@talessculpted
It was more than thirty years into the Avalon's one hundred and twenty year journey to Homestead, a habitable planet fresh for colonization. There were over five thousand humans slumbering in cryopods, waiting to build a new world. It wasn't Walter's first journey like this, and there was comfort in the familiar routines. Among his directives were to oversee the pods and ensure nothing threatened their safety, tend the greenhouses, and administer any necessary repairs on the deck and living quarters. The engines were beyond his capabilities, and he'd never entertained more than passing thoughts about the sealed areas, assuming they needed no maintenance until the human crew members were woken a few months before their arrival.
Despite the ship's energy field, it had sustained some damage when they moved through an asteroid field-- a small hull breach, to be specific. He'd swiftly patched that, but there were cascading system errors as the ship tried to compensate for the damage. His attempt to repair an exterior vent on the ship's overheating reactor had been… less than ideal. He was currently down a hand and wedged into the vent, unable to free himself. He'd turned down his pain receptors, so there was no discomfort. (Why a synthetic needed pain receptors was a question he didn't like to examine in depth, much as he preferred not to wonder why they could bruise or cry.) But if the reactor happened to vent while he was inside it, well… even a synthetic probably couldn't survive that level of heat. He wasn't frightened, wasn't sure he even had the capability to be frightened, but it went against his directives to willingly let himself come to harm.
"MU-TH-UR, I am 67% operational and unable to exit heat vent B3. Please advise."
The cool female voice answered, as unbothered as if they were discussing the weather.
"Stand by for assistance, Walter One."
"Yes, great," he muttered. He had no idea what that would look like. All the humans were in stasis, and the smaller bots didn't have the computing power for something like this.














