The sounds of swift strikes, and heavy servo-motors echoed in a large, dimly lit underground room. There was a large construction, a little like a crane or arm that was holding a spider-like robot on one end. The simple, triangular robot had four arms on each of its three surfaces, and they were whirling around, difficult to see with their speed. The arm, arching above the field occasionally, and very suddenly moved, bringing the many armed bot to different positions as Android Epsilon Thirteen rushes about it. 

They deflected blow after blow, each one punctuated with a sharp, but quiet “Ta!” The tie-bot couldn’t seem to touch them, no matter how it moved about the room, or how many of its twelve arms it brought into play. And still, the fight did not end, because the Android, more powerful though they were, made no attempt to strike back. 

“Strike!” Came a voice from the shadows on the side of the field, “You’re wasting my time as much as yours!”

Epsilon Thirteen glanced briefly out of the corner of their eye at their instructor, then suddenly thrust their palm past the machine’s guard, right into the center of its torso. They forced a measured dose of synthetic ki into it through their palm, and it very suddenly grew still. 

The heavy duty arm overhead continued to reposition the tri-boy, as if it were still making evasive maneuvers, but Epsilon Thirteen ignored it, and walked back to their master. They were dressed in nothing but their standard issue under garments, not wanting to tear their only set of clothes in a training simulation. They approached Bailon Kresh, awaiting an appraisal. 

Bailon sighed, “Perfect form, but I’d like to see how fast you can get. It’s too bad, no matter how fancy the training machine, [i]you[/i] yourself are the most advanced technology I can get my hands on.”

“I apologize for my…” 

“None of that. It has its drawbacks in training, but it’s precisely why I…” 

She stopped suddenly, clutching her cane and staring around almost blankly. Epsilon Thirteen had seen this behavior before, and knew to switch on their scouting subroutines. Several arrows and number displays appeared in their peripheral vision, blinking to indicate new energy signals. Several of them were unusually high for this world, and not far away at all. 

When Epsilon Thirteen paid attention again to their teacher, she was already halfway up the stairs and out into the filtered sunlight of the forest floor, where their underground facility’s only entrance was. The Android was beside Bailon in the space of a blink, and the two took flight together as soon as the sky was visible.

~~~~

Soon they stood at some distance from the fresh craters in the ground, looking at the figure, tiny at this distance, that had already climbed out.

Bailon shaded her eyes with a hand. “I can’t see right, is it…?” Her voice was strained, shaking with anxiety. 

“Yes, master. GFA.” 

“Shit.”