Sector B

34

Rory woke up from a nap and realized she was home alone. Jessica must've gone out with Avon. And Theodore probably went to the Agency.

She liked when she had the place to herself. The only people who stayed were the Butlers, Maids, and a few Generals guarding the front. But whenever it was as quiet as this, Rory could think clearly.

She walked out of her room and looked outside the large window that was in the living room. The door beside it was what led to the back deck.

There was still a bit of snow, but most of it had cleared up since the day before. It would probably snow again later that day to fill in again. Rory looked over her shoulder, hoping that the Generals weren't watching.

She was allowed to go outside with supervision from Jessica. The last time she went out caused the Chen family to take extra security measures. But she needed to get fresh air. She felt locked up like a prisoner.

Rory placed her finger over the scanning pad next to the door. A blue line traced down the screen and a click alerted her. The door was unlocked. Rory put on a Jacket and shoes she found before walking out to the back.

However, she regretted it the moment she stepped out and turned around. Waiting for her was the same killing machine. Rory stood stiff.

"Assistance needed." It buzzed at her.

So many questions were running through her mind. Why did the machine come back? Why was it telling her that it needed assistance?

It didn't matter. She had to get inside before it hurt her or anyone else. Rory spun around and turned the knob as fast as she could, but it didn't move. The door must've locked immediately from the inside.

There was a scanning pad for her to get back in, but the robot may as well have killed her before she had the time for it to scan.

The machine behind her shifted into its original form while Rory was panicking. It wasn't until the robot rolled into her leg to get her attention that she looked down at her feet.

"... Is that... POYO?" Rory gasped.

"Rory. Assistance. Needed."

Rory's hands went cold. That was most likely because of the weather. She was so stunned. The robot that she thought Decha took away was right in front of her.

But it didn't make sense. Why would Decha take POYO only for it to attack him later? And she never installed a hostile add-on to its programming. She had to figure that out later.

Right now, the robot that was programmed with her AI was asking for her help. Maybe she could recode the current way it's running back to its original purpose. Which was to help people. Not to kill them.

With that idea in mind, she got started. "Run a Self-diagnostic analysis." She commanded.

POYO's eyes went into two x shapes before making a repetitive beeping noise, similar to one a radar would make. Then it made a long ding.

Rory pressed a small button on the side of its head and a small holographic window fizzed up.

She read the notes of the analysis carefully. "Somethings wrong with the core. Power is pretty high, so you have reliable batteries giving you energy. But whatever chip is around it is causing you to malfunction."

Rory was able to fix it. But she needed POYO's original flash disk. But that disk was long gone. She could make another one with spare parts Jessica bought for her, but that would take some time.

"Stay here. I'll help you, but you can't come inside. Stay hidden until I come back, okay POYO?"

"Rory. Assistance. Needed."