Logs 258-301 (Pulled in all directions)_Penny Logs

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258

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>PENNY LOG INITIALIZED

>MANUAL INITIALIZATION REQUESTED BY: “ADRIAN” WITH: “Start log, force.”

>FORCED LOG REQUESTED BY: “ADRIAN”

>LOG WILL ONLY TERMINATE MANUALLY

(AD) I’m not sure what you expect to see, Cricket.

(CR) The queen just asked me to check up on you again, so I took the chance to see my friend.

(AD) Check up, huh?

>LINK ESTABLISHED TO: “MINI CANNON PROTOTYPE”

(CR) Oh, you know.

(CR) She wants to hear about the steps you’re taking.

(AD) That so?

>BEGINNING TEST BATTERY 1:

>SHOT FIRED SUCCESSFULLY

(CR) Whoa!

>SHOT FIRED SUCCESSFULLY

(CR) Adrian, you’ve been holding out on us!

>SHOT FIRED SUCCESSFULLY

(AD) No, I haven’t.

>SHOT FIRED SUCCESSFULLY

(CR) That looks like a lot of power to me.

>SHOT FIRED SUCCESSFULLY

(AD) Not as much as she wants.

>SHOT FIRED SUCCESSFULLY

>”MINI CANNON PROTOTYPE” CORE TEMPERATURE REACHED SAFE LIMIT

>TEST BATTERY 1 TERMINATED; CODE: FC-8

(CR) Hoo!

(CR) She’ll be so excited when I tell her about this!

>INITIATING COOLDOWN SEQUENCE FOR: “MINI CANNON PROTOTYPE”

(AD) It’s sitting at about a third of the power output she wants for the size, operating just shy of three quarters the running time she wants.

(AD) I’ve optimized the cooling just about as far as it can go, but if I do too much more I’m gonna have to start making the system bulkier, and that makes the machine all sorts of unwieldy and it spirals out of control fast.

(AD) Darn thing’s gonna be even harder to cool once it’s bigger, and I’ll have even less room to work with.

>”MINI CANNON PROTOTYPE“ CORE TEMPERATURE RETURNED TO BASELINE (ELAPSED TIME: 34 SECONDS)

(CR) I’m going to be honest, Adrian, beyond the very basic concept, I don’t really know how the machine works.

(CR) I’m only really able to tell the queen what I see.

(CR) And what I see is my friend doing a good job on her commission, but feeling like he’s not doing enough.

(AD) And does she seem like the sympathetic kind to you?

(AD) Will she care how I feel?

(CR) She’s kind once you get to know her, Adrian!

(CR) She’s helped me climb this far, after all.

(CR) She trusts me!

(CR) I wish I could get a bit of that trust from you as well.

(AD) I do trust you, Cricket!

(AD) I don’t trust her!

(CR) But I’m telling you you’re in a good spot with her.

(CR) Do you trust me, or not?

(AD) During my meetings with her, she has spent the bulk of the time telling me how awful I am at my job.

(AD) Does that really suggest I’m in a good spot with her?

(CR) You told her during both of your previous meetings that you were making no progress.

(CR) This doesn’t look like no progress to me.

(AD) I said progress had been slow, and that I needed more time.

(AD) And I have the logs to prove it, so don’t start.

(AD) She wanted this done in a week, Cricket.

(AD) A week!

(AD) Now, we’re rounding the corner on month three.

(AD) How can you possibly say I’m in a good spot?

(CR) Adrian, let me clue you in on something that’s helped me out up at the castle.

(CR) You get places with the queen by showing her what it is that she wants to see, even if it sometimes seems strange.

(CR) What the queen wants from you is glowing bolts of destruction that hurt like hell.

(CR) From what I can see, you have that already.

(AD) And has that helped you in your job?

(AD) Fawning, making a show of things for no good reason?

(AD) Because the way I see it, you’re still running the same errands you were before, and-

(CR) I do not just run errands!

(CR) I’m sorry, I’m sorry, Adrian.

(CR) Look, I’m not really supposed to talk about this, but if it’ll help you I think it’s worth it.

(CR) Recently, I’ve been managing more than just errands for the queen.

(CR) I’m in charge of the census, like always, but I’ve also been keeping some ledgers, running some numbers, and even giving advice.

(CR) I absolutely have moved up, and I wouldn’t have if I hadn’t been thinking like this from the start.

(CR) You’ve earned a compromise or two with this, and I think you can get away with it.

(CR) Just think about it for me, okay?

(CR) There’s still a lot of the month left.

(AD) Alright, Cricket.

(AD) Thanks.

(AD) I’m counting on you.

(CR) I won’t let you down, buddy.

(CR) Now, I do have a couple other…

(CR) Errands. (?)

(CR) To run before I head back up to the castle, so I’m going to have to leave.

(CR) Thanks for chatting.

(AD) Yeah, same.

(AD) Thanks for talking.

(CR) Bye, now.

(AD) Shutdown.

>SHUTDOWN REQUESTED BY USER: “ADRIAN” WITH: “Shutdown.”

>SHUTDOWN SUCCESSFUL!

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LOGS OMITTED FOR BREVITY

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This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

267

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>PENNY LOG INITIALIZED

>MANUAL INITIALIZATION REQUESTED BY: “ADRIAN” WITH: “Start log.”

(AD) C’mon…

(AD) Zhuli!

(ZH) Hi, Adrian. Sorry I’m so late.

(AD) What happened?

(AD) I waited out last week, but…

(ZH) Things have been getting harder at the castle.

(AD) Are you alright?

(AD) Did you get in too much trouble for listening in?

(ZH) You know how it is.

(AD) Are you keeping yourself safe?

(ZH) I’m trying.

(ZH) I left late today because I was worried someone was following me.

(AD) What are we gonna do?

(ZH) How’s your commission coming?

(AD) What?

(ZH) How’s your commission coming?

(ZH) I’m hoping she’ll loosen up a bit once it’s done.

(AD) It’s nowhere near where it needs to be.

(AD) You wouldn’t know that if you asked Cricket, though.

(ZH) What?

(AD) He was here a couple days ago, checking up on my progress. Apparently he’s supposed to come once a week now.

(ZH) I’ve seen him around the castle, but I haven’t talked to him much.

(ZH) He’s your friend, right?

(AD) Yeah.

(ZH) Must be nice.

(AD) What?

(ZH) Having someone up at the castle in your corner, I mean.

(ZH) I’m a bit jealous.

(AD) He’s changed.

(ZH) Changed?

(AD) He’s so different from how he used to be.

(AD) He always looks exhausted, and he’s so focused on his position now.

(AD) That’s all he cares about, and even when he’s trying to help me, that’s what he thinks I should care about.

(AD) I don’t know if he’s still in my corner.

(ZH) Maybe it’s a curse.

(AD) Pardon?

(ZH) Maybe the castle is cursed, so that everyone who lives there has to be miserable.

(AD) Zhuli…

(ZH) Maybe it’s a sickness.

(ZH) But you know what I think it is?

(ZH) Her.

(ZH) She plays with the people around her like dolls, until she’s torn them apart and made them miserable.

(ZH) Then she throws them away and gets new ones.

(ZH) If she can’t throw a doll away, she’ll lock it in a room somewhere until it’s forgotten what the sun feels like. (?)

(AD) How many times have you seen it?

(ZH) I never wanted to count.

(ZH) One was enough.

(AD) What was it like?

(AD) Seeing the sun again?

(ZH) It’s the scariest thing I’ve ever done.

(ZH) Everything was so bright and loud, and huge.

(ZH) The first time I managed to sneak out I just stood there for a while, looking at everything.

(ZH) I didn’t really even understand what was going on around me.

(ZH) On my first few outings, I mostly just walked around.

(ZH) I’d go into town sometimes, but I didn’t have much to do there.

(ZH) I was just excited to see something new.

(ZH) And then I met you.

(ZH) You and your exploding machine.

(ZH) Oh, don’t be embarrassed, Adrian, I’m sure it was amazing before it exploded.

(AD) I just. (?)

(AD) Why does that have to be your first memory of me?

(ZH) I think it’s cute.

(AD) Well, I don’t!

(AD) I spent a week on that thing!

(ZH) I’ll never forget your face when you got caught!

(AD) I was so scared you were going to laugh, or run and tell someone.

(AD) I thought it was all over for me, then and there.

(ZH) Well, I’m glad I didn’t.

(AD) Me, too.

(ZH) Adrian…

(ZH) What are we going to do?

(AD) We’ll survive.

(AD) We’ll help each other, and make it through together.

(AD) If there’s even a chance that finishing the machine will help the queen to ease up on you, I’ll do it.

(AD) I don’t care if it’s impossible, I’ll just have to find a way.

(ZH) How long did you spend on the machine today?

(AD) I didn’t keep track.

(ZH) I was going to say this earlier, but you look like death.

(ZH) I don’t want her to tear you apart, too. (?)

(AD) I’ll make sure that doesn’t happen.

(AD) I need to survive too, after all.

(AD) Let’s just relax for now.

(ZH) Yes, let’s.

(AD) Do you want to keep Penny on?

(ZH) She was listening to all that?

(AD) Yeah, I, uh. (?)

(AD) Woke her up while I was waiting for you.

(AD) Didn’t think things would get quite so heavy.

(AD) Sorry.

(ZH) Don’t be sorry, Adrian.

(ZH) This was an important conversation.

(ZH) I’m glad we have it recorded.

(ZH) I think we can let her sleep for a while, though.

(ZH) She’s probably tired after all that.

(AD) Uh, right.

(AD) Gotcha.

(AD) Shutdown.

>SHUTDOWN REQUESTED BY USER: “ADRIAN” WITH: “Shutdown.”

>SHUTDOWN SUCCESSFUL!

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LOGS OMITTED FOR BREVITY

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298

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>PENNY LOG INITIALIZED

>MANUAL INITIALIZATION REQUESTED BY: “ADRIAN” WITH: “Start log, force.”

>FORCED LOG REQUESTED BY: “ADRIAN”

>LOG WILL ONLY TERMINATE MANUALLY

>LINK ESTABLISHED TO: “MINI CANNON PROTOTYPE”

>BEGINNING TEST BATTERY 1:

>SHOT FIRED SUCCESSFULLY

>”MINI CANNON PROTOTYPE” CORE TEMPERATURE REACHED SAFE LIMIT

>TEST BATTERY 1 TERMINATED; CODE: FC-8

(AD) Twelve, huh?

>”MINI CANNON PROTOTYPE“ CORE TEMPERATURE RETURNED TO BASELINE (ELAPSED TIME: 14 SECONDS)

(AD) Getting faster with it, at least.

(AD) Alright, let’s try that.

(AD) Start test battery 1.

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PORTION OF LOG OMITTED FOR BREVITY

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LOGS OMITTED FOR BREVITY

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301

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>PENNY LOG INITIALIZED

>AUTO INITIALIZATION: TRIGGERED BY USER: “” BY: “Shop door entry”

? You’ve been backed up for months now, I still don’t have my wheelbarrow, you’ve been doing stuff for the queen, and now I find out it’s a weapon?!

? Well?

(AD) How did you find out about that?

? We’ve got a mole up at the castle.

? Damn good thing, too, because otherwise we would’ve been completely blindsided.

(AD) What do you mean?

? What do you think she wants something like that for?

? Just to look pretty?

(AD) Not really my job to wonder…

? What was that?

(AD) It’s not my job to think about why.

(AD) And I can’t afford to bring on that kind of risk.

? Of course you can’t.

? Can’t risk your own skin, that’d stop you from helping the town.

? Better to give her the power to blow it up instead, that way you avoid risk.

? Can you see the problem there, Adrian?

? If you finish that weapon and give it to her, we’ll have to disband.

? I can’t ask people to fight if I know they can’t win.

(AD) So, what am I supposed to do?

(AD) You want me to go up against the queen, refuse to make her weapon, and give her an excuse to put me in a ditch?

(AD) Does that sound like a fight I can win?

? Yes.

? You win because you’ve denied her her weapon.

(AD) I would be dead.

(AD) How many times have you seen it happen?

? But the rest of us could survive.

? We could still fight!

(AD) Nothing else would change.

(AD) You’d still lose.

? It’s because of people like you.

(AD) What?

? People like you are why we lose.

? You can see that what she’s doing is bad, but you’ll help her anyway because you’re scared.

(AD) Hey-

? You helped us so much when you were working with us, but you got scared and ran to the queen instead.

(AD) Hold-

? And now you’re letting her use you, like you’re some kind of-

(AD) Enough!

(AD) I won’t listen to any more of this.

(AD) You think I don’t care about this town?

(AD) I could have left by now, you know.

(AD) I’m the only smith left because I care.

? You only care until there’s risk.

? Then you turn tail and hide.

(AD) If it were just me, I wouldn’t have even left the revolution.

(AD) That still doesn’t mean it’s okay for me to die.

(AD) If I die, the town ends up without a smith.

? How convenient for you, that what’s best for the town lines up with your self preservation.

? Does that extend to giving the queen more powerful weapons to crush us with?

(AD) If I turn down the queen, I will die.

(AD) No matter what happens, we’re in a bad spot.

? Then don’t turn her down.

? Tell her you’re still working on the weapon, delay however you can, just don’t hand it to her!

? I know it’s not an easy thing to do, but if you give her that weapon you’ll completely doom this town.

? Why not let us use it, instead?

? We’ve been waiting for the right time to make our move, if we had something like that we might be able to finally win!

? If you really care about this town, and the people in it, then I’m begging you.

? Don’t give her that weapon.

(AD) I’ll…

(AD) I’ll need to think about it.

(AD) I don’t want to put something like this in her hands, I really don’t.

(AD) For now, please just give me some time.

? Alright, Adrian.

? I hope to hear good things from you.

>AUTO SHUTDOWN: TRIGGERED BY USER: “” BY: “shop door exit and no customers in shop”

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LOGS OMITTED FOR BREVITY

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Logs 258-301 (Pulled in all directions)

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