STELLAR

[Collect a shulker of stone]

[Don’t be out after night]

Joe hacked away at the mountain, filling his inventory with clear-cut stone. The instructions lingered at the edge of his vision, lightly reminding him of his tasks. Technically, the second one was a precaution. The last time he was out past dusk, a skeleton had nearly gotten the best of him. Better safe than sorry.

Soon, his inventory was full and he deposited it into the shulker he carried. It was already around half-full, which meant he had a little extra left to spare. Perfect.

[Task One: Completed]

Though the sky was visible above him, he learned not to depend wholly on the sun’s position. Even if The Sun's Position in the Sky by Alejandro Jenkins could give him exact mathematical equations to determine the time, it was simply easier to look at his internal clock.

[Time: 19:54:12]

Hm. Only an hour until sunset. Cleo hadn’t given him an elytra, for fear he would run into a wall or tree, but that wouldn’t be a problem. He could keep up a constant run at about eight miles per hour, and Cleo’s base was only around five miles away. While he wasn’t as strong as some of the other models, even he was capable of inhuman feats.

He stored the shulker into his inventory and hooked his pickaxe onto his belt. Cleo ensured he had at least the basic tools, plus a sword for combat. His shovel and axe were strapped to his back while the pickaxe and sword were by his waist. They would weigh him down slightly, changing his arrival time from thirty-five minutes to forty-two.

Not a significant change, but one nonetheless. He started running. With reason, he would make it home with time to spare.

[Thirium Pump Increase Detected]

That was fine. It would be fine. As long as he didn’t exceed eight miles per hour, his thirium pump would retain a stable condition. His fans whirred, relieving his systems of the heat they produced. He had it down to a science.

As he looked up, he saw the sky had turned a gentle orange color. The sun sat low upon the horizon, marking the coming sunset. The nearby surroundings were absolutely secluded. He was instructed to take his mining to an uninhabited location, just in case the other hermits had plans for the areas they occupied. That was the reason he had traveled so far away.

He drifted into a sort of monotonous state. His tracking system led the way and his artificial muscles moved to it, uncaring of fatigue or weariness. When he had first been activated, Cleo scarce used him. She feared that she would break him, or hurt him.

Joe didn’t know the ‘hurt’ Cleo was talking about. He was incapable of ‘hurting’. It simply wasn’t in his programming. Still, whenever she gave him an instruction, he took an extra step to make sure he was doing it carefully, so as to not worry her.

[Time from Destination: 14:36 minutes]

With just a little under an hour until sunset, he’d make it home with no problem. 

As Joe emerged from a sparse forest he had been traversing, he noted a village in his path. He had passed it on the way to the mountain he mined, and had found nothing of interest. However, as his optical lens zoomed in, he spotted an interesting anomaly.

Tugging along two llamas, a wandering trader bustled alongside the villagers, holding items above his head. His camera identified the wares; a sea pickle, a depressing-looking allium, and, most peculiar, a book.

A new, but familiar, order popped up on his screen.

[Research and Store All New Literature]

It wasn’t one given by Cleo. Rather, it was a base instruction programmed by Xisuma and Docm. It was often redundant, because most pieces were already uploaded into his hard-drive. Sometimes, however, he’d find a new book that wasn’t recorded down.

Joe entered the village, slowing his pace down to a leisurely walk. The wandering trader approached him immediately, bombarding him with absurd offers. Joe replied in the trader’s own language, gesturing at the book they held. “How much for that one?”

They nodded enthusiastically, stating the price and holding out a hand.

Joe pulled out his pouch of emeralds. Cleo kept him stocked for this exact scenario, for, what she called it, ‘entertaining his inner shopaholic’. The trader took the pouch eagerly, handing over the book.

The title on the cover had long faded away, but the pages seemed intact for the most part. He flipped through them, surveying the words, and found that they were not downloaded to his hard-drive, or memory, at all. He thanked the trader and took the book to the light of a nearby lamp.

[Estimate Storage Time]

All factors were included. The book was two-hundred pages, which was mercifully short. The words weren’t cramped or scrawled with illegible hand-writing. The paper was in significant shape compared to other books, the tearage and stains barely effective.

[Storage Time: 26:52 Minutes]

Joe paused. If he went through with this, he’d only have fourteen minutes to return home. Within his abilities, but…he’d be stretching it. He could do this later, after he came back.

[Programming Override: Store Information]

His base programming took over. It was more important than Cleo’s order to come home before dark. His systems started memorizing and recording every word that was printed down. He went stiff and focused entirely on flipping through the book.

[Storage Complete!]

[Warning: Memory 98% Full]

Joe closed the book, stuffing it into his inventory. The memory hadn’t been identified as a problem, which changed his prediction of his time of arrival. He usually uploaded his memory to his long-term storage every so often, so as to not overload it. He must’ve caught himself in the in-between period.

Unfortunately, he knew with experience how long it took to upload a full memory. A few hours at the very least. Not a viable option.

[Don’t be out after dark]

Sunset was fourteen minutes and ten seconds away. He didn’t think twice. His main programming initiative fulfilled, he set off again toward home. However, this time, his normal eight miles per hour wouldn’t cut it. He needed to be faster.

[Thirium Pump Increase Detected]

[Stress Level: 58%]

He was heating up. His full memory forced all new information intakes to be stored on temporary caches, which took up space and energy. His fans were not suited for this. Models like TGTK2000 had stronger, industrial fans that were able to regulate the high amounts of heat it produced. Models like Joe were fit for simple tasks, not running on minimum memory.

He sped up. The sooner he could get to Cleo, the faster he could download his short-term storage and return to maximum function. His thirium pump disliked it, and so did his systems.

[Stress Level: 65%]

The wind had picked up, and it wasn’t just because Joe’s speed increased. The air tore across his artificial skin and hair, snatching at his clothes. He could feel thirium rushing through his body, and the erratic thumping his pump created. He was only three minutes away now. If he just pushed a little longer…

[Warning: Thirium Pump Irregularity]

[Warning: Stress Level Critical]

His regulator struggled to keep up, the constant thrumming in his chest stuttering with every step. A few errors popped up as his temporary caches became overwhelmed. His systems pleaded with him to let up. He needed to reach home. It was an order he refused to disobey.

[Don’t be out after dark]

~

“Joe!” 

He turned around, watching the arrow fly toward him with no means to defend himself. Then, Cleo appeared in front of him, shield coming up to block both of them. Then, with one swift swing of her sword, the attacking skeleton crumbled into a pile of bones.

“Thank you, Cl-” Joe’s words cut off as Cleo brought him into a tight embrace. He stilled, unsure on what to do.

“Joe.” Her voice was lowered, nearly a growl. He couldn’t see her expression from where he was. “I don’t want that to happen again, okay? You nearly got shot.”

“I was unaware of the skeleton,” Joe stated. “I will attempt to survey my surroundings before doing work next time.”

“No.” Cleo pulled away, an unfamiliar expression on her face. “No next time. I won’t always be there to protect you. Don’t be out after night. That’s an order.”

~

An order. Joe stumbled toward their base. He could see Cleo inside, a lone figure illuminated by a few lights. The shell around his chest had fractured under the stress of his thirium pump. Deep blue now stained his clothes and spread across his skin. It wasn’t evaporating like he hoped it would.

His stress was still critical, his memory long since overwhelmed, and his regulator remained unresponsive. He attempted to send out a distress signal, but his fried systems refused to forward it.

He had been struggling along for the better part of a minute. Sunset was within seconds of coming. He had failed. His systems threatened self-destruction after being overused for too long past their capabilities. He collapsed onto the ground, the artificial muscles in his body going stiff. He closed his eyes, accepting.

“Joe!”

A sharp voice pierced his audio processor. It felt like being shocked with a jumper cable. He opened his mouth to reply, but his voice projection unit was just as broken as the rest of his systems.

“Are you okay?”

Warm hands grabbed his shoulders and propped him up. He stared up at Cleo’s face, eyes wet with tears. When he didn’t respond, she established a firmer grip on him and pulled him upright.

“You’re going to be okay.” Her voice was the same raw, coarse one she had used that night. “I-I’ve called Xisuma, so he’ll be here an’ fix you up.”

“C-le-eo.” She began to half-carry, half-drag him back to their base, seemingly unhearing to his call. “Cl-eee-o.”

She paused, glancing back at him. A few tears had made their way down her face, leaving dark streaks in their wake. “Joe?”

“I-I’m so-rrrr-ry.”

“No…” Cleo continued to pull him along. “Don’t be sorry. You’re hurting…” As he looked, he could see his own thirium staining her clothes and skin. He felt a pang deep in his chest, and he wasn’t sure where it came from.

“Hur-rtttt-ing, may-bb-e.” He mimicked a smile, the corners of his mouth pulling up and his eyes squinting. “B-ut…ok-ayy.”

Cleo's eyes widened, a grin splitting her own face. “I’ve never seen you smile before.”

He didn’t respond, putting all his energy into keeping his systems stable. He would not self-destruct today. Not if he could help it.

~

“Joe! Come over here!”

It had been two weeks since he’d ‘deviated’. He wasn’t the first, but still a surprising one at that. He approached Cleo’s side, looking over the blueprints. Her hair was tied up, her fingers smudged with graphite.

“What’s up?”

Cleo gestured at the lower level, pointing out a tunnel he had marked ‘secret’. “Do we have to build that part?”

“Of course!” He slapped a hand over his chest, his mouth agape. He was getting better at showing emotions. Dramatic happened to be one of his favorites. “If we are going to build a one-to-one scale of the castle, we have to include everything!”

The castle in question was the Hohenzollern Castle, an important piece of architecture in Germany. The book that Joe had found the night of his deviancy wrote of such in intricate detail and fashion. It had become the inspiration for Cleo’s build.

“Fine, but you’re doing that part.”

Joe pouted, a bit of pleading spreading across his face. “But…but I’m doing the outside gardens…”

Cleo glared at him. “Not my fault you wanted to include all the hidden passageways!” The android stared at her for a moment more before she broke, sighing and pinching the bridge of her nose. “Okay. I’ll do the tunnels if you do the cellars. Deal?”

“Deal.”

They settled into an easy silence, planning out the dimensions of the castle. It would truly be an amazing feat, a beautiful building for two friends. Because that’s what they’d become. More than just a human and their android, but equals, despite their differences.

Joe found he was happy with that.