“Eureka!” Lt. Sophie shouted happily as she watched Major looking around curiously with its new ‘eye’. Finally, it was done, and it even worked immediately. She made a note in the back of her head to mark this special day in the calendar as those things rarely ever happen. After a month of waiting for the parts and quite some paperwork Sergeant Dutch had demanded, the pet robot was now equipped with a small HD video camera. Unfortunately, this one would not work in the dark and Major would still have to switch back to the old night vision in the darker parts of the bunker, but so far, this was a huge improvement. “If this doesn’t help we might have to get you a new engine”, Sophie told Major. She looked at all the blurry pictures of that same figure that always seemed to appear in the corridors, only to vanish soon after. And she wondered if she could set up a live feed to actually SEE through Major’s eyes in real time. Why yes, that was a good idea…

Soon after, things were set up. Major had been driving around excitedly for a while now, the new eye was oh so much better! All the details it could see, and those crisp colours! Sophie gave her pet robot a delicious meal of natural oil before she let it go outside to venture through the corridors and hidden corners of the bunker. She put on her headset and looked at the screen. Soldiers walking by, one or the other robot, and there was Quackington, too… She recognised the entrance to the science corridor. But Major turned to the elevator, moving further down, deeper into the unknown. Soon it got quiet. No more foot steps or servo noises. Only the calming sound of Major’s engine and wheels.

An annoying beeping noise startled Sophie. For a second she was confused, then she answered the call on the TSU communication system. It was Gonzo. “Howdy, how’s it going?”, he asked. “Going fine over here. What’s up?” “I have your goggles repaired. Mind if I come over?” Sophie grinned: “Not at all. Bring some crisps and tea, we might discover something unknown roaming the Bunker today.” “You got the new HD running?” She nodded. “Sweet, I’ll be right there!” Only two minutes later,Gonzo entered Sophie’s bunker room and put her goggles on the desk along with a bowl of tasty fried potato slices and a pot of steaming tea. Both stared at the screen. There was still enough light for the HD camera, although the lamps in this corridor were flickering and partly broken. Maintenance didn’t go down there very often as the corridors were still unused. Some of the rooms had never even been emptied, there was a lot of stuff that Sophie could swear was still pre-WW2. For a while, there was nothing else than the flickering and the soft humming of Major’s wheels. Then, very faintly, the two soldiers started hearing a noise. A distant, but seemingly melodious sound. It was not human though, and the closer it got the more they had the impression as if it came from a machine…

– To be continued…