his hatch, but it was blocked by the massive wedge of iron stuck to the front. Sparky hopped off my shoulder and looked at me.

“Don’t worry, I won’t hurt anybody”, I promised.

I brought out Cyclone and hopped inside, even with his strength I wasn’t able to get the iron wedge disconnected from the front plating. The [IronGrowth] was a useful defensive skill to have, but I’d have to come up with a better way to use it that would allow me to also shed the plates as needed; without having to completely drop the base layer of armor as well.

I pulled the entire front armor assembly off and it dropped to the ground with a loud clang that I was sure would wake some people up, but other than some birds yelling at me, no one took notice. Without that assembly, IronHide only had a paper thin metal plating covering my compartment but at least he wouldn’t tip forward in bot mode.

I put both Cyclone and the iron wedge into [Inventory] and took a long look at IronHide and the raw amount of power that he represented for me. The temptation to accept that power was nearly overwhelming; instead I walked back into the undergrowth to check on Shiro and Elita.

“How’s he doing?” I asked.

“He’s started to stir, but I think the new head is taking some getting used to.”

“How about you?”

“I’m fine. Just feeling tired.”

I [Inspect]ed both of them, and Shiro looked like he was out of danger so I disconnected the pump and closed up their chest panels.

“Just rest for a bit. Your systems will naturally recover and repair at this point. If you can shut down your external systems, you’ll recover faster. I’ll keep watch.”

Elita nodded and the light in her eyes dimmed. Shiro turned his new head to look at me and he started shaking a bit. I put my hand on his chest and gently patted him.

“It’s okay now. I’m here. We’re going to take you to AutomaTown, our new Automata village. I’ll build you a brand new body, and it’s going to be awesome; promise.”

Shiro put his remaining hand on top of mine and settled.

“Was it people from the village near here that did this to you?”

He squeezed my hand.

“I could level the entire place to the ground, you know. There would be no survivors.”

He shook my hand.

“Yeah, I didn’t think that’s what you would want. You’re a better bot than me, Shiro.”

Again, he shook my hand.

“No, it’s true. I want to burn the whole village to cinders for what they did to you. You and Elita are my conscience here.”

He patted my hand. I wasn’t sure what that was supposed to mean but I took it as a happy gesture.

“Okay buddy, you rest up a bit more. I need to find a water source to fill IronHide’s boiler and we can get going. Oh right, you haven’t seen IronHide yet. I’ll introduce you when I get back, okay? I’ll leave Carnivac to keep an eye out while I’m gone.”

Shiro squeezed my hand and I pulled out Carnivac to keep watch. I found Sparky sitting on IronHide’s hood, waiting for me.

“It’s too bad none of us have any water magic to fill this guy up”, I said, holding my arm out for him. “Maybe we could find a hydrofox to make friends with?”

Sparky gave me a glare and his little eyes burned a bit brighter.

“Just kidding”, I said as I put IronHide into [Inventory]. I grabbed hold of the nearest tree and easily climbed up the trunk and branches to get above the treetops. Once again, having hand-like feet proved super useful. Sparky and I poked our heads out above the leaves and could see the full expanse of sky, but I didn’t see anything that told me there was water nearby.

I pulled out Shrapnel and had him fly over the area around the village, but I still wasn’t able to find anything like a river or lake. His vision was a lot more limited in range than my own, and he wasn’t what you would call fast in the air. It would be helpful if I could work out a way to get myself airborne. My trip up the tree as well as buzzing around within the range of a large beetle, ultimately proved fruitless, so I climbed back down.

Sparky and I walked the side road towards the village. They would have to have a water source nearby, even if it was a well or a fountain. I saw a similar security setup to what Shady Grove had with a protective barrier around the village. Just like at Shady Grove, I was able to pass through, but it looked like Sparky wouldn’t be able to join me. These barriers must be designed to keep organic things like beasts and raiders out, but what about things like arrows or magic attacks? Maybe, that was included in the “premium” security plan.

“Hey, Sparky. Can you spit a little fire? I’m curious to know if these barriers work on it.”

Sparky obliged me and pushed a small stream of flame my way. The flame went through the barrier without any problem.

“Thanks buddy. I guess if the village has magic attacks headed their way then they have a lot bigger problems than what this barrier can handle. Okay, I’ll be back in a bit. Just going to find a well, top off, and come back.”

I wished that I had brought Carnivac with me and left Cyclone to watch Elita and Shiro instead. His stealth would have been useful to say nothing of the fact that my main body had little glowing lights all over it. My internal clock showed 4:AM so everyone should be asleep by now. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.