The war between the swamps had lasted for ages, but the war wasn’t in Tiolli’s swamp, so xie mostly ignored it. Xie thought the war was pretty stupid. So did most people, but they liked to watch the robots fight.
Swamp robots were an interesting breed. Tiolli started as a robot xirself, but had most of xir parts replaced with biologic ones by the time xie was two. It was strange how that privilege lifted the Ecos into a higher class. It started decades ago, when a damaged bot used a tree branch to replace a broken limb. Trees provided prevalent and practical replacement part for early eco-friendly consumers. “Go Green!” they cried.
Their search for a better tree source had led them to a bluish planet, formerly occupied by humans. Soon to be occupied solely by Ecos. Tiolli blended well with the natives at first. Xie’d been adopted into a human home, but one day, xir mother caught xir trying to lengthen xir arm. (Eco bodies didn’t grow once the parts were severed from their biological sources.) So Tiolli quickly disassembled xir human parents, upgraded xir parts, and sold the rest.
Not to swamp-bots, though. They were violent and lacked intelligence. Xie knew the latter was true, because if they had a shred of intelligence, they’d integrate gator parts into their systems. Tiolli had a little gator in xir feet, but stopped the transition because it made shoes uncomfortable. Xie didn’t live among the Earth natives anymore, because as much as xie tried to look like them, xie didn’t fit in.
The dead, wooden door to xir mud hut opened, and xir acquaintance Grassly slammed the door closed behind, laughing and panting. Grassly had xir father’s face… literally. Tiolli was strangely relieved that a part of her father was still alive, but xie hadn’t seen Grassly in months.
“What’s going on out there?” Tiolli asked. “I do not want those bots leveling my house. It took a long time to coax these pieces together.”
“You could just move to the city and live in a proper house,” Grassly suggested.
“I don’t like their shoes,” Tiolli complained, holding up xir gator-foot. “Besides. They all stare at me. They think I look weird.”
“What do you mean? Two arms. Two legs. Sallow look of death on your face. How much more human could you get?” Grassly joked. “It is a pain, not being able to tell them what we really are.”
“I have too much pride to revert,” Tiolli said.
“You don’t have to do it all at once,” Grassly said. “Take it slow. Grab a damaged bot. Pick a limb. You could be the first mecha-gator!”
“You just want to see me fight,” Tiolli teased, swiping Grassly with xir claws. Xie jumped in surprise when Grassly’s leg fell off! “What happened to you! That was a perfectly good leg!”
“It was at first,” Grassly said. “There’s something else living in it now. We’re supposed to be the ones occupying the planet, but lately, do you get the sense that the planet is occupying us? Not in a big way. In little things.”
“Of course there are little things occupying us. I warned you when I installed your stomach. The green digestive track is its own little eco system. That’s what going green means! It’s filled with—”
“Bacteria, I know. It’s hungry all the time. I just thought… I’d get to eat it.”
Tiolli slapped xir face with xir palm, appalled. Xie needed to build new friends.
~FIN~
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