Midori liked hiking, especially in the mountains surrounding her college town. It felt nice to get away from all the people and noises of the city. She could spend all day on the wooded mountain trails, and quite often did.
Today, with her backpack packed full of high protein snacks and emergency supplies -- she always wanted to be prepared, just in case -- she decided to go off trail. It wasn’t something she usually did, but today she just felt something of an urge.
Her boots crunched against twigs and hardened clots of mud, the sounds echoing a little in the near silence. It was a little strange, usually she could hear at least some birdsong. She pushed the thought to the back of her mind as she hopped a tiny creek, keeping a hold of her baseball cap to make sure it didn’t fly off.
She came across a large rock not long after that was just begging to be climbed, so climbed she did...only to find a large, robotic creature resting just on the other side of it.
Midori yelped, losing her footing in surprise. The robot reached up, catching her before she could fall. She stared at it, taking in the cracks in its armor(?) as it settled her on the ground. The robot had a pained look on its face, and Midori could see that it was holding its side with its other arm.
“Thank you,” she said softly once her feet were back on solid ground. “Are you hurt?”
The robot stared at her for a moment, clearly unsure of her. Eventually, it nodded, moving its arm to show her the nasty gash in its side. It was leaking some nasty, definitely-not-blood-colored liquid. Midori winced at the sight.
“Um, well…” She moved to take her backpack off, but her quick movements spooked the robot, who made a pitiful whining noise. Midori immediately slowed down, her voice dropping into a deeper, soothing tone. “No, no. It’s okay. I’m going to try and help you. Okay?”
The robot stared at her some more, its face like that of a kicked puppy. After some time, the robot nodded, and Midori continued digging in her backpack. She pulled out a large roll of duct tape and some normal gauze bandages. Midori had never been a scout, but she definitely kicked any Boy Scout’s ass in the ‘be prepared’ department.
She climbed up on his (the robot felt like a ‘he’, she decided) leg, peering into the gash in his side. There was a tube in there that had a fairly major cut in it. That was where the liquid was coming from, she figured. She unwrapped a few gauze bandages and went to work.
“Do you have a name?” she asked, hoping to take his mind off the fact she was sticking her hands in him.
The robot made a few noises that sounded like agreement. She pressed the bandages against the cut in the tube, pulling at the duct tape with her teeth to get it loose.
“What is it?” she asked, wrapping the tape around the bandages to hold them in place.
The sound of a wandering radio dial filled the air, and several disparate voices were strung together to make a single word.
“Bumblebee? That’s a nice name. Fitting too,” Midori said, patting at a yellow bit of the robot’s metal arm. “I’m Midori. Midori Hanakawa. Let me see if I can’t patch you up a bit more, okay?”
Midori went about trying to tape together any bits of Bumblebee that looked like they might fall apart. It wasn’t much -- she wasn’t an engineer or mechanic, after all -- but she did her best to make it so he could at least get up.
“How’s that?” she asked, stepping back. “Is that better?”
Bumblebee stood, still a little wobbly. He took a few limping steps, seemingly pleased that he could at least be mobile again. Midori smiled, relieved. She really wasn’t sure what had made her so keen on helping him, but she was glad she had. His whole face lit up with something akin to hope, and he seemed so much more excitable. Like a puppy. It was endearing.
“I bet you have people looking for you,” she said quietly, reaching out to touch his large hand. “I hope you’re able to find each other. Take care, okay?”
The radio sound filled the air once more, and with it came the words “Thank you.”
Midori watched as he left, waving until he was out of sight. She was alone then, feeling like she’d just awakened from a dream. It was a sad, almost lonely feeling. She frowned, realizing she’d probably never see him again.
Two days later, Midori woke to someone knocking on her dorm room door. She stumbled to the door, wondering who was knocking at 8 in the morning on a Sunday. Opening her door, she was greeted by the sight of a sharply dressed woman in a lab coat. The woman smiled at her with painted lips, sharp green eyes sparkling behind a set of glasses.
“Midori Hanakawa?” she asked.
“My name is Dr. Henrietta Grimaldi-Reyes,” the woman said. “I heard you helped one of my bots.”
