by Briana Ervin
Cyrii paused in her search for my scanner button. “Ambushes?” she echoed, intrigued. “The Enemy, this close to the city? But a Code Yellow...”
It's unlikely, I agreed. A Code Yellow alert just meant we suspected an attack, but there was no confirmation, so the chances of there actually being trouble were slim.
“Dismissed! Go run around like idiots scanning things; and for Gryn's sake, Joleus, you only have to scan something once for what you need!” He added that last part to our 60 Assassin model, who stopped bouncing in place and lowered his head in submission, still too excited. We then dispersed into the badlands, quiet as most of the intrigued chatter was only between mech and pilot.
I made use of the cooperation training by letting Cyrii lead me wherever with the control panel while I ran a quick diagnostic check to find my internal scanner. I knew I was equipped with one, though it had been locked along with my weapons; it was free now that my offensive capabilities were.
Cyrii first led me over to an outcropping of lithium, asking me, “Can you scan it or do I have to?” I took a moment to search further, then found the function and tried to execute it. A red grid projection spontaneously appeared from under my head and fell over the object; I could use it myself!
“Whew, thank Gryn for that,” Cyrii said in relief, “I'm getting sick of doing everything for you!”
Me too, I agreed, before looking over the data I received and subsequently sent to her on my screens. Hm... no, I dismissed, the metal is too soft.
“How do you know what you're looking for?”
I'm not sure... it just doesn't feel right.
“Huh,” she hummed, looking around on the ground for me. “Well...how about this?” She guided my eye down to a yellow rock. I scanned it as well.
Yellow gypsum, an evaporate. It's even softer.
“Hard rocks, hard rocks...” Cyrii muttered, forcing me upright and running us across the badlands. I kept an internal check on all of my peers who were still in sight, making sure we didn't stray too far. After a couple of minutes she stopped at a patch of something shiny and pebbly sitting at the base of a hill. “What about this? Shiny grey rock.”
After she looked me down I gave the rock a quick scan. It returned as an oxide mineral, hematite, and dissecting the chemical composition revealed it as a prominent source of iron.
Match! I said.
“Ooo!” She crouched me down over the iron and I opened up a panel underneath my head, where two small robotic arms came out and extracted the mineral. We learned how to use this “retrieval panel” in one of our cooperation exercises; it was one of the few things I could use myself. The primitive clamp-tipped arms were sandwiched between the inner and outer hulls, so I couldn't interact with Cyrii with them, but their storage space did have multiple grinders and chutes connected to it which were disabled at the time. Now though, I could promptly pick up the hematite and place it one of the grinders, where it was crushed to a fine powder. I brought the arms back in and closed up the panel since they were too fragile to be kept outside where they could be damaged.
“I guess that goes to your fabricators?” Cyrii guessed.
I think so? I said hesitantly, That's what our 20 model instructor said.
“So find more shiny grey rocks!” she concluded. She wasn't exactly a geologist, even though she was seeing the same data I was.
I think I need a lot more iron, I confirmed. I don't know what I'm trying to do... make something?
“Oh, make a missile! The general said you made ammunition this way!” she said eagerly.
I'm going to need a lot more than iron for that, I hummed. Like um...
“Black powder?”
I don't know why but that sounds good!
“Well, let's find some then!” she said avidly. I used my retrieval panel to “consume” a couple more chunks of hematite before she drove me around the hill, searching for more discolored outcrops of stone.
We spent the next couple of hours searching for minerals and “consuming” them. Cyrii was just excited about the prospect of doing this, excited over the idea that she could “finally shoot something for once, because this took way too darn long!”. I was simply happy that she was happy. It meant our productivity levels would increase, which makes for good reports! Gryn knows just how much Cyrii needed some positive marks on her file.
Eventually, by our sixth rock or so, the little tick in my head that kept telling me to “eat” stopped, and my arms felt significantly heavier. I took that as a cue that the quota of minerals had been met, and I allowed Cyrii to steer me back to the General where we were meant to regroup, eager to try out my new abilities.
There was just one problem: we had strayed too far.
“Did we pass that boulder already?” I felt her poke a spot on the screen.
Yes, I said, not confident at all.
“How about that one? I don't remember that one.”
I... don't know...
“Ugh,” she groaned, “at this rate we're going to miss blowing things up!”
I didn't answer, taking some of the blame for myself. I wasn't equipped with tracking technology at all, and I knew it. I was built for the front lines, expected to have nothing to worry about other than foes throwing themselves at me. Being lost was the least of my manufacturer's concerns. Unfortunately, it also meant we were really lost.
“Okay, there's a shrub. I don't remember that shrub. So let's go back,” Cyrii said.
Cyrii, we've passed that shrub before, I argued.
“How?”
Look, it has lithium particles around it. You tried to make me eat it, remember?
“They all had lithium around them!” she snapped, losing her patience.
Look, I'll see if we can send out a distress signal- I began, but she cut me off:
“No! That would be humiliating. We're finding our way back.”
'Humiliating'? I echoed, not fully understanding. But if we're tardy...
“I don't care. I'm not getting another slip,” Cyrii said defiantly, pushing me past another set of boulders that were also eerily familiar.
I doubt the General would punish you with another fine for being lost in unknown territory.
“It's not unknown, it's OUR territory! The whole dang planet is!! We shouldn't even be lost in the first place!” she said angrily. “The last thing I need – or what you want, for that matter!! – is to give the General an excuse to eject me from service! I'm not going back to shoveling coal! Now, see, this looks familiar.” As if to prove it, she pushed me into a run. I wasn't paying attention to my physical processes though.
Shoveling coal?
“Geez, what sort of preliminary database did they give you? I'm a coal worker, genius. I tell a robot to shovel coal and sort it. I'm twenty q from a thirty-four hundred degree fire every day. Imagine what that does to me!” Cyrii was growing increasingly bitter at her memories. I simply hushed, not wanting to provoke anger from her, and contemplated what she said. I never imagined that my own consciousness used to do hard labor... I didn't know what to expect from her at all. I just assumed she was groomed to serve the Empire, like I was.
“...Well?” she spat unexpectedly.
What? I said.
“Aren't you going to say something? Like, oh I don't know, 'coal workers are honorable people because they run the city'?”
That is true- I tried to say.
“I don't care!” Cyrii roared over me. “ I just! I can't believe this!”
Are you okay?
“No!! I thought.... I thought you and I......... Never mind......”
My fatigue from running my engine hot for so long suddenly felt heavier and more oppressive. Is it the mind-mapping thing? I asked quietly. You keep mentioning it...
“Just forget it, all right?”
I lapsed into a sullen silence, thinking. Cyrii must have too, for she made me nearly trip several times. I could tell she was brimming with emotion, but I couldn't make sense of it. All
I knew is she kept being frustrated with me, for a reason I couldn't pinpoint... it always came back to something about “mind-mapping”, which was yet another thing never fully explained to me, and every time I asked her to clarify she just muttered something about how I'm technically fine because I was what the Empire wanted... what the heck did that mean? She doesn't seem to want to tell me any more than she wants to tell me what she's coding, like she's afraid I'll put it in my report and something bad will happen, and I can't promise her that I'll lie again... What could she possibly be doing that would inflict punishment? Why didn't I understand her enough to be able to figure it out, compensate, and make us more efficient? It's like my thoughts kept slamming into brick walls!
At this rate, one of us was going to trip up during a serious battle, and we were both going to be killed... either that, or we'll be caught early for incompatibility, and I'll be scrapped or redeemed... I didn't want some recycling engineer pulling my brain out any more than Cyrii wanted me to see her code...
Two more hours of fruitless effort were terminated as our 20 model returned from his diagnostics, just on the right trajectory to find me running around like a moron. We both regrouped in time to find the training had ended and that our largest sun was setting.
I was disappointed. Cyrii was sour and spiteful. We both said nothing as we returned with the group to the military complex to shut down for the night.
----------
My fatigue had begun to wear off yesterday while in the hangar, preparing to shut down, but mentally I was no less stressed. Cyrii had prolonged her time in my head by frantically typing away on my keys, making me more and more concerned, especially when the General shouted at her to get out of my head already. She was sulky and depressed, and being obedient didn't help her at all. I still felt responsible for whatever she was upset about, but at the same time I wasn't too concerned, considering this wasn't the first time this had happened. Still, I was glad for the shutdown. A comfortable moment of peace......
..........
...
.
I woke up to the bright white letters of the terminal flashing in my mind, confirming the successful boot-up sequence. I automatically opened my eye and roused myself. Good, I was a decent temperature! I felt fine and the extra weight of my arms gave me a boost of confidence.
I should be more cheerful today to see if I can shake my operator of her apathy! I thought, Let's start optimizing our efficiency!
I patiently waited for all of my senses to awaken, and once they did I felt the presence of a Creator Entity in my head. I was about to give a happy greeting; then I noticed how dark it was outside.
Black. The barracks were pitch black, even with the glow of my eye to help see. All of the hangar lights were orange, and it was dead silent aside from the hum of my own machinery.
Huh?... What time is it?? I thought in confusion. I checked my internal clock, and found that it was five hours behind. I was woken up early! What for? This obviously wasn't a scheduled start-up, or the lights of our Row would at least be on! Even stranger, I knew someone was with me, but it was dead silent, my microphones picking up only typing on my keys.
I sat there uncomfortably, waiting for some indicator that this was normal. An early awakening for an early exercise? A mandatory diagnostic I missed? Wouldn't there at least be some other entities around in either situation?
I couldn't stand this bizarre silence. Cyrii? I asked.
There was a hesitance, then something shifted in my head. “Oh, you're awake now? I powered you up twenty minutes ago. No wonder you have an early wake-up...”
It was definitely her voice. I breathed a mental sigh of relief.
What's going on? Why is it so early?
“Don't worry, I'm fixing you.”
Huh? I echoed, 'Fixing'?
“Yeah!” Excitement laced her tone. “Remember all of that coding I've been doing?”
My anxiety spiked. What was she alluding to? You mean what earned you the first couple of slips? I said, referring to all of the fines she received for not paying attention to our training.
“Yeah yeah yeah,” she said dismissively. “Anyway, I'm going to use it now. I'm going to make you more efficient.”
'Efficient'? But the default is – WHOA WHOA WHOA!! I tensed up – figuratively jumping – as she popped open a console and started executing admin commands. You can't just do that! If even a few bytes are out of place-!
“Don't worry, they'll never know,” Cyrii assured; she only instilled dread in me. “I know what I'm doing, trust me. Coding is all I do with my time off, and you don't run very well for a soldier, so I'll just pop in, poke a few things here and there, and pop back out!”
That is illegal, I said flatly, even as she stuck something physically into my brain. Hey, did you expose my-?! Whoa, wait a minute, those are NOT a few things!
“A few kerobytes of data? Hey, it's still a few, right?” Cyrii excused. “Relax, or you're going to wake up Mr. Babysitter up top.”
The corrections officer! All she did was give me the idea. At the moment, I was more interested in waking up the officers, with the risk being scrapped and having Cyrii discharged, than let her meddle with my brain! This was the equivalent of an unlicensed surgeon trying to remove a tumor from your head!
Cyrii, this is wrong, I tried to argue.
“Stop worrying so much, it's not like I'm messing with the manifesto,” she scoffed.
That's just it! My databases won't be refreshed! But if someone finds out-!
“No one is going to find out!”
That's the idea that makes FIVE PEOPLE find out! I snapped, jerking suddenly on my own volition. Cyrii yelped and there was an inner thud. She must not have been properly seated.
“What the heck?!”
I cannot allow you to do this, I said angrily.
“Why not? Wouldn't you rather-?”
No. Hacking AI is illegal!
“What do you care?! You're my mech!” Cyrii burst out. She ran back and began typing again into the console.
Stop.
“No, you're my mech. You have to do what I – Aaagh!” She yelped as I jerked again, sending her into the inner wall.
STOP.
She shot back up in defiance. “This is for your own good, 767!”
Get your paws off my keyboard, you spoiled brat!! I hissed, suddenly turning venomous. She growled, typing with a speed I didn't know she had! I tried another twitch, but she must have lashed herself in properly this time. On the other hand, disobeying my consciousness, who normally overruled me, gave me new vigor. I brought up the internal file for a distress signal, giving it the highest priority I could. Cyrii caught my intentions immediately.
“Don't you dare!” she threatened, “you'll have BOTH of us killed!”
Hacking is illegal! I spat, Protocol #7!
“Protocols can go ROT!” She terminated the thread I had started. I just began a new one. The hangar prevented me from moving, but there was no way I was going to let this happen to me!
“I'm in your head! You can't just go around me!”
This is my body! I can eject you if I please! Just to prove it, I prepared the escape sequence, but the dastardly Xinschi-uual terminated that thread too! Just to annoy me, she password-locked it and encrypted the key just as fast! Matching her speed, I decrypted the password and hacked my own barrier. She terminated the thread again, at its source.
CYRII!
“Stop fighting me! I'm not hurting you!”
I have to! I said desperately, this can't happen!
“That's just your prog – Oof!” She was cut off as I jerked forward, slamming her into my controls. I consequently fell forward a bit out of the hangar, saved from falling only thanks to the robotic arms. She slammed her paw on a lever and pulled me straight back, still trying to type at the same time. I willfully looked back at the perch, but she squeezed her eyes shut so my blast shield closed.
Stop it! I cried at her, le
t me go! Don't do this to me!
“You're making this harder!” she shouted back. She fudged up a console command, unable to see the keys properly.
The given percentages are invalid! Cannot compute! I spat. CYRRIIII!
“Just let me finish this filepath!”
NO!!
I thrashed in my hangar like a wild animal, trying to trip her up or exhaust her to the point of failure! Words were disintegrating into hisses and sobbing. I wanted to obey! I couldn't obey! I can't obey one without disobeying the other! I can't escape! Just let me go!!
Suddenly there was a spark in my mind, and a flurry of information dropped onto me like a ton of bricks!
Whoa whoa WHOA WHOA WHOOOAA-!!
I locked up.
My speaker went dead. The visual refresh rate dropped like a rock. I froze, before going limp in my hangar. Everything cut off from my main computer, almost as if I was being forced into unconsciousness. I couldn't move, I couldn't see, I couldn't hear or talk; I couldn't do anything! I could only think. I could also feel data pouring in: a forced download!
That sneaky little-! I went into a panic, trying to stop the download, but it was about as effective as a swimmer fighting against a gushing hose! I... I can't-!... I'm locked out!........ No! Don't let this happen! Don't do it! Don't give in! This is against....! It....! It...! Why...!
Wha-............
Whoooooooaaaaaaa...
My internal screaming ceased.
There was a long pause. I... couldn't think anymore. There was an entire chunk of time in my head that was just... empty. I was there though, I was definitely there, but I had no clue what was going on. I just sat there, staring into the long, dark quiet.
Then I remembered what light was. Light? Yes, I could see a little bit of that. Seeing I could do.
Then I could hear. I remember what sound waves are. I could detect those.
