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"That is large. The last one we found was only two or three families, not that they were blood-related but groups that traveled and met up. They certainly weren't as well off as this." Hal realized they were walking into the housing area. Small, some were built on top of others like adobe houses. You could definitely feel the sense of community.

'Hal!"

The android looked over, finding his sweat-shirted friend. "hello Malcom."

"Is Momo all right?!" the child ran up, his own hal trotting behind him. "You left so he's okay, right?!"

He nodded, "He's doing fine. He woke up earlier today and he's asleep again."

The boy grinned. "Can I see him later?"

"Of course. And hello, Cujo."

The maned wolf turned his head away from the offered hand, glancing back before letting himself be pet.

Malcom looked at Tom and smiled. "She's doing good! I was able to hold her this morning and I got to feed her!" the boy was grinning from ear to ear, "She's really cute, and she does this little sneeze and she sounds so tiny! I like her!"

"That's good. I'm glad you're having fun. Is everyone else treating you okay?"

"Yea! We're playing kick ball right now and I'm the best goalie!"

"Oh?" hal said in mock surprise, "The best? Even without a hand?"

Malcom had a prideful look on his face, "I make up for my missing hand with pure talent."

The android laughed, ruffling his hair. "That's the spirit."

"All right. I'll go visit Momo later, okay?" And waved with his missing hand before going back to the goal, the maned hound following and sitting beside the makeshift net.

Hal's cheeks filled with an unknown heat at the mention of lung cleaning, averting his gaze away from Tom before turning around and walking with him back towards the medical building. "He was born with a mutated arm, barely grown in a sense. His father surgically removed it and created him a metal arm."

Screaming, that's all his mind registered, the blond hiding behind a wall and covering his ears. Pain, that was so much pain. Why was he causing her so much pain when she offered?!

Blue eyes blinked, taking a moment to reove the unknown panic from his being. "As for Malcom, he wasn't. From what I understand his parents left him, and a few days later Hal found him. We only discovered them because Hal was running away from, well, unicorns. We found Malcom a few hours later in the midst of a sandstorm. As for cleaning out his lungs."

There was that unknown heat, "For some reason, I am capable of removing radiation from bodies, not all of it, just majority of it, enough to wear it's non-threatening. I breathe in their radiation and exhale oxygen. This can be done many ways but the most efficient way in cleaning out a human is open mouth to mouth contact. it leaves no room for oxygen to slip out and I can inhale more radiation. However my filter will need to be changed. I need to clean Monoki but this current filter is filled I do not want to leak it to my system."

He nodded, "I apologize. It would take some time for me to recreate what is within my chassis let alone find the pieces." He said softly, face warming up once more. "They're programs, I am following my duty given to me by his father." That sounded half-hearted. Did Hal believe himself anymore?

"They were quite vicious. I'm under the impression they're meat eaters, but in a place with no vegetation that is to be expected, adaptation and evolution. They were quite vicious, and they travel in herds. Their meat is edible though. We tested it on the hound."

They stopped in front of the houses, the man looking over it curiousy before walking inside. This was very modern compared to the newly built adobe ones. Perhaps that made it old instead. "And the water and everything still works?"

"How sturdy are they against the sandstorms?" he asked, walking around the rooms. This seemed really big, far too big. Him and Momo could survive with a bedroom, a bathroom, and a living room/kitchen square. Momo and him could survive if you could do all three in one room. This house could fit at least three different families. "How do you filter your water?"

The questions never stopped, Hal finding something to question about nearly everything, and he had to give it to Tom for being so patient. No doubt the man understood the need to be incredibly thorough. They eventually made their way back to the hospital, the android thanking him before going to accompany Momo again, rubbing the cut in his chassis. "Malcom looks fine." he whispered. "He was playing kick ball with a boy who had skin grow over his eye. He can still see light and shadow through it, but nothing else."

Hal nodded. "One had skin over his eye, another had a slightly larger mouth than normal, one had no hair whatsoever." He sat there politely, watching the cogs turn in Momo's head, knowing the fears the man was thinking. The android had been witness to babes being killed, which was why he was ordered to look after Monoki. To prevent him from being killed.

"You want to walk?" he did a quick body scan, or, what he could of a body scan, he wasn't that capable so it was just checking the heat, the pulse, the heartbeat. everything looked fine. "We'll walk carefully. Remember, we don't want anything to re-open." and gave him a stern look, not wanting to mention what was torn out load before stnading and moving the chair aside. "It will hurt, though. Prepare yourself." and held out his hands for the other to grab, going to gently help him stand and walk.

Hal gave a small smile, waiting patiently before grabbing the man's arm by the elbow, helping him up onto his feet and holding him up when he saw the man nearly fall. "You've got this." he whispered, taking a small baby step back. As he expected though, Momo's body was in pain. he saw the heartbeat pick up, saw the flare of heat that was pain, he could feel the man's pulse through the skin.

"It's okay. You're doing fine." But his body couldn't handle the steps, the first few were hard enough. Hal wanted to force him to stop, but the sheer concentration, the sweat covered brow, it made the android re-think his decision. Human strength was quite often underestimated, wasn't it? "The bed, then."

Momo's baby steps soon turned into nothing more than shuffling, painful, slow, shuffling. His legs were starting to go out, blue eyes watching them shake and buckle under the intensity of the pain. Luckily their giant U was finished, Hal moving his friend onto the bed as the pale legs gave out once more. "I think you did quite well. You're very strong. If something in me was malfunctioning I'd stop immediately."