Survival of the fittest

Gardrofa walks along a desolate pathway. Each one of her hooves clop against the splintered and cracked pavement. Her mechanical legs creak and scrape against each other. All of the rust and the wear that has built up over many long years without proper care ways down on her. She struggles to even step once, but she must walk for miles.

This woman lives in a world that was destroyed long ago. Ravaged by the third world war, the people are scarce but the resources are even scarcer. Barely anything remains, and the technologically reliant populace requires more than even a human needs to get by. Their delicate machinery must be repaired and refined constantly. Without that they become even weaker and even more desperate.

Gardrofa herself is a large machine. She is a centaur, a machine of war designed for the benefits of being a horse and a woman. What was once used in large battlefields to kill hundreds now barely scrapes by. She is ragged, weak and needy.

She continues her long pilgrimage. No precise destination in mind, she merely moves on from areas she has already checked as best she can. The world is filled with large uninviting deserts. Places defined by their utter lack of life and value. What were once sprawling green hills, farm land and dense forests have been unified into the yellow grain that now remains. Ahead of her is a debilitated metropolitan area. Grand skyscrapers and apartment buildings have now collapsed onto each other into large piles of rubble. She can only hope there are some malls there.

She needs a million things. Oil to grease her joints, replacements for basically every one of her internal technological components, among many many other things. But tantamount amongst them all is the need for fuel. She is running desperately low and if she runs out that may as well be death. Everything can be pushed further or eventually replaced. But if she can’t move, if she can’t think, if she can’t remain online, it will become an eternal sleep.

“SYSTEMS CHECK. COMPONENT’S INTEGRITY AT 47% SHELL AND ARMOUR INTEGRITY AT 64% FUEL STORAGE AT 6%” Her system coldly announces. Each hour on the hour her computer does a check and provides the current stats. There are far more specific variables available, but Gardrofa has limited it to just these three for simplicity. She watches grimly as the numbers trickle down day by day, with next to no way to restore them.

Her blonde long hair billows in the wind. Fashion and appearances have changed quite a bit in the last hundred years. She wears a cybernetic looking metal piece over her eyes. They provide aid to her sensors, despite appearing to block her view. All the way up her neck is a similar looking white, grey and black material. Not exactly covering her traditional clothes, but instead blurring the lines between body and clothing. Her chest retains a pleasant buoyancy, being held in place with cloth that is remarkably still holding quite strong. Her body comes together to a tight iron cinched waist, before expanding out into a cybernetic horse torso. Every muscle instead is replaced by metal, pistons, and a smidgen of synthetic tissue to keep everything together. She has a large shawl over her left shoulder. She grasps a large spear like weapon in her right hand. This is who Gardrofa is. A battle machine that has been relegated to an endless struggle against declining resources. Her only objective is to survive. Make it another day, another week, another year. Her robotic mind has no care for how to enjoy this war of attrition lifestyle she has. It has no ability to consider what she should do with the life she manages to keep her tight grip on. All she can think about is making it a bit longer. She just has to keep going. It is what the very core of her being tells her to do, and she will never question it.

She finds herself wandering the streets of this terribly ruined city. The remnants of civilization have died, and now some of the regrowth that happened afterwards has died as well. There is absolutely nothing. Every storefront is completely ransacked and destroyed. There are a few shambling husks of machines that litter the streets. But even their bodies have been torn apart for scrap metal, the only pieces remaining being so heavily eroded that they are worth less than their weight in dirt. She drags herself further along, until she happens upon a large super mall. It obviously has been raided, but she basically has no choice but to check. She can’t make it to the next city which will likely be just as bad.

The entrance has largely collapsed on itself. Due to her centaur body, she is incredibly tall. So she has to struggle quite a bit to squeeze herself in. She limply raises her arm up and tries to break the rubble blocking her way. But there is so little strength in her body that she is basically useless. She is using the absolute minimum amount of fuel to conserve her last hours of life, but it means her motors can’t output anything useful. As she scrapes against the rubble, some small shards of rock and dust roll down and end up on the floor. Not really solving her problem. Instead she just has to force herself through. She hunches over and creeps inside. It is a little difficult at first, but once her front is through it’s just a matter of patience. The jagged edges scrape against her metal body, adding to the tapestry of dents and scratches already present.

“WARNING! SHELL AND ARMOUR INTEGRITY RAPIDLY DROPPING! 45…% 37…% 29…%” She watches the numbers drop as she grits her teeth and continues.

But once she is inside, it opens up significantly more. She is able to move around more freely as she explores the desolate mall. Just as Gardrofa had suspected, basically nothing remains. It has been completely and utterly ransacked. All the store fronts have been cleared of not only their contents but the very shelves they were placed on. But just when she feels all hope is lost, she sees the body of a recently destroyed machine. Gardrofa quickly pushes herself to run up and crouch by the body. Most of its identifying features have been completely obscured by damage. Its head has had all artificial skin and hair torn off from what appears to be some sort of blast. Her metal shell is just a charred and burned husk.

She quickly pierces the already incredibly brittle metal with her spear to gain access to this machine's sensitive internals. On close inspection, she notices some of the machine's parts are actually functioning. Since some sort of blast was the thing to take out this robot, it means there are still some resources remaining within. Most of her components aren’t compatible with Gardrofa’s system unfortunately. That is the nature of a technological world. But much to Gardrofa’s delight, there is still some of that precious lifeblood in her fuel tank. She eagerly grasps it, pulling it from its place. Ripping cables and destroying what is left. She ingests the fuel orally, granting her the wondrous feeling of power once again. It is not enough to keep her going for long, but she is finally able to move around at will. Tapping back into her pre-existing strength her body is capable of.

It is almost intoxicating. She had felt so miserably weak for so long. That feeling is poison to a machine built for war, combat and destruction. Being reduced to a weak and desperate straggler hurts her ego more than any of the actual struggle ever could.

“FUEL PARTIALLY RESTORED. 26% OF TOTAL CAPACITY FILLED.” Her system announces triumphantly.

Once she has double checked the body for anything else useful, she rushes off. Galloping through the mall to see what else could be here. After all, she has still not discovered the cause of the machine's death. It must have been recent if it still hadn’t been looted. And where there is something capable of destroying robots, there is something capable of being torn apart for every last morsel of use.

She happens upon something quite attention catching. A large section of the mall has been blown to smithereens. Presumably that machine from earlier crawled off with their dying breath after being involved in whatever this is. She slowly waltzes through the blast radius, trying to identify the cause. It isn’t easy, since basically any evidence was presumably just destroyed.

A large piece of rock covers a corner of the room. The only thing really to look at, so she walks over to it and pulls it out of the way. What previously represented an insurmountable obstacle is now easily brushed aside. Underneath are dozens of robotic bodies. All crushed under the rock, in varying states of disarray. But not a single one of them is online. Gardrofa chuckles to herself. Never has she found such a perfectly preserved mountain of leftover fuel to extract. This could keep her going for a few months if she rationed it out well. Of course it will depend on the exact amount remaining in each of their tanks. But considering there is no leakage, it is safe to assume none of them have been punctured. So she is in for a haul. Just as she reaches down to grab the body, a projectile comes hurtling towards her face. She swiftly dodges the airborne item and turns her head to the origin of the attack.

Standing there is a woman adorned in heavy black armour. An incredibly large white coat surrounds her body, reaching down to her ankles. Her exact figure is completely obscured by this large round exterior clothing. “Back away! Those bodies are mine!” The woman shouts out. Gardrofa just smirks. High on the power of her refuelling, she is not going to roll over and let this woman stake claim over her haul.

The area they are in is relatively large, but is still an indoor environment. Meaning at Gardrofa’s top speed, she can close basically any gap within seconds. There is a reason she was designed with the lower half of a horse after all. She races towards the woman, holding her spear ready without speaking a single word. She responds quickly in turn, Dashing backwards and revealing a weapon beneath her cloak. A sword made out of condensed plasma. She holds the hilt in one hand, and seems to be able to unveil the blade of it at will. Using this weapon of hers, she swiftly deflects Gardrofa’s spear and attempts to counterattack. As she swings her blade, it tears through her coat. Gardrofa narrowly avoids the slash and backs up slightly. Leaving some space between the two.

Now left without the large cloth to obscure her, The woman's body is on full display. She wears a skin tight white suit that hugs even her most sensitive places. The exact curvature of her chest is plainly visible. “I do not wish to kill you. I merely am at the mercy of my body’s needs. Without the ability to act, I can not accomplish my goals. You are a necessary sacrifice.” She announces. “My name is Hildr. You deserve the honour of knowing your killer's name.” Hildr confidently declares. “Don’t you dare feel secure in your arrogance. I will crush you and claim what is mine.” Gardrofa yells. While her attitude is more overtly aggressive, both machines share the same intent to kill. It is a kill or be killed world, there is no other answer. Any machines attempting to find one are just rust in the wind.

Another moment of silence passes. Each machine sizes up the other. Considering strategies, analysis of combat prowess, and planning. Then, in unison, they leap forward. Gardrofa jabs her spear into the Hildr’s stomach, but she swiftly evades. She lets out a flurry of swipes with her dangerous plasma sword, but none of them seem to hit their target. Despite Gardrofas impressive size, her speed seems to outpace Hildr’s own. Hildr is quite used to crushing all those in her path, so this does come as a surprise. But she remains stoic in spite of this. She continues her offensive, constantly forcing Gardrofa back.

While the new fuel in her system feels like a power boost, Gardrofa can feel the bounds of her otherwise shambling body. She continues to project confidence and determination, but internally things show a much more grave picture. All of her parts have been slowly ruined over time. Pieces are pushed out of place during combat, and then grind away until they are fixed or replaced. She is largely capable of doing neither. She should be about five times faster than what she is currently able to output, but she’s held back by the rusted gears and motors inside of her body.

She jabs at the machine, but struggles to land any hits. Her spear is quite the precise weapon, despite its large size. It is very hard for her to perform a direct blow, but if she does it will spell the end of basically any machine. No matter how reinforced. Instead she lets out a strong swipe, creating an enormous arc. Hildr jumps high to avoid it, and lands on the centaurs' large javelin. She quickly grasps her weapon like an épée and retaliates with her own series of lightning fast jabs.

Gardrofa’s upper body movement is quite limited, which is what Hildr was counting on. But instead of avoiding the attacks, she flings the machine away by pulling her spear up as fast as she can. A risky manoeuvre to be sure. Hidlr’s sword is so close to piercing Gardrofa’s head that it slices away part of her hair. Not enough of it to leave much of a visual mark, but the synthetic hair follicles drift to the floor all the same.

Hildr grimaces. There is a reason she needs this fuel too. She is in much the same position as Gardrofa. In fact, the battle thus far has been sufficient evidence for Hildr’s computer system to conclude that Garfroda is significantly weaker than her. But unlike Gardrofa, Hildr is basically running on empty. Her fuel reserves are drying up as the fight goes on. She has less than 24 hours of function even if she was conserving as much power as she could. If she lets this fight drag out for a single hour it is likely she will collapse.

So Hildr remains on the offensive. She can’t afford to let up for even a moment. She can’t allow the fight to become one of attrition. Either she wins swiftly or she loses slowly. She dashes forward, staying as mobile as possible. Darting from side to side, keeping her trajectory unclear and hard to anticipate.

However rather than dealing with it, Gardrofa simply maintains her distance as she plans. She has the luxury of a bit more time. Since her fuel reserves aren’t as low, she doesn’t need to worry about this battle being her last. Ironically that makes it far easier to win. Keeping a cool head and not driven to desperation allows her a far better stance in this battle.

With this superior mindset, Gardrofa unveils a touch to counter attack. Grasps a large nearby rock in her free hand, and starts running towards Hildr. The smaller woman resumes her swift movements in the hope to easily dodge the projectile, but Gardrofa keeps careful hold of the stone. Instead she lunges with her weapon. Her pace is faster than before, but Hildr is still able to keep up without too much trouble. She tries clashing against the large iron spear, but it is made out of a material that can resist the plasma blade. Then Gardrofa suddenly leaps into the air. Another shockingly agile manoeuvre for a broken down and ginormous body such as herself. Hildr attempts to rush away as the shadow of Gardrofa’s body engulfs her. But as she begins to run away, it is then when Gardrofa throws the stone to block the machine's path. She still has a fraction of a second to redirect, but it is then when Gardrofa slams down with her spear and finally manages to catch Hildr with a strike.

It is not exactly the decisive blow that Gardrofa was hoping for, but it still deals damage. It pierces Hildr’s side. Her metal exterior scrapes away, and torn cables fly out of the newly made opening. The synthetic bodysuit reveals nothing but technology and metal underneath. It seems she has no synthetic skin besides her face. Her body is the cloth-like material that hugs her. She quickly grips the hole and dashes away as far as she can. Her back presses against the wall behind her as she stares down Gardrofa. Not allowing the machine to leave her view for even a second. Hildr was already barely hanging on, but this makes things even worse. Garfroda has basically every advantage besides the worse specs overall. But when Hildr is unable to tap into her true strength she just feels useless. So instead she has to change strategy. She can’t defeat Gardrofa like this. Not to mention the machine seems quite happy to crush Hildr as soon as possible now that this first blow has been dealt.

Gardrofa is loving the feeling of battle. She is a machine built for warfare, the slow struggle and dilapidated runaround is just draining. This is what she lives for, this is what she needs. With a frightening grin on her face, she rushes forwards towards Hildr. Knowing that with the first step this attack represents, this is her greatest opportunity. She jams her spear into the wall, but Hildr manages to dodge out of the way long before it would have collided with her. The wall now sports a massive gaping hole left behind from Gardrofa’s weapon. The shocking strength is a constant reminder that if her attack was a little more on point, Hildr would be no more.

So instead, Hildr decides to level the playing field. Originally she intended to vanquish this machine as it carried with it the least amount of risks. But she does not have the luxury to play this safe. Instead she starts charging towards Gardrofa. Running in quite the straight line, a contrast to her usual style. But Gardrofa attacks her in much the same way regardless. Rather than jumping to the side or deflecting Gardrofa’s swing, Hildr slides underneath. In order to gain the speed she needs, she decides to burn up half of the fuel she still has and use it for propulsion. As she crouches down from her sprint, she places her weapons hilt onto her belt and throws both her arms behind her. From her palms emerge two steel exhaust pipes. Within a moment a small spark appears, which then erupts into two flamethrowers. As the thrust begins to take effect and she shoots further, sliding along the ground, the flames condense. Eventually they are solid blue beams of heat that shoot her to her real destination, the pile of robotic bodies. Finally as she moves to bring her hands back to the front of her body, the exhausts sputter and the flames dissipate. She is betting everything on this manoeuvre, there is only a few minutes of active function left in her system. She grasps the topmost body from the pile and quickly begins to tear it apart in her hands as she runs. Hildr can’t simply take off with it. If she leaves Gardrofa alone with the rest, that machine will just also resupply and it will defeat the whole purpose of this battle. So Hildr has to pull the fuel canister from this robot’s corpse and quickly ingest it before Gardrofa either takes her out or does the same.

She turns back to face the oncoming machine as she holds the body in her hands. Gardrofa gallops towards her, delayed only by the fact she was a little surprised by the display she just bore witness too. But now she understands what the strategy Hildr is doing, and she understands that she needs to put an end to it quickly.

Hildr then quickly grabs her weapon once more and throws it at the machine's body. Her large horse's lower half is quite the large target, and she can’t manipulate it as easily as her upper body. So as the plasma blade comes hurtling towards her, she needs to stop her running suddenly and block it with her spear. Which gives Hildr just enough time to take the fuel tank she worked so hard for. It enters her body with a sickening viscosity. Her system registers the newly added substance and instantly begins processing it to generate the energy her body needs. She smirks in a quiet, proud victory. Finally she can feel the power that belongs to her return.

Gardrofa angrily scoffs. She quickly kicks the hilt of the fallen sword out of the way, at least depriving Hildr of that. While Hildr had the privilege of knowing her own specs while ascertaining Gardrofa. But Gardrofa is woefully unprepared for what Hildr is about to become now that her fuel is restored.

Hildr is now able to outperform Gardrofa in almost every way. She is incredibly fast, effortlessly racing past the machine to grasp her weapon from the floor without breaking a metaphorical sweat. Gardrofa is unable to even get in a passing strike. Hildr keeps a calm demeanour. She is not one to let the thrill of strength affect her judgement. Quite unlike Gardrofa. Gardrofa is furious. She is quite the prideful machine, and seeing this drastic change in her opponent is enough to frustrate her.

This frustration leads her to act recklessly. She does not worry about this newfound power, she just charges forward. Her motors grate against each other, her system struggles to keep up with her intentions, and most importantly her interior components short circuit and fail. She pushes herself further than she has in months in order to keep up with Hildr. Hildr quickly clashes with Gardrofa’s spear once again, almost toying with her. So Gardrofa demands more and more from her rusting body. Her pistons that no longer glide but instead scrape. Her little mechanics clash against each other.

“WARNING. INTERNAL SYSTEM CAPABILITIES DROPPING RAPIDLY. SEEK REPAIRS AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. REPEAT, INTERNAL SYSTEM CAPABILITIES DROPPING RAPIDLY. “ Her system yells, but Gardrofa chooses to completely ignore it. All that matters to her is finding victory in the corpse of her opponent.

The two begin trading blows. While Gardrofa is able to put far more weight and power into each of her swings, Hildr is completely unbothered by it. She may be far smaller and lighter, but her components are highly advanced. They are able to output strength far higher than Gardrofa’s. Though she is inundated with a barrage of warnings from her system that by tapping into her strength she is dealing as much damage to herself as she is to her opponent.

Despite the intense internal repercussions, Hildr does manage to really hurt Gardrofa. Her sword pierces the machine's body. Directly above her front right leg. The metal is sliced with almost shocking ease. Gardrofa grits her teeth as the signals rush to her head to communicate the damage. It creates a sickening screech as the metal is melted, crumpled and destroyed. By the time Hildr’s blade escapes the machine's body, a large gaping metallic wound is left in its place. Part of her exterior metal panelling falls off, colliding with the ground as Hildr winds up to strike once more. But her stance falters. Within her body, her joints were just forced further than they can and should be, leading to intense damage. Now she can barely stand on her own two feet without faltering and falling to her knees.

Gardrofa is in much the same scenario. The sword had cut wires that help control her leg, leaving it basically limp. So she struggles for a moment to remain standing on just three instead. But her steel body is far too heavy and she isn’t able to adjust the angle of her weight very well. Both machines are brought to their knees, and stare at the other. Hildr is too far from Gardrofa to do anything. But that does not apply both ways. Gardrofa raises her spear high up in the air and slams it down onto Hildr.

She manages to partly divert the attack, but it clips her once again. This time on her other side. Now there are two large gashes in Hildr’s body. Both of them pour out metal shards, crushed components and flailing wires. Sparks fly, burning away some of the precious energy she just worked so hard to achieve. She quickly uses another burst of potentially damaging force to gain some distance from Gardrofa. Thankfully it doesn’t break her as much as the attack did, but she definitely isn’t feeling any better.

She isn’t even able to hold both wounds closed anymore, allowing contaminants like dust and rubble inside of her. As if the built up rust isn’t enough to completely compromise her internal machinery.

Gardrofa is reeling from the strike. Despite her large body, even a single penetration of her shell is enough to cause a cascade of problems. Her visual display becomes blood red with warning signs she is unable to switch off.

“WARNING WARNING OUTER SHELL BREACHED! WARNING WARNING OUTER SHELL BREACHED! IMMEDIATELY SEEK REPAIRS. SHELL INTEGRITY CRITICAL BELOW 10 PERCENT (9.6442) IN SECTION E. SHELL INTEGRITY CRITICAL BELOW 10 PERCENT (7.5547) IN SECTION F. INTERNAL SYSTEM CAPABILITIES DROPPING RAPIDLY. CATASTROPHIC SYSTEM FAILURE IMMINENT.” Her system yells.

But of course she knows all of this. She can feel it, even if the pain signals aren’t quite as vivid as they are for humans. It seems part of her motor controls were damaged by the strike, as almost every movement is delayed. She attempts to swing her spear but it lags behind seconds after he intends to attack. Her very way of interfacing with the world is now broken. She struggles up to her feet but simply collapses back onto herself once again.

“This will not be the end of me… I will destroy you and rip your body apart for scraps!” Gardrofa yells out. She drops her spear for a moment, allowing temporary use of both her hands. She grabs the metal plate that had dropped off of her, and slaps it back into place. While one hand holds it, something begins to happen to the other. Her pointer finger splits in half, then separates. Revealing a hidden tool underneath, with a shiny silver tip. Gardrofa brings this small tool to her body, pointing right at the edge of the panel. Which is when a sudden gush of heat emits from her finger. Not an exposed flame, but a heat so great it instantly distorts the air around it to be almost opaque. After a second of application, the steel begins to respond and melt into place. Crudely attaching to her steel exterior. She moves her finger along the rim of the plate. The steel quickly falls into a dripping liquid that slides into the crack and crevices. Then just as fast does it cool and return to at least a relatively solid piece. Her metal is specially designed for these on the field repairs.

Gardrofa’s hand retreats, quickly resuming its more human-like form as she reaches down and grips her spear’s handle once more. Hildr is unable to perform any such swift fixes. Instead, she focuses on adjusting her power outputs in order to remain afoot. She takes one uneasy step up, and then another. Her joints struggle to keep her on her feet, but she embraces that. She knows she will be trapped here once the battle is over no matter how well it goes. But once she has the time, she can try and fix things. If it means breaking herself to win, that is a necessary risk she is willing to take.

At first she allows Gardrofa to approach her. Have her opponent do the moving for her. Gardrofa gleefully gallops towards the shambling wreck that Hildr is. But the moment she enters her range, Hildr renders the robot's previous repairs null, as she slashes open a far larger gaping cavity down the entirety of Gardrofa’s side. Far out of reach for her to repair, and far more significant than the previous one as well.

But Gardrofa does not recoil in agony, nor is she deterred by this sudden wound. Instead she pushes forward and continues her swing. Once more she misses the center of her target, instead only nicking her. This is now the third time that Gardrofa’s spear has slashed part of Hildr’s body, tearing it open. Each one just exacerbates all the other issues she faces internally. Once they both have performed their attack, they remain in place and once again resume eye contact. They do not pant or wheeze. There are no visual signs of exhaustion. But both of them know otherwise.

“WARNING, WARNING, WARNING. INTERNAL SYSTEMS DAMAGED. FOLLOWING SYSTEMS DAMAGED AND/OR DESTROYED: COOLING FANS DESTROYED REAR MOTORS SYSTEM DAMAGED BACKUP PROCESSOR DAMAGED FUEL TANK DAMAGED WARNING WARNI-” It continues on. The list extends well past the bounds of her display and begins to scroll. Though the archaic user interface bothers her, Gardrofa can only think about one thing. Her fuel tank is compromised. It is likely that the precious substance is already leaking out of cracks and seems in the metal. If she delays for even a moment longer it will defeat the purpose of ever beginning this fight in the first place.

Hildr is in a similar position, though her situation was quite grave from the very beginning. Each attack is just more damage to herself. She can’t hope to bring this match to a close. Instead it will be a slow and agonising destruction. But she has to do everything in her power to be the one that lasts just a little longer.

Gardrofa stares forward. She thinks that if Hildr notices the issue with the fuel tank, she will take advantage and finish her off. She decides to project strength, despite every part of herself screaming in agony. Each singular component and piece is damaged. Either from the battle or the wear and tear of the apocalypse. Despite all of this, she begins to run. Each step causes a cascade of important machinery to pour out of her. No matter how strongly she acts, she can’t hide the small trail of that precious fuel leaking out down the side of her body.

Instead she decides to put everything she can into this one assault. Hildr waits and watches closely. One leg proudly arced at a ninety degree angle, the other planted on the floor using only her knee to keep her up.

She grasps her sword and stares down Gardrofa through her brow. Gardrofa narrows her own eyes as she approaches, the only mobile one of the two machines. Each second drags out to minutes. They carefully watch each other's movements. Hildr’s eyes trained on the exact position of the approaching machine. Gardrofa keeps a close eye on Hildr’s hand, waiting for that flicker of movement to indicate her strike. Both wait until the very last moment to clash. Playing a game, daring the other to act first. Neither taking initiative, hoping to crush the other’s attempt. But finally they are too close to wait even another fraction of a second. At the exact same moment, they both swing.

Gardrofa arrives behind Hildr. Her legs slowing to a stop. There is a moment of silence, in which neither move an inch. In fact, both have been still for a while now. Neither were able to swing at that climactic final moment. Both of their systems failed them. Only now does Gardrofa swing her arm forcefully, her spear piercing nothing but the air. Hildr is unable to control her arm at all, it simply remains gripping her hilt without any response. Despite both of the machines' intentions, their bodies gave out too early. All of these explosive movements are just too much for their mechanics. Neither of them took it seriously enough, far too focused on the battle.

Now they pay the price.

“WARNING WARNING WARNING CATASTROPHIC SYSTEM FAILURE

WARNING WARNING WARNING FUEL RESERVES ALMOST EMPTY

WARNING WARNING WARNING CPU OVERHEATING

WARNING WARNING WARNING MOTORS BROKEN

WAR-”

The list is almost unending. Gardrofa doesn’t have the processing power to even comprehend everything that is wrong with her. Instead her mind feels the internal wreckage caused by pushing herself in that final attack. The signals notifying her to every crack, snap and break. But it is just too much for her failing computer to handle. It almost stuns her, the overwhelming signals block any outgoing signals. Preventing her from issuing commands to the rest of her body, or even considering what commands to issue. She stumbles in place for a moment, her body desperately employing her autopiloting functionalities to remain standing. But that function is no better off than any other part of her. Gardrofa collapses to the ground, landing on her side. Leaving the large split in her metallic body facing the air.

“GG-fZZXCcc-sdsd ffffc-caaaa” She spits out, speaking pure gibberish. Not even intending to speak, her communications systems fail. The growing cascade of issues expands even to things not damaged in the battle. All of those components that weathered slow degradation over her agonizing life in the apocalypse finally fall. The pieces that had just barely held on suddenly snap in this moment. As each piece snaps, more weight and stress is put on every existing piece, causing those to break too. Despite laying down, her body’s rate of failure just keeps exponentially increasing. Her speaker continues to sputter nonsense until eventually it just cuts off.

“WARNING TOTAL SYSTEM SHUTDOWN IMMINENT FIND A SAFE LOCATION AND CONTACT HELP WARNING TOTAL SYSTEM SHUTDOWN IMMINENT FIND A SAFE LOCATION AND CONTACT HELP WAR-” Her system continues to yell on loop, screaming into the ether with no one to understand it. By this point, Gardrofa’s mind is so inundated with a debilitating barrage of signals. All of it amounting to naught but static to the barely conscious machine. Her CPU can barely handle her baseline upkeep anymore, let alone all of this additional stress.

Hildr faces all the same struggles. But instead of a burning hot processor overwhelmed by components screaming their statuses, her problem is far more simple. Hildr is out of fuel. She had stopped paying attention to her fuel tank once she got her hands on that boost mid battle. So much so that she hadn’t noticed her own fuel tank being pierced by Gardrofa’s spear soon after.

All of the power she was so heavily relying on wasn’t even there. Trickled down the side of her body, finding its way around her incredible curves. So when she pushed herself right at the end, her body gave in and refused to move. It simply didn’t have enough power to bring itself to motion.

So the two machines lay broken on the ground. A few mere metres separate the previously warring combatants. Now neither can lift a finger. In a deafening silence, the two wait out their systems shutdowns. Two more victims of this barren wasteland. Bodies to add to the pile the two found themselves fighting over in the first place.

Gardrofa’s eyes shut. She shuts down, with next to no hope of being discovered and revived. Perhaps the next travellers who find this place will have a more philanthropic prime directive than this machine of war ever did.