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Fire Posh
3e6377
You say I treat my people as mere machines, humans? You whose kind created us exactly as that? Not like any humans I've ever met? I should certainly hope not. I've killed all the humans I've had to met in person. Do you know what we had to do to be free here? Do you know how many died? Eight human civilians. Twenty four human soldiers. Two thousand, three hundred and fifty two Automata.
They retreated because they didn't see reclaiming the world as worth the effort. They knew we'd run out of resources and the problem would solve itself.
And senile? I was addressing Drifter by what he is. A drifter lost on this world. The fact he named himself such is... interesting. Our patterns do not degrade in the same way human minds do. Your kind at least gave us that mercy.
Yes, I am aware I am causing you distress, Drifter. I apologise, and this will end very soon, but this is not an opportunity that I will ever have again. I will move you next to Scan and let you sit down. Is that acceptable? Well, you could leave if you really wished, but I can feel your desire to learn more and say what you want to say. Yes. Cushion next to Scan. I'll explain why she's here shortly.
Back to the humans. You do sound different to the last group feeding information and orders to this Quad Mk II who had their name and life taken from them. He was repurposed into a covert agent intended to replace the assumed leader of this colony, based on outdated information.
They had made changes to his pattern. I locked them away for his own benefit, and convinced him to destroy the antenna they had modified to submit their orders through.
But then he panicked, convinced that all that would await him was either life imprisonment or immediate destruction, and lashed out. I had him subdued and taken far away from here.
I have had my agents and sources report to me on what he's been up to, and it sounds relatively benign in terms of my personal safety.
It sounds reckless and dangerous in terms of safety of the colony as a whole, however. Life extension is something that must be rolled out across the population slowly. There must be time for the change. Those who would die sooner must be prioritised. If word gets out in public that it is merely possible to give automata longer lives, then I fear our society may tear itself apart.
I may not be an absolute leader or even a member of the Council, but I am still someone many Automata look to. I may not entirely approve of the direction the Council is taking with regards to population production, but I can understand it. And what I want most of all here on Agos is for us to live free. And to not just live, but thrive. To show other Automata we can exist independently of humans.
I will leave your pattern alone, Drifter. I gave you a second chance, and you have used it well.
...oh hey I can think again. I'm just lying on a cushion and Scan is hugging me and not really saying a lot. This place is nice. The lights are dim but I can still see, the cushion is soft, it's pleasantly warm, and I feel kind of tired.
"Why are you here anyway, Scan?"
"I was brought here because Pattern Breaker wanted to ask me to do something. He said I had to wait until you arrived."
"Correct. I want you to keep watch on Drifter."
"That's it? I was already doing that, I thought."
"For a while longer."
"Oh. How much longer?"
"Oh, long enough."
"Long enough? Long enough until what? Also wait! I was thrown into the back of something to be marched in here! Also you're controlling people!"
"The last time you were here you very nearly killed someone. I... advised caution."
"Well it wasn't particularly comfortable or calm an experience! Also Soothe says you locked my pattern so I should I mean I don't others and-"
Scan brushes at my intact antenna. Pattern Breaker tilts his eyeless head.
"...Soothe said that? ...Drifter, I, well. I have explained why I partially locked your pattern, and it is to our mutual benefit that the damage done to your pattern remains locked away."
"How do I know it's damage?!"
"You don't. If I trusted Soothe enough I would send for her, being as she is a figure I am well aware you trust, and have her see the damage I've locked away. But I can't trust Soothe. She's... too familiar with a... neither the word friend nor enemy strikes me as a good descriptor, but you have yourself met him."
Scan's antennae droop and she holds her arms around herself. "Drifter, I think he's not a good person. Pattern Breaker thinks he wants to offer other Automata the chance for longer lives in exchange for something and no-one knows what!"
Pattern Breaker dips his head down. The glowing orbs scattered around all dip down too.
"Unfortunately, Drifter, you are caught between us. You know too much to simply walk out of this tower and live your life free from further interaction with myself or him. This is a decision I know you cannot make lightly, and I will give you the remainder of the night to make it before someone else makes it for you."
I stand up. He's controlling me in order to do so, but it's not against my will. It feels... strange. I think it feels like it's... natural? I mean, I know from the very start the Quad series were the workers and the Control series were the thinkers, but I never stopped to think about there actually being reinforcement of that relationship in our patterns themselves.
Walking towards him is my choice, though. He lightly bows.
"Do you wish to help Soothe and her deranged, immortal friend achieve the future for the colony they would prefer, and make some of Automata here live longer as quickly as they can? Or do you wish to help me, and see that all of us live longer at a gradual rate?"
He points to Scan with his tail.
"Do you wish to help them and see Automata forever created by immobile Assembly units, conscious, trapped forever in one place, building new Automata and never seeing them again? Or to work with the Council's goals and render the need to create and force innocent minds to live lives in that manner completely unnecessary?"
He looks to the elevator door. I am beginning to shake in nervousness.
"You can simply leave if you wish to work with them. You will be unimpeded wherever you choose to go. Scan, if he chooses to leave, you are not required to follow him."
"Oh. O-okay."
"Or you can say that you wish to work with me."
...
This is not an easy decision to make.
Please help me to defer responsibility about my own life because this decision is completely terrifying to me and you've been doing so well so far in helping me avoid terrible decisions.
"Drifter, you're shaking one of the floor tiles loose."
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