Great new surprises await...
It's been over a month since the explorations started. In that time, so many Amicabots have delved into the ocean, and several discoveries have been made. From sunken ships to gorgeous reefs, some Amicabots even claimed to find some previously undiscovered sea life in the depths of the ocean!
Yet, Caspian–Orion’s long lost love–is still nowhere to be found.
Suzie keeps him company at his extravagantly huge mansion. A place like this, in her estimate, would be worth millions before the apocalypse happened. Now, the currency of the old world has no purpose to Amicabots—and a place like this is quite gloomy when one robotic guy lives here alone.
“I'm really sorry, Orion,” Suzie tells him with a frown, giving him a friendly and supportive pat on the back. “Things like this are never easy. I wish we could've just found the guy on day one.”
Orion offers a meager smile, but it falters as he glumly nods his head. “Yes, I do too. I suppose I'll have to simply move on. If only it were easier than that.”
“Do you think… I don't want to sound like I'm criticizing your choice–”
Orion interrupts her. “No, go on. Speak freely.”
“Do you think maybe meeting some new Amicabots might help you? Not– not to date, necessarily, but maybe you could make some new friends?” Suzie gestures wildly with her paws as she tries to explain herself. “I mean, nobody can replace someone you lost, but I bet tons of Amicabots out there would love to be your friend.”
Orion frowns. “You make it sound like it's an easy feat, Suzie. I fear I have no way to make friends other than to sit in my shop all day and hope someone strikes up a conversation.”
“Your shop…” Suzie looks baffled for a moment, and mumbles, “Where you give people stuff for free– Hey, let's not get bogged down in the details! Orion, I can help you out. I'll lend you a hand—a paw. You don't need to do this alone, buddy!”
“Are you sure you aren't just patronizing me to get me out of your hair?” Orion asks, skeptical of his friend.
“Of course, I'm sure! Here, let me just…”
Before she can continue, however, the radio that they've kept in Orion's sunroom begins to pick up a signal.
“Oh, hold that thought!” Suzie rushes to the radio, quickly tinkering with the dials until a voice comes in.
It certainly isn't a familiar voice — it sounds like a young woman whose pitch teeters on the edge of being squeaky. “Hello, I'm repeating this message on account of—”
“Hey!” Suzie quickly interrupts the stranger. “Hold on, I'm right here! Holy bolts! Who is this?”
“Hi!” The voice greets. “My name is Mira! I've been trying to reach this signal for some time, but it's been difficult transmitting! Oh, you know how radio transmissions can be finicky sometimes. It can be hard to get on the air through all that water!” She giggles, a crackling static sound across the radio.
Suzie shrugs, replying, “Oh, you know it— hold on. You're in the ocean?”
“Of course, silly! Everyone's in the ocean. Hold on, are you not?” Mira asks, sounding surprised.
“I'm literally in a mansion right now, breathing a– well, I don't breathe, but existing in air.”
“How fascinating! Gosh, I'm going to need to know more about that. Which cave network do you live in?”
“I believe there's some miscommunication going on,” Orion interrupts the two of them, speaking to the radio in a serious tone. “We live on the surface. What variety of Amicabot are you?”
“Amicabot? I'm afraid I'm not following you,” Mira admits. “That sounds robotic.”
“Yes, that's exactly it. My name is Orion, and I'm a robot. Suzie here is also a robot. We're both synthetic.”
“Great good caviar!” Mira shouts out an interesting exclamation that no Amicabot has used, ever. “That's incredible! My people haven't been able to master complex robotics. We must meet! Imagine what we could learn from each other!”
“Whoa,” Suzie replies. “So, if you're not an Amicabot and you're obviously not one of our predecessors… Who exactly are you, Mira?”
“I'm a Nauticava!” Mira chirps. “I live in the sea! No Nauticava have ever been to the surface, though — we're aquatic. Technically, we have lungs alongside our gills, but when the planet started shaking due to volcanic activity, and dead sea life started floating down all those years ago… Well, most people were all too scared to go up. That, and it's an arduous trip to travel from the trench.”
“Oh, shit,” Suzie whispers. “You survived it. The eruption. Look—uh, let's find some way to meet in person! I'm going to get in contact with my friend Zip, and we're going to start working on some tech that would make it easy for us to see one another. Does that sound good?”
“That sounds great,” Mira replies. “I’ll keep in contact, okay? Let’s make this happen! Oh, I have so many questions to ask you!”
Suzie eagerly responds, “Hey, same to you!” She turns to Orion. “You with me on this? Might be a good distraction, dude.”
Orion nods. “All right, then.”