TWELVE YEARS EARLIER-

For his tenth birthday, Battery made a trip to his favourite spot in the Psychobox: the eastern wall. Formed from perfectly smooth, flawless rock, only slighted by the chipping, digging and graffiti from decades of curious robots, the wall rose five hundred kilometres to the ceiling, and five hundred kilometres from the northern to southern walls. Nobody built anything against the wall. Bad luck. In the absence of robot civilisation, the space by the wall was taken up by gentle grey fields, peppered with purple flowers that gave a subtle psychic boost if ate. The light of the ceiling, dimming for the night, cast dark shadows off the colourless grass. Battery lay there, watching the wall; a monolith of so many stories and songs. Was there anything beyond it? What even was it? Why were they here? Nobody had answers. Battery liked that. It meant no one was really superior to anyone else, even if they acted like it. All robots were just as clueless as each other. A bunch of idiots trying to work things out. It was great. Battery let himself drift in his thoughts. A small group of monks prayed to the wall on a nearby hill. Some teenagers wrote their names on it. The wall didn’t care. Eventually, the ceiling finished dimming, and Battery fell asleep. That was fine. It wasn’t like he had anywhere to go anyway.

Battery was awoken some hours later by a soft crumbling noise coming from the wall. Likely some idiot trying to dig his way out. For as long as robots had existed, they had been trying to break out of the box. There wasn’t any point. The city was fine, comfortable, even. Who would ever want to bet that comfort away? Battery, finding himself curious against his better judgement, went to investigate. He skidded down the small hill he had laid on and trotted over to the sheer, intimidating rock wall. Near where the teenagers had been doodling earlier, there was a crack. It was around Battery’s height and seemed to extend a far ways into the wall. Battery looked left and right, searching for whoever did this. No one was around. No sound but the win, at least until Battery heard the crumbling again. It was coming from inside the crack, and it was louder than before. He pressed his ear to the wall and listened intently. There it was again. Louder. And again. Louder. And again. Louder. Suddenly, the crack opened up like a mouth turned sideways, and a robot Battery’s age walked out. Battery staggered back, flabbergasted. Behind the robot, the crack sealed back up again as fast as it had opened. It was like it had never been there in the first place. The robot looked confused. He was skinny, with odd proportions and a large head. His eyes were small and piercing. Battery tripped and fell, his gaze never leaving the newcomer.

‘Are you alright?’ asked the robot.

‘Did you just… come from the wall?’ Battery said, his mouth agape.

The robot twisted around and looked at the wall, then turned back to Battery. ‘I suppose I did.’

‘Wha… how… who are you?’ Battery stammered.

The robot took a while to answer. ‘I don’t know,’ he replied.

Battery climbed to his feet. ‘Did you come from in the wall, or like beyond it?’

The robot cocked his head. ‘Meaning?’

‘Do you know what’s behind that wall?’ Battery gestured to the stone surface.

‘…Yes?’

Battery blinked, taking a moment to remember how to formulate words. ‘So?’

‘So?’ the robot repeated.

‘What’s out there?’ Battery found himself caring less about his previous philosophy surrounding ignorance.

‘Stuff?’ said the robot.

‘And?’

‘More… stuff?’

Battery threw his arms in the air. ‘Come on! You’ve gotta give me something more! How’d you do that thing with the rock?’

‘The thing with the rock?’

‘The thing with the rock! You know, with the crack!’

‘… I don’t know.’

Battery slowly lowered his arms. ‘What’s your name?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘Mine’s Battery.’

‘Oh, okay.’

‘Wanna get a recharge?’

The robot paused. ‘Okay.’

Battery gestured for the robot to follow him, then turned and began to trek back to the city.

‘You lettin’ kids in here now, Ohm?’ said the tall robot at the bar.

‘Hey, Battery always pays his tab,’ a young and dashing Ohm replied. ‘Who’s the new kid?’ he asked Battery.

‘Dunno,’ Battery said as he sipped on his kiddie-sized wires, ‘He doesn’t know either.’

‘Sounds like his memory coils are fried,’ said Ohm. ‘Hey nameless kid, you want something?’

‘… No thanks. I’m not old enough,’ the robot replied.

Ohm eyeballed him with suspicion. ‘You a cop?’

‘A what?’

Ohm turned to Battery, shaking his head. ‘Hate to break it to you, but your new friend’s an idiot.’

Battery ignored him and turned to the robot. ‘So do you remember anything at all?’

The robot looked strained. ‘I think… I came from somewhere.’

‘On the other side of the wall?’ Battery asked, his excitement palpable.

The robot nodded.

Ohm butted in. ‘Wait, you serious? The other side of the wall?’

‘I think so.’

Ohm raised his arms in mock surrender and began to walk backwards towards the staff room door. ‘This is too weird. I’m out.’

Once Ohm had left the room, Battery stood up, a giant grin on his face.

‘Let’s go back to the wall!’ he said, ‘But first, we gotta stop off and get some things.’

The pickaxe had been tough to carry. The robot kid seemed to have had no problem with his, but Battery had found it much easier just to drag the thing most of the way back.

‘We’re gonna find out what’s out there!’ Battery said as they lugged their equipment across the grey plains. He wasn’t quite sure whether he was saying it to the robot or to himself. The ceiling was beginning to brighten again. They had spent quite a lot of time searching for a general supplies store open so late. As soon as they got within a hundred metres of the wall, Battery raised his pickaxe in the air and sprinted, smiling like he had just won the lottery. With an overhead swing and the momentum of his run, Battery chipped a chunk out of the wall. He went in for another swing, managing to break another, smaller piece off.

‘Come on, help!’ he cried.

The robot grimaced and started half-heartedly digging alongside Battery.

‘We’re… gonna… have to… make up… a name… for you!’ Battery said in between swings.

The robot nodded. He was beginning to get focused on his work.

Battery thought for a few minutes as he dug, then remembered what Ohm had said earlier. He stopped digging. ‘How about Memory Coil?’ he asked.

The robot stopped digging too. ‘It feels… too long.’

‘Just Coil then?’

The robot nodded.

‘Coil it is!’ Battery said as he returned to digging.

Coil smiled and did the same.