Cycle //2# - Humanity Debunked

Just how religious were they... Sid Wondered he knew some humans would apparently associate every little thing that happened with their god even if it had a rational explanation, like if he...

Sid extended one of the wires underneath one of the chairs to the wire that connected the controller to the game station and unplugged the controller of the winning robot, would they he wondered act like those religions humans, or would they try to figure out some other explanation.

While Sir opted for the direct approach, relying on their command abilities to elicit the information required, Sid saw the opportunity to do the opposite instead. Catching the service robots unawares might prompt a less guarded response and reveal something Sid could observe. For that to happen, Sid needed to make sure that there was no way the pair of robots could attribute the cause of the game controller failure to Sid.

The cleaning robot moved close enough to the game console to see what they were playing: on the display was a featureless graphic, with a line in the middle dividing the playing field into exact halves. Each robot controlled a lozenge shaped icon on their side of the field, and the object of the game seemed to be to lob a bouncing pixel over to the opposing side of the field before the opponent could prevent it from happening. The two service bots playing were QTE-004 and QTE-007, and 007 appeared to be winning. They were certainly engrossed enough in the game such as Sid could sneak his wires into position, but Sid still had to do it with sufficient stealth.

Over at the table sat QTE-008; all the service bots were the same model. 008 simply sat there, not particularly paying attention to the entertainment being broadcast on the big screen. Their canful of drink stayed on the table; it did not seem as if they had reached for it for a while. The robot appeared to be doing ... absolutely nothing. That is, until Sir addressed him.

"I am QTE-008," the robot started for a bit and then looked around, wondering why a coordinator robot was singling them out for questioning. "Yes, I can help you." That's what they all said, but then they were service robots after all; their default mode was to receive instruction and carry it out. That said, they paused for a while when Sir immediately asked about the Creator and its representatives."The chosen prophet will reveal the will of the Creator in due time." 008 spoke those words as if they didn't fully understand what they meant, but spoke them with a clarity that could not have possibly come from them. "The time will come, when we least expect it."

Tell me more. - Sir said.

"Tell you more about what?" QTE-008 looked at Sir blankly, as if they did not understand what they just said. It was almost like the affected QTE robots were preapred to blurt out what they knew about the Creator when they weren't put on the spot, but once they were more specifically pressed, they clammed up, or something in their programming overrode what they were prepared to say. All Sir had now from 008 was that there was someone who was the chosen one, and also that something was going to happen which could not be anticipated. But like 002, Sir could deduce that 008 was unlikely to be the perpetrator, given their incomprehending glitch. They were whittling down the list of suspects one by one; did everything point towards Dudley, as Sir conjectured earlier?

Sid's more duplicitous method paid off in a different way. His wire appendage made its way into the console, and just as 007 was about to scoring a winning point in the game, their controller disconnected, causing them to miss the point. "What the- ?" 007 flipped off their controller, while 004 let out a littie smirk, "Lost the favour!" Were they also referring to the notion of a Creator as well? "Break's not over until I get a proper recharge," 007 conceded. "We all need a full recharge, if you know what I mean," 004 acknowledged, "a proper break to juice up. That what they say."

"Juice up?" Sid asks cutting into the conversation, it's possible that their just taking about recharging or maybe it's something more, Sid couldn't be sure, "There's plenty of energy in the building, is it not possible to get energy during work?"

He looks at the two of them considering introducing himself and then deciding against it, if they think he's just a simple cleaning robot they might share more.

"Who is the Chosen prophet? What are their teachings, and how can I know more about the Creator?"

"Charging stations over that way." Both the service robots turned quizzically to acknowledge that Sid was speaking with them. "Our facility does ensure we are receiving sufficient energy to perform our duties." What they said checked out so far, for Sid and Sir had only just visited the recharging room. It was what they said next that again perked up Sid's sensors, sounding just a little odd. "All energy comes from the source, keeps us alive, makes us who we are." 004 added a sweeping gesture with their arms, as if indicating the entire power plant. The revelation again sounded like something religious, something they might have heard humans say, except that there were no humans around.

They referred to someone or something that had told them so, so just like Sir, if the investigators were attempting to eliminate who the perpetrator might be, it was unlikely to be 004 nor 007 since they credited the origin of the strange ideas to someone else. For this was what Sir was continuing to discover in their conversation with 008. When it came to Sir's direct questions about who the chosen prophet was, 008 was unable to answer them equally directly; some programming must be preventing them from revealing who they were, or who the Creator was.

There were six more robots to go through 001, 003, 005, 006, 009 and 010, 011 to 020 being offline and recharging, if Sid and Sir needed to tediously interview them all. But the slip that 008 had let on was worrisome, that there was a moment that would occur soon when it was least expected. Was some further and more serious sabotage to be expected, and if so, had it already occurred, or if not could it be stopped in time? Because they couldn't get to the generator thanks to the defensive repair drones to verify how bad the problem was.

"I don't think, it's what we thought... Sid says to Sir, he doesn't want to admit that he's just more confused than before but if he's being honest he's not sure the source is even what they're looking for or just something that whoever created them programmed...

Wait created them that meant something was coming up with it's own unique ideas...

Was he capable of that? He still wasn't sure. And worst of all he had no idea how to fix them or if he needed fixing.

"Yeah, I am a little confused as well. Let's talk to Dudley about all that we found out."

"Yes Dudley is the most likely to blurt something out as if it's obvious, that or just get mad at us for caring."

Curiouser and curiouser. There was still a critical problem to solve, but no one seemed to know who was behind it. It was reasonable for Sid and Sir to conclude, based on their very independent investigations, that even the QTE bots who seemed to be able to talk about the altogether strange notion of a Creator and their chosen prophet were unable to specify exactly what or who they were, and why they were important, apart from the fact that it had to do with energy, unsurprising since they were in a power plant.

It had to be the case that the bots were tampered with or reprogrammed. What was worrisome was the suggestion that something was due to happen, which had to be linked to the malfunctioning generator. Ox had remained behind in the Engine Hall to figure out how to to circumvent the otherwise docile but suddenly murderous repair drones which sought to prevent anyone from undoing the sabotage.

Sid and Sir needed Dudley's insight next, as much as they were unwilling to put up with the manager bot's uncooperative attitude. Still, the control room could perhaps provide them more information. The two robots returned to the room to find Dudley DUD-642 seated at his chair, dozing off? Two other QTE robots manned the various consoles as before, 003 and 005. Still operational were the various terminals and screens displaying all kinds of information, as well as video feeds from the security cameras. A massive metal door furthest away led to the huge cooling tunnel that circled around the reactor core.

"QTE-003, have you met the Prophet? Do you know something about the Creator?" - asks Sir, while trying to access the camera feeds from the reactor core and remotely checking that.

Sid heads over to Dudley deciding to watch observe Dudley's action as opposed to talking with him. Perhaps Dudley is controlling things in which case he would never openly admit it meaning they'd have to catch him in the act.

If they suspected Dudley, then it was absolutely necessary to catch him unaware in order to uncover the truth. At this moment though, it was all too easy to do whatever they wanted to, even for a few moments. The manager bot part reclining on their chair, sleeping? Insofar as robots needed sleep (which they didn't), for the only downtime any automaton of the Collective needed was when they were recharging. It was an affectation inherited from their human forebears.

Sid watched Dudley in his temporary offline mode, so that Sir could both question 003 as well as access the terminals, primarily the camera feeds. But they also had room to look into the various readings and controls for the power plant's output. Earlier they had already studied the display for the generator's capacity, which showed no error, and that differed vastly from when they inspected the generator physically to find the sabotage.

005 paused their duty as Sid and Sir took over, saying nothing but watched intently as the two investigator robots when about their business.

"Yes I have met the Prophet, who tells us the Creator will be revealed in due time, and bring us all to salvation." 003 replied in much the same vein as the others had. The message was consistent. As Sir spoke, Sid gave them a hand with the access to the camera feeds.

Calling up the log that measured the total power supply output showed at which point in time the output started dropping. From there, Sir instructed 003 to pull up the video feed of the engine hall for that period. The screen flickered and rewound to what the camera recorded. They knew that the daily maintenance roster was very specifically deployed. The period in question had no maintenance scheduled.

Yet they saw one of the QTE robots appear in the feed. The single service bot appeared to be working on the generator for about thirty minutes, with no other robot around. Unfortunately, from the way the camera was angled, there was no way to see the QTE number of the bot. Either that, or the bot in question was aware enough to keep the printed number on their chestplate well away from the camera.

Dudley began to rouse, but there was still chance to pull out more information without them knowing.

Sid is almost disappointed to find Dudley sleeping but a thought occurs to him as he watches. Long ago a human had made a report on footage that report had almost resulted in Sid being removed from duty despite that he'd been following protocol. It wasn't his fault the human wasn't tagged as allergic to Sodium-Hypochlorite. If Dudley was doing something wrong the cameras would have seen it, Sid didn't have to catch him in the act only in have having done the act.

Sid urged 003 to speed through the video feed, and also call up the power output readings so that they could see them on adjacent screens, starting from the period just before the sudden drop in output until the present. They could see that regular maintenance was performed at all the stipulated scheduled times, and energy output was steady. Then the QTE robot whose number they could not see entered, and worked on the generator for half an hour. Whatever they did was certainly the cause of the sabotage, for after they left, Sid and Sir could see the energy graph begin to decline.

The final segment of the video showed the Error Eliminator Unit enter the Engine Hall, their questioning of 002, and also their conflict with the rogue repair drones. And that brought them up to the present moment.

Still, the other console, the one which displayed the status of all the equipment in the power plant, showed the same as before when they first arrived, that all equipment was perfectly functioning in order. So that console must have been tampered with as well. It was a good thing that Sid and Sir pulled up the specific information they needed in order to confirm what had been sabotaged.

Just then, Dudley roused from his sleep mode. It took them a moment to get their bearings, but they immediately composed themselves when they saw Sid and Sir poring over the consoles. "Solved the problem in your brilliance?" They began in their usual sarcastic way. "Time for you to leave us to our regular business? I have real work to do once you're done meddling."

While this was happening, 005, who had been manning the other status console, looked troubled over one of the indicators that began flashing on their screen.