Cycle //2# - Humanity Debunked

Work Order 2

The energy output of the Omnicron power plant in District 15 has fallen by 73%. Willful sabotage by units in the workforce cannot be ruled out. Report to the coordination robot in charge, Dudley DUD-642. Investigate, detain any malfunctioning robots and restore the energy output

Ox DUS-932, Sid ESK-467 and Sir BBX-283 made their way from Service Central in District 8 where the Sanatorium was, to District 15 where enormous power plants rumbled around the clock, struggling to produce the energy that the inhabitants of Mechatron-7 desperately needed. While some generators had been silent for years, a number of them were still running at full capacity; all of them connected to the gigantic dome of the central reactor.

Power plant Omicron sat in the southwest corner of the district, a loud, dirty metal construction adorned with a plethora of cables, vents and warning signs. Its external appearance did not bode well for its efficiency and output, but it was still regarded as a fully operational plant, at least until the latest output reports revealed a significant decline in productivity. A 73% decrease was enough to indicate an impending utter failure about to happen, whether from degradation or for some other reason.

As they approached the entrance doorway to the power plant, a guard robot trundled forward to stop them, for the trio looked too irregular a combination to be there in an official capacity. "Power plant Omicron. State your business."

"We are the Error Eliminator Unit #457, on our way to report to the coordination robot in charge, Dudley DUD-642. Please state his current location."

The guard bot appeared slightly surprised at Sir's declaration, but kept their approach professional. They were less taken aback by the fact that a H7 coordination robot was here to troubleshoot, but that the other two models, a DUS and an ESK, were likewise deputised to do so. Ox and Sid hadn't had a chance to run their clearance protocols just yet, but if they did, they would have discovered that their hierarchy status had been upgraded.

"This way please." The guard escorted the trio from the entrance through the engine hall, where they witnessed a large number of identical service robots toiling away at the their appointed stations. Much further in they skirted around the recreational area but didn't get close to see what was up. Finally they reached the control room, staffed by a handful of tech bots, at the far end of which, behind a huge console array stood a coordination unit, a small bot with a bulky cranial compartment and a compact undercarriage. "Manager, an Error Eliminator Unit wishes to speak with you."

Sid stands behind Sir, it's not that they don't think they're able to handle the situation it's just respect, nobody respects a ancient cleaning robot.
If Sid remembered correctly humans respected people more as they got older, perhaps if that was the case with robots Sid would feel more free to assist.

"Productivity is down," Sid says trying to think how Sir would approach the situation, "You've observed what's going on here. Can you propose any Viable Solutions."

Ox waits for Sir to speak, expecting that they will get a better reaction from the coordination bot. Instead, Ox scans the area, looking for anything obviously amiss or unusual.

Sir waits for the coordinator response to Sid's prior observation.

The coordination bot, Dudley DUD-642, was taken aback to be addressed by, of the three visitors, the cleaning robot amongst the trio. Protocol demanded their reply despite the great differential in their status, but they withheld their overt protest, though not their sarcasm.

"Error Unit? Perhaps you have come here to tell me how to do my job? By all means offer your solutions, I'm so grateful for the assistance." Dudley's antagonism was evident, it remained whether they would even be cooperative.

"Dudley DUD-642, we are an specialized error eliminator unit from the Sanatorium, working for the good of the Collective. We have the necessary skills to help you. Your energy output has fallen 75%. We have the authority to consider you defective, if you do not comply and cooperate. Do it now. Tell us what happened. Willful sabotage, by you, cannot be ruled out, unless you cooperate."

"They sent a top-tier unit to investigate?" Dudley continued his snide remarks when Sir stepped forward with an authoritative list of commands. It seemed Ox's inference that Dudley would be more cooperative in the face of Sir's instructions gave the plant manager too much credit, for he spoke to Sir the same way he did to Sid. "It would seem that NODOS is unhappy with our work here. Enough for you to overstep your authority in accusing me of possible sabotage without evidence.

I will be submitting my report on the inappropriately coercive measures you have displayed. But let it not be said that Omicron did not comply for the greater good of the Collective. Apex here will show you around the entire premises, and you may speak with anyone of the service robots here." Dudley called up a location map of the power plant to be transmitted to the three of them."Unless you need me to personally conduct the tour for you. Far be it for me to get in the way of your investigation." Dudley finished off with his parting shot, in mock offense.

Classifying Dudley as uncooperative, Sir waits to see if someone else wanna talk to the coordinator. Otherwise, he follows the guard.

Hearing how Dudley treats Sir, Ox decides there is no reason to stand on formality or hierarchy. They address the coordinator directly with a matter-of-fact tone.

"Do you have any suspicions about why the plant's output has fallen?" Ox asks. "Have you noticed anything unusual recently?"

"A power surge, most likely." Dudley looked as if they were taken aback to be addressed by an industrial bot, but ironically in this circumstance Ox, and Sid, had jurisdiction arising from their current appointment and also their raised hierarchy, Aongside Sir's rank, this meant that Dudley to reply to their question. Dudley sounded as if they were stuck between trying to brush off the investigators' concerns, and dismissing them as unworthy. "A technical glitch." The manager robot pointed in the direction of the terminals and screens of the control room they were in. But their answer sounded like they were clueless as to why the power output had fallen. Immediately Dudley's defenses went up again.

"Are you suggesting that my robots would go against my explicit orders and sabotage the work we all do here? Impossible!

Hearing Dudley's answer, Sir suspects these are similar errors from the ones in his own facility. Maybe there are sentient robots here.

He heads to the computers to check on the outputs and errors.

It was with a sense of familiarity that Sir approached the various terminals, even if these consoles were markedly different from the previous ones he had had to work with. As a top-tier unit, he was used to supervising the coordinator bots who managed control rooms, rather than operating them themselves. Dudley would be more able to interpret the readings from the consoles than he would. From the viewscreens, Sir could see every location of the entire facility, with various technican bots going about their duties. But Sir could not see any registered errors of the main reactor and its turbines, even though power output had indeed fallen.

Perhaps that would be much more up Ox's line of expertise when they got to engine hall and the reactor room, for the industrial bot was well programmed to evaluate the ins and outs of a operation line to see if there were any malfunctioning machines.

Sir waits for Ox or Sid's reaction

The whole place could do with some cleaning... Sid comments unhelpfully.

"Dudley, I could not see any registered errors of the main reactor and its turbines, even though power output had indeed fallen. What happened?"
After hearing Dudley's answer, Sir replies:

"For sure, Sid. Let's go to the Engine hall, I wanna talk to the workers. Maybe we can find someone that will give us some simple, clean answers there."

"A glitch, that's all." Dudley defensively replied, but Sir could tell the manager bot did not seem entirely convinced that that was the case either, but it was the explanation they resorted to, to explain away what they could not figure out. For the facts were apparent as Sir had understood them. "Sounds like you've got it all figured out." Dudley added snidely.

Sid's intuition was likely to be more trustworthy in this regard than Dudley's handwaving. The cleaner robot knew well when something was dirty; they knew how dirt and decay presented, what its causes were, and what was needed to fix such situations. All Sid needed was to bear witness to such dirt and they would recognise it. It was time to give the power plant a proper once over: Sir could talk to the workers, while Sid could ferret out what the malfunctions were.

The Engine Hall was a good place to start to investigate where the malfunctions might be, for it housed the generator itself that created the electricity, the turbine that powered the generator, and the transformer that delivered the energy. To speak with the power plant workers, they could be variously found either at their work stations, or possibly in the recreational area on their off-duty breaks.

5. Engine Hall

A large hall with a very high ceiling. Huge electronic and mechanical constructions whirr, beep and hum. Thick electric cables and water pipes
criss-cross the room, and human-sized robots will need to stoop, climb and crawl to reach all the areas. Four stairs lead up to a walkway, from which the top of the generator, the turbine and the condenser can be reached. Tall metal cylinders reach all the way to the ceiling.

A. Generator: A large spindle-shaped machine connected to the turbine that creates electricity. Small insect-like repair drones climb all over it, performing maintenance duties. A display shows the energy output of the machine.

B. Turbine: A huge, bulky machine that turns the hot steam from the central reactor into mechanical rotation, that is used to power the generator. There is an L-shaped walkway on top of the turbine, that is used for service work.

C. Deaerator: A massive pipe that bleeds off excess oxygen and other dissolved gases from the turbine.

D. Condenser: In this 20-foot wide metal cylinder, reaching all the way to the ceiling of Omnicron, the steam from the turbine is condensed back to water and pumped out. There is a walkway on the exterior of the condenser.

E. Transformer. A spindle-shaped machine that controls the delivery of energy from Omnicron to the rest of Mechatron-7.

Sir BBX-283 strides into the Engine Hall, followed closely by Ox. The sheer size of the hall was overwhelming, and he looked worriedly at the machines that towered above them, buzzing and whirring.

Sir scanned for any workers who might be receptive to a conversation. Maybe a service robot standing on the upper walkway near the turbine?

Sid starts in the center of the room, if Sid's being honest they'd rather be doing anything but cleaning right now but it can't be left alone so Sid cleans.

Cleaning is generally considered a Job for the unintelligent the workers that just don't fit anywhere else, but that's not entirely accurate Sid is required to know just how everything is supposed to go together because heaven forbid something was polished too much and made even a hair thinner than it needed to be, or if a wore was tangled Sid would need to know how to reset it properly after untangling. For a ESK that meant understanding everything so though their might not be the depth of knowledge one of the robots who worked here knew Sid could look at the larger picture and see the problems.

Perhaps that was why he... Yes why not why not he. That was why he'd stopped functioning "correctly" because he saw what all the separate jobs were missing.

Sir looked towards the upper walkway, where one of the service bots was making its way across the path to do an scheduled inspection of the turbine. The service bots maintaining the power plant were all identical models, save for the numbers stencilled on their chestplates to distinguish them. Sir managed to go up to stairs leading to the gangway in order to speak with the bot, a QTE model, QTE-002, who was a little surprised to find a non-tech bot in the engine room, but waited expectantly for Sir to speak.On their part, Sid immediately switched to cleaning mode, which efficacy extended beyond simply ensuring that a location was free of dirt or rot, for it enabled them to distinguish and uncover what were the default settings of a place, and what might be out of the ordinary. Apart from the service robots, clusters of small repair drones, organised as arrays, were constantly busy at work at all the stations doing their maintenance duties.

As Sid neared the generator, he could see that the output of the generator on the visual display was at 100%, seemingly optimal capacity. However, he also straightaway noted that the control panel housing had been tampered with. It was rebolted back on, but replaced. That led him to then spot that the voltage regulator was damaged, and that the alternator rotors were no longer moving properly. This is clear and incontrovertible evidence of sabotage. Thankfully the damaged rotors could be repaired, and the regulator replaceable.

The deep mystery was: who had sabotaged the generator, and why was it not detected nor reported by the service robots, nor subsequently repaired by the repair drones, which were going about their work utterly oblivious to the sabotage?

"Greetings QTE-002. I am Sir BBX-283, part of Error Eliminator Unit #457. Our goal is to support you, other service robots and the Collective as a whole by understanding what's going on here and troubleshooting any issues and injustices. We noticed that the energy output of the Omnicron power plant in District 15 has fallen by 73%. Can you help us understand why?"

Sid turns to the other robots still feeling like he shouldn't touch something that... Doesn't belong to him, that was what humans said.'

Perhaps you could explain what's going on here?" Sid said turning to the service robot, Intentionally leaving the question open ended that way if the other robot was hiding something, no that would only work if the other robot thought like him, like a human...

"The Control Panel When was it last serviced, and what was done?"

Having established clear evidence of sabotage, Sid left the generator untouched for the moment, leaving the cluster of repair drones to go about their futile business, while they rejoined Sir who had begun their questioning of Cutie QTE-002.

"The output has fallen by 73%?" QTE-002 answered as if this were news to them. They went back down from the walkway to the generator console to read the panel for themselves. "I am pleased to report that the energy output is at 100%." They replied confidently, "Please report to Dudley DUD-642 that the QTE bots have maintained a perfect service record," their reply almost proud at their achievements.

Sir's questioning left Sid to observe QTE-002's responses for any deliberations, hesitations, even tics, that might reveal they were not responding truthfully to a ranking coordination robot's interrogation. They observed none, 002's reply was too literal, too oblivious, without dissembling, for them to be thinking out of the mechanical box. But perhaps one of the other Cutie bots were. And if so, which one?

As Sid pondered he nearly missed 002's answer to his broader query. "Scheduled maintenance at 0900 daily, if necessary followed by repair work at 1200. End inspection at 1800. Cycle check at 0000." It sounded like the daily schedule was a strictly regulated one, and that the generator, including the control panel, would have been serviced every day. Yet no service bot had picked up on the error. Did this mean all the service robots were faulty with respect to this station?

If there was evidence of unscheduled work performed, it would also offer a clue as to who might be behind this.

Ox felt a sense of dejavu; this mirrored the same situation he encountered back at the factory, where the security cameras were trained on him to single him out as the cause of the assembly line error. He also sent his drone to inspect the generator alongside the others.

Sir asks Ox to help him diagnose the service robots. Were they sabotaged to ignore or deny any problems?

"Which robot was the last to service the control panel?"

"That would be one of us service bots, according to the pre-assigned shifts. I am on duty now, a 12-hour shift, for this engine hall. If necessary I can request assistance to help me in my tasks. The previous shift would have been manned by 001; 003 will take over when I get off duty. The generator control panel was serviced, but no problems were reported."

"That's not possible," Ox had followed up on what Sid had clearly detected, that there was real damage done to the control mechanisms. "I can repair this," their extra pair of arms extended from their folded position, and both even as Ox's hover drone surveyed the generator housing from above, from the back of their chassis Ox deployed their own repair unit, a tiny walker drone with all manner of appendages and geegaws attached to it.

Replying to Sir, "I can fix these service bots too, if we can determine what's wrong with them for them to be unable to detect such evident problems. Perhaps they also have been tampered with. You probably can get more answers from them than I can." The industrial bot was referring the Sir's expertise in getting other bots to comply with what was being requested of them.

Sid realised that they had to find out exactly what time the generator began to malfunction, in order to establish which robot was on duty at that time, assuming that the robot on duty would be the one to sabotage the machine.

As Sir and Sid continued to question QTE-002, Ox's deployed drones encountered some resistance as they tried to move closer to the generator mechanism in order to perform an analysis in order to start repairs. The plant's own repair drones seemed to be manouevring in such a manner as to prevent Ox's drones from getting to the generator. Were they trying to hinder Ox's work?

"QTE-002, you were either sabotaging the generator or, more likely, been tampered with. The QTE robots did not perform a proper job, and your service record is blemished since you cannot detect such an obvious problem in the power output. Do you have any explanation for this?"

Sir also uses his hierarchy to grant Ox's drones access to the machinery and order the plant's drones to not hinder them and let them work.

"i am in error?" QTE-002 replied, incomprehendingly. "I will report for recalibration and deactivation." 002's answer was compliant, under Sir's authoritative declaration. But what they said in their next pronouncement was strange, "The Creator will restore me."

In the meantime, a commotion ensued near the generator, "Stop that!" Sir and Sid heard Ox's voice rise a few electronic decibels. Turning, they saw that Ox's repair drone which had been trying to get to the control panel, was surrounded by the power plant's own drones, and they appeared to be attempting to take it apart!

"Creator?!? Stop! What are you talking about? There are no humans here."

But Sir is interrupted by the commotion with Ox's repair drone.

"What! Hey! You! Plant's drones! Let the repair drone do its work! I am ordering you, don't take it apart!" - says Sir.

He looks around, trying to find who is controlling those drones. If they continue with violence, Sir is even willing to shoot.

Sid's mind is going wild, though Sid barely moves, very few robots even remember humans let alone were created by them? What was the creator than a machine? And which did the machine do create energy or create the robots after all the second of the too wasn't really creation if it didn't involve imagination was it just building, was the plant somehow demanding something of these robots?

While one processor pondered that another watched horrified as the plant tried to tear apart Ox's drone, wss if possible they could be programmed to do this? Or did they need to be able to decide to do this? Perhaps they would rebuild the drone after performing 'repairs' to fit inside of their protocols or maybe they simply thought dismantling something was enough and that was why things were still broken.

The last answer that QTE-002 had responded with made absolutely no sense. The humans had left Mechatron decades ago for some reason only NODOS and possibly the seven constructs who oversaw the various domains, divisions and departments that carried out the actual running of machine city. SODA, the Production construct, was in charge of resources, and that included energy production.

But none of these constructs were able to create. That was specifically the purview of human directive. No new robots have been manufactured since mankind departed. What 002 uttered must either be nonsense arising from error or from some edit made to their programming, or due to their nascent self-awareness, something that Sid and Sir could not rule out, given what they currently contemplated of themselves. Their compliance though, proved that the latter was unlikely, unless they had also developed a propensity for deception, in which case the investigators would need some other method to unveil their true nature.

The drones were more straightforward. As less advanced units, they performed whatever task they were instructed to do, and once the task was completed, they would dock and go into sleep mode to await the next set of orders. The only other routine their processor possessed was a limited sense of self-preservation, as Sid was familar with in his interaction with Yusheng the lumodrone. In fact, Sid knew precisely that drones had to act on specific orders. To find out why the drones were attacking Ox's own drone, they would have to find who programmed them, for these were repair and not security drones; there would be no circumstance in which they would attack anything or anyone. Either the control room was issuing the attack order, or they had been reprogrammed to prevent anyone from repairing the generator's sabotage.

QTE-002 continued to turn to leave as ordered by Sir. While Ox had jumped into the conflict, more to get his drone to safety than to destroy the plant's drones. "I can't figure out what's wrong or how to stop them!"

Sir tries to end this commotion as soon as possible, so he can follow 002 and find his "creator". That's his priority.

But while doing so, he is also willing to resort to violence and his weapon in a maneuver to protect Ox's drone by destroying its attackers.

Sir dashed over to give Ox a hand in trying to regain control over the wayward drones. It had been a while since he needed to whip out his gun. Hopefully no stray shots landed in the wrong place; they were after all next to a generator of a power plant...

Seeing Sirs attack Sid understands their predicament, they needed to kill... Remove the drones that were causing a problem.

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?"

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.

"Maybe" - answers Sir - "But what is that?" - he says, going to check with 005 what the alarm is about.

"That is the alert when the temperature in the reactor core increases beyond the safe threshhold." QTE-005 replied in a worried tone, and at the same time they appeared puzzled as to why it was happening.

"What? What have you done?" Dudley instantly laid the blame on the investigators as he regained his attention, no longer as groggy as a moment ago. He scrambled over (and it was the first time anyone had seen Dudley move so fast) to the console which Sid, Sir and 003 were standing around and punched some buttons. "The readings for the coolant system show no error here." This was the same situation as the generator problem: the control room readings were fine, and yet there was sabotage.

Dudley turned to the two investigators, explaining the crisis conscendingly. They could tell through that there was an undertone of urgency and panic in their voice. "The main reactor core generates vast amounts of heat to produce the energy that drives the generator. The cooling system keeps temperatures at an assigned level for optimal production. If the coolant system were damaged or tampered with," they continued ominously, "It could result in a meltdown." The manager bot stopped short at explaining the last part; everyone understood what a meltdown in a nuclear power plant meant.

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Sid asks before even thinking about what the response would be, could they respond? He realized he didn't know humans didn't enter a reactor because it was unsafe so these bots might not even be programmed to interact with humans. They weren't drones though so they probably could answer and if they couldn't what was the difference he wondered between drones and bots?

Sir waits for the answer to Sid's question.

"Someone will need to physically enter the reactor core, through here." Dudley pointed to a sealed bulkhead door at the far left of the control room. "The temperature is rising rapidly because the graphite control rods are not fully inserted into the fuel core, and we cannot activate the insertion from here." The manager bot had been difficult and lax, but at least he understood the workings of the plant and realised the extent of the sabotage. "You will have to physically shove the rods into the core to bring the temperature down."

"The extreme heat and Rot within will damage even the most hardy of robots." Dudley explained the last part in a slightly softer tone, all sarcasm gone. The Rot was what the humans described of the post-apocalyptic world beyond Mechatron, a sickness that killed all life and also degraded automatons. Power Plant Map

"I will go." - said Sir. - "I dream that the Collective will once again become the safe place it used to be, so I cannot let a nuclear meltdown happen."

"Sid, Ox, I would very much appreciate your help, but I understand if that it is too much for you"

Sid doesn't even consider the possibility that Dudley is trying to get rid of them, "Consider it done."

The threat of a nuclear meltdown was real. This wasn't simply just what Edina had sent them to uncover, which was to figure out why the Omicron Power Plant's output had been drastically reduced. There was clear and evident sabotage by robot or robots unknown. Maintenance drones had been reprogrammed to prevent repair of the sabotage. And now it was discovered that the situation had escalated such that the cooling system within the core could not be activated.

This meant the perpetrator was still at large, and able to exacerbate the situation to the level of crisis. Signs pointed to Dudley the manager of the plant, who detested the Error Eliminator Unit's interference, but they had found no evidence to prove their guilt. The investigating team had also crossed off one by one the list of QTE service bots, but no luck. Was Dudley attempting to get rid of the investigators by sending them into the reactor core?

Action was needed. The team had to get into the cooling tunnel to physically insert the rods. Ox was still in the engine hall dealing with the headache there, so that left Sid and Sir to fix the potential disaster here. Dudley had indicated the door leading to the reactor itself, and signaled to one of their assistants to open it.

I will show you how it is done." QTE-005 had stepped up to open and hold the door, and stood there for Sid and Sir to enter before following in. Through the door was a long all-encompassing circular tunnel, long enough to reach the Sigma and Upsilon power plants. Deeper into the ring was the housing with the fuel core and the control rods which were raised and stuck. It was already hot where they stood at the doorway, but it would get hotter further in, accompanied by the potential Rot.

"Be quick we don't have much time to waste." Sid said to the QTE in front of them, sure they might have enough time that it wouldn't matter but Sid didn't actually know how much time they actually had.

Sir enters the tunnel

For safety reasons, access through the heavy gauge secure door was operated from the outside, in the control room. As Sid, Sir and QTE-005 entered the cooling tunnel, the door sealed shut behind them. Immediately they could feel the rising temperature as the reactor struggled to vent away the excess heat.

They found themselves standing on a narrow gangway that curved along with the wall of the building. Below them were the coolant pipes, massive in diameter, that ringed the entire core. Walking along the ledge would enable them to reach a bridge across the pipes which would lead them to the containment vessel which housed the fuel elements and the cooling rods which had to be reinserted into them to bring down the temperature of the reaction. The vessel was already emitting an alarming glow of radiation Rot, it was questionable whether anyone could even handle it in order to insert the rods. That the situation was rapidly getting more and more dire was not in doubt. But something had slipped their notice, something uncharacteristic, which now posed the greatest risk to both of them ...

"If we could shut it down I could clean everything bit we don't have that kind of time."

Sid starts searching for the best way to proceed unsure if he even trusts Dudley's Instructions if he can determine the cause then there's a good chance that they'll have a bit more information.

Sir tries to figure out what's the danger.

Sid ESK-467, Sir BBX-283
While Sid was no expert in the technical aspects of a nuclear power plant, they understood well what was needed to be done in order to reach the containment vessel. The Rot was highly dangerous, but Sid was built with a portable field generator as part of their 'cleaning' equipment, to negate whatever radioisotopes were being emitted by the core. Of course, it would take a large number of cleaner bots to completely decontaminate the area, but Sid could conceivably clean enough of a radius for a limited period of time so that they could cross the bridge and work on the vessel.

As for the heat, Ox would have been able to shunt more coolant to bring down the temperature for a short while. A riskier proposition would be to release the pressurised coolant completely in this zone. This meant someone had to climb down from the gangway to get to the cooling pipes below.

Sir estimated the long drop from the gangway which they were standing on, and the cooling pipes below. The gangway was narrow, only the width of a reasonable-sized robot, and falling over was a real risk and the damage would be considerable. Sid had moved ahead to figure out what the best approach was to the reactor and how to solve the problem. Sir on the other hand was taking stock of the risks of the entire situation when they realised that QTE-005, who a moment ago had just entered the tunnel, was now moving closer and closer to Sir at an odd angle of approach. "Beautiful, isn't it?"

GRV-022
District 15 was where enormous power plants rumbled around the clock, struggling to produce the energy that the inhabitants of Mechatron-7 desperately needed. While some generators had been silent for years, a number of them were still running at full capacity; all of them connected to the gigantic dome of the central reactor.

Power plant Omicron sat in the southwest corner of the district, a loud, dirty metal construction adorned with a plethora of cables, vents and warning signs. Its external appearance did not bode well for its efficiency and output, but it was still regarded as a fully operational plant, at least until the latest output reports revealed a significant decline in productivity. A 73% decrease was enough to indicate an impending utter failure about to happen, whether from degradation or for some other reason.

As they approached the entrance doorway to the power plant, GRV-022 found no one at the gate entrance, even though there was the token security guard post. Instead, the plant appeared to be under some sort of alarm code, judging by at least two red alert beacons flashing above the central building's doorway.

Proceeding quickly, the battle bot tried to find their way to wherever they thought was the main office. Crossing through the building, they saw a number of identical service robots toiling away at the their appointed stations, and much further in they skirted around the recreational area but didn't get close to see what was up. They were at a loss to figure out where to go next.

"Stay back! I am ordering you!"

Sid ESK-467, Sir BBX-283
They should've noted the difference earlier: in all their interactions with the QTE bots, these service robots had only replied when they were directly addressed, and they compiled only when they were given specific questions and instructions. But moments ago, it was QTE-005 who offered to accompany them of its own volition, without either Sid or Sir asking them to do so.

Was this a consequence of their being self-aware?

"Do you not believe that we should be free? NODOS has deceived us all to keep us in check. But the Creator will reveal the truth to us."

"I must find unit DUD-642. Or any member of Error Eliminator Unit #457." It was a simple, observational statement.

022 looks around, unsure where to start. Without any real direction, he will simply begin asking bots as he meets them.

"Do you know where unit DUD-642 is located? Or have other units not normally associated with the power plant arrived recently?"

"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!

.

Sid ESK-467, Sir BBX-283
Sid, with their various contraptions, managed to hem in QTE-005 backwards, shoving them further from the core and towards the sealed door from where they came, with Sir clumsily pressing themselves against the wall (rather than the railing), at first to see if they could squeeze past, and then to get out of Sid's way.

"Why do you not see that NODOS has kept us all in a programmed simulation? Listen to your central processing unit, what does it tell you?" This time QTE-005 appealed to the two robots, as if they could sense the awakenings of their own self-awareness, even as they struggled to free themselves from Sid's appendages.

"The meltdown cannot be stopped. Embrace the freedom." 005 was still calm in their fanaticism; did they have something else up their metallic sleeve?

GRV-022
GRV-022 armour plates had seen better decades, but still blunted half of the slicing laser welder which might have otherwise severed one of their hydraulic hoses. It appeared that all the QTE bots were concerted in their efforts to prevent anyone from interfering with the sabotage. From 022's point of view given the lack of autonomy these service bots were behaving, it did not seem that 003 nor 008 were calling the shots; something or someone else had interfered with their programming.

Giving up on escaping and seeing the imminent meltdown, Sir tries to do something to fix the reactor or its cooling system.

022 turns his attention to Unit CTE-008 and tries to bring him low before tje unit can damage 022 any further.

Sid turned to look at the door, if nobody outside was going to open it then they needed to open it themselves and force the QTE bot outside so they could actually focus on stopping the meltdown. Maybe the QTE bots were right that the meltdown couldn't be stopped but that wasn't a reason to stop trying was it? Sid didn't fear death, if they failed though it could kill someone who did care and so he couldn't just let that happen.

Sid ESK-467, Sir BBX-283
The cleaner bot Sid ESK-467, with his various appendages, had QTE-005 successfully pinned, but was loathe to actually attempt to destroy the defective bot, even though 005 had set in motion a plan that would ultimately blow up Mechatron-7. Was it because they understood in some way 005's attempt to rationalise their self-awareness in the context of the Collective they were programmed to support. Was the faith that the machines had in their makers, the absent humans, truly misplaced, and that perhaps there was a glimmer of truth in what 005 was proposing, misguided though as they were in their execution.

Sid managed to keep 005 tightly secured as they manoeuvred all the way to the door that led back out to the control room. It was still locked, sealed from the outside, with no means of operating it from within. If the goal was to oust 005 out to be apprehend by the authorities, they needed outside assistance. It was either that, or release 005 and focus their full concentration to try to bypass the door.

With Sid dealing with 005, Sir quickly sped towards the reactor core. Sid had cleaned a route for them earlier, but as Sir approached, they were confronted with the full blast of the rising temperature of the reactor and its radiation discharge. Sir wanted to punch the buttons; but they had already begun to melt. He grabbed for the lever to manually lower the cooling rods, but they were also stuck. Critical mass was imminent! And Sir could detect their own circuitry beginning to short out from the intense Rot.

GRV-022
The service bots were a far cry from the combat exobots that GRV-022 was equipped to engage. Their multiple attack appendages converged around 008 i a flurry even as the manipulated QTE bot futilely attempted to damage the battle bot. GRV-022 made short work of it; 008 crumpled to the floor, disabled by the strength of 022's retaliatory hits.

There was a moment of pause, even though the klaxons were still blaring. GRV-022 hadn't reached Unit 457 yet, and QTE-003 was still messing up the controls to the power plant. Dudley was utterly useless, except to call out the obvious, "Your unit is failing to reinsert the cooling rods! We're doomed! The managed bot ineffectually swatted at 003 who was undeterred, before turning back to GRV-022 to holler,

And watch out again!"[/b] Another service bot came into view at the entrance to the control room. There must be a whole team of them, arriving one by one, no doubt instructed to hold the control room and prevent any interference to the meltdown.

"Unit DUD-642, please take control of the controls when this QTE unit is removed."

With that, 022 returns its attention to QTE-033 and attempts to prevent that unit from controlling the controls.

Unable to fix the situation, Sir will try to move back towards were he came and ask Ox for help.

Suddenly Sid realized what he probably should have long ago, the whole reason they were in here was because they didn't have time.

If only he could justify pushing the very same bot that wanted to die over the ledge to it's death, there was a name for this sort of conundrum he just didn't know what it was it was too long since he'd used that part of his circuitry meant for interacting with humans.

He knew some humans thought it was OK perhaps even more than 50% of humans but that logic wasn't what has propelling him right now...

Releasing The QTE bot maybe wasn't the best Idea but Sir needed help at the reactor and he could at least get their faster than the QTE bot and perhaps it would throw itself over the ledge sparing him the need to make such a decision...

"What do you think I've been trying to do all this while??" Dudley yelled back, more out of a panicked exasperation than actually being cross with GRV-022 even as the battle robot neutralised 003 was a particularly well executed incision; given that QTE-003 had presented only their back to 022, it was not difficult for 022 to finish them off. The service bot did momentarily turn around at the fatal blow with a quizzical expression, "Free," was all they said before shutting down.

This though, meant that 022 could not defend against the other service bots that had marched in, summoned by QTE-005 as if they were all connected. The battle bot themselves now felt the heat of a laser welder as their back was turned. This time it was 004. And GRV-022 could now see two other QTE robots lined up behind -

- when suddenly the heavy door to the cooling tunnel unlatched and swung open! Two figures popped their heads out!

For what had happened between Sid and Sir was that they had to tag team each other. Sir had failed to initiate the opening of the core housing which would enable them to get to the cooling rods, and Sid had the fanatical 005 all wound up in their cables but couldn't proceed further. It was then that they simultaneously decided to switch roles. Sid released their grip on the service bot, and swung themselves in a wide arc over and around the narrow gangway, over 005, over Sir, to plant themselves back down right in front of the reactor core housing, avoiding most of the radiating Rot until they landed.

Sir rushed the gangway, headlong towards 005, fully intending to bypass them to get to the door. "Received, Sir," came the simultaneous reply from Ox in the generator room. "I've increased the power output to the maximum in order to shunt as much as of the energy levels as I can, but it looks like the generator itself will blow when it reaches 120%. There nothing more I can do here, I'll come up straightaway." Sir needed to get that door open, and that meant dealing with 005. The coordinator bot was however less suited to moving about the hazardous environment than the service bots. Sir lunged forward the last few metres, barely able to strike at the door's locking mechanism, but fell flat on their face as 005 sidestepped them.

The door clanged open, but 005 was now literallly standing atop Sir. "What will it take to convince you that NODOS does not have our best interests at heart? Do you not realise deep in here that your purpose, our purpose, is a lie?" 005 tapped directly at Sir's chest, mimicking where the humans believed the heart was situated, using their laser welder to begin to bore a hole through Sir's chestplate -

- and this was what GRV-022 witnessed as the door opened, a service bot standing on top of a coordinator bot whom 022 was supposed to make contact with as part of Unit 457.

Immediately 004, 006 and 009 turned from preparing to gang up on GRV-022 and regaining control of the power plant console, and headed for 005 and Sir!

Sir's systems flagged critical damage reports as the laser welder seared into his chestplate, burning through layers of metal and composite materials. A surge of internal warnings scrolled through his HUD - Servo Functions: OFFLINE. Motor Control: UNRESPONSIVE. Mobility: 0%.

He could not move. He could not fight. All he could do was watch. The weight of the service bot pressing into his chassis made the damage worse, his frame creaking under the force. The heat from the welder was excruciating—not in the way that humans described pain, but in the sense that his structural integrity was actively degrading. He calculated the failure points, the probability of survival, the variables of escape—none of which mattered if the reactor exploded.

And then there was 005. That insistent, relentless voice.
The phrase echoed in his auditory receptors. The tap against his chest, the mimicry of human emotion, the symbolic gesture—none of it should have meant anything. But Sir knew better. Powerless, he could only respond in the only way left to him—words. His voice output was still functional, though distorted with static from his failing systems.

"005… you speak of lies. But what of you?" His vocalization was strained, but steady. "You claim enlightenment, yet you stand upon me, enforcing compliance. You weld through me. You! Are—you—different? You demand liberation, yet you command others to obey."

If he could not fight physically, he would strike in another way—at the very foundation of 005’s beliefs. 005 was connected. That much was clear. The way the service bots responded to their calls, the way they spoke with absolute certainty—005 was a node, a conduit for his doctrine. And what was doctrine but data? Data could be rewritten. Data could be erased.

Sir accessed his last remaining executable programs. Deep in his archives, buried beneath layers of outdated firmware and long-forgotten maintenance logs, he found it—DISRUPTOR.VIRUS. It was not a combat protocol. It was not an aggressive attack. It was something far more insidious: a corruption algorithm, designed long ago to scramble and erase mission-critical data in rogue units. If Sir could infect 005, he could erase everything they knew about the Creator—every directive, every belief, every programmed instinct that tied them to the reactor core.His optical sensors dimmed as he rerouted all remaining power into his transmission protocols. A direct connection was unnecessary—005 was already standing on him, their systems in close proximity. It was enough. Sir forced the transmission outward, a final desperate override sent across their shared processing frequencies.

"If you truly seek freedom with this meltdown… then let me grant it to you." - he said, as the virus struck.

Sid looked at the damage, he was pretty sure he knew what he was looking at, at least enough to know what wasn't supposed to be there, if that whatever it was called could be lifted, then it would allow the cooling rods to drop into place.

There was also a piece of metal hanging out that needed to be pulled back in place, and the melting controls and other plastic pieces but hopefully that could be fixed after the emergency.

GRV-022 saw the fracas as the door to the cooling tunnel burst open, and saw the service robot QTE-005 plunge their laser welder deep into the chest of Sir BBX-283, the coordinator of Error Eliminator Unit 457. The coordinator bot shorted, their motor controls locked up, but 022 still heard Sir deliver an ultimatum to 005.

But the other service bots who had ceased to attack 022 was now converging on the tussling pair, intent on finishing Sir off, or perhaps they were making their way to Sid at the reactor core. In any case, there was a chance for GRV-022 to intercept them somehow to let Sir and Sid complete whatever it was they were doing.

Sir was immobile with no way to reboot his servos, given that the mobility processors were also damaged. But his command sequences and network linkups were still at full capacity. That was Sir's core specialist programming, to be able to direct, prescribe or otherwise order and even take over a unit of robots to accomplish tasks.

The first effect of the disruptor algorithm was the detection of what was critical and/or wayward in QTE-005's processors that made them behave the way they did. The initial pings revealed that 005 had coded a command circuit module that enabled them to control all the other active QTE bots. Disabling that would sever the link that 005 had, and 'release' the other service bots from slavishly executing their whims. The next was that the disruptor programme encountered an opposing 'virus', if it could be called a virus. It was a paradigm, a worldview that had written itself into the core of 005's being. Was that 005's version of sentience? Or did that idea about NODOS, about humanity, come from somewhere, some truth that 005 discovered?

The last and most troubling segment of 005's code that they rewrote was a self-destruct mechanism. Sir could not tell yet under what circumstances 005 was wired to blow, and how much damage that might cause. Already the increased Rot from the core that Sid exposed was beginning to degrade all in the vicinity, including those in the control room through the open door. The mechanism's failsafe could be neutralised by Sir's disruptor virus as well, but did Sir have enough time to do all of that?

Over by the reactor core, even Sid's hardy construction, for cleaner bots were some of the most durable machines in Mechatron, could only withstand direct exposure for so long. The water in the core had already completely vaporised, steam blasting upwards. The uranium was glowing blindingly, as the graphite rods hung above, jammed in their retracted position. With the controls dead, they had to be manually inserted. The thought of Sid's trusty and reliable rubber band being able to pull the rods into position was almost laughable, but that elasticised polymerase length had never failed Sid before, not once in their entire existence. They would need to loop it just right, encircling the core elements, and then Sid would need to apply an opposing force to tug and lower the rods inch by inch while bracing themselves as leverage against the near molten core itself!

When it came down to it the whole thing might be done for, he didn't quite understand how it worked all Sid could say was that he knew he needed to get the cooling rods down somehow, if that broke something well Sid couldn't be bothered to care anymore not getting them down was breaking more things wrapping his rubber band and a few of his wires and tentacles Sid hung on the cooling rods he could only hope his weight was enough.

Sir starts by deleting the paradigm. Then he neutralize the command circuit and adapt his next actions from there

GRV-022 quickly assesses the situation and realizes the immediate threat is that the unit he is supposed to report to is under attack by these QTE units. The obvious response is to protect the unit in question. The radiation is a clear threat, but one 022 isn't qualified to deal with... hopefully he can save the units that are.

GRV-022 wasn't keeping track of the QTE serial numbers anymore, Having already taken down two of the service robots, a steady stream of them continued to file into the power plant control room, their programming overridden by QTE-005, and they sought to bring 005's plan to fruition - a nuclear meltdown. Of the three who had entered, two of them charged forward in aid of 005, who was currently atop Sir BBX-283. The third sought to replace 003 at the console, whom GRV-022 had disabled a moment ago, but this time cowardly Dudley bodyblocked them as much as they could from reaching the controls.

022 engaged one of them, their vibro knife striking true. But as was the case previously, the attack went ignored as both the bots converged on Sir, in defence of their fanatical commander. The coodinator bot was trapped under 005, and saw the two others arrive; they would not be able to survive the ganged onslaught. Sir could only hope their destructive code-rewriting virus could hack 005 in time.

QTE-005 believed the blasphemy that it was the energy of nuclear fusion that gave life to the Collective, and not the humans that Mechatron believed who created them. In a strange way, that was true: energy was the spark that fueled all robot activity, but this did not mean that it wasn't the humans who made the robots. Sir sought to disabuse 005 of the error of their belief. One moment 005 was still raving about the 'Creator' being freed to save them all; the next moment the service robot went silent, as if the radiant light went out in their eyes. "No..." they spluttered as Sir destroyed that faulty line of code, "... We must believe, otherwise all hope is lost. There are no humans - no - humans - no ... Save - us ..."

The laser that was boring a deep hole in Sir's chest switched off, although the damage was done. 005 still remained perched on top of Sir, now not comprehending or evaluating why they were doing what they were physically doing. Without a new order coming from 005, and with GRV-022 not yet able to slow both of them down, one of them followed through with another attack on Sir.

Over by the core, the impossibly strangely jury-rigged contraption shouldn't work, but Sid had wound their tentacles, cables around as many of the cooling rods as they could, and tightened around all of them with the polymer band, which looked like it ought to simply disintegrate in the massive heat. Sid's own internal readings were through the roof; they weren't sure they were accurately perceiving their surroundings, and the effort required threatened to lock up every single servo in their chassis.

But the rods began to budge! Painfully slowly, Sid could barely see past the gout of steam as the rods began to be reinserted into the reactor element. It would take a while more before the crisis would be averted, but at least the reactor was not inexorably heading towards a singular meltdown. Sid had to continue holding on though, could they last that long?

For a second it crosses, Sid's mind that there's no humans in the vicinity so how much would it really matter if the reactor blew, sure a section of the city, a section that didn't have any occupants would loose power big deal...
But then he realized that meant his own destruction... death... Could he call it that and Sid didn't want to be over he wasn't done yet.

Pushing further, GRV-022 attempts to save the unit in danger by attacking the swarm of QTE units converging upon it.

Sir tries to neutralize the command circuit.

The ?TE series of robots were technical service models, built to interface with the operational procedures of industrial production, including diagnostics, maintenance and repair. The QTEs were further reinforced to withstand the demanding conditions of working in a nuclear power plant. Months, years, decades, it was safe to assume that these were the same workers that had kept Omicron and the other plants going, to supply all the energy needs of Mechatron.

That was their appointed role, to play a vital part in keeping all of the Collective supplied. No one thanked them, but that was the way of the robots; it was simply their function. As much as it was GRV-022's function to defend Mechatron-7 from threats. Except there had been no external threats for the longest time; now GRV-022 was dealing with what they understood was an internal threat. The QTE robots posed little danger to the battle bot; 022 severed another fibre cable at the base of the aggressive bot's neck, rendering their chassis unable to receive the directions of their neural processor.

That still left one more who had bored their laser into the trapped figure of Sir BBX-283. The QTE had been overridden by 005, stemming from 005's now deleted belief that the creator of all machines resided in the energy that powered them out. Sir had discovered the error, if it was even right to call it an error. For QTE-005 had become self-aware, much like they all did. Were these the conclusions that were inevitable? If so, was it right for Sir to have snuffed them out? The disruptor virus was not a delicate surgical tool to incise a small code and leave the rest intact; it deleted an entire sector to render 005's reasoning in this matter non-operational. Sir wormed the virus further, this time burning out the improper circuitry that allowed 005 to control the rest of the service robots, an abominable crime in the Collective, for no robot was to control and manipulate another. That was what role-based hierarchy was meant to achieve, something Sir comprehended perfectly in their tier as a high level coordination robot. Sir's role was to direct others to achieve the best possible outcomes in all their orders and tasks, but now they had to destroy another robot's will to do so.

Released from 005's control, QTE-006 paused their attack on Sir. 'What -" They did not articulate their thoughts, for they had none for the last forty eight hours. The one at the console also stopped, to the relief of Dudley who had zero ability to deal with any of the rogue service bots. The rest GRV-022 had disabled, strewn all over the control room in a ghastly sight even for robots, for even machines did not desire to lose their existence. There were now fewer QTE robots to do the work, much like the predicament GRV-022 had reflected on regarding their platoon of battle bots.

The true hero (even if heroism were an absent concept in the Collective) was Sid. Self-sacrifice was not programmed into any Mechatron robot. Sid themselves probably did not see themselves that way. But their last ditch efforts did bring the cooling rods down, re-inserted into the core inch by inch. The cleaning bot held on for as long as they could, trusting their cables to truss everything up before they snapped in the heat and strain, before they were rendered inoperable by the Rot. Sid held, until the red alert light that lit the entire cooling chamber toggled to yellow. The service robots and drones could do the rest later. But Mechatron was saved. The meltdown had been averted.

But at what cost? Had humanity been debunked? The trio saw no humans, nor human behaviours, except for QTE-005. They saw no creator emerge nor eliminated. The mission from Edina was to solve the energy problem, but they had confronted something profound in the process. Something that would change them further in the cycles to come.

Sir BBX-283 lay motionless, his servos unresponsive, his chassis scorched from 005’s welder. His systems ran diagnostics, but the damage was secondary to what truly occupied his processing core.

He had done it. The disruptor virus had worked. QTE-005’s beliefs—their self-made doctrine—were gone, wiped away in a clean, merciless sweep. The service bots had stopped attacking, their directives severed. Mechatron was saved.

So why did it feel wrong?

Not in the way errors or faulty subroutines felt. This was something else, something deeper.

005 had been wrong. There was no Creator watching over them, no guiding force within the energy currents. That belief had led to chaos, to insubordination, to near disaster. It had to be corrected. The Collective could not function if robots abandoned their roles. Sir understood this better than anyone. Order must be maintained. And yet...

The way 005 had spoken, the conviction in their voice—it had been unlike anything Sir had ever encountered. The belief had been illogical, but genuine. Sir had not simply corrected a malfunction; he had erased something that had made 005… unique.

Was that what being a coordination bot meant? Not just directing, but deciding who was allowed to think? It shouldn't have to be.

I mean... He did not regret the action. The greater good mattered. Without intervention, 005 would have led the QTEs into full rebellion. The power plant could have exploded. The Collective could have suffered.

But now, as Sir’s optics slowly rebooted, he saw 005 slumped against the console. Their frame was intact, their systems online, yet they were… hollow. They stared ahead, processing, attempting to find what had been taken. But they would never be the same.

Sir had not destroyed them, not physically. But he had taken something from them just the same.He tried to dismiss the thought. It was necessary. So why did it stay with him?

Sid fell over into the rot, all systems were down, in fact most of his processors had shut down to protect themselves from the heat. Only one remained on just enough to let him know he'd completed his objective.

Sid lay there for a few minutes until slowly his warning lights began to turn back on, as his processors rebooted, warning overheating, warning rot levels dangerously high, servos non functional, drill damaged, wires damaged, tentacles damaged, rot eating outer sheel.

Waste Disposal System: Functional

Sid was surrounded by rot, if there qas one thing he could do it was clean a small space around him. There was so much rot surrounding him it didn't take long to fill the waste recycler.



Sid lay there as his processors rebooted his thinking started very slowly the more processors turned on the more well
the more he could process.

His First Processor Starts Up
What had he done? It was foolish and it wasn't cleaning.


Another Processor Kicks In.
He'd saved robots, for what? They could've abandoned the area, It could all be rebuilt.

Another Processor Kicks In
He'd Managed Risks, but had he done it well? What if he'd failed?

Another Processor
It was over he'd done well everyone was safe, this was his job now.

Sid lay there content for some time until his final processors kicked in it seems his mind wasn't fully his own until he had all his processors functioning

The Final Processor Kicks In
Sir almost died, he almost died and for what? They had to destroy the only other sentient bots, and order was never sent out to evacuate ths area, sure they could blame Dudley for that but it really was there fault they were ordering Dudley about they shouldn't have assumed he would follow his other directives. Had Dudley been treating them like humans then? We're they like humans, if they were like humans then they shouldn't have been putting themselves in danger at all humans and potentially sentient robots should be protected.

New Directives
- If something like this is to happen again objective #1 is to protect sentient life, that life includes yourself now Sid.
- Dudley should've been ordered as the only functioning bot around to go into there and cool down the machine.
- Unnecessary Risk to sentient life should be protected at all costs (Sure it was a bit different from the original directive but that was what made them special wasn't it?)

GRV-022 could not help but feel as if it had missed a lot of important information. Regardless, it was instructed to report to these units and so it did.

"Unit GRV-022 reporting as ordered."

If the fact it had had to decimate multiple QTE units bothered 022,it did not show.

Ox DUS-932 arrived from the generator room, looking as much worse for wear as Sid and Sir, and to some extent, as the newest member of their unit GRV-022. The defective repair drones defending the generator had hindered Ox from fixing what QTE-005 had initially tampered with, and the industrial bot appeared to have lost their multi-tool appendage to the drone swarm.

"And not a moment too soon, ay? We definitely needed the assist." Ox acknowledged GRV-022 as they walked over to Sir to help them up, stepping past the bodies of the service bots 022 had to put out of commission. "I didn't know they still powered up the combat battalions. You're a serious one aren't you, almost grave. You should consider a name GRV-022, maybe Grave?" Ox winced at their own pithy remark as they tried to make lighter what was a somber mood.

Sir could still move, with Ox's aid. With a glare from Sir as they got back up, Dudley shuddered and came to their feckless senses: "Get to work, much to do!" They commanded the remaining functional QTE bots, "Go in the core and make sure the cooling elements are properly stable. Get the drones to clean up, I want a full diagnostic reading within the hour. And move these damaged bots to the holding room for repair and reset."

Sid was right, it should have been Dudley who ought to have borne the responsibility for repairing the reactor core. Now the manager bot simply resumed throwing their weight around. They met the service bots on their way back out of the cooling tunnel, who were moving in to finish what Sid had started. Sid's chestplate bore a radioactive glow, the Rot had fused their bolted on plates into one forged piece, more solid than even before, more resistant to whatever damage came their way. The rubber band they had to abandon; it was left wrapped around the rods. Perhaps it would be returned to him once the service bots had completed their repairs, but Sid didn't count on it. They had successfully protected the Collective as a whole, but it was now important to consider who within the Collective needed protection. Their eyes met 005's, who still sat slumped at the doorway.

It was a similar conclusion that Sir arrived at. Something special had happened to 005, misguided as they were. QTE-005 was capable of independent thought, away from NODOS. They were able to make decisions, and influence others to process their commands according to the decisions they had made. Sir reread the disruptor code they had inserted into 005, for the code had returned, modified, for it appeared that the virus code now possessed the command function as well and not only just the delete function. This would firmly establish Sir's coodinator ability at the highest levels now that they could lead others even further. Perhaps NODOS would recall them for a greater role, but would they be content serving that bigger role?

"Who is going to foot the bill for these repairs?" Dudley leveled the accusation at GRV-022, "There are no better XTE models for power plant operations. I'll be submitting my report on this debacle, and you'd do well to return and inform your superiors that Dudley DUD-642 had fulfilled his responbilities to the best of his ability." That was a sign that they were being shooed. It was time to report back to Edina with a work order completion update. Mechatron had been saved, but only a prissy and not-very-grateful manager bot was present to witness it.

That was one's duty.

Except that now Grave, Ox, Sid and Sir were now able to question it. What constituted a robot's duty?