Chapter 13: A Bad Visit

Artifice got off of the table and stretched to make sure all of his parts were in working order. "Maybe you should get checked out yourself."

Gravix shook his head as if in disappointment. "Never mind me, let’s just get the shuttle ready shall we?"

Artifice and Gravix walked towards the shuttle bay.

Tiran watched them, and mumbled to himself. "Something’s not right here, it wasn’t supposed to happen this way. Perhaps Artifice’s will is too strong."

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At the shuttle bay, Artifice and Gravix sat waiting inside of a shuttle for Tiran.

"Come on! We’ve got places to go, people to see!" they shouted.

"Yeah, whatever" Tiran shouted back.

When Tiran entered the shuttle, the crew took off. The trip to the first moon base was surprisingly short. After getting clearance, the ship landed.

"Wow, I didn’t know they had some much surface work done already" Artifice stated.

"Yeah, but this is just one of the few stations that’s completely done" Tiran said while looking around. "Why don’t you go ahead Artifice, I need to speak with Gravix for a moment."

Artifice turned to Tiran and smiled. "Okay, I’ll won’t go too far."

Once Artifice was far enough away, Tiran scowled at Gravix. "I hope you’re working properly now or I’ll have to terminate this illusion."

Gravix just stared back at Tiran.

Tiran seemed satisfied. "Everything seems fine now, let’s join Artifice."

The two bots ran off to join Artifice. They found him in a still incomplete building nearby.

"This thing is going to be huge!" Artifice shouted down at them from a beam near the roof.

Gravix looked up to him. "Don’t you think it might be a little unstable up there?"

Artifice laughed. "Nah, it’ll be fine."

Everything wouldn’t be fine. One of the beams began to shake, and soon gave out. One beam after another fell out of place, and eventually the entire roof collapsed. Artifice tried to transform, but was struck down before he could. He fell to the floor, and was buried along with Gravix and Tiran.

When Artifice awoke, he was in the moon base’s recovery center.

Artifice sat up in a panic. "Where’s Gravix and Tiran?"

"What are you talking about?" one of the medics asked.

Artifice became more worried. "They were buried with me, didn’t you pull them out?"

The medic shook his head. "Sorry, you’re the only one we got."

Artifice bolted from the recovery center and looked around until he could find the rubble from the building. After a few short moments, he found it. Immediately, he shifted through the rubble. Artifice’s power cells were still damaged, and he became very week. Moments away from draining his power cells, he uncovered Gravix’s hand. With all of his strength he pulled him out.

"I’ll come back for you Tiran" Artifice said as loudly as he could. He knew it would be moments before he shutdown.

Artifice’s vision slowly started to blur. He saw the lights of the recovery center, then collapsed. When he awoke, he was leaning against a machine that was recharging his energy.

Disconnecting the machine, Artifice shook himself. "When am I gonna stop with the check-ups?"

He found Gravix getting full repairs on an operating table. "Tiran, where’s Tiran?" Artifice asked Gravix.

"Don’t worry, he’ll be alright" Gravix assured him.

A medic walked up to Artifice. "You did a great job, if it wasn’t for you he wouldn’t have made it."

Artifice was having a hard time with his memory, only vaguely recalling that he carried Gravix to the recovery center. "I – I saved you didn’t I?"

Gravix smiled at Artifice. "Yes you did, you saved me this time Artifice."