Spare Parts and Copper Hearts

The inexorable drip-drip of water leaking from the holes in the workshop roof had rusted him solid decades before. Damp mists coated his once-bright copper skin, the patina of the weather adding to the details his maker had welded onto him so long ago. He sat, at an awkward angle, on a pile of rubble left over from a partial roof collapse, plants tangling tentative leaves around his feet, anchoring him.

His circuits still glimmered in the darkness; lights winking on and off as occasional thoughts drifted and were lost. His mind had been made to last, but his body was weak. Even now, small creases and cracks were appearing; the worst where a brick had caught his shoulder and scratched the copper, leaving an ingress for the ever-present damp to get in.

He didn’t know how long he’d sat there, unable to move. Maybe it was years, possibly it was decades. Heat and cold came and went, mice sniffed at his toes and then scuttled off, dark and light changed places outside the workshop’s high windows a thousand times, and then…

One night, deep in the watch of the darkest hour, a golden light flickered once, twice, and then bathed his tarnished skin in a warm glow. His circuits flicked into interested life. What was this?

He could hear something: a faint buzzing sound. It whirled overhead in circles, dropping the light as it moved. He could feel… something soothing his rusted joints. Something rich and golden, easing their stiffness, and he tried to clench his fist.

A slow creak, and his fingers moved. Unclench and clench. This time, easier. No creaking. And the light increased.

Outside, the windows glowed green. Carefully, he turned his head, looking at the strange colour. He had not seen this before. Nor had he felt this much life, this much freedom; not in more years than he thought he could mark.

He shifted again, small pebbles and dust scattering beneath him as he moved onto one hip, his arm moving to one side to balance himself. He could do this. No matter that it had been so long; he could do this.

The light glowed brighter, and his circuits flashed in response as he pulled himself up onto his feet. With a quirk of his odd mouth, he realised that robots could get dizzy. Or, at least, he  could get dizzy. It took him a few moments to steady himself, for his circuits to re-align themselves and re-calculate his orientation, and then he was standing.

And now he could see the source of the light. It was a small, mechanical insect, flying languidly around him, its copper wings – as bright as he once was – beating so fast that they seemed frozen in time, and its iridescent body gleaming in the light that it emitted. He reached up for it, but it flew away from him, towards the wall that bisected the room. An even brighter light was behind that wall, and he was almost scared to look.

On still-unsteady feet, he followed it, peering cautiously around the wall. He couldn’t remember that couch being there before. Not even his maker had placed anything more than a workbench or two down here, let alone the luxury of a leather couch.

“Ah. I’ve been waiting for you.”

He looked like Maker, but Maker had been human. This man, like the robot, was forged from metal, but a metal that the robot had never seen before. It was aged, yet strong.

“Maker?” the robot said, his voice rusted as much as his body.

“Not your maker, no.” The man puffed on his pipe – of the same metal as his body – and a blue wisp of smoke rose up from it. “I am the one who made your maker.”

The robot blinked. “Maker was flesh, not metal.”

“He looked like flesh, yes. He was an experiment, and rather a good one at that. I like to change things around; try new blueprints and shapes.” The man looked up and raised one hand as the insect flew towards him. “Come here, then. You did a grand job of waking him.” He stroked the insect’s underbelly as it flew past, then he eased himself out of his chair.

“I’ve heard every thought that crossed your circuits over the years,” he said. “You’ve been lonely. Please, sit.”

The robot sank onto the couch and sighed. “He left me here alone. My company has been rats and rain. My shine is gone and my circuits are discoloured. I’ve counted them as they stopped working. You know, I’ve lost eighteen so far?”

“Nineteen,” the man said, as another light winked out. “And you were only made with forty. Almost half gone. What would you say if I told you that you never needed those anyway?”

“Maker wouldn’t lie to me. He told me I needed them.”

The man chuckled. “He liked embellishment. Fuss and fripperies. He added those lights and wires because he thought they looked good. Your ocular addition, too. None of it is necessary.”

He moved, faster than a blink. The robots head was twisted roughly, and the man stood with his hands full of wires and dying lights. “See?”

“I–!” The robot blinked. “I… still have thoughts. Oh, and I can still speak?”

“You are more like him than you realise. I have heard your deepest wish, too. You’ll find it in that chest in front of you.”

The robot slid off the couch until he was on one knee in front of the chest. He opened it, taking out what was inside.

“What do I do with these?” he asked.

“What your maker did with them.”

“Put them on my body?”

The man nodded, more blue smoke curling up from his pipe, and the robot did as he was told, clothing himself as his maker had, until he stood – awkward in the unfamiliar additions – finishing with the item on his head; soft yet not quite as comforting as the wires he never knew that he didn’t need.

“I feel… wrong,” he whispered.

“Because you are only halfway there. Patience.” The man beckoned the insect, and it flew in dizzying circles above the robot. The light in the room increased as the green glow faded behind the windows. The robot felt warmer and warmer, wondering if his copper would start to glow red soon.

“Oh!” The man was fading. “Where are you going? Don’t leave!” the robot cried. But the man simply touched his forelock with a smile, and then he was gone.

The robot stared folornly at the wall where the man had been. “But I was only halfway there… wherever ‘there’ is,” he said, raising a hand to adjust the thing on his head. “I don’t–”

His hand was pale. Soft. Flesh. He stared down at it, then he stared at the wall. His deepest wish…

The insect buzzed close, its beautiful wings brushing against his cheek. He felt it; feather-soft as it touched him and then banked for another approach. He watched it silently as it spun its golden light around the room and came close again. He raised one hand slightly, and the insect landed, filigree antennae curling and uncurling with delicate little clicks.

“You knew how I felt,” he whispered to it. “Did you bring him, or did he bring you?”

Its wings flexed as it rubbed a foreleg over one antenna. And then, he felt a small spark of recognition. There was something in the glimmer of that body – the same colour as his maker’s eyes – as the insect quivered on his hand, and he remembered what the man had said.

“I am the one who made your maker. He was an experiment, and rather a good one at that. I like to change things around; try new blueprints and shapes.”

The boy smiled. “I knew you wouldn’t forget me.”

About this post

A Clockwork Spiral has begun. A two-week event jammed full of steampunk, dieselpunk, and dark Victoriana, all to benefit the National Kidney Foundation, you’ll find it taking place on the Cursed sim. Your rusty old charabanc will drop you off here, and further information can be gleaned from the Clockwork Spiral blog.

Credits

Furniture: 22769 [bauwerk] @ A Clockwork Spiral* [ manuel.ormidale ]

– A Clockwork Side Table
– Grammophon
– Hatstand
– Industrial Floor Lamp
– Steam Powered Pouf
– The Vintage Chesterfield
– Trunk Table
– Violin Nook

Suit & Hat: Immateria @ A Clockwork Spiral – Arcane Finery (soot)* [ naenia.demina ]

Dragonfly: Bliensen + MaiTai @ A Clockwork Spiral – Luminiferous Dragonfly Brooch* [ plurabelle.laszlo ]

Copper Gentleman Avatar: Fallen Gods @ A Clockwork Spiral – Oscar Full Avatar* [ alia.baroque ]

The Robot: Grim Bros – Cuprum Copperbot Avatar [ cutea.benelli ]

The Robot’s eyes: IKON – Kaleido (ancient) [ ikon.innovia ]

Hands: Slink – AvEnhance Male Hands (relax) [ siddean.munro ]

Feet: Slink – AvEnhance Mens Natural Barefeet [ siddean.munro ]

The Real Boy’s skin: Swallow – Manu (Ivory) [ luciayes.magic ]

The Real Boy’s Eyes: IKON – Hope (hazel) [ ikon.innovia ]

Poses:

Momomuller [ momomura.zehetbauer ]

PDA [ izzy.bereznyak ]
– No longer available

*review copy