Above the Blood Moon

The moment the cryo-chamber opened, Lu Yao's first feeling was cold. He instinctively curled up, and a thin layer of frost condensed on the surface of his white bodysuit.

Then came the shaking.

The entire space was shaking violently, like a ship tossed about in a storm. Lu Yao's head slammed heavily against the inside of the cabin wall, and he saw stars.

He struggled to climb out of the cryogenic chamber and stepped barefoot onto the floor.

"Where...is this?"

His voice echoed in the empty space, and memories pierced his mind like shattered glass.

He was working overtime at the company, with the city's neon lights outside the window. His light was the only one still on in the office building, but then an earthquake-like tremor came, and the world was plunged into darkness.

When I woke up again, he was right there.

Lu Yao shook his head, forcing himself to calm down, and looked around.

This is an enclosed space of about fifty square meters, with smooth white metal walls.

The ceiling was very high, about six meters, and small pieces of debris and dust were constantly falling from it.

In the center of the ground was the cryogenic chamber from which he had just climbed out.

Apart from that, the entire space was completely empty; there were no doors, no windows, and not even any ventilation openings.

The word "futuristic technology" flashed through Lu Yao's mind, but it was immediately replaced by a more realistic fear.

This place doesn't look like a high-level laboratory; it looks more like a coffin.

At that moment, a muffled explosion came from above, and the entire ceiling caved in half a meter.

The crack spread rapidly from the depression, and Lu Yao instinctively jumped back.

Almost simultaneously, a steel pipe pierced through the crack, grazed his shoulder, and embedded itself in the ground.

The metal clashed with the metal, producing a piercing shriek, and the steel pipe was only ten centimeters away from his right foot.

"Hold!"

Lu Yao swore, and his adrenaline surged.

He wandered around the space like a headless fly, groping on the walls with his hands, but the walls were smooth and cold, without any seams or switches.

Another loud bang.

This time, a whole steel plate detached from the ceiling, spinning as it crashed to the ground.

He stopped running and took a deep breath.

"Calm down, Lu Yao, calm down. No matter where you are, no matter what has happened, you have to live. Your parents are waiting for you at home. You promised to come back for dinner this weekend..."

The steel plate was only three meters above his head. Lu Yao quickly turned around and rushed back into the cryogenic chamber. He used all his strength to lift the half-open hatch completely. The metal hatch was lighter than he had imagined.

He curled up and hid under the hatch, and the steel plate slammed into the surface of the hatch, the deafening impact making Lu Yao's eardrums ring.

But he was still alive. The hatch was shaking violently, its edge embedded half an inch into the ground, but the structure was intact and there were no cracks.

Lu Yao gasped for breath in the cramped space, and then he saw a button.

There is a red circular button in one corner below the base of the cryogenic chamber.

It was covered in dust and almost blended into the base, but at this moment, the angle of the hatch opening was just right for Lu Yao's eyes to catch that dark red spot.

Without hesitation, Lu Yao reached out and pressed down.

The button is harder than I expected; it takes a certain amount of force to press it all the way down. The moment it's pressed, a faint red light appears around the edge of the button, and then...

sizzle...

A sickening electrical hum came from all directions. Lu Yao instinctively pulled his hand back, but the hum didn't stop; instead, it grew louder and more intense.

"What the hell is that...?"

He pressed it again, and then pressed it once more.

Like a form of venting, or like a drowning person grasping at a last straw, Lu Yao began frantically pounding on the red button.

The electrical buzzing stopped abruptly on the thirteenth press, replaced by a cold, emotionless electronic female voice.

"Hibernation unit AI activated. Identity recognition: Hibernator-774. Physiological status: Good. Cognitive status: To be evaluated. What are your needs?"

The sound came from the ceiling, yet it seemed to be everywhere. Lu Yao froze for two seconds, then spoke to it almost as if shouting.

"I'm leaving here, now! Immediately!"

"Request: Open exit passage. Permission verification in progress... Verification failed. Hibernator-774, your permission level is Basic Life Support, and you do not have permission to move within the space station. Please submit your request again."

Lu Yao punched the base of the cryogenic chamber.

"Then what the hell can I do?! This place is about to collapse, I'll be buried alive!"

"Structural damage to the space station has been detected. Damage level: severe. We recommend moving to a safe area, but you do not have permission to move."

"you"

Lu Yao was so angry he wanted to laugh.

"Is there anything else that can move around here? Robots? Tools? Anything will do!"

The AI ​​remained silent for about three seconds. During those three seconds, another piece of debris hit the hatch, making Lu Yao's arm go numb.

"Request to invoke auxiliary unit, authorization verification in progress... Verification successful."

The silver-white wall facing Lu Yao suddenly cracked open in the middle, and the crack slid to both sides, revealing the space behind the wall.

The compartment was filled with two rows of humanoid mechanical bodies, each about 1.8 meters tall, with humanoid torsos and limbs, but covered in silver-gray metal armor, and with only a horizontal visual sensor strip across their faces.

There were twelve in total, neatly arranged like soldiers awaiting inspection.

But they are in very bad condition.

Some had dented chest armor, some had broken arm joints, and some had lost an entire leg.

All the mechanical parts were covered with a thick layer of dust, and some joints had spiderweb-like rust.

They stood quietly in the shadows, as if they had been asleep for hundreds of years, or perhaps longer.

"Standard service robot for space stations, model: Ironhide series."

The voice of AI rang out again.

"Designed for maintenance, repair, and basic medical assistance. Currently in long-term dormancy with approximately 37% functional integrity. If awakening is required, please specify the serial number."

Lu Yao's eyes lit up.

"Awaken! Awaken them all!"

"Request: Wake up all service robots. Warning: Insufficient energy reserves; waking up all units simultaneously may cause system crash. Recommendation: Selective wake-up."

"Then wake up the nearest one! Quickly!"

Please specify the number.

"Anything is fine with me!"

"Command ambiguous. Activate random selection... Selection complete: Pilot-3."

The visual sensor on the head of the third robot from the left in the cubicle suddenly lit up with a faint blue light, but the blue light flickered three times before going out.

"Wake-up failed due to unstable power supply. You can try manual activation. Each Railbot has an emergency wake-up interface on the back of its neck. Press it for three seconds."

Lu Yao gritted his teeth and climbed out from under the hatch. Debris was still falling from above, but he didn't care.

He rushed into the cubicle and pounced on the third robot from behind.

Sure enough, there was a round button covered by a dust cover at the location of the metal cervical vertebrae. He lifted the dust cover and pressed it down hard.

The robot's vision sensor band lit up with blue light again, this time without turning off, but instead steadily emitting a soft halo.

Immediately afterwards, a low hum of motor came from inside its body, and the hydraulic devices at the joints began to pressurize, emitting a hissing exhaust sound.

"It's a success!"

Before Lu Yao could even feel happy, the AI's voice rang out again.

"But before you use these mechanical units, please allow me to remind you of something."

The AI's voice suddenly became exceptionally clear, even carrying a sense of solemnity.

"What?"

"Humans will always be humans, and AI will always be AI. This is the first and last core principle in designing the Pilot series. Please never forget it."

After saying this, the AI's voice disappeared, along with the blue light patterns on the wall and the electrical hum from the ceiling. All the sounds and lights belonging to the space station's intelligent system fell silent at the same moment.

Only Lu Yao's heavy breathing remained.

as well as--

Sizzle...

A distorted sound, like noise from some kind of low-quality audio system, was emanating from inside the robot.

Lu Yao took a half step back, looking at the newly awakened Ironclad-3 in front of him.

Its visual sensor band changed from blue to dark yellow, like two old street lamps.

The buzzing sound from its joints gradually subsided, and it began to try to move its limbs. Its head slowly turned, and the visual sensor scanned across the compartment, finally settling on Lu Yao's face.

A palm-sized display screen lit up on the robot's chest armor.

Three lines of text are displayed above:

AI Intelligence Level: 1 (Basic Service)

AI Intelligence Level: 2 (Tactical Assistance)

AI Intelligence Level: 3 (Complete Personality)

Below is a line of smaller text: "Please select a wake-up mode. Note that advanced mode consumes more power and may produce unpredictable interactive behaviors."

Lu Yao only thought for half a second.

"Level three!" he practically roared. "Give me the highest level one!"

The text on the display disappeared, replaced by a rotating loading icon, and then the robot's visual sensor band suddenly changed from a dark yellow to a bright gold.

It blinked, then tilted its head slightly, as if sizing up Lu Yao.

"Language system initialization".

A voice came from a speaker on the robot's head.

This voice wasn't like the cold, electronic voice of AI; instead, it had distinct intonation and even a slightly roguish quality.

"User biometrics detected. Asian ethnicity, Chinese language family is highly probable. Accessing the Chinese speech database. Okay, all done."

It moved its shoulders, the metal joints making a soft clicking sound, then it looked down at Lu Yao's hand, which was still pressing the button on the back of its neck.

"Hey, Master," the robot said, "Have you touched me enough? While my armor is certainly a bit sexy, we've only just met, so this isn't really appropriate, is it?"

Lu Yao withdrew his hand as if he had been electrocuted. The robot nodded in satisfaction, then looked around before returning to Lu Yao's face.

"So which bastard kept pressing the complaint button? One press would have been enough, but he pressed it thirteen times! Do you even know that thing is connected to my backup power supply?!"

Lu Yao opened his mouth but made no sound. His brain seemed to be still processing the basics of a robot speaking, while the robot clearly didn't intend to wait for his reaction.

It suddenly raised its right arm and aimed it at Lu Yao's head. A half-meter square iron plate was falling from the ceiling, with its sharp corner pointing downwards, heading straight for Lu Yao's skull.

Time seemed to slow down; Lu Yao could see the dust kicked up as the iron plate rotated.

The robot quickly took a step forward, raising its right arm with its five fingers spread.

clang!

The iron plate slammed into the robot's palm, producing a sickening metallic clang.

The robotic arm's hydraulic system emitted a low hum, but its body remained motionless. The iron plate twisted and deformed in its palm, eventually being crushed into a lump of scrap metal.

The robot casually tossed the lump of iron aside, then pressed down on Lu Yao's shoulder with its other hand, pushing him down.

"Lower your head."

Lu Yao instinctively bent over, and almost simultaneously, three broken steel pipes flew past his back and embedded themselves deeply in the opposite wall.

The robot maintained its posture of leaning forward to protect Lu Yao. Its visual sensor band quickly scanned the ceiling. After three seconds, it confirmed that there were no more falling objects for the time being before it released its grip and slowly straightened up.

Then it turned around and looked directly at Lu Yao.

Lu Yao finally had the opportunity to examine the robot that had saved his life closely.

It looked yellowish, like the dull yellow of copper exposed to air for a long time, and its armor was covered with scratches and dents.

Its head-mounted visual sensor band, which arcs across its face, now emits a warm golden halo.

Below the sensor strip is a simplified outline of human facial features: two slanted eyebrows, a triangular nose, and a slightly upturned mouth.

Of course, these are lines etched onto the surface of the armor, but under the halo of light, you can actually see the expression.

At that moment, his eyebrows were raised high, and his mouth was open in an "O" shape.

The robot raised its hands and made a shrugging gesture.

"You son of a bitch."

It said the voice was filled with disbelief.

"What did you bring me here for?"

The halo around the vision sensor flickered, as if it were blinking.

Then it added:

"Σ(⊙▽⊙"a"

Lu Yao looked at the emoticon that suddenly popped up on the display screen on the robot's chest, and then at the robot's dumbfounded armored face.

He finally confirmed two things:

First, the robot was indeed awakened, and quite thoroughly at that.

Secondly, he might, probably, perhaps...

This really isn't a dream.