TO wanted to warn GiDi. They wanted to tell GiDi that this was all a simulation. They wanted to tell GiDi to go ahead and shoot them.
They couldn’t, not in the simulation. Not in an examination where they were being watched and judged. Still, If GiDi were to just shoot them...
“...TO?” GiDi said, their voice soft and surprised. Their eyes shot towards TO’s hand, and then widened in surprise as their ears flicked down and back.
TO glanced down, but saw nothing. Of course. If anything were to convince them further that it was all a simulation then it was that; GiDi probably saw TO’s hand as being red.
“Go on.” TO said. “Shoot me.”
Their voice was laced with pain, so they knew it would sound authentic. If this had been a real thing that was happening then at this point –injured, weaponless, and faced with an enemy– TO would expect that this was the end for them. If this was real, then the best they could hope for would be a relatively painless death.
It wasn’t real though, and their enemy wasn’t an actual enemy; It was GiDi. Either way… It made sense for TO to ask to be shot at this point, at least in their own mind.
“Shoot you?!” GiDi lowered their multigun, “How could I-”
“How do you think this ends!” TO snapped, “Really? Do you think you have any choice but to shoot me?” The desperation was clear in TO’s voice, and they could feel their ears twitching with worry. Even if GiDi were to shoot them the situation was already bad; GiDi had hesitated far too much. That was why they had been so vicious when they attacked DH; they didn’t want to give their friend an opportunity to hesitate.
DH could never have shot them.
TO didn't have their multigun now, and they couldn’t even stand to attack GiDi with their hands and claws. They needed GiDi to attack! Maybe if GiDi did it now, it would still be ok. Maybe their hesitation would be overlooked. After all, the Overseers knew that TO, GiDi, and DH were close; maybe they even expected some hesitation.
“Do you really have a choice?” TO said again, their words slow and careful as they hoped that maybe GiDi could pick up on something, as they hoped that GiDi would understand and shoot.
They waited for GiDi to raise their gun once more.
GiDi frowned, and suddenly dropped their multigun to the floor. “No.” they said, “But I’m making a choice.”
“GiDi... GiDi no!” TO tried to move away as GiDi ran up to them, grabbing them by the arm and pulling them up. TO struggled to get out of their grasp.
“TO, it’s fine!” GiDi said, “I’m going to get you out of here. We’re going to escape. We’ll go with the insurgents if we have to-”
“No!” TO thrashed against GiDi. This was the absolute worst thing that GiDi could be doing, and they needed GiDi to stop, to pick up their gun and to shoot them. TO drew their claws and swiped at GiDi, but given their panic, frustration, and injuries their movements were more akin to flailing than anything else. They only managed to nick their friends’ skin with their lethally sharp claws.
TO a point, they were grateful for that. The feeling of flesh ripping under their claws sent their mind spiraling, and made them feel dizzy and sick.
“You can’t!” TO yelled, “You have to-”
“It’s fine! It’s fine TO! We’ll find DH, and we’ll get out and –”
“I already shot DH!” TO yelled.
GiDi stopped and looked at TO; at their ears, at their face.
“You… You what?”
TO hated the way GiDi’s ears sunk down, and the way they looked at them. TO hated the quiet horror and disbelief that painted their voice. They felt a pain deep in their chest and they suddenly wanted to explain it all to GiDi.
It was fine. Once they got out of this then they’d tell GiDi what actually happened. They’d tell GiDi that they had figured out it was all a simulation. Right now, they had to get GiDi to attack them, even if that meant making GiDi hate them for just a moment,
“I shot DH.” TO said again, “Over and over and over until there was blood everywhere-”
“You didn’t!”
“Do I look like I’m lying!”
TO struggled once more to get out of GiDi’s grip. GiDi held onto them, but another distant explosion shook the training center, throwing GiDi off balance. They stumbled forward and towards the hole in the floor. TO reached out with their good foot, hoping to grab the edge of the floor but it wasn’t enough. Their toes only managed to grasp at the broken metal at the edge. They felt something tear through the skin on the bottom of their foot and they lost their minimal grip.
The two fell over.
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TO tried to fly on instinct, but their wings were too damaged. GiDi tried to fly but they couldn’t pull up as they were still holding onto TO, refusing to let them drop to the engine room below. Their mixed efforts sent them spiraling down before they struck against a large metal pipe. Something cracked. GiDi cried out in pain, finally letting go of TO as their arm bent oddly at the elbow. They plummeted to the floor of the engine room below.
For the briefest of moments, TO hoped that it wasn’t a simulation. They had hurt DH and they had failed GiDi. If this wasn’t a simulation then all of that was over. If this wasn’t a simulation then they’d never have to see GiDi get taken away. If this wasn’t a simulation then they’d never have to face DH.
They passed through the floor, separating from their body as they were pulled from the simulation and into the void that existed in between. Instead of the few moments of disembodiment that they normally experienced before they were pulled back into reality they instead coalesced into a new simulation and fell suddenly to a black floor.
They were in a void. The nothing beneath them felt solid but there seemed to be nothing there, and there was no reflection to give any hint to TO as to what was under them. They pushed themself up to their knees and looked around.
DH was to one side of TO, laying on their back with their ears twitching in horror as they stared up at the ceiling. GiDi was on the other, slowly pulling themself up from the floor. TO watched GiDi’s ears twitching with confusion and horror as they balanced on shaking legs, trying to figure out what had just happened.
Standing before them were five other synths; The Commander, The real C12, and each of their Overseers.
“Well.” The Commander said, their eyes narrowing at GiDi while their ears pinned backwards, “This little experiment ends in failure.” they turned to TO’s overseer, “I told you that allowing synths to get too close would cause issues with loyalty.”
GiDi’s overseer dipped their head, their ears flicked back with shame. “My apologies, Commander.” they said before TO’s overseer could respond, “It is my fault. I should have paid closer attention to this one-”
“And with all due respect, Commander.” TO’s Overseer said, “I would hardly say that the experiment was a failure.” they pointed at DH and TO, “These two functioned just fine. I’d say the issue is more one of a personal deficiency on behalf of 45G70.”
TO got to their feet, “I don’t think-” they started, but C12 gave them a sharp look, their ears pinned back and down in warning and worry.
Thankfully, the Commander and the Overseers didn’t notice that TO had said anything.
“Potentially.” the Commander said again, “But still, we can’t ignore that 45G70 was willing to go to the insurgents. They couldn’t kill 09T07-”
“I said from the beginning that this particular method was a poor choice.” C12 said.
“You will not interrupt me.” The Commander snapped as their lips curled back to reveal their teeth.
“Apologies, Commander.” C12 said, “But as I said, we spend so much time drilling it into trainees that we don’t-”
“Wait.” DH gasped, their hand reaching up to their head, “I’m not dead?” Their voice was higher than normal, their breathing erratic. TO ran over to them to help them up, to tell them that no, it was just a simulation. DH saw them approaching and rolled over, jumping to their feet and backing away.
“Stay away from me.” They hissed as they stumbled backwards.
TO felt like that strange swelling they sometimes felt in their chest when they were around DH had suddenly burst.
“70H67.” Overseer H said, “Calm yourself; it was a simulation. It was simply part of your examination and I believe that you did well.”
“The only one that I saw who actually did well was 09T07.” The Commander said, “70H67 didn’t have an opportunity to react, so there’s no way to know how they were going to act… Still, they did perform quite well throughout, and at the very least it seemed like they were going to shoot.” They looked away from DH, “At any rate, I am willing to believe they passed.”
“Then my experiment was not a failure.” Overseer T said, “50% success rate. 70H67 advanced far more than expected from original calculations because of their association with 09T07. By my observations and from past case studies, neither 70H67 or 45G70 were likely to pass their examinations. By allowing underperforming synths to form limited interpersonal relationships with overperforming ones we have improved the likely outcome.”
“I would like to see more reports.” the Commander said, “This batch appears to be in many ways faulty; an issue which I assure you I will remedy.” They gestured with their chip and started inputting information into a file, “At any rate, 09T07 and 70H67 can return to their training. Take the N for-”
“I believe that doing that will simply be a waste of a perfectly good synth!” C12 said quickly, “As I said, this test is highly flawed and goes directly in the face of in-tank conditioning and any training afterwards. Synths do not hurt other synths. Synths do not fight other synths! Of course there’s going to be some confusion!”
The Commander gave C12 a cool, steady glare before they turned to GiDi, “You.” They snapped, “When you were taken from the first simulation, you were told that insurgents had infiltrated the training center: Yes or no?”
GiDi’s ears were down and back, a mixture of fear and horror. “Y-Yes?” They managed to stammer out.
“And you were also told that some synths were among those, correct?”
“Yes… Yes I was.”
“You were informed that any synth with a glowing red hand was an insurgent, and that you had to neutralize them, correct?”
Well, TO’s theory had been right; GiDi had likely seen them with a glowing red hand. DH had likely seen the same.
“Correct.”
“And when you saw 09T07, was their hand glowing?”
GiDi wrapped their wings around themself as they looked away, “It was, Commander.”
“Very good. You had your orders. You recognized 09T07 as an insurgent, as a synth who had turned against King Decon. They even told you outright that they had killed 70H67, and yet you refused to kill them. No, worse than just disobedience, you decided to take them and try to run off to the insurgents. You were willing to commit treason. Why?”
GiDi was silent, staring at the ground, Still, TO noticed their ears slowly pin back, and could see their eyes narrow.
“Because I couldn’t kill them.”
“Why not?”
“...I just couldn’t.”
The Commander nodded, “See? They are clearly defective.” they took a few steps towards GiDi, “You had direct orders. You could not obey them. That is your only function, you do realize that, yes?”
GiDi stayed silent, but TO could see their lips starting to curl back, their neck muscles straining, and their wings starting to puff out ever so slightly.
“If you cannot do that, then you are useless.” the Commander continued. Their chest puffed out a little with pride, “As a tool of King Decon’s-”
It was like something suddenly snapped in GiDi. Somehow, TO was brought back to that day when Q10 had called them broken; the anger in their eyes, and the rage in their voice. GiDi’s wings fluffed out around them. They took a step towards the Commander, their hands in fists, shaking at their side. Their eyes were narrowed into slits, their ears were pinned right back, and their lips curled back to show not just their fangs but the entire row of their upper teeth.
“I AM NOT A TOOL!” GiDi screamed at the Commander.
A moment of silence. Were those words echoing in the simulation, or only in TO’s head? They didn’t know. They felt a horrible, cold chill run down their spine as their ears went limp. It felt like they had been sent spinning out of reality. They looked over at DH, hoping for something to tell them that this wasn’t actually happening and that what TO had just heard was just some horrible hallucination.
DH’s horrified expression told them just the opposite.
“I… I am not a tool.” GiDi repeated, a little more softly this time. The aggression drained from their face. They took a step back from the Commander and the Overseers who were looking at GiDi the way one might examine a stain on their shirt. It was the look that TO had so often gotten from other synths in the past. It was that look that TO had once gotten so used to; ‘what are you. Why are you here.’ The only one who didn’t look at GiDi like that was C12, who suddenly just looked tired and broken.
The Commander simply turned to the Overseers and C12, “Can I assume that’s evidence enough that this one is defective?”
The Overseers nodded. GiDi’s overseer bowed their head, “My apologies I don’t know how-”
“I’ll be going over your records later myself.” the Commander snapped. “Meantime. Put the others back in their training. Take the N for correction.”
TO took a step forward, wanting to grab GiDi. They wanted to run away with them, even though they knew they were just in a simulation and that there was nowhere to run.
TO’s hand dissolved away before them, and they were once more sent to that void between the simulations and reality.