To What We Owe Each other

Faith Trust and Pixie Dust. (1)

Bright lights. That's all he could acknowledge, as the rest of him was currently immobilized. Then muffled and fuzzy voices echoed in his ears. They sounded worried, but he wasn't sure. He tried to remember,  tried to remember something, anything. However the only thing that managed to come to mind were fuzzy images of angry humans. He didn't understand,  why were they angry? And fuzzy? And hitting him? 

We're these voices the same humans? 

Panic began to course through him. We're they going to hurt him? Why couldn't he move? The feeling of sheer terror sat in as he tried to force himself to move. However his attempts were futile. He is confused, and scared. He doesn't want to get hurt by the humans. He hates humans, he confirmed. Hates them, hates the, hates them, hates thEM, HATES THEM-

"Hey, he's waking up!" One of the muffled voices said. It was male, and sounded underwater.  

"What? How can you tell?" The other deeper voice asked, the light flashing into his eyes once again. 

"His LED, it's spinning Yellow. It wasn't on before!" 

"This is good!" It responded to the higher voice, tapping the LED on the side of his head. "Let's give 'em some space.." 

There he sat for a second, memories of who he was flooding back to him. His body jolted, and stood straight up. Eyes opening, followed by his mouth in an expression of shock and fear. His eyes frantically darted around the room as his legs buckled, falling back in a seemingly painful way and backing away. 

"Woah!"

"Hey, it's okay!" 

"No! Don't hurt Ralph, humans! He did nothing wrong! Please! He's sorry! No! No!" Ralph screamed, knocking over whatever he could grab. Throwing it at his captors, not daring to look at them. The LED on the side of his forehead a blood red, lighting up the dim room. The voices, who now Ralph knew to belong to two humans, also began to panic as Ralph scurried from corner to corner. A crossed the room and then back. Screaming and banging and throwing. 

"Ralph! We're not going to hurt you!" One of the people tried to reason, holding his hands up in defense. Hoping that his words would sooth the android at least enough to get him to stop throwing items. He even seemed scared by Ralph's actions.

"Youre... not going to hurt him?" Ralph asked in a quiet, breakable and horrified voice. Obviously doubtful, he skeptically  stepped backwards until his back pressed firmly against a wall. Flat as it could go, sliding down it somewhat. It was smooth, and Ralph would have liked that, if he wasn't sure he was about to die. 

"No, no. I would never hurt you, uhm, Ralph?" The shorter figure spoke. "My name is Connor. I'm an Android, just like you... I found you and brought you back here to try and reactivate you."He explained, voice soft and dounced in patience.

Upon hearing that his "human captors, " were actually his robot saviors, looked up at Connor finally. His Hazel and damaged eye looking into Connors brown eyes. Well, to the best of his ability, considering the strange amount of light.  Ralph however, didn't believe him. Now that he has been awake for a moment, the memories of his uneventful life came flooding back to him. The angry boys, the years of humans invading his territory, the strange writing he had to do, Kara and the little girl, the camp site...  Dieing to save Kara and the little girl.

"R-ralph doesn't believe Connor... he's going to hurt him. They all do. They all do." He murmured, hands close to his mouth as his eyes darted back to the wooden floor in nervousness. 

"Androids are free now, Ralph." The other Android spoke up, putting a flashlight in his pocket. That must have been the bright light in his eyes, before he woke up.. "I would never hurt one of my own people. My name is Markus."

A look of what seemed to be guilt and regret flashed a crossed Connors face, but it wasn't like Ralph noticed. Too busy sinking into the floor in despair and confusion. "Free? People? What?" He questioned, shaking his head as his arms shook slightly.  "Since when?" 

"Four years, now," Markus explained, to which Ralph made a strangled sound. "You've been off for four years." 

"Four years? Ralph... he... four?" The once panicked voice now sounded fragile. Breakable.  "No, no, that can't be right. Ralph died. He is dead. He died so they could get away... no. No." 

"Ralph," Connor said below a whisper, crouching down to where the smaller android was hugging his knees to his chest. "It's all okay. I promise." 

"You promise? " Ralph concluded.

"Yes, absolutely I promise. . . Come on, let's get out of the basement, hmm?" Connor asked, slowly reaching out a hand. Offering it to the scared and confused boy in front of him. He didn't dare move too fast, or too close. Afraid of loosing the tiny amount of trust he was given..

Ralph thought about it. LED whirring yellow as his internal fans worked at a heavy rate to cool his body down. He looked at the hand, then back to Connor. Then over to Markus, then back to the hand. He was obviously still skeptical,  scared of what on earth was happening. However, he accepted. 

Taking the brunettes hand in his.