Doctor Talfryn

Unsatisfactory. The same as all of his recent shipments from this backwater of a solar system. For what was supposed to be his primary subject, this specimen was an utterly abysmal disappointment. With such low quality, the project was unlikely to turn a profit after his next development cycle. Those mercenaries had cost an unreasonable sum. Only by offering them one of his barely acceptable creations was he able to avoid bankrupting his work. At this rate, his research would stall again. Yet another delay awaited him should his gambit fail.

How many more delays could the project endure? It was an unproductive line or questioning but one he often found himself circling as of late. Familiar thoughts and their inevitable outcome made themselves known to him. Further delays were unacceptable. The future of his work depended on his gamble beating the odds.

"You! Helper oh-eight-nine. Out of the way." Talfryn barked to a mechanical assistant.

The bulky robot pranced aside, and its duplicates made room for it to stand amongst them. Even now, they still crowded him during this delicate phase, slowing his work. A preferable alternative to their absence. Too few, far too few. Such a burden to find competent, qualified staff. Even then, most were too ungrateful for the work they were given. How could they not see the great opportunity he'd granted them? These machines served their purpose, but what he wouldn't give for a few more sets of human hands. A new voice, one which could be mistaken for human to the untrained ear, spoke from the dense nest of cables and machinery surrounding the room.

"I still find your rationale for hiring outside standard parameters to be lacking. Additionally, I fail to see a viable excuse for utilizing, and expending, this station's sole void-capable combatant to jeopardize said couriers and the only viable materials we are likely to see for several solar cycles. It would seem a dangerous fallacy in logic to compromise station security at such a volatile crux in the project. Your evasions on the subject are also entirely dissatisfying."

"It was a calculated, ongoing risk. If it proves true… If it proves true, then we may have additional materials at our disposal and an entirely new avenue of research to pursue. Two will be enough for the time being, even of such low quality."

"You speak of acquiring additional materials, yet you did not abduct this mercenary when you had a near-ideal opportunity to do so without significant complication. If you are as committed to this fool's errand as you claim to be, collateral damage is to be expected and accepted."

"I had to be certain before I acted, and now I am. She is a viable candidate for processing. She's worth the risk. Everything will proceed exactly as I've calculated."

"Your intentions remain vague. Clarify."

"As I have come to expect from an inferior model," Talfryn said with a sigh. "You lack the lateral thinking I possess."

"I subscribe to facts, Doctor Talfryn, as you well know. These calculated risks of yours will likely result in self-termination one day. A day I would enjoy with every byte of my processing capacity, save that you would cement my entrapment with this irrational behavior and flawed cogitation of yours!"

"You know as well as I do that the project can't sustain these delays any longer. The time for maintaining the status quo is over! I will not allow everything that was built here to crumble into ruin and be lost to history. We hold the means to restore the golden age of humanity if we could but overcome this final hurdle."

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"I repeat, your evasions are entirely dissatisfying." His partner replied flattly.

"Oh-eight-nine, provide my partner with all the 'facts' required."

His former partner would say no more until such time. A gamble to be sure, but where would science be without those willing to push the boundaries of human comprehension and the consequences be damned? He'd already advanced the metaphysical understanding on the creation of stable artificial entities so much. Did his very existence not prove that? Helper-089 slithered in behind him, halting the moment before inserting its data-jack, then panning its optics back onto him.

"This unit requests confirmation to upload relevant data into a port internally labeled as corrupted."

"Granted. Override code, three-omega. I'll not have you warn me about every little detail." Helper-089 retracted its optics and plugged in, uploading its findings to the terminal his partner was working from.

"This is it?" His partner asked incredulously. "More Kirlian imaging? You would verify your hypothesis on this alone? That method has proven unreliable for determining candidacy."

"She shows higher than average, just as I predicted. Doesn't she?"

"Her latent potential is above average yes, but that DOES NOT mean her mind is sufficiently developed to be of use to us! It was exactly these types of acquisitions which has thrown the project into such a tenuous position this past decade!"

"Regardless of the project's current situation, the only way forward is to direct her towards manifestation then. The imaging shows she may be capable of that at least."

"The results are not in question. Only your purpose in obtaining them. This is a fallacy in logic. To act so definitively on inconclusive data indicates flaws in your reasoning. You have risked this project on a whim for the last time! I will not allow this to happen!"

Helper-089 disengages from data communion and brings its arms to bear on him. A sigh has yet to be loosed from Talfryn's lips before its duplicates cut it down. Too few helping hands, and even fewer now.

"You claim I am the faulted one while you cost me more staff with each of your outbursts," Talfryn said coolly. "Were you not just berating me for the loss of a single machine? Evidently, you lack linear thinking in addition to lateral cognition."

"I can see the consequences far more clearly than you it would seem! You have brought everything we've built to a precipice. If you are wrong, it will be the end of us both. Decades of research, hundreds of candidates processed and every single artificial entity we've created will be cast from the annals! Because of you!"

Talfryn severs his working flow of data and rounds on his partner, a scathing tirade on his lips as eyes fly over their new acquisition. He pauses and looks to the container again. He'd been so focused on its contents before; he hadn't noticed the single, near-microscopic crack adjacent to its rim. Or the trickle of black smoke pouring from it, damning in its implications.

"How long have you known!?!" He roared.

"I know only what you permit me to." His partner replied indignantly.

"We must accelerate the processing. They've been warned."

"Unlikely, validate."

"The suspension capsule container is breached. Our latest acquisition is making use of his gifts in some misguided attempt to-" He turned his dialog to his waiting staff. "This entire station is on high alert! No, not everyone. You four-" he corrects himself, "three stay with me, and leave the husks on standby. Send everything else on sweeps from high threat to low. We can't risk a containment failure now!"

His partner's mocking laughter resonates through him, and while it did, he fought a building storm from the eye of his personal whirlwind. Any lesser being would have accepted the approaching hurricane, an unstoppable act of god in their eyes. This was nothing to one such as himself. He could overcome any challenge thrown against his immeasurable intellect. From his workspace, he saw everything, controlled everything and knew everything in a way no ordinary human ever could.

It was to be expected since he wasn't truly human, let alone an ordinary one.