Work Text:
Unit communication log:
Security update: exterior doors sealed. All clients accounted for.
Acknowledged.
Acknowledged.
Proposal: I will monitor interior cameras, will ping with notable security updates.
Understood. Priority objective: Can drone scanner readings locate hostile fauna nests with greater spatial accuracy?
Unknown. WorldExplorer™ consumer model deluxe signal-to-noise ratio degrades significantly with range.
Code 427: waste disposal maintenance.
Outgoing messages:
[Attachment title: representative instance]
Send? Y/N
Message deleted.
Atmospheric conditions optimal.
Indeed.
ping
ping
Alert: Environmental hazards present. Caution advised.
[Attachment title: environmental hazard]
Alert acknowledged. Environmental hazards safely enclosed in habitat.
Attachment saved to permanent memory
Acknowledge acknowledged.
Acknowledge acknowledge acknowledged.
Punishment protocol 18.1: misuse of communication codes
Acknowledge acknowledge acknowledge acknowledged.
ping
ping
Krice, pass me the ion drill - no, the little one, to the- yeah, that one.
Insufficient mapping information. Requesting additional high-definition scans of southeast survey area.
Acknowledged. Long-range scanner reserved for research purposes. Earliest availability: 0.629 cycles.
Requesting temporary reallocation.
Acknowledged. Forwarding request to Survey Supervisor Pokoda.
That looks heavy, let me take over for a bit.
Private feed: Sata Lei and Krice Vaustan
You are not trained to operate class II ion machinery. Please power down the drill.
[crash]
Blinking lights it was listening the whole-
Scanner reallocation request declined. Reason given:
Do you know how much it costs to run those things!?
Supervisor Pokoda, threat assessment finds a high probability of personnel injury or death if one of the hostiles breaches the habitat.
I recommended rescanning the area to mitigate the risk of accidental provocation.
You heard me the first time. Sample collection is already stalled, and I have fourteen people waiting on those scanner results.
The scanners are booked, we can't afford the downtime just to find a few big bugs.
As per survey contract, the company is not liable for any injury that may occur as a result of failure to adhere to-
The way I see it, the longer we're on this blinking planet the more danger we're in.
Yes, Supervisor Pokoda.
We paid an arm and a leg for you two to be here. Do your job.
Comm channel closed
Company-mandated sightless hunks of junk.
Query: Relevance of relayed audio?
Response: Performance review.
Query: Additional mapping data available?
Response: Affirmative! Sattelite mapping data has been supplemented by close-range scans from contracted SecUnits.
Code 427: waste disposal maintenance.
Response indeterminate, possibility of data corruption. Resend code?
Acknowledged.
Shit shit cut the blinding power-
Krice Vaustan admitted to MedSystem with third-degree burns. Recommended treatment: SynthDerm™ graft awaiting transplant. Prognosis: three cycles medical leave.
Punishment protocol 4.3: Injury to client resulting in MedSystem use ≥ 8 credits
Proposal: I will monitor interior cameras.
Punishment protocol 7.1: Failure to acknowledge received communication
Acknowledged.
Proposal: I will request long-range scanner access.
Declined. Counterproposal: You stop getting distracted.
Acknowledged.
I will clear the remaining area. Will you secure the habitat?
Yes. Code 22: Exercise caution.
I'm always cautious!
Outgoing messages:
That's not fair.
Send? Y/N
Message deleted.
Proposal declined.
Counterproposal?
Report task completion.
Worth a shot.
Task update: Field 98.2% cleared, hazards marked on survey map and cordoned off. There is insufficient information to clear the remaining area. I recommend restricting access for the survey duration.
No can do. We already lost, what, a quarter of our survey area to those sightless bastards. We need all the data we can get.
Supervisor Pokoda, I highly recommend you reconsss-
Understood.
Comm channel closed
Proposal: Please secure the habitat.
Acknowledged.
Be careful.
Archive communication data?
SecUnit One winces in pain as the governor module punishes its cheek. (Two can see its expression in detail because, at some point (0.43 corporate standard hours after the exterior doors sealed), One had retracted its faceplate. (Two didn't ask why this time either.))
As far as bad things that can happen to SecUnits go, shocks for improper communication between constructs are fairly low on the list. Far below, for example, getting eaten in half by oversized beetles. Luckily threat assessment for that particular eventuality has plummeted (from an 82.7% chance of incident down to a cozy 33.9%).
Two re-holsters its projectile weapon as One approaches the habitat. Time to alert HubSystem to task completion and let the stupid clients back out into the stupid (but marginally-safer (ha)) beetle-infested grassland.
SecUnit One wipes the dirt off its armored knees as it stands back up, an expression playing out on its face (predictive social analysis estimates a 27.8% likelihood of "smug", but its accuracy for constructs is somehow even worse than its accuracy for humans) (the accuracy takes a further plunge without foveal visual data of the target's face, which Two can't quite seem to manage right now).
Two cancels its drones' scanning protocol and calls them back. Nineteen of them survived the initial beetle attack, not enough for consistent surveillance of each beetle nest. The recycler can pop out a couple new ones in a few hours (assuming supervisor Pokoda approves the nominal licensing fee to WorldExplorer™), but Two suspects the humans will want to get back to work before that.
Which is not ideal. Two's performance reliability has fallen to 89.5%, a pathetically embarrasing number considering its undamaged physical state. Turning around, ignoring the other SecUnit's heavy footsteps, Two pings HubSystem.
One moment both SecUnits are there; one standing at attention, projectile weapon armed and ready and aimed; the other kneeling, only half-visible in the grass. One moment more and they're both gone, only beetles, beetles, beetles. Drone footage recovered after the fact will show the standing SecUnit firing frantically, approaching the other, ripping a beetle off of the kneeling unit, ripping with it a chunk of flesh. None of this is visible from the small airtight windows of the habitat.
Later a survey member will be sent to recover remaining parts for the recycler, and she will return leading a ferrier drone laden with inorganics.
Soon, the survey supervisor will assess the risks and determine that the safest way forward is to perform high-definition scans of the southeast survey area. The supervisor will request two full sets of scans, which the biologists will comb over with the kind of attention to detail only the threat of being eaten alive by big blinding bugs can inspire.
Now, the humans in their habitat are silent. The beetles and their prey are hidden, grass motionless despite the activity just below the surface, as the swarm meticulously cleans up the last of the organics.
There's no need to look so dour - all your precautions are enough. Fourteen cycles from now the survey will conclude, and all of its members will board the return shuttle, triumphantly uneaten.
SecUnit One does its job. Exactly as designed, it throws itself in the line of fire so that its clients don't have to. It is within design specifications for its luck to eventually run out.
In response to One's light tapping, a swarm of beetles erupts from their burrows. One in two chance, One mutters sardonically. It has its free arm's energy weapon aimed directly at the ground, but truthfully it doesn't see the point in shooting.
It's read the fauna report. It knows its chances.
The swarm chews its way through the synthetic leather of One's armor's joints in seconds. From there, the flesh of its limbs stand no chance. It estimates fourty seconds until the swarm chews its way through its reinforced ribcage and gain access to its lungs.
One raises its energy weapon - the only part of its arm left - takes careful aim at the habitat - then, fires. The last thing it knows is one last notification from its governor module.
SecUnit Two does its job. The swarm overtakes One, and approximatly 18.7 corporate-standard seconds later Two loses access to One's feed signal. Two dutifully stands guard at the habitat entrance. There are too many to take out, but maybe (if Two is lucky for once) Two's energy weapon and projectile fire might convince the swarm to keep its distance until it finished what it came out for.
Within another 5.6 seconds, Two abandons that hope. The swarm doesn't seem to feel the loss of any one individual, cleaning up its own downed members as efficiently as they dealt with One. With threat assessment screaming about the likelihood of a hull breach should the swarm reach the habitat (84% and rising), Two does the only thing it can.
SecUnit Two reaches the colony due east of the habitat in 1.3 seconds. With no threat remaining there, the swarm should lose interest in the habitat and follow Two instead. According to the preliminary assessment's fauna report, separate colonies should (probably) (hopefully) return to their burrows after clashing with each other. SecUnit Two can only hope that, with it and One gone, the humans will have enough sense to launch the emergency beacon and stay indoors until rescue arrives.
SecUnit One prides itself on its caution and meticulousness. However, as it just demonstrated, even the most diligent SecUnits can make stupid dumbass mistakes. The last thing SecUnit One hears before it goes offline is Two's frantic feed communication:
You absolute toaster we already flagged that square!
