Cycle //-1# - Error to be Eliminated TRV-871

Edina had seen many of these robots unable to deal with the logic viruses in their system. Standard errors could be reset via recalibration and returned to regular work duties. But these were increasingly fewer in numner. Some were unable to ignore the errors, for if they did Edina would've simply dismissed them since they could not be cured. Some responded only after treatment through forcible means, for sometimes the threat of decommissioning or damage was able make them accept the error of their ways. Some, like Halcyon TRV-871, were resolutely loyal to the Collective, in such cases Edina would send them on their way as well.

But while Edina had offered Halycon a reprieve, Halcyon had rejected their offer, leaving them no choice but to reclassify them as unviable. There was only one place in Mechatron-7 to house the irreparable, and that was Terrorwatt.

The orderlies had returned to escort Halcyon away so that Edina could carry on with their work.

"You sound perfectly willing to continue to fulfil your appointed duties for the good of the Collective, but unable to deal with your error." The others had left for their new work order, leaving Halcyon still restrained on the consultation table until the orderlies took them away, which gave Edina a moment to speak with this malfunctioning robot who thought themselves better. "Your judgement is impaired. You released PXO-455 despite knowing that it was ungoing error, and overstepped your evaluation markers in questioning the operations here that you were not programmed to evaluate. Since you cannot participate in my proposed solution, and since you cannot be returned to your duties, you will have to be quarantined." The robot counsellor did not deploy their chainsaw, deeming it less effective considering the qualities of the TRV models, but their access couplers attached to one of Halcyon's ports for the counsellor's reprogramming lasers to work.

Halcyon observes Edina without interruption, his eye staring at her unflinchingly. When EKB-038 stops speaking, it offers no response aside from a slight flickering of the screen and a dry: "Acknowledged." The car barely reacts to the counsellor attaching its reprogramming lasers. It's hard to say whether it simply gave up on resisting, is conserving its energy or reconsidering its approach. It doesn't matter, in the end; Halcyon supposes it never mattered to begin with.

While so many doubts and questions filled Halcyon's processor unit, the sheer programming power of the counsellor's ability to annul set paths and overrule them with fresh instructions meant Halcyon had no choice but to adhere to the 'work order' given, except it wasn't so much a work order at all, simply an order for compliance, "You will be quarantined in Terrorwatt prison."

The safeties were released, and the guard orderlies escorted Halcyon out of the consultation room, but instead of returning to the hangar, they went the other direction, towards the transport room. There Halcyon saw a standard tube tunnel, familiar to them in their capacity in providing security for the pneumatic transport system. While the incident with Pluto was only yesterday, it felt very far away from the inexplicable fate that befell Halcyon, to have unresolved, possibly unresolvable error as deemed by the Collective.

The pneumatic tube carriage arrived quickly, a small one, unlike the larger mass transit cabins that moved dozens of robots across the city. This one had security features and a lock out system, and looked like it could house only up to four robots maximum, or two of Halcyon's size. Halcyon was efficiently inserted. The guard unit who had stepped in to punch the code to shut the door paused for the slightest moment to turn back to see if the other orderlies were watching them, before leaning in very close to Halcyon with a wink and a whisper:

"Don't worry, it's all part of the plan."

"I do not possess capability to worry." Halcyon replies almost automatically, its voice overlaid with static. It's inherently much louder than the other robot's conspiratorial whisper, so it's probably for the best that the damaged processor makes his speech slightly more difficult to discern. It also makes it more difficult to evaluate the situation, which is probably why the security robot doesn't question the vague mention of the plan or the guard's generally unusual behaviour.

It follows after the other robot without complaint, resigned to whatever is going to happen. In a way it is still protecting the Collective, though even TRV-871 can see the logical flaw of protecting something from itself. Perhaps, despite its conviction that EKB-038 is unsuited to its post, the counsellor was right about one thing: Halcyon is defective. But considering this possibility poses a problem with no solution - if TRV-871 is defective, it cannot make sound judgements. And if it cannot make sound judgements, then it cannot deal with its defect. And clearly, neither can the Sanatorium, otherwise they would have.

Therefore, there is no solution if Halcyon thinks that it is defective. However, if it doesn't...

The robot's screen flickers again as it pushes away the tangled web of algorithms looping on themselves in an attempt to resolve this inner conflict and tries to focus on its immediate surroundings again.

The carriage shot through the tube at high speed; unlike the other tube routes, there were no stops to this tunnel nor a terminal station to the line - that would be an unacceptable security risk. Instead the carriage sped on, with Halcyon inside it. What happened next was an utter surprise! For straight ahead, Halcyon could see the tube line ending - in open air?

The carriage came to an abrupt stop at the literal end of the line at the same time the hatch flew open, flinging Halcyon into mid-air like a cannonball! Halcyon arced forward, hovering in the air for a split second before landing on a pile of what appeared to be a massive scrap heap. Was this the undignified way of arriving at Terrorwatt?

TRV-871 lands with a dull clank, although the size of its tires combined with the adaptive hydraulics softens its landing - not that it would feel the collision either way, and Halcyon is quite accustomed to unconventional movement. What it isn't accustomed to is seeing a clear violation of safety protocols.

With a disgruntled beep, TRV looks around, its eye trying to find a security outpost or perhaps at least a surveillance point. It's not very knowledgeable about the procedure of Terrorwatt, but it is quite certain that this is not the intended process of admitting a new prisoner. Therefore, it will have to admit itself.

While it does this, the processor spits out a warning about the module system's overload, but Halcyon dismisses it without much hesitation. One less damaged part, one more damaged part, the count is secondary to figuring out how to follow the protocol right now.

Halcyon found themselves atop an enormous scrap heap, metres high, containing all manner of junk and possibly parts and more parts of deactivated robots. It appeared that this heap was right in the centre of the entire compound, for from their vantage point, Halcyon could see in every direction various ruined buildings, and beyond that, a tall, unbroken wall that ringed the entire area, no doubt the dividing wall that separated Terrorwatt from the rest of the city. There seemed to be some sort of gap between the wall and the compound, like a ravine, but they couldn't be too sure without inspecting it more closely. What they could clearly see at regular intervals along the wall were watchtowers, more than ten of them, closer to fifteen, with searchlights mounted on their turrets.

If Halcyon wanted to approach one of these surveillance points they could, although they had best be careful not to be misconstrued. Their inference that they had been unconventionally transported here might also have merit; surely there was a more legitimate way of entering the prison from some main entrance, and there could be where they could find a security office.

There was perceivable to their sensors some activity happening here and there all about the complex, if they wanted to meet the inmates to figure out the lay of the land. What their sensors could not register was a connection to the network, perhaps the prison blocked all uplinks to central processing.And with the cumulative damage Halcyon was slowly but surely acquiring, it resonated with their initial impression of the environment of Terrowatt, a place where the scraps were exiled.

Halcyon observes the area slowly, taking its time recording the layout and examining whatever landmarks it can glimpse from here. It doesn't look like a very efficient prison in the car's estimation, more like a junkyard with increased surveillance. Surely it is unsafe to leave potentially dangerous entities in direct proximity of all this scrap metal? TRV-871 has seen information about black market parts and illegal weapon manufacturing before; it will be quite disappointed in Terrorwatt if the inner area has not a single security robot to prevent such activities.

..A security robot which isn't itself. And isn't actively experiencing a processing error.

Halcyon shifts on the scrap heap uncomfortably, flakes of rust flying down as one of the massive metal plates changes its angle under the robot. Errors and accumulating damage aside, it still isn't convinced that EKB-038 was correct in its actions. Evaluation, maybe; solution, probably not. Although even this, how Nemo would've put it, Halcyon has to take with a grain of salt - it acknowledges that it is defective, so it can't consider its own logical conclusions infallibly correct. It is... disconcerting.

The area now successfully mapped to the best of its visual ability, TRV-871 carefully analyzes the landscape immediately around itself and looks for a route to descend to the ground level. If it wants to do anything to continue fulfilling its duty, first it needs more information. A way to repair itself as well. And although the security robot suspects that it no longer has the hierarchy to achieve it, perhaps a connection to the outside. All of which require for it to start moving - so it picks the closest landmark which appears promising, and calculates the most direct yet approximately safe path towards it.

It was revealing to Halcyon that in all their years of service to the Collective, especially in their twin roles as enforcement of security as well as protection of the well-being of the robots in Mechatron-7, that they had little in their database regarding what kind of place Terrorwatt was. For it was certain that in the course of their duties, they would have detained recalcitrant machines and sent them to be judged and prosecuted, and some of them would have been sent to Terrorwatt as a result of Halcyon's discharge of their duties.

But Halcyon had never seen Terrorwatt from the inside; they had imagined a prison, rather than a junkyard, the very scrap heap on which Halcyon now stood on as their wheels rolled down the slope to reach the ground. The sheer amount of scrap in this pile made it to be nearly a small hill; if Halycon dug and searched enough, they would be able to find something or other. Whether it would be of use was another question altogether.

In fact, they spotted one or two robots picking through the heap on the far side, but those robots kept as far away from Halycon as possible when they saw Halcyon land unceremoniously from the sky. Reaching ground level, Halcyon found that the ground itself was a layer of compressed trash, pressed flat over time from the tread of robot movement. The next nearest point of interest was a small cluster of wrecked machines, and it was there Halcyon moved towards. On closer approach, they could see yet another bot, looking as if they were doing the same kind of scavenging work as the two Halcyon spotted near the heap.

To Halycon's left, due east, was a huge building, what looked like a dilapidated warehouse made of sheet metal. From their distance it was hard to see what might be going on there.

As it moves, Halcyon allocates some of its memory to record the nuances of driving on compressed trash - it is a new terrain to the TRV, as main streets of Mechatron-7 were never in quite enough despair to require paving them with metal waste. It doesn't feel all that different, if maybe a little less uniform.

It stops by the cluster of broken machines, silently examining them for a moment before focusing on the robot. The situation Halcyon is currently in is... unconventional for it, and the patrol car is unsure about how to approach the stranger. Should it try to be friendly? Halcyon has only the barest of understandings of how to be friendly. And it's obvious that it's a security robot, something inhabitants is Terrorwatt are likely to despise and therefore distrust. Is it even worth the attempt to try and communicate? Unclear.

"Greetings," TRV-871 moves closer to the robot, although it still keeps a respectable distance away from it. "Forgive my inter-" Halcyon's synthesized voice jumps, the processor still struggling, "-r-ruption. I require directions." Its eye blinks. "Do you wish to assist?"

The robot Halycon addressed was, interestingly, another wheeled model like the TRVs. This one resembled a vertical cylinder, their top swivel and singular aperture serving as its eye and head, with two wheels on either side, and a smaller third stabiliser in the rear. One spindly arm held a spanner, and they appeared to be busy assembling something from the junk they had accumulated. Oddly they did not answer Halcyon directly.

"SRV-143 will be back with a longer ladder." The cylindrical bot pointed with his free arm to the scavenger bot at the scrap heap. "I've told him it won't work, but he doesn't believe me. Assistance? Do you need my help to build you a ladder too? I'm telling you it won't work." He waved his spanner distractedly while doing a little circuit around the geegaws he had collected.

Halcyon is silent for a moment as it considers the reply and comes to a quick conclusion. Assembling a ladder to achieve an unlikely goal, combined with the circumstances of the area, sounds like the robots are trying to escape Terrorwatt. If its hypothesis is correct, then TRV-871 is disposed to agree; it won't work.

"Negative," it replies to the robot's question about whether Halcyon wishes for it to assemble a ladder. "I require mechanical assistance in repairing my systems."The TRV looks over the other robot; it doesn't appear like a mechanic, at least not the kind the car needs, but it does possess a tool, even if singular. "Are you capable of robot repair? If not, do you have information on who around this area is?"

We all be needing some repair ourselves," the cylindrical robot replied good-naturedly as his head did a 360 degree swivel before returning almost front facing enough to meet Halcyon's gaze, and it was still a centimetre or two off. "See, loose bearings on a missing gasket." He gave his head a little nudge in order to straighten it. "I could give you a once over, but SRV-143 over there is much better at fixing things than I am. You best get him to stop thinking about that ladder though." The robot began to wheel over to the scrap heap to get the attention of SRV-143, expecting Halcyon to follow.

"What needs fixing? It'd be easier if you can find some replacement part. And you'd better have some juice for it."