(Characters and premise by Satoshi Kon's unfinished Dreaming Machine and elements from the same titled song by Susumu Hirasawa)
Battery: 96%
3 robots emerged from the red sunrise in their apricot colored, sleek cruiser. Driving was the brains of the trio, a red dressed robot with a brunette hairstyle named Ririco. Behind was a blue behemoth named King, an older model with a keen eye for scanning and analyzing. Riding by the driver was the youthful yellow Robin, bouncing around and smiling at the neon trees in the mechanical jungle.
Robin looked outside the window, precariously close to falling out before King effortlessly yanked him back to his seat.
"So, how much longer until we find the," Robin said and stumbled with faulty memory.
"The Scalar Pool," Ririco said with a smile. "King knows the specifics, but it's a place where we can be fully connected. We won't have to scrounge for battery juice boxes anymore. And you," she playfully rubbed Robin's head and tapped his silver arm, "won't need to find replacement parts all the time."
"I HAVE GENERATED MULTIPLE DIAGNOSTICS," King boomed, "AND THE DESTINATION'S COORDINATES HAVE BEEN DETERMINED WITH REGARDS TO TEKTITE DEPOSITS."
"Right! And we'll be on the right track with our compass."
She held out a black box that opened up and revealed a magnet pointing north and closed it back up. Robin leaned back and looked at the sky with airplanes soaring together in a flock, circling in a synchronized wave, all blinking in a pattern. He looked down at his prosthetic arm with a grimace.
"I don't think having new parts is a bad thing. Maybe I'll find a jetpack or-or longer legs so I can run faster! Maybe I'll find arms bigger than King's!"
"NOT A CHANCE."
Robin turned and stuck out his tongue at King while Ririco giggled. She spotted a fork in the road and frowned as she looked ahead. Both paths were consumed by an immense violet cloud across the desert.
"This would be awful even if it was just a straight line. There's no telling if this substance will short circuit us. King, what can you scan?"
The giant rotated his head a full 180 degrees and a series of bassy whirrs oscillated.
"MATERIAL IS UNKNOWN BUT DOES NOT CONSIST OF HARMFUL MOISTURE. IT IS INTERFERING WITH MY POSITIONING, HOWEVER, AND BOTH PATHS ARE OBSCURED AFTER 100 METERS."
"Wait, does that mean," Robin trembled, "we're lost?"
"Don't worry, Robin. We'll go as far as we can, and if things look too bad, I'll turn us around."
Robin nodded and tried putting on a brave face, but Ririco looked at the gas gauge and knew it would make things worse if they had to walk on foot. She turned on the low white lights and drove carefully.
King acted as patrol, surveying anything suspicious, but even his technology had difficulty piecing information with the growing veil surrounding them. A minute passed and they felt it was too far to return now, even as Ririco was tightening her grip on the wheel.
Robin looked out despite his nerves and he swore he saw shapes flying around. Weird forms like the bodies of him and his friends but darkened and vibrating. These terrified him and he grabbed onto Ririco's arm as these shapes came closer. His grip loosened as he looked closer at the figures and saw how they were animated, almost like they were doing an array of pleasant activities like dancing and meditating. He wasn't sure if he was making this up, since robots are supposed to be logical beings, or if he was seeing something the other 2 could not.
His fear became curiosity and he was smiling with open joy at the more complex rituals the shapes performed. They embraced, stretched, and one reached out to the startled Robin. Yet this blurry dark violet hand was slow and gentle, going along the speed of the car, and Robin cautiously held out his hand to touch back. He was mere centimeters away and could almost hit until it dissipated and vanished with the others in the mist as the trio came out of the other side unscathed.
Ririco exhaled in relief and King resumed his stolid placement. Robin felt calmer having experienced that, even if he was frightened at first, and he could not help wondering more about his strange non-metallic friends. Yet he was glad to see the other side of the mist with all the familiar and new machines and gadgets scattered across the fields. He thought the Scalar Pool must be like that every day. Never before had he wanted to find this promised land that turned his gears and all the fascinating marvels awaiting him.
