35 Lackadaisical (2/2)

All her life Sia has always known there was life just a few steps from her, on the other side of a wall, or easily called forth with a yell for help.

This place…is void of all of that. Even worse than the mockery of safety the ExplorerTech halls held. The shipping terminal is vacant of any evidence that any of the people escaped the terror that prompted them to flee.

Sia stops looking around to get back on track with her plans.

'Puter, where are we headed from here? Where's the nearest container?'

APPROACH THE NEAREST ROW OF CONTAINERS

Sia raises an eyebrow and walks forward toward the neatly stacked row of containers. Right beside that row are flipped over and open containers. Sia stands between the two areas.

EXAMINING REGISTRATION BOOKS…

EXAMINING BLUEPRINTS…

EXAMINING VISUAL IMAGINING…

POTATO FLAKES CONTAINER LOCATED…

”Where?” Sia asks.

A light blue dot appears in front of her. She blinks several times and it doesn't go away.

'You've been holding out on me, Puter,' Sia thinks as she steps forward toward the container the dot appeared upon.

The dot on the container vanishes as she stands in front of the open metal repository.

”Well, I don't think there is anything left to salvage.”

The container is trashed. Sia crouches to get a better look inside. She looks in at the ripped plastic sheets and rotted chunks of food. She didn't need to lean in much to catch a whiff of animal musk and feces. It makes her stumble forward onto her knees. She can feel the dampness touch at her clothed knees beneath the jumpsuit.

'Tsk…,' She thinks as she scrambles back to her feet, 'At least I'm wearing these layers.'

”Yeah…that's all taken care of. Something enjoyed itself in there,” Sia says as she covers her nose with her forearm, ”What about the next item?”

The next container took quite a bit of walking, but the sun was still high in the sky when Sia found the rice container.

'Three containers high…Can I jump that high?'

NEGATIVE

THE ROPE WOULD BE USEFUL FOR THIS SITUATION

”Oh, yeah. Right. I…” Sia swings her backpack to the front of herself and digs through it for the rope, ”knew this would come in handy. Those guys were jerks, but at least they planned ahead. ”

Sia grabs the rope and swings the backpack back around to stick her arm back through the loop.

”Now what do I do?”

She tied an end of the rope around a rock, and the synthetic intelligence developer used its control over her right arm to toss the rock down the middle of the highest container. She hears a loud metallic clunk as it falls and hangs down the other side. Sia drops her backpack and ties the other end of the rope around it. She runs to the side weighed down with the rock.

'I hope it isn't suspended too high off the ground. That would be…'

It dangles several feet off the ground. Sia smiles at her good fortune and grabs the rock first before promptly releasing her grip on it.

”Ugh!”

The rock is sticky.

The rope swings the rock back towards her and she grabs the rope end to examine why the rock feels so sticky. The rope is damp with the substance as well. Sia looks around herself and up at the top container. There is nothing dripping down on this side.

'Maybe it's from the top….?'

Sia turns around to look at the ground around her.

Her own footprints trail around to this side. The rest of the ground is undisturbed.

”Whatever,” She mutters before saying, ”What's next, Puter?”

It instructs her to dig a hole beneath the edge of the bottom container, push the rock inside, and replace the dirt.

”Don't I need a shovel for that?”

NEGATIVE

SUBJECT 001 WALKED BY SEVERAL PIECES OF DEBRIS THAT WOULD BE SUFFICIENT

FOR DIGGING A HOLE

Sia grumbles as she goes back the way she came to find an object to work as a makeshift shovel. She finds a piece of bent metal that the device was overjoyed with.

THAT WOULD BE ADEQUATE

After digging a small space under the container and shoving the rock inside, Sia shoves the 'trowel' piece deep into the cold ground. She grunts with the effort, and the device gives her a boost of strength to finish the job.

”Whoo!” Sia exclaims before testing the piece with a kick.

The metal piece doesn't budge. Sia runs around to the other side.

'I haven't even started to sweat. Usually, I would be out of breath by now,' She thinks as she jogs around the corner, 'No, hot pockets to weigh me…'

Sia's backpack is torn open. All the contents are splayed across the ground.