In Acroyear2, the Earth is populated by humans and machines in equal number. Despite their growing numbers, machines are strictly policed. Few of them can feel and none are built able to re-produce. Travel over 15 kilometres from a machine's rest station is strictly prohibited, and relationships with other machines are punishable by death.



The vast majority of units are employed in large scale production facilities such as the parts factory "777". Machines work in perfect synchronicity during their 16 hour shift. Drilling, thumping, and constructing in total unison. Melve, a young unit, has been working at 777 for its entire operational span.



In the bi-yearly unit shift, a number of new machines arrive at 777. It is a few days after this influx of new units that Melve first notices Rae. The event is a shock to this young parts assembly unit. For the first time in it's operational span it experiences what it thinks are feelings. Melve is confused and overwhelmed by the sensation and watches Rae closely over the following days. Melve begins to notice that Rae too, is paying it an unusual amount of attention. After the shift on the 4th day since Rae's arrival at 777, they both leave via the same exit and stop in a dark, thin alley way. As the other units continue to their rest stations, Melve and Rae are left alone in the alley. Blinded by this foreign sense of attraction, they let their guard down and rub their heads together. The moment is beautiful but they soon realise the danger of the situation and part ways, vowing to try and meet again.



Melve returns to its rest station and spends much of its rest period thinking about the days events and how easily these 'feelings' were able to dictate its actions. It is totally obsessed by the idea of seeing Rae again and its mind wanders through a series of beautiful imaginings of their future meetings.



Over the following weeks, they secretly communicate with each other via VoseIn messaging, a method of communication that only machines can decipher. They send messages back and forth, planning their next meeting. The thought of the event buoys both of their tiresome work days.



777 is a totally standard production factory and is not the kind of place that regularly sees dissent. Nevertheless, the factory has an informant unit (unit 'BOAC') that notices the abnormal behaviour of the Melve and Rae units and begins regular surveillance on them.



After a number of weeks, the two units finally have their second meeting. They arrange to meet far from the city, well outside their respective 15 kilometre perimeters, in an expanse of desert known as Fold4Wrap5. They lie in the sand and once again touch heads. They stare up at the sky and discuss the feelings that have overcome them. They are both excited and comforted to know that the other is similarly surprised by their recent experience of 'feelings'. They allow themselves only 1 hour together, knowing that they can never be too cautious. They part ways, this time confident that they can organise a similar meeting again.



Unit BOAC reports its recent findings to the Bureau of Investigations, including the secret messaging and breaches of the 15km unit perimeter. As a result, the Bureau decide to assemble a small elimination device to work along side the informant unit and terminate the operational span of both Melve and Rae. The elimination device is named 'UnderBOAC', and is swiftly produced in the Bureau's own manufacturing plant.



After a shift a few days later, Melve learns from a fellow unit (Corc) about the construction of UnderBoac and meets Rae in the alley again. They know it is an extreme risk, but they meet nevertheless. In any case, they are to be hunted for the remainder of their operational span. However short that may be... Melve tells Rae what Corc had just earlier told him. They stand in silence for a moment, taking in the news, then decide on a plan of action. There is no point staying at 777 as they will be terminated immediately. They decide to run. They also decide to split. If they are apart, they will increase both of their chances of survival. There are 2 of them, and only one elimination device. They say farewell, and their relationship is effectively over. They will most likely never seen one another again.



At the Bureau, BOAC is given the Caliper Remote for UnderBOAC and shown how to use the remote to control the elimination device. Then BOAC and UnderBOAC leave the Bureau and begin the hunt.



By the time they have left the Bureau, Rae has fled from her rest station and hidden out in an abandoned air craft carrier known to the local humans as 'Arch Carrier' due to its huge concave roof. Via news from another informant unit, BOAC and UnderBOAC quickly find Rae and a dramatic chase ensues. Rae is not only frightened, but confused, having never felt the emotion before. It occasionally undoes its good work by letting out a gentle sob or whimper just when UnderBOAC had lost track of its location. Through luck more than smarts, Rae eventually escapes Arch Carrier undetected. Realising its hours are numbered, it decides to return to Fold4Wrap5 in order to die surrounded by the memory of Melve.



Rae returns to the desert and treks for over an hour before it finds the place where they had their second meeting. It may never have found it at all, had there not been another unit sitting there... That unit was Melve. He had totally abandoned his own escape plan after only a few minutes. The two units touch heads and then begin trekking across the desert, not knowing how far it will stretch or whether they will ever find anything on the other side. However, to turn back is to die.



2 days pass and the second night falls. The 2 units have found nothing and are much too far from their rest stations to ever get back in time. Their power is almost totally draned and they realise that they have reached the end. Rae tells Melve of an old urban myth it once heard... That if 2 units join power sources and lie still, they can both remain functioning for a few hours longer than they would have otherwise. The process is simply called 'Drane 2'.



They lie down in the sand, open their chests, and attach themselves.

3 hours later their operational spans slowly, but simultaneously, cease.