A Narrow Escape

Hugo and Mac stared in horror at the robot, which had now made its way into the room. It was a hulking mass of metal, towering over them. Its eyes glowed a menacing red, and its multiple arms twitched with anticipation. It moved towards them, and Hugo felt like he couldn't breathe. His heart was pounding, and his mind raced. He thought of all the things he'd done wrong, all the times he'd broken the law, and how few people he had left. He wanted to run, wanted to hide, wanted to do anything but face this monster.

From behind him, he heard Mac shuffling and Hugo turned around just in time to see Mac furiously typing into a keypad on the wall.

"Can you buy me 20 seconds?" Mac shouted over the noise of the robot.

"What?" Hugo yelled back, confused.

"Just do it!" Mac yelled, pressing a few more buttons.

Hugo nodded and turned back to the robot, which had now stopped a few feet away from them. He knew he had to do something, but he didn't know what. He could feel the sweat dripping down his forehead as he tried to think of something, anything to buy them some time. He took a deep breath, let out a yell, and ran around the space like an idiot. The robot hesitated for a second, then started to pursue him.

Hugo kept running, and he could feel the robot getting closer and closer. He felt like he was going to pass out from exhaustion, but he kept going. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Mac yelled something and Hugo stopped. He turned around just in time to see the robot freeze in mid-step.

Mac had finished whatever he was doing and it had caused the emergency lights to come on and the robot to begin flashing red and twitching.

"What did you do" Hugo asked

"I ran an area-wide diagnostic, it'll give us 10 minutes or so, at the cost of telling the rest of the patrol where we are"

Hugo knew what that meant: they needed to go somewhere else, fast.

"I have an idea" Mac blurted.

"It'll take a few days to get to the ground without being seen, but we can make it." Mac.

They quickly gathered their belongings and made their way back into the airlock before their 10 minutes were up. Hugo glanced back at the robot, which was still twitching and flashing red. He had no idea what would happen to it, but he knew that for now, they were safe. He felt a small sense of relief wash over him as the door closed shut behind them.

They hopped from pod to pod in the empty space, compact respirators aiding them as they navigated the gaping expanse. Pods zipped past occaisionally, some the size of personal transport vehicles, others the size of houses - none of them stopped. Hugo and Mac clung to the sides of the Structure, using the service rails, what little there were, to descend. They didn't meet any more bots, but they took no chances, going so far as to disable their implants to mask their electrical signals.