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Fig Faeth slowly rode her hoverboard inches above the street of the Warehouse District in New Elm City.
Citizens weren't, like, super allowed in this part of town but the graffiti dotting the walls let her know it definitely wasn't uncommon. Probably because they were on ground level. Most important things took place higher up and the actual ground was disregarded and ignored- even in the wealthier areas of the city.
But that meant the ground was the best place to find treasures. No one really guarded these areas and often a lot of really interesting things that the corporation just didn't want to fix ended up littered around. It was great for finding spare parts and odd trinkets that could be crafted or sold.
Fig pulled up into a particularly juicy looking alleyway. There was a lot of trash here, literal dumpsters full of random scraps, and enough graffiti that it looked more like punks having fun than any gang tags being thrown up. Fig dismounted from her board, letting her metal feet demagnetize from her ride, and set it carefully to the side behind some loose bags while she looked around.
The dumpsters were, in fact, very promising. Wires that were only kinda frayed, metal scraps that could definitely be turned into something with the right tools, even a handful of batteries that- knowing these Corp types- probably had a few watts in them to squeeze out.
Fig was practically done with her shopping, bag over her shoulder filled up with goodies, when something buried in the rubble of the dumpster caught her eye.
It was a pair of weird glasses, almost like goggles, that were miraculously uncracked if not a little scuffed up. The frames were huge and thick and the hooks to go over ears were creeping on the huge category with a soft elastic strap to tighten the whole contraption around one's head.
Fig probably wouldn't have paid any attention to the weird, kinda ugly looking, headgear except for a few small details.
One was the details on the side. What Fig presumed to be the name of the product was there as well as the logo for the Abber Corps. And the Abber Corps did not make horrible fashion statements, they made bots, augmentations, high tech stuff that only the richest could afford.
The second thing she noticed that made her pause was the little knob on the side of the glasses. A connector to link with any one of the nurochips almost everyone in the city had ticking away in their brains. This was a machine. That's why the frames were so large, to hold wires and circuitry and stuff.
Careful not to break it or cut herself on all the other trash Fig carefully extracted the wearable computer and turned it around. It was either really freaking old or a really powerful computer, to need all the components that had to be hiding away in its frame. Wearable tech was of course nothing new, Fig's own shirt had a heating component built in, but Abber Corps wasn't known for making simple things. Whatever this was probably had to be cool.
If it still worked.
Only one way to find out.
Fig put on the chunky goggles and plugged it into the hole in her temple, connecting it to her nuronetwork. She really wasn't expecting much from the beat up equipment and was shocked and delighted as heads up displays started appearing in front of her and an almost imperceptible hum signaled the computer booting up.
"Hello," called out a voice in Fig's head, startling her more. A full bot was crammed in these things? The voice was feminine and young sounding, with a British accent and had the cadence of someone trying to keep a professional air while bursting with excitement, "welcome to your personalized predictive AI assistant. I am the Advanced Digital Approximated Intelligence Network. How may I help you today?"
Fig counted with a thoughtful frown as she squinted at the heads up displays. There was a little ring of light in the corner of her vision that flashed as the AI spoke and a list of Fig's vitals but not much more going on at the moment. "Where's the E?"
"Pardon?" The AI asked.
Fig tapped on the side of the glasses. "The label. It spelled A.D.A.I.N.E. But your acronyme only had five letters. What's the E stand for?"
The AI did not answer right away and Fig was worried she had already broken the thing when the voice came back.
"...experimental. This is the experimental model."
Did it sound... embarrassed? Fig knew that robots and androids and stuff could have emotions- or at least approximate them if you were on that side of the political argument- but she hadn't thought a beat up pair of glasses would be that advanced.
"Oh, well," Fig kicked at some trash and took a glance around the abandoned alleyway. There was still no one else here, no one looking for their AI or laying a trap or anything. "That would explain why I found you in a dumpster."
"...oh." The AI sounded genuinely sad by that news and Fig felt a momentarily rush of guilt. "That's unsurprising, I suppose. The last thing I remember, my creators didn't seem particularly thrilled with the test runs. But I can guarantee you I am still fully functioning and can assist you in anyway you wish."
Fig was not aware a robot could sound like it was lying. Like, they couldn't lie, obviously, but this one’s voice cracked and crackled as it brushed past why it was thrown away.
"That's cool," Fig said, ignoring what was probably just some tiny corrupted code or something, "what kinda stuff can you do? Oh! And you're not hooked up to any of the larger networks are you? I'm kinda trying to stay undercover."
"No, I do not have access to any networks but my own and the one I am currently attached to: yours," ADAINE informed her, "I am a personal predictive AI. I am not designed to operate in an omnipresent sense."
"Oh, cool cool cool, that's perfect," Fig said, continuing to glance around to see if anything on the screen would change. It did a little, some things would light up for half a second before going dark again but never the same thing twice no matter how much she looked away and back. "What does 'predictive AI' mean? That's not like... I mean you seem a little more advanced than a twentieth century chatbot."
"I don't know what that means. I'm a predictive AI because my main function is to... predict. Usually the psychological needs of my host but also physical needs and events."
"Events?" Fig echoed. She had heard of helper bots before. Either full robots or little programs that could tell you when an augmentation was malfunctioning or you needed a specific vitamin boost or something. Some advanced ones could even predict when somebody was going to have a stroke or a panic attack minutes in advance. But Fig had never heard of something that could anticipate problems outside the body.
"Yes." There was a flash on the screen in front of Fig's face, equations rushing by so fast she had no hope of reading them, let alone comprehending. "For example there has been a shift in the air pressure of this alleyway and a very soft rythmic thumping coming from twelve degrees off of north. Someone is approaching your position."
"Shit!" Fig quickly looked around and, finding nothing better, tried to wedge herself behind the dumpster. "Are they hostile, do you think?"
"I have no idea," the AI said, remarkably casual for a robot, "I would need more information about what kind of creatures are usually hostile to you to make that sort of assessment."
"Can you tell me anything ?" Fig hissed, pulling her gun out. She could hear the footsteps now too, though she had to strain hard to pick it up, the soft patter of shoes on concrete.
"There is only one individual. They are smaller than you in both build and height and have electronics on them. They are not running, but- by the rate and impact of their footfalls- they are not trying to be overly stealthy either. From this a conclusion can be drawn that they most likely do not know you are here or, if they do, they are non-hostile."
Fig blinked as the alleyway in front of her lit up in the goggles, outlining a predicted path for whoever was approaching. Okay, so, these glasses might not be totally useless. Score.
As she watched from the shadows Fig saw a boy stroll carefully down the alley.
Or maybe not a boy. He was short, like a foot shorter than Fig, but his face was of a handsome young man, probably around Fig's age. He was wearing tweed pants and a vest with an untucked tie- extremely outdated fashion- with a chord, similar to the one attached to Fig's legs, swinging in the air behind him coming out from his lower back. A cap was covering lime green hair and had two small antennas poking out of it.
The guy was looking around but, true to ADAINE's word, didn't seem to be searching for her. He was lifting up rocks and squinting at the surrounding graffiti like he was attempting to read it, whatever he was trying to find wasn't a person.
Fig leaned forward as the guy moved on, trying to keep him in sight, and accidently kicked a pile of loose metal over.
A small piece of text popped up in front of her eyes- Host Trait Updated: Clumsy- before disappearing again.
Rude. The glasses were rude.
The boy whipped around and pulled a gun out from... somewhere faster than Fig could see. She froze as it was pinpointed directly on her face and his eyes narrowed into dangerous slits.
"Definitely hostile," Fig muttered to herself as she slowly raised her hands in a passive gesture.
"I wouldn't jump to such a conclusion so quickly," ADAINE spoke in her head, "he does have a gun trained on you but he thought he was alone a moment ago and is most likely startled. His finger is on the trigger but the safety is still on, though his thumb is poised to disengage it at a moment's notice. All that combined I would say he is undecided if he wants to be hostile or not."
The guy said something but the rambling analysis in her head prevented Fig from hearing what it was clearly enough.
"Sorry," she said aloud, trying to keep her voice light, "got one of those loud text messages and didn't hear what you said. Could you repeat that?"
"Oh," ADAINE spoke, voice quieter, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have... sorry."
"First put the gun down." The boy's expression didn't flicker, his hand didn't shake. "Then tell me who you are. And what you're doing here."
Fig licked her lips and regarded the gun hanging limply in her hand, then the one held steady at her face. "You first."
"I can shoot faster than you," the guy replied plainly.
Fig gave an exaggerated huff and whispered under her breath while she did, "he lying?"
"That is the fourth sentence he has said," ADAINE told her, tone apologetic, "I haven't heard him tell the truth or lie yet. There's no data for me to make a prediction based on."
Fig grimaced as her mind raced, trying to find a way out of this. Her thoughts settled on what the AI had told her a few moments ago. The safety was on the gun, she'd startled the guy, he hadn't decided to be hostile yet.
"Yeah, but I don't think you want to," Fig said to him, standing up straighter but with forced calm. The barrel of the gun followed her forehead but Fig didn't hear the safety click off. So, in the clear so far. "Look, I was just here scavenging. I'm a scavenger, that's all. Not attached to the Corp, not in a gang, just taking some unwanted scraps."
There was a beat of tension as her words sunk in and then vest guy tilted his gun up and away and Fig holstered hers in return as she tried not to let her relief show.
"I'm an investigator," the guy said, gaze taking her in intently, "there's been a missing person's case that I'm looking into. We think it's connected with the Abber Corporation. You haven't heard anything about that have you?"
"Nope," Fig said, popping the end of the word and rocking on her heels, "I don't really keep up with politics."
His eyes narrowed again but he kept the gun away so Fig didn't really care too much. "What's with the glasses? You have augmented legs but can't afford permanent contacts?"
"Oh, pfff, no they aren't corrective," Fig said as she tilted the actual goggle part of the goggles up so it rested on her forehead, "and I'd tell you their aesthetic but I don't think you'd believe me."
ADAINE, still attached to Fig's chip, immediately began protesting. "I actually can function a lot better when I'm placed over the- is that the fucking sky? "
Fig jerked back at the sudden shrill scream in her brain. She was lucky vest guy didn't seem twitchy because he just raised a brow at the movement and took a step forward instead of shooting her.
"Where the fuck are the stars?" ADAINE yelled to only Fig, prompting her to smack her head to try and find some kind of volume control on the wearable robot. With no success. "Why are there billboards in the sky ?"
"Is that a computer?" Vest guy asked, coming even closer now. His gun was fully away but he was staring at ADAINE with a look of both suspicion and resolve. "It... has the Abber Corps logo. I've never seen something like that before..." He reached up to try and grab the goggles on Fig's head.
"Whoa, hey!" Fig cried, pushing the goggles back down firmly on her face and twisting away, "Finders keepers dude, hands off."
His eyes grew even wider. "You found those? Like just found them? Here ?" He glanced around, like he was trying to find more or maybe scoping for evesdroppers. "Ma'am, I need you to give those to me right now. People's lives could be at stake."
"He's desperate." ADAINE sounded calmer now that it had a moment ago, but still the AI's voice shook. "It's very unlikely he'll shoot you but if you stay here and do not hand me over the interaction is going to turn violent."
"Bouncin'!" Fig cried and in one movement of her robotic legs swept the smaller guy's feet out from under him. "Sorry dude, I hope your investigation goes well."
The guy cried out and as he hit the ground his back made a metallic sort of ringing sound.
Fig did not stay to investigate. Grabbing her hoverboard from where she left it on the wall, she kicked off into the night sky, back towards the city proper and getting into a bike lane. She would take a roundabout way home, just in case she was somehow being followed.
"That was certainly an adventure!" Fig crowed into the rushing wind. "You know, you may be a little buggy but you're pretty cool Adaine."
"That's not how you pronounce- okay," ADAINE said and Fig could see most of the city flashing up around her for a moment before the heads up display settled and a little note on the safest path through traffic settled into place. "Thank you for... defending me? I did not know I was that important to you to attack that man for me. Also I am sorry I shouted. It was unbecoming."
"Hey, it's cool," Fig told the computer as the two of them drifted along, "that dude didn't seem like too much of a hassle to knock down. I needed to get out of there anyway, sticking around too long is never a good idea."
"Still... you could have dropped me and fled, leaving him distracted. Thank you. For... keeping me."
"Sure." Fig really didn't know what to do with how touched the computer sounded. "Name's Fig, by the way."
A pop up appeared in the corner of her vision. Host Trait Updated: Fig.
"I am... very glad to meet you, Fig."