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Sirius stayed completely still. The only movement was his involuntary twitching and his eyes flipping between the crowd and the little "H" robot. Dust billowed about the awkward silence between the two. The sound of paper rustling and the unheard sound of thought blocked out the sound of people buying and selling.
"Excuse me for a second." He sputtered abruptly, practically pushing his way around the little robot and straight out into the mass of people.

"HEY FRELIOOO?! HEY, WE GOTTA GO NOW!" He yelled out at the top of his lungs, attracting the gaze of just about everybody in the marketplace. His dusty boots on the sand, Sirius pushed extra spring into his step and booked it, making a zig-zag motion through the body of people, pushing people out of his way, weaving and ducking.

Nope! Nope! NOPE! Why was it that he always had to be running, no matter where he was? Couldn't he ever catch a break?

"Hey! HEY, GET BACK HERE! DON'T THINK YOU CAN JUST GET AWAY LIKE THAT!!" Gah! He was booking it! H made a quick pursuit, scrambling around people's legs and around bags and other things strewn about carelessly on the ground. She may have been small, but her excellent Iridite-crafted body allowed her nimble motions that a human could not compete with. Specialty blasters formed in her hands on her command, not missing a beat. Dual wielding, H hopped onto some poor somebody's shoulders and then onto the tops of the shoddy shops for a better shot.

"IRIL!" She shouted into her helmet. "DETAIN THAT SPEEDY SENIOR CITIZEN AT ONCE!"

Iril was a ways off, chatting with somebody about her favorite flowers, and how they grew on a planet she hadn't been to in a while. Mid conversation, she looked back at the mess developing behind her. Oops!

"I'm so sorry. She said. It was nice meeting you!" She pivoted 180 degrees and faced the ruckus. Sure enough, there was an old man running her way. H was sprinting across the tops of tents! Wow, this guy must be special.

Defensive stance! Iril bent her legs to strengthen her center of gravity. Arms spread wide, as if she was merely going to block him.

Deception! She wasn't! Without warning, her arms rocketed forward at an incredible speed. The metal grabbers on the end clasped firmly and soundly around the old man, the momentum sending his beard and hair flying backwards with a strong gust. There was a satisfying metallic clunk that accompanied.

Now, a 180 degree spin. Iril's core twisted, tightening her arms and whipping the old man from where he stood. Centripetal forces and circular motion with forceful elegance swung Sirius in a wide arc with the whoosh of mass forcing even air itself out of it's way.

"Release!" Iril happily sung to herself, letting go of her grasp. The laws of motion slammed down their gavel of justice, and Sirius was sent flying at top speeds into an empty stall. Boxes splintered, metal snapped, and the stall rocked in place. Sand and bits of wood flew in a circle around the crash site.

"I-IRIL! I TOLD YOU TO DETAIN HIM, NOT DESTROY HIM!!" H shouted from the top of a tent.

...

"... Oops! Looks like I got carried away. Haven't felt like that in a good amount of time." Iril chuckled as the dust settled.

Frelio had been peacefully minding his own business, picking "only tha' most tastiest o' goodies for a rumbly tummy" when the shopkeeper politely tapped him on the shoulder.

"Pardon," She started. "What did you say your name was, again?"

"Frelio, Ma'am!" He cheerily responded, still picking out the meat for his lunches. "Why, d'ya ask?"

"There's an older gentleman yelling your name over there. Causing a bit of a commotion." Her hand motioned to the left of her tent, her ears tuned to the direction of noise. Frelio, suddenly stuck between confusion and frustration in regards to Sirius, looked to the left expecting to see Sirius surrounded by officers from Neozolis.

He had turned just in time to witness a large robot throw the old man into an unoccupied stall with a shattering smash. Frelio's eyes were as big as dinner plates and his jaw dropped wide open.

"'Ma'am, can I come back to pick these up in a sec? Kthanksbye!" He ran backwards, stumbled for a bit, and then ran forwards towards the commotion, blaster in his hand. "WOT DO YA THINK YER' DOIN'?!?" He yelled out to nobody in particular. No matter who heard it, he would have loved to hear the answer. The nerve of everybody, aye?! He got within firing range and primed his blaster.

Iril turned to face Frelio, expression serene, as though she was oblivious to the weapon that was being pointed at her. Turning fully around and positioning herself in front of the little glowing guy, she raised her left hand and waved it in greeting.

"Oh, hello! Please stand back, we're conducting an interrogation, alright? Wouldn't want anyone to get hurt... well, anyone else that is."

"Yeah, you small punk!" Shouted H, smaller than Frelio. Her twin blasters were drawn and pointing towards him. "Fire that lousy pea shooter and I'll send you running!"

H hopped down from the top of the tent to the top of Iril, then climbed down onto the solid ground. Pridefully, she strutted up to the smashed stall as though she was the one responsible for the rubble. "Iril, you could maybe have been a bit gentler. We probably knocked that guy around so hard he'll have amnesia! That's a fall you REALLY can't get up from, eh? Hah! Aging jokes. Age is a relative construct."

A blaster bolt fired from the crowd ricocheted off of her dress, leaving a dark spot. Deadpan and without hesitation, two more arms popped out of H, one from the hatch on her chest and one from a hatch on her back, both with their own blasters. Quad-wielding.

"Anyone tries anything funny and they'll get what they deserve. YOU GOT THAT?! This is a critical mission and I am certainly not reporting failure to my superiors!" Her arms out in all directions, H made sure to angrily glare at every individual that dared look her way (including Iril) and began to make her way over to where Sirius lay inside the stall.

From inside the stall, movement was heard but not seen. There was the rattle of wooden bits and metallic pieces clattering and falling to the ground.

A slight click. Something activated. An object the size of a soup can rolled out from beneath the tent, rattling as it moved along the rocks. It moved into the open and detonated.

CRACK!! The area was filled with a heavy layer of smoke, clouding the vision of everyone in the immediate area and causing bystanders to cough. and shout. Strong enough to cast shade and darkness in the heat of the day.

A hand reached out from the smoke and grabbed Frelio. The beaten face of Sirius squinted back at him, trying not to get too much smoke in his own eyes. His wrinkles were now somewhat swollen, he was heavily bruised and had a few cuts and scratches, but the man was alive, somehow. How did he survive such a crash?!

"Come on!" He whispered among the commotion and coughing. "We have to get back to your ship at once! We're not safe here." Without another word, the Old man forcefully pulled Frelio with him. It was the opposite of Neozolis: now Sirius would be dragging Frelio along for a ride, as they quickly (and as quietly as possible) scrambled through the smokescreen and started booking it towards The Scattercrow. Rather than take to the streets full of people, Sirius led Frelio into a behind-the-scenes pathway between the tents and the outer desert.

Running hurt. His right leg was searing in pain, no doubt he had sprained, or worse, broken something. The conflict between a painful leg and being captured by robots flashed through every neuron in his head. He did his best to push all that out with the idea of safely escaping on board The Scattercrow.

"Wh- But I didn't get ta finish gettin' tha groceries yet! Slow down!" Frelio whimpered, his arm nearly dislocating from his socket. Coughing and shielding his eyes with what he had already purchased, he fumbled over rocks and slid across patches of loose sand. He didn't let go of his blaster, the hand holding it uncomfortably snagged within Sirius's bony grasp. His fingers ached and he could only scream internally. What was this old man made of?!

Entering the smoke-free path behind the marketplace, gasping for breath and eyes full of stinging tears, he shook his arm free from Sirius. Fresh air mixed with sand entered his mouth, which he spat out as soon as it had entered. Wobbling, Frelio managed to stay on his own two feet. The One hand on the food and one hand on his blaster, he charged forward to match the pace of the Old man. "You run marathons in yer youf o' sumefin?! Yous runnin' every day it seems ta me!!"

The Scattercrow was parked in the rocky outcrop, still a fair ways ahead of them. Rocks began to seemingly grow from the desert sand around them, closing the duo in closer to the tents and blocking off the open desert sands. They'd have to corner themselves in order to get to safety. The mountains that formed wanted to choke them, agitating their personal space as the rocky slopes protruded closer and closer to the stalls of the vendors.

"Last one in has ta close the door! I dun care who it is, jus' close it behind us!!"

"GYAH! A smokebomb!" H shouted at the explosion. Her vision was shrouded by the dense smoke and her hearing muffled by the sounds of shouting. She fired four shots into the tent, all whizzing through the smoke and hitting nothing. Blast! So it WAS the old creep! Was he made of metal too or something?!

Hopping up and down like an impatient child, she made no delay at demanding. "IRIL! Hoist me up! Hoist me up this instant!" H yelled at her fellow Iridiite. Iril kindly obliged, and raised the smol robot into the air where the smoke was thinning. Speed-Reading the scene of the nonsensical chase, there was no sign of them in the crowd. A faint green glow behind the tents alluded to the location of the escapees.

"There they are! Behind the tents! Go, gogogogogogo!!" H withdrew her blasters and held onto Iril with her four arms for maximum support. THUNK! Iril struck the ground with her hands, clasping down and achieving a forceful grip on the sand beneath her. She walked backwards, winding up tension in her extendable appendages, and, reaching a point where she felt her arms could snap from the pressure...

"Release!" Iril chimed, rocketing forward into the air. Slingshot! The blocky robot soared forward and over the tents, with H holding on as best she could and definitely not screaming at all.

Impact! The behemoth crashed into the sand behind Frelio and Sirius, sending sand whipping and whirling about. A considerable shockwave generated from the force of impact and the stalls nearby shook, wares falling over with clatter and shatter. Iril didn't miss a beat, and she was already thundering behind the two runaways, her presence getting menacingly closer with each passing step, her single eye sizing up the perfect spot to reach and grab.

Sirius was already wheezing hard enough, running away from a threat that was a ways off. Now, there was no off, it was way too close now! Their pursuers were gaining on them! He forced every ounce of energy he could muster into his legs and fumbled for his special blaster, but he couldn't get a hold of it and run at the same time. He'd have to hold still, but if he held still for even a split second, he feared he'd be trampled.

The rocky outcrops were beginning to give him claustrophobia. Towering over and inward towards the tents, eventually he'd have to stop to turn into the marketplace, or get caught on something and fall. The stones mocked his escapade, his old body mocked his efforts, and his bones screamed with every step.

Suddenly, ahead of them in the rocks he saw that the wall jutted out, it's start and end connecting wall and tent. By it's base, a small arching passage that would be barely big enough for someone the height of a child which continued the path they were on. They could try to go over it, but he was in no condition to climb any sort of wall.

Eureka. That was it!

"Frelio!" Sirius spat, the lack of air and intake of dust choking him. "Duck!" he latched onto Frelio once more. Sirius let his legs come out from underneath, and bringing them to his front, he slid through the archway in a cloud of sand. With minor inconvenience, Frelio passed through as well. Back up. Get moving. The rocky outcropping and The Scattercrow were in sight as they neared the end of the market on Yddlestyne.

The outcrop! Iril hunkered down and ground to a halt. She thrust her arm into the small archway and reached out to catch Sirius and Frelio, but her hand only met thin air.

"We'll have to go around!" Iril worried, looking up at the height of the outcropping. "We're going to lose them!"

"No good!" H screeched in reply. "We'll just be boxed in by people, and it's no good trying to shoot them when they're behind tents! You've got to climb it so I can get a good shot! Is that clear?!"

"What?! But how will we catch up?!"

"Just climb it! CLIMB!!"

Iril threw her arms up into the rocks above them and worked her hardest to hoist herself up to the top. Blasters materialized in H's hands, ready to fire. The struggle to get to the top was taking longer than both of them would like.

"What'll we do, what'll we do?!" Iril reached for the top, solidifying her grip as best she could on loose sand. "I'm almost to the top, but will you be able to make the shot?! Getting down will be easy but how will we catch them?! Oh, this is such a mess!"

H knowingly laughed. "Hah! Iril, Iril, Iril. Did you already forget? We came in a group of three on this mission, you know! I'm not just climbing to the top so I can get a good shot... I'm going to give you a perfect view of what your true potential could be!"

Iril hoisted herself up to the top of the outcropping. The rocks from this point on would create a canyon wall that led to where the smugglers parked their ships. It was sturdy and wide, enough space for Iril to run across safely. Down below they could see Sirius and Frelio booking it towards the clearing. She made haste, and ran eagerly along the canyon wall towards the gleam of what she assumed to be the old man's ship.

"Isn't this a bit much? I could probably see well enough on the ground." Iril remarked, rumbling along the rocky peaks.

"Watch and learn, Iril. Behold, as my master coordination comes into play, and they're cut short from their salvation!" With great excitement, H shouted into her helmet for the third member of the team to close in from their hiding place. "It's all you, Lowercase L!" She cheered.

Iril gazed into the canyon. She hadn't been allowed to see Lowercase L-NEOS the entire trip over to the outpost. Could this really be what the Queen had in mind for Iril's future? Trying to steady her steps as she ran, she strained for a good view. There were the two they were chasing, almost in the clear. A sound from the shadows startled them, but by the time they heard it, it was far too late.

Frelio had been charging ahead of Sirius towards The Scattercrow, a mad dash in order to get on and start the ship as soon as possible. The sand was starting to fall into his boots and get in between his toes, reminding him even more about his increasing thirst. He'd drink from the ships tap if he needed to! His legs grew heavier and heavier, and he began to lose steam. The Scattercrow was getting closer and closer, but what about the two robots behind them?! There was no chance the big one could have made it through that little archway, right?!

He looked back. They weren't on their tail, not in the marketplace either! They were charging along the top of the canyon wall, a considerable distance away. Had they climbed? The robots weren't going as fast now. Frelio and Sirius could make it to safety! Thank goodness!!

A sound penetrated the quiet air. Movement from the shadows. A pair of arms shot forward unannounced, humanoid yet robotic in nature. Frelio's vision went slow-motion as the giant hand approached him. Forcing movement into this nightmarish lack of speed, Frelio shifted his weight backwards, limbo-ing underneath the outstretched metal arm. Time resumed as normal and he rolled and tumbled forward, the contents of his bag making a considerable amount of noice as his body dragged to a stop by the base of The Scattercrow. Onto his knees and then back to his feet, he pressed his hand against the keypad in order to activate the access ramp to the inside of his ship.

Half yelling, half screaming in fear, he called out to Sirius. "Come on, then!! Hurry it up, will ya?! I'm gonna get the thrusters goin' and then we'll be outta he-"

Sirius had been snagged by the robot's other arm. The air left him as the impact struck him, then reeled him in, a fresh catch. He was too weak to do anything, and yet he tried to struggle against the robot's grasp. Whatever air he could manage was knocked out of him again when the robot clasped him against her armored chest. Sirius felt a bit dizzy, the world beginning to darken and spin around him with an uncomfortable lightheadedness.

He couldn't move. He strained for something. Anything.

Frelio called out to him, but it sounded like jumbled garbage with a heavy accent. Breathe deeply. As much as you can. Think, Samuel! THINK!


He reached for his blaster. No, not the purchased one. HIS blaster. His thin arm struggled against the metallic grasp of his captor, but he was able to slowly, inch by inch, move his hand closer to the holster...

"A successful operation!" H cheered in delight. "See, Iril? Lowercase L is the next step up for you. Efficient and well trained. Lower us, if you could."

Iril hopped down from the canyon wall to the ground below neighboring The Scattercrow. She eyed the trembling Frelio, his back against the ship. "What about him?" She pointed, eliciting a nervous reaction from the smuggler.

"Forget him!" H snapped. "He doesn't have anything to do with this. The old man has what we're looking for." H hopped off of Iril and made her way over to Lowercase L, trudging through the sand. "Fantastic work!" She beamed. "Careful with him now. He's a tricky one. Maybe you should snap his legs or something so he can't get away this time."

Lowercase L smirked. "No can do, Miss. We should save that for interrogation back at base. Besides, he's not going anywhere anytime fast as it already is."

H was visibly upset at L's lack of obedience. "Need I say it again, he's a wily old kook. He's got who knows how many tricks up his sleeve!" H pointed at Sirius accusingly. "Give him an inch and he'll take a mile, that creep! I order you this INSTANT to break his legs!"

Lowercase L rolled her eye and looked over to Iril. "What do you say, Iril?" L playfully asked. "Does the old man deserve more pain, eh?"

"I don't know..." Iril softly chimed. "I don't think he did anything too bad..."

"Oh! Great minds think alike, Iril." L chuckled, adjusting her hold on Sirius rather roughly, jolting him up and down. "After all, there's three of us now, and only one of him. We've got the advantage anyways. Come on, H! Do you really underestimate the tech we're made of? You act like him throwing a rock or something will put a dent in me."

H frowned and tossed her hands up into the air. "Fine! Fine. I'll just report you to our supervisors for not following orders. You'll be put on lower-ranking missions. AGAIN."

"Lighten up, H! You really have no idea how to joke around. Honestly, you take things way too seriously."

L could feel Sirius struggling to move. Wrapping her arm tighter, she strengthened her grip. "Huh, you are feisty! For you, pal... I say you might as well give up, because the only place you're going is with us, alright? We'll get on our S unit, I'll let you go when we're safely there, and we'll be on our way? How's that sound?"

The very idea of being hauled off to whatever ship these three came from sent a rush of adrenaline through Sirius. With enough force and grit, he grabbed a hold of his blaster and pointed the nozzle at L. His mind raced and his head ached.

"Let me go... hhhrrgghhhh! Let me go, or I'll shoot!" He rasped through the hairs of his beard. He was running out of time. He was running out of breath. His finger tightened on the trigger. He meant it. He squirmed against L's grip. His legs flailed. They were both close to death.

L smiled pleasantly. "Eh? What was that? You'll shoot me?! Oh no, please don't!" She blabbed sarcastically. "You'll just hurt yourself, is all! It's for your own good, guy."

"Wait! WAAAIT! Something's not right here!" H spouted in a worried flurry. She pulled out blasters of her own and locked them onto Sirius. "L, as your leader here on this operative, I COMMAND YOU to let him go so he doesn't shoot. If he tries anything I'll blast him to no return! You got that?!"

L gave a hearty laugh. "Wait, are you serious? H, this is too much even for you." She did her best to not laugh too much at H's suspicion. "We've been tested against every known type of blaster energy in this entire galaxy, and in OTHER galaxies, and you're scared of a handheld blaster-pistol? It's not an armor piercing rifle or something! Ease up!"

H shuddered, not pulling her weapons down. "I mean it, L! I am taking NO CHANCES with this old man! Drop him! DROP HIM!!!"

But L ignored her. She leaned her face close to Sirius's head, so he could hear her complex machinery moving behind him. "I'd like to see you try, old man. Impress me, and maybe I'll let you off easy."

He felt the air fly into him again. He felt his thoughts come back to him with a rush of wind. Clasping the blaster tight, his next move was to scramble on board The Scattercrow.

The bolt from the blaster entered Lowercase L.

"Hey wh-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaAAaAAbAAEEAAEAGGGHHHEEEAAAAA!!-" She screamed in pain and terror. Her eye went blank, her screaming cut off abruptly, her arms sagged to the ground, and her legs gave way. Lowercase L fell backwards and hit the ground without another sound. Dust and sand flew upwards and covered her in a fine layer. She lay silently.

H and Iril stood there without a sound. Too frightened to move. To frightened to fire. They could only stare at Lowercase L. The air that hung around them was silent and tense. H looked at Sirius, then back to her fellow unit. To Sirius, then to L.

L made no attempt to get up. No attempt to speak. Nothing. H sidestepped slowly and cautiously towards L, her gaze shifting between the ragged old man and her fallen friend. She made no sound. Her eyes wide and alert, jaw clenched nervously.

"L... L, are you alright? L?!" She prodded with her small yellow hands, then her feet, then with all her force. "Get up! Get up already! That's an order! LISTEN TO ME!!" She used all of her force to try and prop up L, but L was dead weight and refused to move.

Iril was frozen in place. Her mouth open in shock, her eye affixed on the weapon. Her blocky frame started to tremble. She stepped back, and away from the blaster. Though she made no sound, her mind pleaded with Sirius in her own imagination that he'd spare her. Iril was far too scared to make a peep.

H's attempts at moving L were useless. She smashed her four hands against L's surface. "What have you done?!" She yelled. "What did you do to her?!" Yelling became screaming. "Iril! She's got a maintenance hatch on her back! Help me flip her! Please, I BEG OF YOU!!"

H's yelling snapped Iril back to reality. She jerked her vision over to Lowercase L, and then back to Sirius. "P-Please!" She whimpered. "Don't shoot! Don't shoot me!" Rather clumsily, she too trodded over to L, almost knocking over H from her lack of attention. Iril's arms shook and faltered, slipping a bit on the sand-coated metal. L was flipped over, her arms limp and getting in the way. With all her might, H frantically ripped open the maintenance hatch with her four hands. "Gyah!"

She pulled out a small device and locked it into a circular port found below L's metal surface. Readings began popping up on H's helmet. Shock spread threw her face.

"No, NO NO NO IT' CAN'T BE TRUE! GET OFF OF MEEEE!!" She twisted and scraped at her helmet, pulling it off and chucking it into the sand. She covered her eyes with her hands to try and get rid of the data she had seen. It was no good. It was almost scarred into her vision. Screaming turned to wailing. She wasn't capable of producing tears, but she knew what tears felt like.

"You monster!" She cried out, the sound muffled by her hands. "You crazy old man, how could you do this to her?!"

"Wh... What's going on?!" Iril questioned. "What happened?!"

H clasped onto Iril, using her as a shield and burying her face in her side. "L's machinery is completely fried! Not a single piece works inside of her! But, but it's not just that! If it was only that, we could fix her! We could repair her!"

The wind howled. Deafening. Sand slowly crept on top of L's body, covering her. Hiding her away.

"Her core has no readings. It's gone. It's destroyed. SHE'S destroyed. Her very essence, her very being. It's gone. She's gone. She's dead, Iril."

Step by step, Iril began to walk backwards, her hands raising to cover her mouth and the side of her face that held her own core, her right side. All Iridiite units held this in common. All had a core. Their indestructible life force. Proven indestructible... until today. That vision of security had been shattered before them. Was this fear?

"Get us out of here, Iril. Just run! RUN!"

"But, But L's body! We can't just leave her here!"

"If you don't run, we'll be next! JUST! RUN!"

Iril fled with H hanging on. She didn't look back. She didn't want to think that the old man could be pointing that blaster at her. She didn't. Her core ached in pain. Not physical in any way, but racked with sadness.

The wind blew fierce. Sand and debris found their way onto, over, and into L's shell. She was now a permanent resident of Yddlestyne.

Sirius gasped for breath as he witnessed the scene unfold before him, backing away with sand to his back. He couldn't stand, his legs were too weak. He couldn't hold up his blaster, his arms were too unsteady. He pulled himself backwards towards The Scattercrow bit by bit, helpless, only able to watch the Robots watch him in return. Just a few minutes ago they were full of life and motion. Now, they were scared, their motions slowed, expression limited.

Sirius was only able to observe the complexity of these machines. These robots could feel. They even felt pain. His own heart wrenched at the sight of them frantically trying to revive their friend. Sirius knew this sensation as well. To lose someone important? Welcome to his life. He couldn't get his eyes off of the robots. They were too much like him.

Sand covered the body of the robot he had destroyed. The little yellow one clasped hold on the larger, orange robot. With a bit of hesitance, the blocky robot ran. Safety achieved, Sirius fell onto his back and did what he could to intake as much air as possible. Air! That was all he needed. His headache faded. The world seemed stable. He slid his hand across the ground and let the sand fall through his fingers. Was he alive? Was he really?

He sat up, beard full of grit. Yes, he was. He was alive enough.

Steadying himself, he propped himself up. His leg was inflamed. Limping, he worked his way to the boarding ramp of Frelio's ship. Check the holster. His blaster was there. It almost scared him to pluck it out of the holster. Had he really considered the consequences of what he was to use this for? He pushed it out of his mind. He had a quest to finish, and the blaster would keep him safe. That's why he had made it.

Finding refuge on a shoddy couch in Frelio's craft, Sirius collapsed, exhausted. It didn't matter how uncomfortable the couch would end up being. He was out like a light.

His nightmares relayed the same scene to him over and over again. It would be a hard rest.

The commotion in the market had knocked it free of the crate it was stored in, jolting it back to life. It rose a few feet in the air and discreetly followed the trail of dust and wreckage left by the old man and the robots. It reached them as Sirius collapsed on the couch, a small sensor appearing on the bottom of it's cubical form, scanning the corpse(?) of the robot. "⟟⋏⏁⟒⍀⟒⌇⏁⟟⋏☌. ⟟ ⍙⍜⋏⎅⟒⍀ ⍙⊑⏃⏁ ⋔⏃⊬ ⊑⏃⎐⟒ ☊⏃⎍⌇⟒⎅ ⏁⊑⟟⌇." It said, as it hadn't yet accomodated to the language mainly used in this area.

((⟟⋏⏁⟒⍀⟒⌇⏁⟟⋏☌. ⟟ ⍙⍜⋏⎅⟒⍀ ⍙⊑⏃⏁ ⋔⏃⊬ ⊑⏃⎐⟒ ☊⏃⎍⌇⟒⎅ ⏁⊑⟟⌇. Means 'Interesting, I wonder what may have caused this.'))

Frelio was huddled in a corner inside The Scattercrow, hoping that it would be over soon enough. Betting on the fact that the robots would eventually leave, he curled into the fetal position and did his best not to squeal.

Eventually and rather miraculously, Sirius entered the ship and planted himself face first on Frelio's favorite couch. He lived! The fella was alive?! Wha' happened?!

Frelio rose to his feet and sneaked over close to get a good look. The old man was seriously bruised, his lungs taking in air like there was about to be a shortage. He didn't dare try and poke Sirius. Shifting his attention to the boarding ramp, there was nothing but sand and wind, bits and particles were filing in little by little.

His curiosity got the best of him. Did this guy pull a fast one on the robots? He eased himself down the boarding ramp to get a good look.

There below was one of the robots, face down in the sand. It didn't move. Orange slowly was being covered by the light tan and brown specks. A burial in the desert. As for the other two robots, they were nowhere to be seen. Trace footprints in the desert revealed they probably had run off. A yellow helmet was all the evidence of the tiny one with four arms.

Of course, Frelio, not incredibly observant when his life didn't depend on it, hadn't noticed the odd cube floating above the deceased robot until he thought all was normal. His glowing green hair stood on end. The cube scanned the shell in the sand and uttered complete nonsense which Frelio did not understand and frankly, did not want to understand.

"Man, eva since I took in this fella, I ain't gonna gets any rest!" He whispered. He tip toed backwards, avoiding any possible chance for eye contact. "Roite, before anyfin gets mo' crazy... I think I'm gonna pull outta here..."

Silently as an oncoming freight train, Frelio ignited the thrusters on The Scattercrow. The craft started roaring to life right next to the odd cube. Frelio definitely did not panic and definitely found the switch to close the boarding ramp in a reasonable amount of time-
"COMET'S N' ASTEROIDES!! WHERE IN THA' GALAXY IS THA' CLOSIN' SWITCH?!" He frantically scanned the dashboard of his craft. "Why do me labels have to be so cryptic?! Ya think I'd undastand this gal o mine by now, but NO! Of course I gotta give a cool name ta' every switch in the place!"

It noticed the ship for the first time, it's "eye" raising towards The Scattercrow. It floated towards the still-open boarding ramp, remarking on a few minor flaws it noticed while still scanning. "⌇⏁⍀⎍☊⏁⎍⍀⏃⌰ ⟟⋏⏁⟒☌⍀⟟⏁⊬ ☊⍜⎍⌰⎅ ⏚⟒ ⟒⏃⌇⟟⌰⊬ ☊⍜⋔⌿⍀⍜⋔⟟⌇⟒⎅, ⋏⍜⏁⟒ ⏁⍜ ⍀⟒⋔⟟⋏⎅ ⏁⊑⟒ ⍜⍙⋏⟒⍀ ⏁⍜ ⍀⟒⌿⏃⟟⍀ ⏁⊑⏃⏁." It said, more or less noticing a few areas where structural integreity could be compromised, and noting to remind the ship's owner of this. It then entered the ship, fixing it's scanner on Sirius, or more specifically, his blaster. "⊑⟟☌⊑⌰⊬ ⎍⋏⎍⌇⎍⏃⌰. ⍙⊑⏃⏁ ⏁⊬⌿⟒ ⍜⎎ ⌿⍀⍜⟊⟒☊⏁⟟⌰⟒ ⎅⍜⟒⌇ ⏁⊑⟟⌇ ⎎⟟⍀⟒?"

It then, provided it was not interrupted, moved towards the cockpit, unperturbed by the panicked shouts of the strange green creature, which wasn't anywhere in it's database. "⊑⟒⌰⌰⍜ ⏁⊑⟒⍀⟒. ⟟ ⏃⋔ ⋔⍜⎅⟒⌰ ☊ ⏔ ⚌ ⏑ , ⌿⌰⟒⏃⌇⎍⍀⟒ ⏁⍜ ⋔⟒⟒⏁ ⊬⍜⎍. ⟟'⋔ ⏃⎎⍀⏃⟟⎅ ⏁⊑⏃⏁ ⊬⍜⎍⍀ ⌇⊑⟟⌿ ⟟⌇ ⋏⍜⏁ ⟒⋏⏁⟟⍀⟒⌰⊬ ⎍⌿ ⏁⍜ ☊⍜⎅⟒." It said calmly, simply informing Frelio that there were notable issues with his ship, as well as introducing itself.