[Have a Poker Goat doodle & enjoy the chapter!]

Tiny hooves were heard tapping playfully on top of a sheet of thin metal, bouncing around without a care in the world. They kicked up pieces of scrap and the hooves belonging to those little goat legs chased after them, occasionally tripping, but still determined.

"Isn't he great?"

Hex heard Cider boast near him, but he wasn't convinced or impressed.

"You dragged me out here for something I could have easily explained to you over the phone."

"So you do know what this little guy is," Cider insisted, observing Hex as he examined the goat. "Oh I wouldn't try to pick him up, by the way. He happens to weigh a ton."

Hex placed his hand on the goat's collar and felt around, trying to find a switch. Older models of these goats had them in tricky to reach areas, but once he located it, a panel on the goat's chest fell open revealing a hidden compartment. There were several cylindrical containers inside, and it appeared some were filled with different kinds of minerals, though the ones in the front only held dirt.

"What are these?" Cider asked, taking a container to study closer. They were rusted shut, though they might open if some force was applied.

"These are geological samples," Hex responded, gently shaking one of the containers filled with minerals.

"And this?" Chronos held one of the other samples.

"That's just dirt, something this goat shouldn't be collecting or showing an interest in." Hex informed, glancing at the goat who had begun to dig the ground with his nose again. He didn't mind that his collected samples were being inspected and passed around.

"It would appear that might be the reason why this goat was left behind. It's meant to collect mineral samples and locate rare materials from different planets, to determine if it's worth mining there. Something must have happened to turn him defective and confused."

"He does look a bit beat up on the outside," Cider spoke. The goat ceased his digging to tilt his head toward the owner's voice, unsure if he should be offended. "But we can repair him right?"

"Unfortunately I'm not an engineer, especially for tech as old as this," Hex replied, shaking his head in a 'nope' fashion. "But we can bring him back to your place to take a look at him, and maybe wash him as well."

The tiny goat seemed to perk his ears at the sound of a wash and watched Chronos lean down to attach the rope Hex brought to its collar. He patted the goat's head in reward after it decided not to cause any trouble.

"There, now you can't run off."

The goat attempted to chew on the newly fastened rope attached to him, but it was just out of his reach and gave up. He trotted after Chronos, who was following Hex and Cider out of the junkyard.

It was night time, but Hex had found a separate panel with another switch on the goat that allowed it to emit light, acting as a bright lantern. Hex explained these goats ventured deep underground while searching, and having a light source was necessary for them to see potential resources. Eventually, the trio and a goat passed by the junkyard gate, and arrived at a familiar corner on the dusty, darkened road.

"You know Chronos, that goat can probably pull you along with how much it weighs," Cider cautioned, looking back to him.

"Oh it can," Hex interjected, continuing his pace with his hands in his coat.

"They're not meant to be kept as pets, as their mechanical strength is quite impressive. They could move boulders or break them with ease if they wanted to."

He stopped when they turned the corner, perceiving the candlelit windows of their shelter a few blocks down. It wouldn't be long until they were finally back at home, and the three continued on, with Chronos gently tugging the rope to let the goat know they were moving again.

After a short walk and some time spent glancing at the abandoned shops they passed by earlier in the day, they came upon the front door. Upon Hex opening it, the three were greeted by the sight of Seris sitting at the table with Zephyr, who were both going through different kinds of soaps that were stacked neatly in a basket. Seris was the first to spot the black goat, and jumped up from his chair to take a closer look.

"Oh, you found one of those mining goats, how cute!"

He gave a big smile to the goat, and the goat smiled back to him. Chronos untied the rope on his collar, allowing him to roam free in the house. He began with smelling the floor and followed his nose into the kitchen and hallway, intrigued with the interiors. Hex closed the door and the goat jumped at the sound, but resumed planting his nose to the cold floor shortly after.

"Yeah, this is why we come out here apparently," Hex replied, and took a seat at the table. It was a relief to take a break from all the walking.

"He'll need to be bathed before Chronos and I can inspect his system for errors."

"We can bathe him, it'll be fun!" Seris volunteered, looking to Zephyr for his approval. He nodded, and thought it would be nice to finally have something to do to help out. Seris motioned for the goat to follow him upstairs, and Zephyr had to give the small creature a nudge before he bounded up the staircase. Hex watched Seris as he returned down the stairs to grab a few water bottles out of one of the boxes, as well as a cloth rag and a bar of Oatmeal & Honey flavored soap from the basket on the table before returning up the stairs. Soon after, Cider and Chronos took a seat at the table as well.

"You plan on keeping that goat?" Hex directed his question to them both.

"Of course, he's Poker Goat, and part of the team now," Cider declared, his lime green tail swishing side to side confidently.

"Interesting name," Hex imitated. It was a name only Cider could come up with. "I would warn that it might not be a good idea. Let me remind you it is Emberguard tech, the one faction you're avoiding."

"He's been abandoned, no one's looking for him so there's no reason to worry," Cider refuted. He didn't see the logic in leaving the goat when clearly no one from Emberguard cared about it. Hex, however, saw otherwise.

"It's unclear if this creature could be used to spy remotely, and choosing to keep it could be dangerous in the future."

"We could check for that kind of mechanism when we inspect him," Chronos assured. "And if there is, then we could disable it from causing potential trouble."

"Perhaps so," Hex doubted. He thought it was strange Chronos would agree with Cider, and didn't take him one to dismiss danger for the sake of keeping the small animal.

"You know with his strength, he might be a worthwhile companion," Cider chimed, kicking his feet on the table. He didn't see why not anyways.

"And I bet he's got some kind of cool defense mechanism if he needed to protect the minerals he gathered and all."

"Mining goats have no such thing, regrettably. Remember they're sent to gather samples, not mine a whole planet," Hex contradicted, and scooted his chair away from the table. Cider tilted his head and raised a brow, knowing his homely posture bothered Hex's space. "And not too many people are interested in a goat that gathers samples, there's no fortune found there."

"Well damn," Cider sighed. He leaned back with his hands folded behind his head; An idea came to him, and he snapped his fingers.

"He could sit on his enemies though, that would work. He's practically a whale."

Hex only squinted in disbelief.

There were sounds of footsteps coming down the stairs, as well as the sight of Zephyr flattening himself against the wall to get out of the way as a shiny, clean metal goat bounced down the stairway. His hooves left indents in the floor where he landed, and Cider pointed to him.

"That could kill a man, trust me."

"Well, it seems as if he's done being bathed," Chronos concluded and stood up from his chair, paying no mind to Cider's remark. "Now about that maintenance work."

"We should look into tinkering with that as well," Hex motioned to the indents in the floor. "That force could cause injury or problems, but it's just a suggestion."

Chronos nodded in acknowledgment and leaned down in front of the doorway leading to his work-room, trying to coax the goat to follow him. He was no carrot on a stick, but the small creature took interest and eventually barged past him to see the new area, with Hex following afterward. With the goat too heavy for the table, they opted to keep him on the floor while they worked.

"First order of business should be checking to see what the malfunction could be," Hex started with his velvety brown tail swaying behind him. "The panel I opened before for the light switch will have a section of wires off to the side for its different functions. Naturally, the goat should operate correctly if these wires are undamaged, so I suspect something would be erroneous there."

Chronos crouched and popped the main panel off of the goat's side, revealing the contents Hex described. Sure enough, the wires were there, but something was amiss.

"These wires have color-coded ends, but a few don't match up," Chronos noted aloud. "Like they've been swapped."

"Then someone must have tampered with it. These bots are not sent out defective, as they are checked beforehand."

Chronos plucked both mismatched wires out and placed them in their respective slots. There was no change in the goat's behavior, and continued to stand patiently while he was being poked at, basking in the attention. The panel meant to cover the wires was fixed back into place, and Chronos stood up from the finished work.

"There. That wasn't so hard. Now we just have to keep an eye on him and see if his behavior changes."

Hex stared at the goat, curious to know if that was all the problem had been all along. Feeling there wasn't much else that could be done, he turned to leave, but a strange light on the goat's collar seized his attention. It was a slow flashing, but undoubtedly vibrant, red light.

"How long has this been flashing?" He asked, his tone growing worrisome as he pointed to it.

"That wasn't on before, I would have noticed it," Chronos responded, taking note of the ominous red light. "It must have just started."

"You need to swap those wires back. Right now."

Chronos knelt to undo the panel recently fixed back into place, taking his time.

"Some urgency would be appreciated Chronos, that light needs to be shut off as soon as possible."

As if on command, he quickened his pace, and the wires were hastily swapped back. There was no change, and the red light remained pulsing.

"Well this is rather problematic," Hex fretted and folded his arms.

"Why's that?"

"That light," Hex responded, eyes focused on the ground in regret, "Happens to be a silent alarm. It's a tracking beacon, and it's sent a signal back to its masters."

His gaze moved from the ground to the goat.

"Emberguard will soon be here to pick up your little metal friend."