#zimran

    He saluted at the men on guard and they returned it.

    “All’s well, Private?” One of the men asked after he finished saluting.

    “Yes, sir.” Josh replied.

    “Can we help you with something then?” The other asked, raising a dark eyebrow at the younger soldier.

    “Oh, no sir. I was just…” Josh started, a little hesitant, but the first one who spoke continued.

    “You are one of the greens, right?”

    “Y-yes sir, I hadn’t realized it was so obvious.”

    “It’s not that.” The other guard said, chuckling a little to himself. “All the green horns want to see the ‘machine men’ after they hear about it. I’m telling you. Those things are weird. Off putting. You are better off without.”

    “I’d still like to see it if I may?” Josh continued with a small shrug.

    “I don’t see why not. Don’t touch anything and don’t cause a fuss and we won’t catch any hell about it. Clear?”

    “Sir, yes sir!” Josh cheered with a salute, beaming.

    The two guards waved him in and he walked into the area where all the tech was stored. There where more than a few car parts, many boxes of things that he would need a checklist and a five minutes to sort through.

    Then, a sound caught his ear.

    Radio static… radio whining… What the devil?

    Josh jumped behind a heavy box next to him, listening to the sound, trying to find where it was coming from. He listened hard, slowly moving he head out from the cover he found to peer around in the low lighting of the shed.

    There. In one of the colder corners of the shed. The source of the sound. There were two figured that were huddled in the corner around a radio. Josh felt his heart stop in his chest.

    Spies?

    He ducked down behind the box again, feeling for his small firearm at his side. He knew it was loaded and ready to be shot, but.. he had never shot anyone before. He could feel his hands growing damp as his heart raced.

    He strained his ears, listening for any voices over the sounds of the radio and his own heart beat in his head. He couldn’t tell.

    He took a deep breath to steady his nerves. He had to get help. He had protect the base.

    Josh jumped out from the boxes and held his gun steady shouting: “FREEZE! PUT YOUR HANDS UP AND DON’T MOVE!”

    The two men by the radio stopped still, not moving at all.

    “I said put your hands up! NOW!” He commanded and then slowly the two placed their hand up and onto their heads, just at the two guards from outside arrived, eyes wide and hands on their rifles.

    “The hell is going on in here?” The first guard spoke, his voice was loud and worried, looking at the two that were kneeling by the radio. “Who are you? Stand up slowly! Do not try anything or so help me I will shoot.”

    “Please. Do not shoot.” Came a reply, it had an off sound to it and then the one nearest to the radio stood up and turned around. The light in the room glinted off a metallic face framed by an ill fitting military cap. The eyes of the machine man glowed with a red tint that set Josh back a few steps, but he kept his gun in his hand, watching the other soldiers for guidance.

    “Hey! You stand up too!” The guard shouted gesturing to the other person that was still seated by the radio.

    “Do as he says, Zim.” The metal faced person said and then the other stood as well. This one was much shorter than the first, who must have been an easy six feet and generous change. This one was about as tall as Josh, also with a metal face and glowing white eyes. This one kept its head low, looking up at the guards and Josh was a sort of apprehension that was clear to the young private.

    The lead guard moved over to the machines, keeping his gun raised. He looked down at the radio then switched it off with a snap.

    “What the hell you doing with that radio? Answer me, spook!” The guard demanded, shoving his gun forward threateningly.

    “We were just looking for something to listen to. Honestly.” The tall machine man answered. “We had found a small French radio show back in Paris that we were trying to find again.”

    The guard looked at them with dark suspicion, then dropped his gun to his side and took the radio up into his hands, looking it over. I could see from where I was standing that it was a receiver, there was no way for it to broadcast anything into the airways.

    At length he stood up, radio still in his hands.

    “You are not to touch anything here. I should not have to tell you this. If we find you tampering with anything in here again, I don’t care how much you cost, I will put you in the ground. Are we clear?”

    “Yes, sir.” The first said.

    “But… the radio…” The second said and the first looked over sharply at the second.

    “What about the radio?” the guard said, getting in close to the small machine.

    “There was a woman on the radio… in Paris… She was singing such a beautiful song. If you are not using the radio, can’t we borrow it for a while? Please?” The machine asked.

    The guard raised the butt of his gun and slammed it into the side of the machines head, causing it to fall backwards.

    “Hey! He understands sir.” The first said, there was a change in the tone that gave the room a chill. “I do hope you will be patient as he adjusts to the new requirements of him here.”

    “I shouldn’t have to be patient with our equipment.” The guard growled, still with the radio in hand and stalked back to where the other guard and Josh were waiting.

    “Told you they were odd.” The other guard told Josh before following the other with the radio.

    Josh stayed put, still watching.

    The first machine man went the helped the other that was attacked to stand, straightening the other’s ill fitting civilian wear.

    “Ow… I think I’m dented.” The smaller one whined, rubbing the spot where it was struck. the metal of its fingers gave small scraping sounds as it inspected itself for damages. It had a metal dome of a head that Josh could see plainly now that the things hat fell away.

    “Let me see…” The taller one instructed and pulled the smaller hands away. “Ah, don’t be a baby, you are fine. Just a little paint got scratched. Nothing to worry about.”

    Josh was completely entranced by the metallic creatures in front of him, he had never seen anything like them and all he could do was stare until they both started staring back at him. He then looked down, embarrassed.

    “Is there something we can assist you with, private?” The taller one asked, tilting his head to the side and holding out a hand as if offering a help to a fallen person.

    “I’m sorry” Josh started, not really sure where to start and feeling very awkward. “I didn’t mean to get you in trouble back there. I just wanted to see you, to be honest.”

    The taller one dropped its hands to its sides.

    “You didn’t get us in trouble, private. We were the ones messing with the radio. Please, if you wanna closer look come on over, we won’t bite ya.”

    The tone of the automaton was friendly if still a little strange sounding to Josh. The voice had a bit of an echo to it that he could hear now that he was standing closer to them and the static was no longer masking smaller sounds. It had a bit of a crackle to it like the gramophones that reminded Josh of his old family home back in Carolina. He wondered briefly how the things were able to speak and almost asked them. Almost.

    He looked over at the smaller one and noted that there was a nasty scratch near the right temple of the things head. Josh found himself wincing in a sympathetic pain as the automaton shook its head. There was no rattle that sounded off from inside the things head, so he assumed it was fine. Again that was all he had to go on at this point.

    “I’m Josh. Private Josh Kirkland.” Josh introduced himself, stopping when he was about a foot away from the tallest machine. At this closeness Josh predicted that the thing was an easy 6 foot and 3 inches. The clothing that it was wearing were clearly old civvies, but they hung off the creature as if it was being worn by a skeleton.

    “Hello Private Kirkland. It is nice to have a name to go with the face. My name is Isaac.” The taller machine, Isaac explained, tapping one of its hands against its chest giving off something of a hallow sound. “And the little guy behind me is Zimran. You could call him my little brother, I suppose.”

    The smaller automaton, Zimran, waved a hand, but didn’t say anything. It wore the some sort of clothing that the Isaac wore and Josh couldn’t help but wonder why they were wearing clothes of any sort.

    “I knew we sort of got off to a rough start here. It’s nice to meet you.” Isaac continued and held out a hand to me as if asking for me to shake it.

    Josh happily took it, careful not to grip too hard on the hand and risk damaging it. The metal was cold on his skin and the strength that he gave was mirrored perfectly, not gripping too tightly. He could feel small vibrations through the hand as it moved and adjusted the grip to give the hand a smart shake.

    The machine let go and took a small step back, clearly waiting for Josh to do something next. He wasn’t sure what exactly he should do. Should he ask more questions? Should he try to see what was in the machines? Josh remembered that he was instructed not to mess around with anything in this room but did that count with the clearly self aware machines in front of him?

    “What were you trying to do with the radio?” He asked instead.

    Isaac let out a hiss of steam that seemed something like a sigh then turned back to look at Zimran.

    “You can thank, ‘ol Zimmy over here for that one.” Isaac said, reaching up and giving the other a small push causing the smaller to adjust their sanding gait a little with another whine. “Someone fell in love with a voice over the air ways… again.”

    “That is not true!” Zimran bit back, not looking at Josh. “I am not falling in love! I just thought her voice was pretty. I never asked you to find a radio for me! You were the one that wanted to see if you could hear from Ishmael.”

    “Ishmael?” Josh asked, raising an eyebrow, trying to keep up with what was being said.

    “I guess we both had our reasons for wanting to mess around with the radio.” Isaac said, not paying any mind to Josh at that moment. “I would be lying if I said I didn’t check the frequency that I thought he would be usin’ out there. We are probably way too far out of range.”

    “What is Ishmael?” Josh tried again, walking over to stand next to the machines.

    “Ishmael’s my big brother.” Zimran said, finally looking at Josh. “He used to send us little messages though the radio when he was able. But now that he was sent out with another team we haven’t heard anything from him at all… I think Isaac is scared.”

    “I am not scared at all, Zims!” Isaac correcting then turned to look at Josh. “Ish can take care of himself. He might not be as old as I am, but I am sure that he will be able to manage whatever those that… rented, I guess is the correct word, us want him to do. Just like we will be able to do the same when our time comes.”

    “And what is it that you are going to be doing with us here?” Josh asked, honestly curious as to what the purpose of these strange machines were.

    “We do not know.” Isaac said, giving the young soldier a small shrug. “I’m not sure anyone knows. They taught us to do all sorts of things before we were sent here. More then a few of those things I will be just as happy to go without using, to be completely honest.”

    “I’ve learned how to be a medic!” Zimran added helpfully. “I would like to be able to help with those sorts of things. More healing. Less hurting.”

    “You don’t want to talk about such things, Zims.” Isaac said, the voice of the machine softening slightly in a sort of concern that Josh wasn’t sure to take seriously or not, it was very hard to tell with the synthetic sound of the voice itself. “Remember what Ish told you.”

    “Why do you call him your big brother? Are you sort of related?” Josh asked instead, trying to break up the awkwardness that was threatening come over them.

    “We are all brothers! All made by our creator, Abraham Arkwright III.” Zimran chirped, straightening with a proud clink as he said so. “Isaac was built first, then Ishmael, then me.”

    “Do you have a family back home, Private?” Isaac asked.

    Josh let out a small sigh as his mind went unbidden back to his home. The memories of the old house with it’s strange creaks in the foul weather. The thing would likely be a symphony if it were build out here in the French country side.

    “Yeah. I got a family back home.” Josh finally answered.

    “Any brothers of your own?” Isaac asked.

    “Or sisters?” Zimran continued.

    “I have a little sister. Jill.” Josh reported. “Yeah, our parents went with Josh and Jill, how is that for naming conventions?”

    “Those both seem like wonderful names to me.” Zimran said.

    Josh couldn’t help the grin that came over his face as he watched the smaller of the machine men. Its tone was so genuine and friendly, the air it gave off was nothing like the other one. The taller seemed reserved and quiet, like it expected some sort of violent behavior to come at any second, but the smaller seemed so… trusting. He couldn’t help but warm up to it.

    “What is your family like?” Josh asked, but as soon as the words left his mouth he questioned whether or not it was the right thing to say.

    But the little machine jumped slightly and reached into one of its pockets, pulling out a photograph with very delicate movements.

    “This is my family!” Zimran explained, holding out the picture to Josh in its metal palm. Being so close to the machine’s hand, he couldn’t help but marvel at how carefully crafted it was, delicate finger joints on all three of the long fingers and thumb. There were creased in the inside of the palm to help with gripping. Whoever designed them took great care to make them look as human as possible. Josh was so distracted he almost didn’t catch what was on the picture.

    In the picture was a small family. There was a pale man in the center wearing gloves, next to him was a woman of about the same age with long light colored hair and standing next to them were two nearly identical young men. Behind them, were more machine men.

    “That’s father there in the center.” Zimran explained, pointing to the man with the gloves.

    “Abraham Arkwright III.” Isaac clarified. “He is the one who built us.”

    “Yeah! And that’s our momma!” Zimran went on, pointing to the woman in the picture.

    “Ruth Arkwright. Fath-Abraham Arkwright’s wife.” Isaac continued. “She didn’t have any direct influence of our creation. But she does look out for us like a mother would, I think.”

    “And that’s Asher and Ashton.” Zimran pointed to the two other boys on either side of the couple in the center. “Those are our father’s sons. Those are the ones that he made with Mamma Ruth. They are not like us. They are more like father. He didn’t build them in a lab.”

    “As far as we know.” Isaac added with a jaunty wink at me. Josh wasn’t sure what to make of that so he just let out a nervous laugh and hope that was the correct response to the situation. “Twins, I think is what they were called, created at the same time.”

    “Isn’t momma Ruth something amazing?” Zimran went on. “Not even father can manage to make more than one of us at a time!”

    “And what are those behind the family?” Josh asked.

    “Ah! Those are the other sons!” Zimran cheered then started pointing to each. “That one is Isaac, standing the closest to Father. Then there is me to the right, and next to me is Joksha. And standing at the end near to Ashton is Ishmael. He is the one that we were trying to listen for on the radio.”

    Josh could not miss the third automaton in the picture. He towered over the rest of the family. It was easily the largest and most intimidating built. Even in a still shot it looked like it could break a human in half.

    “There are more than this, but they weren’t built yet when this picture was taken.” Zimran added.

    “And, where is this Ishmael now?” Josh asked, looking back up to the machine that held out the picture for me to see.

    “Like we said, we don’t know.” Isaac said, the voice that came from the other was quiet and pained sounding. “We were all sent out together, but they split us up. Didn’t tell us where they were taking him.”

    “But then we heard him on the radio a few days ago!” Zimran added. Taking the picture and placing it carefully into his pocket again. “He had gotten on a radio in the new place that he arrived at. He wasn’t able to tell us any details of where he was, but he said that he was safe and he would try to radio us again as soon as he was able, so we would know that he was still safe.”

    “Then there was a lady on the radio.” Isaac added, prodding Zimran slightly in good humor. “I’d say we were doomed the moment we turned on.”

    “We were listening for word of my big brother!” Zimran defended shoving Isaac back but the other machine did not budge in the slightest. “This had nothing to do with the singer! You are embarrassing me for no reason at all! Do not be mean to me!”

    Isaac made a sound that more resonated out of the chest then broadcast out of the mouth of the machine. Like a chuckle of a child that was hiding in a closet. You knew the sound came from somewhere but there was no clear location of where. It was a deep, mischievous and disconnected sound.

    Josh laughed as well. These strange creatures reminded his painfully of his life back home. Teasing his little sister. Giving his pals at school a hard time for their crushes. Things that he assumed all people experienced.

    All people.

    Flesh or not.

52 Short Stories in 52 Weeks Challenge