[ PI ] The Inheritors ( Finale ) - Part II : The Remnant

An enormous vault door stood on the opposite side of a small antechamber. But standing between them it and them was an enormous figure, clad in armor. 
 
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 A Great Titan, the largest Jessrak had ever seen. 
 
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 The largest *anyone, anywhere* had ever seen. 
 
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 It's head nearly touched the ceiling, at nearly four meters tall. And it had nearly proportional bulk, blocking the entire entrance. It carried an enormous metal shield in one hand, and had numerous weapons grafted onto the other arm. 
 
 Jessrak and Nelraha were so taken aback that they could n't help but start to backpedal as they reached down for the 809's in their holsters. The moments their hands touched them, the ground shook as the Great Titan slammed its shield down in front of its body with the sound of an iron thunderclap and trained the numerous guns grafted to its arm on both of them. 
 
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 There were several tense seconds of silence as nobody moved. Jessrak was afraid that so much as an errant twitch on his part would be the death of both of them. 
 
 Finally, the skinny robot that had lead them in called out. 
 
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 `` Unit zero-one, please stand down. These are The Successors who have finally arrived.'' 
 
 The numerous eyes on the monolithic Titan's head whirred and refocused as the tiny robot walked into the antechamber, putting itself between them and the hulking giant of steel. 
 
 It refocused its eyes back at Jessrak and Nelraha, then slowly pulled up the enormous metal shield and lowered its weapons. 
 
 Jessrak and Nelraha slowly moved their hands away from the 809's at their hips. Now that he was n't in fear for his life, Jessrak was able to get a better look at the metal behemoth. And then he realized just how beaten and battered it was. 
 
 Parts of it were painted different colors, certain panels of the armor looked assymetrical, and some parts had clearly been patchworked-welded together or fabricated by pieces of different machinery. It's whole body seemed to be some sort of amalgamation of components. 
 
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 And that was when Jessrak realized. 
 
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 This thing was undeniably some model of Great Titan, and yet, unlike any of the others that had ever been encountered in any human ruins, it had n't recognized them for what they were- that is, species *Homo novus*; every functional Great Titan they'd unearthed had some sort of algorithms programmed into it that it quickly recognized their species, either by matching their physiological derivations with whatever memories of the earliest *H. Novus* populations the humans had set their machines to create before they died out, or through remote genetic sampling. 
 
 This one, however had not. In fact, it had aimed its weapon at them. 
 
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 *It had seen them as a threat! * 
 
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 But to what? Had the small robot not spoken when it did, there was no doubt it Jessrak's mind that they would have been blown to pieces in a matter of seconds. 
 
 What was so important in here that even a resident Great Titan's first response would be to fire at them? 
 
 `` The Reclamaition Protocol is now in effect.'' The diminuitive robot said as it stood before the hulking Titan. 
 
 Upon these words, without even a second's pause, the enormous mountain of metal stepped to the side, into an enormous alcove set into the wall of the antechamber. The ground shook benath Jessrak's feet with each step it took. 
 
 It then turned and stood erect, but it kept its head turned and looked down at them, its many eyes continuing to focus and refocus, no doubt tracking their every move and breath. 
 
 The robot that had led them here walked up to the enormous vaulted door on the other side of the room, and stepped up to another keypad set into the nearby wall and once again tapped it several times. 
 
 There was a loud hiss as several plumes of some sort of gas were forcefully expelled from the corners of the door where it met the wall. Jessrak instinctively raised his arm over his face as a jet of air rushed over him. 
 
 `` Just a few seconds.'' The robot said. `` The air system of the interior needs to reconnect to the exterior and pressure must be equalized.'' 
 
 Finally the hissing and rush of air stopped, there was a loud THUD, followed by a dull grinding noise as the door slowly slid towards the side. 
 
 Several seconds later there was another loud THUD as the door finally came to a stop. 
 
 The robot took several steps forward, then stopped and looked back at them. 
 
 `` Please, come inside. We must complete the Reclaimation Protocol.'' 
 
 Jessrak and Nelraha cautiously stepped into the room. The robot was already walking towards the opposite wall, towards where an enormous bank of electronics, monitors and keyboards was sitting. 
 
 Jessrak looked around. The interior of the room looked entirely different from the hallways outside. The walls were an off-yellow color. There was a large metal desk pressed against a wall. But when Jessrak looked the other way, he paused. 
 
 There was a small bookshelf, a worn-looking chair, and a small bed. 
 
 Jessrak took several slow steps took get a better look. 
 
 The bed was tiny. Not even the diminutive robot that had led them in here would have fit in it. And everything in the room- save for the computer banks- was covered with a visible layer of dust. None of it had been used in a while. 
 
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 So this had, at one point, been a human living space. But why- how- had it been so carefully preserved? And why had the robot brought them here? 
 
 `` Captain Niss'ara, Nevin Kolinov of the Volga Valley Reporter.'' A voice sounded from the computer banks. 
 
 Jessrak and Nelraha both turned their heads toward wall of computers at the sound of *Gagarin-I*'s broadcast, where the voice had come from. The robot was typing away at one of the many keyboards. 
 
 Against the wall next to wall of machines, there was a series of four large ovoid artifacts of some kind; apparently a combination of metal, plastic and wiring. What their function was, Jessrak could only guess. As he looked, Jessrack noticed numerous lights flickering on and off on the one closest to the bank of monitors. 
 
 For a moment he thought he heard a faint rustling from it, but could n't be sure. 
 
 `` So, once you've completed your final orbit around the Motherworld, how will the landing go? Can you give us some details on how re-entry works?'' 
 
 Jessrak turned back at the machine as it continued to intercept the radio broadcast of the *Gagarin-I*. At that moment he realized that this must be the source of the radio interference. It must have picked up the radio signal from the makeshift rig their technician had set up to get reception out here, which, in turn, must have caused it to activate the facility and open the doors. 
 
 `` Excuse me.'' Jessrak turned towards the robot, who continued to type away at the keyboard. It did n't even look over to him as he spoke. `` Is there any way you can turn off the radio transmissions this device is sending out?'' The sooner they could shut off that interference and Volanov outside could finally reach the rest of the team and get them over to the entrance of the ruin, the better. 
 
 `` I apologize, but I am unable to comply at this time. The Reclaimation Protocol is in effect and must be completed. All other priorities are secondary.'' The robot replied. 
 
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 `` What is the Reclamaition Protocol?'' Nelraha finally asked.
