Machines

“This way, George.”

Nell was leading him down another one of the hallways of the Valess. All George knew was that he was being led to work on machines.

As they walked, George thought to himself, while Nell was silent. Maria had awoken without any memory of her nightmare, only seeming to retain a faint sense of unease. Giegue had remained quiet throughout the night and into the morning, and seemed to be getting accustomed to Maria rather quickly. George briefly tried to think about the origin of the breakfast that had appeared on the table, but decided he probably didn’t want to know.

“Here we are,” said Nell, stopping in front of another door with the XX emblem. It opened.

The room was a large workshop, full of engines and parts. Against one wall, George saw a massive figure of metal. Another of the aliens was standing under it, as though examining it carefully. He (George assumed) was oblivious to the fact that there were two people watching him from the door.

“Elgar.” Nell said in a hushed whisper.

The alien spun around suddenly, and, having seen his company, walked over to the door. “Ah yes, Nell. Is this the new recruit?” He looked George over, as though he were another machine to analyze.

“This is Secondary Lieutenant Elgar, head mechanical automaton developer,” said Nell impatiently. “He will oversee your primary work in Unit XX. Lieutenant Elgar, this is George.”

“Yes, yes, that’s right,” said Elgar as he broke off his examination of George. “Now that we’ve finished with the formalities, can we get to work?” Nell shot Elgar an irritated look, but exited the room. The door closed, and George was sure he imagined it slamming shut.

“You know, we aren’t all like Nell or the commander,” said Elgar, as he led George across the workshop. “They have a particular love for showing no emotion, thinking it means that they show no weaknesses. I think they’re deluding themselves. Nell isn’t exactly fond of my feelings on the issue.” George listened, shocked to hear friendly conversation from someone who wasn’t human.

“Anyway, enough philosophizing. This is your first project.” Elgar gestured up at the towering metal figure. It was a faint gray, and could be considered humanoid in shape: two arms, two legs, a large torso, and a head.

“Our last developer spent quite a while putting this thing together. Called it the R7000.” Elgar sighed. “Only problem is, it doesn’t work. I’ve spent the entire time since his departure trying to figure out what’s broken, but I think you should give it a try.”

“You do know that I have very little experience with this, right?” George asked nervously. He didn’t think he’d even know the problem with the machine if he saw it.

“Oh, all the new recruits come in like this, with next to nothing in experience. Admittedly, they’re not usually from other species, but I don’t think that will affect things too much.”

“Okay, uh…” George quickly looked over the machine top to bottom. “Where’s its engine?”

“In the torso. Let’s get you a better look.” Elgar pointed George towards a nearby ladder, which led to a platform near the R7000’s midsection. They ascended, and Elgar pulled open the front of the machine’s chest.

What George saw inside was a mess of wires, tubes, and metal parts he didn’t recognize. He’d only previously seen a few engines, but compared to the complexity of this, they were nothing. He stared at the parts in front of him blankly, hoping Elgar wouldn’t notice. Eventually, George’s eyes took to following certain parts of the machine around, though he still couldn’t tell what anything did.

Suddenly George said, “They’re backwards.” Elgar looked at him, confused.

“These two wires.” George pointed at a green wire and a red wire which connected to the same box right next to each other. He wasn’t really sure where the idea came from; he simply saw the wires and realized that they were somehow wrong.

Elgar tentatively swapped the ends of the two wires. “Well, I guess we could try it.” He closed the panel, and led George back to the ground. He then moved over to the wall, and flipped a switch.

The machine rumbled for a moment, shaking slightly; its eyes flashed brightly like lanterns. It then fell nearly silent and stopped moving, though the lamp-like eyes stayed lit.

Elgar shut the R7000 off. “Are you still concerned about your skill with machines?”

George didn’t answer. The solution had just occurred to him. Where had the skill come from?