At some point, they made a turn into a strange room, and the three critters’ cages were put down, opening remotely after a few seconds. The three left their containers, enjoying that little taste of freedom, and the new room they found themselves in was fairly large. The walls were covered in gray padding that looked fresh, the bright white lights reflecting off of the pale materiel, and there was a window made of thick, tinted glass.
A metal door was next to the window, and it opened, allowing a large robot to walk into the room. The robot had a long tube-like body, with limbs of the same shape and material sprouting from it like those of a plant. It's box-like head with a screen displayed a face with a slightly unsettling smile and two eyes, one of them labeled with the number six.
A speaker blared: “Alright, bot. Talk to them.”
The robot’s eyes looked at the window, apparently able to see through the thick glass. “I understand the assignment, Carol. Now let me do my work. And I have a name, you know.”
The person talking into the speaker just sighed. “Just do it, bot- er, I mean MC-O6.”
The robot simply smiled and turned to the small creatures to say, “Hello, I’m Main Console Operator 6, but you can call me O6. I will be your caretaker and friend as you stay here. What are your names?” The robot’s smile widened, its head rotating almost completely as if it were being spun.
Hoplash eagerly took the lead. “My name’s Hoplash! Nice to meet you, uh, O6..?”
O6, amused, replied, “Oh, I know we’ll be the best of friends, little one!” The robot’s expression seemed to soften, as if before it had been putting up a cheery front, but it was now truly smiling. Then, it reached inside its head, pulling some sort of device out, with sparks flying out the side of the robot’s head, and it knelt down, presenting the device to Hoplash. “Would you be a dear and hold onto this for me?”
“H-hey! What are you doing, bot?! You’re not supposed to take that out-” The voice on the loudspeaker was cut off by a gun coming out the side of the robot’s head and shooting at the window.
The robot once again glared at the glass. "Oh, Carol. You just had to interrupt. You won't do that anymore when I've finished up with you lot."
Hoplash inspected the device. “Sure, I can hold onto this! But what’s a dear?”
The robot giggled. “You’ll know in due time. Now,” it started, more weapons coming out of its head. “Why don’t we get you three out of here?”
The three captured critters were immediately thrown into boxes made of tough metal. The boxes were barely able to fit them and almost suffocating, with only very small holes allowing air to flow in and out, too small to even peek through, and probably meant to greatly limit the three’s ability to struggle.
Hoplash slammed their body against the wall of their incredibly small cage over and over, succeeding only in knocking it over and staying stuck in the same situation. KLUNK. “329 tries, Hoplash..” Sapliz annoyedly mutters. Hoplash pauses for a brief moment, then proceeds to ram their cage into Sapliz’s.
Coaliz puffed out a bit of fire, focusing it to try and melt their cage. They only managed to make the metal slightly glow orange, then return back to normal after about thirty seconds of Coaliz spitting fire at it. “So, since we apparently have found the time, let’s get to know each other, I guess,” Coaliz huffs.
“Well, um, I’m from a simple farm in the Plant Region,” Sapliz starts. “I, uh, came to the forest to.. Help out! Yeah, I wanted to help the refugees get their lives back since.. y’know.. the raids?” Everyone went quiet.
“You know,” Coaliz started, “I heard the Palace’s Army was after those rebels who tried to assassinate the Great Guardian. If you ask me, their intentions may have been good, but they’re more trouble than they’re worth.” Out of sight, Sapliz seethed at Coaliz’s words.
“Anyway, I came from a colony, but they kicked me out,” Coaliz said. “Said I didn’t help out enough. It’s fine though. Didn’t care enough to say anything about it.” Then awkward silence filled the room.
—————————————————
After a few hours, the ship they are in suddenly landed, with their unsecured containers sliding around all over the room, slamming into the walls and other boxes. All three of the captives groaned in pain as they were carried off by strangers in protective suits. Hoplash tried to peek through the tiny breathing holes to see what is happening, but all they saw was a long hallway with bright white walls, tinted a pale yellow by the cheap lighting.
If there are any parts that say they are newer, that is from the pronouns update for the non-human cast. I've decided that Hoplash, Coaliz, Sapliz, etc. will be agender due to their vastly different culture and world mechanics to the human world.
