The Revolution of Oz

Chapter Five: Cyborg Parts

Dorothy, Toto, and Effigy walked along the yellow brick road for a few more hours.

Luckily, Effigy didn't slow them down, and especially not nearly as much Dorothy had thought she would. In fact, the robot was quite efficient in her movements, and apparently the reason for her pale silver body surface was the fact that they were tiny little solar tiles all implanted in her surface.

They had reached forests, and it was nearly nightfall. Dorothy decided that it would be a good time to find a place for them to camp out for the night and find sticks and such so she could build a fire to keep warm. Several Munchkins had warned her that temperature could drop suddenly during the night and become very cold in Oz. Plus, a fire should ward off any creatures prowling in the woods.

That is, if they were anything like the animals on Earth.

Dorothy finally found a somewhat clear area for them to stay for the night, and it was within sight of the yellow brick road. With a sigh of relief, she set down her back pack. While Effigy had offered to carry it, Dorothy had declined because she didn't trust the robot, apparently only newly functioning, to carry her backpack without losing it.

An hour after they had settled down into their camping area, Dorothy built a fire, and watched the sun set as she drifted off to sleep.
                    ***
Dorothy was awoken by a faint yell. She sat up quickly, her heart beginning to pound. She glanced around in an attempt to see what the noise was coming from.

It was still dark, but it was probably close to morning. Hopefully. The sound might have been an animal, but the yelling was far too unsettling for Dorothy to bear.

Toto was already up to investigate, but Dorothy pushed herself off of the ground and walked with him.

She crept across the forest floor along with him until she spotted the figure of a man in the distance. The man continued to yell.

Dorothy ran towards him, Toto right on her heels. She skidded to a halt once she got to him and saw the he was bent over and hobbling on one foot. The other was missing.

"Aaaagghghghgh!" he yelled. "My foot!"

"Lights, on, Toto!" Dorothy said quickly, and the dog's nose lit up and he started pointing it in a few different directions.

Dorothy soon spotted a metal foot and grabbed it. It was heavy in her hand, but she carried it to the man anyway and handed it to him.

The man collapsed to the ground and onto his butt. "Thank you. Got any tools?"

"Let me go check," Dorothy said. "I might have something back at our camp. Toto, stay!"

She ran off back to her little camp and quickly grabbed her backpack, careful not to reactivate Effigy. If Effigy woke up, this would be a lot harder than it needed to be.

She trudged back through the forest and back to the man. She sat down beside him and began to rummage through it.

There was only a wrench and a few pliers, but she pulled them out anyway and handed them to the man. As Toto steadied his light on the man so he could see what he was doing, Dorothy could see that he was definitely human, or some variation, but he was mostly comprised of cybernetic parts. Over half his face had been replaced with metal and carbon fiber, both of his arms were completely cybernetic, and his feet, and most likely his legs, were cybernetic as well.

She wondered how he had lost his arms and legs, but remained silent to let him focus on his work as he connected his foot back to his leg again.

He worked to twist and reconnect the loose wires meticulously, his eyebrows knitted fiercely together in intense concentration. Twist and reconnect. Twist and reconnect. Twist and reconnect. He stuck his tongue out a bit as he pressed his foot into the socket. It took a minute, but it finally clicked, and he stretched his leg out and shook it a bit to test his foot. Then, he wiggled his toes to test it further.