I’m trying something different for me with chat channels.
I’m going to have them color coded, kinda like in game. I’m not going to go crazy just a few colors for added flavor. And yes I went back and changed it in episode 1.
White – normal face to face
Green – Group/Guild
Blue – Party
Yellow – Private message
----------------------------------
Fat green sparks danced across the workbench in front of Chassis as the Nu-Bot attempted to dissect an oversized orange rust colored two fingered claw. The claw was attached to an arm that probably a meter and a half long. It looked like it had been cut off of a much larger bot.
A trio of saws, snippers, and drills extended from one of Chassis’ elbow joints and probed at the armored plated arm in an effort to get inside to the more sensitive components. The noise in the area was tremendous with all three cutters going at the same time.
Right in the middle of the not so delicate surgery Chassis received a personal message.
“Hey Chassis it is me, Radiation Redd, are you terribly busy? I think might have a project that i could use your help on.” – Radiation Red
“I’m not doing anything too important Redd, just getting a new part ready for scan into my part modification database. What’s up?”
“I had an issue with a mission. I think it would be better if we talked face to face.” – Radiation Redd
“Sure, where are you?”
“Right in front of you.” – Radiation Redd
Chassis looked up from the mess startled, the eyes in the fine detail eye cluster attachment focusing and spinning wildly at the other bot in the room.
“When did you get here?”
“Just a bit ago. You were pretty intent on your project and it was a perfect opportunity to make you jump.”
“You, are a jerk.”
The Fem-Bot laughed. “You made the mistake of accepting the friend request. Now you are stuck with me.”
Chassis scanned Radiation Redd and saw that her hardware was spotless and shiny. Brand new fresh out of the factory shiny. It looked like the most basic model of Fem-Bot, completely devoid of any modifications or add-ons. Just curves and chrome.
“What happened? That looks like a fresh level one hardware.”
“That is because it is. Ultraviolet Vo and I took a mission that called for a hit on someone. It turned out tougher than advertised and we ended up crashing and burning. We got killed and had our shot up hardware left behind at the scene. So now both of us are going to be stuck with these training wheels until we get our hardware back.”
“Bot death penalties are harsh.”
“I’ll say they are. Your body and your equipment dropped at the place of death. All your upgrades reduced to zero because you aren’t in your tweaked hardware. And any jerk with a socket set and a wrench can dismantle your still twitching corpse.” Her digital sigh echoed in the room. “And the worst part in my opinion? Your gear is toast. That is the first thing gone. Any random meatsuit can use a gun.”
If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
“So what do you need my help with? I can slap together some hardware for you and Vo to not be stuck in a pair of tin cans. They won’t be pretty. But they will work well enough for you go get new add-ons from some drops. You can pay me back later of course.”
“Well the two of us really want our original hardware back. We both just got the Paralux Digi Eyes upgrade and a Ridox 9 agility suite. And Vo scraped enough kilo-creds together for a Camoline Deluxe Coating. So as of this moment we are both broke. It would take forever to get enough together to replace half the mods we lost. Not to mention my sweet custom paintjob.”
Chassis let out a beep that went from low to high pitched, the bot version of a whistle. “The Ridox 9? That is some bleeding edge pricey stuff. I’ve only seen a 7 in action. I can see why you want it back. I guess I can try. But you two will owe me a favor. A big one not just the regular ones. And I get to scan your hardware and add it to the database. I have been wanting to do that for a while. This is not negotiable.”
“Fine Chassis we are desperate. And I know you won’t screw us over. We’ll agree to that.”
“Ok good. Now that that is out of the way do you know who ended up with your hardware?”
“I think our target probably took it.”
“And your target was?”
Radiation Redd murmured something very low.
“I’m sorry. What was that? I think my sensors were fritzing. I didn’t hear what you just said.”
“Dimples Butterscotch.”
“Dimples Butterscotch.” Chassis paused. “Dimples Butterscotch the Solrain. Dimples Butterscotch the city’s hidden crime boss. Dimples Butterscotch the host of number one rated video program Daytime with Dimples? That Dimples Butterscotch?”
“Yes.”
“What the hell? You are lucky he didn’t have you derezzed at the upload bank!”
“I know. You are right. It was a bad choice of missions.” Redd held up her hands placatingly. “But the creds were too good. We didn’t even need to kill him. The contract just specified that we just had to make two attempts on his life in a twenty four hour period. And we did. But we just failed them both really badly.”
“I’ll say that’s a strange mission. Wait a second. Redd, where’s Vo?”
“When she didn’t pop up at the upload bank I got worried. I checked for online status. She is still on. I think she didn’t get damaged enough to die. So I think that she might have just gone into power stasis. I think Dimples has my hardware and Vo. And is waiting for me to come back before he does anything.”
“Well this is just getting better and better.”
“I’m so sorry Chassis. I didn’t know who else to go to. I know you are a jack of all trades. With you helping me the both of us had a better chance to come out of this mess in only a couple of pieces and not a heap of glowing scrap.”
Chassis gave a long suffering electronic sigh. “Ok. Give me a few minutes I am sure between the two of us we can figure out some way to keep you and your sister out of the scrap heap.”