Atlas Abandoned

Aegeus' Gift (13 months since the crash)

Atlas walked around the cave, setting his bad leg down with extra force. Just like he thought, there was no pain. His leg felt strong again! Atlas tested the flexibility of his gear for a while longer before finally accepting the fact that AGS-9 was still not back. He sighed and started gathering some supplies to leave, including his sharpest knife. Just before leaving, Atlas decided to leave a note.

'LOOKING 4 U,' he carved into one of the scraps of hide and set it obviously on the floor in the middle of the cave.

Atlas descended the rock face at the entrance of Camp Wellspring and picked a direction to start searching- it was the same direction as the last time he had been out, so he subconsciously started heading back towards the lake where he saw the animals evolving.

It was different walking and jogging through the alien landscape without AGS-9 at Atlas' side. He had gone off on his own to gather wood before, but the android was never far; never out of yelling distance. Atlas didn't like the way this felt. He hoped he'd find AGS-9 soon.

Atlas made it all the way to the lake, which was hours away, with no sign of the android. He sat down at the spot where they had originally watched the process and thought about where he should look next. He had no idea. Moving was better than sitting, though, so Atlas decided to walk around the lake while he thought about where AGS-9 might have gone if it had come here first.

When he got to the far side of the lake, near the path where they had observed the animals coming and going, Atlas found his first clue. He wished he hadn't. It was AGS-9s leg.

"No!" Atlas yelled as he ran over, knelt, and examined it. The leg looked to have been crudely removed, with frayed wires and jagged, torn metal at the top, daring you to cut yourself on them. Atlas started panicking. He picked up the leg and looked around frantically. There were no other signs of AGS-9, but maybe he was closer now.

"Aegeus!" Atlas yelled as loud as he could. He knew it was risky since this was an area where the wild animals tended to wind up, but AGS-9 was too important to him to not try everything he could think of to find. Atlas picked an arbitrary direction and ran for what felt like 5 minutes. The stifling armor and the strain of carrying the robot's leg was making him sweat. He was much stronger now, so the weight of his equipment wasn't a big deal, but what Atlas hadn't done in months was any running. He was quickly out of breath.

"A..Aegeus!" Atlas yelled weakly before he had caught his breath. Nothing. "Aegeus!" he tried again. Nothing. After running and yelling and hauling around AGS-9's leg for a while, Atlas realized he was at risk of getting lost. The only thing worse than losing the android would have been losing Camp Wellspring too. Atlas did his best to retrace his steps and eventually found his way back to the lake. He was getting hungry so he decided to head back to the camp and rethink his strategy. After a short while on the path back to Camp Wellspring, Atlas was taken by surprise.

"Atlas..." It was AGS-9. Atlas had gotten lucky and taken enough time searching that the android made its way back onto the path. The first thing Atlas noticed was the absence of AGS-9's leg, which Atlas was still carrying with him. The next thing he noticed was a long, deep trail in the sand behind AGS-9. It was obvious now. His other leg was hanging on by a scrap of metal and a few wires. The android couldn't stand or walk and had dragged himself from wherever he was to right here, where he was fortunate enough for Atlas to find him.

"What happened?" Atlas worriedly knelt next to AGS-9, but knew there wasn't anything he could do to help right there.

"There's no time, it could still be around," AGS-9 was speaking more quietly than Atlas was used to, but that didn't distract him from the 'it' the android mentioned.