#rightwhereyouleftme

— right where you left me, 2021

( @swiftdanvers )

Quick comic but I had to draw it

He’d been told to stay with the ship.

Usually R2 had no qualms about not following orders. His programming made him abnormal. The longer he went without having his memory wiped, the more he realized it. Some droids were wiped so much they were stupid, having to relearn everything all the time. Without the wipe, R2’s pattern-recognition allowed him more organic processing. The dark one that currently owned R2 seemed to like it that R2 had developed his own personality.

His memory bank pulled up the first time he had worked with the dark one, NE-kin. The human had been younger then, with shorter hair and an easier smile. NE-kin had left him with the ship while the human did the interesting things.

R2 had gotten bored while he waited. He took to wheeling around the hangar, scanning random things. By the time NE-kin returned, R2 had plugged into the hangar’s port.

“R2D2? Where are you?”

R2 had sped out from behind another ship, whistling a cantankerous, “I’m right where you left me.”  

NE-kin had laughed, and R2’s pattern recognition designated that as a good thing.

R2 saw NE-kin a lot more after that, and before long was allowed to go with the human on more excursions. R2 enjoyed them. He saw a lot of exciting things, especially when he wasn’t left with the ship.

It wasn’t all fun though. R2 had once been torn apart. NE-kin had come to find R2, and then called him “friend.” At the time R2 didn’t know what it meant, exactly, but the human was smiling when he said it. R2 decided ‘friend’ meant someone he actually wanted to help.

NE-kin often asked where R2 was. R2 grew used to responding, “Right where you left me.” Especially when that wasn’t true.

R2 also got used to saving the day. NE-kin and the organics he spent the most time with, OB1 and SO-kuh, needed his help a lot. He thought maybe now was one of those times.

. R2 hadn’t seen SO-kuh in a long time, and NE-kin did not smile as much anymore. Today was worse. NE-kin hadn’t talked to him on the way here like he usually did. He had told R2 to stay with the ship, then disappeared. The droid wanted to help, but NE-kin was feeling bad so he waited. Maybe R2’s customary phrase would help the organic feel better.

R2 swiveled his top towards the ships. His old Mistress had arrived with OB1, but NE-kin hadn’t been happy to see them. R2 wasn’t sure why. But then NE-kin had attacked OB1, and the droid couldn’t make sense of it. C3PO had helped R2 get his Mistress back onto the ship. She had powered down and wasn’t rebooting. R2 was waiting for OB1 and NE-kin.

R2 didn’t like being here. He could not, technically, feel heat. But his sensors warned him about getting too close to the red liquid. It reminded the droid of welding shops, and the red heat was getting everywhere now. The droid rocked side to side, swiveling his top slowly back and forth.

Someone was coming! It was OB1! R2 flew down the ramp to greet him. He stopped at the bottom, his processors telling him something had gone wrong. Very wrong. OB1 was alone.

He scanned the organic as the man approached. He had been injured, but not badly. Some of his soft coverings had holes burned in them. R2 moved forward a few inches, humming anxiously.

Where was NE-kin? OB1 was sad. R2 knew because his shoulders were slumped. He also looked tired. R2 beeped a question as the organic patted R2’s dome.

“I’m sorry, R2.” OB1’s voice was quiet. R2’s analysis evaluated the layers in the man’s voice and concluded the organic was grieving. And… R2 didn’t want to process it.

OB1 had NE-kin’s light stick. His “lightsaber.”

The organic tried to never go anywhere without it. The fact that OB1 had it now meant that something bad had happened to NE-kin. R2 warbled his concern.

“We have to go, R2,” OB1 said. His voice got softer. “He isn’t coming. He’s gone.”  

OB1 would know. R2 had spent enough time around the organic to know that he would wait for NE-kin if there was reason to. The droid would have to leave, but R2 lingered a moment longer, swiveling his camera back over the landing bay.