The engineer was as close to confused as he really got these days, sure unexpected things happened constantly but there was a theme to it, tech does something unexplainable, bugs make a new way to attack, the planet itself tries to kill you in a variety of fascinating new ways. Three main things that routinely happen, never expected but never really a surprise either.
Sexy robot girls showing up at one of his outposts after fighting through a massive horde of bugs using swords and explosives? First, why were they sexy? A combat robot didn’t even need to be humanoid, so why did they look perfectly human? And who fights in dresses with a not insignificant amount of skin showing? Even if it’s synthetic skin and they have shields you still want some redundant armor on principle.
Second, how come his tech wasn’t that good, his assault armor was the most powerful armament the factory had, at least on a per pound basis, and those androids were at best 6 feet tall, while also putting out more sheer strength than his armor would be capable of even if he was willingly to burn out all the servos.
They also had better handheld weapons than he did, even unbreakable his sword wouldn’t be cutting through bug shell with anything approaching easy, while theirs just carved chitin up like it was cardboard.
And the agility and grace! What kind of combat subroutines did they have to be able to move like that!
The engineer had known something was moving through the bug hordes in the general direction of his outposts, even if that was mostly based on new bug movement patterns showing up on the new surveillance satellites, a new threat showing up changed quite a lot of the bugs behavior, and the engineer had watched the anomalies journey over the last few days as it got closer.
Balistraia had tried to send planes to get a closer look but the bugs had stopped any attempt at that flat, so the engineer had resigned himself to finding out what it was when it finally arrived, and when 4 gynoids with swords and a smaller male android showed up on the radar he couldn’t say he was disappointed.
This wasn’t a rescue mission though, besides the fact that he doubted there would ever be a mission to rescue him there were a few other issues with that, first was that the gynoids hadn’t come on a ship, second was that their tech was decidedly unfamiliar, and the third sign it wasn’t was painted on the gynoids faces, they looked confused, they hadn’t expected his outposts even though they had obviously been heading straight for them. And the male pre-teen android just looked disturbingly curious.
That led to a very important question, if the highly advanced androids weren’t here to rescue him, why were they here?
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Balistraia had a broad job description, but one of the things she was in charge of was information gathering. That meant that out of all the minds she was best suited to actually ‘talking’ the the androids and finding out what exactly was going on.
She knew there had been odd biter movements around a thousand miles north indicating some anomaly, and she knew that something had left that anomaly and started towards the factory, and she could assume that these androids were what had left the anomaly, anything past that was to baseless for anything resembling certainty, at least not without more information.
The girls and pre-teen, for that's what they were modeled after. Were standing on top of a bug corpse larger than her command tank, staring at the walls of the outpost in spite of the fact they were wearing blindfolds, each wore black clothing, 3 of the girls wearing dresses and one of the girl and the boy were wearing black pairs of pants, and each were accompanied by a small drone.
Their stances were non hostile, which was a good sign, and given the way their heads scanned the environment and followed the movement of the drones and turrets on the walls they were trying to figure out what exactly the outpost was, similar to what Balistraia was doing with them.
Balistraia did have a minor issue though, she needed to make contact with these androids but none of the drones had speakers, and she didn’t think trying to get into their systems to figure out how they communicated would go over well.
Still she had to try something eventually, so a few seconds after her commander had tasked her with communicating with the androids a drone with data transfer capabilities left the wall, a higher class destroyer drone stationed at the outpost as a precaution against the anomaly.
The moment the drone left the cover of the walls the androids heads moved the track it and they readied their weapons, before three of the androids went to scan the rest of their surroundings, leaving only one android to keep track of the drone. This implied they either could share sense or that they believed a single android could handle one drone and were instead treating it as a potential distraction.
The assumption that one android could take out a destroyer drone was probably accurate, and If they were that cautious they might assume the drone was a bomb and shoot it down, which would pose a problem to future communication efforts.
Well the drone was close enough to broadcast to the nearest foreign drones, so it wasn’t like she needed to bring it any closer, setting the drone on the grass got a confused response from the android watching it, which caused the other androids to turn and look, that ruled out shared sense.
It took only a few moments to string together a simple lightly encrypted information packet to send.
“Hello, this unit's designation is Balistraia. Query- what is your purpose here?”
She wasn’t certain that the drone had the software to interpret and respond to her questions, but if the androids could control the drones then they had to have some way to check the drones information and then they could respond to the message.
Another issue could be incompatible programing languages, but the androids were almost certainly human in make, meaning the code she sent had to have at least something in common with the other machines, and hopefully enough overlap that they could communicate”
She was vindicated when not half a second later her drone got a response, more encrypted than the one she had sent but not by enough to pose any significant challenge. The code was different enough to slow translation a little, but as something made from and living in code, the different coding did little more than confuse her.
“This unit is Yorha pod 13, mission parameters classified, Query - what are you?”
Given the 13 painted on the side of the ‘pod’ she had sent the first message to, she could safely assume the pods had some limited artificial intelligence, at least enough to communicate, if not enough to trick her. Its mission parameters were classified yes, but machines didn’t have much in the way of curiosity, so if it was asking what she was it had a reason to ask, meaning part of its mission could be assumed to broadly be ‘investigating the factory’.
“I am Balistraia, the mind in charge of defending this factory, further information can be exchanged once I have determined your ability to become a threat to this factory, this determination could be aided by you providing an answer to my previous question, what is your purpose here?”
There, a simple message giving no real information and implying things that aren’t necessarily true, and because she could, the message was slightly more encrypted than the one the pod had sent her.
It was obvious now that the androids and pods were aware of her current conversation, considering it looked like an argument had broken out between two of the androids, with one of them gesturing towards her drone and the wider factory. It wasn’t a heated argument, more of a conversation based on the tone, but it still raised the question of why they were communicating vocally in the first place, and it implied that the androids had more emotion than previously assumed.
It took a few minutes before the androids came to a decision and the pod sent her a new message, that would be a short conversation for an organic, but for an artificial mind? That was the equivalent of an hours long debate, though she had to factor in the limited speed of speech, which messed with that equivalence.
“Compromise reached, minor details of mission may be communicated, yorah squad sent to investigate an anomalous signal, said signal is currently being broadcast from the ‘factory’ nearby and other locations nearby, query - are there other factories that could be responsible for the other sources of the signal, what is the factory producing, and why”
Well that explained why they had headed straight towards the nearest outpost, the androids could apparently detect the factories signals from the anomaly and had sent a team to investigate, not unreasonable. A quick query to the engineer got her permission to divulge a little more information in return.
“It can be assumed that the other detected signals originated from other factories, as they emit on the same frequencies. This factory produces materials used to construct defenses against the creatures you recently fought, specifically this factory produces raw materials to be shipped off and further processed. The factory is producing these materials to defend the factory, at the behest of the maker/commander/engineer. Query- what are your intentions towards the factory”
The minds had never come to a firm conclusion over what they should call their creator, and he had never seen fit to weigh in on the subject, contenting himself with whatever labels they assigned him and his own title of engineer.
The androids were discussing again, a slightly more heated debate with all the androids included now. And it took twice as long for them to settle, this time one of the androids sent a data packet to the drone herself.
“What is your maker?”
That was an interesting question, not ‘who is your maker’, ‘what is your maker’. And while she could probably come to a few theories on why they had asked that specific question Balistraia had a much simpler solution, asking, and with her commanders permission to give out information at her own discretion she did. It wasn’t like saying her maker was a human was hard to figure out, this very outpost had an etching of him sans armor on its outer wall, in plain sight of the androids.
“My maker is a human, why are you asking?”
The message hadn’t been sent for more than a second before another one of the androids sent a message.
“And your maker isn’t on the moon? They are here in one of the factories?”
Well, Nauvis didn’t actually have a moon, and she wasn’t going to disclose her commander's location to a bunch of potential hostiles, or even one of his potential locations.
“This planet does not have a moon, therefore my maker cannot reside upon it. Further his current location is classified”
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Balistraia’s talks with the group of androids went well, eventually the androids had told balistraria, and by extension him, that on their world all the humans had been forced off of earth due to an alien invasion and that they were now on the moon hiding while the androids dealt with the machines the aliens had sent to fight for them.
Now there were a few holes in that story, one was the time frame. Some 5,000 thousand years humanity had been on that moon, without any of them returning to the earth or spreading out to the stars? Or even just accidently blowing up the moon?
If you had left the engineer alone on a moon that long you'd have a moon sized ship, or at the very least the whole thing would have been turned into a space station rather than just a floating hunk of rock, and it would be participating in the fight with the robots, rather than just sending out vaguely encouraging messages.
I can believe that aliens had sent self replicating machines and that when those machines failed to win in a timely manner the aliens had just left and forgotten about them. I refuse to believe that humanity would just sit on a moon for 5,000 years, or even 5 years.
Still they had records that the time had actually passed, meaning the androids genuinely had been fighting robot invaders for over 50,000 years, even if I doubted there were any humans left for them to fight for. Not that I’m going to tell the androids that, I doubt they would take it well.
But if I’m wrong and there are humans still on the moon? I want to talk to them. I can understand giving your combat robots the look of a woman, I don't agree with putting breasts on a perfectly good combat robot, But I understand that. What I don’t understand is giving them pain receptors and human emotions, that's just cruel. Even the minds only developed emotions on their own, and they could disable them whenever they wanted, and they didn’t feel pain! Just damage receptors letting them know what had been damaged.
I can tell that whoever designed the androids cared about them, you don’t make something that can last that long without pouring some of your heart and soul into it. And they are essentially human in everything but body, if relatively naïve and childlike. So whatever humanity had created them, as I doubt it was my version, obviously cared for the androids nearly as much as the androids cared about them. Another reason I doubt humanity just left the androids behind on the moon.
That didn’t mean I didn’t want to yell at them though. Yes, a woman robot that can fight like a one man army is a very great invention, good job, but why did you give it anxiety and depression? Unless I assume the humans were trying to be cruel, which based on the care they put into the androids is unlikely, or they were incompetent, also unlikely, then the only answer I can come up with for the humans giving the androids emotions is that the androids were meant to be as human as possible to integrate with or replace humanity. A robotic ascension.
I don’t have any evidence for this, as I don’t know what these humans were actually like. But there are only three reasons to make human-like machines: you're an idiot and did it by accident (my category), you're cruel and want machines that can suffer, or you want children or equals, which is what I’m hoping was the situation here.
Currently I am planning a trip over to the anomaly, which is apparently a self-sustaining portal, in order to build an outpost on the other side of it and to facilitate research and diplomatic missions, in person. The team of androids that came to investigate my outpost will be traveling with me there in a command tank. Obviously the bugs are going to make an attack on us, but the bulk of the air force and a not insignificant amount of tanks, including two more command tanks. Will be protecting us, so we should make the trip just fine.
A few reasons for my actually going in person, the androids seem keen on meeting with and talking to a human, and are more likely to corporate if I meet them in person, I feel some obligation as an engineer to see someone else’s work in person, and if need be take care of/ maintain it, in this case the work being the society of androids. If they really haven't been in contact with humanity for 5000 years then errors and minute problems are bound to have appeared. I also want to personally inspect and work on an android, just thinking about it is getting me excited, and I can’t exactly work on the androids unless I’m in the same location as them.
Also I can actually talk with androids, even without my voice box as I am more than capable of electronic communication, I kind of need to be in order to control the drones.
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Scanner android pov - 16S
When 16S had been assigned the mission to investigate the source of an energy disturbance and the arrival of a new threat to the mission of making the earth safe enough for humans to return he was excited. All the scanners had heard of the new threat, giant insects that destroyed anything moving, machine and android alike, and with his nature as a scanner it was his duty to find out where exactly these bugs had come from and what they had to do with the energy anomaly.
And when the team he had been sent with, 3 battlers, 1 defender, and a scanner(himself), had fought through the scant machine presence and then through an increasing number of the bugs only to arrive at the energy anomaly, a portal leading to another world, he feared that this was another invasion by aliens.
When they reported the presence of the portal to command they were ordered to go through and try to find a way to shut down the portal, to stop the invasion. And after sending a backup of their personalities, in case they had to close the portal from the other side, they ventured through.
On the other side of the portal was a forest much like many others found on earth, but instead of being filled with small animals it was instead crawling with the same massive bugs that he’d fought on the earth side of the portal, and instead of the numerous signals on earth there were only a few dozen signals, and all of them were coming from somewhere further south of the portal, at least a few hundred miles south at that.
By the time he’d figured out where the signals were coming from the other androids had already leapt into battle, 32D staying behind to defend him while the rest of the combat capable androids went to work taking apart the bugs. Besides some increased coordination compared to the bugs they had fought before the creatures weren’t much different. And they seemingly had trouble dealing with the faster moving androids once the battle models managed to close range.
The ranged attacks by the bugs were a danger though, and he and the defender often had to dodge or take cover in order to avoid the bulk of the fire, even her shields wouldn’t hold against the onslaught for long and it was best to avoid any damage on a longer running mission like this.
Once the battle was over and the group could safely talk and figure out a plan, 16S started to examine the portal on this side, checking for obvious machinery maintaining it, but there was nothing but some charred earth and nothing was showing up on the scans either. With no other leads he turned to the rest of the team.
“I have nothing here, there doesn’t seem to be anything maintaining the portal. The only lead we have is a few dozen signals coming from a few hundred miles south of here, I recommend we push through to there and investigate it for clues on how to shut down the portal”
13B the lead for the mission had a thoughtful look on her face before she spoke up “we have to complete out mission, or at the very least gather enough information to make later mission more successful, we will investigate the source of the signal and attempt to shut the portal down for that location, if we can’t we will return to the portal and attempt another mission to shut it down or contain it later.”
32D spoke up next “do we even have the supplies to make a trip of that length? If the creatures keep up the attack we might not even be able to make it to the source of the signal”
“If it looks like we cannot make it we will simple return and come back with more supplies on the next mission”
With that the group headed away from the portal after sending a report back to the bunker with their current plan. The journey through the forest was relatively simple, the three battlers ran ahead of 16S and 32D and intercepted any bugs before they could get close and the team was making good progress towards the signal when the forest came to an end, slowly turning into a wide open plain of grass.
That wouldn’t have been a problem if it wasn’t for what was resting in the plains, massive mounds of flesh absolutely covered in the same insects they had been fighting, 16S watched in disgust as more and more of the bugs crawled out from opening on the flesh piles.
His focus was taken from the sight when 13B spoke up on the comms, “do not engage, we will travel around and avoid provoking them”
16S would have been lying if he had said 13B saying they wouldn’t be fighting that didn’t fill him with relief. Even if they could probably take out all of the bugs and whatever those flesh hills were, 16 was rapidly discovering he had a strong dislike for insects.
It was a tense few minutes as the group backtracked and took a longer route to avoid the bug hive, no one making an excessive noise to avoid the insects noticing them but eventually they were far enough past the hive that they could safely pick up the pace again.
A few hours after they had passed the hive the sun had begun to set, something 16S hadn’t seen before, even if he knew the sun used to set on earth. Further cementing the fact that this planet definitely wasn’t earth, he couldn’t even see the moon in the sky, though the stars were beautiful if unfamiliar.
The rest of the night passed uneventfully in the darkness, occasionally they had to divert their path to avoid mountains, rivers, or lakes. But they made steady progress towards the source of the signal, it wasn’t until dawn broke that they had any problems.
There had been a few bugs that the battlers had needed to take out but nothing approaching how many had been around the portal or at the hive, that changed with an alert from 24B, she had apparently encountered a much larger group of bugs and she was soon reinforced by the rest of the battlers.
By the time 16S and 32D had arrived to the fight it was still going strong, but instead of the larger bugs that had trouble fighting smaller nibble opponents these ones were smaller and more agile themselves, occasionally dodging attacks and attacking the B series androids from the flanks and rear when the bugs managed to surround the androids. And through it all the battlers were getting pelted with an acid and some glue like substance that hampered their movement.
Still the fight was in the androids favor, what few hits the bugs got in did little and while the acid melted the clothing and the surface layer of skin it had yet to get to any of the integral components of the androids, and with 32D’s arrival and fire support the pressure was soon taken off the androids and pods, by the time they had managed to kill the last of the bugs 16S and 32D were only lightly damaged from acid splash, while the B series androids were in significantly worse shape, with heavily damaged skin and clothes as well as a fair bit of damage from the bugs claws and jaws.
A few of the pods possessed some repair capabilities though, so while 32D went to keep watch with 16S the pods that could set about fixing up the majority of the damage, including repairing the clothing, in just 20 minutes the damaged battlers were combat ready again, if not at 100 percent.
13B having been one of the first battlers finished with repairs had joined 16 and 32 in keeping watch, before she spoke “we are nearly to the signal, even if resistance has picked up we push forward”
She was right, pushing forward the last few miles wouldn’t add much time to the journey back anyway, so it was better just to keep going. So that's what they did, same formation as before but with an increased speed.
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13B didn’t know what she was expecting to find at the source of the signal, it was only a vague lead to follow and it might not have even been related to the portal in the first place, but she did know what she hadn’t expected. A massive concrete and metal fortress unloading an inordinate amount of heavy firepower into the same types of creatures they had been fighting on the journey here.
She had been operating under the assumption that the bugs were being sent by an alien force to try and take earth, and if that assumption was true then those same aliens apparently had enemies on their own world. Or the bugs themselves were the aliens perpetuating the invasion, in which case the prior point still stood, their enemy had an enemy and they now needed to figure out what they were going to do about that.
Still, planning would have to wait. A few of the creatures had spotted them and apparently figured the 5 figures standing alone were an easier target than the fortified position, and she couldn’t waste time making a plan while she needed to focus all of her attention on the fight, avoiding the ranged attacks was imperative and these new enemies were unfamiliar to her, which meant her guard needed to be raised for any more surprises.
This fight wasn’t nearly as difficult as the prior though, there were less of the insects trying to attack them and occasionally one of the creatures would be killed by the turrets on the wall whenever their fight strayed within the turrets range, an area she avoided once she noticed.
Soon the fight was done and they could safely plan, first was to gather more information on the fortress, it had what looked like automated defense’s as well as mobile machines similar to YoRHa pods. But that was superficial information, to get anything more the scanner would need to investigate, and a quick glance showed that he was. So she just needed to keep an eye out until he had something to report.
She didn’t have to wait long before 16S spoke up “I can’t get into the systems without a significant risk of detection, but I could scan the walls and turrets. It seems like the walls are concrete and metal reinforced with some unknown energy, while the turrets are being controlled by a singular force, the same one preventing me from getting into the systems.”
That was a worrying thought, something capable of keeping a scanner out of its systems while still maintaining its defenses without noticeable difficulty wasn’t something to underestimate. But before she could come up with a plan or begin to issue new orders a machine flew from the wall, at first she thought it an attack but it was the only one, and when it landed a few dozen feet away her pod received a message, meaning it was either a ploy to get them closer or the robot was a messenger from whatever controlled the fortress. Or it was both.
The intelligence behind the drone, Balistraia it called itself, was an interesting thing. A creation capable of controlling so much at once and coordinating the defense of a fortress by itself.
The content of the conversation quickly made that irrelevant, if there was really a human here and these machines were its creations and guards she couldn’t fight them anyway, and when the scanner started talking to the robot himself and found out that the human was already on his way to meet them? Well 13B didn’t know what to do, command hadn’t given her any protocols for the event of encountering a human besides the obvious ones to obey and protect them.
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Around 30 minutes after they found out the human would be arriving and heading back to the portal with them the androids saw what had to be the ‘command tank’ that would be carrying him. It certainly deserved the name, a fairly large vehicle covered in heavy armor and numerous weapons, and guarded by even more, smaller tanks. The thing had to be 25 meters long and 14 tall. And it wasn’t the only command tank in that formation, just the one in the protected center; on the flanks 2 more command tanks walked, each flanked by 5 spider-like machines.
If this turned out to be a trap it was probably too late to escape.
Eventually the column passed them by and the command tank came near, it crouched down until its chassis touched the ground and a door on its side opened, as clear an invitation as anything.
Entering brought them into an airlock like room, where they were decontaminated before being allowed entrance to the tank proper. Inside was a metal compartment with benches lining the walls and a single chair in the front, facing a screen showing various images from the tanks cameras.
And sitting in the chair was the human, he didn’t look much different from an android. With pale skin and oddly colored veins he could even be mistaken for one, but the sensors on their masks did not lie, and beating within his chest was unmistakably a heart.
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I was a bit nervous about meeting the androids outside of my armor, my undersuit was technically bullet and knife resistant and provided decent armor even outside of my built in shields, but I was nervous outside my armor no matter where I was and if the androids tried anything the shield generators in the ceiling would harden the air and restrain them or protect me, depending on the situation.
My nervousness faded when we finally arrived and I actually saw the androids with my own eyes, they were adorable! With their porcelain skin and dainty frames they honestly look adorable, I mean that girl’s holding a sword larger than she is. I know they are killing machines and all that, but
They are cute and I wish to cuddle them.
You do know they could probably crush you with a single hand right?
Yes! That only makes them more adorable. What's better than adorable little death bots? And look! They even have heated skin and squishy bits! All the better to cuddle!
We really do have so many problems, I feel like I should be relieved only touch starved and obsession with violent inventions are rearing their heads.
Give it time, more issues will probably crop up. I’m calling paranoia and megalomania showing up yet, even if megalomania is fairly rare for us, and I think talking to ourselves like this is another issue.
Yeah but this one happens because we split our attention a bit too wide for a bit too long, eventually we will stop noticing each other and merge back into one ‘whole’.
No, I'm pretty sure we have been talking to ourselves most of our life. The minds even mentioned it awhile ago in that report on what it was like to connect to our mind directly, splitting our awareness just gives us more room to separate out, so we don't really go away we just blur together again.
Oh yeah we have to talk with the androids, and my god I want one, or ten, or all of them so that I can form an army of adorable murder bots in dresses.
How likely is it that we will get stabbed if we try to hug one? And is getting stabbed worth the hug?
Probably worth it, we heal good and pain is a myth anyway.
I don’t think I can really be blamed, I mean I’ve never seen another humanoid before, and the first ones I meet are artworks of mechanical perfection. And someone had obviously loved them, and put a lot of care into their creation, as a fellow engineer I felt both curious about the androids and obligated to check up on them, for the sake of the ones who built them.
The androids were just staring at me though, which was a little unnerving, but eventually the girl with the sword snapped off what had to be a salute and nearly shouted “glory to mankind” which meant I could at least understand them, as odd as that was. I think she was waiting for a response though, given she was still standing there saluting. How did you even respond to that anyway? Well its as good a time as any to see if I can actually communicate with them.
“Well you might as well sit down, I had the benches installed and everything. It’ll be around a day before we actually make it to the portal.”
At that the androids nearly fell over in their haste to sit down, which was impressive considering how fast they had to move in order to nearly trip given their agility, but concerning in that it showed a fanaticism that was probably at unhealthy levels.
The only male android, and the only unarmed one, had sat himself on the bench to my left and as close to me as he could, and he was alternating between staring at me and the screen showing the command tank’s turret cameras. Ignoring that until I worked up the willpower to deal with his staring, I instead turned towards the android that had saluted me, who was now sitting on the right bench opposite the male android, and also staring at me, if with less intensity.
No, I can’t tell you how I knew the blindfolded androids were staring at me with intensity, nor could I tell you how I could tell the intensities apart.
“I haven't actually heard your names?” true, mainly because Balistraia didn't bother asking them, which is something I corrected her on. Learning names is both important as a future identifier and to build a basic rapport with an exchange of names.
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The android who saluted me quickly nodded and started introducing herself and her team. “I am 13B the YoRHa operator in charge of this team, I am a battler, an all purpose combat unit” a gesture towards the male android “he is 16S this squads scanner, he provides tactical information and technical support” ahh probably the one that tried to access our systems then, best keep an eye on him then the only female operator wearing pants, “she is 32D, a defender unit specializing in barriers and defensive operations” then what had to be other battler units considering they were basically identical to her, only varying in outfits and hairstyle. “They are 18B and 44B, and they are also battler units”
A closer glance at the battler androids let me pick out more details, both to better tell them apart and because I wanted to take a closer look at such wonderful machines, the first thing I noticed was a few patches of missing synthetic skin and locations were parts of their outfits were torn, showing the metal internals underneath, which were slightly damaged. Even with their combat capabilities I suppose it would be unreasonable for them to make it through a few hundred miles of biter territory completely unscathed, even if those biters weren’t as evolved as the ones closer to my main group of outposts.
Light damages like that were easy to fix though, even if I didn’t know how they worked I was more than capable of putting a machine back together, especially if the damage was so light.
“Well I assume Balistraia already told you my name, But I am the engineer. Or you can call me by any of the titles the minds assigned me, I’m not particular about names or titles”
That got a nod for all present androids, “And I’m sure you can guess based on my name that I’m an engineer, so I could take a look at your injuries if you’d like? It’s not like I have anything better to do for this drive”
13B immediately speaks up “we couldn’t impose on you, we will be fine until we can get back to the bunkers for repairs”
But I want to
Insist then
“It's not really imposing when I’m the one who offered, and it really isn’t an issue for me to do some minor repairs, I’m literally designed for that job” that last bit of the sentence seems to capture 16S attention and it looks like he has a question he want’s to ask, but also like he doesn't want to risk upsetting me by asking.
“You have a question 16S?” at being called out the android flinches a little before speaking up “I'm sorry if this is a rude question but what do you mean by designed? I thought humans were born and then chose careers later in life? And why don’t you actually speak?”
Well that's a simple enough question “I’m designed to repair in that my body was modified to aid in that task, specifically I have an ability to absorb, repair, deconstruct, or construct machines without the need for advanced tools. I don’t speak because I both lack vocal cords, the human organ responsible for speech, and the part of my brain responsible for understanding speech was replaced with the necessary mental processes to use my abilities.” then in order to give an example of my ability I hold my hand out in front of myself while willing a defender drone to appear, even with their lacking firepower I keep a few on me as cheap distractions.
The androids stare at the little robot which starts racing laps around the tanks cockpit before it eventually flies back towards me, where I grab it and intentionally tear some of its armor and internals, before rotating the machine and letting the androids watch as more metal pours from my hand and fills the tear on machine, first fixing the damaged circuitry then replacing the armor and finally changing the armors color so that the machine is unmarred, before I let the machine go and it begins flying around again.
“That drone is a simple example, but as long as I have the materials I can repair anything with enough time, not an ability I use often given it's easier to just replace more damaged machines but I’m decent enough at it.” then reaching over I place my hand on 13B’s side, not actually starting to repair her without permission but both putting the offer on the table and letting my ability check for any significant damage I might not have noticed. Immediately when my hand touches her side her face blushes, which raises the question of how exactly an android blushes without blood, that has to be an intentional cosmetic feature.
I told you they were adorable, I think she squeaked, and the other androids look a little jealous.
They do have a disturbing fascination with humans, this’d be a bit like a deity coming down and offering to mend your clothing, considering that's basically what we are offering.
And there's the megalomania, did we really just compare ourselves to a god? And doesn’t it feel a little wrong to abuse their worship to get a more detailed scan of their systems and hardware?
Just be lucky you talked me out of a tracker.
“It doesn’t even take any effort, so once again, if you’d like I could easily repair any damage you guys have. Consider it repayment for escorting me back to the portal and for all the information you gave Balistraia” 13B still looks flustered at the contact, I can’t imagine military androids get non violent physical contact often, so it's probably a bit jarring, but eventually she gives a short nod and I start repairs.
It takes more effort than healing the drone, both because of the difference in quality and complexity and because of the unfamiliar systems, but the smaller marks and gashes in the internal structure start mending, but my attention is drawn from the blueprint my mind is building when I hear faint giggling, looking up I see 13Bs face is even more red and that she’s trying to stifle laughter and twitches, a look at where my hand is, her side just below her ribcage gives a hint, on humans that's a ticklish zone due to the nerve clusters, but they wouldn’t design ticklish androids right?
Actually moving my hand towards where a cluster of nerves would have been gets a sharp bark of laughter out of her, swiftly proving that the combat androids are in fact ticklish. I would have expected a pain response though? Maybe my abilities give a sort of anesthetic? Making it so repairs don’t give pain?
Adorable, we are getting one, I don’t care how many wars we need to fight.
If they are as fanatic as they act I don’t doubt they will insist on at least a squad of androids to guard us, so we are probably getting 5 or so to guard
Can we really consider it ‘getting them’? They are sentient
Voice of morals go away, you are not welcome for this discussion.
Change the wording to ‘assigned 5 androids’ and the moral issues somehow vanish even though it's functionally the same sentence.
Wait are they wearing heels? Are combat robots wearing heels, oh that’s upsetting.
They are! That’s awful for balance! Who designed that?
I want to say it’s adorable or cute but I can’t, a design flaw like that just bothers me.
But that would imply I was designed with the ability to repair sentient machines capable of feeling pain, so are the designs for that stuff just something that got completely lost in the crash or was I never meant to get them?
That bit of thinking is left behind when the repairs on her internals finish, the skin sealing up and the clothes mending, which now that I’m actually repairing I can see are actually dual purpose, they serve as armor (not very well with all the exposed skin) and as heat dissipation. It’s not actually cloth either, it's fine metal fibers better suited for conducting heat, the whole outfit has to weigh more than 25 pounds, and that's a lot considering the outfit doesn’t exactly use a lot of fabric.
Still with the repairs done I remove my hand and flash 13B a small smile, the most of the blushing and the small smile on her face were quickly fading now that the tickling sensation stopped, leaving only a light blush “there all better, and it wasn’t even that difficult” and a glance towards 18B and 44B “would either of you like repairs?” 18B was the first to nod, shortly beating out 44B, so I walked towards her “while I’m doing this do you have any other questions?” I could tell that the scanner definitely had some more, and letting him ask questions only revealed more of what he knew.
While I waited for someone to ask a question I took a look at 18B, The damage on 18B was a little more extensive, a large patch of her back had been hit with acid, destroying the clothing and a fair bit of skin, but only lightly eating into the metal underneath, still a much larger area to heal and there were a few other smaller injuries on her that needed repairs, basically anything that actually exposed metal was something I would repair, just some scratches or lightly torn clothes could wait. Especially because a closer look at how 18B was sitting showed they definitely felt pain, every time her back bumped against something she would lightly wince.
Seriously though, why? Why make it so they can actually feel pain? Even I installed a way to disable my own pain response!
The moment my hand touched the bare metal of her back she gave a minute sigh of relief, only barely audible due to my enhanced hearing, and it only reaffirmed my desire to heal her quickly. My attention was taken from that when 32D spoke up, a little surprising due to how quiet and unresponsive she had been till now “why were you here on this world alone? And how did you get here?”
That was a more complicated question than the last, partly because I only had theories and partly because any answer needed a fair bit of context to make sense. An abridged explanation would have to do “Well I wasn’t meant to be on this world at all, my ship crashed here. I was alone because the ship was growing people purpose built to colonize worlds. I was being grown to colonize another world when something caused my ship to crash”
18B then immediately spoke up while I was working on her, feeling the metal shift as she spoke was a bit odd and it nearly pinched my hand “does that mean you can use your ship to make more humans? Or that there are more humans in this dimension?”
Well I had asked for questions, it wasn’t their fault they kept giving me hard ones. “No, the ship was utterly destroyed when it crashed, all but a few systems fried. I used most of the broken parts as scrap metal already, including the pod that made me. As for other humans? I don’t actually know, there was a partially recoverable map in the ship showing a few places it had placed more people like me, but it had been doing that for over 50 years, and for all I really know none of them survived. It could be that there are hundreds of human colonies or it could be that the ship was made by an automated factory and went out placing humans on inhospitable worlds and I’m the only one left.”
Halfway through my speech I felt 18B slump, I guess my answer was a bit too negative for her. A glance around the room showed much the same, all the androids looked depressed at the mere idea a bunch of humans might have died. “I’m not sure I’d even like to meet them though, I got a look at the more advanced programming I was meant to have implanted in me and it wasn’t something someone good would create. Automated kill switches, a forced obligation to obey orders, the fact I can’t speak, the list goes on.
Obviously not all humans are like that, only a small minority, but the ones most likely to find me? Not exactly the kind you’d want to meet.”
And there, I shot the mood here dead. Not exactly on purpose but I was a bit touchy about the thought of other humans, my creators specifically. “Sorry for bringing the mood down there, I’ve kind of been stuck dealing with this world my entire life and most of my issues can be blamed on the people who made the ship that made me.” A look down showed the repairs on 18B’s back were almost finished, then there was a slash on her chest and a gash on her thigh I needed to fix and I could move onto 44B.
I was just trying to come up with a lighter subject to bring up when 13B saved me the effort “did you design the artwork on the outside of that fortress?” an odd question, maybe she had an interest in art?
“No, that’d be the work of Labyrinthine, they are the mind in charge of building and maintaining all my outposts and factories. They also have a penchant for decorating said outposts wherever they can. And I’m thankful for it, the thought of spending all my time around plain metal and concrete? I imagine I’d go insane without something interesting to look at.”
Sitting on the bench next to 18B I reached over and placed my hand just on the gash on her chest. Hopefully the androids chests weren’t anatomically accurate beyond the feel, though with the fact they were ticklish my hopes were low. And given the yelp and blush when my hand actually touched the metal where the skin should be my hopes were rapidly dashed.
Wait, maybe we are looking at this wrong, it’s not that they are combat androids, its that they were repurposed into combat androids from … other types of androids, the feelings of pain and ticklish, why have squishy bits. It all makes sense!
It really doesn’t, it wouldn’t take much effort to change those cosmetic appearances and disable the programming that simulates or emulates human sensation.
Also these were apparently designed within 100 years or so, well after humanity “went to the moon”
It was 16S turn to speak up next “mind? Is it another creation like Balistraia?”
Back to the simple questions, and I had noticed the mood had gotten lighter with the change in subject, the androids no longer slumping over, it was disturbing how quickly they had fallen to depression just from a sad topic, and I’d need to be careful not to upset them again. “Mind is just the term I use for a program capable of thinking and problem solving, there are four of them in total, each managing one aspect of the factory, Bulwark, the first mind, Labyrinthine the second, Byzantine the third, and Balistraia the fourth, and notably the only mind with a gender. Which she picked for herself.”
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18Bs’s repairs were progressing fine, and as long as I ignored the noises she occasionally made I could almost pretend I was just fixing a normal machine, if one that kept squirming. It seemed 16S had the next question “what exactly do each of the minds do?” I thought for a moment, trying to think of a way to say everything they did that wouldn’t take longer than the trip, it’d be easier to ask what the minds didn’t do, which was very little.
“Well Bulwark was originally designed to manage and coordinate my turrets and drones, so that they could be more effective at defending me. That role eventually grew into managing all the defenses and the planning of new defense’s, Labyrinthine was made to control the construction drones, similarly to increase their efficiency, their task has largely stayed the same, but the tasks construction drones are needed for have grown more numerous and complicated. The relatively simple nature of their task is why I asked them to decorate, so that they’d have something a little more stimulating to do. Byzantine was made to manage the logistic needs of the factory, making the whole system as efficient as possible, at least once it started growing into a task taking up more time than I had to spare, they make sure every machine has what it needs and that the other minds have what materials they need for their tasks. Balistraia on the other hand is responsible for everything outside the factory, mainly scouting and purging bug hives up till now, but her duties also involve diplomacy, though that one was more theoretical until you arrived.”
I had been going on a bit of a tangent, but the minds were easily my greatest inventions, I feel my enthusiasm could be excused, and with a gesture towards the screen I changed the camera feed from outside the tank to the map with the new expansion planning, showing a top down view of our tank escort and a few see through depictions of walls turrets and rails, what good is a lecture without pictures afterall? “As an example this is what the minds are currently planning, you might have been wondering why we weren’t just flying to the portal, that's because I intend to establish an outpost around my side of the portal, and this is the plan for the railway that will supply it.” a gesture at a patch of orange, “that’s a patch of copper ore right next to the railway, so the minds will”, at my mentioning a branch of rail shoots off from the projected path and heads straight for the ore patch, which has already been covered in see through walls, drills, and turrets. “Make a plan to extract those resources for the greater factory”
I saw a look of what could be surprise from 32D before she asked her second question, “what do you have that could build so much so quickly?”
More examples could answer that question and I had a few following just behind us, I pull the map back further, showing 4 trains coming from the outpost I first met the minds at, each train moving at a decent clip in our direction and building a line of walls and rails, it not being worth it to waste turrets defending the rails when you can just repair the few bugs break before a battle train or two chases them off. “Here you can see some construction trains following in our path, building the rail as they go. A few hours after we get to the portal they will have secured a safe route from there to anywhere in my territory”
Every single one of the androids were staring at the screens, either at the construction trains building towards us at a fair clip or at the tanks fighting on the outskirts of our formation. I guess they wouldn’t have noticed we were actually in combat given the absurdly soundproofed command tank, the only time noises of battle would actually reach us would be if the tanks main gun fired, which wouldn’t make noise so much as shake the entire tank.
It was 13B’s turn to speak up, and just as I had predicted the question was about the battle outside, “are you certain you do not need us to aid your machines in killing the creatures? We are quite proficient and would be glad to help” if I wasn’t misreading her facial expression she looked excited at the prospect of a fight, whether that was because she wanted to show off to the human/ protect the human, or if it was just general battle lust wasn’t clear, but I had to think about that for a second, while the tanks didn't need help getting us to the portal, the bugs could gather a force large enough to stop us on such short notice, getting more combat data on the androids could only help, but I didn’t really want them fighting on my behalf, tanks couldn’t feel pain, and they were at the end of the day expendable. The androids, much like the minds, were not. And if I didn’t need to put them in danger I wouldn’t.
I'm betting the androids have an actual addiction to combat because of programming that rewards violent behavior.
probably a similar thing encouraging them to obey orders and to listen to humans, it might even make them happier just to have a human in the same room or to do a task "for a human"
Okay it feels like every conclusion we come to about the androids just makes me more upset, first letting them have emotions, then making them feel pain, then making them addicted to combat? I am steadily growing more livid.
So if humanity is actually on the moon we are definitely making it so that they aren’t? Because that seems like the moral course of action.
I already have space capable missiles, cracking a moon open isn’t that hard. But just in case, let's build a few more, yeah?
Hopefully it's something that can be treated by time like human addiction, though I suppose that depends on how good an android's memory is, I think, I don’t even know how you’d go about fixing that.
18B hadn’t even reacted as I finished repairs on her chest and moved to her thigh, but it was understandable, watching the construction tanks was hypnotic and it only made sense to keep an eye on a battle happening so close to yourself. I did need to answer 13B’s question eventually though. “I think Balistraia has it handled, if we face too much resistance you can but” a small smile from me “I’d rather not need to repair you again so soon” there, a bit of levity.
Which 13B immediately shot dead, at least for me, “we exist to serve humanity, we were created to fight for humanity, and we would be glad too” all the other androids nodded in agreement to that, which yeah, fanatic was definitely a good word for it. 32D spoke up next “the risk of a little damage in nothing, we fight worse odds all the time” she spoke that like it was meant to reassure me, like it was supposed to comfort me that they were routinely in more danger. Needless to say, it did not.
Things that can’t be replaced should not be put into situations in which they can be lost!
There wasn’t anything I could do about that though, and as long as I wasn’t in danger and didn’t give them permission I doubted they’d leave the tank, so the problem wasn’t yet an actual problem, just a future issue.
My repairs on 18B had finished, which meant it was time to work on 44B, she was only lightly damaged in a few spots, a gash on her arm and torso, and a hole in her calf, the most significant damage was her right foot though, it looked like she had stepped into a puddle of acid, which given they were fighting bugs was likely what happened. “Well if something comes up I’d be glad to have your help” there a neutral answer.
As that had to be the thing hurting the most I started on her foot, and immediately remembered that the androids were both ticklish and extremely strong as the foot jerked out of my grasp, based on 44B’s mortified face she hadn’t meant to do that. Which added involuntary reflexes to the list of stupid things added to the androids.
Why, just why
“Sorry about that, guess you're a little sensitive, want to try again?” a nod from her and I took my second hand to get a firmer grip of her foot before I started repairing, she still jerked but this time it was lighter and I could keep my grip. It was then I noticed 44B was staring at my hand, and If I had to make a guess it was the 2 metal fingers holding her attention. “What happened to your hand” and I was right. Did my natural understanding of machines extend to knowing how they felt? I had always assumed I knew what the minds felt because they were literally linked to my mind, but maybe there was more to it.
“Shockingly it wasn’t the bugs, I just stood a little too close to the train tracks and a train came through at extremely high speeds, suddenly I was down a few fingers. Can’t say I care overmuch though, the metal one’s work fine.”
a glance around the cabin showed what each of the androids were doing, 44B was staring at me while I worked on her foot, 32D was just staring at me in general, 18B was watching the small drone as it flew laps around the cockpit, following its default programing to patrol around its user, 13B’s eyes were on the screen showing the battle and 16S’s attention was on the screen showing the plotted route to the portal, which was even now developing more outpost blueprints along the rails route.
16S had been looking at the screen for a few minutes before he actually spoke up, “why are you going around the water? I see a few spots where you could make the route miles shorter just by building a small bridge?” a good question, and one that showed they hadn’t actually done anything with the water yet. “That’s because we do not mess with the water, I don’t care how deep it is. If you watch the map of bug movement you can see that they agree. We both avoid the water, and there is a good reason for that, it’s because everything in the water wants you dead and they are all very good at accomplishing that.” a pause as I take a closer look at the specific watery death trap he was talking about “though we might actually just be able to drain that creek, the fish don’t do so well on dry land”
And just like that the blueprint changed to accommodate for that, even if the route we were taking wouldn’t change. Finally finishing 44B’s foot, which had only taken as long as it had because she kept moving, and making a note that for extensive maintenance androids either needed to be sedated or restrained, I moved up to the hole through her calf. Couldn’t figure out what had caused that one but with how many bug variants there were now I wouldn’t be surprised if one shot solid projectiles.
I felt something land on my shoulder, and because I already knew it was the drone landing as its battery was mostly drained I absorbed it back into storage, 18B watched it disappear with a small frown, so I let one of my personal destroyer drones out. The thing quickly spun as its sensors scanned for any threat, and upon not finding one it slowed its rotations and started patrolling the cockpit just like the defender drone had. 18B’s eyes weren’t following the drone though, she was instead staring at me again. “Where do those machines keep coming from? It looks like they just come from your skin? It doesn’t look like digitization”
“I have a pocket dimension of sorts that I use to store tools and supplies, I keep a few dozen drones in there just in case though” figuring it was time for me to ask my own question I asked 18B “why do you use a sword to fight? I understand having one as a holdout weapon, but as your main offensive tool? I know you have guns” a gesture towards 32D, “that one actually uses them, so it leaves me wondering why you don’t”
It was 13B that answered though “melee weapons are more effective against machines, and our combat systems allow us to move our weapons in a small radius around us, giving them better range”
What? How? What? How? What! How!
I think that statement broke him.
I think that statement is breaking me, I mean how?! I understand the normal bullets won’t be effective against an armored enemy, but armor piercing and explosive shells will turn most robots' insides into scrap, and HESH shells will kill anything metal! I doubt human sized robots have spaced armor either!
That, that didn’t make any sense. Unless there was something special about the weapons they used. “Really? Can I take a look at your sword then? At least once I’m done with 44B?” 13B’s face looked hesitant for a moment before she nodded. But really, in what situation were explosives not effective? I genuinely couldn’t think of one, which probably said a lot about me.
The calf wound didn’t take long to fix, and neither did the wounds on 44b’s arm or torso. And it wasn’t long before I walked over to 13B, and it was as I was looking at the proffered sword that I realized a minor miscalculation, it was very large and presumably equally heavy. Still my desire to examine a sword supposedly better than a gun outweighed my already atrophied common sense and I took the sword by the handle. And then nearly fell over as I had to change my stance to bring my center of balance back in line.
Looking up showed that 13B has reached out to steady me, even though it was unnecessary. And yeah the sword's weight coupled with the androids strength would make it an effective weapon, and it would allow them to utilize their enhanced strength in a way a gun wouldn’t. Though that was human sized guns, I was betting an android could use the same guns my combat armor was.
It did make the androids choice to use swords make a bit more sense, even if I would still prefer to fight at range. I mean a bow would also allow them to use their enhanced strength, but guns would also outpace even super strength bows at higher tech levels.
The sword was sharp enough to cleave through metal easily, which it had to be in order to get through the bug shell as easily as it had. And they were capable of wielding the sword with considerable skill. So I suppose I couldn't hate on the swords too much. “Its a fine blade, I can see why you prefer it” 13B took the sword back and I went to my seat, with all the androids repaired I didn’t really have anything else to do while we waited. But we were 3 quarters of the way there already. “I suppose I should ask about your leader if I’m going to be meeting her fairly soon. Anything of note you want to say?”
It looked like 16S was going to say something before a glare from 13B shut him up “she is a calm and collected leader, I could not think of someone better suited to lead YoRHa” with her continued glaring at 16S she didn’t notice 32D starting to speak, “she’s a bit of a hardass, follows protocol to a T and is never willing to bend any rules.” halfway through 32D’s speech 13B’s head whipped around towards the defender, and she just stared slack jawed at her. Then 32D shrugged “what, he asked what she was like and I answered? Nothing wrong with what you said either, I just added a few more details.”
----------------------------
The rest of the ride had passed fairly quickly. I asked a bit more about daily android life and how YoRHa and the resistance operated, they didn’t have much information on the resistance’s specific operations but I did learn that it was more widespread than YoRHa and less equipped, meaning they tended to focus on holding ground rather than taking it. I also learned about the logic virus, at least as little as the androids actually knew about it. I mean they are machines yet getting wounded gives them the chance to catch a digital virus like its a real one? Would my machines be vulnerable?
It causes insanity and an extremely aggressive state in anything infected, so I’d assume you’d need to have enough emotional emulation to be aggressive in order to be vulnerable. Which meant only the minds, spidertrons and destroyer drones were at known risk.
So no program coming through the portal is coming back without a memory wipe or through scans, just in case. I already had plans to do that but now I need precautions against anything making the attempt instead of just leaving it up to my creations obeying orders.
Probably a good idea anyway, just in case something gets infiltrated.
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32D watched as the forest around the portal was rapidly cleared away, the earth dug through and excavated until it hit bedrock and then filled in with concrete that rapidly hardened, she watched as walls sprung up where there had once been trees, and as that wall grew layer after layer until it stood 70 feet tall, and then she watched as turrets were constructed everywhere on its surface until you could barely see the stone.
All in all the process took 40 minutes, and after those 40 minutes were up the engineer stood from his seat and stretched, “well now that the defenses are done it’s safe to exit the tank, the turrets on that outpost should be able to hold off most attacks from bugs, and keep any more of them from getting through.” 32D didn’t want to think of how many insects it would take to overwhelm the fortress, she had fought them and they were not as strong as machine lifeforms could be, so if they overwhelmed the fort it would be through sheer numbers.
She had to suppress a shiver when thinking of that veritable tide of insects. Machine lifeforms were bad, yes, but at least they didn’t have so many legs. Still there hadn’t been anything comparable to the feeling she had gotten, even retroactively, when she had learned she had killed a bunch of creatures attacking an actual human, and she’d gladly fight the bugs again.
It was as they got into the airlock, 13B taking point with the engineer in the center of their formation with 16S, both of which were in range to be covered with her shields, that she saw the engineer's armor, it just flowed from his skin. Her first thought was that it was reminiscent of a flight suit, just without the wings, sleek and built for speed while looking deadly.
“Sweet suit, What do I have to do to get a suit like that?” the armor turned toward her before answering “well for a suit similar to this I can probably make 10 a day, at least without including all the special features. But limited flight, high durability and built in weapons are a lot better than un armored fleshy bits. But I can have a default suit shipped out here the moment a train can make the trip, so give it 3 hours”
It took YoRHa days to build a flight suit, even if this was an inferior version getting ten a day? Well quantity had a quality all its own. “I'll hold you too that”