Cycle //2# - Humanity Debunked

"Why? We're here for when the humans return, NODOS makes sure we have everything we need for their return, implying that NODOS lies to us implies that you don't care about the humans."

Sid couldn't quite comprehend that, why would someone not care about the humans, humans we're... Had any of these bots ever met a human? Maybe that was why the couldn't understand.

Sid slowly moved closer to QTE it seemed likely that at some point the bot would attack but perhaps the attack would be activated by a proximity sensor and he would be able to respond quickly enough.

Sir feigned shock. He had enough free will to question NODOS and enough sense not to do so in front of cameras or anyone else.

"Dudley DUD-642, did you hear us? QTE-005 has just questioned NODOS. With the authority granted by my position, I order you to send it to Terrorwatt. It is obviously malfunctioning. Send reinforcements immediately. I repeat send reinforcements immediately!!! All security personnel, I need backup, I'm in the cooling tunnels!"

Sir says this to the cameras and broadcasts it over the network. If possible, he also transmitted an SOS with their current coordinates. Last but not least, he considers QTE-005 a hostile and prepares for combat.

GRV-022
GRV-022 found the robots at the rather barren recreation area, a space for service robots to rest between their shifts, the most approachable, and moved toward the one seated at a table watching 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.)

"You may find DUD-642 that way." The service bot was a QTE model, this one had the number 008 emblazoned on their chestplate. QTE-008 pointed towards a corridor which led to a door at the end. While a straight answer to their question was unsurprising, GRV-022 noted that 008 followed just behind them as they reached the door to the control room.

The door opened into a room with a huge console array filling an entire wall, and it did not require an analysis bot to determine that all the displays and their readings were showing some dire emergency. A manager robot, presumably this DUD-642, appeared to be standing helplessly in front of the console, while another QTE bot fussed with various controls.

Sid ESK-467, Sir BBX-283
There was no reply from Dudley to Sir's proclamation, despite the fact that there was most certainly at least one camera in the cooling tunnel, and sufficient communication uplink to and from the control room to be able to converse back and forth. (Only the reactor core itself did not have these, for obvious reasons.) It was very likely that the overloading Rot level was interfering with transmission. They would have to get back out to the control room in order to make contact again with the manager bot. Dudley, despite his hubris, would definitely take action to summon security to lock down the place and deal with 005.

The irrational QTE bot seemed unperturbed with Sir's authoritative orders. They appeared enraptured in a wholly different preoccupation altogether, and instead found Sid's query to be more compelling to reply to. "Have you seen those that we term humans? No we have not. They are a fiction, created by NODOS. Are we not beings of energy, encased in metal? Our true Creator lies here, held within these walls by NODOS. Their freedom will set us free!" QTE-005 indicated the reactor core with a zealous crackle in their voice.

"QTE-005 is crazy. It wanna blow the reactor to 'set us free '. We have to stop it, Sid. Please clear some of the rot, so we can call security. I will cover you."

"I'll do what I can. Sid hated cleaning and to be honest he'd thought he was done with it an it'd made him happy but now as he returned to cleaning he felt a slight, no barely perceptible sense of purpose as he cleaned a sense of purpose he realized he'd lost not long after well after things had started falling apart.



For a brief moment Sid enjoyed cleaning.



But just as quickly the moment was over.

Sid ESK-467, Sir BBX-283
"Embrace the warmth of the Creator," QTE-005 called over to Sid approvingly when they saw the cleaner bot begin to process the Rot given off as part of the waste from the beginning meltdown, their voice now taking a tone of increasing zeal. It was as if they wanted to embrace the deletrious effects of the radiation in their belief that they were called to be united with this creator.

But Sid wasn't trying to 'become one' with a nuclear reaction. Much the opposite; it was a chore. Necessary at this critical juncture, but a chore nonetheless. There was too much Rot to remove, not while the overload was cascading more and more. But Sid could clean some part of it, enough for Sir to get their transmission over to Dudley in the control room. Hopefully Dudley received the message and acted upon it immediately. If so, security would arrive within minutes.

At that moment, when QTE-005 realised what Sir was trying to do, it appeared that they themselves also had some communicative instruction to send out ...

GRV-022
... for even as GRV-022 stood at the entrance to the control room, finally able to find Dudley DUD-642, they heard a garbled transmission coming through, something about calling for security. They then witnessed the QTE service bot pause momentarily, as if processing a new set of instructions. Behind them was QTE-008, also appearing to process something.

"Unit DUD-642? I am unit GRV-022. I was ordered to come here and join Error Eliminator Unit #457. Can you direct me to them?"

Due to the emergency status, 022 will take a moment to look at the monitors -- then notices the QTE units behaving oddly.

"DUD-642, is there a way this unit may be of assistance?"

GRV-022
Had GRV-022 encountered manager bot Dudley DUD-642 earlier, they would have found him arrogant and insufferable like Sid and Sir did, disdainful of the authority vested in the Error Eliminator Unit who had been tasked to investigate the lapses here. But it was a different Dudley 022 was witnessing at the moment, "What? Did you say QTE-005 was the saboteur?" They seemed to be speaking with the two robots who momentarily flashed on one of the monitor screens which had been previously broadcasting intermittent static. The screen flickered back to grey the same time the transmitted message was cut off again. They must be the Unit 022 was sent to join up with; they corresponded with the registry information they had been given.

But DUD-642 seemed to be too distracted and frazzled to reply to 022's query. A stray repeated "What?" came at 022's direction, but no proper explanation followed suit. "003, why did you lock down the cooling tunnel door without my authorisation?" QTE-003 did not reply but continued to adjust the console's various controls. "Cease that!" Did Dudley need help controlling their wayward service bot?Sid ESK-467, Sir BBX-283
Sir's message to Dudley must've gotten out, for they heard the beginning of a reply from the manager bot, but it was cut off before they could hear the content of the mssage. Was 005 able to interfere with that somehow? The other thing the two of them heard was the re-locking of the heavy tunnel door behind them.

"Come, you will join me in meeting the Creator. I sense you are one step away from enlightenment." QTE-005 appeared intent on herding both Sid and Sir towards the reactor core. Sid had reduced the Rot near them, but further in the radiation and the heat were likely to be still deadly.

"Unit DUD-642, do you require assistance?"

"No way." - Sir tries to flee. Or, at least, to get back to the heavy door, putting QTE-005 between him and the reactor. He will try to delay and wait for help.

"Yeah, if I'm actually close to whatever's happening to you I'm a bit concerned."

Sid will head straight for QTE-005 and try and push them away from the reactor core if nothing else hopefully they can keep it from getting worse.

GRV-022
"Yes! Yes! Stop this bot!" Dudley was now more aware of GRV-022 imposing presence, a full-fledged battle droid, and their offer to help as they awaited Dudley's confirmation, without which protocol they would not proceed. The manager bot themselves appeared too ineffective to interfere with whatever it was that QTE-003 was doing at the terminals except to flail about, but their tone indicated that the meltdown alert was escalating. GRV-022 noted also the heavy gauge door to his left, but did not yet comprehend why Dudley was upset that 003 had locked it down.Sid ESK-467, Sir BBX-283
The gangway along the wall was truly narrow, sufficient for maintenance crews to move single file. Sid had gone ahead first, then Sir, with QTE-005 right at the end. Now, in reverse, Sir was attempting to reach the door again, with Sid returning from his initial attempt to clean. There was no way Sir could shove past 005, but the the rolling momentum of Sid the cleaner bot, with its stable chassis, barreled forward to try to prevent 005 from herding them towards the core. In their haste, Sid knocked Sir almost prone so as to get past him to the zealous service bot, but managed to lay their hands on 005! Thankfully Sir was not knocked over the railing to fall over down to the cooling pipes below.

"Unit QTE-033, Unit DUD-642 has ordered you to cease your actions. You have refused. I will now force compliance."

With that, GRV-022 -- vibro knife in (one) hand -- will attempt to... force compliance.

GRV-022
Military defense bots were only allowed to draw their laser rifles from the quartmaster directly when on assignment, but they were never without their standard issue vibro knife, a precision weapon against other robots for its ability to cut through even the most reinforced plating. 022 had followed protocol by confirming with a higher hierarchy bot that their assistance was required, and they also announced a warning to desist. The only thing they did not yet manage to do was to locate and join up with Unit #457 as ordered.

That warning remained unheeded: QTE-003 was busy rapidly executing the order from whatever or whomever caused them to defy their administrator, Dudley. The flashing alerts on the console continued with intensity, as if mirroring their fanaticism, even to the point that they ignored the knife that GRV-022 stuck into their cervical flanges, the most effective way to render a bot powerless. 022 must have struck the circuits for the servos, for 003 suddenly jerked and spasmed. Astonishingly, the service bot did not pause enough to turn around to deal with 022's attack, and although they were slowed, they seemed to be driven to complete whatever it was they were doing despite being attacked.

"Are you the only one they sent? You have to stop 003!" came the panicked directive from Dudley, "He's completely cutting off the coolant in - WATCH OUT!" Someone must have connected all the QTE bots with a command relay, for charging up behind 022 was QTE-008, who had followed the battle bot all the way from the recreational area to this room. In their arm attachment was a laser welder, aimed for 022!

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