SkyBreaker

The gears of BT.011 were rusted and made an ear-piercing creaking sound with every movement. Golby Homa was a famous inventor in Sigma City. His main research results included the Magicka autopilot machine, the Magicka steam engine core, and the Magicka material transportation pipeline. BT.011 was one of his works. In an accident many years ago, Dr. Homer disappeared into the Magicka vortex he created. No one knew if he was still alive or where he had gone. BT.011, though unaffected, was executed and disposed of along with other experimental equipment - auctioned off on the free market as the personal property of the missing man. After changing hands several times, BT.011 was sold to a toy store in uptown as an assistant robot. The owner of the toy store was mean and rude, unwilling to spend a single gold coin on BT.011, except for providing the necessary energy. But BT.011 was convinced that Dr. Homer had to be alive. Although his mechanical brain had difficulty understanding human emotions, he always missed the time when Dr. Homer and he did experiments together.

There were many beautiful mechanical dolls displayed in the shop window. They were carefully manufactured with the most advanced technology of their time. These expensive products were dressed in striped suits and leather boots, with complex and elegant internal gears that could make all kinds of vivid expressions like people. It was always tougher for BT.011 than for these precious mechanical creations. Tonight, he screwed up again - ran out of fuel. The owner failed to buy fuel in time. The steam boiler had burned dry and could not function properly. Without heating equipment, the cores of those delicate dolls would find it very difficult to survive the cold night. BT.011 could not understand. They were all the same mechanical structure, but what was the difference between those dolls and himself? Why did they have to be wound up three times a day, while he was wound up only once every three days? Why was the temperature in the store not too cold or too hot for them, while he couldn't feel anything? Back in the store, the owner sneezed in the cold air, cursed, and threw BT.011 into the utility room, unplugged his clockwork, and took away his core. You are different. Before being shut down completely, BT.011 remembered what Dr. Homer used to say to him. BT.011 waited to be switched on again in the darkened room.

★ The owner of the store had been clamoring recently to take BT.011, a useless tin can, to the black market and sell it for at least half a gold coin to buy a new blanket. BT.011 had heard about the black market from customers' conversations: it was the largest underground market on the entire continent, where you could find a buyer for anything you wanted to sell. So there was such a magical place in the world other than Dr. Homer's lab, BT.011 thought. If he got there, wouldn't he be able to find helpers to join him in his search for Dr. Homer? He knew the Doctor must still be alive. Tonight, he planned to escape the toy store and find his way to the black market. But things changed. He had only just left when he bumped into the owner in the alley. The man angrily asked BT.011 where he was going - a flying gear was his answer, and after a dull sound, the owner fell to the ground on his back. This was BT.011's first attack, but he didn't mean to do it. The aging gear popped out of his body at the right time, knocking the unlucky man unconscious. BT.011 left the uptown toy store, making a harsh creaking sound with every step he took. He didn't look back until he was out of the block. He turned. The delicate dolls in the window seemed to be waving goodbye to him.