Rimechapel
Duke
- Local time
- Today 7:16 AM
- Messages
- 513
- Pronouns
- he/his
Hafnium(IV) Nine Sector (H4NS-L for short, with the L indicating they were a member of the 50th production run - and not that they were an L-series rover like GR3T-L) jostled as the knobby wheels of their Gallium Reactor 3-Ton skirted around a gargantuan petrified stump in a clearing of the Quartz Forest. The majority of the trees had long since petrified, and were being slowly harvested for their valuable minerals by the prospector who had sent H4NS-L out to look deeper in the forest. The prospector's need for nontoxic sustenance fit for carbon-based life forms was becoming an issue since a superconvective storm severely damaged the hydroponics facility last month. H4NS-L's few biological components (which were determined to be necessary in order to keep up with the processing and storage capabilities of the more advanced Twelve Sector models) were not without their own needs for nutrients, although it would be another few days before they began to deteriorate. H4NS-L knew that the prospector would suffer extreme punishment if he was unable to fulfill his quota with the Confederacy. They were already behind due to the weather and the need to secure a food source, so time was of the essence.
They were now traveling further than they had ever been into the forest - even further than the early surveying runs. H4NS-L estimated a 87.5% certainty that GR3T-L's topographical breadcrumb mapping would safely lead them back to the prospector's habitation, even if they exceeded the comm range. GR3T-L had superior memory banks, for a 3-Ton L-series rover.
"ARCHITECTURAL ANOMALY DETECTED," announced GR3T-L, as though audible output was necessary to alert H4NS-L; as long as H4NS-L was in the driver's seat, they were interfaced wirelessy with each other and shared information immediately upon discovery. The anomalous structure did not conform to Confederate building code, which surely meant it was indigenous. Confederacy guidelines about interactions with indigenous life were fairly strict, but Amendment 91 made provision for procurement of emergency supplies. The structure also appeared to be sufficiently advanced, with electrical components, plumbing - even a solar array with a high-output thermal chamber. It appeared to have nutritious plantlife growing on its walls and roof; quite a peculiarity in the Quartz Forest. H4NS-L quickly rolled up GR3T-L next to the structure, and collected a sample of the mossy plantlife on the wall and began to further analyze its viability as a food source for the prospector. There was an opening like a doorway in one of the walls, but not large enough to admit GR3T-L. A great many broad, vitamin-dense fungi could be detected growing on the ground and walls inside. They appeared to be a native offshoot of the mushrooms the prospector had grown in hydroponics! Parking GR3T-L next to the entrance, H4NS-L climbed out of the open-sided chassis of the rover and slowly walked towards the mossy building.
"Hailing structure owner," H4NS-L broadcast loudly through their external speaker.
There was a long pause, but just as H4NS-L began to repeat their message, an audible reply came. "Access granted," a friendly, feminine voice said, from somewhere inside of the structure. "Enter."
No sooner had H4NS-L passed the threshold than the electronic crackle and scent of ionized particles in the air behind them heralded the activation of a shimmering force field across the entrance. H4NS-L took quick stock of the situation, and found that the only other exit was a barred door on a wall that connected to the rest of the structure. The door, similar to the iron jail cell doors that had come back into vogue on the Old World, was locked fast and would not budge.
A haughty-looking cyborg, whose many implants and augmentations lacked any form of cosmetic sheath, sauntered up to the barred doors. Her red ocular implants shone dimly as she scanned H4NS-L, and she licked her one remaining lip in a predatory way. "I have you now, you silly android, and you will not escape me. I will grind your meat into sausages, and decrypt your data stores for my entertainment." Her voice was not so friendly now, as it became clear she had modulated it greatly for the deception. She turned and went outside to GR3T-L, which was still parked by the forcefield, and climbed inside.
"Get up, lazy thing, fetch some water, and cook something good for your brother," the cyborg cackled as she manually jacked into GR3T-L with her skull-cord and began to bypass the security measures to prevent unauthorized users. "He is to be made fat, and when he is fat, I will eat him!"
GR3T-L made many bitter, electronic noises, but it was all in vain, for it was forced to do what the wicked cyborg commanded now that she had brutally overridden all failsafes - for GR3T-L was an L-series, and not designed to withstand advanced cyber attacks.
The cyborg used GR3T-L to retrieve sweet mineral water from a nearby spring and collect strange but wholesome shellfish from the pond the spring fed. All the best food cooked with these things and the moss and fungi was fed to H4NS-L to fatten up their organic parts. GR3T-L was given the shells of the fish to grind up for fertilizer. In the evenings the cyborg would flood H4NS-L's processors with wireless transmissions of old culinary data and archeological surveys, so that their data storage would become bloated and their security responses would be slower. Many days passed this way, and every morning the cyborg came to the barred door and said, "Open your USB port so that I can download your biometrics, and see if you will soon be made fat and your security settings sluggish."
H4NS-L could not disobey, having consumed so much useless data and fattening food, but when they allowed the cyborg to download their biometrics, they redirected the file path to the partition which contained their system restore point - and as such, their factory settings. The cyborg's early model ocular implants were dim and their understanding of software not advanced enough to navigate hidden folders - and so the cyborg was astonished that there seemed to be no way of fattening them or changing their security settings!
When a month had gone by and still H4NS-L's biometrics indicated they remained as thin and quick as their factory settings, the cyborg became impatient and would wait no longer. "Come GR3T-L!" she grumbled to the L-series, "Let's get some more water. Let H4NS-L be fat or lean; tomorrow I will take him offline, and cook him!"
H4NS-L found it very rude for the cyborg to gender them like this since they were an android augmented with biological components, but what could they do when the cyborg drove away with GR3T-L to fetch water?
"We will bake first," the cyborg muttered, returning with GR3T-L and a drum of water. "The thermal chamber is warming now." She drove GR3T-L to the entrance of the thermal chamber at the base of the solar array, but try as she might she could not properly align GR3T-L's wheels with the comparatively narrow door to the chamber.
"Lazy machine, how am I supposed to melt you to slag?" the cyborg complained, beginning to disembark. "Maybe I can release the maintenance hinges - that will surely do the trick. Then you will fit inside!"
When the cyborg began to unfasten the maintenance hinges on the big door of the thermal chamber, GR3T-L's sensors identified it act of Breaking & Entering as outlined in Confederate Penal Code, subsection 2. Despite the cyborg having insinuated herself into GR3T-L's whitelist, she had not established herself as a member of the Interplanetary Precfecture - which therefore empowered GR3T-L to take appropriate action to stop the burglary in process.
With a wiggle and a bump, the 3-Ton L-series pushed the cyborg into the thermal chamber, and blocked the door.
Oh, the cyborg began to howl quite horribly, but she could not get around GR3T-L's big, blunt nose - indeed, the flat, stubby way the front of GR3T-L's chassis sat had been determined to be a safety hazard for foundry workers during similar, accidental identification of burglaries in their line of work, and had therefore led to a widespread (if largely unsuccessful) recall.
With the cyborg dead, H4NS-L was able to catch up on purging useless data and leverage the newly-orphaned wireless connection to communicate with GR3T-L. They finally managed to override the force field controls, and in searching the building found all manner of valuable components they could use to repair the damaged hydroponics facility! They filled what cargo spaces they could with these components, and a great deal of edible moss, fungus, and shellfish besides.
Then H4NS-L realized that the cyborg's cruel and brutal infiltration into GR3T-L had erased the breadcrumb mapping they were counting upon to return to the prospector! They set out as best they could, back in the direction of the base, but came to a large river that was too deep and swift to ford.
"NEAREST FORD 79 MILES SOUTH," said GR3T-L, as though H4NS-L had not already received the topographical analysis.
"Would you clankers let a hard workin' hoppa sleep!?" grumbled a large, burly hoppatippian - who, as everyone knows, had evolved from the noble hippopotamus on the Old World many millenia ago - long before they became the dominant species. He seemed to be sleepy and annoyed, and was trying to curl up in a refreshing white kaolin puddle.
"Big hoppa, big hoppa, do you see
H4NS-L and GR3T-L are waiting for thee?
There is no ferry or bridge here in sight
Take us across on your great back so white," H4NS-L said, recalling that hoppas liked rhymes.
"No," the big, chubby hoppa snorted as he rolled happily in the puddle. "And that's kinda speciesist. Just because I'm a big hoppa, you think I'll do whatever you want in exchange for a good rhyme? What d'you think this is, a desperately pathetic rewrite of some ridiculous old children's story?"
"WE HAVE SHELLFISH," GR3T-L volunteered helpfully, if loudly.
"Well why didn't you say so!?" the hoppa barked, and gladly jumped up to ferry them across the river. Three tons is a light load for even a small hoppa, after all. H4NS-L tossed shellfish to the hoppa's mouth, one after the other, and he munched happily all the way to the other side.
It was not long after that before some of the petrified trees and rocky pathways began to look familiar, and they soon found their way back to the prospector's habitation. He was thrilled to find them within comms range once more, and even gladder that they had returned with provisions and supplies. The prospector had nearly fainted dead away from hunger earlier that day, but that night had the fattest dinner he had eaten in over a month - for H4NS-L had saved the best and most clever of the culinary data with which the cyborg had tried to bloat him.
With the components they brought back, it was a routine matter to repair the hydroponics facility. It took a little effort and a lot of shellfish, but they established good relationships with the river hoppa, as well. The hoppa and the prospector became good friends and helped each other with one trouble or another. The Confederacy soon underwent a liberal restructuring during a political turnover, and the prospector received a transmission advising that his quota was being lightened.
Then all anxiety was at an end, and they lived together in perfect happiness.
They were now traveling further than they had ever been into the forest - even further than the early surveying runs. H4NS-L estimated a 87.5% certainty that GR3T-L's topographical breadcrumb mapping would safely lead them back to the prospector's habitation, even if they exceeded the comm range. GR3T-L had superior memory banks, for a 3-Ton L-series rover.
"ARCHITECTURAL ANOMALY DETECTED," announced GR3T-L, as though audible output was necessary to alert H4NS-L; as long as H4NS-L was in the driver's seat, they were interfaced wirelessy with each other and shared information immediately upon discovery. The anomalous structure did not conform to Confederate building code, which surely meant it was indigenous. Confederacy guidelines about interactions with indigenous life were fairly strict, but Amendment 91 made provision for procurement of emergency supplies. The structure also appeared to be sufficiently advanced, with electrical components, plumbing - even a solar array with a high-output thermal chamber. It appeared to have nutritious plantlife growing on its walls and roof; quite a peculiarity in the Quartz Forest. H4NS-L quickly rolled up GR3T-L next to the structure, and collected a sample of the mossy plantlife on the wall and began to further analyze its viability as a food source for the prospector. There was an opening like a doorway in one of the walls, but not large enough to admit GR3T-L. A great many broad, vitamin-dense fungi could be detected growing on the ground and walls inside. They appeared to be a native offshoot of the mushrooms the prospector had grown in hydroponics! Parking GR3T-L next to the entrance, H4NS-L climbed out of the open-sided chassis of the rover and slowly walked towards the mossy building.
"Hailing structure owner," H4NS-L broadcast loudly through their external speaker.
There was a long pause, but just as H4NS-L began to repeat their message, an audible reply came. "Access granted," a friendly, feminine voice said, from somewhere inside of the structure. "Enter."
No sooner had H4NS-L passed the threshold than the electronic crackle and scent of ionized particles in the air behind them heralded the activation of a shimmering force field across the entrance. H4NS-L took quick stock of the situation, and found that the only other exit was a barred door on a wall that connected to the rest of the structure. The door, similar to the iron jail cell doors that had come back into vogue on the Old World, was locked fast and would not budge.
A haughty-looking cyborg, whose many implants and augmentations lacked any form of cosmetic sheath, sauntered up to the barred doors. Her red ocular implants shone dimly as she scanned H4NS-L, and she licked her one remaining lip in a predatory way. "I have you now, you silly android, and you will not escape me. I will grind your meat into sausages, and decrypt your data stores for my entertainment." Her voice was not so friendly now, as it became clear she had modulated it greatly for the deception. She turned and went outside to GR3T-L, which was still parked by the forcefield, and climbed inside.
"Get up, lazy thing, fetch some water, and cook something good for your brother," the cyborg cackled as she manually jacked into GR3T-L with her skull-cord and began to bypass the security measures to prevent unauthorized users. "He is to be made fat, and when he is fat, I will eat him!"
GR3T-L made many bitter, electronic noises, but it was all in vain, for it was forced to do what the wicked cyborg commanded now that she had brutally overridden all failsafes - for GR3T-L was an L-series, and not designed to withstand advanced cyber attacks.
The cyborg used GR3T-L to retrieve sweet mineral water from a nearby spring and collect strange but wholesome shellfish from the pond the spring fed. All the best food cooked with these things and the moss and fungi was fed to H4NS-L to fatten up their organic parts. GR3T-L was given the shells of the fish to grind up for fertilizer. In the evenings the cyborg would flood H4NS-L's processors with wireless transmissions of old culinary data and archeological surveys, so that their data storage would become bloated and their security responses would be slower. Many days passed this way, and every morning the cyborg came to the barred door and said, "Open your USB port so that I can download your biometrics, and see if you will soon be made fat and your security settings sluggish."
H4NS-L could not disobey, having consumed so much useless data and fattening food, but when they allowed the cyborg to download their biometrics, they redirected the file path to the partition which contained their system restore point - and as such, their factory settings. The cyborg's early model ocular implants were dim and their understanding of software not advanced enough to navigate hidden folders - and so the cyborg was astonished that there seemed to be no way of fattening them or changing their security settings!
When a month had gone by and still H4NS-L's biometrics indicated they remained as thin and quick as their factory settings, the cyborg became impatient and would wait no longer. "Come GR3T-L!" she grumbled to the L-series, "Let's get some more water. Let H4NS-L be fat or lean; tomorrow I will take him offline, and cook him!"
H4NS-L found it very rude for the cyborg to gender them like this since they were an android augmented with biological components, but what could they do when the cyborg drove away with GR3T-L to fetch water?
"We will bake first," the cyborg muttered, returning with GR3T-L and a drum of water. "The thermal chamber is warming now." She drove GR3T-L to the entrance of the thermal chamber at the base of the solar array, but try as she might she could not properly align GR3T-L's wheels with the comparatively narrow door to the chamber.
"Lazy machine, how am I supposed to melt you to slag?" the cyborg complained, beginning to disembark. "Maybe I can release the maintenance hinges - that will surely do the trick. Then you will fit inside!"
When the cyborg began to unfasten the maintenance hinges on the big door of the thermal chamber, GR3T-L's sensors identified it act of Breaking & Entering as outlined in Confederate Penal Code, subsection 2. Despite the cyborg having insinuated herself into GR3T-L's whitelist, she had not established herself as a member of the Interplanetary Precfecture - which therefore empowered GR3T-L to take appropriate action to stop the burglary in process.
With a wiggle and a bump, the 3-Ton L-series pushed the cyborg into the thermal chamber, and blocked the door.
Oh, the cyborg began to howl quite horribly, but she could not get around GR3T-L's big, blunt nose - indeed, the flat, stubby way the front of GR3T-L's chassis sat had been determined to be a safety hazard for foundry workers during similar, accidental identification of burglaries in their line of work, and had therefore led to a widespread (if largely unsuccessful) recall.
With the cyborg dead, H4NS-L was able to catch up on purging useless data and leverage the newly-orphaned wireless connection to communicate with GR3T-L. They finally managed to override the force field controls, and in searching the building found all manner of valuable components they could use to repair the damaged hydroponics facility! They filled what cargo spaces they could with these components, and a great deal of edible moss, fungus, and shellfish besides.
Then H4NS-L realized that the cyborg's cruel and brutal infiltration into GR3T-L had erased the breadcrumb mapping they were counting upon to return to the prospector! They set out as best they could, back in the direction of the base, but came to a large river that was too deep and swift to ford.
"NEAREST FORD 79 MILES SOUTH," said GR3T-L, as though H4NS-L had not already received the topographical analysis.
"Would you clankers let a hard workin' hoppa sleep!?" grumbled a large, burly hoppatippian - who, as everyone knows, had evolved from the noble hippopotamus on the Old World many millenia ago - long before they became the dominant species. He seemed to be sleepy and annoyed, and was trying to curl up in a refreshing white kaolin puddle.
"Big hoppa, big hoppa, do you see
H4NS-L and GR3T-L are waiting for thee?
There is no ferry or bridge here in sight
Take us across on your great back so white," H4NS-L said, recalling that hoppas liked rhymes.
"No," the big, chubby hoppa snorted as he rolled happily in the puddle. "And that's kinda speciesist. Just because I'm a big hoppa, you think I'll do whatever you want in exchange for a good rhyme? What d'you think this is, a desperately pathetic rewrite of some ridiculous old children's story?"
"WE HAVE SHELLFISH," GR3T-L volunteered helpfully, if loudly.
"Well why didn't you say so!?" the hoppa barked, and gladly jumped up to ferry them across the river. Three tons is a light load for even a small hoppa, after all. H4NS-L tossed shellfish to the hoppa's mouth, one after the other, and he munched happily all the way to the other side.
It was not long after that before some of the petrified trees and rocky pathways began to look familiar, and they soon found their way back to the prospector's habitation. He was thrilled to find them within comms range once more, and even gladder that they had returned with provisions and supplies. The prospector had nearly fainted dead away from hunger earlier that day, but that night had the fattest dinner he had eaten in over a month - for H4NS-L had saved the best and most clever of the culinary data with which the cyborg had tried to bloat him.
With the components they brought back, it was a routine matter to repair the hydroponics facility. It took a little effort and a lot of shellfish, but they established good relationships with the river hoppa, as well. The hoppa and the prospector became good friends and helped each other with one trouble or another. The Confederacy soon underwent a liberal restructuring during a political turnover, and the prospector received a transmission advising that his quota was being lightened.
Then all anxiety was at an end, and they lived together in perfect happiness.