The Pursuit of Sergeant Neff

A few minutes later, she was standing in the cold street, listening to the dull echoes of heavy artillery. The explosions sounded far away, but they still made her metal joints tremble slightly. There was a strange feeling in her chest, unfamiliar to robots, but Delia knew it was related to some kind of anxiety. This was not a planned event.

"What's going on?" she said quietly, but there was no one nearby.

There is only smoke and dust around, barely filtering rays of sunlight against the backdrop of dark clouds.

Suddenly, she was grabbed by the shoulders and pushed down hard on her back. She barely had time to understand what was happening before she was quickly strapped to a gurney. Delia Asia Vieira felt the wheels squeal on the asphalt as a crazy, nervous-looking doctor in a white coat pushed her through a dilapidated hospital. The people's faces were hidden behind masks and bandages, but from their positions it was clear: the world was collapsing, and this hospital was just one part of a chain of collapsing systems.

"Faster, faster!" the doctor shouted, looking around nervously.

His face was distorted not only with fear, but also with some kind of morbid lust. He desperately pushed the gurney, not paying attention to the blows on the walls of the corridor, which shook them even more violently.

"Where are we going?" Delia Asia Vieira asked quietly, still not understanding what was happening.

"Quiet! We must pass before everything collapses!" the doctor answered, covering his ears.

He raced down a dimly lit corridor, where the walls were covered in mold and the lamps barely flickered to illuminate their path. On the shelves beside them were bags of rice, jars of minced meat, bags of some kind of caustic powder.

"This... what?" Delia Asia Vieira tried to examine them, but was more struck by how carelessly everything was folded in this place.

It was a warehouse, but a strange one, as if hidden from prying eyes. In the corner of the corridor on the floor lay a box with an incomprehensible marking, from which came a strange chemical smell.

"Special supplies for the infantry brigades," the doctor replied without turning around. "The soldiers must be ready for anything. Especially if this city... if... it doesn't hold out."

They passed several more rooms containing similar supplies. Each one contained something different: boxes of provisions, medical equipment, bags of unfamiliar substances. It all seemed to have been put together in a hurry, in a panic.

Finally, they reached the exit. The doctor didn't care what was happening outside. He simply took the gurney out into the yard of some house where an old truck was parked, and two cars were parked nearby: a police jeep without license plates, as if it had just been washed of blood, and a blue minibus of an unknown make, on which traces of fresh repairs were visible.

"Quick!" the doctor shouted, grabbing the weapon that hung from his belt. He looked around, wary and nervous, like a man with secrets and no time to think.

"Where are you taking me?" Delia Asia Vieira finally asked, her voice firm.

She tried to understand what was happening and why she was being pulled where she didn't want to go.

"They're waiting for you," he looked away, but it was clear that he was afraid. Panic flashed in his eyes.

At that moment, a man with dark glasses and a short haircut got out of the minibus. He was calm, but his presence did not promise anything good. Flashing, he approached robotess and leaned towards her.

"Are you looking for something?" His voice was low and sharp. He didn't wait for an answer, but simply extended his hand to help her up. "Everything will be fine if you don't make any unnecessary movements."

Delia Asia Vieira raised her head and looked at him. There was no fear in her eyes, only confusion. Why was she here? Why were these people so nervous? And what did they want from her? She felt the wheels of the minibus squeal on the uneven asphalt as it stopped outside the building. It was stuffy inside the car, and the smell of old rubber mixed with something chemical that she couldn't quite identify. She was tied to a chair and then led outside. The doctor who had been with her from the beginning stood next to her, all in white, but his face was tense and distorted with fear. He was silent, and his hands were shaking slightly.

When Delia Asia Vieira finally got to the room, he helped her onto the hard hospital bed, but he didn't say a word. He just gave her an anxious look and hurried out.

"Don't move," he said, but his words didn't sound like an order, more like a request, like a last hope.

The door closed with a soft click, leaving the robotess alone in the dark and dim chamber. She looked at the bare white walls, their sterile, lifeless surface. There was almost no furniture in the room - only a bed, a table with empty bottles and a few devices that she could not say anything about. They were not part of her program. It was all too... incongruous. As if she had ended up in a place where no one should be, except those who were developing secret projects.

She closed her eyes and focused on her internal monitor. Don't move. That was hardly possible. She couldn't just sit here and wait without any understanding of what was behind it. Every mechanism in her was begging for activity, and her logic was trying to solve every problem.

She tried to lift her hand, but the mechanism responsible for movement refused. The software glitched, as it always did when she encountered something unexpected. Warming her fingers on the walls again, she tried to figure out how to integrate herself into the existing world. The problems with the movement module were trivial compared to this... worry that stirred in her core.

At that moment, through the double glass of the door, she saw him, the doctor, walking down the corridor. Delia Asia Vieira listened. He was alone, but his steps were quick and tense. He passed by, and then stopped near the elevator. Delia Asia Vieira felt the tension in the air increase. Were they planning something?