FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

~ [Author's Note: The Synth mentioned in this story are a fictional species of robot-folk, created by Vader-San. For an example image of a Synth, https://twitter.com/NSanav/status/1098441404018290689 ]

~ The Synth gazed out across the intermittent silence of their room, the alarm dutifully whomping away any chance for slumber with its regular intervals of tone. Dragging himself out of bed, he lingered for a moment in his room to let his body confirm to him that he'd spend the night charging. Before much delay, he was headed to the Omni-Fab to pick up the load of shingles and tar for his day's work.

~ The leak in Manard's toolsmithing shop resolved, he retrieved the completed solar panel assembly from the Omni-Fab along his path home.

~ The night that followed was calm.

~ He was awake several minutes, staring into the peeling paint of his ceiling before the alarm went off. The Synth rolled out of bed, lumbering along to the silence of the town's morning. He carried the Omni-Fab provided paint jugs in a cart, past the empty building where Margret's bakery stood and through the shadow of the town hall with faded white paint. He recalled the sound of workers having lunch on the lawn, and was now keenly aware of the lack of it.

~ The Synth applied a fresh coat of paint to the barn on the end of town, and another coat to the smithing shop.

~ The evening thereafter was uneventful.

~ The night that followed was calm.

~ The Synth's room was unadorned and silent, turning off the alarm before it could go off. He slunk out into the rising dawn of the morning sun, belt of tools about his waist. It would be some amount of problem solving and caution, but he was confident he could get the power back on in the third block of town. There was no music to rise when the power was restored, nor complaints to seek it sooner. The Synth would have settled for either, over the shimmering sounds of a light breeze.

~ The day's task completed early, by virtue of a bit of luck and proper tooling access, the Synth lingered at the graveyard just out of the edge of town. The markers were worn and starting to develop their patina, the earth having long since settled. His fingers felt to ache, recalling the holes he'd dug and filled.

~ The night that followed was calm.

~ The alarm declared its arbitrary tone of morning, the Synth grumbling his way out of bed. He departed for the Omni-Fab empty handed except for his spare arm. Today was a day to catch up on some of his own repairs and maintenance. When he was satisfied with the performance of his left hand and right knee, he departed for home with several jugs of liquid nitrogen from the cooling turbines he'd arranged in the building next door.

~ As he filled her tank, the Synth clicked on the audio recorder.

~ "It's been another six months, so I'm adding more nitrogen to make sure you're safe in there."

~ He searched for words, for descriptions, for news from the routine that went on day and day.

~ His memory had lost a bit of confidence, his voice a bit of muster. He couldn't remember if he'd told her yet, so he did.

~ "I got word from the Tennyson colony; they've confirmed the quarantine and concur with our timeline for when it's safe to come."

~ He couldn't stop remembering the sound of crackle and blinding flash of a moment.

~ Her skin and plates scorched from the strike. The raw vitality of lightning, a fleeting splinter of time.

~ Her form crumpled to the ground. His joints aching as he raced home. His fingers and hands freezing as he haphazardly tossed aside the items they'd stored in the nitrogen bath.

~ The concealing fog, as her limp form sunk into the chill. He caught his words, again. He spoke.

~ "They've talked to a Synth doctor, and he thinks there's decent odds that you'll be okay. If we keep you in there. Cold. Keep you in there until we can have a proper repair gantry right here to put you in."

~ He glanced to the alarm clock, and to the calendar laid out on the floor. "Only twenty more years, and they'll send a ship."

~ The evening thereafter was uneventful.

~ The night that followed was calm.