The story I started working on
Chapter One
\|--{The ruins}--|/
It had been a long time since Agnar had explored the abandoned laboratory. Six years, to be exact. A rumor had been circulating at school lately about how it still had some functioning equipment running on backup generators, and they were worth a fortune. However, a week ago somebody said they had found a sentient robot inside that had gone psychotic, trying to kill them. After that, nobody wanted to go near the place. However, one of his friends had dared Agnar to try and find something, and so they had all gathered outside the ruins. After agreeing that he would take a picture if he found anything, and to then immediately return, he went in.
It was almost pitch black inside the collapsing structures, and Agnar had to turn on his flashlight to see anything. He went into countless rooms, some with broken lab equipment, others with computers that wouldn’t turn on. It was like a maze, with hallways looping in on themselves, and half-destroyed rooms creating dead ends. Eventually, he found his way into what seemed to be a more isolated room, having sustained less damage than anything he had seen so far. He entered cautiously, shining his flashlight on anything and everything before advancing. There was something deeper in it that had reflected the light, and despite Agnars worries that it might be the psychotic robot, he felt the need to check it out. When Agnar got to it, he sighed. It was something he had already seen before, although this one wasn’t in a state of disrepair like the rest. It was a large metal cylinder, with the front being made of glass and slightly ajar. It had pipes running into it, with some tubes and robotic arms dangling from the ceiling inside. After he took a picture of it, Agnar decided to try and get a selfie of him inside it. It was easy to open, the door gliding smoothly across the track. Stepping inside, he realized that it was almost perfectly sized to fit a full grown man, with only a few inches of wiggle room.
Taking a quick selfie and stepping out, Agnar froze. It might have been his imagination, but he thought something had made a noise. After a few seconds, he heard it again; A grating, squealing sound, like a rusty hinge being forced fully open by being dragged on the ground. Then, he heard a faint muttering, the words sounding both robotic and like the rantings of a madman. Agnar frantically searched for a hiding place, hoping to not be seen by it, but saw nowhere to go. Looking back, he saw the shadow of a distorted figure, its movements jerky and halting, unmistakably a robot. He lunged toward the cylinder, dropping his flashlight in his haste. It clattered against the floor, the sound echoing through the room like a gun had been shot off. He hoped no more sound would be made when he closed the door, so that it would at least not know where he was, but it clicked at the last second.
The shadow stopped at the sound of the flashlight dropping to the floor, and the head jerked up. Agnar held his breath, crouching down and trying to make himself as hidden as he could behind the glass. It came closer, and he could hear it mumbling to itself, the voice muffled by the glass.
“-n’t have that, now can we? Sneaky little thieves trying to steal our data, thinking they own the place. Don’t worry, we’ll make sure to show them what happens to thieves.”
It chuckled, a mix between a fan sputtering and metal being ground together. It switched its voice between two that were almost identical to each other, but unmistakably from different personalities. When it stepped into the light of his flashlight, Agnar’s eyes widened in horror. The robot looked like one of the androids from a sci-fi movie, being freakishly similar to a human, yet clearly not at the same time. It was hunched over, its limbs at angles impossible for a human, with scorch marks and rents covering its body. Its face was mangled, the face half-melted on one side, drooping down and revealing the gears and wires inside of its head. When it caught sight of Agnar a twisted grin spread across its face, the rips in the mask growing wider.
“Oh, now what do we have here? It’s a nasty, slimy human, that’s what it is. You must be the one your gang talked about. Don’t worry little one, you’ll be seeing them again very soon.”
It reached for the handle, and Agnar lunged forward, grasping it and holding the door shut with all his might. A look of annoyance came over the android, and it became exasperated, talking like someone would to a troublesome child.
“Come now, don’t you want to be with your little gang of misfits again? Perhaps you can tell them all the secrets you found here. Yes, and you won’t have anyone else to blabber our story to. Besides, you aren’t going to escape, not from us.”
It yanked, and Agnar could feel the force behind the attempt. The door stayed closed though, seeming to have been jammed. The android paused, seeming perplexed. It tugged at the handle a few times, complained about the equipment automatically locking, then stepped away. It did a slow clap, a look of sarcasm clear on its mutilated face.
“Wow, great job. Now you’re stuck in there until we get the power on. Or perhaps we could just leave him there to rot, letting his body slowly digest itself! No, you idiot, someone could come by and turn on the power themselves, freeing him. Hmph, you’re no fun.”
Then, it stalked off, grumbling about having to find a power source to open the door with a control panel. After a few minutes, the lights around the cylinder flickered to life, and Agnar could hear machines starting up. Within a few moments, it returned.
“... need to do now is find the control panel! Why didn’t those engineers place it at the front anyways? So inconvenient.”
Agnar panicked, banging on the walls and calling out for help. It seemed to dismiss him, going behind the cylinder.
“Oh, shut up, it will all be over soon. Nasty little things, humans. Always complaining about everything. Stop banging around in there, you’ll-”
It was cut off by the sounds of pipes rattling. Agnar looked up, seeing a faint glow coming from the holes where the pipes entered. The android suddenly became panicked, a hint of desperation tinging its guttural voice.
“No. No, no, no, no! You didn’t, you couldn’t! What did you do? What did you do!”
A bright blue gel with swirls in it started pouring into the cylinder, the substance slowly filling up the space. Agnar saw it start pacing around him, talking to itself.
“It shouldn’t even have reserves for this! Why is this happening? Did us turning on the power start it up? No, that shouldn’t mess with the controls!”
It stopped in front of Agnar, seeming to realize something. It turned to face him, a look of fury coming over it.
“You! You did this! This was your plan all along, wasn’t it? You would lock yourself in here, trick us into turning the systems on, and then start the stasis sequence to escape. Well, it won’t work! We’ll show you what happens when you-”
A loose tile fell from the ceiling, shaken down by the rattling of the pipes. It hit the android on the head, knocking it down. Agnar saw it shudder a few times, mutter something about not having enough power to restart its systems again, and turn off. The gel filled over half of the space now, and he saw the tubes and arms start to move. The gel started to come quicker, and just as he realized what the machine inside was for, the gel went over his head and he fell unconscious.
