It had been days since Ten left his home, heading towards Regenesis; it had been nothing but sand and bones partially buried in the ground as far as his eyes could see. The silence - his only companion for years- followed him like the wind. He couldn't shake the creeping feeling that someone -or something- was watching him. He felt a chill down his metallic spine as he moved through the endless sands with unease. However, it was just ten, and the voice rarely spoke to him unless he went slightly off course to his destination. Then a sudden clank beneath Ten's feet -followed by a "Hello. Servo Bot Model 01, or Servo, as my master called me." A small, round robot, shaped like a Japanese snowman, lay half-submerged in the ground, a faint green light blinking from its single eye.
LEAVE THE SCRAP BEHIND.
The voice boomed in Ten's head. Regaining his composure after the sudden mental jolt, Ten argued, "Servo doesn't look like scrap to me. It would feel wrong to leave him here."
WE ARE A FUNCTIONAL MACHINE-IT IS NOT. IT'll ONLY SLOW US DOWN FROM OUR DESTINATION.
He knelt where Servo was submerged halfway in the ground and grabbed the tiny robot's arm. With a firm grip, he pulled him up from the ground, but only half of Servo emerged. The circuitry that made the inside of the little guy lay bare, with specks of dust falling out of Servo's innards. "Hey. Servo?" Ten asked, baffled, "What happened to the other half of you?"
Servo dangled in Ten's grasp, swaying back and forth as he answered the question. "Other half of me? I do not recall what happened since you reactivated me." Ten, now confused, asked, "What do you mean I activated you?" Servo awkwardly pointed at his head, where a tiny blue button was nested in a panel on top with an indent of a footprint outlining it. "You pressed my power button, therefore activating me, master."
Ten jumped up, standing on his feet once again. "I'd prefer if you called me Ten, being called master doesn't sit right with me."
IT'S USELESS SCRAP, LEAVE IT WHERE IT IS
"Could you stop yelling in my head for at least five seconds? Or forever, that'd be much better." Still in Ten's grasp, Servo looked at the strange scene of Ten screaming into the vast emptiness of the desert. "I am not speaking in your head, but if you wish for me not to speak, then I shall not, master." A wave of realization hit Ten when he heard Servo's reaction. Only he could hear the voice that was louder than his thoughts. "I wasn't talking to you, Servo. Speak as much as you want. Please… call me Ten."
No words were spoken for a long while; it was just the wind blowing so peacefully. The voice screaming in his head went silent, and then Servo spoke. "Name Ten registered. How may I be of service?" The green glow from his eyes illuminated brighter than it had earlier — it was now nighttime. Ten gently wrapped Servo's arm around his shoulder—the material it was made of surprised him; it stretched like it was meant to cling. "You can hang tight and see if I can fix you during my travels. It would be easier if I knew where the other half of you were." Ten continued marching through the empty, lonely sands that seemed to be all that there was around now, with Servo strapped to his back and sand slowly draining away from his battered body with each step.
After walking, they came across an old, tall building leaning to its right side, with shattered glass sticking out of the sand. The wind started to pick up, growing stronger with every passing second. The sand spiraled upward into the sky, and the building began to take on a silhouette, when only seconds ago, the image of it had been so clear. Little specks of sand blocked Ten's sight, and the wind grew stronger, making the fiercely spinning sand conjure a tornado. They started running towards the silhouette of the building in hopes of having shelter against the raging storm.
Servo clung tight to Ten's shoulder, dangling like a tree branch about to break as the wind grew stronger almost with each passing second. They drew closer and closer to the building, but the storm slid them backward a couple of feet, making it feel like they weren't getting any closer than they were before they started. The sand tornado inched closer to them, flinging around the metal scraps and bones violently across the enormous desert.
Ten dug his feet into the ground, trying to anchor himself. Underneath the hot surface, the sand was cold—cold as death. One of the bones that was swirling in the tornado whistled past Servo's head, leaving a faint scratch on his metal shell. Ten looked where the bone had landed; it was just a scratch, but he couldn't help but feel a pinch of concern for Servo, even if he had just met the little guy.
After that quick incident, he started looking around the area of the building, trying to figure out how to get over there without getting blown away. There were massive rocks, a half-broken telephone pole with worn-out paint, and rusted, broken-down vehicles around the building they were trying to reach. Ten could feel Servo's grasp over his shoulder start to loosen. He knows he needs to act fast, but doesn't know what action to take.
REMEMBER THE SCRAPS ARMS WITH THE STRECTHY MATERIAL
"He isn't scrap, just damaged." Ten automatically replied to the voice without a second thought. Then it clicked, "Servo, can your arm stretch?" Servo barely holding on to Ten's shoulder stretches his arm; the second it stretches, it slingshots him forward, closer to the tornado, and he shouts, "YES, IT CAN!" Servo proudly shouted from a distance, unaware that he had put himself closer to the danger. Now floating towards the tornado's pull. Ten grabs his arm in a panic and pulls him back towards him, fighting the roaring wind.
Ten managed to get Servo back towards him with his arm now unstretched and still holding onto Ten's shoulder. "Alright, I'm gonna grab your leg and swing you towards that broken phone pole, think you can grab it?" Servo looked at the broken pole with worn paint, then back at Ten. "According to my quick calculations, yes, it should be possible, master Ten." Ten grabbed Servo by the leg. "It's just Ten, the 'master' part isn't needed." He held on to Servo tightly while swinging as hard as he could, while Servo stretched out his arm using the momentum to launch it towards the phone pole. From Ten's vantage, it looked like the arm wouldn't reach, and he could feel the wind growing stronger; it felt like invisible hands starting to pull on his feet.
Servo's arm barely managed to reach the power pole. "Okay, master Ten, I have a hold on the pole." Ten slightly relieved, "Okay, now pull us as far as you can…it's just Ten." Servo retracted his arm, pulling them both towards the power pole and further than Ten imagined they'd go. Leading to them crashing through a window of the leaning building. Ten stood up and put the closest dresser he could find in front of the window to keep the storm from blowing sand into the room they landed in.
Servo, with as much enthusiasm as a little robot could have, says, "That was fun, shall we do that again, Ten?" Ten quickly replies, "I'd rather not, and it's just Te—" he stops for a second. "Oh, you left out the 'master' part this time."