The faint hum of servos and the quiet clink of metal echoed through the workshop as Drobot crouched over the delicate assembly spread before him. His robotic eye lenses flickered with precise calculation, adjusting micro-components with exacting care. The world outside could have been collapsing, and it might not have registered—his attention was absolute, locked on the intricate dance of gears and circuits beneath his armored fingers.

Only when a soft, unexpected sound reached him did his head slowly tilt, lenses narrowing in measured curiosity. For a moment, the calculated calm of his mechanical mind flickered, registering an intrusion—a variable in his otherwise perfectly balanced equation.

“What is it?” he asked, voice low and modulated, as if waking from a deep algorithmic trance.