Soulless (A) - 12
Optics on.
Nervous system on.
Sound system on.
Motor control on.
Good morning, world.
Oh, Shock was just leaving?
"Hey," I called out to her, noticing her leg was all patched up. "Where you
off to?"
"Another Tangent case. Seeing as I know exactly how it's going to turn out,
I shouldn't be longer than an hour or so."
"All right." How do you send someone off in a situation like that? "Take it
easy out there," was the best I could manage on the spot.
"Mhm." She stepped around the spiral stairs, out of sight. Clunk,
the lock of the main door to the hideout disengaged.
"Sorry I'm so la-ate," Lavil's distinct voice slurred out from the doorway
Shock was just leaving through. "Hey, don't go! Aw."
Sounded like he had a few too many of those purple relaxation packets on
the way here.
"I'll be back soon," Shock dismissed him as the door slid shut.
"But I'm gonna need these, right? Right?" Lavil rambled to himself as he
tip-toed down the stairs. "Probably, yeah, I'll need these. Oh shi-"
A bunch of sizable, yellow missiles tumbled down the stairs before Lavil
was even in view.
"Noo! Aww, noo. Aw... noooo."
He sounded so pathetic and sad; I couldn't hold back laughter. The
juxtaposition between regular Lavil and this Lavil was too much for
me to handle.
"Aww," he continued whining, raising his arms to his side. "Noo."
I walked over to help him pick the ammunition up, suppressing more snickers
to the best of my ability (not very well).
"No no! Nah, no, c'mon now, I'm good, get outta here, you. Shit. Lemme
clean up my own mess, man, shit. I slide around in pitch black and oh, no,
but one stair and oh shit! I'm a fuck up."
I walked away, still laughing. "Pitch black out there, huh?"
"It's the middle of the night, man. You gotta do things sneaky. Tip toe!
Shit."
I'd take goofy Lavil over conceited Lavil any day. But... middle of the
night, huh? It must still be the same day as when I went to sleep. This
pure power station must really charge us quickly.
"Is Trivo around?" I asked.
"She's sleepin'. Over in there." He pointed to the hallway, in a room I
hadn't noticed earlier. "Ohh, Au-ral Au-to-ma-ton, you should've seen
her...!" Lavil's voice suddenly became excited, but quiet. He skated over
to me and leaned close to my face, arms full of missiles. "Between us, I
saw Trivo sitting next to you for a while as you slept. How cute is that!"
Lavil snickered.
"A... wow. I guess she... likes me?"
Lavil burst out laughing. "She loves you, man, shit! Can't you tell, she
fucking loves you, oh my god, that's cute. Look at that," he paused to
snicker a bit, "ah, that's cute."
"Wh... y-yeah! That's cute, sure..." I didn't know how seriously to take
him in this state. I stood up and looked around for something I could
change the subject with.
"Geez, what a riot." He skated off to the hall room with his missiles.
I didn't hear much else from Lavil that night. He'd hooked himself up to
the pure recharge station in the hall room and gone to sleep shortly after
hooting about Trivo's alleged love for me. As much as I enjoyed hearing his
inebriated banter, I was hoping we'd be able to get down to business soon.
~~~
The lack of entertainment in this place became very apparent as I waited
for everyone to either wake up or return home. I found myself
absentmindedly plucking away at my guitar, planning out some gentle
melodies in my head during my solitude. How long had it been? One or two
hours?
Eventually, the lock to the hideout opened. I assumed it was Shock, but I
stood at the ready, guitar in hand, just in case.
"Who goes there?" I yapped, somewhat playful in tone.
"That'd be me," Shock replied, sounding quite weary.
Thought so. "Nice to have you back." I sat back down, leaning my guitar back
against the wall.
She nodded as she walked into the room. "Same case as always," she sighed,
taking a seat next to me. "Someone's been attacked! Can you help them,
Shocky? Sure, I'll be right there. Oh, no... their drive's been destroyed
by Tangent's claws! Guess I have to do some data entry now, sorry
everyone." She grumbled quite loudly. "It gets tiring."
"Ouch. I'm sorry."
"Not your fault. I'd really like to hurry up and kill this fucker."
It was one of the first times I'd heard Shock use such drastic language.
"Kill? Not, like... subdue him, or...?"
She slowly turned and locked eyes with me. "I'll give you a bit of clemency
since you haven't been to each of these murder scenes and seen what this
thing can do. Tangent is a soulless murderer. Nothing more. There can't
possibly be any compassion or empathy in that machine, and if there is, I
don't care if it's destroyed."
"A-ah. My bad." I wasn't aware of how emotionally charged Shock was about
this mission. "I figured we might want to, maybe, not outright kill him,
but... see if we can get any kind of information from him? Or... well, I
don't know. Just not jumping straight to murder."
Shock turned away, allowing me some needed relief from her steely gaze.
"We're not going to accomplish anything by letting Tangent live."
"Y-yeah. I guess you're right."
"When you're as old as I am, you'll start seeing things the same way as me.
I'm sure of it."
"Think so? Well... exactly how old are you?" It'd just occurred to me I
never knew how old Shock was.
She delayed her response, tilting her head to the ceiling. "Old enough."
Huh. Well, okay then. With that answer, I opted to drop the subject.
We sat in mutual silence for a while before Shock eventually walked over to
one of the computers and started typing away on it. I resumed strumming my
guitar when–
"Good morning!" Trivo greeted us as she stepped out of the hallway room.
"Morning, Trivo!" Glad someone finally woke up.
Shock kept furiously tapping the computer's keys for a few moments before
finding the time to shoot her a quick "hey."
"I think Lavil is almost done charging," Trivo seemingly read my mind as
she walked beside me and took a seat where Shock had just been. "How are
you two doing?"
I looked over to the hallway room. "Not too shabby. Just waiting for
everyone to get together so we can discuss our game plan."
"Been better," Shock said, typing even faster than before.
I chuckled after hearing Shock's typing increase to a ridiculous speed on
the clickity-clackity keyboard. "What the hell are you doing?"
"Writing an e-mail back to someone. Work stuff." Her focused expression
turned into an all-out death glare. She almost looked like she was about to
smash the computer at any moment, but her tone of voice was as calm as
ever. "Almost done."
Trivo looked back and forth between me and Shock with concerned eyes. I
dismissed her worry with a quick hand wave.
Shock overdramatically threw her hands in the air before bringing one down
on the keyboard with a conclusive tap. "Done. I can't wait until I don't
have to deal with any more of this Tangent crap."
Neither Trivo nor I moved an inch until Shock barked "what are you looking
at?" after noticing our stares. We'd been freed.
I stood up and hopped over to the hallway room, peeking around to find
Lavil. There he was, sitting on the floor, surrounded by boxes and other
recharge stations.
Get up, you lazy ass.
I wouldn't dare say it, but it was fun to imagine it. My impatience knew
very few bounds.
Unexpectedly, he turned his head to me. "Oy, oy," he drawled.
"Ah, morning! You're awake."
"Thanks, tips."
Well, I enjoyed goofy Lavil while he lasted. Sounded like he was back to
normal.
He unplugged himself from the recharge station and hopped to his feet with
one swift motion. "I'll be out there in a sec. Is anyone else around?"
"Yeah, we're all here, all awake."
"Sick. I can't have you all slacking off in here. Gotta get down to it."
"Nice, I'll be waiting." I walked back to my spot in the main room, eagerly
awaiting our mission briefing (or, at least I was hoping that's what Lavil
was talking about). During my short conversation with Lavil, Trivo and
Shock had swapped positions: Trivo was tapping away at one of the computers
while Shock looked over the miscellaneous items arranged on the shelves
scattered around the room's perimeter.
"...H-hey, you guys, come look," Trivo beckoned us, sitting at the same
computer as earlier. "Someone's talking to me...?"
Shock and I walked over to her left side to see what was up; Lavil
immediately skated out of the hall room, standing on her right.
You are the one known as Trivo, correct?
"Should I answer that? What do I do?" Trivo asked.
"Don't say yes," Lavil ordered. "Your name is still at large, remember?
This person probably thinks you're the serial killer."
"Ask who that is, maybe? Turn it around on them," I suggested.
Trivo did that, typing in, "who are you, first?"
Without any delay whatsoever, Trivo got a reply.
My name is Lacuna. I cannot remain connected to ZyNet for long. Are our transmissions secure?
Trivo looked back at us. Lavil shrugged, and neither Shock nor I knew
either.
"What if you said yes?" Lavil suggested.
Shock said nothing. She just stared at the screen, wide-eyed.
"How easy is it for someone to eavesdrop on this conversation between
Lacuna and Trivo?" I thought aloud.
"Personally, I have no clue how to do something like that. But I guess if
you knew what you were doing... bah, I still don't know," Shock rambled.
Trivo typed, "yes."
She received a response immediately, once again.
Please answer me: you are Trivo, correct?
This didn't sound like someone trying to track her down or expose her. "I
get the feeling this person isn't malicious," I openly voiced my thoughts.
"You're far too trusting," Shock remarked.
"You said that before."
"Well, it's true! That said... I agree, Aural."
"Hmm..." Lavil quietly interjected, "what harm could be done if you say
yes? What's the worst that could happen? If Lacuna checks to see if their
transmissions are secure, first, well..."
"This might be a good lead on Tangent. Who knows," I added.
"Okay, okay," Trivo repeated, quieting us down. She typed, "yes, I am
Trivo."
Another instant reply.
I am located in the derelict MSE vessel in the desert, not far from the
city. Once you have arrived, access the main computer terminal immediately.
This is of utmost importance. It would be wise to bring an escort, if
possible, in case you are followed. Godspeed.
And with that, Lacuna disconnected from the network. We all stared at the
screen for a moment before talking.
"So... this Lacuna person wants you to go to the main computer in the MSE
ship out in the desert. You specifically, Trivo," Lavil recapped.
"That's... suspicious."
"This is vaguely similar to when you got that message from Trivo after you
were attacked," Shock mentioned.
I nodded in agreement.
"But Lacuna said I should bring an escort," said Trivo. "That's not too
suspicious, is it? Lacuna wants to make sure I'm safe."
"Or, it could just be a big trap to fuck us all," Lavil retorted.
"Whatever the case may be," I began, "how would Trivo get there? The ship
Lacuna's talking about isn't exactly close to the city. Not as far as
Grilith, sure, but..." I started trailing off into my thoughts.
"There's someone I know who would almost definitely give you a ride if I
ask her," Lavil told us.
"Yeah? Who's that?" Shock asked. "Don't you dare say Dukes of the Desert."
"Nah. Chill. I'm good pals with a shopkeeper in Verdin Square. Her name
is... fuck, man, I don't know how to say it. Zytah? Zeta? Ecksata?
Hhhaytah... ecks, ecks..."
"Uhh..." Shock and I felt the same way listening to Lavil try to pronounce
this person's name.
"X-A-I-T-A!" he spelled out. "What the fuck kind of name is that? My god.
Anyways! She's got an open booth in one of the buildings that faces the
plaza. Maestro Bar, it's called. She mostly sells metal and machinery, but
she's also got one huge behemoth of a truck she cruises around the desert
in to get her wares. Hate her name but love her to pieces."
"Was that the big vehicle we saw driving out of the city when we were
coming here from Grilith?" I asked, recalling our trip back to the city.
Lavil shrugged. "Could've been. That one looked a bit longer than zzz...
eh... Xaita's." Clearly, he still couldn't figure that name out.
"Okay, well, let's keep that in mind. But what other plan did you gather us
here to discuss? You mentioned you wanted to get to it before Trivo was
contacted."
"Right." Lavil held up a finger, posing against the wall. "Long story
short, Trivo theorizes that Tangent uses a different grade of processor
than all of us have. Us, as in, the general population. If that were true,
Tangent would be able to do things much faster than us, whether it's
computing, murdering, or being a sneaky little shit, which would explain
how he's so fucking elusive."
"Uh, Trivo built Tangent, right? Wouldn't she know all about Tangent, no
theorizing necessary?" Shock butted in.
"Memory wipes," I whispered to her.
"Ah, damn. Right."
Lavil started slowly sliding around the room on his skate-feet. "That, and
she didn't make the parts to build Tangent with. She was supplied
everything by Ups. Neither of us know how to craft anything like that
though, and I doubt either of you two would know."
"I appreciate the vote of confidence," Shock scowled.
"Well? Do you, miss Shock?"
"No! And even if I did, you're doing a great job of convincing me to help
you."
"Stop," I shouted, stepping forward. "Chill out."
"Yes, please," Trivo reaffirmed with audible worry in her voice.
Thank you, Trivo.
"Going along with this theory, what should we do in order to get an
upgraded processor to fight Tangent with?" I stated very clearly and
calmly, trying to bring back some semblance of objectivity to our
conversation.
"I dunno," Lavil halfheartedly answered, "ask Xaita. She might know."
"Well, it's morning right about now, isn't it? It's worth a shot, if we
don't have any other leads," I suggested. "We were gonna go ask her about
her truck anyways, right?"
Nobody else seemed to have much input. It was pretty clear none of us
really knew what we were doing.
"Is Xaita's shop open this early?" Shock broke the silence.
"Should be. She's open all day."
Trivo meekly raised her hand. "Well... I'm ready to go whenever you want,"
she quietly announced.
"Should you be going out in public if you can help it, though?" Shock
asked. "People still think you're a murderer."
"I'm almost certain most bots don't know what Trivo looks like," Lavil
explained. "And, I was told by one of my pals in Grilith – maybe a year or
so ago? – that they suspected Trivo was part of a "series" of robots. If
that's true, there could easily be more bots out there that would have the
exact same model as her. Though I haven't seen any myself... I still think
it'd be okay for her to be out and about."
"All right, if you say so." I picked up my guitar bag from the wall and
slung it over my shoulder. "Should we head out?"
Trivo and Shock were both standing at the ready.
"I'm gonna stay here this time around," Lavil declared. "Not my most favourite task, but I'm going to see if I can do a bit of research
on robot processors, or maybe see if I can verify Trivo's model type. Just
to be on the safe side."
I'd have loved to accuse him of being lazy, but searching for leads through
two different mediums would probably be an effective way to carry this out.
We said our farewells to Lavil and walked up the spiral stairs single file,
Shock taking the lead, Trivo watching our six.
The hideout's location was incredibly convenient. Verdin Square was no more
than a minute away, making our trip wonderfully short.
"It's gonna be nice to get some time away from that whack," Shock exclaimed
as we walked down Verdin's quiet side road, just barely illuminated by the
morning light.
"I'm sorry about Lavil," Trivo suddenly spoke up. "I know he's abrasive...
but he means well."
"No need to apologize," I reassured her, "it's not your fault."
She awkwardly hummed in response.
Even if Verdin was normally packed, arriving early gave us the advantage of
being some of the first robots to arrive. It was pretty nice not having to
swim through crowds hungry for material goods.
Once we entered the main plaza, a building with a sizable open window and
Maestro Bar written above it in green letters jumped right out at me, just
to the left of our side road. I pointed it out to the others, in the off
chance they hadn't noticed it. There wasn't anyone at the window at first,
but as we approached it, we noticed a bot shuffling around in the back of
the booth.
...
Something didn't feel right.
Out of nowhere, I started feeling painfully apprehensive.
As if something was suppressing my will to speak.
What was this feeling?
...
I waved a hand in front of Shock and Trivo, briefly retracing my steps,
hoping they'd get the hint to follow me back the way we came. Trivo
followed immediately; Shock waited a moment before coming with me.
The apprehension dissipated as I walked away from Maestro Bar. I stood
still for a moment, looking back and forth between Shock and Trivo.
"...Did you feel that?" I sternly asked them both.
"Y-yes," Trivo answered. "That was freaky."
"What? What's going on?" Shock apparently didn't feel the ominous aura.
"You didn't feel it? I... I don't know what that was. When I walked up to
the bar, I just felt... really really anxious. Almost as if I was too
scared to speak."
"I couldn't talk. I tried, but the words just... wouldn't form," Trivo
added.
Shock gave us a strange look before taking a few steps back towards Maestro
Bar, still keeping an eye on us.
She shrugged. "I don't feel anything."
Without a word, I cautiously walked up to where Shock was standing, just a
handful of steps closer to Maestro.
...
There it was again.
There was absolutely something strange in this area.
The overwhelming apprehension, the inability to produce any audio – it came
rushing back to me.
...
I rapidly shook my head at Shock, displaying a pair of round, frightened
eyes on my visor. I hopped back to where Trivo was standing.
Just like that, the sensation vanished almost instantly.
"I don't like this. There's something weird going on here."
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