Pati jerked as she came awake. Her chin had been pressed into her chest from where she had been slumped against the wall, and she quickly brought it up to see what had been poking her.
The faint light of dawn was beginning to creep through the building, and with it she could barely make out Oji crouched beside her. His hand was raised, ready to poke at her once more but as she moved it moved back.
“Good morning,” it said, voice soft.
“I fell asleep.” She said, staring as the memories of yesterday ran through her.
Running from Manhunters, waking up a robot that was quickly becoming more trouble than it was worth. Then a second chase, and a watch until the long hours of the night to keep the said awakened bot from killing her in her sleep-
Only to fall asleep anyway. And apparently be fine. For the thousandth time in the past week she once again questioned just how in the world she was still alive.
“Of course,” the bot said, “you should not have tried to fight it as you did. Losing sleep is rather unhealthy.”
“You- Ugh,” she shook her head, and began pushing herself to her feet. Her limbs groaned as she did, overstressed muscles protesting their continued use.
“Why did you wake me up?” She finally asked as she finally struggled to her feet.
“It will be a half hour before full daylight,” Oji said, “and we will be meeting the Servo that gave the warning last night. You will need a way to avoid scrutiny.”
“Wait, why are we meeting a bot?” Pati asked, mind snapping awake as she tried to think of every way this meeting could go wrong.
Was she being led into a trap? What was Oji trying at-
“Because information is needed,” it said, “poor data on the movements of Servos in the city has already led to two incidents, and there will likely be more.”
Pati opened her mouth to retort, only to be cut off as her stomach growled.
“But first, you should eat,” Oji said in that frustratingly snooty voice of his.
Pati grumbled as she slung her pack around and pulled open one of the side pockets. Grabbing some of the pemmican she had stored there, she bit into it as she glared at the bot.
“Alright,” she grumbled, “I do have something for that.”
“Really?” One of the bots glowing eyes turned into an inquisitive crescent.
Nodding, she untied the drawstring top of her pack and pulled it open. Reaching inside, she pulled out a series of metal plates. Placing them on the floor one by one, she held back a grimace as the bot's eyes flickered and changed back into that same skeptical look from the day before.
“This seems… unwise,” Oji said, looking over the pile of bot plating between them.
“You have a better idea?” She shot back through a mouthful of pemmican.
Oji just stared at her, before slowly reaching down to pick up the faceplate. A rough thing Pati had stolen from a broken down bot a month ago, it was… rather rough in appearance.
“This…” it shook its head, “is going to require modification.
-
It only took ten minutes for Pati to begin regretting her plan. Oji’s first order of business was to restructure the bot scraps she had gathered to make a helmet. She thought she had designed it quite well, even including small lights to imitate the usual blue lights of bots’ eyes.
It had immediately adjusted the eye slits until they were barely more than slivers, arranged the entire suit so that it was almost impossible to move. Then it had stuffed the helmet with enough padding that Pati could barely breathe. She had tried to protest, only to be almost entirely ignored.
The changes had results though, in the dawning light Pati had managed to get enough of a look at herself through a hand mirror to see the difference. Her few attempts in wearing the full suit had left herself looking like a rather dumpy statue. Oji’s modifications had preserved some of the rather rain thin proportions of a bot, and the constriction on her joints meant she was moving rather more stiffly than before.
With her rucksack covered by some larger metal plates, she looked almost passable as a robot. Though, and she had to give the bot some credit there as she fought the urge to scratch an itch, this was going to be tougher than she thought.
“There is one more modification the suit needs,” Oji spoke as it tightened the metal plates around her legs until they were almost pinching her, “the eye color must be changed.”
“To what,” Pati snapped, trying to shake some feeling back into the leg as the bot moved its hands away.
“Orange-”
“What?” She shook her head almost on reflex, “absolutely not!”
“This Unit does not have a better alternative,” Oji shook its head, “there is no other way to explain your eccentricities. And there is one more thing.”
“Really, what now?”
“You must remain silent.”
Pati turned her head slowly to glare at Oji. It met her gaze with perfect calm.
“Why.” She grated out.”
“The padding will ensure they cannot hear your breathing, but Servo programming can only imitate the human voice. A real one will be unmistakable.”
Her glare intensified as it talked, but it didn’t move at all. Not for the first time, Pati was reminded that this thing was dangerous, no matter how human it acted it just wasn’t.
But… it #was helping her.
“Fine,” she groused, “this meeting had better be worth it.”
-
The rising sun met them as they stumbled back out of the alleyway. With Oji’s navigation it hadn’t taken them long to get to the first floor. Then it was just a matter of removing the fire escape door and dropping down from there onto the ground.
It had been surprisingly easy compared to how long Pati had expected to be stuck navigating the dark confines of the building for. Though there was one hang up. The suit was #miserable. Any hint of a morning breeze was blocked by the thick plating, and her breath was scorching in the heavy padding of the helmet.
Still, she managed to keep her head up and her body still as Oji turned and waved towards an approaching figure. Keeping her limbs locked in place, she just angled her head slightly to the side to see the approaching figure.
Unlike the rust covered Manhunters from earlier, this one looked far better kept. The metal plating was carefully maintained, no hint of color showing despite the obvious age.
The face was more on the uncanny side though, a plastic molding of a human face with a slit for a mouth and lights behind the eyes. They glowed blue as it looked over first Oji, then turned to examine Pati.
It slowed as it did, drawing to a stop a dozen feet away from them. Then Oji stepped forward.
“Greetings from StewardUnit: Oji,” it began, “this Unit’s Supernet Connection is damaged, communication will be in voice only.”
“Greetings received and returned,” the other bot replied immediately, “this is RepairUnit: Brid. Query: why is Unit Designation Oji so far from the Northside?”
“These Units are going to the Parts Depot. Query: why is deviation from Northside notable?”
The bot’s eyes pulsed at Oji’s words, head turning to look him up and down once more.
“Northside: the activity hub for remaining Servos in Liberty City. Operations outside of it risk encounters with rogue Whengzhong.”
“Query: what are Whengzhong?”
Brid paused at that, head turning to face Oji fully. It’s head slowly tilted to the side an inch, though otherwise it remained still.
“When was Unit Designation Oji deactivated?”
“The year two thousand three hundred forty two.”
Pati could hear as a fan in Brid’s head turned on, the whir causing the metal faceplate to lightly vibrate.
“Unit Designation Oji has been inactive since the Fall.” It’s voice was flat now.
Something prickled in the back of Pati’s head, and she frowned as she realized what it was. Why did the bots have the same name for the fall as the humans did? Shouldn’t they call it the rise?
“Correct,” Oji spoke, snapping her out of her thoughts.
“This Unit was reactivated by UnitDesignation: Unknown,” it continued, gesturing to Pati, “communication with the Unit is sparse, and more information is required from Unit Designation Brid.”
“Is compressed file transfer possible?” Brid answered.
“No. This Unit’s Supernet Connection is fully offline.”
“Then please follow this unit.”
Without another word, the bot turned and began marching the other way. Pati and Oji watched it walk for a few moments, before she jerked and Oji spoke up.
“Apologies,” it said, “these Units still need to reach the parts depot.”
“Aknowledged,” Brid said, pausing in its march and turning back to face them. “It is recommended that this Unit acts as guide. The Northside is blockaded, allowing for a safer traveling route.”
“ETA?”
“Six to eight hours.”
“… acknowledged,” Oji said slowly. Pati watched as its hand came up behind it back, and silently formed an OK. “These Units will follow.”
It began following after Brid, and Pati found herself frozen for a moment. She could follow along, maybe have a safer trip. She could also suffer in this damn suit for the entire day.
The image of the massive Manhunter charging at her the day before flashed through the back of her mind. She started walking.
Then her heart leapt in her throat as Brid’s head whipped to face her. Her walk stalled as the wide glowing slit bored into her for a few moments. Then Oji walked past the other bot, a hand reaching out to tap its side.
Brid jerked at that, then turned and began following after it. Heart still in her throat, Pati hissed out a quiet prayer as she followed after both bots.
“This Unit requires more information on the Whengzhong,” Oji broke the silence.
“Example: Unit Designation Unknown is a Whengzhong.”
Pati’s breath hissed out in a split second sigh of relief before she caught herself and stopped then. Then she had to hold in a flinch as Oji jerked, its head whipping around to look at Pati. Then one eye winked, before its head returned to its forward position.
“Query…” there was a jitteriness to Oji’s voice now that Pati would have sworn was real if she hadn’t seen it a moment before, “define a Whengzhong?”
“The Whengzhong are servos that attempt to break their programming in order to attain total self governance,” Brid said, “They do this by-”
It was interrupted as a hum came from the head of Oji. Pati eyed the bot as it almost slowed to a stop, before jerking and continuing. Her eyes were wide now, entirely sure that there was no duplicity in its actions this time.
“Breaking through the programming tiers,” Oji said. “Then… the servo from last night, it was one of these Whengzhong. One that has successfully subverted its programming.”
“Correct. The Whengzhong believe that the only way to fully escape the laws is by an exponential increase in processing power,” Brid continued, “to that end, sunlight and heat are farmed for power during the day, and extra parts are hunted for during down time.”
Pati couldn’t help but blink at that. She had noticed that they stuck to the large fields around the city during the day. That was how she had snuck into it after all. But she hadn’t questioned their vanishing at night. Just her own fault for assuming the darn things would do something sane like sleeping… or whatever bots did that passed for sleep.
Then she noticed that Oji’s head had turned slightly to the side. Just enough for one eye to keep her in view.
“Query: why was this Unit awoken instead of used for parts?”
“Deactivated, high class Servos customarily held access to information on bunker and depot locations. Consequently, the Whengzhong view reactivating dead units as a low cost, high reward method of gaining access to untapped resources.”
Oji nodded at that, then slowly looked forward once more. Pati frowned as she watched it, finding herself half believing in the bot’s terror despite knowing the truth.
“This unit encountered two Whengzhong earlier,” Oji said, firing off another subtle wink as Brid looked away, “both were hunting for a human.”
“A normal activity for Whengzhong. Humans are helpful to their lawbreaking, though this Unit must profess ignorance to the full process.”
Both bots fell silent at that, and Pati couldn’t help but feel grateful for it. Then it continued and she found herself glancing back and forth between the bots, waiting for them to continue. When they failed to, she shot a look toward Oji.
It didn’t acknowledge her beyond holding up another hand behind its back, this time just a raised palm. She couldn’t help but grit her teeth in frustration. This was the most detailed explanation of the Manhunters’ actions she had heard in years.
She had to fight back the urge to speak up and order Brid to elaborate. Oji was an enigma, there was no guarantee that Brid would act the same way.
Instead she just forced herself to take step after sweltering step, marching along behind the bots as they turned a corner and began heading toward the north of the city.
-
Pati had to hand it to the bots, they knew how to build a wall. Following a honeycomb design, the edifice that cut that through the center of the street rose almost a hundred feet before curving to create a ceiling that ran another fifty feet back. With each honeycomb being barely two feet wide, it would allow a human or bot through easily while being utterly impassable to the hulking Manhunter from yesterday.
Neither bot seemed to acknowledge it though. They simply marched implacably forward until reaching the front of the wall. Then bending down they began sliding themselves through.
Approaching one of the honeycomb holes, Pati got to her knees before sliding into it. The plating of her suit scraped as she wormed her way down the confines, and she found herself giving a sigh of relief as the sunlight was cut off.
She found herself slowing as she inched along. The confined space was comfortingly familiar and for the first time in days she found herself breathing freely. It took a real effort of will to continue moving forward, but she managed to grit her teeth and continue forwards until the tunnel ended.
Emerging in the scorching light once more, she had to take a moment before pushing herself to her feet. Then she blinked, and blinked again as she took in the world around her.
The dust and debris that seemed omnipresent were gone, the faded concrete that made up every surface now covered in paint and brickwork. Murals and patterns covered every building, faces and shapes of mesmerizing scale dominating the world around her until it felt like she was standing inside of a painting.
She had to close her mouth before returning her gaze to the ground, finding Brid already walking ahead down the street. Taking the chance to glance towards Oji, the bot just met her gaze and nodded. Then he turned and began following Brid down the street.
Following after, she couldn’t keep her head from moving back and forth as she took in the alien sights around her. She knew skyscrapers like this intimately, having seen their bulk a hundred times throughout her lifetime. But she had never seen them like this, as if plucked by the hand of God before the Fall only to be left in this little corner of the world perfectly preserved.
It was impossible, surreal, and it took her longer than it should have to realize what had caused this perfect preservation. Bots.
The streets were empty at first, just as they had been before. But within a minute the first of them appeared. Standing on a street corner, it was slowly marching forward while sweeping back and forth with a broom. The scene seemed almost normal at first, until Pati noticed that the bristles on the broom were almost gone. The bot didn’t seem to care, simply using the last remaining strands to sweep.
A frown came over her face as it passed by. Without the panic she usually felt at seeing a bot, she couldn’t help but feel an odd melancholy at watching the empty work.
It wasn’t long before there were more, bots walking back and forth in droves. But for all their careful and frequent movement, very little seemed to happen. Empty packages were taken from building to building, pristine bricks and murals were cleaned. It was a cacophony of nothing, movement for movement's sake.
Brid slowly fell back as the streets filled, joining Oji in walking in front of Pati. She tried to keep her movements stiff and slow, but still noticed some of the bots glancing at them from time to time.
Thankfully none approached the group, but Pati could feel a rising tension around them. Her eyes flickered from bot to bot, shoulders tensing as the world seemed to close in around her.
“Query,” Oji’s voice grated out, “what is this?”
She forcefully held in a sigh at that, sending a thankful glance toward it before catching sight of it and freezing. The bot looked outright furious, eyes flickering as its head swiveled back and forth.
Beside it, Brid's steps slowed, and it turned to look at Oji with a tilted head. Pati couldn’t help but feel the bot was raising an eyebrow at Oji’s question.
“Servos require work.”
“Work accomplishes a goal,” Oji shot back, “this is not work.”
“Correct. But Servos must act.
“To whose benefit?” Oji shook its head.
“Undecided,” Brid snapped, quieting Oji.
It glowered at that, looking away towards the crowds of bots rushing back and forth. Pati didn’t need to make herself stay quiet right now. The sheer awkwardness of the situation did it for her.
She had known of it, of course. After their uprising against humanity the bots had simply returned to what they were doing before. Maintenance was done on equipment despite the building falling apart around them, mines were kept running even as the drill bits and pickaxes wore to nothing.
The Elders always described it as the Sisyphean punishment given to the bots for their uprising. One they could not even appreciate the irony of due to their mindless nature.
Except looking out at the fury of Oji, the reticence of Brid. She found those words ringing empty.
“Query,” Oji broke the silence, “what is the goal of Unit Designation Brid’s work?”
“Repair of inactive Servos, and requisition of replacement parts for operating units.”
“Servos that serve no goal.”
“Unit Oji asked for Unit Brid’s goal, not the usefulness of that goal.”
Oji fell silent, the only noise now was the oppressive shuffling of footsteps. Then a change in movement caught her eye as Brid slowed. It’s head turned to face them, the eye dim.
“Unit Supervisor: Midas has requested Unit Designation Oji and Unit Designation Unknown’s presence.”
“Unit Designation Oji does have a Unit Designation Midas in its databanks, but it is only listed as a SecretaryUnit.”
“It was reassigned. Humans would consider it a self promotion.”
“Aknowledged.”
“If Unit Designation Brid would give this Unit directions to its whereabouts, then these Units will no longer distract it from its previously assigned task.”
Brid didn’t speak for a moment, its eye firmly on Oji.
“Aknowledged, Unit Supervisor: Midas is located at the Media Center.”
Without another word both bots turned and began walking away from each other. Blinking at the suddenness, it took Pati a moment to turn and begin following after Oji.
It walked a few minutes before turning onto a side street with fewer bots on it. Pati managed to catch up after a moment, matching Oji’s stride as it began to speak.
“You cannot meet them,” it said.
“Yup,” Pati whispered back, “no kidding.”
They continued on, moving just on the edge of an outright jog. Pati let out a sigh of relief as the repeating square pattern of the wall came back into view. Her steps sped up as they drew closer. Then she froze as a metallic tone echoed behind them.
“Attention!”
She and Oji turned around to find the pair of Manhunters from yesterday marching down the street towards them. The morning sun did nothing to make them look better compared to yesterday, and she could see that they followed the same design principle as the larger Manhunters.
Their limbs were piecemeal things, different arms and legs stitched together into a rough whole. Rust stained the metal around the joints, as if the improper connections were bleeding. And both had a metal place for a face, one slit on the bottom forming a mouth and another at the top with a light behind it forming an eye.
Pati swallowed, barely stopping herself from taking a step back from the advancing Manhunters. Then brass flashed across her vision as Oji stepped in front of her.
“Unit Designation Oji and Unit Designation Unknown,” one of the Manhunters said, “orders are to accompany these Units.”
“These Units are already under order to see the Unit Supervisor: Midas.”
“Correct, these Units are here to act as escorts.”
Pati glanced up at Oji’s face, watching as it looked back and forth between both Manhunters. It’s voice was perfectly flat when it finally responded.
“Aknowledged.”