The two went back up the stairs and right over to the supply rooms. Cassandra was not one to normally venture into such places, having favoured leaving the automations in charge of such duties, but it wasn't like she had anything better to do. The faster they finished the cleaning job, the faster they would be able to relax. And if it meant that they in the meanwhile wouldn't be burdened with the knowledge of the public hating them, it would be a success in its entirety.
Success. Even the word made her mood lift up the slightest bit, the meaning behind those syllables making her mouth quiver. Ah… success. The final step in it all and also the most important. The idea, the concept, the fixture of the world that was success was almighty in the woman’s mind. Oh, how she loved it. She loved that she had the chance to experience it, that she would be experiencing it soon with her cards played right, and that she would have known it would happen.
Her mind was in jitters as she opened up the mental list of the supply room, the location automatically sending information the moment she got close to it. Everything was meant to be efficient, after all, and making the brain implant interact with the room around oneself was only customary as a step. The technology was relatively new, but, damn, did she love having the power it supplied.
Her smile nearly reached her lips as she looked over the different available items. A few were noted down as needed, their locations springing up in her vision instantly. It seemed that the room had been expecting her to grab them herself. A very peculiar idea from the system, since she was clearly not that pack-donkey in the room.
"Time for you to shine," Cassandra said with a tilt of her head. The words were towards the automation by her side. Not that she even looked at the thing, the only real interaction besides verbal being that she sent the list of needed items over to it. There wasn't a need for anything more, after all.
Everything was great. Sure, there had been a few hiccups in the shape of new information, but it wasn't like that truly changed the situation. It would have all influenced the outcome whether she liked it or not. In truth, she should just have been happy knowing it. And that mentality certainly helped keep her mood up.
Thoughts filled up the woman about how to exploit it all. How could she use it against her co-workers, her superiors, and even the thieves themselves? How could she abuse the information meant for her? Truly an inquiry for the wisest, and more than just truly a question that the woman kept in her mind. It was exciting. It was a promising success. And, most importantly, it was a sign of a time to-
"Why did you not choose the standard equipment for boarding up windows?" the automation that didn't need to have spoken at that moment asked the woman who did not want to hear a single word of that thing's mouth. A mood cleared, a moment of happiness vanished into the air, and a single cent of her feeling nice utterly gone. Her eyes felt like daggers, and her tongue was already sharpening for a similar cutting. "Your list of required items does not comply with protocol in any conceivable way. Explain this inconsistency."
Cassandra wouldn't have needed to do that with Jules. And maybe that was why Jules had been chosen for her instead of that piece of scrap that stood before her. There was no way she was going to enjoy the next few hours of her life no matter what. Silence had been a fake gift. One that had been taken away the moment her eyes unfocused.
"The list that is standard is not something that I have any desire to work with," Cass said professionally, slipping on a fake smile and just as fake, bright eyes. She hoped the thing would get the idea from that alone so she wouldn't have to spell it out.
"The standard list is, according to the government, the most efficient plan in terms of budget, time-consumption, and discreteness. It is heavily encouraged that we switch to," the automation said in quick order, clearly not having understood the message. Cassandra considered an attempt at making it learn this lesson through the usage of pure force directed at the head. Maybe there was even a bat in here? It wasn't like Grunwald ever showed signs of actually using the construct himself, so he clearly wouldn't mind if it would be sent out of commission for a few hours.
… No, she couldn't do that. The woman had made the agreement long ago to refrain from beating up her co-workers, no matter how much she felt they deserved. And even if the co-workers were no longer human, the woman was very sure that they could still prove to be an extreme scandal and just as an extreme lawsuit in her face. Even the family company wouldn't be able to support her having to pay the replacement fees of one of those constructs.
The replacement for a decent piece of metal looked over at her, with Cassandra actually staring back for once. The woman felt it was at least decent to make it seem like she felt as if the automation was actually important enough to be listened to. Was the desire for constantly giving out very passive-aggressive suggestions meant to work or was it more a sad consequence of random personalities? Thinking back to how the general human thought of passive-aggressive people, Cassandra could only hope it was the latter.
"The choices for picking the most efficient set of tools is widely subjective, to the point where I don’t feel as if you should even see it as remotely close to what we actually need," Cassandra stated, feeling like her words were a fitting category of cutting. Maybe she needed to cut it back a small bit, though. "While the general categories are perhaps true, we are heavily favouring the category of time-consumption. We need to do this as fast as possible, no matter what it will cost us. And since the public already knows exactly what has happened, there is no real reason to make it that discrete. The only real limit on that side is that we don’t make it sound as if small bombs are being blown up every five seconds."
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
Every ten seconds, however, was perfectly fine in the name of the law. How Cassandra loved knowing that detail, having used it once before during another clean-up. It hadn't been as big and wide-scaled as the one she currently oversaw, but it was categorized as a larger accident, to the point where a larger number of steel pipes had been quite literally mushed into solid concrete. Getting those out had been quite the loud ordeal, as those things had been very adamant about staying in place.
"I see," the construct said, looking as blank-faced as any other operating system that she had worked before. However, these systems did not normally have a face, making it quite peculiar that the automation that had one was just about as expressive as those who lacked the ability. "Your word will be trusted in this scenario."
Her words should have already been trusted since she was quite literally the one in the position of overseeing the whole bloody thing. That was her current job description. The workers did not question those above, lest they would be shown how much anarchy could truly provide for them. Mindless beings worked best when without questions in their heads, and the construct clearly needed that battered into its skull.
The thought of that violent action did bring Cassandra some small amount of joy, to the point where she didn't really notice the automation going ahead and bringing out the various supplies. When she finally did take a look, however, it became more and more obvious that it was going to be hard to fit it into the vehicle.
Maybe if they put down the seats behind them? Not like they were going to use them, and it would make some of the extendable parts easier to manage. At the current point, it was only the weight that was truly a hard point to accept. There was some bodily swinging as the automation brought out the heavier objects, making the woman wonder if it would truly be able to carry it all.
"What is your maximum carrying capacity?" Cassandra inquired. She wondered about just sending the question over to Jules, but felt it was best to try making some kind of connection with the other construct at least. Making it offended with her side-lining wouldn't help, at the very least.
"The maximum carrying capacity is heavily dependent on the objects being carried. This is most notable in the factors of balancing, weight distribution, scale, density, and various other spectrums," the automation answered blankly, likely just reading off a script rather than actually expanding the minimal amount of time making something original for once. It's not like she could even use that answer for anything.
"Then… in the perfect conditions, what would the maximum capacity be?" Cassandra asked, sure that there had to have been some calculations done. Such a useless number in any normal situation had to have been made to the business side to gasp at. Or maybe even the public in a few years when the automations became more mainstream.
The automation looked directly at the woman before uttering some truly infuriating words.
"Such information is classified and is not to be spoken of to somebody at your clearance. I must warn you that repeated attempts at inquiring about this information may leave you susceptible to an investigation on your background," the automation replied before going back to bringing back the final few items. Meanwhile, Cassandra did the only smart thing possible in the current scenario and imagined the construct being beheaded repeatedly.
Violence might not have been the true answer but it was certainly an answer. And certainly, one that Cassandra imagined using again and again, no matter how much she wouldn't dream of actually doing it. So… it was totally fine, right? As long as she didn't do it but only imagined it, then nothing would come from it.
That might not have been as true in the time of brain-implants constantly reading the mind, but who could truly say? Certainly not Cassandra, the woman having much better things to do. Things like checking through the automations work, making sure that everything was there, and then standing by while being amused at the thing trying to fit through doorways while holding all the items. She was pretty sure the construct even made a small dent on the floor when it stood on its toes. Truly, the power of applied pressure was something that needed to be feared.
Though, fear was not exactly what was felt when the two got everything into the vehicle. Everything fit in snugly, so it wasn't like anger was the top emotion either. It was closer to… a general sense of irritation. Yeah, that felt better. The woman was happy that the automation had simply shut up for whatever reason, but she felt unhappy about it, knowing fully that there were so many things she wanted to comment on. That blank expression might not have shown much, but Cassandra’s pure imagination was more than capable of filling in the blanks. And those blanks showed off what she truly knew was there.
‘Is it possible to adjust an automation’s personality?’ Cassandra sent to Jules, knowing that it was only that particular construct she even had a chance at getting a straight answer from.
‘Is that a threat or do you want to reprogram somebody else?’ Jules sent back quickly, though not as quickly as it normally did. The woman noted that down, having a general idea of why that might have been.
‘I don’t believe the reason behind my question should influence the answer. Can I reprogram an automation’s personality?’ Cassandra sent right back, repeating herself for an increased effect.
‘I will take that as a threat then. No, I do not believe that you could reprogram one of our personalities. And, I also don’t like the change from adjusting it to quite literally reprogramming it. You could have just tried to hide your intentions a bit there.’
Bringing out the car keys, the two entered the car themselves. Cassandra put in the key and off they were within the second, the woman having the acceleration down to the instant. Though, there wasn't any real desire for that, seeing as she wasn't the one meant to be driving. However, certain automation had instantly headed towards the passenger seat, and the woman would have lost face if she had called it back. Hence her own hands being on the steering wheel.
‘I feel that your answer was fully based on your ideas about my uses for the technology suggested,’ Cassandra sent, not liking the insubordination but also not hating it enough to actually be angry. Maybe she was getting resistance to it?
‘Oh, gee golly! I must not have sent my message of not wanting to lose my beautiful mind that well. If there’s a way to do it, dear, you are most definitely not getting it!’
Cassandra had to sigh. Even with the annoying words used, the woman felt a lacking desire to actually comment on it. It also wasn't like she had planned to use the technology on Jules. Too much would be lost from that.