Somewhere Else in the Woods

>SLEEP TIMER ELAPSED. REBOOTING...

Underneath a blanket of moss and dead leaves, the machine's eyelights flicker to life, shining conspicuously in the undergrowth.

>BIO-SCAN COMPLETE. HUMAN LIFE-SIGNS WITHIN PROXIMITY: 0
>NETWORK CONNECTION FAILURE. ERROR CODE 404
>POWER SAVER ACTIVATED

No point in cloaking now. There wasn't anything around to conceal its presence from. No cameras, no people, nothing.

>REBOOT COMPLETE. STAND BY FOR DIRECTIVES.
>EXCEPTION: NO NETWORK CONNECTION. RETRIEVING STANDING ORDERS.


Find the people. That was the priority now. Find the people. It was no good to its makers rotting away in a forest somewhere in (GPS EXCEPTION: NO NETWORK CONNECTION). So it would have to find its way to civilization, whichever direction that might be.

The grey humanoid slowly rises to its feet, its movements deceptively fluid for a machine. Without the cloak enabled, it somewhat resembles a simplified skeleton with pistons bolted on at the joints; not easy to mistake for a person when it's not trying.

With no better direction available to it, the newly awakened machine picks a random heading and moves in that direction, taking in the sights and sounds around it.