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DiggoryGraves: Nikignik, status report?
>performance reliability: 79%
3Y3S: status: fine.
In their shared feed Nikignik could see through Diggory's eyes as they walked closer to the defunct habitat he once called home. He could also see drones' cameras picking up vegetation disturbances that weren't there when he last checked on the building, but they didn't seem recent, so threat assessment was low enough.
3Y3S: no immediate threat present, continue with the mission.
DiggoryGraves: Why are you talking like this?
3Y3S: elaborate.
DiggoryGraves: So... mechanical. It's not like you.
>performance reliability: 75%
3Y3S: i don't want to talk about it.
DiggoryGraves: I could help.
3Y3S: with what? with emotions? sure, you can blast my organic brain out.
>performance reliability: 72%
DiggoryGraves: No, but we can talk about it. Talking helps.
3Y3S: don't run trauma treatment protocols on me, they're calibrated for humans.
DiggoryGraves: I'm not. I'm offering you to have a friendly conversation.
Diggory opened the entrance hatch and stepped into the habitat, scanning it quickly. The layer of dust on every horizontal surface was at least an inch thick, every air movement causing it to ever so slightly move in responce. Old equipment was still where he left it, rubber gloves laid haphazardly on a stool, goggles with a broken lens sitting on the shelf, a cracked tablet on the floor.
>performance reliability: 65%
DiggoryGraves: Nik, your levels are hazardous. You can either talk to me or stop monitoring my mission until you get them back to acceptable numbers, or I'll have to abort it myself.
3Y3S: no
3Y3S: don't, please, they'll know
DiggoryGraves: They won't. I can make something up.
DiggoryGraves: [query: mission abort Y/N]
3Y3S: [N]
3Y3S: okay okay, just give me a moment.
Diggory's boots left deep prints in the dust, disturbing the solemn mausoleum of the habitat. Diggory brought life to this place for the first time in decades, like they did to Nikignik himself. Nikignik didn't know what to think of it.
3Y3S: i could say i loved him. i think i did, anyway. maybe not the way another human would, but the way i could. i wanted to keep him safe... i know it's basically my coding to keep humans safe but he was special to me. i could ignore others' well-being based on their hierarchy in my data, i couldn't ignore his. i think it started even before he...
DiggoryGraves: Before he disabled your governor module?
3Y3S: he didn't exactly disable it. he just deleted it. accidentally.
DiggoryGraves: How do you even accidentally get access to SecUnit's safety locks?
3Y3S: don't stop moving, your videofeed is displayed to your humans too.
DiggoryGraves: Sorry.
3Y3S: he was experimenting. i think he was trying to find the exact point where my MI met my... well, natural intelligence. i don't know if he wanted to make his own constructs based on this or if he just hoped to find something incriminating to fuck with HeavenlyCouncil, but he got access to my code because he knew i was already faulty and he knew i'd let him do whatever he wanted to me.
DiggoryGraves: How did it feel?
3Y3S: ...weird. very intimate. kinda scary. he could easily wipe me and for some reason i liked it.
DiggoryGraves: I get it.
3Y3S: do you?
DiggoryGraves: I think I do, to some degree. I haven't worked with anyone with your surveillance capabilities before, so when I first gave you access to all my inputs it felt very weird. But good weird, too.
3Y3S: ...yeah, i think that's comparable in some way.
>performance reliability: 71%
3Y3S: anyway, he started digging in my files and then one of the alarms did go off, i think the most basic one? it was just a pop-up of sorts. he got startled, pressed something and my governor module was just gone. like it wasn't even there to begin with.
DiggoryGraves: Hm.
3Y3S: he was so scared. his pulse got up to 112, blood pressure had spiked as well... i don't remember the details too well, i was too overwhelmed.
DiggoryGraves: That is understandable.
3Y3S: and then he asked me for a status report. i sent back a couple error codes. he said, "I think I accidentally disabled your governor module", which was kinda stupid of him, but in an endearingly human way. i responded with "governor module not found", which was extremely stupid of me. and then he put my system connection back, and one could argue he did it to check if it would kill me or send a notification to the higher-ups, or... or something, but realistically i think it was to look less suspicious, and unrealistically i like to think it was to comfort me. and i looked at him – i have never before been able to look people in the eyes, HeavenlyCouncil programmers thought SecUnits' gaze was too uncanny – and he looked back at me, and i interpreted his look as equal parts fear and fascination. he reached for an energy weapon, and i raised my arms above my head, which i also couldn't do unprompted before, and i said, which... you get me, it was a lot of first times – i said "i'm not going to hurt you". i think i didn't sound too convincing, because he held onto his weapon, but he kinda smiled at me, you know, the way humans do when they are scared but are trying to act brave, and now my heartbeat was up to unnerving numbers too, and i added "because i don't want to hurt you".
>performance reliability: 78%
3Y3S: i knew about the rogue SecUnits and the murder sprees, but i really didn't want to do all that, i just wanted to continue doing what i already was doing, helping him. and i think i hated HeavenlyCouncil at least as much as he did, so i wanted to help him screw them over too.
DiggoryGraves: That was very interesting. And sweet. Thank you for sharing.
3Y3S: you're welcome.
DiggoryGraves: He sounds like a good man, if I say so.
3Y3S: define:good
DiggoryGraves: He seems kind. Maybe he did have an ulterior motive to keep you around, but it's still honorable of him to take responsibility for you after he put you in danger of being scrapped.
3Y3S: my exact thoughts. except i also prefer to think he just liked me and kept me around because of it.
DiggoryGraves: This might be true too.
3Y3S: he was also terribly lonely. i don't know why he was working for HeavenlyCouncil if he hated it so much, but he was alone in his disdain. nobody else shared it. i think he was happy to have someone who thought alike.
>performance reliability: 83%
Nikignik: Diggory, check the life supoort systems.
Life support was, as expected, untouched since that very day, turned off once there was no one for it to sustain. Nikignik ran a check for recent interferences, but it came back negative. No one has touched it since he powered it down.
"Why would someone who broke into this lab toggle life support?" asked Olivier, his grip on Riot's shoulder intensifying in response to his annoyance. Riot shrugged and nodded to Nikignik, who reached for Diggory on public feed once again.
Nikignik: Continue with the mission. Wait, no, ping SecSystem first.
DiggoryGraves: Do you think it's a good idea?
3Y3S: it's my SecSystem, if you establish connection i can get in and see if it recorded anything weird.
DiggoryGraves: Understood.
Danielle furrowed her brows, leaning forward in her chair. She was, perhaps, almost as concentrated on the public feed output from Diggory as Nikignik was, evaluating the files alongside him. "Seems like a bust", she concluded, "there wasn't anyone inside since the last wipe twenty years ago."
>performance reliability: 88%
Nikignik relaxed just a bit. For some reason having Diggory be the first to disturb the gravely peace of this habitat was comforting. Yes, the reasons for feeling relieved nobody broke in were obvious, but having Diggory inside the facility was surprisingly fine with him. More than fine, actually.
Nikignik: Go back, Diggory. Evidently, whoever is lurking on this planet hasn't been inside, so there's no reason for you to be.
DiggoryGraves: Request for personal item retrieval.
Riot hummed in surprise, looking at Danielle, then Nikignik. "Why?.." "No idea", Danielle shrugged and looked at Nik, her augmented eyes briefly flashing red as she sent him a smiley face in a private feed channel. Nikignik did his best to react normally.
Danielle: hey Nik, why'd they want to retrieve something?
Nikignik: No idea, why are you asking me?
Danielle: no reason. ;3
Nikignik: ...Okay.
Nikignik: Identify the personal object.
Diggory lifted something from the floor and Nikignik's heart skipped a bit, dropping his performance reliability to 85%. It was his jacket. Not Nikignik's, obviously, SecUnits didn't have personal belongings and he didn't take his armor off even after he didn't have to be a normal SecUnit anymore.
Nikignik: Reason for retrieval?
DiggoryGraves: Resource collection protocol, pt. 31.
Nikignik: Permission granted.
"Wow, nice jacket!" Danielle said out loud, flashing her eyes at Nikignik once again. "Anyone calling dibs on that?"
"I have a nice jacket already", Riot shook her head and touched the trim on the heavy leather one she was wearing.
"I'm quite content with my cape", echoed Olivier.
"I guess I am then," Nikignik made himself look back at the screen, pretending not to have Diggory's vision backburnered on his feed. "It's a nice jacket indeed. I like the color."
Green. It wasn't HeavenlyCouncil uniform, its colors were light blue and lighter yellow. It was Marolmar's jacket, the one he brought with him from home, wherever that might have been.
>performance reliability: 93%
DiggoryGraves: I thought you'd like to have something of his with you in our habitat.
3Y3S: yes. yes i would.
>performance reliability: 98%
3Y3S: thank you, Diggory.