The girl’s eyes slowly fluttered open as she regained consciousness. Carefully, she lifted her head and looked around, finding herself lying in the middle of the forest floor with her back against a large fallen tree. Filled with curiosity, she went to stand up but found that her hands and feet had been tightly bound together with a strong white cord! After looking around and seeing no one in sight, she leaned forward and took ahold of the rope that bound her legs, and started vigorously yanking on it. 

      Suddenly, a large robot covered in metal plates and wires stepped out into her view, glaring down at her with its bulbous silver eyes and expressionless faceplate. She stopped struggling against her bonds, glaring up at it with detest. Even though its large form was intimidating, she couldn’t help but marvel at the funny way it looked. Several tattered pieces of black cloth hung from its shoulders in what resembled a cape. Its head was small and square-shaped. All four of its broad limbs were precariously jointed and covered in protective metal plates. It also appeared to have been left out in the rain a bit too much as several spots of its body were afflicted with rust. Its whole frame looked somewhat frail and disorderly due to the crude way it had been constructed. 

      The robot pointed a gangly finger at the girl and a masculine electronic voice emanated from the speaker slits in his faceplate, “In order for a female of your size and nature to find herself capable of loosening those bonds, you would need to be the lucky one out of precisely four-hundred and fifty-seven million, ninety-one thousand, seven hundred and sixty-two.” The girl merely stared at the machine, raising an eyebrow in confusion. “I tied them myself,” he bragged. “I am programmed to comprehend every type of knot in existence. You will not be getting away.” A long moment of awkward silence ensued as the two stared at each other, carrying on some sort of unspoken staring competition. 

      Just then, a short masculine figure wearing goggles, a mask, and a trench coat stepped into plain view, placing a firm gloved hand on the robot’s left shoulder. The male figure’s soft-sounding voice could be heard through the holes in the vintage mask, “That’ll do, Cy.” 

      The robot - Cy - stepped back, giving the girl some much-needed personal space, and turned his attention towards his mysterious companion. “I will attend to our chemically created combustion,” Cy proudly stated, as he turned to walk away. But, he stopped and circled back to clarify - “Also known as ‘a fire’.” And with that, Cy clomped off to stoke the fire that was smoldering nearby. 

      The figure in goggles gave Cy a talentless salute before kneeling in front of the girl. “Don’t pay attention to him,” the youthful voice muttered from behind the mask. “He’s a bit cheeky towards newcomers. His name is Cy.” Reaching up, the figure slid his goggles up onto his forehead and pulled his mask down, revealing the face of a teenage boy who looked no older than 17. He had deep brown eyes, a crooked smile, and long brown hair that was neatly pushed back. Leaning forward and resting his arms on his bent knee, he brightly declared, “I’m Boyd Viotto.” 

      The girl stared at Boyd with unblinking eyes - she didn’t know what to make of these two. “I know this is probably kind of strange - new to you,” Boyd stammered, pointing to himself. “I mean…a boy…and a robot.” The girl fought the urge to chuckle; he was right - these two were the funniest sight she had ever seen. 

      Cy rushed on the scene, firmly seizing Boyd by the shoulder and wagging a finger in his face! “I am much more than a mere ‘robot’, Boyd Francis Viotto!” he rectified. “I am a virtually perfect mechanical being with an independent mind and free-thinking abilities. I was designed to absorb the sun’s rays with my photovoltaic cells, generating direct current energy and–”

      “Cy!” Boyd held up a hand, instantly bringing a stop to Cy’s monotonous rant. 

      Cy cocked his head, innocently. “Yes?”

      “That’s enough. We can discuss that later,” Boyd stated firmly while gesturing to the girl. “ Don’t you see I’m kind of in the middle of something right now?” 

      “My apologies, Boyd Francis Viotto,” Cy obliviously shrugged. “I will desist for the time being. But, if you would ever be in use of my flawless description of how solar energy works just–”

      “Sh! Cy!”

      “--Just let me know.” And, with that, Cy turned and clomped away yet again. 

      “I’m sure we will.” Boyd shook his head, turning back to the girl with an exasperated look on his face. “He’s a… He’s a bit dense.” 

      “That is actually true,” piped in the familiar voice of Cy. “I am very dense! I weigh a small amount over 90 kilograms.”

      “I don’t speak that!” Boyd unenthusiastically snarled as he turned his head to see Cy looming over him yet again. 

      “I apologize,” said Cy, placing a hand on Boyd’s shoulder. “Two-hundred pounds.” Cy extended his other hand outward, revealing that it held a small wooden bowl of freshly-made soup. “Soup?”

      Boyd fought back the urge to smile and tried to maintain his serious tone. “Thank you.”

      “You are welcome!” beamed Cy.

      Turning back to the girl, Boyd held out the small bowl of soup and gestured, “You want any soup? Water? Anything?” Slowly, she shook her head. Boyd cracked a smile. “Ohh. So you can understand me! I was beginning to think you didn’t.” As he spoke, Boyd gently placed the bowl of soup down in the grass and removed one of his gloves. “You were a bit…unresponsive.”

      “There is a small chance that she is a mute,” proclaimed Cy. “It is one of the unfortunate side effects of the radiation. I can run a diagnostic test on her brain to see if–” But before he had a chance to come near her, the girl delivered a powerful kick to Cy’s metallic shin! The force of the unexpected blow sent him stumbling backward in a blur. Once Cy had regained his senses, he stood up straight and boldly marched towards the girl to teach her a lesson. 

      Boyd’s arm shot out, striking Cy in his rickety breastplate and bringing him to an immediate stop. “Cy!” They locked eyes. “Leave her alone.”

      Cy took a defeated step back and mumbled, “As you wish.”

      Boyd turned back to the girl, smiling, “We’re here to protect you.” Removing his second glove, he reached out and gently placed it on one of the girl’s tense shoulders. “We saved you.” She looked down at the hand touching her shoulder with a bitter stare. Boyd forced a smile and awkwardly retracted his hand, balling it up into a fist; he couldn’t figure out why this girl didn’t want to talk to him or why she was being so cold.

       “Indeed, we did!” remarked Cy in an attempt to draw the girl’s stony gaze, but her eyes remained on Boyd. 

      Boyd decided that the best course of action would be to better explain himself and his motives to the girl. “Those were President Knowles' men who had you,” he explained. “I don’t know what they were doing out this far, but it can’t be anything good. He’s the one who started this whole mess. If it weren’t for him, the war would’ve never happened…” Boyd hesitated, gritting his teeth together and trying to suppress the tears that so desperately wanted to escape. “...My parents would still be alive.” Upon hearing this, the girl averted her gaze and looked at the ground - she could feel tears welling up inside her as well.

      Cy sympathetically placed a large hand on Boyd’s shoulder. “It is acceptable to cry, Boyd,” 

      Boyd batted Cy’s big arm away and quickly snapped back, “I wasn’t gonna cry!”

      “Your cerebrum had registered sadness and it was triggering emotional tears,” Cy stated, patting Boyd on the head. 

      “There was no such thing happening! Your lenses are in backwards.”

      “There is no use in denying it. Denial of emotional pain only leads to more emotional pain.”

      Boyd was losing his patience. “Cy, only you can prevent forest fires. Go put out the fire, Smokey.” 

      “Your tone of voice indicates frustration with me. I will be on standby.” And, with that, Cy turned and hurriedly clomped away to extinguish the fire. 

      Boyd turned back to the girl. “So, do you always look like you’re ready to kill somebody?” The only response was her unabashedly cold stare. “Because you’ve kept the same facial expression this entire time. Even when you were knocked out.” Boyd laughed out loud - even he couldn’t resist the humor in her silent treatment. But after still getting no response from her, he attempted to change the subject. “Soooo…do you have a name?” She sat, unmoving, glaring at him with her annoyingly unreadable stare. He sighed - the conversation was going nowhere. “Okay, if you don’t wanna talk…that’s fine!” 

      Reaching inside his trenchcoat, Boyd pulled out a large black knife with a green pommel. The girl’s heart sank and she pulled away, desperately struggling against her bonds. SLICE!! The ropes fell from her hands and slipped to the ground. He had cut her free! She stared in disbelief, rubbing her chafed wrists. Boyd slipped the knife back into his trench coat and slowly climbed back onto his feet. “You’re free to go,” he smiled. “You aren’t our prisoner. We saved you from those guys cuz we thought that maybe you’d like to stick with us and…y’know, survive together.” As he spoke, the girl untied the rope that bound her legs and carefully eased herself up into a sitting position atop the falling tree. Boyd nervously fidgeted with his gloves - this was the first real human interaction he’d ever had. “We could use a girl– uh, I mean, we could use another member on this team. It’s just been Cy and I for so long. It gets so lonely. You should stay.”

      Cy pushed past Boyd, staring at the girl. “And he told me he thought you were ‘cute’. Whatever that means.”

      “Cy!” Boyd pushed Cy back, staring at him in utter disbelief. “Is the fire out?”

      “Affirmative,” Cy beamed. “I extinguished our chemical combustion per your request. Afterwards, I sensed that your frustration with me had subsided and calculated a good time to approach.”

      “Your calculations were spot-on, buddy,” Boyd sarcastically snarled. 

      “A machine like me has a nearly perfect internal processor. Therefore, the odds of my calculations being off are–” Cy stopped mid-sentence, observing at the unimpressed glare he was receiving from Boyd. “Well, they are…as you humans put it, ‘very slim’.”

      “Dang straight.”

      The girl couldn’t hold back her amusement any longer - Boyd and Cy were the most unusual couple she had ever seen. A smile slowly creeped out, working its way across her face. “Oh! I saw that!” chuckled Boyd. “You were smiling!” Embarrassed, she turned and tried to hide her smile.

      Cy perked up. “Am I correct in my calculations of assumption when I say that she finds me humorous?” 

      “Yes, sir,” replied Boyd. 

      “I am not a ‘sir’. Nor am I a ‘ma’am’. I am a mechanical creation lacking gender of any kind. To assign a gender to me would be as absurd as–” Cy froze, looking down to see that the girl had suddenly doubled over with uncontrollable laughter. 

      Boyd smiled and playfully smacked Cy, “Hey, I think she loves you, buddy!”

      “I think she would be a better romantic fit for you!” Cy returned the playful smack, unintentionally sending Boyd toppling to the ground.  “Because I am incapable of ever…” The girl’s laughter drowned Cy out. She was laughing so hard that tears were pouring from her eyes. Cy shrugged, reaching down and pulling Boyd back up onto his feet. Then, she spoke…

      “Rane.” Her voice was bold but kind. 

      Boyd’s head whipped around and he stared at her in disbelief. “What? Huh?!”

      She smiled, nodding, “My name is Rane Carson."