Day 1,552

The women phoning you was not human, that much was obvious. In the pauses between her breathing all you could hear was the steadily increasing whirr-clunk that the bounty droids made when they were stalking their targets and by the sounds of it, she was close to hers.

Now the question remained - who was she stalking?

If it was you then you were as good as dead. She had a clear cell line to trace you back to and was keeping you distracted with inane technical questions that truly put your customer service skills to the test. The second you answered one question she threw several more at you and expected your responses to be prompt.

So if she wasn't after you then she was using your call to enhance her human disguise. You might be the only person close enough to her to hear her hunting program booting up as she locked onto her target and that somehow terrified you more than if you were her intended prey.

The thought that some poor unsuspecting bastard was within her eyesight, judging by the rapidly increasing whirr-clunk at least, and wasn't running meant that they were utterly clueless. They had no idea what was coming for them, the deceptively human body that dislocated at every joint to reveal a heavily armoured carapace-like creation whose main function was to use its own body as a prison.

You tensed up in your chair as her program reached its peak, the whirr-clunk shutting off abruptly as her soft footsteps carried on, likely inches behind the unaware target. She thanked you for your time and hung up while you were mid-answer.

Her manners disarmed you more than the soft swishing metallic skin splitting that came from behind you.