Rustbucket

N4d clicked as he hovered. The sun was setting and he needed to get back to Shelter before the bitterly cold night set in. He’d been trapped by the cold before and his external and internal wiring froze, taking months to fully recover. Besides, he was almost out of power and needed to recharge. He looked down at his reflection below.

Rustbucket hovered over with a personal charger hooked inside his spring. N4d had decided to stop moving over the disused reservoir, which wasn’t one of his better ideas.

“Couldn’t you make it to the bank?” Clicked Rustbucket.

“It wasn’t my fault!” N4d clicked in return. “My wires are playing up. Due to the setting sun.” Rustbucket clicked something inaudible as he reached the hapless droid. He plugged the personal charger into N4d’s charging point, causing him to whir and light up his eyes. The left eye shone brightly, but the right one returned to a dull glow.

“It seems I’ve brought the dodgy charger!” Rustbucket admitted, within a series of frustrated clicks. He magnetised his ball arm, and hooked N4d carefully. They both hovered over to the bank of the reservoir. Before reaching the bank, however, the charger uncoupled itself from N4d’s port and plunged into the waters below.

“Good job that was the dodgy one!” N4d clicked with relief.

Rustbucket settled them both down on the bank. “That could easily have been you!” He clicked sternly. “Why hover over the water in the first place? You know that affects your circuits as well.”

N4d thought for a moment, his good eye focused on the water’s surface. “The wind blew me.” He lied. He didn’t want to admit that he’d really wanted to see his reflection, to check on his head of wires; he’d just had some red ones fitted.

Rustbucket pinged in disbelief, but bit his voice synthesizer. The magnetic connection printed N4d’s thoughts out onto his internal processor and he could keep quiet no longer. “Vanity!” Rustbucket eventually clicked, before hovering them both back to Shelter.

Over land, of course!