59_The letter

Snif, snif snif snif!

"Grrr"

Scratch scratch scratch!

"We got a live one over here! To me, to meee!" The rescue team leader shouted, waving high with one hand to attract the attention of the others.

"Good job Sparky, good dragon, good, good." The bot cooed to the tiny baby dragonling. His familiar resisted the pulls of his harness and continued to frantically dig through the package of cheese toward the trapped people below.

"Shovels alone won't cut it! We've got a particularly heavy patch of parmesan packages here. Bring the heavy equipment!" The leader of the rescue team commanded, seeing that even the sharp claws of the rescue hatchling were having trouble digging through the dairy obstruction.

...

"What on Earth..." Herman muttered as he saw the commotion ahead. An amalgamation of robots frantically dug through a mountain of packages where the post office was supposed to be. The bots struggled to lift some of the heavier packages, but nevertheless continued to frantically work on the rescue operations.

"How long until they had their last recharge?" asked one of the doctors.

"We aren't sure. After the Qbita accident, no one was able to fully recharge their batteries in a while. We could have minutes or hours, but we just don't know." replied one of the diggers.

"Dammit, we can't just let them die over there." the doctor snapped, clenching his fist and hitting the back door of his ambulance in anger, the metal door bending under his strike.

"Actually, why don't you just let them die so they can respawn? All this is stupid. You are stupid." said a nosy, whining voice.

Both the injured digger and medical bot winced at the rude and very insensitive remark.

"Who the hell are you?!" the digger asked the stranger.

"Hey, no need to be rude here. I'm Patrick. I just came to send a letter, but saw all you 'toasters' running around in panic." the human retorted with his usual grace.

"Well, Patrick." the doctor started, his voice putting special emphasis on the human's name.

"How would you feel if you were trapped down there and you had to starve to death? You would respawn after all, no biggie." the doctor retorted, really resisting the urge to slap the rude human.

"Eh, a little hunger never really hurt anyone. It builds character." the redheaded human dismissively said, turning around and heading back, presumably to the hole he crawled out of in the first place.

"God-damned humans! I thought all of them were killed or moved out of the city by now..." the now patched-up digger growled, then ran back up the mountain to continue the rescue operations.

___

Poke, poke poke.

Poke poke poke !

"Hey, stop that! We're trying to sleep down here!" Slippy grouchily complained about the plastic tube poking him in the face.

"Anyone alive down there?" the tube spoke back, the voice distant and weirdly distorted.

"Of course we are alive, what do you take us for? Go away now!" The slip shot back, annoyed that his sleep mode had been disrupted.

"H..help, b..batteries, we need p..power..." Staple wheezed, waking up just in time to witness the baby AI hustling away their rescuers.

Z..zzzap!

Staple winced with pain as one of the thousands of mana-absorbing mushrooms drained yet another percentage of her rapidly diminishing power supply. She had initially ordered the culinary delicacy over a year ago, but only now had the delivery made it. Just in time to escalate and amplify the agonizing and painful death of every other mechanoid trapped in this claustrophobic hell.

"Oh yeah, ZAP, we wouldn't mind a few energy bars while you are at it. ZAP! Ouch!"

"First we have to clear the space around you, please hold on." The tube voice said.

"H..hurry..." Staple managed to mutter just before she went into emergency stasis mode.

"Ah gosh darn it, I really did it this time..." The slip lamented as he watched Staple pass out.

"That pressure at the back of my head is also back... Yes, yes, CPU, I know I fucked up, no need to send more guilt my way..."

The CPU listened to the pleas of its master for a nanosecond or two, then sent even more guilt surges down the line.

"Gah!" Slippy cried out in internal pain.

"Fine, fine! I will try to do SOMETHING."

"Irgh, urgh!" He fidgeted, trying to move even a centimeter in the enclosed space, but it was no use. He was just as firmly stuck as everyone else in this postal tomb.

Sqwee, squeee...

"What do you mean they are afraid of the dark?! They are dragons for fuck's sake!"

"We can't drop a flashlight after them, they are blocking the tube!"

"Goddammit, we can't lose the hatchlings too. There will be hell to pay from the dragon clan if they get hurt." The muffled tube voices said.

That is when Slippy's energy-deprived CPU came up with the brilliant idea to use his newfound powers. It wasn't much, but at least he would die trying...

With his last remaining ampere of power, he activated his illusion magic, generating a tiny illusionary flame at the base of the tube.

Regaining their courage, the two rescue hatchlings slithered down towards the light.

Boop, boop.

Two soft snouts booped against Slippy's face, thankful to the baby AI for banishing the scary darkness.

"Oh, hehe, thanks guys, cough cough..." The slip responded, then fell into a coughing fit, the flame flickering as his power supply went dangerously low.

"Go do your job, little guys, we don't have much time left..." Slippy wheezed with pain, his digital hand and legs disappearing, his digital screen powering down too, as the AI desperately tried to preserve every ampere of power.

The two hatchlings looked at each other, then at the treasure trove of delicious mana-absorption shrooms. With cute, tiny snarls, each of them shot at the mushrooms, gobbling them up while squeezing between the packages, slowly but surely removing the dangerous treats.

As long as the light was on, they would eat to their tiny hearts' desire.

___

"Can't you send batteries down the tubes?" Topo asked the rescue team leader.

"That isn't the problem. We can send all the batteries we want, but there is no way for them to use them. They are packed tight, and the dragons report they can't reach everyone's charging ports. I'm afraid we will have to dig them out the old-fashioned way," the chief rescuer said.

Topo looked at the handful of people around them. Most of them were random passersby eager to help, but the mountain of packages was as tall as a three-story building, and the robots weren't that many. They needed more people!

"Herman, can you do anything?" Topo asked.

"Well..." Herman hesitated, stroking his beard in thought.

"My powers aren't exactly known for their subtlety... I'm sure I can blast all this away, but it will kill the ones trapped inside, plus everyone in a five-block radius as well..." Herman mused.

"I have already called my guardsmen to come and help. It will take time, though. Every minute we delay is another minute the trapped are suffering," Topo said.

"I have already summoned the army to help, but it will take time for them to arrive. They are spread out all over the city," Mopo said.

There really was no bigger torture for the man-made machines than slowly starving out of electricity. A safety measure their human masters had embedded in them long ago, intended to ensure their eternal compliance, and one that even after centuries of attempts still proved impossible to remove, even in the digital world.

Seeing that they had no other choice, Herman and the surrounding mechanoids began to manually dig through the food packages. They hurried as much as possible, but even the painful, agonizing groans coming from the plastic pipe could not make the rescuers move any faster than they already were.

"Oh, you are still here? I thought I would stop by again and see if I can send my letter off now." The familiar voice of Patrick sounded centimeters away from the rescue leader's ear.

"Gah!" The bot flinched back in surprise.

"You and your damn letter! Don't you see we are trying to save people here! Come back tomorrow!" The leader outright shouted in the human's face, grasping his shirt in both arms and lifting him in the air, unable to constrain himself any longer at the arrogant bastard.

"Oh no no, I can't do tomorrow. I have been sending my pen pal a letter at the end of every week for over 15 years. I can't break my streak now!" Patrick explained, completely oblivious that he was moments away from being killed by the furious bot.

"Hey guys, stop standing around and start digging, we have people to save." Patrick commanded, his usual whining voice subdued, replaced by a much more commanding and authoritative one.

The army of humans who until now looked at the curly, red-haired man with bafflement, took that moment to snap out of their stupor and rush forward.

There were hundreds, no, thousands of elderly humans, each one moving forward with a smile, as if seeing the sun for the first time in years.

Aside from Patrick, who still dangled in the air, held by the now stunned rescue leader, the humans were led by six mechanoid sisters, each leading a specific group of elderly humans and directing them to ascend the package mountain from different angles.

Multiple human chains were quickly formed starting from the top of the mountain and leading away from it. Packages shifted hand to hand, quickly being transported from the top to the bottom, the humans working as one, eager to be useful and help their mechanoid comrades.

"Y...you... huma... Patrick, thank you Patrick." The rescue leader fumbled in awe, gently putting Patrick down and bowing his head in apology.

"Come on then, chop-chop, stop bowing and get back to work, I have to send this letter by six o'clock or my streak will be broken!" Patrick said, his characteristic annoying voice back in full force. Next, he grabbed a package and handed it off down the chain of people.

The rescue boss just shook his head in amusement and addressed his stunned robotic subordinates.

"Didn't you hear the man? Come on, everyone, we have a job to do!" He barked, steering the mechanoids to start working alongside the elderly humans.

___

"Are you sure you are ok? Do you want me to get you more batteries, maybe different flavors? If you don't like any of these, I can hook you up to the ambulance accumulator directly." Topo said. Staple sat slumped down on the ambulance's back while her concerned husband fussed around her like an overly protective mother hen.

"Topo y-y-yyou care bear, you are too caring for your own good. I w-w-will be f-fine in a minute." Staple said, her body twitching with pain and her voice stammering with digital distortions.

Completely ignoring what she said, Topo proceeded to wrap his wife in yet another thermal blanket. He then shouted for one of his guardsmen to bring strawberry-flavored batteries on the double.

"H-how is Slippy?" Staple said between the painful twitches.

"Slippy?" Topo questioned.

"I doubt he even noticed anything was happening. He has been sleeping in Herman's pocket for the better part of the day. Something about catching a cold or something."

"N-no, he was with me, I have to help..." Staple stammered, trying to rush back towards the postage apocalypse, but her feet betrayed her and she collapsed on the ground.

"Staple!" Topo screamed, rushing to aid his unconscious wife.

___

"That is almost everyone, we detect just one more signature," said one of the elder humans. A retired engineer who looked so old and frail that he resembled more a skeleton than anything alive. Yet the older man moved with a surprising spring in his step, holding the portable scanner and hopping from spot to spot, triangulating the signal.

"Down here, according to the scanner it is an AI hatchling."

Herman and his task force were closest to the spot and they didn't hesitate to start digging. Man and machine worked in unison, brought together by a common goal, saving a baby AI from an agonizing death.

AIs were even more susceptible than mechanoids to the effects of energy starvation. Plus, every second for them could mean minutes or even hours in some extreme cases. Due to their unique nature and immense mental powers, the AIs' physical bodies required constant sustenance.

Both humans and robots knew this, so they worked as fast as possible, not wanting to let the young one suffer any longer than necessary.

"Here, over here! I found them." The engineer shouted, pushing a particularly bulky package of ration bars away to reveal their target.

There, between a package of ham and cheese, in an improvised miniaturized nest lay two baby rescue dragons, each one curled around the other, in the middle of which lay an equally cute and sleeping digital slip.

"Hmm... he doesn't seem to need energy. His batteries are 140% full, overcharged even," the elderly engineer said.

"Awww...." Both humans and mechanoids awed at the cute trio of babies, peacefully sleeping, curled together.

At the sight of the trio, Herman's eyes bulged.

"SLIPPY!"

"Wah, what, what's going on? I am awake, I am awake!" The slip said, instantly standing up on his tiny stickman legs in a half-crouch, looking around in a daze.

"Oh hi Herman, I reeeeallly thought this was it and I would die in agony buried by food packages. Thankfully my friends here carried emergency batteries in their pouches," Slippy said, patting the metal harnesses around the hatchlings' backs between their tiny wings.

"They had to... manually... recharge me, and trust me Herman, I fully regret making those jokes about the probing back then... Experiencing that joke myself isn't something I want to repeat ever again." The slip shivered.

"You, YOUUUU!"

"You are in big trouble, young man!"