The door bent downward, little by little, forming an opening in the container.

I surprised myself by letting out a high electronic whoop. SkD spun excited circles around my ankles.

When the gap was wide enough, Emma poked her head out of the mangled doorway. Wind whipped her hair in every direction. She looked down, her eyes wide. I analyzed her facial patterns. Her expression was a strange mixture of relief and fear.

Relief because: She was no longer trapped inside the container.

Fear because: The container was far above the ground. And rising higher every millisecond.

“Emma!” Ceeron called out. “Climb onto me!”

She looked uncertain. “But how will we get down?”

“Do not worry! I will keep you safe.”

Emma’s gaze moved from Ceeron to the ground far below. “But who will keep you safe?”

I could barely hear their voices. They were drifting higher, farther away. The sound of the crane was louder than Ceeron’s voice. My audio ports were only able to detect two words.

“Trust me.”

Emma nodded once. Then she climbed out the opening, sliding onto the surface of bent metal.

Alarms blared through my mind. Every time I muted one, two more sounded.

Ceeron reached up with its free hand, grabbing hold of Emma, carefully pulling her from the container.

The large robot clutched the small human against its chest.

Then it let go of the container.

And the two of them began to fall.

00110100

My visual settings switched to slow-motion. Staring upward, I had plenty of time to watch the disaster unfold.

And no way to stop it.

Ceeron tumbled.

Down/Down/Down.

Emma was clutched between its arm and its chest.

As Ceeron fell, its entire body seemed to fold around Emma, surrounding the human with a protective layer, shielding her.

I knew what was going to happen.

The collision was coming.

00110101

Thunder.

That is what it sounded like when Ceeron hit the ground. Thunder during a heavy storm.

Metal boomed against concrete.

The ground trembled.

The vibration rattled my entire system.

As the thunderous crash faded away, my audio settings filtered out all the other noises. The clanging/chugging/rumbling of a bustling train depot. I listened only to Ceeron.

The robot remained perfectly still where it had collided with the ground. Its knees and arms were folded around Emma. It did not move. Did not speak. Neither did Emma.

The only sound was silence.

00110110

“Ceeron! Emma! Are you okay?”

For 1.2 seconds, there was no reply. Then I heard a soft human voice, muffled by metal.

“I’m all right,” Emma said. I could see part of her face peering out of the gap between Ceeron’s arm and midsection. “Just a little banged up. That’s all.”

SkD squealed as its screen flashed.

“You saved me, Ceeron!” Emma said. “You were amazing! You were—”

Her voice faltered. Her hands tightened over the big robot’s arm.

“Ceeron?”

The question went unanswered.