Cycle //2# - Humanity Debunked

There was no way repair drones would ever be programmed to attack other robots; the best they would do was defend themselves if necessary. Something was very wrong here. Fully three of the repair drones had ganged up on Ox's own drone to rip it apart. Ox's extra arms immediately went into action to try to push as many of them away as possible. This was when both Sid and Sir came to their aid. Sid's heavy lifting capacity meant he could swat them at ease, while Sir stood a couple of steps away to pick them off with his rarely-used pistol. What was dangerous about these robots despite their small size were the laser welders that were part of the assortment of tools mounted on them, which could easily cut through the metal chassis of the robots.

[Sid is startled as he gets attacked he's never been attacked before and has jo idea what's going to happen...

Sir is attacked by the drone. Not one to back down from anything, he prepares to fight back.

Coordination bots were never meant to be front-line units facing combat. Ordinarily Sir would have been some distance away defending themselves with their firearm, but the team was close enough to the malfunctioning generator for the spider-like Creeper drones to swarm them, equally malfunctioning as they were. Sir had shot one away, but another latched on to them and began to cut a hole into their chassis.

Sid was much more durable. Years of exposure to grime and hazardous waste, alongside their hardy construction, enabled him to resist more the potency of a wielding laser. A wide swipe with his cleaning appendage sent one of the drones spinning away into a corner, but another was undeterred as it came at them. The sheer idea of being attacked was an entirely new experience for Sid, there had yet to be any occasion for which another robot had attempted to harm him.

Ox fared no better. His more delicate arms were designed for precision manufacturing work, and so was his assistant drone. If only Halcyon were here, they would've made short work of these repair drones.

Sid noticies the flashing light that the mining drill doesn't work, and it makes him think, when did that last get used? It was a strange kind of drill and hence fragile. But now that the city wasn't expanding there was no need for cleaning freshly cut tunnels. It was a drill though, could it Sid Wondered cut tunnels of it's own?

Then it was back to the fight perhaps the broom hadn't been the best weapon maybe if he added some cleaning chemicals it would mess with these drones.

The drill he supposed was a little like giving Sir a pistol something that they were never expected to use but humans might have it, actually he wasn't sure a Janitor would have a Drill.

Tired of this senseless fight, Sir activates his Disruptor Virus, spending 1 EP to deal damage and neutralize the enemy drone.

Sid was discovering that they now thought of the various built-in equipment they possessed as having more potential than simply their intended and expressed functions. The mining drill could certainly be used to access less reachable spaces and in fact might clear a path when needed. They also had spools of wires and cabling, all capable of lifting himself or others, or they could be used to move all manner of things. The pesky repair drone before him could very much be manipulated in such manner as well.

They contemplated these even as Sir sent out a disruption signal to the drone harassing them. If the drones could not respond to a H7 command due to insidious reprogramming, Sir could still enforce their order in a different way. The one that came after them skittered to a stop as their processor caught itself in a loop. Sid was not so successful this time, unused as they were to actually trying to fend off another bot, which now managed to leap onto to them and aim their laser tool at Sid's joints.

The attack knocks Sid off balance, he still doesn't really feel like the drone has managed to actually hurt him through so he continues attacking maybe it's because he can't feel pain... Sid he could check what damage had been done after the drone was delt with.

Seeing that Sid dealt with the last rogue drone, Sir asks Ox to continue with the power plant repairs and follows Cutie.

One solid swipe, because in the earlier instance Sid had not regarded physically accosting another robot, drone or otherwise, as an actual option, and the last drone lay smashed on the cold floor, something for Sid to clean up later should they care to do so. Their job this time was not cleaning, but something more complex, to solve the mystery of who had reprogrammed the drones.

The retaliatory attacks stopped, not one but six defective drones to clean up. There were still other repair drones going about their business in the Engine Hall, but no further ones peeled off from their business to come after the Error Eliminator team. Looking at Ox revealed the reason why: the industrial robot had also dealt with their pair of rogue drones, but their own repair drone had been torn apart. It lay uselessly near the access panel which it had opened in order to begin its repair diagnostic. Ox picked it up to return it to their attached compartment; they would have to fix it some time later. That was the reason the Creeper series drones ceased their aberrant behaviour; there was no immediate threat to anyone trying to restore the generator.

"Unless we want to knock them all out." Ox suggested to Sid and Sir, "Or get Dudley to shut down every single one of them. But for now I'm not going to try to repair the generator, otherwise we'll have to deal with them non-stop. I'll stay here to see if I can figure out what else is wrong." They had another aide, a hover drone model that could inspect the whole mechanism without signaling that it was trying to fix the problem.

QTE-002 had in the meantime exited the Engine Hall by the door to the right of the generator. Following them led Sir to see what room they were heading towards, a unlit nondescript charging room with ten docking bays. Ten robots stood here, deactivated but on stand by, presumably for if and when the station needed more service robots to do the work. 002 inserted themselves into one of the bays, moving one of the stationary bots out of the way. As they docked, they powered themselves down to be recharged. Was this what they meant by their reference to the Creator? No human here, just charging stations driven by the same power that drove the entire power plant, from the same reactor.

On inspection the inactive robots were numbered 011-020. All the same QTE series. This meant 001-010 were online (and this included 002 of course). Did this mean 002 was not the perpetrator of the sabotage? If not then who?

Sir actives QTE-011 to interrogate it about the Creator.

"Greetings, I am Sir BBX-283, H7 top-tier coordinator robot. I would like to know more about and talk to the Creator, Their representatives or Prophets. This is urgent. Can you help me?"

QTE-011 was off duty, like the rest of the others currently docked and charging. But Sir addressing them meant they blinked back on in order to reply, even though they remained at their docking spot, for it was not yet time for them to deploy, unless Dudley issued an override command to activate these reserve bots beyond their shift.

"Greetings." They replied equally politely, "I am QTE-011. If you need help I recommend you seek out Dudley DUD-642, the manager of this power plant." They were clearly unaware of what Ox, Sid and Sir had been up to. Their next reply was revealing, for its contrasted what 002 had said earlier. "The Creator? Prophets? There are no humans in Mechatron that I am aware of. I know only a little of the history of our creators, as much as any other robot. How can I help?" The answer was one of ignorance to what Sir was referring to.

Sir thanks QTE-011, tells him there is no need to bother, he will handle that himself, and them leaves the room.

Maybe just this shift was affected. He tries to find QTE-001 or QTE-003 to talk to them about the Creator.

Sir is looking for some proof or at least more information before blaming Dudley for everything, even though this is exactly what Sir wanted to do since their first conversation, when the coordinator tried to deflect and minimize his responsibility for the situation.

"So what happens if we determine Dudley is the problem?"
Sid asks, he's never considered what a punishment for a robot might be, he knows that rules are enforced for humans but robots were just supposed to do as they were told.

Sir was right in that they needed proof. The most obvious suspect with Dudley, for the plant manager had complete oversight of the entire functioning of the power plant. They had a whole bunch of verified facts: the generator showed signs of sabotage. The repair drones assigned to the Engine Hall were re-programmed to react aggressively to anyone attempting to repair the damage. And most strangely, the service bot on duty, 002, spoke strangely about a 'Creator' in contrast with 011, who behaved as expected of a maintenance work bot.

They could try to find out more about who or what this 'Creator' was. Was this being controlling things here? Was 002 referring to Dudley? Or as Sir considered, perhaps they could speak with the others of the same shift, 001-010. They had entered the power plant earlier and passed by the recreation room on the way to the manager's office. That would be the place to look for the other bots on the same shift. Either that, or they would have to return to the office itself, where there were two bots on duty managing the various consoles under Dudley's command. There were also cameras to review, if they wanted to see who or what tampered with the generator.

Sid on the other hand wondered about exactly how they would deal with Dudley, should they find them guilty of the crime. As an Error Eliminator Unit, they were deputised to investigate and act to remove error when they discovered such. Edina did not explicitly say that they were to use any means necessary to fulfil their duty, but they were clear about the authorisation to solve the problem by any means. This could be arresting Dudley, or summoning the proper authorities to do so. Had Halycon joined them, Halycon would have the authority to act in their capacity as a security bot. But Halcyon had been sent to Terrorwatt. And now it occurred to Sid that if Dudley was found to be defective, they would likewise be sent to Terrorwatt as well, but would that be after Edina 'counselled' them?

"I suggest we send it to Edina, for counseling. Dudley deserves for the way it talked to you." - answered Sir. - "Let's go to the recreation room, I wanna talk to another QTE robot about this Creator."

But... Sid wasn't so sure, what if Dudley's thoughts were problematic, would they be able to determine that or just that it wasn't normal... Sid knew for example that he still wanted society to function and that he still wanted the humans to return but what if someone wanted society to be non functional and they were put in an error eliminator like them...

"Yeah I guess that makes sense if the creator is Dudley then we'd at least know why their so self important, and if not maybe it'll tell us something."

The questions that plagued Sid were legitimate ones. How would they determine if Dudley's thoughts were problematic, or if the manager bot was simply being defensive? They could certainly tell that 002 was defective, for its reference to a Creator was erroneous. Sir was intent on finding out if any of the other service robots also spoke of a Creator. The trickiest problem was, could they tell if what the bots suffered from was simply some variant of machine fever, or did they become, like Sid and Sir, self-aware?

They had but moments to figure this out as the pair arrived in a rather barren recreation area, a space for service robots to rest between their shifts. The main furniture were basic metal tables and chairs, and there was also a dispenser machine offering oil drinks. A big video screen was tuned to one station, the Entertainment Magazine channel. While robots could receive all broadcast channels for free and access them directly through their uplink, a legacy from when humans lived in Mechatron-7 was having entertainment broadcast from huge screens and holoprojectors. Finally, in a corner, there was a large, bulky computer terminal where the robots could challenge themselves in a game.

Two robots were engaged at the game station, while a bored third one sat at one of the tables, sipping their oil refresher but not really watching the screen.

Sir approaches the third, bored, robot.

"Greetings, I am Sir BBX-283, H7 top-tier coordinator robot. I would like to know more about and talk to the Creator, Their representatives or Prophets. This is urgent. Can you help me?"