More Than a Machine

Pieces

thanks for reading if u actually read this cool bye  ////////////////////////////////////////

  "Barb!" Theo found his wife in the garden. He was almost too excited to speak. "You have got to see it. You've--you have to see what he did!"

  Barb looked up from her tomato plant. "What? Who?"

  "642," he had gotten used to saying the numbers as a name. Now they came out easily. "He was out in the barn last night, you know, working with Hunter. He wouldn't tell me what he was working on. But now--you have to see it, Barb." He took her hand and was already pulling her along to the barn.

  "Okay, okay," Barb chuckled.

  By now, it was late the next day, coming on to evening. 642 and Hunter had been working on some project nearly all day, and even skipped lunch to finish it.

  Barb, glad to see them busy, left them alone. She'd never seen either boy so excited about something before.

  Now a strange sight met her in the yard.

  642 stood--no. He walked. His empty wheelchair sat a few feet away. He was stepping out of the barn and into the evening sunlight. He had two legs.

  Hunter stood by, watching 642 take a step. He was ready to offer support in case he needed it.

  "I think it's a little too short," 642 said with a pause. "We'll have to fix that."

  "Yeah, but it looks great," Hunter gave a proud nod.

  "Feels, great, too." 642 could hardly conceal his pride, nor did he care to. He had built this. With Hunter's help, of course. And he was walking. He looked up as Barb and Theo approached. "Well, what do you think?"

  His new leg had been fashioned almost completely out of Olium. It wasn't just a metal leg; it was robotic too, and moved like a regular leg was supposed to. Bits and pieces of the ship's computer had washed ashore after the FBI left. Somehow the machinery survived the water, and 642 had taken the few pieces apart and worked the wiring into the metal leg. It was now programmed to react to his body.

  The whole piece was a bit rough and unfinished, but a few days of care and detailed work would fix that. For the most part it looked like a professional prosthetic leg. And maybe, perhaps, a bit like a bionic limb straight out of a sci-fi movie. There was certainly an otherworldly style to it.

  642 had no experience building something like this before. He'd never done it in his life. He hadn't even read much on robotics, or on building things like this. There was no way to explain how but he just knew. It was as if the knowledge had been built into him.

  Maybe he had L'othaim to thank for this.

  "What in the world is that!?" Barb gasped in disbelief. "You two did not build that."

  "We did," 642 beamed. "It's not quite finished yet, but it's getting there." His eye sparkled with pride. This was the most excitement he'd ever felt. And the most triumph he'd felt since escaping the Facility. Now, he felt hope.

  "I gave them a few pointers this morning," Gerald, who sat nearby, chimed in. He really hadn't done much. He just wanted to seem useful.

  "It's... well, it's the coolest thing I've ever seen," Barb marveled. "How..."

  "He's brilliant," Theo declared. "They're both brilliant!"

  "I didn't do much," Hunter said modestly. "I just did what 642 told me."