The darkness was heavy, a freezing weight that seemed to press the very breath from his lungs. He lay alone on the damp, cold ground, where silence was his only companion in the hollow chill of the void.
Whoosh... whoosh... whoosh...
Whoosh... whoosh... whoosh...
A rhythmic pulse echoed against the stone walls. Then, a dry, metallic rustle.
His eyelids felt like lead as they flickered open. He blinked, but the world remained a void of ink.
"Am I blind?" he whispered, his own voice sounding foreign and thin. Panic began to claw at his chest.
"Why is it so dark? Where am I? Wait... what am I?"
A mechanical whine cut through the quiet.
Vrrr... Vvvveeeee-UP.
A sudden, harsh glow erupted. A spherical, metallic object hovered a few feet away, its surface gleaming under its own artificial light.
"Welcome to the Sewer, Mr. Juvenelict," a flat, synthetic voice chirped.
He recoiled, pressing his back against the cold, sweating wall. "W-who's there?!"
"Activating light array. Opening containment unit in progress," the machine responded.
Tch... Tch... Tch-zt.
Ch-clack-grrrrnd.
The room flooded with a clinical, white light. The "box" was a cramped chamber of brushed steel. In the center of the glare stood two figures: one of trembling flesh, and one of cold iron.
"What... what are you?" he gasped, his eyes wide as they struggled to adjust.
"I am your assistant. I am here to serve you to the best of my ability, Mr. Juvenelict."
"To help me?" The man's breath came in ragged bursts. "Who is Juvenelict?! What are you? What am I? Where is this?!"
The robot's optical sensor turned a frantic, flashing red. "Error detected. Error detected. The host is acting strange. Proceeding to administer anesthesia."
"Wait-what? No! Stay back!"
A small panel on the robot's chassis slid open with a hiss. Before he could move, a slender needle hissed through the air, burying itself in his shoulder.
"Ah...! It stings..." His knees buckled, and the world began to blur into soft, grey edges. (My consciousness... it's fading away...)
Thud.
He collapsed into a heap on the metal floor. The robot hovered over the unconscious body, a blue laser scanning him from head to toe.
Vree-vree-vree.
"External damage: None," the machine droned to the empty room. "Checking internal neural chip for corruption... Error located. Commencing repair."
Clink. Tink. Ch-clack.
"Repair complete. Host recovery estimated in five minutes."
Five Minutes Later...
His eyes snapped open. The grogginess was gone, replaced by a sharp, digital clarity. He sat up, but he didn't see the sewer walls first. Instead, a glowing blue interface floated directly in his line of sight, tracking his every movement.
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