Scrap Metal

Find of the Day

People aren't usually fond of others snooping around in their garbage cans, tossing things around looking for who knows what. In this day and age it was every man for himself. You found what you could and made do with what you had.
Skye Parker was one of those people. He was often seen driving along the trash covered roadways in industrial parks, eyes scanning for useful material. Just as he was doing now. It was dumping season, thats when everyone throws out their most valuable trash. Aka: Christmas for scavengers. It happens somewhere between March and May, "Spring Cleaning".
Bins were scattered along the street corners, early pickers already out searching through heaps and bundles of trash. Skye kept driving, looking for something else, something that was more than what the other scavengers would be looking for. He picked up speed, swerving around a spare hubcap that was strewn in the middle of the road, his dog Rider barked at him from the back seat. The car came to a screeching halt and Skye jumped out of the front seat, Rider on his heels.
He'd almost driven past the haul of a lifetime. A bin full of who knows what stood on the far side of the road, almost completely invisible to anyone driving by. He pulled a bag out of the trunk of his car and started scavenging.
"Hoho, man! This is so cool!" He gave Rider a pat on the head. "Do you know what this means, Rider? We could be rich!"
He climbed on top of the bin tossing bits of garbage around, "Ah.. Useless... Useless...." Skye sighed, tossing some cylinder past Rider. He picked up something small, that almost looked like an arm, and tossed it. Uncovering a small wilted daisy.
"What the-" He pulled at it but it didn't budge. Rider barked again but he wasn't paying attention. He moved some more garbage out of the way. The flower was connected to a dull green metal plate. He stepped back.
"Rider, do you see this!? Theres something huge in here! We have to take this!" Not that he was expecting an intelligible response, but there wasn't anything. Skye turned around, "Rider? Rider where are you?" He shrugged, Rider ran off all the time but he always came back. He decided to not think much of it. Maybe Rider would be waiting for him at home.
Skye connected the bin to the end of his car and drove off home.
~
"Rider? Rider... Come out, come out wherever you are!" Skye slammed the screen door behind him and stepped into his workshop. He whistled, no response.
"Alright, Rider. Stay hidden if you want." He sighed and opened the door and stepped out to the bin he had hauled home. He walked around it a few times trying to figure out how to open it. Eventually his eyes landed on a few screws aligned at the corners of the bin, he grabbed a screwdriver and began unscrewing them.
After a few minutes the front cover of the bin few off and a mountain of scrap came pouring out. "AlrightーWhere are you?" Skye got onto his knees and began rummaging through the pile.
"Aha! Found you!" He grabbed the plate around the daisy and pulled as hard as he could. Whatever this belonged to, it sure was heavy. There was a horrible grinding sound and an enormous metal figure slid out from underneath the scrap. Skye dropped down beside it.
It was a light mint color, with some cleaning up it would be at least. It was tangled in cords and covered in scratches. The screen face it had was dim, and it appeared to have it's eyes closed. A small monitor on its chest featured a pink cartoon heart that was beating ever so slowly. And its most prominent feature was the wilted daisy on its head, which began to slowly straighten as the robot lay in front of him.
"I can't believe this... Who would throw something like this away?" He spoke to himself, not expecting the robot to hear him. "I mean it is kind of strangeーWho built you?" He looked around for an engraving or anything that could give him some idea on how to bring this thing back to life.
Just underneath the heart monitor was a small engraving. "Atlas".
Skye sighed. "Atlas? I've never heard of that..." He fell back on his knees. From what he could tell it would seem the yellow rings on its shoulders were collecting energy from the sun. He was secluded enough to leave it out to charge.
"Alright buddy, I'm gonna leave you out here for now. I'll see what I can do to fix you up." He stood up and stepped away from the robot, giving it one last look over before he went back inside.
A small device sat on his desk, it was a tracker. Programmed to locate Rider if he was anywhere in the city. He pressed a few keys and a map popped up in front of him. A small blinking dot near the coast showed him where Rider was.
"Huh I wonder what he's doing there... I don't think either of us had been down there." He found Rider when he was a puppy, left alone near some smoke stained house. The family he was with was unable to take care of him after their house burnt down, so they just left him. At least that's what Skye managed to piece together. Rider meant everything to him, if he was gone.. He didn't know what he'd do.
He uploaded the position to his car's GPS and headed out. Out here people were desperate, he silently cursed himself for not keeping a closer eye on Rider. It was starting to get dark, which was even worse. He drove faster.
It took him a few minutes, but at the speed he was driving he managed to make it to Rider's position. He blew a dog whistle, waiting in the dim light to hear a bark in response. He strained to listen over the crashing waves. He was about to search elsewhere until he heard a weak bark. He jumped up and ran towards it as fast as he could.
Rider was tied up in the middle of what looked like someone's backyard, barking at the waves that got closer and closer to covering him completely. it looked like someone tied him up and just left him to drown. Skye ran to help, Rider whimpered at him and clawed at the post.
"Rider! Rideriderider... Oh man, I am so sorry..." He took out a pocket knife and started sawing at the rope, the waves swallowing his feet.
There was a snap, and Rider was free. He jumped up and licked at Skye's face. Skye stood up. "Alright buddy. I'm not sure who did this to you, but lets head home. I have something you might want to see." He was about to start off for his car, when it flew past him, going faster than he would have ever dared to drive.
He was shocked for a moment, Rider gave chase.
"No, Rider! Stay back its too fast!" He ran towards his dog. Rider slowed to a stop and looked up at him, cocking his head.
Someone just stole his car.
~