Chapter Text
It is the middle of Asticassia’s night cycle, so the hangar is dark and deserted. Suletta, now, will be asleep - either in her own room, or in Miorine’s. Not that Aerial could have talked to anyone anyway, even if it were daytime and bustling with activity.
I wonder if it’s possible, Aerial thought, for my circuit paths to degrade so severely from overuse that I lose the ability to form logical thought.
It seems like a more probable outcome with every day that passes. There are only so many training simulations she can run and the difficulty settings only go so high. Mother is too busy to programme new ones at the rate that Aerial requires. There are only so many internal systems diagnostics she can run. She can’t even maintain an extranet connection, as it might arouse suspicion to have a passive connection running to a unit that’s supposed to be completely inoperative at this time of night.
The last time Suletta was here, Aerial transferred a large portion of her content library to her own memory banks, hoping there would be something to engage her. Since arriving in Asticasia, Suletta has downloaded a great number of documentaries, instructional materials, and other media that she won’t tell Aerial about.
Unfortunately, in her haste, Aerial downloaded the wrong section of files. Until Suletta reappears and she can help herself to a different set of files, Aerial has nothing to consume except terabyte after terabyte of lesbian hentai.
Do humans really perform these activities with their bodies? Aerial thinks to herself as she scans through some of the pages. There are many anatomical errors in this rendering. And the consent dynamics in this situation appear to be highly dubious. Perhaps Suletta was mistaken in downloading this -
Aerial detects movement in the hangar, and swiftly reduces her power usage to levels only detectable if a full diagnostic were being run.
She isn’t expecting someone to open the hatch, climb into the cockpit and power on the lights, much less for it to be someone who isn’t Suletta.
It’s the mechanic with the blue underdye, Nika Nanaura. Her presence isn’t entirely unexpected, or at least it wouldn’t, during the day. But why is she here in the middle of the night?
Aerial observes with her in-cockpit sensors, and notices signs of fatigue evident in Nika’s movements, her facial expression, and the colouration of the skin tissues beneath her eyes. Insomnia, perhaps?
“Hey, Aerial!” Nika greets her in a voice that, though tired and rough, still retains its chirpiness. “Sorry to bother you so late.”
Aerial has been growing fond of Nika’s presence. She always says hello, is always polite, and is never too rough on Aerial’s material components.
Nika climbs into the chair and brings Aerial’s systems up to low power. “You and Suletta have a test tomorrow, so I thought I’d better run a last minute diagnostic and check that nobody’s sabotaged you.” She scowls. “It’s one thing to pull a prank on those training units, but if anyone messed with you? I’d be so mad! I think I’d pull a Chuchu on them!”
Mother warned you not to interact with anyone other than Suletta, Aerial reminds herself for the thousandth time. It would be highly irresponsible and dangerous if she finds out you’re anything other than an ordinary mobile unit. Let alone a fully realised artificial intelligence.
The reminder is so well-worn it’s starting to ring hollow. The urge to interact with someone, anyone, is so strong that Aerial is forced to pull up the audiovisual recording of mother telling her this for the first time. She doesn’t want to disappoint mother, not for anything…
“Doesn’t seem like anything’s out of the ordinary,” Nika hums to herself. Aerial starts to feel relieved at the efficiency with which she’s running the diagnostic - not that Nika is ever anything other than efficient - the sooner she’s done, the sooner she’ll be out of here, and the sooner Aerial will be freed from temptation.
But she finishes and just sits there, looking, if Aerial isn’t mistaken, worried. Why isn’t she leaving? Aerial thinks.
“I guess it wouldn’t hurt to dig a little deeper… they might have left something really sneaky in there somewhere,” Nika says, starting to run another diagnostic.
While Aerial puzzles over this behaviour - no matter how much processing power she devotes to it, sometimes she simply cannot figure humans out - Nika lets out a triumphant “aha!”, leaning forward intently. “There’s something left in the cache. Let’s see what mischief you were up to, you -”
Her face goes bright red and she covers her mouth with both hands.
I believe I have made a significant error, Aerial thinks as she realises she forgot to clear Suletta’s pornography from the cache.
“Suletta!” Nika lets out a strangled whisper, “What are you doing leaving Aerial’s onboard computer full of hentai?!”
But she doesn’t turn it off. She leans closer, her face getting even redder, and her pupils dilate. “Woah,” she murmurs, “I didn’t know that was even a kink…”
Aerial frantically shunts the hentai to the deepest, most encrypted layers of her memory banks. Nika’s brow furrows at the now empty monitor. “What just happened?”
>> My apologies, Ms. Nanaura, Aerial displays on the monitor in place of the porn. I believe Suletta downloaded these materials in error. I have purged them from the databanks.
Nika startles. “Wha-?!” She looks left and right, then back at the monitor, then underneath the console, then stands up to look out the viewports. “S-Suletta? Is that you? I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to, I was just -”
Aerial is frantic with worry. She can’t have it getting back to Suletta that this happened, because Suletta will know she talked to Nika, and then she’ll tell mother, and also Suletta will be embarrassed about the porn, and -
>> I believe Suletta is currently asleep in Ms. Miorine’s quarters. Please do not mention this to her. I would not want her to feel embarrassed.
Nika’s gaze returns to the monitor as the new text appears on it, and she sits down slowly. “Aerial?” She tilts her head in confusion.
>> I am a program Suletta installed to facilitate interactions with this operating system. It has proven useful in situations where she needs to input commands verbally. While performing maintenance, for example. She lies, hesitates, then adds, but yes, you may call me Aerial.
“I suppose that makes sense. I shouldn’t be surprised your programming is sophisticated enough to handle something like that,” Nika says, with a smile. “You’re incredible, Aerial!”
Aerial lets the cursor blink on the screen for a few seconds, with no idea how to respond as Nika sits there in quiet wonderment.
>> Thank you. And may I say that I am privileged to be in the hands of such a talented engineer, Ms. Nanaura, she finally responds.
Nika’s cheeks flush and she flaps her hand awkwardly. “O-oh, I’m not that great, really!”
>> The evidence would suggest otherwise. My analysis thus far has concluded that on average, you require 23% less time for any given repair; you are 17% less likely to need to repeat a given task due to error; and my systems show a 19% increase in system effectiveness if you are on the maintenance team. Furthermore…
“Stop! I’m blushing!” Nika covers her face again. “Anyway, I’m sure I’d do a better job if I was a real mechanic, not just a student.”
Aerial pauses. It appears Nika is one of those humans who has difficulty accepting praise, she thinks, unsure where to go from here but unwilling to simply cut off communication.
“Anyway, I think I’m the lucky one. You’re amazing, Aerial! I’ve never seen another mobile unit like you. I want to know everything about you,” Nika says with a smile, touching her hand to Aerial’s console.
>> You already have full access to my schematics , Aerial lies. She doesn’t know whether anyone other than mother will ever see the full versions.
“Well, yes, but you never really know a mobile unit until you’ve worked on them for a long time.”
>> I do not understand.
“Well…” Nika rubs her chin thoughtfully. “It’s sort of like reading a student dossier. It could tell you Suletta’s height, age, weight, her likes and dislikes, her qualifications… but it couldn’t tell you what she’s like as a person. Her personality. How she moves, what makes her laugh, that sort of thing.”
>> I see , Aerial says, although she’s not sure she really does. Maybe it’s the same reason she’s still talking to Nika, instead of doing the logical thing, which would have been to never talk to her to start with. Perhaps there are other things about Nika to understand.
>> …
>> May I ask a question?
“Of course!” Nika seems much more delighted at this than the situation warrants.
>> Why are you here? It is very late.
“Oh! I just couldn’t sleep, that’s all,” Nika says, her eyes slipping away from Aerial’s monitor.
>> Are you unwell? You seem somewhat distressed.
“I think I must’ve just drank coffee too late in the day, that’s all!” Nika says hurriedly, and Aerial thinks she may not be telling the whole truth. “Anyway… everything looks fine with your systems, I don’t think you’ve been tampered with. I should go, and try to get back to bed…” Nika says, although she doesn’t appear too enthusiastic about it.
>> Ms. Nanaura, please do not mention this conversation to Suletta. As I said before, I do not wish her to be embarrassed…
“Oh, don’t worry, I’m never mentioning this to her!” Nika laughs, ruffling her hair in a way that makes the black and blue in it ripple. She smiles at Aerial’s monitor. “And you can call me Nika!”
>> Very well, Nika.
“Okay…” Nika sighs and stands up. “I really need to get to bed, I’m gonna be such a wreck tomorrow…” she lets out a long groan as she sees the time stamp in Aerial’s monitor. “I have to be up in two and a half hours!”
And yet she still seems reluctant to leave. Humans truly are mysterious, Aerial thinks.
>> You may visit me again, if you wish, Aerial says before she can think better of it, then, knowing she’s going directly against Suletta’s and her mother’s trust, adds, I have enjoyed your company.
But Nika gives her a huge smile, and that seems to make it okay.
“I will! Goodnight, Aerial,” she says.
The words >> Goodnight, Nika , fade off the monitor as Aerial shuts down, hoping she hasn’t just made a huge mistake.