The elevator doors opened to a circular fenced walkway very similar to what one would find at the top of a tall landmark like the Space Needle or Tower of the Americas, except instead of looking out, the walkway gives you access to the inside of the hollow building. There were six of these towers that Rosalind had noticed on her flight into the base. Each one was for one of the six mechas that were stationed on Reef 6. To Rosalind’s surprise, there was one mecha stationed in the tower, she didn’t even have to travel that far to get to it. Her surprise and uptick in excitement were short-lived as her stomach was noticeably rumbling. She needed to eat something, now, but she wasn’t going to let these military guys have the upper hand knowing that she had to eat outside of their designated lunchtime. It was their fault that she hadn’t eaten, so she decided to entrust them with the consequences of her skipped meal.

            Upon walking towards the mecha, Rosalind’s mind tried focusing on what to do for the assessment, but childhood memories kept popping up. Being this close to a mecha made her think about things she hadn’t thought about in a long time. The mecha was unmoving, seemingly asleep. As she walked closer to its side to examine its exterior, she felt a feeling that was all too familiar and stopped walking. Her blood pressure dropped and gave her a sense of nausea. At this time, she was already at the waist-high fenced rails, leaning over them just about to press up against the exterior of the mecha. So, she fell. The combination of shock and low blood pressure caused a fainting spell, which allowed her body to tip over the railing and fall. She knew this would happen, even without the shock. Rosalind wanted the military guys to deal with her fainting from lack of food. As she fell Rosalind thought that fainting would be sweet revenge, she didn’t think that she would die from her silly plan, but then again, she was asking for it by leaning over a rail in a hollow 400-foot building. This was Rosalind’s last thought before she lost consciousness.

            When the female scientist suddenly disappeared over the railing, the Major and two lieutenants ran to the spot where she was last standing and looked down. To their surprise, she was visible to them because she hadn’t by some miracle reached the floor of the building. Instead, she was laying on the right hand of the mecha seemingly unharmed, about 75 to 100 feet from where they were.  The Major was astonished that the mecha moved on its own without a pilot and did it within a building it could have destroyed if it had moved too much. Without any command, the mecha slid Rosalind’s limp body off of its hand onto the nearest walkway. Rosalind was still unconscious, but by the time Major Green and the lieutenants had arrived on the floor she was on she was awake sitting with her knees bent, leaned over, blonde hair sticking out, propped up with one arm, and using her other arm to rub her forehead. ‘It’s a good thing I’m wearing jeans,’ she thought.

            She didn’t even know that the mecha had saved her from falling to her death. It had already returned to its previous position acting as though nothing had happened. Major Green began questioning Rosalind about her tumble over the railing while marching angrily over to her. Rosalind had thought it was quite comedic, due to his short stature, stiff posture, and reddening face.

            “Why did you fall over the railing, do you have a death wish?” Major Green shouted.

            “No, I fainted because I missed lunch while traveling to get here,” Rosalind replied while trying to stand up. Lieutenant Lee offered her his hand to pull her up. She accepted because she couldn’t stand on her own, her body was too weak. Luckily, this happened often, and she learned how not to be embarrassed from it, even though she almost died, which rarely happens to a lab rat who was never allowed near anything dangerous. Even after standing, she couldn’t move. Instead, she slowly moved to the wall to lean on it.

            “So, I’ll need some food, so I can finish my assessment,” Rosalind finally said after catching her breath. “It would be faster if you could have it brought here so I can eat while working.”

            “I understand, we’ll take care of it,” Major Green said nodding to lieutenant Smith, who trotted off to order some food. He then turned and squared his body up with Rosalind’s to indicate he meant business and eyed her contemplating how peculiar she was. “So, do you know how you survived your tumble over the railing? The mecha saved you. Do you have any reason why it would do that? Especially, while it’s not being piloted?”

            “No, but I doubt that the pilot would be able to save me in such an enclosed space,” Rosalind said with a smirk. In her mind, she could see the pilot floundering with the mecha’s arms and taking down the tower.

            “Well, you take care from now on, mind the railing,” Major Green said deciding he should leave before Rosalind got into another accident on his watch. All in all, he wanted to be sure he read up on this Rosalind Perry, he couldn’t afford any more mistakes on his base. He left lieutenant Lee to watch over her till she made it home including a brief introduction of the pertinent buildings and pathways she needed to know about. Lt. Lee didn’t talk back or even show disapproval to Rosalind when he received the Major’s orders. Rosalind always found it creepy when military personnel was able to hide what they were thinking and feeling like that, especially in Lt. Lee’s case. He looked charming on the outside, fit, jet black hair, glasses, and a smile that would make anyone attracted to pretty faces swoon, but Rosalind knew he was hiding his displeasure, and who knows what else, about his task behind all of that.

            After maybe 15 minutes of awkward silence lieutenant Smith returned with food, which Rosalind scarfed down in less than 5 minutes, almost faster than lieutenant Smith could open the door to leave and he was trying to escape from being stuck with Rosalind. Finally, with food in her empty stomach, she had the energy to work.

            “So, you’re stuck with me, huh?” Rosalind said to lieutenant Lee trying to hide her evil smile. “What should I call you? Lieutenant Lee?”

            “Lieutenant Lee is fine for now,” He replied in a deep voice. “Are you going to throw your trash away? There’s a trash can just through this door.”

            “Yeah. Thanks,” Rosalind replied following his instructions and throwing the trash away. She found a water fountain and restroom there too and decided it would be best to grab a sip of water after washing her hands of the crumbs from the thick sandwich lieutenant Smith brought her. He must have thought that Rosalind would need the extra calories, he was right.

            Rosalind for the most part ignored the fact that the mecha had saved her. She thought she knew why but couldn’t be sure.

            “So, where is the pilot?” Rosalind asked lieutenant Lee.

            “He isn’t here right now,” He replied with barely a discernable amount of concern in his voice.

            Rosalind immediately knew something wasn’t right with the base.

            “Am I to do the assessments of the mecha without the pilot?” She asked.

            “Yes.”

            “Do you pilot any of the mechas?” Rosalind asked.

            “No, I help assist with operations.”

            “If I move on to another mecha’s assessment will the pilot be there?”

            “No.”

            “Are any of the pilots available?”

            “No.”

            “Is there something wrong with the pilots?”

            Lieutenant Lee paused. He was astonished Rosalind figured out something was wrong as fast as she did. But she was sent here to help the situation and she is trusted to research the mechas, so he decided to tell her what he knew.

            “Yes. They are all in comas.”

            “Do you know the cause?”

            “No. They were found asleep, unable to be woken up, and medically determined to be in comas. What do you think might have happened?”

            “The mechas are probably holding them, hostage, mentally.”

            “How do you know?”

            “Well, they can do that, the mechas, and they are sensitive about who they work with.” Rosalind smiled and turned to the mecha she had as a friend, “Isn’t that right Bleu?”

            The mecha didn’t move in response and Rosalind didn’t expect it to. Her actions had also caused a mental rift to form between them which had ended their relationship on Bleu’s side, but she was just as surprised to be returned to him by the military, and if it wasn’t their doing then by chance.

            “You had a connection with this mecha, then?” Asked Lieutenant Lee. Rosalind could tell that his curiosity was peaked.

            “Yes, as a child when the military was using children to communicate with them,” Rosalind responded.

            “You can’t pilot it so why are you seeking it out?”

            “We had a connection that I was hoping could be restored. But I didn’t think the military would send me to a base with it, do you know anything about that?”