Reaper: The Novel

Robotics of 2477

The Tasks of Today room was cold. Three air vents directly fed into the room. The vibrant wood walls felt out of place to many, and since the Renegade base was a Spacestation, the entire room felt odd. The choice of colors made you feel like you were living on a mountain, the rustling foliage swaying gently on the wind, and the artificial windows gave you a view of the most beautiful lake you'd ever find on earth, the glistening waters tossing around like shining crystals.

The decoration consisted of pottery from 2020, and trophies of all sorts were affixed on the shelves. The rustic and 21st century feel made Reaper feel like any other human on earth.

The only person, or rather, thing there, was an android aptly named Igneus. His verdant hair stood out. If he wasn't a robot, almost every girl in the Renegade base would fall in love with him. He didn't pay any attention. As a non-living being, he saw love as a distraction, a feeling that only served to divert people from the cold truth of loneliness. Igneus looked up from his book, The History of the Black Mesa, and stared at the black haired girl.

"What do you want?", he said in an voice that conveyed boredom. Reaper stared at him, as if she was suprised that he'd actually talked. After an awkward 5 second silence, Igneus simply repeated his question, as if he didn't notice Reaper standing there, and he was simply repeating the question in case a person was standing here.

"Nice room you've got here", Reaper said to the robot. "Yeah, I thought that maybe the human Renegades would appreciate it if I took a place from Earth and placed it here.", he responded. The girl was not sure if he was joking or if he was serious. Every time she talked to him, she felt that a wall was between them. Everything she said was either agreed upon or simply repeated back to her. It was awkward conversation, but at least the girl was learning about the enigmatic receptionist.

"So...uh...what can I do today?", the girl meekly asked. "Oh, yeah, right. Today you can, umm, hold on a sec." The robot turned to a stack of papers on his desk that seemed impossibly high, and stuck his cold, steel arm into the pile. His arm moved slightly, as if his hand was reaching into some unseen chamber inside the pile. A few seconds later, Igneus pulled out his arm, and a slightly torn sheet of paper, clutched inside his hand. He proceeded to read the contents aloud:

"Task 77, Paragraph 8. Task Difficulty: Easy. Task: Salvage all animatronics found in the Kappa Asteroid Field. Tick the corresponding checkboxes, and terminate any hostile robots."

"Should be an easy task, considering your rank", Igneus said unremarkably. "Given the surplus of parts this base station acquires, I'm surprised that we still have to do Salvage-type tasks", he continued. "Well, anyway, good luck. Most people don't come back from Salvage tasks...Alive, anyway...".

Maybe it was the fact that he said it with so little regard for human life, or the fact that it was because he was a robot, the girl felt uncomfortable around Igneus. "Well then, I'll be on my way, I guess...". Reaper opened her mouth to say something, but no words came. Just silence. She was not intimidated by him, but she was afraid of him nonetheless. Before she left, she took one last look at him. He looked fine, but when she looked into his cold eyes, she felt sadness, as if he had been through countless tragedies. As if no one had ever loved him for real.

Stepping outside, she took in the sight of the large hall. It was greatly illuminated, the soft sky-blue light covering everything. All around her, the busy hubbub of fellow renegades could be heard. Walking past the Cafeteria, she saw all sorts of aliens and humans eating (The food was not questionable. Everything served was fit for both human and alien consumption). She passed by the many hallways. In a way, it reminded her of school on Earth. She relished the moments when she walked in the halls, listening to her favorite songs. Beside the halls of the Spacestation were giant windows. They gave the most magnificent view of space. Most of the time in her breaks, Reaper would sit on the space-benches and simply gaze out into space, watching the graceful fly-bys of asteroids, the twinkling background, and the occasional space whale.

Reaper stood there gazing at the stars for a minute or two, and then made her way to the door with the bright-red sign that said only one thing.

"SALVAGING ROOM"

(Yo, how's it going? Author boi here? Did you like the story? I do too. (I'm just gonna assume you said yes, lmao). If you liked this chapter, make sure to smash that vote button, leave a comment, and follow to see more! See ya guys in the next chapter!)