-'' Do you have something ındispensable, İmpa?''
-'' My name is İ.M.P. (İntellegent Metal Protector.) Please describe the word ındispensable.''
The man looked from his desk at the machine he called "İmpa."
-'' Something you can never replace, something you would always feel when it is gone.''
The machine, called İmpa, spends seconds thinking.
-'' Broken parts and organs can be easily replaced.''
The man turned back to his desk with a warm smile.
-'' One day you will find something ındispensable too, İmpa. And after that day, this facility, your mission... nothing of these will matter anymore.''
-'' ... Unreasonable.''
--Memory Record Has Ended--
When the recording ended, Impa remained seated, staring at his reflection on the screen through a camera embedded in an undetailed metal mask that resembled a single eye. Recently, he had made it a habit to watch random recordings from his large memory bank. İt was felt rather... nostalgic.
He came to his senses and stood up heavily when a tiny, four-legged clock came up to him and started chiming. He wore a thick, black coat that looked relatively old but was obviously of good quality, and walked through the empty halls of the already abandoned facility to open the large main door.
He walked along the snow-covered paths and followed a patrol route that had not been in service for several centuries. No matter how much time has passed, he couldn't leave this routine behind ever. But now, these patrols have evolved into calm walks, just to think in silence. And he had a few things to think too.
Maintenance of the facility and the robots within it, provision of the resources required for maintenance, keeping human management under control... He was quite a busy machine. He has continued to protect the facility and its contents since old times, and has not allowed any human administration to disturb this dead heritage. And they did try it. Many times. Humanity had lost a large percentage of its technology due to events that did not concern him or the facility, and they were desperately trying to get it back before others.
-'' İllogical lifeforms.''
Although Impa disliked them for their irrational nature, he didn't care what they did, as long as it didn't concern the facility and its occupants.
While he had lost himself in his mechanical thoughts, he noticed an anomaly in his range of vision...
Bright colors filled the sky, merging and clashing to create new hues. A chaotic riot of color began to rain down on the earth, isolating a distant area.
İmpa watched it in silence and connected to the facility.
-'' An unknown anomaly has been detected. Wait for the command to start to defense protocol.''
Cautiously, he walked up to the raining colors. They had solidified supernaturally, enclosing a vast space within them like a wall. He watched it for a short while.
-'' An increase in radiation levels has been detected. The area should be quarantined.''
He walked around the wall. Tried to understand what it is, and most importantly, is it a threat to the facility?
That's when, an unexpected thing happened. He heard a strange noise... like a weak whimper. He carefully searched for the source of the noise and-
-'' A basket was detected next to the anomaly. Made from wicker.''
The source of the weak noise, a little basket lying lonely on the snow.
When he took the basket, the thing inside it was surprising. Even for a decade-old machine.
-'' A human baby. Female. Estimated 1 year old.''
When he lifted the blanket the baby was wrapped in, he noticed her fluffy ears.
-'' Correction: humanoid.''
An alarm began to scream in his head. The radiation level was kept rising slowly.
He looked at the baby for a few seconds before taking his coat off and wrapping it around the baby to protect her from the cold. He returned to the facility with the basket in his hands.
When he entered from the main gate, many large and small robots saw him and started to follow him with curiosity. İmpa had never brought anything from outside to the facility except the necessary resources and materials. Accompanied by his followers, he placed the basket on a desk. While his companions examined the basket and the baby with great interest, İmpa remained still, scanning his memory bank.
-'' A list of baby supplies has been created and shared with the units. Minion units 4 and 5, obtain these from human markets. Be quick.''
As soon as he gave the command, two small, four-legged, and single-handed robots gave him a military salute and left quickly. Impa watched the sleeping baby silently until they returned, his expressionless face now unreadable even to the robots who had been with him for centuries. He slowly and gently touched to cheek of the baby. After a long time, he felt the soft huma-no, humanoid flesh against his steel. İt was not something he needed or missed. But... it was not something unpleasant either.
Strange... whatever the thing happening right now, was not something in his programming.
The baby felt his cold touch and woke up. She looked around before stopping her big, red eyes on İmpa. Her white ears perked up, and her fluffy tail began to swing behind her. She smiled widely and made random, meaningless noises towards İmpa.
-'' ... Miko.''
He said suddenly. A name that appeared in his mechanical mind all of a sudden. An information from a rare, blind spot of his memory bank...
-'' You are Miko. İs it accepted?''
He asked as he lifted the baby, as gently as possible. Her response was an increase in the swinging speed of her tail.
-'' Reaction accepted as confirmation.''
As he put the baby back ın the basket, two little robots returned with big bags in their hands. İmpa took the bags and checked everything in them one by one. Milk, baby food, diapers, pacifiers...
-'' Command has completed. Good work.''
He took the bags and basket and went to the kitchen area, which he hadn't visited in a very long time. He placed the basket on a table where he could see it and placed the ingredients in cupboards that had been empty for centuries. Then he warmed milk for the baby in silence, with the bots watching him from the door.
That was a slow and silent moment. Like all of the moments he had for centuries. But the thing is... This one was strangely... nicer.