
Chapter 1. Previous Chapter. Next Chapter.
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Corrupted
Chapter 12 - Virus-Addict
By Gynoneko
Tess was assigned to show us around the embassy while she was off-duty. She may have been soft-spoken, but she was very helpful. She showed us all over the building, starting with the outside grounds.
The embassy had gardens and a well-managed lawn, which was apparently a service they had done for them. There were a number of small buildings, including sheds and outposts, and one currently empty tower where a soldier could overlook most of the ground. They had a pool, playing courts for games, and a large cement slab which Tess promised she'd explain shortly. As we came to the end of the first tier of the tour, Laura noted her armored suit was still hiding in the bushes. Tess assured us that she would have it moved into the mech bay right away.
Next, we decided to take a look at the main level. The building was full of white stone, marble, gold, and intricate carvings. All of them looked regal and rather familiar in style. For a foreign embassy with what I would assume would be bizarre customs, they sure had a lot of Ino-styled artwork. Perhaps it was just because Ino workers built the building, or maybe it had some previous purpose, but Tess didn't know the answer. On this level, there were large stair cases, ornate rugs, paintings on the walls of people no one knew, and sculptures in alcoves with recessed lighting. There was a small and fancy kitchen, main dining hall, secondary dining room, a large and ornate ball room for entertaining, and several smaller rooms for officials. Not to mention the barracks and a slew of hidden hallways for servants.
We decided next to walk down one level. Here, the decor changed to be much more utilitarian. The main kitchen was on this level, and it was huge, big enough to feed an army, but pristine and clean. In fact, it appeared only a small corner of it was used at all. Then again, with most of your staff being robots, why would you need to use such a huge kitchen? I had to remind myself that even though Ellie could eat and enjoy it, that didn't mean Raster or the others could. Tess confessed she did not eat regular food, even though she was more than capable of it. Rather, she only ate the small amount of fluids and supplements her body needed to replace every so often. There was a single human chef here, working on meals, and it smelled very good. He was too busy to greet us, and I honestly didn't want to get in his way. He used maybe a 10th of the available space to cook, which made me realize this kitchen could staff an army of chefs. Also on this level was the servants dining hall, which was adorned with several large wooden sturdy tables, swords, armor, and shield on the wall; everything was covered in cob webs. The servants' sleeping quarters were also here; separate from the soldier's barracks. Laundry, cleaning closets, seamstresses, repair shops, and more all littered this level, as though it was at one time used for a large staff. There was a large wine cellar as well, which was extremely well-stocked but covered in a thick layer of dust.
The level below was in fact the dungeon. It was now converted mainly into labs for my father, but it was clear its original use was much less friendly, and in some ways it still served that purpose. My father hadn't left that floor in months, maybe longer, and hadn't left the grounds in years. Instead of metal cuffs and torture devices, the rooms were outfitted with strong smoked glass dividers, computers, wires, cables, tele-screens, work stations, and more, all of which my father used. It was more than big enough for him, and looked like it could handle a staff of 10 scientists or more, but whatever happened to the rest of them Tess didn't say. I managed to find one room, with a large heavy wooden door and wrought iron bars for a window, and a heavy set of keys still inside the keyhole, which was clearly an "interrogation" chamber, but now stored all the old remnants of the floor's past life. Chains, cages, whips, bars, and an assortment of ungodly torture devises were stuffed tightly inside. I locked this door, and told Tess to make sure it stayed that way.
Moving on from this, we came to the lowest level, the mech bay. Originally, this was where the sewer met with the building. Now it looked nothing like what it had been. The sewer was well-hidden, the floors were now heavy concrete, and the walls were reinforced and modernized. In fact, the entire place was full of armored suits, all of which looked like Eingaurd, more-or-less. There were few walls on this floor, and it had high ceilings, with large metal supports not only doubling as foundation support but also as bays to store the various mecha in. It was rather amazing. 3 or 4 of the male soldiers worked the area now, in fact, and were busy preparing something. There were easily 2 dozen suits in here, each one with the same red symbol Eingaurd had. In fact, I couldn't tell if Eingaurd was among the ranks. Beside the main area, which housed all the suits, there were repair bays, room with large glass windows for managing the equipment, and...
"A launching bay?" Laura inquired.
"Yes," Tess explained. "This bay allows for us to quickly launch our troops, fully-suited, into the air above the embassy. That concrete slab you saw is actually the exit, so we have to make sure no one is on or near it when we are using it."
"How long does it take to get a full squadron in the air?"
"Only about 2 minutes" Tess informed. "With the control room there, we can orchestrate the entire operation, and easily launch a half-dozen in just over a minute."
Just as Tess was beginning to explain, the door at the top of the launch tube opened, and something started to lower down. Beschutzer traveled slowly down the tube in what appeared to be a scaffold frame. We watched as it was lowered, and 2 of the men came over to guide the suit while another waited in the control room, and another still hopped out of the suit to join the others. Laura followed them as they brought the suit over to an empty bay, which was bigger than the others, luckily. Beschutzer easily towered over the much smaller Ainu suits, but for some reason it looked slower and more bulky, as though its size was not an advantage. Still, they set it into place, and instantly Laura climbed up.
I watched for a moment or two as Laura inspected her suit as though it was an expensive new car. She took note of every scratch, ding, and dent, along with all the other major damage, and pointed everything out to the soldiers working there. It was her baby, and she had let it get badly beat-up. So far it had traveled through a smelly sewer, survived an attack from a pressure gun, fell several stories onto the streets of the under city, avoided capture doing god-knows what, and flew hundreds of miles in a single night. It needed a lot of work, and Laura was there to see to it, however, now was not the time. As soon as she took note of the more severe damage, and made sure the soldiers got started with the repair work, I caught her attention.
"We really have to finish this first, Laura. You can come back and keep working on him later, I'm sure he won't be going anywhere" I explained.
"But... I... he..." she blew a strand of hair out of her face. "Fine. Let's get this over with" she pouted.
We decided we'd seen enough of the basement levels, and moved up to the rest, using the elevator. There were 4 floors above the main level, and each served its own purpose as well. The first level was the guest hall. It housed fancy and stylish, if a little old-fashioned, rooms for up to 50 guests. It also housed bathrooms, office space, and believe it or not, a small gymnasium. Again, there were many halls and many hidden areas for the staff to move about unnoticed. By now, something started to bug me about this place. I had no idea why I hadn't thought about it before, but there were just too many things to think about, and my brain only just realized that this wasn't quite right.
We moved on to the next level, which housed a group of ballrooms, halls of mirrors and glass, and music rooms. It also had a handful of large bedrooms. By large, I meant my house would easily fit inside... before it burned down. They were huge. Each one was decorated as if for royalty. There were more statues and paintings and works of art on this floor, and in these rooms, then any other. The windows were ornate and colorful, reaching from the floor to the ceiling, and built with expert craftsmanship into the heavy stone walls. Drapery lined every place where it could, and the beds in these rooms could probably fit 4 or 5 people at a time. This was no regular embassy, and my suspicions only grew stronger.
Up one level we found ourselves in what appeared to be a very proper command center. It was more like a strategy room with smaller rooms to either side. This floor was visibly smaller than the previous ones, and most of the doors were locked, and had been for years. No one used this floor, as Tess explained, at least not to her knowledge. It was as if they could plan an attack or defense from here, but why the hell would an embassy need such rooms?
Finally, we came to the last floor. It was the smallest, but also the most gaudy and flamboyant. Suits of armor, swords, shields, paintings, and expensive purple drapery filled the hall. A single giant stained glass window shown colorful light into the single hall. Two guards stood by a door. They must have been there for a while, because I hadn't seen them before, and they did not react to us at all. They wore different uniforms than the other soldiers, with epaulettes and tall hats and swords at their sides. They stood on either side of a large red door with a heavy relief inset in it, depicting a great battle. It was taller than Beschutzer, and must have weighed a ton to open or close. Tess put one finger to her lips, and indicated for us to stay quiet. We followed Tess back down the stairs and to the floor below.
"What the hell, Tess?" I snapped.
"What?" she wondered. "That's the ambassador's room. He's-"
"Not that! This isn't an embassy, it's a palace!"
Laura put her hand to her mouth when she realized I was right.
"A palace? But why would Ainu want a palace here?" Tess asked herself.
"It makes sense" Laura pointed out. "There is no palace for the Kaiser; he lives in a giant tower downtown. This... this must have been the original Ino Palace! Before Tsion took over."
"Why would Tsion give Ainu a freakin' palace?!" I asked to no one in particular.
Tess was at a loss for words.
"First they give Ainu a palace, and then they provide them with advanced robotic guards and a scientist to build them an army?"
"And why would they keep that scientist as a prisoner?" Laura asked. "On top of that, why let him and the Ino High Guard program them instead of Ainu?"
We had too many questions, and Tess had none of the answers. She looked confused as well.
"Didn't you think any of this was weird at all?" I asked Tess.
"To be honest" she replied in her soft voice, "I never thought about it before. They keep us busy and Captain Wilkins... Seth, he comes and goes as he pleases and always has his way. Captain Matrix would let him, and she'd take us out into town to... do things. I was more concerned about getting in trouble with the locals or making the ambassador mad to think about anything else. I just accepted things as they were."
"Conditioning programming" I explained as we walked back to the elevators.
"Condit-y what-y?" Laura asked.
"Conditioning Programming. The High Guard didn't want them to questions things too much, so they made sure they never looked at the things they didn't want them to look at, unless directly confronted with it. It's like programming them to subconsciously look the other way and ignore it."
"There is no one behind the curtain" Laura submitted as we got in the elevator.
"Huh?"
"It's a quote... from a movie... Oh come on! You have got to get out more" she scolded as she rolled her eyes. "It means there is someone pulling the strings and the puppets can't see who is behind the curtain pulling them."
"I'm not sure that's what that quote means" Tess tried to explain, but Laura cut her off.
"I'm just saying it makes sense. Ino doesn't want the dangerous robot army to know anything, and so they keep them in the dark and tell them to look the other way."
"Exactly" I confirmed. We ended up back on the main floor, with more questions than before. I could see Matrix in the distance running around as best as she could, being hounded by the same small girl with her hair tied into a bun on either side. It looked like they decided to give Matrix a proper uniform, unadorned like my shirt, complete with a tank top and black pants of some kind. They stopped, stretched, the other girl constantly yelling at her. Matrix looked exhausted, but she was already looking stronger. Her movements were not as weak as they were before, but they were still not up-to-par. After a short stretch, they continued on again, running down a hall at a light jog.
Raster came up to us and saluted. I wasn't used to this, but Laura saluted in return. "Dinner will be ready shortly. I suggest we retreat to the main banquet hall when you are ready."
"I think I'd rather eat in the servants' dining hall actually" I pointed out. Raster gave me a quizzical look, but nodded.
"Very well. We will meet with you in 15 minutes, please make sure you are cleaned up."
As Raster saluted and left, Laura leaned into me. "Something else bugs me" she whispered.
"Yeah?"
"Why did they so easily allow an Ino solider and an Ino citizen take over their embassy guard without even asking their ambassador?"
Laura was right. This was all wrong. There is no way they'd allow this.
"You do know she can still hear you" Tess whispered. "She has excellent hearing."
"So I've been told" I contended. "But it is still true, something doesn't add up, and I think she knows more than she'd be willing to tell us."
Dinner was good. No, it was downright amazing. I had never had such a well-prepared dish. I was just glad I didn't have to pay for this meal; it would have cost me a small fortune. Laura clearly enjoyed it too, while my dad ate it as though it was his regular meal, good but nothing special. He must have gotten used to such fine dining.
Everyone was in the hall, at least most everyone. There were a few servants eating with us, but their numbers were very few. Maybe 5 total and they seemed to question why we were there at all. Apparently, the soldiers normally ate in the barracks, if at all. Of the soldiers, the girls all sat together, while the men filled in other tables. There wasn't much in talking, but there was a small buzz in the room. Laura and my father sat next to me, with Raster directly across from Laura, and Matrix directly across from me. Matrix looked exhausted. She was sweaty, shaking, and still catching her breath when she sat down to eat. Raster gave her a hard look, but it soon passed.
"Are you alright?" I asked the exhausted yellow-eyed brunette.
"Never... felt... better" she said between pants. "Kill me."
Just then, the short-haired gynoid that had been riding her so hard sat next to her. Matrix stiffened up but narrowed her eyes at her.
"I'm off the clock" she pointed out. "Eat, relax. You'll need your strength for tomorrow" she warned.
"I'm sorry, what's your name?" I asked her.
"I'm Lulu" she said, extended her hand across the table for a hand shake. Aunt May, who sat on the other side of my dad, stared at her hard.
I shook Lulu's hand, noting her hand was small, like the rest of her, but strong, before I returned to eat. "So you eat too?" I asked, noticing her full plate.
"Sure, when I feel like it" she explained. "Tess there is a little too... outdated to eat regularly."
I noticed Tess sitting nearby with a near-empty plate of food and a large glass of some kind of drink nearby. She ate slowly and timidly, mainly drinking from her glass. Whatever it was, it didn't look appetizing. It looked transparent with a yellow color floating on top, and dark thick ooze sinking to the bottom. It must have been whatever she needed to maintain herself.
"So, Raster" I began as I took a bite. "Did you know what this place was?"
"Yes" she confirmed. "It was the old Ino Palace. Why?"
"Doesn't it strike you as odd that Ino gave this to the Ainu ambassador?"
"Why should it?" she questioned. "This is a fine building, suitable for any foreign dignitary."
"Isn't it a little much?"
"That isn't my place to judge" she declared. "I just do what they tell me to."
"And what about me and Jimmy taking over command?" Laura asked.
"The Chain of Command deemed it appropriate, so I followed-"
"Bullshit" Laura cried. "No one would allow a foreign citizen and soldier to take over their defense in a foreign country. Not like this. You know something."
"I cannot say" Raster replied.
"Are you going to tell us or do we have to force it out of you?" Laura went on.
"I CANNOT say!" Raster enunciated as she smashed a fist on the table.
"Relax" my dad intervened. "She really can't. Her programming is preventing it."
"How can I trust her?" I asked. "Would you?"
"Yes" my dad answered. "I would." He looked at her with a serious stare. Raster's eyes met his, and she looked down at her plate.
"Please believe me when I say there is more going on than I can tell you, and I only wish the best for you."
"So you're on our side?" Laura asked.
"I'm on my own side" she corrected. "But that doesn't mean our goals aren't the same."
"You're not lying to us like Matrix" Laura proposed, adding "used to" at the end when Matrix looked up with a red face.
Raster stood up, as though she was ready to leave, but I held out my hand to her. "Please, sit. I'd like to help you if I can, but let's not fight amongst ourselves."
She nodded, and sat back down. "I could be..." Raster suggested "lying that is. But I'm not. I will do what I can to help, but my hands are tied, so-to-speak."
Laura slouched a little. "Sorry. I didn't mean to accuse you like that."
"No, it is alright. I understand your situation, and it is only natural for you to question my motives."
"So then, that's all settled" my dad exclaimed. "Let's just enjoy our food, and get to know each other a little more."
The rest of the meal was actually relatively quiet. Raster and the other girls didn't have much to talk about, or rather, I got the feeling they were either too nervous, or unable to tell us anything. They probably didn't have any kind of social life, considering, so our topics were rather limited. I did notice that Aunt May just stared at Lulu through the entire meal, without saying a word. Matrix kept glancing up at me, before turning her eyes back to her plate when I noticed. In all, it was the most awkward meal I'd eaten in a while.
I got a good look at Matrix while we ate. Her white tank top was thin and wet, which clung to her skin and made her nipples stick out a bit. I swear as the meal continued, they poked out more, perhaps from the sweat cooling off and making her cold. Her hair was still long and straight, but at least this time it was tied into a loose pony tail behind her. Her demeanor was different as well. While she was usually more outgoing and head strong (and a bit of a jerk), she seemed more shy and quiet, although her mannerisms were identical. I realized it was probably just because she was tired, or maybe Lulu made her nervous. As she ate, she smiled a genuine smile in public for the first time, even if it was short lived. She was enjoying herself somewhat, perhaps her new body, or the lack of a corrupted mind, or maybe it was the company. Whatever it was, this Matrix was different somehow. Plus she kept glancing at me.
Matrix brought to mind the one thing I had been eager to do all day, which had briefly escaped my mind amid the conversations at dinner. I finished off my plate, and nudged my dad, reminding him that there was something he promised to do with me after dinner. He nodded in agreement, and we excused ourselves before retreating down a level to the lab.
Ellie lay perfectly still, as though she were a statue of porcelain. Her body was still mangled from the fall yesterday, and it pained me to look at her in such a condition. I looked up at the screen, and sighed in relief to see the diagnostics program had finished, with a readout of results. My father and I looked them over, but most of it was foreign to me. It was pretty clear I had no idea what it all meant, but my dad took me through it step by step.
In all, her mind was still damaged, but it was also registering as incomplete. Without the personality profile of Matrix, her mind didn't know what to grab onto. Even though she was operating for a while without Matrix awake, part of that profile was still working and doing what it had to do. Without Matrix, we needed to build Ellie a whole new personality profile. The damage to her mind was considerable as well. Corrupted segments and manipulated data were evidence of the torture the Ino High Guard did to her. As my dad was pointing out the errors in her electronic brain, he started running an advanced repair program, something he had secretly been working on for the past year or so, in a desperate attempt to get the girls back on his side.
"Don't worry, I've tested this before" he assured me. "On Tess. She's kind of my test subject. I know, her brain is much simpler, but I had to start somewhere. If the High Guard ever caught on about this, they'd... well they'd put a stop to it, and then some. They rarely looked at Tess, she wasn't the most complicated android I built, and they were more interested in girls like Raster." He kept his eyes on the screen as he typed in the commands he needed to start the repair.
"Tess? So you cured her?"
"Cure? No. There is no 'cure' for this type of thing. I just repaired the worst of the damage." He stopped typing and looked at me. "It means her data is no longer corrupted, and operating as it should. She's already starting to think for herself. I only hope it isn't too late for Raster."
"Has Raster been to the High Guard often?" I asked.
"Dunno. They come and go all the time, but Tess was always open with me. Raster... she's been a bit of a stick in the mud. But... I have hope for her. Here, take a look at this."
He showed me another report which had been generated in the diagnostics. This one was easier to read, but still had a lot of confusing terminology. I couldn't understand all the details, but I could tell it was a list of physical damage as understood by not only Ellie's internal diagnostics, but also a scan of her system from the work table itself. It was a long list.
All in all, not only were her limbs damaged, but... well all of her was broken. From her head to her feet, there wasn't a system that didn't suffer some amount of damage. I wasn't sure where to start!
"We'll start with the most important parts first" my dad clarified. "Her vital synth 'organs' and brain."
"Synth organs?"
"Well you didn't expect real ones did you? I developed these synthetic organs based on the research of a friend of mine, who was working on artificial organs for people. Alas, no one would fund his research thanks to the... robo-phobia around town."
"Yeah, that's strange. But even more unusual, why would a society that shuns robots so much have one of the brightest minds in robotics building them in secret?"
My dad was silent for a moment. "I wish I knew. This whole phobia is something Tsion conjured up. I'm not sure why, or what his intentions are, but..." He trailed off in his thought. I wondered what he was thinking about, but decided not to push the topic.
"Can we fix her before it's too late?" I inquired.
"Too late?" My dad shook his head as he focused again. "Oh yes. We should at least. The damage to her synth organs has caused some deterioration to her systems, and if we don't do something soon, it will become irreversible, but I think we can manage to stop it before it gets that far."
"Can we start now? Where do we begin?" I was eager to dive in and get her systems back online.
"Well, f-first..." my dad stammered as he began to blush like an adolescent teen. "We need to undress her. Ah... have you...? You know... seen her...?"
I nodded. "Yeah. Of course. I mean we... umm..." I began to blush myself.
"Of course. Of course. I mean that was why I made her, sort of... Here, I'll let you do the honors." He got up to walk out but I knew I was going to need help with this.
"No no... please. I can't do this alone. I mean, it will be easier if you help. We're professionals; we should act professional about this."
"Of course! You're right. I mean, I always do" my dad informed. "I just wasn't sure if it would be... awkward for you. I suppose having my son with me while I do this is just weird for me."
"No, it's fine. I'm more concerned about her health than anything else right now."
He nodded in agreement, and joined me beside the table. It was rather awkward undressing a lifeless girl with my dad. He helped move her body into position while I pulled her layers off. After we revealed her bare chest, things got surprisingly easier. We actually worked well together.
Setting the clothes aside in a folded pile on a nearby chair, I turned back toward my dad who was typing away at another computer next to her.
"I think this next part you are going to love. Not that you didn't... love the last..." he coughed as his voice trailed off. "Never mind" he said as he pushed a button.
Suddenly, a projected holographic image of Ellie appeared above her in a bright blue light. A grid pattern in yellow overlaid her projected form, and bit-by-bit, the blue lines of her holographic body turned red to indicate damage, showing at least three quarters of her needed to be repaired.
"Whoa" I exclaimed. "Wish I had one of these."
"It gets better" my dad continued as he stood next to her. Reaching into the holographic form, he used a series of simple hand gestures to enlarge portions of her body as though he was looking at her through a magnifying glass. He moved the glowing holographic pieces out of the way, and more parts appeared beneath in complex detail in place of them. I was amazed at the technology he was using, but I wasn't sure how it was helping.
He focused his attention on a cracked circuit on a diskette in her back, I wasn't sure what it was, but he pointed out it was part of her data center, a sort of hub for filtering sensations and physical interactions before sending it on to the main CPU. Luckily, it was repairable. A set of holographic tools floated nearby him and he grabbed one that looked like a soldering iron and applied it to the crack. As he moved the simulated tool over the damaged area, it started to glow green as the damage disappeared. A message appeared in thin air before him, asking if he wanted to apply the changes, and he confirmed. Two robotic claws which were tucked away at the end of the table suddenly came to life and moved toward Ellie.
The two wicked looking metal claws stopped over Ellie's navel and gently pressed it in until a click and a whir could be heard as seams appeared on her abdomen. Faster than I could think, the two claws reached inside her as the panels on her stomach and chest parted, and dug deep inside her body. At first I was freaked out that they were going to damage her, but it was clear a moment later that they were extremely precise instruments and were designed to do exactly this.
Above her body, the holographic display showed the two claws as orange invaders, working away at the damaged area, and repairing it as my dad had gestured moments before. In a few seconds, the job was done, and the arms retracted and stayed at the ready for the next assignment.
"Whoa, that was different. And fast! How does it work?"
"I'll show you" he smiled as he waved me over next to him. I eagerly joined him by his side, as he started describing how everything worked. There were a series of functions the two robotic hands were able to perform, and each of the virtual tools represented those functions. As how showed me how each worked, we started repairing various parts of Ellie's damaged body. It was quite amazing to watch the two metal claws do their work to fast and effectively, with more accuracy and precision than any human hand was capable of. Once or twice, my dad had to backtrack and undo a step or two when he was repairing something, but since it was storing all his actions into the memory of the computer, this was no problem for the hands to ignore. It was even possible to work with system live, so the work you did would be performed at the same time by the robotic arms, but this was dangerous and often led to mistakes, so we didn't work this way.
Finally, after probably an hour or so of instruction, he let me take the helm. It was rather amazing to use, and as soon as I got over the novelty of it, my efforts focused back on Ellie. Her body was still a mess, although this made repairing her a breeze, and there was a light at the end of the tunnel. Her back had suffered terrible damage, and we spent a good amount of time there, replacing or repairing the damaged vertebrae. We were forced to replace one of her synth organs, the one that acted like a liver, and one of her lungs needed repair. There was fluid leaking in her body, which was a challenge to clean up, but luckily her body was actually designed to handle just this type of problem. All the fluids were collected in reservoirs hidden throughout her torso, which could be emptied fairly easily, and allowed us to keep track of the leaks. In all, we probably spent 3 hours working on her together before my dad gave up.
"It's getting late, son, and I need to sleep. It's been a big day, Jimmy" he yawned.
"Where do you sleep?" I asked.
"I talked with Raster earlier. They agreed to upgrade me from a cot in the corner to a bed in the servant's quarters, at least for now."
I looked over and noticed a folded up collection of rags and rope and wood in the corner of a far room. This was apparently my dad's bed. Not the most comfortable accommodations, but then again he was being held against his will. I turned back to Ellie, and couldn't get her smile out of my head.
"I'll stay here for a little more, if that's alright with you."
"Um, sure. You're a grown man now, I can't tell you when to sleep, but please don't stay up too late. There's a lot to do on her yet."
He turned to walk away but something came to mind and I couldn't help but ask. "Why did you make them all girls?"
"What?" he yawned turning back to me.
"The Ainu guard. The advanced ones are all girls. Why is that?"
"Oh. Well... I guess I got lonely. I missed your mother, I missed you, and... I missed your sister."
"Sister?!" I shrieked almost falling over.
"Yeah" he sighed, scratching his head. "It isn't a big deal or anything, but... you had an older sister. She died when she was 14. You weren't even born yet."
"I had a sister?"
"Her name was Sara. She contracted a disease, and it took her from us very quickly. One day she was a healthy happy girl, the next she was dying in a bed. Then she was gone. It hit us pretty hard. You can see why I couldn't bear to lose another child, and did whatever I could to keep you from danger."
"As I recall, I've been in danger a lot of times."
"And I'm sorry about that. I did whatever I could to make sure there was always someone there to watch after you, to keep you safe. Sara never got to meet you, but I'm sure you two would have been best friends."
"So you designed them after her?"
He looked away and bit his lip thinking. "I guess I did. Raster... she was the closest to what I could remember of her. I guess that's why they all look alike. But not with Matrix -uh, Ellie. She was different. I wanted to make you a gift, a friend, an ally. I couldn't give you the love you deserved, so I wanted to give you someone who could make it all up to you."
"Who is she designed after?" I wondered.
"No one. No one in particular. I just... put together a face I thought looked cute and pretty, and there she is."
"And how did you know I needed someone?"
"I didn't. Not really. I got reports from May, who got them from Genesis every now and then. They mentioned that you had a girlfriend once a long time ago, but you've been living on a hill in a house like a hermit for the last... what? 10 years?"
"Pretty much" I confided. "Sasha was a nice girl, but she left her mark on me when she left. But that's all old news. No one really wants to deal with a Scrapyard Engineer in town. I deal with a lot of... unusual people."
"Yeah, I remember that life. That's actually how I met your mother" he laughed. "You seemed really attached to Ellie. I'm glad."
"Mmm... I guess I'm taken with her. I've never had someone, anyone, rely on me a much as she has."
"You love her, don't you?"
"I guess I do, but she fell for me first."
"Oh really?" my dad questioned as he raised his eyebrows. "I'm surprised she'd be capable of it, honestly. Love was my ultimate goal with her, but without Matrix running the show... I guess love really does conquer all."
I shrugged. "I don't know, but Matrix has been acting weird ever since you put her in that new body. Where did you get that thing anyways?"
"Oh, well that's my one and only prototype. I had a rather tight budget, and decided to spend it on the equipment more than a bunch of test bots. That was my one prototype body I would continuously upgrade and experiment with. She looks different than the others because I had to use whatever parts I could get, or were left over. A lot of her looks are still stock, like her hair. I suppose she would act different now. You see, before, she was running on an OS that had been tampered with. Dr. Freeman tortured and hacked and manipulated her physically and mentally. Half the damage you see here isn't caused by your fall, it's from their treatment. Now that her mind and body are calm and stable, she's able to make clearer thoughts, better choices. She's learning what it's like to have a normal life, relatively speaking. Even though she'll still have to suffer the mental scars of her abuse, she's more capable of getting over it. I think we'll see a different Matrix from here on out, but don't get too careless around her. Her personality is the same, and her memories are still there. She'll be unpredictable for a while, and may still take advantage of you."
"I'll be careful around her." Another thought came to mind. "What about Ellie? All that damage they did should still be affecting her, right?"
He sighed again. "Yes. She's going to suffer the brunt of it, really. The best thing we can do now is to fix what we can and build her a new personality profile, based on the make-shift one she started building herself. Whatever you did to her before caused her to spontaneously build a new personality, a blank one. Since I'm sure you don't want her to change much, we'll work with that and fix it up for her, but the damage is still there. She still has to deal with the memories and the impact of the High Royal Guard and their methods."
"Will she be alright?" I worried. "I mean, will she get better?"
"She'll do better like this than when she was with Matrix" he clarified. "Without her, Ellie has the ability to heal on her own. I think you are going to have to be an important part of that healing process. She may heal quickly, but I reckon it will take a few years before she's fully over it."
I pondered everything he said to me. In the end, I decided I'd do what I could for her, but I had to see Ellie, talk to her.
"Don't stay up too late" my dad called out a he turned toward the door to head to bed.
As I heard the echo of his footsteps vanish down the hallway, I redoubled my efforts on Ellie. I worked for several hours more, repairing and replacing the various damaged components of her body. I concentrated mostly on repairing her vital synth organs and circuitry, replacing parts when I needed to, repairing them when I could. As the night wore on, my mind grew more and more tired, and my body started to ache. Moving around holographic forms in space may sound easy, but eventually you get tired of lifting your arms with no weight on them. At times, it would take me several tries to repair a broken circuit before the system would accept my changes.
Just at about the time my head was about to call it quits on me, I felt a hand on my shoulder. Raster stood beside me looking down at the fully opened body of her former Captain. She nodded to me.
"You should get some sleep, sir. Your condition isn't doing anyone any good." I was about to protest but found my body agreeing with her. "She'll be here when you get back, and I'll make sure the doctor continues working on her when he awakes. There is a room on the second level you can use. Please, retire for the night."
I looked at the time, it was after 5 am; I and I decided she was right. I followed Raster to the lift, and before I knew what was happening, I was lying comfortably in a soft clean bed.
I awoke to find Tess sitting next to me with a cat-like girlish grin on her face.
"Whoa! I blurted out as I shot up in bed. I looked around and had to think for a moment before I realized where I was. The previous night was still a blur. "What are you doing here?" I asked once I composed myself.
"Good morning. I'm here to see to your needs, sir" she explained, as she looked down at my bed. I realized I was probably sporting wood, and quickly covered myself up.
"Well 'that' need I can take care of on my own" I told her before thinking. She giggled before standing up.
"Actually, I was here to make sure you got cleaned and fed and dressed. Raster insisted. She wanted to make sure you were well-rested."
"I think I can manage on my own, thank you" I explained. Well-rested? Or maybe well-monitored or well-watched. A growing suspicion rose in me.
She put on a pouty face, but nodded and turned to leave. "Shall I leave your clothes here then? I'll just wait outside for you."
It was a very nice room, with a very soft bed, nice dressers and an attached bathroom, and a desk. I changed out of my clothes, took a shower, and put on the new clean clothes she left me. They were the same as before: an unmarked uniform of white and gold with blue pants. I looked pretty good in them actually, but I reminded myself I was no officer, and deliberately wore the neck open and loose to defy the strict look of it.
Sure enough, Tess was outside the room waiting for me, and followed me around. I wasn't really sure why, but she explained that Raster wanted to make sure I was attended to properly. I allowed her to tag along for the time being, as I went back down stairs to get some food.
Tess explained that my dad was working on Ellie already, and I was eager to join him. The kitchen was empty, as everyone already ate, but they left a plate of eggs and ham for me. I scarfed it down, much to Tess's amusement, and got up to leave, taking a now-cold cup of coffee with me. Tess stood up as well.
"Is there anything else I can do for you sir?" she asked.
"No. I can manage. Isn't there something else you should be doing?" She shook her head. "Raster didn't tell you to follow me, did she?" She put on another pouty face and shook her head again.
"I wanted to make sure you got what you needed. I haven't met a man as nice as you, besides your father, and I just..." she grew flustered. "I don't know, I wanted to thank you I guess." She stood there, looking somewhat confused by her own actions.
"Th-thank you for the compliment" I thanked. "You sure you're ok?"
"I don't know" she informed me. "I think I have a conflict of commands... an error. I'm sorry."
She sounded awfully normal for a robot experiencing an error. "Was it something I said? If Raster or Laura needs you to do something, just let me know."
"No. It's not an order... it's an internal thing. I'll be alright. I think I was just exceeding my limitations." She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She exhaled with a smile and focused her eyes on me again. "That's better. All taken care of. Sorry about that, I'll just go see what Captain Dale needs. If you need anything, anything at all, just let me know."
"Uh... sure. I'll be sure to do that" I mumbled trying to figure her out. "I'll keep you in mind if I need anything."
"Okay!" she beamed with a smile. She walked off a short distance toward the elevator before she started to talk to herself. "Oh! There it goes again. Why...?"
I shook my head. She was a rather cute girl, but she didn't seem to be all there. I decided to head back down and help my dad again, and figured the stairs would be a safer bet since Tess was already heading toward the elevator and I didn't want to cause her any more errors.
As I took the short flight of stairs down a level, I could hear a girl barking orders getting closer. I naturally followed the voice to find Matrix and the one girl I hadn't yet run into with shoulder length hair doing exercises up and down the stairs. Actually, Matrix was doing all the work, while the other girl just yelled at her as they ran up and down each flight, stopping to do push-ups or other exercises at each landing. Matrix looked exhausted already and it was only 10:30, but she was hanging in there. She really was a soldier, and her body had significantly strengthened already from where she was yesterday. She was already keeping up with the other girl. Matrix got a glance at me, and for a moment it looked like she blushed, that is until the other girl redoubled her drill-sergeant act.
I figured it would be best not to distract them, and quickly made my way down the flight. I could still hear them as I left the stair well and entered the lab. My dad was already working on Ellie, deep into her programming.
"Morning" I called out to him. He turned toward me with a smile.
"Good morning, son! Hope you slept well. Ah, coffee" he noted the cold drink in my hand. "The sign of a late night. I noticed you did a lot of work on her. Good job! At this rate..." he glanced at his watch. "We should be done with her repairs by tomorrow. Much faster than I expected."
"I can't wait" I mumbled eagerly through my coffee. I was being honest, but still tired.
We got down to work. It was a grueling day, but I enjoyed every minute of it, to some extent. Working with my hands was really my thing, while my dad focused on her mind. I dived into fixing up her limbs and repairing her framework and muscles. There were still a few other systems to look at, but fixing the frame and such would make it easier.
By the time lunch rolled by, I had completely removed the blades hidden inside her arms. No longer would she need them, and instead, we outfitted her arms to interface with computers and other androids. My dad really liked the idea of letting her connect to her sisters directly this way, it allowed for a fast and secure line, but I wasn't sure she'd ever actually use it.
After a short lunch, we were back working on her. By now, my dad had finished programming in a custom personality profile, still using the one she spontaneously built as a guide. From here on out, all he had to do was set up some more repair work and optimizing her system. He rarely got to dive into the heads of his girls, as he called them, to such an extent after he built them, and was curious as to how well everything was holding up. While he often messed with their heads to try to remove the damage The High Guard caused, he was always restricted, and could never get unbridled access like this.
It was shortly before we decided to break for dinner when he noticed something off about her.
"This doesn't belong here" he commented looking at the screen.
"What?"
"This code. It's some kind of program... I think... yes. It's an Ino High Guard program. It's tiny, and well-hidden."
"A program?" I worried.
"Actually more like a virus" he clarified. "It's hiding deep in their system. Of course!" he blurted out suddenly. "This is how they've been doing it!"
"Doing what?"
He stopped and turned to me, rubbing the bridge of his nose between his eyes. "Ever since I built the more advanced girls, Lulu, Proxy, Raster, and Matrix, I've been trying to stop what Ino has been forcing them to do."
"Proxy? Oh, I think I saw her earlier today."
"I built them to avoid killing people as much as possible. I wanted them to have a conscious, morals; but somehow the High Guard got THIS code... this VIRUS in them... and it allows them maim and murder. In fact, it encourages it. It gives them a rush of pleasure when they harm someone. Although..."
He turned back to the screen and typed away some more. "This one's broken. It looks like it doesn't give that rush of pleasure anymore, the syntax is corrupted. I bet it used to work before you found her. But the rest of it still works. It will still make her want to hurt people, even kill."
"Ellie?! Ellie's never hurt anyone!"
"Maybe, maybe not. But Matrix has. I bet you they all have this code, or some variation of it, stuck in their heads."
I thought about what Matrix told me before when I knew she couldn't lie to me. She got off on killing. This was why. But with the virus corrupted, what did that mean?
"Can you remove it?" I asked.
"Sure. That's easy enough. I'm worried about removing it from the other girls. I don't think I can just dive into their heads like this anymore. They've got defenses in them." He thought for a moment. "Then again, a simple anti-virus..."
"Ellie told me she hated killing, hated what Matrix had become. Shouldn't this virus...?"
"The one who felt the rush was the personality. Matrix. The body responded to it, sure, but I think her subconscious self, Ellie, knew it was wrong but couldn't stop it. It's like drugs. Matrix was addicted to killing people, addicting to the feeling the virus gave her. Ellie couldn't stand it, and saw the damage it was doing and the pain it caused. She can't resist it, but she hated what it was doing to her."
Drugs? Damn. A drug for robots that made them want to kill. Then why weren't all of these girls as bad as Matrix?
"I'm going to put together a program to run on each girl to look for this virus, in any form it might exist. I'll attach an anti-virus to it as well. I hope it isn't too late."
"Too late?" I wondered.
"What happens when an alcoholic goes cold-turkey?" he asked.
"They don't take it too well" I replied, recalling an incident a few years ago with a neighbor.
"No. They crave it even more. While the drug might be gone, their mind might be addicted to the rush it gave. So they will still seek it out, even if they don't get that rush anymore."
"So they might get worse?"
"Probably" he predicted.
"What about Matrix? She was clearly the worst offender."
"We'll have to keep an eye on her, but the code isn't in her anymore, and her new AI has never been to the High Guard, so she should be virus-free. But there's no telling what will happen. Sometimes a smoker or a drinker can quit cold-turkey and never have a relapse. We'll just have to see what happens, and make sure Matrix doesn't relapse."
"Couldn't we just program her to not do it? To not want to?"
My dad turned to me again. "These aren't your regular street androids. These girls are far more complicated than that. If you try to give her an order that she doesn't want to obey, she'll find a way around it. No, I'd avoid giving her such orders, as though she was only a machine. Get her on our side, show her we are there for her, care for her and teach her what's right and wrong, and she'll come around."
"Man... you made these girls a little *too* human" I commented.
"What do you mean?"
"I can't understand them, just like I can't understand women."
My dad laughed a loud hearty laugh. "Maybe I did. Maybe I did."
We got back to it, repairing and fixing and programming, but now with more worries on my mind. Could Ellie have a relapse? Would Matrix kill again? Was the virus contagious?
That night, I looked at all the girls in a different light as I ate. Most of them didn't eat much, and seemed to smile a lot, except for Lulu and Raster who never seemed to smile. They were friendly, but maybe it was a ruse. I must have looked just like Aunt May had the night before when she stared at Lulu. Even Tess, as friendly and silly as she was, could be a virus-addict killer just below the surface. Matrix too, beneath that tired sweaty exterior could be craving another fix. Laura had to stop me from staring at them, which was embarrassing.
"What are you doing? You’re like a creeper..." she noted.
"A what?" I blinked, focusing on my plate again after staring at Proxy.
"A creeper. Like a guy that's going to rape someone."
"What? No!" my attention was fully on Laura now.
"Well you're the one with that creepy glare. What's wrong? How's Ellie doing?"
"Fine, fine. She should be done soon. Tomorrow in fact. Sorry about all that" I said waving a fork at the girls. "I just... I can't tell you here." Raster glanced over at me, and I realized she could hear everything we said.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing. Really! I'm just tired. And I think my dad found a syntax error in Ellie that he missed before that is probably in all the girls, so he's considering how to fix it. It's nothing, really."
"Okay..." she grumbled as if she didn't want to believe me.
"What about you? How are things?"
"Good! I've been working on Beschutzer; he's got a little more work to do. The girls have all been really nice here. Honestly it's a little unnerving. This whole thing seems weird."
"Yeah... I'm nervous about it also. What about the ambassador? Has he been in his room the whole time?"
"Yes" Raster interrupted, carrying an empty plate as she walked past us. "But he's getting impatient. I fear he won't stay much longer."
"Can't we do something about him?" Laura asked.
"WE can't" Raster explained. "We've been programmed to help the ambassador, he has authority over us. But maybe you can. Or Aunt May."
"How is it that he hasn't just come out and ordered you all to arrest us or something?" I asked.
"He's under the impression the embassy is under attack, and we are at a stalemate. But this will only last for so long. Our information blackout can't stop everything."
"Why are you helping us?"
"I'm not" she explained. "I'm helping me." She walked off abruptly and left the room.
"What did I say? Unnerving!" Laura announced.
We decided it was best to leave too. Laura wanted to snoop around and find out exactly what was going on with the ambassador, and I would finish with Ellie. She was all I could concentrate on well anyways, so I figured as soon as she was better and with me again, I could think about other problems.
I returned to the lab with my father and continued to work into the night. My dad had just finished all the repair work on Ellie's mind when he moved on to the anti-virus. Meanwhile, I had finished repairing all of Ellie's systems, with his help. Her frame was the most severely damaged, but was surprisingly easy to fix with that bench. We were finished early, or so I thought. We ran a few diagnostics on her, but something still wasn't right.
"It's her skin" I pointed out. "It's still damaged." Parts of her frame had broken through her skin, rips and tears littered her body, and there was more superficial damage as well. Little things like that were more cosmetic, but bugged me!
"That's the easiest fix" my dad smiled. "We don't have to do anything. Here, help me move her."
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