(10) Belka and Bonnie

>On the frigid tundra surrounding Tasiilaq Greenland a small camp had been hastily-erected, A flattened bit of land acting as helipad and sole route off of the permafrost. The ad-hoc settlement was assembled in a joint effort between eastern and western robotics manufacturers, the result of over six months of negotiation between corporations following the loss of two pilots sent on the first joint-mission to the moon. Johnson, a short man with thinning blonde hair represented Sterling Robotics, and stood wrapped in a thick woolen winter coat beside his counterpart dispatched from the Soviet's robotics branch in a wide tent surrounded by the supplies required to keep the two dozen men of both companies alive for this exercise. The two representatives had met as Johnson's helicopter put him down behind Guskov, the latter Russian greeting him on the icy landing pad before they'd retreated to the relative cover of the largest tent in camp. "So, what'd they tell you?" Johnson said with a smile as he pulled the heavy hood off of his head inside. "Same thing they say to you, I imagine," Guskov began answering him, mirroring the American's movements as the pair stopped before a pair of wooden crates each marked with lettering from their respective nations. "Gathering of data on foreign machines working in tandem, that about size of it, da?" Johnson nodded to his familiar counterpart bemusedly. "Yep, that's about what I got from my bosses too. Given recent events though, I think there's plenty of room for speculation as to why we're doing this now, don't you?" Guskov's shoulders slumped as his colleague spoke. "Da, everyone talking about it both sides it seems. Robots set to be sensible choice moving forward, don't you think? Public sure seem to think so now." Johnson could only look away and nod somberly at the question. "Seems that way. My condolences by the way, Gagarin was a fine pilot by all accounts. I was sorry to hear of his passing." Johnson's Russian friend nodded and spoke quietly, not meeting the American's eyes. "Certain...compromises were made to achieve a Red Moon before your people, at least from what I understand. Seems that finally catch up with us, and poor Yuri paid price of expedient progress." A strained silence fell over the large enclosed tent for the next few moments, company crew from both teams scurrying around to secure equipment and avoid the gaze of the company representatives. Finally Johnson clapped his gloved hands together making a muted sound, and looked up at the taller Russian with a grin. "Well then, time to embrace the future eh? Let's wake 'em up."

>Prying the covers off the wooden crates had been done by company staffers, currently earning triple-pay for being subjected to the unlivable environs of Greenland even temporarily. Johnson scoffed once the pale straw had been brushed off of the Soviet robot resting dormant in her crate. "Jeez, you guys STILL haven't made them more aesthetic yet? I'm afraid I'd lose skin if I touched her in this cold!" Glancing up at his friend from the state-of-the-art automaton resting in the crate, Guskov frowned. "More aesthetic than brilliant stainless-steel? You people, all your robots look like child's porcelain doll! The shame of it." Johnson shook his head and smirked, turning his attention to the second crate as it was opened. "Your robots look like the aft-end of a water tower, you do know that don't you Guskov?" The Russian laughed heartily at that, hands resting on his protruding stomach. "And yours are like fragile little toys! Maybe I buy one for to sit on shelf looking pretty?" Both men laughed together, their familiarity with one another easing their lighthearted banter. "Well, let's see how they do together then, da?" Guskov said finally after they'd laughed themselves out. "Sounds good, go ahead and boot yours and I'll do the same." Johnson reached down into the wooden shipping container for the inactive nandroid's hand, holding it for a moment to initialize the startup process. Guskov made the same motion, but reached behind the Soviet machine's neck to open a small access panel and held down a switch there. Two sets of hard-drives spun up, mirroring one anther's sounds in the tent drowned-out by the howling of the wind outside.

>Bonnie rebooted for the first time out-of-factory and was instantly nervous, her last memory being a vague description of her assignment being 'pending' in contrast to the family assignments her sisters had received. Coming-to in a shipping crate surrounded by straw wasn't exactly what she'd envisioned herself ever doing, and Bonnie took several seconds to brush the packing material from her faceplate and grip the sides of her crate to push herself up. Looking down at herself, she saw that she now wore an orange jumpsuit festooned with the kind of warning placard usually reserved for crash-test dummies. Looking at her surroundings, Bonnie wondered what strange assignment she'd been given, clearly there were no children here so what was her purpose in this cold place? Next to her in a similar wooden crate a soft click and hum sounded causing her to look to her right as a steel-skinned machine blinked herself awake, looking around in confusion with almond-shaped blue optics. As the foreign robot sat up from her packaging, both her and Bonnie exchanged confused glances before turning their wide optics towards the men who'd booted them. Booting quicker than her Soviet counterpart, Bonnie pulled herself from the shipping crate and stepped out, clasping her hands behind her back as the Russian robot hurried out of her own crate to stand beside her. "My name is Bonnie, it is my upmost pleasure to meet you!" Bonnie belted out in accordance with her training, stealing confused glances at the steel-skinned robot that moved to stand beside her and forgetting her customary curtsy. The Russian machine rose beside her standing at attention and rattled something off, only to be stopped as her handler raised a palm. "English Belka, you were taught it so use it." Adjusting, Belka glanced at Guskov once and stiffened. "Sir! I am designated as 'Belka', and I am prepared to carry out any task my master requires!" Stealing a glance at the nandroid beside her, Belka shortly turned her optics back to the only authority she recognized here. Bonnie curious as she was, found herself looking back and forth between the human who'd activated her and the shiny automaton beside her. Johnson and Guskov smirked at one another, watching their company's products awaken bewildered. Finally Johnson spoke up, Guskov chuckling and letting the American take the lead. "Ladies! Welcome to Greenland! If you're wondering what you're doing here then wonder no more! You've both been selected for a friendly joint-exercise!"

>Both machines found it difficult at first to understand what they were being signed up for, though after more simplified explanations by their superiors they'd accepted the strange temporary assignment without complaint. Cooperation and survival, that was the simple goal. Both robots would be dropped over an area of the tundra already mapped in advance, and they would be expected to find their way back to base-camp within fifty hours aiding one another along the way. In order for the exercise to be considered a success both would need to return together, with failure resulting if they separated or called for help with their flare-guns. For a ten minute period Belka and Bonnie stood together in the large tent, monitored by their handlers as they suited-up into their winter coverings. "Ah, nice to meet you by the way!" Bonnie offered with a sincere smile as the pair finished furnishing themselves with thick coats and gloves. "Da, likewise," Belka offered back casually, keeping her blue optics off of her apparent partner. Bonnie fidgeted in place as the pair waited for their escort to the waiting helicopter, and looked away from the unfamiliar Russian. "You think we'll do okay?" she asked quietly, mentally going over the checklist of disqualifying-actions that might end their joint training mission. Belka ran a hand through her thin white-blonde synthetic hair and shrugged before reaching for an ushanka hat. "Pretty simple, da? They say 'walk from point A to point B, how hard can it be?" Bonnie looked away again, and uncertainly picked up her assigned gear pack as if it were a dead fish. "If you say so..."

>The roar of the rotor overhead, Belka gave Bonnie a nod as the flight crew opened the side-door to the helicopter they rode in. "Ten seconds!" Rang the voice of their pilot in both of the robot's auditory sensors. Belka stood at the doorway parachute affixed to her back, and gave a glance backwards at her new partner. She'd never done anything like this even in her imagination, but orders were orders and refusal was simply not an option worth processing. With a deep breath, Belka gritted her teeth and threw herself from the helicopter, hurtling down through the sky downwards towards the endless expanse of white below as the unfamiliar acceleration registered internally as *DANGER*. Bonnie followed her a moment later, the nandroid froze up with optics widened by panic as she tumbled through the sky for several seconds. Spotting her Russian counterpart's chute jarred Bonnie into action finally, and she deployed her parachute only a moment after the steel-skinned robot. Separated by nearly a mile from the nandroid Belka landed feet-first and tumbled down a snowy hillside, grabbing at the terrain around her to attest her motion. As she finally halted on the inclined landscape, she quickly pulled at the straps attaching her to her parachute, the fabric sail now threatening to drag her along the ground at the first hint of wind. Freeing herself, Belka stood and took stock of her surroundings. The landscape was white, utterly and inescapably in all directions. Mountains rose in the distance, endless drifts of snow and rock surrounded her, and a harsh wind whipped across her steel features wicking-away internal heat nearly as fast as her body produced it. Less than a mile away she watched the billowing parachute of her partner drift down and land, fluttering in the wind in the distance. "Well, this is team-building exercise, no?" She said to herself as she began walking off in the direction of the downed robot. "Can't finish alone"

>Bonnie breathed heavily, exchanging processor and built-up joint heat for the cold Greenland air as she struggled to free herself. She'd jumped only a moment or so after the Russian but they'd fallen nearly a mile apart, and now the unprepared nandroid was stuck in the snow  fighting with the lines of her parachute, desperately trying to untangle herself to no avail. A feeling of panic had set in for Bonnie as her efforts seemed futile growing only more entangled, but after fifteen frightening minutes she was reached by her Russian counterpart. "THERE you are, good grief you haven't even gotten out of your harness yet, what is wrong with you?" Belka barked harshly at Bonnie as the nandroid looked up at her terrified. "I, I can't! I'm all tangled up!" Bonnie replied in a frightened voice, pulling at the straps entangling her. "I'm sorry!" she added, pitiably. Belka sighed and moved down the gentle slope across the snow to reach her partner. "Easy, easy, stop struggling it only getting you more stuck," she said as she extended a hand down to the American robot. Within ten minutes the pair had worked together to cut the twisted ropes away from Bonnie with the blade from Belka's pack, and as Bonnie was helped to her feet they stood there together a moment with only a vague idea of what to do next. "You have internal compass too, da? Base-camp is due this-a-way, about thirty kilometers or so. Let's get a move-on." Bonnie froze at Belka's orders, and looked sideways to avoid the Russian's gaze. Belka blinked at her and frowned, placing her hands on her narrow hips. "We make straight line for base, simplest way to go, da? Do you object?" Looking around the landscape around them Bonnie noted the upward slope they stood on, and tried to process a more sensible route only stopping as Belka challenged her. "Well, alright. Sooner we get back the better, right?"

>Within the hour both machines had grown frustrated with the slow pace the landscape imposed on them as they climbed and descended snowdrifts capped with thin ice. The third time Belka felt her leg pierce the snow and plunge downward, the Russian yell out in anger. "Stupid! Why does this keep happening?!" Moving at a careful pace behind her, Bonnie carefully distributed her weight evenly and looked up at her partner worriedly. "Um, Belka? I think we might have a better time of it if we try the rockier parts, less snow that way right?" she said hesitantly pointing down the sloping hill and away to the harder landscape in the distance. Following her finger Belka processed this for a moment as she internally counted to ten to calm herself, her 'point a to point b' plan seeming to fall apart before her optics. "Da, think you right. May take little longer climbing over, but beats this for sure." As Bonnie helped extract Belka's stuck leg from the ice the steel robot thanked her and they moved carefully down the snowdrift, hand-in-hand to keep from sliding on the thin surface. After many minutes of strained silence while they climbed up to more solid ground, Bonnie found herself wishing to speak yet stuck processing the many various conversation starters she could use, unable to make any sort of decision on the matter. Silence did not bother Belka much, she'd had her fill of inane chatter even before her final boxing at the factory, but even so she thought it a good idea to break the metaphorical ice with the nervous nandroid. "So, any ideas on why they pick us for this...whatever this is?" she spoke up, glancing back at Bonnie who now wore a relieved expression at Belka taking the conversational lead. "Not especially, no. Before I shutdown for packaging, all I knew was that my assignment was 'pending'," she said, catching up with the Russian so they moved up the incline side by side. "I thought maybe I'd be booting up in a nice warm living room, not somewhere like this." Giving the nandroid a sideways glance, Belka frowned as she recalled her own earlier hopes of being given a family to care for, children to help raise and a home to maintain. "Da, me too." For another long moment, both were silent as they processed one another's words. "So! Ah," Bonnie chipped in, suddenly unsure of herself the moment she heard her own voice. "I guess they just what, picked us at random? Some lucky draw." Belka shrugged nonchalantly. "Maybe in your case, but think I might have good idea why I was selected," she said looking away from the nandroid, suddenly feeling a bit self-conscious at herself. Bonnie blinked at the Russian for a moment, clearly hanging on her words. "Oh?" Without taking her optics off the landscape Belka reluctantly continued with a sigh. "Factory training, it take months for you American robots too, da? Well, was maybe halfway through program, and one day out of nowhere, bam." Bonnie blinked again and repeated the word incredulously. "Da, 'bam'. Big blackout for whole of city, bad time for any robot caught recharging when it happen. Was in class then, when all lights shut off right in middle of lesson. Other robots there all start to panic, instructor lose control and room fall into chaos. Was scared myself, too." Lost in recalling the memory file Belka stopped, and Bonnie halted waiting dutifully beside her wearing a concerned expression. Suddenly smiling, the Russian looked up at her quickly and laughed off her internal digression. "Long story short, I shout loud at classmates and they all clam up real quick. Easy keeping them calm after that, and that make me not so afraid too, da? After, instructor called me 'good leader'. Not so sure that true, but company men seem to think it now." Realizing they'd stopped, Belka sheepishly imitated the sound of a cleared throat and began walking again, slowing just long enough for Bonnie to catch up to her. "Ehh, what about you though? Not convinced you just random 'off the shelf' pick either, maybe you top of class or something?" she asked hurriedly, switching the focus off of herself. Bonnie's circular red cheeks flashed red for a quick moment at the question. "N-no, I mean not especially well," pausing for a moment she looked away and put one arm around herself. "I mean, I usually got all the exam questions right, I just was always kind of slow about it." Belka listened silently as the pair crested the rocky rise in the land and began descending carefully down the gentle slope. "Like, there was one time when Ms. Bradbury asked us what the proper method was for halting a young child's temper tantrum. One of the girls answered 'pick up and hug the child until it stops being upset,' and even though it was early in training and I didn't know much yet, I still knew that was wrong!" Stifling a snicker at the internally-processed image of a nandroid squeezing the tantrum out of a tubby American child, Belka gave her partner a smile. "So you pipe up with right answer, I presume?" Bonnie shook her head with a more muted smile. "That's just it, I didn't. All the other girls were giving their own answers and I knew mine, but I kept going over it again and again like, I don't know, like I'd missed something. I thought I was right but I just, I couldn't be THAT sure, you know? I didn't answer first second or even third, I answered last." The nandroid fell silent for a moment, green optics glued to the ground as they walked. Belka's smile wavered slightly before prompting the nandroid again. "But, you DID get answer right after all? What was it?" Glancing back up quickly, Bonnie gave her a sheepish grin. "Oh! Yeah I did, it was 'distract the child with something they like'!" Both of the bundled-up machines giggled to one another over the shared bit of training as the frigid wind howled around them on their walk.
>Shadows grew longer as the day wore on and transitioned subtly to dusk. The two traveling robots began spotting for shelter early at Belka's suggestion, and not long after Bonnie had pointed out a promising spot not far off their course. A natural indent in a rocky hillside had been covered by successive snowfalls, the accumulated drift sloping down and forming a half-roof over the spot the two machines chose as their resting site. Inside they had only a few feet of space and sat side by side with their backs against the rock, their boots nearly sticking out through the opening to the little enclosure. Rifling through their supply bags they each found their spare battery packs among what few items they'd been allotted, and with some careful maneuvering to snake the charging cables under their heavy coats managed to plug in for some much-needed charge. "Topography make it kind of hard to tell, but think we come little over halfway today!" Belka said with a proud smile as she rested gloved hands at her lap and leaned back against the rock-face. Bonnie matched her expression and looked up at the icy ceiling above them. "If we keep up the same pace, we'll finish more than five hours early! I mean, there's still lots of variables of terrain and weather and-" Belka laughed and shook her head. "You worry too much! Look how simple today go, we do really good da?" Sighing happily at their progress she closed her optics. "Tomorrow will be good day too, so get some sleepmode." Bonnie looked over at the Soviet machine for a moment, admiring her confidence. "Yeah, you're right Belka. See you in the morning!"

>External pressure sensors all registered at once, sending a flurry of warning prompts through Bonnie's CPU just as her awareness was flickering back on. She tried to blink and found she couldn't, nor could she see anything but a dim glow all around her. When she tried to move her arms and couldn't, panic flooded her senses. For a few terrible seconds she felt completely alone, stuck in a white abyss with no way out. "Bonnie! Bonnie are you there?!" Belka's voice, muffled but close, snapped the nandroid out of her burgeoning hysteria. "B-Belka? Yes! Yes I'm here, what's going on?!" Bonnie tried lifting her arms again, and found a little space giving way on all sides as she moved. She wiggled her shoulders back and forth a few times and forcibly turned her head side to side. Blinking the snow off her optics finally she began looking around the tiny opening around her face. "Stupid roof collapsed on us! Don't panic, is only meter, meter and half maybe, we can dig ourselves out!" Belka said, clear worry palpable in her own voice as she tried calming her partner. "Okay! Yeah, it's not all that packed, you can kind of push on it some if you try! Here, hold on!" Bonnie shoved and pushed at the snow around her left arm, shifting through until she met steel resistance and heard a startled shout in Russian. "Okay okay I see, da!" Belka took several moments to shift around, finding it difficult but not impossible to move in the semi-packed snow which yielded under mechanical force. Turning in place slowly, both robots were able to climb upwards at an excruciating pace using the rock-face for leverage to push their way though. Bonnie's gloved hands poked through the surface first followed shortly by Belka's as they brushed snow away from above their heads. Bright orange and near-white synthetic hair covered in snow poked through the surface, hats lost on the way up, and when both machines saw the sun above them and one another's faces sticking out of the white fluff neither could suppress a laugh at their success. Digging themselves out took several more minutes but went quickly as they cleared the space between them and helped each other climb out of the snow. "Here," Belka said cheerfully as they stood, reaching out and ruffling the loose snow from Bonnie's mussed hair before brushing through her own. Bonnie laughed and smiled warmly at her companion, suddenly glad to have been paired up despite her misgivings about the exercise. Belka returned the expression, grateful to have had a partner to help ground her. Bonnie's expression slowly shifted to confusion and then dread as she looked past the Russian's shoulder, and Belka turned to look. "What? What's-" Belka stopped mid-sentence as she spotted the lumbering white shape not yet running but very clearly trotting their direction. Large and round, yellowing white fur and a small black nose visible even at this distance. "W-what is that?" Bonnie asked in a hushed whine, a shiver running up her spinal struts as she watched the unfamiliar shape approaching. Belka had seen the creature once before in a magazine left on the instructor's desk, and instantly recalled one salient point. "Bonnie, how fast can nandroids run?"

>Two robots bolted across the rocky snow-covered landscape for over an hour, neither ever looking back to see if they were still being chased. Belka had surmised that her own top running speed of around thirty kilometers per hour was roughly the same as Bonnie's stated twenty miles per hour, and they'd kept pace with one another through the long run back towards the company encampment. Joints aching from overheating, Belka and Bonnie slowed only the last few paces as a few camp workers gathered to watch, gasping for cold air to cool exchange for the built-up heat. Johnson exited the main tent to greet them first, followed only a moment later by Guskov. "Ladies, it wasn't a race you know! We didn't expect you for another eight hours at least!" Johnson said jovially, exchanging a surprised look with his Russian counterpart. "Well? Have good time out there?" Guskov asked as he glanced between the two snow-covered machines. "Bear!" "Roof fell in!"  "Snowdrifts!" Belka and Bonnie spoke hurriedly between gasps, and the company representatives raised their eyebrows at one another. "Easy easy girls calm down! Just come on inside and we'll get you debriefed, copy some data and get you cleaned up, okay?" Johnson said reassuringly, putting an arm around Bonnie's shoulders. During the short walk to the large warm tent they'd first rebooted in, the two robots exchanged relieved smiles, each of them confident they'd performed well according to whatever standards they'd be held to.


EPILOGUE

>Belka and Bonnie rested inactive in their wooden shipping crates as two company workers replaced the packing straw over their still bodies. Johnson lit a cigarette before shoving his free hand in his jacket pocket to stay warm. "So what do you think? I mean we still have performance data to go over but you heard they way they talked." Guskov puffed thoughtfully on his cigar as he watched the lids being replaced over the two shipping crates. "Da, like old friends. And that story, chased by polar bear? Poor things probably saw one a kilometer away and took off like children. Is good though, they work together and that whole point." Johnson smirked at the Russian. "Safe to say we got what we really came here for eh? Two new candidates for the Space Agencies when they ask next, already tested and proven to work well as a pair independent of human direction." Guskov returned the expression and blew smoke above their heads, laughing in a knowing  baritone. "They will do."