Chapter Text
It was a gloomy day as the chimneys filled the land with smoke as the factory churned out material. A small convoy of black cars entered the gates of the factory grounds, as a man in a business suit met the disembarking men. The man would lead the group to an object draped by a tarp at the end of the factory floor. Pulling it off, the man uncovered a sleek, metal figure. Pressing a button on the back of its head, the machine sprung to life. The whirring of the machinery filled the robot's sensors, sending signals to the newly activated mind. It stood like a statue as men in uniforms and suits approached it. One of the suited men had a wide grin on his face as he saw the machine activated. He scanned through the files in his hand, as he began to show off what was in front of him.
"Reichsminister Raust, I present you my scientist's greatest creation so far," the suited man boasted, "This robot is more advanced than what the Americans could create over fifty years. My team and I did that in a fraction of that amount."
The robot silently scanned the group of ministers and generals. All of them had a similarity and difference that confused its awakened mind. It blinked once, which got a reaction of the group. Once again, the robot blinked. As its synthetic brain reached to full power, it began to speak.
"What is going on," Its staticky voice box exclaimed, "Where am I?"
"Gott in Himmel, Herr Lechovec, what have you created," one general shouted in amazement.
"Deutsche Qualitat," an older minister muttered to himself.
"This has to be fake," a young officer protested.
"My dear friends, this is the future for our glorious Reich," The scientist announced boldly as he powered down the robot, "With this machine, not only will we dominate the world through German technical superiority, but the markets of the world as well."
A small round of applause filled all but one of the men, who stood stoically in front. Raising his hand, the other men ceased the celebration in unison.
"Herr Lechovec," Reichsminister Raust said as he cleared his throat, "This robot shows promise, but the Führer asks how we can use them on the battlefield."
"Reichsminister, you don't understand this," Lechovec protested, "The envisioned plan was for this to help the civilians of the Reich, from being a secretary, and helping in the home."
Pausing at this thought, the uniformed minister took the papers on the robot in his hand and put on a pair of glasses. After a few tense minutes, the minister finally gave a response to Lechovec.
"I will only authorize a small batch for production, as other resources are being sent to sectors more important to the survival of the Reich."
"How many do you plan for the batch, Reichsminister?"
"Enough to be sent to officials for testing, and this prototype will also count in this batch."
Silently cursing under his breath, Lechovec sighed before responding to the bittersweet terms.
"I will take this offer, Reichsminister, but I have to do some modifications on the prototype first to make sure the manufacturing will go smoothly."
The men exchanged salutes, though the scientist did his halfheartedly, knowing that his dream of a household robotic service would be dashed by bureaucratic nonsense. Perhaps he could find another client elsewhere to see this dream as a reality. Collecting his thoughts, Lechovec thought of a solution that would enable the robot's design to be used elsewhere. Marching to the factory's main office, he picked up the phone to make a call to an old connection.
Paisley powered back up with a jolt. She began to wonder what had just happened, as this was not regular for her low power mode. Running a simple diagnosis, she found that everything had been operating smoothly. That 'dream' gave her a small fright, especially since it happened out of nowhere. Roy was already fast asleep in his cot, with his snoring joining the beeping and groans of the machinery and ship respectively. Paisley knew that since she was a prototype, there had to be some quirks with her operating system. Compared to the contemporary models that existed barely had any self-awareness to them, she had gained some sentience. By this time, the war had reached a point where the Allies were gaining more victories over Axis forces, especially on the Eastern front. Paisley had only heard a handful of details regarding this over the radio transmissions and data being sent back and fourth to High Command. Her thoughts soon went on the talks of invading mainland Europe itself. Before any thought came of that, an alarm rang throughout the Metacomet.
"All hands, All hands, prepare to take on survivors. Repeat, all hands prepare to take on survivors."
Stumbling out of his cot, Roy jumped to the radio and plopped the headset on, receiving the SOS message from a sinking vessel in the nearby sector. Walking out of the radio room, Paisley looked out onto the choppy seas for any object. On the horizon, a plume of smoke emerged from a troopship engulfed in flames. It was obvious that it came from a U-boat, but what was puzzling Paisley, was that the ship was alone in the seas. Men clambered across the deck, with many preparing to welcome the survivors and launch depth charges into the water, incase the U-boat was still in the area. As the destroyer approached the burning vessel, the survivors waved their hands to the Metacomet, who cheered with joy as rope ladders began to be lowered. Yet as the Metacomet slowed down, a lone life raft came close to the aft of the destroyer, and was sucked underneath towards the propeller. Hearing the screams of the men being pulled under, Paisley knew what she had to do, in spite of her limitations. Paisley began to unbutton her uniform as Roy came out to look for his assistant, but before he could speak, the robot jumped overboard and hit the water with a splash.
A new sensation filled Paisley as she fell into the water. A sharp pain filled her as she became more submerged, she was sinking and water was starting to short circuit her electronics. Even though she was smaller in frame when compared to humans, her components and parts made her heavier. Another fear began to grip her, as she had no knowledge on how to swim. She had no time to chastise herself for such an action, as she had to focus on what she came here for, to save the lives of Allied soldiers. Making her way towards a sinking man, she grab his arm and began to move upwards. She felt more of the sharp pains as she breached the surface, her focus on the gloomy sky began to fade after she lifted the soldier onto a life raft, before it all went dark.
"Herr Lechovec, I am pleased by this design," an unknown voice spoke, "But my company's owners are unable to purchase it at this time."
"What do you mean by unable to purchase at this time," protested Lechovec, "This is the only chance I have to sell you it."
"Settle down there Fritz," the unknown voice continued, "With the looming threat of war engulfing Europe, my company's owners don't want to be dealing with a possible belligerent and my country's government wants to remain neutral in a potential conflict. Unfortunately this also applies to the company as well."
A silence filled the train car, with the robot seated next to Lechovec staring at the mountainous scenery. It was unaware of the conversation that would decide its future, either to bought by another company, or be sent off to the scrappers in Germany. Its glassy blue eyes shifted over to the other suited man, observing the details of the man's suit and the stylistic "S" that was on the pin. This would gain the attention of the suited man, who began to recollect his thoughts on this machine.
"I just hope that you are able to purchase it in secret," Lechovec sighed, "This was the farthest I've gotten on limited resources."
"The company's scientists and engineers have been working for decades on figuring out a stable level of self awareness in a machine," the suited man droned on, "This might be a welcoming sight to their fruitless efforts."
Lechovec sat in silence, joining his creation in viewing the Swiss landscape, grasping at the thought of letting his creation go to further his dreams.
"Herr Lechovec," the man announced clearing his throat, "I will make arrangements with the owners of my company regarding the robot, and I think they'll have a way of getting over to their American operations."
"Wait, so you mean that you will buy it from me?"
"In some way, yes, but you'll have to find a way to deliver it to the United States without suspicion."
"I believe I do have a solution to that."
The sinking feeling remained in Paisley as she powered up, with an unknown feeling surrounding her. It felt like a million ants crawled around and in her joints. She tried to get up but continued to fall in. Paisley began to yell and shake as she continued to sink in, as two hands grasped her shoulders and hoisted her upright. Opening her eyes, the welcoming sight of Captain Sutton, though out of breath, reassured Paisley.
"If I had a hundred dollars for every time you almost died, I would be richer than Rockefeller has tenfold."
"But sir, that would be very little."
Sutton chuckled to himself at Paisley's comment. She was good with money and calculating every detail, as she was supposed to be a secretary droid.
"Sir, is this rice I am laying in?"
"Yes, and I'm glad that the quartermaster ordered the wrong thing for once. We first tried to dry you off with towels, then one of the survivors suggested we set you out to dry and hung you off of a clothesline."
"I don't think that worked."
"You're right on that, but then the engineers in the boiler room suggested we put you in something like rice, and I remembered the ungodly amounts of rice the quartermaster ordered for the Metacomet."
"And now we're here for me waking up in a coffin of rice."
"Well, we didn't have anywhere else to set you and the rice in."
Paisley thought of that. She knew burial at sea was necessary when bodies couldn't be kept. Thinking of funerals lead to her thinking about death and the sinking troopship. What about the soldier she saved? What happened to him, did he survive?
"Sir, what happened to the survivors?"
"Oh um," Sutton's tone turned from pleasant to somber, pausing before he delivered the news, "There weren't too many as we were hoping."
Paisley stumbled back into the coffin of rice, dispersing the grains across the storage room.
"Most died of shock and injuries. The lucky ones where the ones who died in the fires."
"Wait, what about the one I saved sir?"
"Paisley, I'm sorry about this," Sutton said solemnly as he took off his cap, "He didn't make it. The bends got him and the morphine made it worse. The doctor onboard did his best to save him."
More silence filled the room as Paisley took in the information. If she could cry, then she would do that right now. Despite the rice absorbing the water within her, it failed to absorb some trapped in her eye socket. Out of the socket, a single drop of water fell down her faceplate. A small whimper emerged from the shaking robot as she grasped her face. She was hoping that her action saved the man, but it was in vain. To condole his grieving companion, Sutton placed his hand on the robot's shoulder.
"I guess if it makes you feel better, he was able to complete a letter home. If you want to read it, I'll give it to you."
Paisley looked back up in acknowledgment of Sutton's condolences. Leaving the room, Sutton lit up another cigarette, though he wouldn't inhale any of its cloudy smoke. She remained there in silence as the seconds ticked by in silence. Putting her hand on her cheek, she wiped the tear and got herself out of the rice filled coffin and put on her jacket back on as she trudged to the radio room.
After the incident with the S.S. Normandie, Congress ordered the crew of the Metacomet to return stateside. This was a welcome sight to Sutton, who knew that the sinking and the low amount of survivors affected Paisley in a negative way. It was sapping his little machine's ability to do her duties onboard the destroyer. Sutton's plans to give her time to recover were pushed to the side, as the Top Brass and Congress wanted to use Paisley to raise morale and to support the ongoing war effort. Sutton obviously wanted to protest this, but it could help regain the morale and cheery personality Paisley had developed since her activation those handful of years ago. The tour would take her across the major cities and production sites in the United States, from Beacon City, all the way to San Francisco. Captain Sutton would obviously accompany Paisley on this tour and Paisley suggested that Roy would join them, as he was helping her do her job onboard the Metacomet. So the Tour would include the three of them going across the major population centers of the United States, and then once that has concluded, they would go back aboard the Metacomet and continue their duties.