[AlexFili]

Nathaniel ran down the corridors as fast as his metallic legs could take him. He ran past the lunch hall, the warehouses, the vykker labs...His eyes were darting down every corridor, looking around for something familiar.

He stopped at a nearby map station. He touches the map activator with his hand. A hologram appears showing his current location. He withdrew his hand and kept running.

He saw the sign for Zulag 6 on the wall, he ran faster... his heart pumping in his chest. He came to a Slig voice lock and stopped. He spoke the desired phrase, walking into the room.

The room was a kind of hub, in the middle of the room there was a computer-like database which showed all the Sligs on patrol. As the Sligs' names scrolled past, he spotted a familiar one. "Sanrak! So he is alive!", he then looked towards the computer. "Slig Sanrak Details". The computer responded and showed the patrol area where Sanrak was. Nathaniel jogged to where Sanrak was posted.

Sanrak was busy keeping a lookout. He was just checking his gun once more, when he spotted a figure on the horizon. He squinted and then jumped in surprise. "What the?", Nathaniel was running towards him now. Sanrak waved to him. Within a few seconds Nathaniel and Sanrak stood face to face. Nathaniel was panting. Sanrak smiled, "Good to know yer still alive kid". Nathaniel hung his head, "I thought you were dead for sure, I can't believe I never bothered to check up on you". Sanrak put his hand on Nathaniel's shoulder. "It's alright kid, most of us didn't make it through the operations", "Operations?".

Sanrak was telling Nathaniel about what happened next. "Well, I passed out. I then woke up in the Vykker's Labs. They asked me if I wanted to live, I said yes. They asked me if I wanted to try out a new type of replacement limb, I said yes. They told me... we had a 50% chance of survival. Still better then barely clinging to life without one limb, so I accepted the surgery".

Sanrak held out his right arm. From his shoulder to his elbow, it was natural Slig flesh. But below his elbow was one of the strangest things Nathaniel had ever seen. It was like a robotic arm, in a similar shape to a Slig arm. The arm was a transparent plastic substance, the metal could be seen on the inside, shaped in a similar way to Slig bones. There were wires on the inside, connecting all of the nerve endings and electrical power. The metal fingers looked particularly fortified. "It's pretty reliable, stronger than flesh, though I have to get it checked every few months or so, just to make sure it's alright".

Nathaniel was quite shocked by this whole conversation. "So it works just like a normal arm?", "Yeah, although the first month was a real pain in the arse. I'm telling you, that thing DID NOT want to move, no matter how hard I whacked it!". Nathaniel laughed. "Nice to see you're still around, you saved my life". Sanrak smiled, "You saved mine too pal, I would have given up if I hadn't seen your face. I was glad that you were able to escape and lead a normal life".

Sanrak and Nathaniel gave each other a smile, and shook hands. "I'll leave you to your post, I'll see you around maybe", Nathaniel turned around and started walking. "I'll come and check up on you sometime". Sanrak waved and turned back to his post.

Nathaniel was full of vitality and happiness. He let out one tear of joy.
He headed back to the barracks to tell Westy and Brak the good news.