RETRIBUTION (cryptails #1)

Tara had created a good life for herself in the Commonwealth. She had a nice little farm by a lake in the extreme north end of the territory. It was peaceful and she rarely encountered anyone here because it was far away from any of the populated trading hubs. Normally such isolation would be impossible for anyone to achieve since there is only so much any one person could do in a given day. Mere existence for most people was a fight for survival under the best of circumstances. People lived hand to mouth these days and that was if everything worked out in their favor.

What made Tara unique was that she had grown up entertaining herself by reading old technical documents about robotics. It was all she had and that was only possible because her home was in an old General Atomics showroom where in the days before the war people would purchase Mr. Handy robots to serve them. She had often dreamed what it must be like to have robots do everything for you after she had worked all day in the garden. She promised herself that one day she too would live the good life if it was the last thing she did.

By the time Tara was 14, she had rebuilt an old Mr. Handy robot. She painted him red because that's all she could get and was very happy that he seemed to perform flawlessly. She had to keep her new friend hidden away from her Father because if he had known about the robot, he would have sold it for the caps. For this reason, Tara named him Kryptos.

When Tara turned 16, she loaded up on all the supplies she and Kryptos could carry. While the rest of her family slept, Tara and Kryptos sneaked out and away from her family farm forever. She would never see them again and that is exactly what Tara wanted. Even if they understood what Tara knew how to do, they would only exploit her for personal gain.

When Tara found the old water pumping station by the lake, she knew she had arrived at what would become her home. She picked a spot for a garden and had Kryptos begin planting with the seed they brought while she cleaned out the old pump house for shelter. As Tara was cleaning, she ran across a mostly intact Protectron robot. It needed some parts but she was certain it could be repaired. Tara placed the Protectron out of the way until she had the means to repair it.

By the following spring, Tara and Kryptos were soundly established in their new home. During the past winter, Tara had managed to trade food from the garden for the parts she needed for the Protectron and had made it operational. Tara was pleased to discover that her new robot was programmed for construction purposes. Because of this, she named him Able and put him to work building a better house nearer to the garden. Once the house was completed, Tara had Kryptos plant additional seed in the garden and assigned Able to help him. Now Tara had a good home and two robots growing enough food to feed 20 people. She would sell the food they would not need for profit. Everything was going according to the plan she had laid out years ago.

This good time lasted for several years until one day Tara noticed Kryptos was malfunctioning. His movement was very erratic and he had begun to pull up the plants in the garden. Tara ran over trying to deactivate him but could not get close enough because of the wild nature of his movements. Desperate to save her garden, Tara ran to the house and came back with a sledgehammer. She did not give thought to what she was doing as she began to swing the hammer. After several blows, Kryptos collapsed at Tara's feet. Tara fell to her knees and sobbed for several minutes. She had done what had to be done. In that moment of grief, she had failed to notice Able as he moved in behind her. She never saw it coming as he smashed the back of her head with his right arm.

When Tara awoke, she found herself strapped to an iron cross by the robot workbench. She watched as Able carefully placed Kryptos in the center and began to run the machine. It soon became clear to Tara that Able was not repairing Kryptos, but remaking him altogether. Able wanted her to see what was happening. What Able was doing with the machine Tara had not known was possible and as the new Kryptos began to take shape, Tara became terrified of what she saw. She began to plead for Able to stop and kept saying that she was sorry over and over again but...it was too late. Kryptos stepped off the platform and had turned to face Tara.

Kryptos had a human skull placed on his head and two flaming swords where his hands should have been. Tara opened her mouth to scream but Kryptos had already begun swinging both of the flaming swords quickly making slight, shallow cuts from her head to her toes. The searing blades cutting and cauterizing as they were singing back and forth until at last they entered both sides of her neck at once, separating her head from her torn and lifeless body.

Robots do not know fear, pain or remorse. They know only what must be done.

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