Murder Drones: New Models

Stone Valley — 51 km from Izun’s Home The journey continued. They covered 20 km from their last camp, but at a much slower pace than usual—13 hours instead of 7. The reason was Izun dragging that same boulder. Yet over time he grew accustomed to the weight, and carrying it became less of a trial. Did this mean he was already stronger than when the journey began? *POWER SCALE (Main Characters): 1. J — 60 2. N — 50 3. Thad — 12 4. Uzi — 10 5. Khan — 8 6. Izun — 6 (Photon Blast — 30) They were growing tired from the long trek. But just as they thought about stopping, grass began to appear underfoot—real, living vegetation. Izun: Am I hallucinating, or is that grass instead of stone? J: It’s real grass! We’ve left the stone sector. Izun: Seriously?! Hooray! Izun untied the boulder and threw himself onto the grass, rolling around happily. J: Looks like we’re… glances ahead, sees a dense forest …in the taiga sector. Izun: Hooray! Grass! I missed you so much! Oh—river! runs to the flowing water J: Wow. This place really is like a paradise valley. There’s even a waterfall nearby. Izun: What?! A waterfall?! Where?! J: Why are you so excited? Izun: I’ve only ever seen waterfalls in textbooks. I’ve always wanted to see one in real life. J: Fine. There it is. points to the waterfall Izun: Wow! Thanks, Aunt J. J shoved Izun into the river with her spike. Izun: Aaaah! Cold! Why did you do that?! J: You know why. Her body began to emit a faint, transparent smoke, and her metal turned red. J: Damn! She dashed forward and dove into the river without hesitation. Surfacing, the smoke stopped, and her metal returned to normal. Izun: What was that? J: Last time I drank Freezer was 13 hours ago. I was overheating in the sun. Still in the river, J drank another Freezer, then climbed out with Izun and sat beneath a tree in the shade. Izun kept gazing at the waterfall. Izun: Water can be so powerful. J: Yeah. Worker Drones can short-circuit or rust if they stay in it too long. And removing rust is a long process. Izun: What about Disassembly Drones? J: We’re stainless steel—same as Hybrids. Izun: Got it. J: By the way, you just gave me an idea for training. Izun: Oh no. J: I remember you had some kind of green beam. Right? Izun: Yeah. I can convert photons, and the beam is five times stronger than me. J: Then show me. Izun: The thing is… I overheat when I use it. Freezer is too strong for me, so to normalize my temperature I need diluted Freezer. You get the idea. J: Just show me. We’ll figure it out later. Izun sighed, but decided to risk it—there was a river nearby that might cool him down. J watched curiously as the small Drone took a stance, preparing his hands for the blast. Izun: Ghhhhh… HAAAAAAA! A bright green flash erupted. It was so intense that even J’s advanced visual receptors ached. For a moment, she regretted not stepping back. The beam struck a nearby cliff in the stone sector. It exploded as if packed with explosives, scattering fragments and raising a huge cloud of dust. J: Whoa! What the hell?! It wasn’t this strong the first time I saw it! Maybe you’ve grown stronger, and the beam grew with you. Izun (gasping): So… how was it? collapses unconscious J caught him. J: Ow! You’re burning hot! I need to cool you down—fast! She spread her wings and flew swiftly to the waterfall. Behind it, she found a solid ledge. After six minutes under the pounding water, Izun cooled down and regained consciousness. Izun: Wah! What happened?! J: We’re under the waterfall. Izun: Oh, right. J: Listen. Let’s make it so your system doesn’t overheat when you use that beam. Izun: How? J: You’ll use it over and over. Eventually, your system will adapt to the load and stop overheating. Izun: But if I fire it twice in a row, I’ll melt. J: That’s why you’ll stand in the waterfall. Izun: Well… worth a try. J: Then start. J flew out of the waterfall and sat beneath the same tree as before. Moments later, a green beam shot from the waterfall, striking the mountain opposite. Stones broke off and tumbled into the river. J (thinking): Even though he’s still small and weak, this beam makes him a serious opponent in the future. How ironic… I might be making my own future enemy stronger. ***INTERESTING FACT: Drones, much like humans, are capable of adapting to almost any condition, but their adaptation occurs far more efficiently. If a Drone is struck repeatedly in the same spot, the pain is sharp at first, yet after hundreds of blows the sensation fades and the Drone becomes resistant to that damage. The same principle applies to overheating: Izun can deliberately fire his photon beam, pushing his system to the limit, then cool down, and through repetition his system will gradually adapt until the overheating restriction no longer affects him. This method allows him to transform weakness into resilience. The only exception is the Disassembly Drones, because they lack cooling systems entirely, and therefore cannot adapt in this way*** /Evening\ Enough time had passed; the sun was already sinking behind the horizon. By then, Izun had fired about 56 shots, yet his system still cooled in six minutes under the waterfall—no faster than before. He decided to stop for the day and walked over to J, who had already lit a fire but stayed in the shadows. J: Well? Tired? Izun: I think that’s enough. I wonder how many times I fired? glances at the mountain, its peak completely gone J: You don’t know yourself? Izun: I lost count after 32. J: And what do you think? Izun: Maybe 46 times? J: Wrong. You fired 56 times. Izun: Whoa. But I don’t feel like I’m overcoming the overheating. It’s the same every time. J: You only trained for one day. Even my son, who’s quite capable, didn’t learn or achieve anything in the first day or two. It takes time and patience. Silence. Izun: Tell me about your son. Please? If it’s not too hard? J: What’s hard about that? I have a son, he’s a Disassembly Drone. He goes to school—though I think it’s a waste of time, the current reality won’t let him live properly without education. So at eight years old, he’ll be entering third grade when summer ends. We live together. What else is there to say? Izun: You said you live together, just the two of you? J: Yes. Why? Izun: And your husband—the father of your son? At that moment, J flinched as if stabbed by a needle. She turned away sharply. J: Enough questions! Go to sleep. Tomorrow I’ll push you harder. Izun: Uh… okay. The Drone lay down, preparing for sleep mode. But through the crackling fire, he heard faint sobs coming from J’s direction. /Morning\ J woke to find Izun already awake. Just as she was about to ask where he was, she saw a green beam shooting from the waterfall. Pulling out a bottle of Freezer, she noticed Izun sprinting toward her at full speed. Izun: Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! J: What’s going on? Izun: I did it! J: Did what? Izun: I overcame the overheating a little. I now cool down in five and a half minutes instead of six! J: Hm. And when did you wake up? Izun: I don’t know. I don’t have a clock. But the sun was just rising. J: I see. Then we’ll make your training a bit harder. Izun: How? J: Did you know waterfalls can flow backwards? Izun: What? That’s impossible. J: It’s possible. When you rest from firing, try to strike the falling water in the opposite direction—make it rise. Izun: That can’t be… or maybe it can? Or not?! Or yes?! J: It’s possible. Now go to that boulder you dragged here. Izun approached the same, somewhat hated chunk of stone. J: Now hit it with all your strength. Izun: Okay. He struck with all his might, but the rock remained completely unharmed. His hand throbbed painfully. Izun: Aaaah! J: If you can make the waterfall flow backwards, you’ll be able to break the rock. Izun: Seriously? J: Dead serious. Don’t you want to be strong? Izun immediately remembered his vow—to surpass his father, and then J herself. Izun: Waterfall! Wait for me! You’re going to flow backwards!!! He dashed toward the waterfall at full speed, while J stood smiling, watching him go. J (thinking): And yet… he’s such a trusting fool.