“[…] When speaking to one of “the Contractors” an employee of our corporation must remain calm, reserved, and cautious to the extreme. While a single contractor may not do much damage, a collective of them can, as they usually travel in groups.
They show an extreme bias towards corporate-employed members of our society, which you are now a part of. It is recommended to keep your status as a corporate employee secret from such an individual. For corporate standard subterfuge techniques, turn to page 189 […]”
⎻ Excerpt from a leaked corporation handbook for espionage specialists-in-training.
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“Now. Isn’t this a lovely surprise?” A silky-as-velvet, resonant voice spoke from across the Contractors’ hall. The figure of Gabriel descended the stairs and started to walk towards me.
The people in the spacious hall all looked up at his figure at least once. Many kept on staring at his graceful silhouette in motion. I could understand why. Gabriel was beautiful. His face had a mix of defined masculine features and soft feminine touches. His hair was lustrous and shined brightly even in the monotone illumination from the overhead lighting.
His clothes fitted him to perfection. They stretched enough to allow for movement and squeezed in such places to entice the viewer.
What a vision.
“Moose!” When Gabriel was near both Moose and I, he exclaimed enthusiastically. His hands went for Moose’s shoulders and dragged his muscled figure into Gabriel’s open arms.
“Gabriel.” Moose’s voice was laced with softness as they hugged. Breathy and deeply happy. It was casual, but felt heavy and meaningful.
After they separated, Gabriel gave me his full attention.
“My name’s Gabriel. Nice to meet you.” He said as his vivid green eyes pierced into mine. He offered me a handshake. I accepted and squeezed his hand. His skin was silky smooth.
“I’m Rend.” I felt slightly embarrassed by my not-as-smooth voice. Compared to Gabriel, I felt like a second-rate synthoid.
“Nice to meet you, sister of mine. Seems like you got yourself in quite a predicament with these gentlemen here, didn’t you?” He was a picture of calmness and deliberation. He must’ve cost a fortune to whoever ordered him.
“Yes. There appears to be a level of hostility and suspicion that I did not expect when coming here.”
“Hmm. I would apologize for those friends of mine if their feelings were unsubstantial, but unfortunately certain events had warranted such a response.” Gabriel’s eyebrows furrowed, and a sad grimace crossed his face for a moment.
“I see. Still, I have done nothing, but be civil.” I could understand their reply, even though I knew nothing of those supposed events.
“You called me a bitch!” A scream pierced through the crowded space. It came from one of the corners covered in shadows. I recognized it. It belonged to Rin.
“That’s true. You did do that.” Tony said quietly from behind me.
“You did?” Both Moose and Gabriel said simultaneously. Though, their tones could not be more different from each other. Moose grew a grin on his face while Gabriel grimaced.
“I did, but it was provoked. I was called a bitch first.” I felt no need to justify my vulgar language, but I did not want to alienate those people from me since we just lost the hostile atmosphere.
“Huh. We could move past it, I suppose. Rin tends to call people all sorts of names. For those unfamiliar with her, it is rude behavior.”
“Shut your mouth, Gabe!” Another scream, also from Rin. She had to have enhanced her hearing with implants because there was no way she would hear us from the other side of this hall if she didn’t.
“Well. Let’s get to the meat of this. You’re a synthoid. Gabriel vouched for that.” Moose said.
“I did.” Gabriel confirmed.
“And you want to become a contractor, is that right?” Moose continued.
“I do. I already spoke to Tony about that. I would like to become a contractor. I heard you guys were an open-minded group. I need a job and I need it to not have anything to do with corporations. I’m sure you can sympathize with that to some degree, no?” The whole triad of these men had thoughtful expressions. Moose was the first one to break the heavy silence.
“Tony, bring the device. The one we used for Gabriel.” Moose was still looking at me intensely. Like he was looking for something. I had a feeling I would rather he did not find whatever it was that he was searching for.
“Moose? Are you sure?” Moose nodded, and then I looked back at the departing figure of Tony. He opened the door behind the counter and entered a spacious room filled with many trinkets. I saw little of it. He grabbed whatever Moose asked for rather quickly.
“Allow me to explain our reluctance to accept new contractors while Tony is setting up the device.” Gabriel sat down on one of the barstools near the reception desk. I followed suit. As did Moose.
“Recently, there has been a surge of corpo-spies trying to get recruited into the Contractors. We have a way of verifying if a person has any ties to the corpo world. Many current contractors have a past with or in a corpo, but our internal system allows us to check current involvement with a high level of accuracy. The game changes when SSUs come here.” Gabriel paused and took a deep breath. He only needed it to speak.
“Most of the synthoids that become SSUs are owned directly by corpo assets. That is why when a supposed ‘SSU’ individual comes here, we are suspicious. They could be spies. It happened before.” Gabriel was a very well-spoken person. His voice carried towards me with a clarity I have not experienced beforehand. It also carried with it sorrow. Disappointment. I could see why. There appeared to be only one SSU here and that was Gabriel. Even though I could clearly notice admiration and kindness in people’s eyes when they looked at him, it probably did not feed him the familiarity that only synthoid company could provide.
“When Gabriel came to us, much like you came to us today, we were suspicious and uncertain about how to check if he was ‘clear,’ so to speak.” Moose's deeper voice asked for attention.
“We had to get creative. When we get a new contractor, we need to make them an ID. That comprises a nickname, that can be whatever you want, and a password. That password is based on the DNA of a person. You SSUs don’t have that. What you have is a neutronium signature.” Tony continued.
“I had to tinker with some Geiger counters and whatnot to figure out such a device. Technically, you could buy it, but it is outrageously expensive.” Tony put before me a box filled with knobs and a little LED screen with numbers. The number on the screen was seven numbers long. That number changed constantly while Tony juggled the box to attach a cable with something that looked like an old-fashioned microphone at one end. He then put that microphone-looking-thing next to me and the numbers slowed down until they set on one particular collection of numbers.
It read 9510055. Moose read the number out loud. Gabriel grimaced again.
“It’s higher than mine…”
“We got your number. Now we have to hash your password based on that. You use the password for accessing your personal contractor info. Your PCI. In that, you have the communication tab, your current contracts and other useful things. The password will be sent only to you upon hashing. We – as the Contractor's HQ – will not be in its possession unless you are suspected of foul play in this organization. Everything, our by-laws and whatnot, will be sent to you in the welcoming message.” Tony then pulled out his pad and started typing.
“Before we make you a PCI, however, we have to verify if you are indeed a SSU. We have a… certain version of the Volkovich-Friedmann test available with which we’ll be able to verify that. Just because you are a synthoid that came here does not mean that you are not listening to the commands of your masters.” Tony continued.
“‘Masters’? Really, Tony? What is she? A dog?” Moose grumbled. It was clear by Moose’s tone and the way that he and Gabriel appeared to be close, that he really cared about synthoids’ rights and the way they were treated. If I were to make an ally, it should be Moose.
“Oh! Sorry! Um, could you just connect to that, please?” Tony pulled a cable from his datapad and gave its end to me. I’ve done this once before. It was not exactly unpleasant, but it left me with a strange feeling of exhaustion afterward from what I remembered.
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Just as I attached the cable to my universal port, everything went dark.
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“Oh! Someone’s here! Isn’t she the one-” A distorted voice resonated around me. It was high-pitched and filled with rushing excitement and mild surprise. Its distorted nature made me tickle.
It sounded familiar. Like I heard it before. Or did I? Where was I?
“Again? That doesn’t happen often.” Another voice. Clearer, its vibrancy had order in it. It was a male voice. Deep with hidden amusement.
“What should we do? I don’t want her to get hurt.” The high-pitched voice spoke again. Its cadence became more full. Smoky with maturity. The voice of a woman.
This time, the distortion became almost physical. I felt my body shiver and when I looked down at where my body should be, all I saw were specks of something floating in a shape familiar to myself.
Where was I? This was not right.
“Damn, she’s waking up. We have no time to care. Go upload the result and I’ll keep her safe.” The rich, deeper voice of the two spoke and pressure surrounded the space my form occupied.
It was uncomfortable. Stretched but shriveled, my form tried to fight the increasing force.
“She’s here! Hurry!” The male voice shouted.
Then I felt something touch my core and one word reverberated through me with clinical curiosity.
“Interesting.” It wasn’t the voice of either that man or woman. Who was-
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“-that?” I finished my question when I came back to consciousness.
After my eyesight adjusted itself to the indoor lighting, I asked myself what had just happened? Last time I underwent the test, it was a couple of seconds of goneness and then waking up with an uncomfortable pressure on my mind. There were no voices. No distortions and weird dream-like escapades.
“Agh!” A scream escaped my throat as a pressure in my head built. My mind felt like it was pierced from every side. Sharp pain penetrated my head and a thrumming ache filled my core.
I could feel my body’s disorientation. A thunderous shiver surged through my artiflesh.
Pain. That was that. What an odd feeling.
I felt exhausted.
“Oh, goodness! Are you alright?” Two gentle hands grabbed my forearms.
“W- What’s going on?” I was so confused that I even stammered. The control I had over my body shriveled to a secondary process. The sensations I experienced were not ones I ever had a displeasure of dealing with. Pain was a human thing. Synthoids had notifications about injury.
“That was not supposed to happen.” A quiet voice spoke on my side. Tony. Was this his doing?
“Rend! What happened to you?” Gabriel’s soothing voice reached my senses. I opened my eyes and saw his face twisted with concern.
“I don’t know. I-.”
“Are you gonna be alright? Should we call a doctor?” Gabriel was so sweet for worrying. It felt nice to be fussed over like this, but I couldn’t let myself show too much of a weakness.
From what I observed, these people valued strength and willfulness. At least that was my assessment of this group. Choosing to stray from a comfortable and safe path of a corporate lifestyle and deciding that being what I could only describe as a mercenary figure was not for a common conformist. It was a path for rebels. Furiously righteous people that did what they thought was right. And wasn’t that commendable? Wasn’t that what strength meant? To stand for who you are? To be themselves?
“I’m going to be alright. It was but a moment of discomfort. Nothing. My diagnostics are clear.” I didn’t know if they were. Haven’t run them yet, but a small lie like that wasn’t that bad of a thing. Right?
Let’s run them in the background for now. A set of full diagnostics takes a couple of minutes to complete.
“Are you sure? I mean, you say you are, so I guess it’s fine.” Gabriel didn’t sound like I convinced him, and I didn’t blame him. I could feel how my core was still slightly troubled by what had happened. If I were to explain the feeling to a human, I think I would be in a similar state to what a person goes through after a rush of adrenaline. Irritation and dizziness were at the forefront of my mind. I felt very comfortable being stationary right now.
“Goddammit, Tony! I told you that ancient software was no good. See what happened!” Moose’s indignation made me feel warm. It was similar to something I felt before. While Jack was still around.
“It’s fine.” I said. I didn’t want there to be a scene. I could already tell that everyone in the hall was looking at us. Well, at me specifically. I wasn’t the biggest fan of such blatant staring, but there wasn’t much I could do about that other than defuse the situation.
“I’m really sorry. I don’t know what happened.” Tony looked at me. I could recognize micro expressions that showed true regret and confusion. “But the test worked. See?” He turned his datapad toward me as I pulled the cable out of my universal port.
When I looked closely at the results, I wondered what they meant. I wasn’t familiar with the intricacies of the Volkovich-Friedmann test, but a quick look at the web informed me on how it worked. Sort of.
It tested different moral responses by looking at subtle neutronium spikes in the specific emotional response circuits. Looking at the datapad with the result now, there were numerous calculations, columns, and charts. Back at the Fran-Mili base, they didn’t bother to show me the results. I just heard the final verdict. I would’ve liked to compare the two and see if there were any differences, but unfortunately that was not to be.
“So, the verdict is that she’s a SSU? Isn’t that right, Tony?” Moose asked for confirmation.
“Yeah, definitely. We don’t have to worry about any spies, I suppose. Ha!” A small and strained laughter left Tony’s mouth. The man seemed to be struggling with understanding what occurred.
“That’s great, isn’t it? Now, why don’t we leave Tony to take care of your credentials and go meet some folks?” Gabriel’s cheery voice asked.
Usually my facial expressions were immaculately controlled, but with the intricate diagnostics running through my systems, some functions were left to be controlled consciously instead of in the background. That is why my face must’ve shown some sort of displeasure or annoyance at Gabriel’s suggestion because his face twisted into an awkward grimace.
“That’s fine if you don’t want to. We can just sit down. Just you, Moose and I. That’s better?” He seemed to be well-versed in the finer points of human communication and the complexity of emotions. For me, it all seemed confusing. Even with the incredible processing power my core possessed, some things were beyond my grasp. Though my emotional response circuits were advanced enough for me to become a sentient being, it didn’t make me an expert on what being a sentient was like. That would come through experiencing those things.
That is why, even though I wasn’t quite sure about approaching other people because how was I to know I could trust them, I nodded and told Gabriel my decision.
“No, it’s alright. Introduce me, please.” It felt strange using such expressions. Pleases and thanks yous were not often used when in a corpo-military zone.
“That’s great. Why don’t we start with someone you’re already acquainted with?” Gabriel then straightened up and looked around the hall. He was searching for someone.
“Gabby, I don’t think that’s the best idea-” Moose, almost in a panic, got up and started to say something, but it seemed like Gabriel was set on making me meet that person I supposedly already acquainted myself with. Wait. He couldn’t mean her, right?
“Oh! She’s there! Rin, honey! We’re coming over. Don’t go anywhere!” With an enthusiastic, but slightly weak grip, Gabriel took my arm and started to lead me toward Rin. I could hear a quiet sigh from Moose and a very loud sigh from Rin.
Even though I had not the best first impression of this Rin, as she seemed wholly undisciplined and unnecessarily rude, I wasn’t opposed to having a conversation.
Now, as I realized that, this would be the first time since meeting Arthur when I'm going to be talking to someone not affiliated with the Fran-Mili corporation. So, assuming I understood the Contractors correctly, these were people with much different backgrounds and experiences than those people I used to work for.
I wondered if I would like them. I liked Jack and Commander Yousif back at the base, but one of those relationships I’ve never experienced while fully sentient and with the other, I only had a passing conversation.
This was going to be something I had no prior training in. At that thought, I felt something in my core tighten, and my breathing grew more laborious by around five percent. Was this nervousness?
When we were close enough, Rin stood up and came over to Gabriel.
“You see my face, Gabe? Why’d you think I’m in the mood for you and her?” Such vitriol. I wondered if she was always like that, and if so, where was she getting the energy to act this way. Apparently anger, or in this case rage and disgust, take a lot from a human.
“Well, Rin… Come here for a second.” Gabriel ushered Rin in a corner. As if that would make me not hear what they started whispering about.
“I heard you wanted to buy that new augment for your Sacrifico, didn’t you? What would you say I would get that for you if you’d be nice right now? Hm, so what say you, darling?”
Gabriel’s smooth voice carried out and in response to his proposition I heard Rin grunt. Maybe it was a yes?
“So, are you former military? Which corpo?” Moose asked as the other two turned around to join.
As the group started to sit at the table, which had all manner of strange symbols carved on its surface, I answered.
“Yes, Fran-Mili.”
“Oh! They make nice vests.” Gabriel responded as he reached into his pocket. He pulled out a tin can. Inside was something that looked like hard candy. When he saw me look at it, he brought it closer to where I sat.
“Want some? Fruit flavors.” As if that were going to tell me anything about what those were meant for. Maybe they invented some strange devices for synthoid internal maintenance in the last couple of days and put them in the shape of a candy. Anyhow, I felt it might be rude to refuse.
I did check a couple of etiquette manuals before I stepped into this building in preparation for this social situation.
“Thank you.” I picked the green one. It had the most natural color, after all.
“I like their carbyne cases. Very safe for storing guns.” Rin added from her side of the table as she reached into the tin can after Moose did. Seemed like Gabriel was a candy man around here.
“I thought you didn’t like corporations.” I asked as I tasted the green candy. It had sort of a pleasant taste. I’ve never had anything like that, considering the chemical compounds in it could kill an average man if he were to ingest enough of them in a specific period of time.
“Well, we don’t, but it’s almost impossible to find good gear, for an affordable price, elsewhere. So, we deal.” This time it was Moose who responded.
“I see.”
“Anyhow tell us about you. When did you take the test for the first time?” Gabriel asked as he stashed his can back into his jacket.
“Around four days ago.” When I looked up from a particularly gruesome drawing scratched into the table’s surface, I noticed my companions’ expressions to be ones of shock and disbelief.
“What?!” Amazing. Their voices synchronized.