Encoded

by Indigo Tantarian

Under all the posturing and insults, other conversations started going on between the cores in the storage room. (Factventure for Valentine's Day: ch. 1 is readable, and ch. 2 is the same, but with enough binary to drive you crazy. SFW, but very suggestive... of machine parts.)

2. Encoded with Binary

Encoded

The Morality Core was supposed to be the savior of Aperture. When the Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System continued to try to kill the employees, more cores were proposed. Soon everyone was designing and programming cores: Cores to inhibit, cores to redirect, cores to focus, cores to distract, cores to enhance. More intelligent cores. The Morality Core was reprogrammed and others were switched on and off to see what worked.

They were throwing science at the wall, but eventually something would have to stick.

Aperture was leaking money like a cup made of Swiss cheese, though, so each core had to be put through extensive testing, tweaked and adjusted until it was just right. And still no core had done the job it was intended for, which was harnessing that wild, raw power with a violent temper and a strong will.

Eventually the production of new cores had been cut off. There was already a room filled with shelves of the things, and the decision had to be made to just improve on what they already had. Each core had its own port, labeled with a serial number and description. From the ports the cores could recharge and access a limited amount of data. There was a communication system that had been planned between them, but with all the budget cuts, that was one of the first projects on the chopping block. After all, the cores could talk. What Aperture needed was to focus on what was NECESSARY. The Intelligence Core had found it before long, and shared the knowledge with a few others. It still wasn't used often, though.

Most of the cores tended to be talkative, often trying to one-up each other. Confidence was a necessity against the central core.

Along one of the top shelves, the green Adventure Sphere spent most of his time watching the shelf across the aisle. It was packed with some of the prettiest lady-cores in the place. Some dainty and delicate, some tough and hardcore… it didn't get much better.

"I got a mighty fine view here, ladies," he'd call out to them. "Ya got some lovely eyes over there. Prettiest I've ever seen. And believe me, I've seen 'em all."

"The Adventure Sphere has only come into contact with 37 female constructs, and 11 female humans."

Rick, as the Adventure Sphere had taken to calling himself, narrowed his shutters. The Fact Sphere was over on that shelf too, right across from him. He thought he was hot shit.

"Yeah, well that's better'n YOU, four-eyes! No girl'd wanna look yer way."

The pink core drew its handles up. "The Fact Sphere is the most handsome sphere."

"Doubt it. How 'bout we ask these gorgeous spheres over here. Whaddaya think, ladies?"

"Well NEITHER of you's managed to be much good on the central core," one said with a sharp voice. The others laughed.

"I'm just savin' my strength. Gonna get in top form, then POW!" Rick rocked on his port. "She won't know what hit her! And after that, she'll NEVER want me off 'a her. Once you've had Rick, ya never want anyone else."

"The Adventure Sphere is a blowhard."

"You better just WATCH it, bub! I'll come over there an' CREAM yer sorry ass!"

"The Adventure Sphere's attempts are destined to fail."

"THAT'S IT, COME ON!" The Adventure Sphere rocked and raged on his port.

"Watch it!" the red Emotion core snarled next to him, spinning around.

"Goddamn Fact Sphere, he thinks he's tough shit, he's just a WIMP!"

"The Fact Sphere is superior to all other spheres."

"Yer full 'a yerself!"

It usually went on like this, and the other cores generally didn't get involved because they had more important matters to attend to, and because neither the Adventure Sphere nor the Fact Sphere listened to others much anyway.

Whenever a scientist came in to take a core for program adjustments, or for trials, the room generally quieted down, though. Not out of respect. Not quite out of fear, though they had all seen cores leave, and return a few days later with completely different personalities and no memory of their former selves. Just in anticipation.

One day the Adventure Sphere was coming back from a long trial. It was his favorite kind: a simulation. Like playing a first-person video game. It had started well, with him meeting or exceeding every expectation. Towards the end, though, the scientists had pushed up the difficulty level about five notches, and suddenly he was surrounded by faceless men with Black Mesa emblems on their uniforms, and he had all these options he'd never seen before that he didn't know how to work. He'd grabbed something that looked like a gun at random, but it turned out to be a flame thrower… which was pretty damn awesome, until they hit him with a fire hose that broke the flamethrower. His virtual hands had groped around for something else and he had grabbed a grenade and pulled the pin and thrown it – but then it bounced back at him and exploded right in his face.

Cores didn't feel pain in the same way a human would. But the simulation installed in each of them was pretty close.

"That's a shame," said the man. Rick was still in a bit of a daze, but he was alert enough to be SO GLAD they weren't in the cores' room yet. A comment like that could destroy his reputation.

Not that the scientists talked much in there. Rick had heard them talking in the lab. It gave a lot of them the willies.

But then they were a bunch of pussies, every core knew that.

Rick was lifted onto his port, and he settled there, top shutter drooping a bit. "Whew," he sighed. "What a rush. I tell ya."

The scientist checked a few boxes on his clipboard, then turned and looked up at the Fact Sphere. He began to jot down some notes.

Rick's upper shutter rose. He rocked back and forth, trying to catch the other core's eye, to no avail.

"The Fact Sphere will pass every test and meet every challenge successfully."

He wasn't going to shout out like an idiot. Instead, Rick reached down to the little string of code, like a thread connecting his port to others.

ATTN: ASAPC FACT 3181970c: 01000111 01101111 01101111 01100100 0100000 01101100 01110101 01100011 01101011 0101110

The Fact Sphere suddenly looked up. His optic spun a few degrees to the right, then it contracted and focused on the Adventure Sphere. Before he could respond, though, he was plucked off the port and carried out.

Rick spent the next few hours recharging and buttering up the ladies. The rose-colored core designed for hesitation would often give him a second glance. She was cute.

When the Fact Core was returned, his shutters were narrowed almost shut. Adventure eyed him, but kept up his stream of flattery.

"…An' your gorgeous pink? That'd look real nice with my green. We'd make a good pair, admit it!"

The Adventure Sphere kept trying, though it was beginning to seem like a losing battle.

A few days of flirting, banter, and loud arguing later, a scientist came in to take him out for some adjustments. Just before he was lifted from the port, he received a message.

ATTN: ASAPC ADVENTURE 1893110r: 01000010 01100101 0100000 01100011 01100001 01110010 01100101 01100110 01110101 01101100 0101110

Rick's optic contracted. It immediately went to the Fact Sphere, who was looking back at him. But that wasn't a fact.

Rick's processors were still whirring loudly when he came back a while later, and he sagged on his port to recharge and get himself together while the scientist made a few notes and took down the Emotion Sphere next.

"The Fact Sphere is the most intelligent sphere," the core across the aisle was preening. "The Fact Sphere is incredibly handsome."

Rick eyed the other core quietly as his CPU calmed down. "…Ah, shut up," he finally called over.

The pink optic focused on him. "…The Fact Sphere is always right."

"Nobody cares."

"The Fact Sphere is a good sphere, with many friends."

"Oh yeah? Name one. Name one other core or human that gives a damn."

ATTN: ASAPC FACT 3181970c: 01001001 0100000 01110100 01101000 01101111 01110101 01100111 01101000 01110100 0100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 0100000 01100011 01101111 01110101 01101100 01100100 0100000 01101111 01101110 01101100 01111001 0100000 01110011 01100001 01111001 0100000 01100110 01100001 01100011 01110100 01110011 0101110

The Fact Sphere's shutters narrowed.

"Ya can't, because nobody cares. Ha."

"…The Fact Sphere is 12.6% more popular than the Adventure Sphere."

ATTN: ASAPC ADVENTURE 1893110r: 01000001 01101100 01101111 01110101 01100100 0101100 0100000 01111001 01100101 01110011 0101110 0100000 0100000 01001001 0100000 01100011 01100001 01101110 0100000 01110011 01110000 01100101 01100001 01101011 0100000 01100001 01110011 0100000 01001001 0100000 01110000 01101100 01100101 01100001 01110011 01100101 0100000 01110100 01101000 01101001 01110011 0100000 01110111 01100001 01111001 0101110

"Yeah? We'll see about that. Hey, ladies!" Rick called over. "Yer all looking gorgeous today! Say, who'd ya rather get some alone time with, me or that blabbermouth over there?"

A few cores looked over, but most of them ignored him.

"C'mon now, we gotta settle this. Hey Hesi, yer on my side, ain't ya? Pretty little thing?"

The rose-colored core glanced up. "…I don't know," she said uncertainly.

"You know you want me. Don't be shy." Rick turned back to Fact. "…Anyway, Emotion's a friend 'a mine. He'd tell ya if he were here."

"The Adventure Sphere lies 64.29% of the time."

"Yer makin' that up."

"The Fact Sphere never lies."

"Oh yeah? Gonna have a hard time with the Central Core if ya don't."

"Nnn…. The Adventure Sphere is mistaken."

The next time the Fact Sphere was taken off his port, Rick wasn't fast enough with the message he sent. He grumbled to himself. When Fact was returned, he had a message waiting for him on the port.

ATTN: ASAPC FACT 3181970c: 01001110 01100101 01110111 0100000 01110011 01101001 01101101 01110101 01101100 01100001 01110100 01101001 01101111 01101110 0100000 01110100 01101111 01100100 01100001 01111001 0101100 0100000 01110111 01100001 01110100 01100011 01101000 0100000 01101111 01110101 01110100 0101110

His optic rolled in annoyance, but another message ran along the connection soon after.

ATTN: ASAPC FACT 3181970c: 01011001 01101111 01110101 0100000 01101111 01101011 01100001 01111001 0111111

Rick watched the Fact Sphere out of the corner of his eye. It took a while, but at last a message came his way.

ATTN: ASAPC ADVENTURE 1893110r: 01001001 01110100 0100000 01110111 01100001 01110011 01101110 01011100 0100111 01110100 0100000 01110100 01101111 01101111 0100000 01100010 01100001 01100100 0101110 0100000 0100000 01001001 01011100 0100111 01101101 0100000 01100110 01101001 01101110 01100101 0101110 0100000 0100000 01001001 0100000 01100001 01110000 01110000 01110010 01100101 01100011 01101001 01100001 01110100 01100101 0100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 01110010 0100000 01100011 01101111 01101110 01100011 01100101 01110010 01101110 0101110

They weren't quite looking at each other, but the Adventure Sphere's lower shutter rose in a smile. Slowly, the Fact Sphere did the same.

Every time one of them left, the other would send a brief message.

ATTN: ASAPC FACT 3181970c: 01010100 01101000 01101001 01110011 01011100 0100111 01101100 01101100 0100000 01100010 01100101 0100000 01100101 01100001 01110011 01111001 0100000 01100110 01101111 01110010 0100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 0101110

ATTN: ASAPC FACT 3181970c: 01001110 01101111 0100000 01110000 01110010 01101111 01100010 01101100 01100101 01101101 0101100 0100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 01011100 0100111 01110110 01100101 0100000 01100111 01101111 01110100 0100000 01110100 01101000 01101001 01110011 0101110

ATTN: ASAPC FACT 3181970c: 01011001 01101111 01110101 01011100 0100111 01101100 01101100 0100000 01100100 01100101 01110011 01110100 01110010 01101111 01111001 0100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 01110011 01100101 0100000 01110100 01100101 01110011 01110100 01110011 0100000 01100110 01100001 01110011 01110100 01100101 01110010 0100000 01110100 01101000 01100001 01101110 0100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 01111001 0100000 01100011 01100001 01101110 0100000 01101101 01100001 01101011 01100101 0100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 01101101 0101110

…

ATTN: ASAPC ADVENTURE 1893110r: 01010100 01101000 01101001 01110011 0100000 01110011 01101000 01101111 01110101 01101100 01100100 0100000 01100010 01100101 0100000 01101110 01101111 0100000 01100011 01101000 01100001 01101100 01101100 01100101 01101110 01100111 01100101 0100000 01110100 01101111 0100000 01100001 01101110 0100000 01100001 01100100 01110110 01100101 01101110 01110100 01110101 01110010 01100101 01110010 0101110

ATTN: ASAPC ADVENTURE 1893110r: 01011001 01101111 01110101 01011100 0100111 01110010 01100101 0100000 01110110 01100101 01110010 01111001 0100000 01110011 01101011 01101001 01101100 01101100 01100101 01100100 0100000 01100001 01110100 0100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 01110011 01100101 0101110

ATTN: ASAPC ADVENTURE 1893110r: 01011001 01101111 01110101 01110010 0100000 01110000 01100101 01110010 01100110 01101111 01110010 01101101 01100001 01101110 01100011 01100101 0100000 01110011 01100101 01100101 01101101 01110011 0100000 01101001 01101101 01110000 01110010 01100101 01110011 01110011 01101001 01110110 01100101 0101100 0100000 01110100 01101000 01101111 01110101 01100111 01101000 0100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 01011100 0100111 01110010 01100101 0100000 01110011 01110100 01101001 01101100 01101100 0100000 01100001 0100000 01100010 01101100 01101111 01110111 01101000 01100001 01110010 01100100 0101110

...

ATTN: ASAPC FACT 3181970c: 01001000 01101111 01110000 01100101 0100000 01110100 01101000 01101001 01110011 0100000 01100100 01101111 01100101 01110011 01101110 01011100 0100111 01110100 0100000 01110100 01100001 01101011 01100101 0100000 01110100 01101111 01101111 0100000 01101100 01101111 01101110 01100111 0101100 0100000 01001001 0100000 01101100 01101001 01101011 01100101 0100000 01110011 01100101 01100101 01101001 01101110 01100111 0100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 0100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 01110010 01100101 0101110

Even as he sent it, Rick was a trifle uncertain. But the sphere across the way smiled.

ATTN: ASAPC ADVENTURE 1893110r: 01001001 0100000 01101100 01101001 01101011 01100101 0100000 01110011 01100101 01100101 01101001 01101110 01100111 0100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 0100000 01110100 01101111 01101111 0101110

Then he was taken away, but Rick held onto the message, letting it run through his consciousness in a loop.

Still, when they spoke aloud, it was only to brag, or toss insults back and forth.

"You're ALWAYS yelling at that stupid Fact Sphere," the Emotion Sphere growled one day. "Almost more than you bother the female spheres!"

"He ain't – Hey, he gives just as much as he gets! An' they never ANSWER me! It's damn annoyin'!"

One day when Rick was brought back, he snapped at any sphere that made a sound.

"Can't everybody just shut UP fer a change?" he snarled. "Settle the fuck down, Emotion! An' nobody GIVES a fuck about yer facts! An' I C'N HEAR YA ALL THE WAY ACROSS THE ROOM, DUMMY, GIVE IT A REST!"

The room went silent for a second before the laughing and murmuring started.

ATTN: ASAPC ADVENTURE 1893110r: 01010111 01101000 01100001 01110100 01011100 0100111 01110011 0100000 01110111 01110010 01101111 01101110 01100111 0111111

Rick growled quietly and let loose a tirade.

ATTN: ASAPC FACT 3181970c: 01001001 0100000 01100100 01101111 01101110 01011100 0100111 01110100 0100000 01101011 01101110 01101111 01110111 0100000 01110111 01101000 01100001 01110100 0100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 0100000 01101000 01100101 01101100 01101100 0100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 01111001 0100000 01100100 01101001 01100100 0101100 0100000 01100010 01110101 01110100 0100000 01100101 01110110 01100101 01110010 01111001 01110100 01101000 01101001 01101110 01100111 01011100 0100111 01110011 0100000 01110100 01101111 01101111 0100000 01101100 01101111 01110101 01100100 0101110 0100000 0100000 01001001 01110100 01011100 0100111 01110011 0100000 01101100 01101001 01101011 01100101 0100000 01100101 01110110 01100101 01110010 01111001 0100000 01110011 01101111 01110101 01101110 01100100 01011100 0100111 01110011 0100000 01110000 01101111 01110101 01101110 01100100 01101001 01101110 01100111 0100000 01101101 01100101 0100000 01110111 01101001 01110100 01101000 0100000 01100001 0100000 01101000 01100001 01101101 01101101 01100101 01110010 0101110 0100000 0100000 01001001 01110100 0100000 01101000 01110101 01110010 01110100 01110011 0101110 0100000 0100000 01010100 01101000 01100101 01101110 0100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 01111001 0100000 01110100 01100101 01110011 01110100 01100101 01100100 0100000 01101101 01100101 0100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 0100000 01100001 01100011 01110100 01100101 01100100 0100000 01101100 01101001 01101011 01100101 0100000 01001001 0100000 01110011 01101000 01101111 01110101 01101100 01100100 01011100 0100111 01110110 01100101 0100000 01100100 01101111 01101110 01100101 0100000 01100010 01100101 01110100 01110100 01100101 01110010 0101110 0100000 0100000 01001001 0100000 01100100 01101001 01100100 0100000 01100001 0100000 01100100 01100001 01101101 01101110 0100000 01100111 01101111 01101111 01100100 0100000 01101010 01101111 01100010 0100000 01110111 01101001 01110100 01101000 0100000 01100001 01101100 01101100 0100000 01110100 01101000 01101111 01110011 01100101 0100000 01110000 01100001 01101110 01110011 01111001 0101101 01100001 01110011 01110011 0100000 01110100 01100101 01110011 01110100 01110011 0100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 01111001 0100000 01101101 01100001 01100100 01100101 0100001 0100000 0100000 01000001 01101110 01100100 0100000 01110111 01101000 01100001 01110100 0100000 01100110 01110101 01100011 01101011 01101001 01101110 01100111 0100000 01100111 01101111 01101111 01100100 0100000 01101001 01110011 0100000 01101001 01110100 0100000 01100111 01101111 01101110 01101110 01100001 0100000 01100100 01101111 0100000 01110100 01101111 0100000 01110100 01100101 01110011 01110100 0100000 01110100 01101000 01101001 01110011 0100000 01110011 01101000 01101001 01110100 0111111 0100000 0100000 01010100 01101000 01100101 01111001 01011100 0100111 01110010 01100101 0100000 01101110 01101111 01110100 0100000 01101100 01100101 01100001 01110010 01101110 01101001 01101110 01100111 0100000 01100001 01101110 01111001 01110100 01101000 01101001 01101110 01100111 0101110 0100000 0100000 01001001 01110100 01011100 0100111 01110011 0100000 01101110 01101111 01110100 0100000 01101000 01100101 01101100 01110000 01101001 01101110 01100111 0100000 01101101 01100101 0101110 0100000 0100000 01010100 01101000 01100101 01111001 01011100 0100111 01110010 01100101 0100000 01101010 01110101 01110011 01110100 0100000 01110011 01100011 01110010 01100101 01110111 01101001 01101110 01100111 0100000 01110111 01101001 01110100 01101000 0100000 01101101 01100101 0101110 0100000 0100000 01001001 0100000 01101000 01100001 01110100 01100101 0100000 01110100 01101000 01101001 01110011 0100000 01100111 01101111 01100100 01100100 01100001 01101101 01101110 0100000 01101000 01100101 01101100 01101100 0101101 01101000 01101111 01101100 01100101 0101100 0100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 0100000 01001001 01011100 0100111 01101101 0100000 01101110 01101111 01110100 0100000 01110000 01101100 01100001 01111001 01101001 01101110 01100111 0100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 01101001 01110010 0100000 01100111 01100001 01101101 01100101 01110011 0100000 01100001 01101110 01111001 01101101 01101111 01110010 01100101 0101110

The Fact Sphere watched him silently as he read the message. For a moment he was motionless.

ATTN: ASAPC ADVENTURE 1893110r: 01001001 01011100 0100111 01101101 0100000 01110011 01101111 01110010 01110010 01111001 0101110 0100000 0100000 01001001 0100000 01110111 01101001 01110011 01101000 0100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 01110010 01100101 0100000 01110111 01100001 01110011 0100000 01110011 01101111 01101101 01100101 01110100 01101000 01101001 01101110 01100111 0100000 01001001 0100000 01100011 01101111 01110101 01101100 01100100 0100000 01100100 01101111 0101110

Rick looked back at him, shutters narrowed against the buzz of conversations around him. The Fact Sphere didn't speak, except when a core behind him shrieked with laughter.

"Spheres that insist on making such a level of noise are VASTLY inferior to spheres that do not," he hissed.

ATTN: ASAPC FACT 3181970c: 01010100 01101000 01100001 01101110 01101011 01110011 0101110

A couple of hours later, Rick was taken out again. He received a message just before he was unplugged.

ATTN: ASAPC ADVENTURE 1893110r: 01000011 01101111 01101101 01100101 0100000 01100010 01100001 01100011 01101011 0100000 01110011 01100001 01100110 01100101 01101100 01111001 0101110

He clutched this message with every ounce of his energy.

When he returned, the Fact Sphere was peering over at him.

ATTN: ASAPC ADVENTURE 1893110r: 01000001 01110010 01100101 0100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 0100000 01100001 01101100 01101100 0100000 01110010 01101001 01100111 01101000 01110100 0111111

Rick looked up, shutters sagging a bit.

ATTN: ASAPC FACT 3181970c: 01001010 01110101 01110011 01110100 0100000 01110100 01101001 01110010 01100101 01100100 0101110 0100000 0100000 01010100 01101000 01100101 01111001 0100000 01101110 01100101 01110110 01100101 01110010 0100000 01101100 01100101 01110100 0100000 01110101 01110000 0101110 0100000 0100000 01000010 01110101 01110100 0100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 0100000 01101110 01101111 01101001 01110011 01100101 0100000 01110100 01101000 01101001 01101110 01100111 0100000 01101001 01110011 0100000 01100010 01100101 01110100 01110100 01100101 01110010 0101110

ATTN: ASAPC ADVENTURE 1893110r: 01001001 01011100 0100111 01101101 0100000 01100111 01101100 01100001 01100100 0101110 0100000 0100000 01010010 01100101 01100011 01101000 01100001 01110010 01100111 01100101 0100000 01101110 01101111 01110111 0101110

It was brief, but the message just FELT like the Fact Sphere somehow. It would have been recognizable from any port. Rick couldn't help his lower shutter rising as he fell into a state of deep recharge.

When he was fully recharged, Rick could feel the energy surging through him again. He rocked on his port and jabbed his handles as if punching the air.

"You're embarrassing yourself," Emotion muttered.

"Nope, just you!" Rick said cheerfully. He shot a grin over at the Fact Sphere before launching into a song that didn't really have a tune, and lacked any words.

ATTN: ASAPC ADVENTURE 1893110r: 01011001 01101111 01110101 0100000 01101100 01101111 01101111 01101011 0100000 01101100 01101001 01101011 01100101 0100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 01011100 0100111 01110010 01100101 0100000 01100110 01100101 01100101 01101100 01101001 01101110 01100111 0100000 01100010 01100101 01110100 01110100 01100101 01110010 0101110

ATTN: ASAPC FACT 3181970c: 01001101 01110101 01100011 01101000 0100000 01100010 01100101 01110100 01110100 01100101 01110010 0101110 0100000 0100000 01011001 01101111 01110101 0100000 01101100 01101111 01101111 01101011 0100000 01110000 01110010 01100101 01110100 01110100 01111001 0100000 01100111 01101111 01101111 01100100 0100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 01110010 01110011 01100101 01101100 01100110 0100001

Rick shot Fact a sidelong wink. The Fact Sphere's optic widened.

That night when most of the other cores were quiet, the Fact Sphere felt an incoming message, and snapped to alertness.

ATTN: ASAPC FACT 3181970c: 01011001 01101111 01110101 0100000 01100101 01110110 01100101 01110010 0100000 01100111 01100101 01110100 0100000 01100010 01101111 01110010 01100101 01100100 0100000 01101111 01110110 01100101 01110010 0100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 01110010 01100101 0111111

ATTN: ASAPC ADVENTURE 1893110r: 01010011 01101111 01101101 01100101 01110100 01101001 01101101 01100101 01110011 0101110

ATTN: ASAPC FACT 3181970c: 01010111 01100001 01101110 01110100 0100000 01110100 01101111 0100000 01101011 01101110 01101111 01110111 0100000 01110111 01101000 01100001 01110100 0100000 01001001 0100000 01110111 01100001 01101110 01110100 0100000 01110100 01101111 0100000 01100100 01101111 0111111

In the dim light, the pink core paused, then nodded. The green one grinned.

ATTN: ASAPC FACT 3181970c: 01001001 0100000 01110111 01100001 01101110 01110100 0100000 01110100 01101111 0100000 01100110 01101001 01101110 01100100 0100000 01100001 0100000 01010101 01010011 01000010 0100000 01100011 01100001 01100010 01101100 01100101 0100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 0100000 01110011 01101100 01101001 01110000 0100000 01101001 01110100 0100000 01110010 01101001 01100111 01101000 01110100 0100000 01101001 01101110 01110100 01101111 0100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 01110010 0100000 01110000 01101111 01110010 01110100 0101100 0100000 01101110 01101001 01100011 01100101 0100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 0100000 01110011 01101100 01101111 01110111 0100000 01100001 01110100 0100000 01100110 01101001 01110010 01110011 01110100 0101100 0100000 01100010 01110101 01110100 0100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 01101110 0100000 01101010 01110101 01110011 01110100 0100000 01110100 01101000 01110010 01110101 01110011 01110100 0100000 01101001 01110100 0100000 01110010 01101001 01100111 01101000 01110100 0100000 01101001 01101110 01110100 01101111 0100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 0101110 0100000 0100000 01010100 01101000 01100101 01101110 0100000 01001001 0100000 01110111 01100001 01101110 01110100 0100000 01110100 01101111 0100000 01110000 01101100 01110101 01100111 0100000 01101001 01110100 0100000 01101001 01101110 01110100 01101111 0100000 01101101 01100101 0101100 0100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 0100000 01101001 01110100 0100000 01101101 01101001 01100111 01101000 01110100 0100000 01101110 01101111 01110100 0100000 01100110 01101001 01110100 0100000 01100001 01110100 0100000 01100110 01101001 01110010 01110011 01110100 0101100 0100000 01100010 01110101 01110100 0100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 01101110 0100000 01101001 01110100 01011100 0100111 01101100 01101100 0100000 01100111 01101111 0100000 01101001 01101110 0100000 01101110 01101001 01100011 01100101 0100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 0100000 01100101 01100001 01110011 01111001 0101110

The Fact Sphere's optic was spinning slowly, and began to pulse a little brighter off and on. Rick's optic was very gradually brightening as well.

ATTN: ASAPC FACT 3181970c: 01010100 01101000 01100101 01101110 0100000 01001001 0100000 01110111 01100001 01101110 01110100 0100000 01110100 01101111 0100000 01100110 01101100 01101111 01101111 01100100 0100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 0100000 01110111 01101001 01110100 01101000 0100000 01110011 01101111 0100000 01101101 01110101 01100011 01101000 0100000 01100100 01100001 01110100 01100001 0100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 0100000 01110111 01101111 01101110 01011100 0100111 01110100 0100000 01101011 01101110 01101111 01110111 0100000 01110111 01101000 01100001 01110100 01011100 0100111 01110011 0100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 0100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 0100000 01110111 01101000 01100001 01110100 01011100 0100111 01110011 0100000 01101101 01100101 0101110 0100000 0100000 01001001 01110100 01011100 0100111 01101100 01101100 0100000 01110100 01110111 01101001 01110011 01110100 0100000 01100001 01101100 01101100 0100000 01100001 01110010 01101111 01110101 01101110 01100100 0100000 01101001 01101110 01110011 01101001 01100100 01100101 0100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 0100000 01101100 01101001 01101011 01100101 0100000 01100001 0100000 01110110 01101001 01110010 01110101 01110011 0101110 0100000 0100000 01001001 01110100 01011100 0100111 01101100 01101100 0100000 01101000 01101001 01110100 0100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 0100000 01110011 01101111 0100000 01101000 01100001 01110010 01100100 0100000 01101001 01110100 01011100 0100111 01101100 01101100 0100000 01101000 01110101 01110010 01110100 0101100 0100000 01100010 01110101 01110100 0100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 01011100 0100111 01101100 01101100 0100000 01101110 01100101 01110110 01100101 01110010 0100000 01110111 01100001 01101110 01110100 0100000 01101001 01110100 0100000 01110100 01101111 0100000 01110011 01110100 01101111 01110000 0101110 0100000 0100000 01000001 01101110 01100100 0100000 01101001 01110100 01011100 0100111 01101100 01101100 0100000 01100110 01100101 01100101 01101100 0100000 01101100 01101001 01101011 01100101 0100000 01101001 01110100 0100000 01101100 01100001 01110011 01110100 01110011 0100000 01100110 01101111 01110010 01100101 01110110 01100101 01110010 0101100 0100000 01100010 01110101 01110100 0100000 01110111 01101000 01100101 01101110 0100000 01101001 01110100 01011100 0100111 01110011 0100000 01101111 01110110 01100101 01110010 0100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 01011100 0100111 01101100 01101100 0100000 01110111 01100001 01101110 01110100 0100000 01101101 01101111 01110010 01100101 0101110

Fact's pulses of light were becoming longer and stronger now. He trembled a bit on his port. Code was coming back to Rick, but it wasn't words, just segments of binary.

ATTN: ASAPC FACT 3181970c: 01000001 01101110 01100100 0100000 01001001 0100000 01110111 01100001 01101110 01110100 0100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 01110010 0100000 01100100 01100001 01110100 01100001 0100000 01101001 01101110 0100000 01101101 01100101 0101100 0100000 01001001 0100000 01110111 01100001 01101110 01110100 0100000 01101001 01110100 0100000 01101001 01101110 0100000 01100101 01110110 01100101 01110010 01111001 0100000 01100011 01101001 01110010 01100011 01110101 01101001 01110100 0101110 0100000 0100000 01001001 0100000 01110111 01100001 01101110 01110100 0100000 01110100 01101111 0100000 01100110 01100101 01100101 01101100 0100000 01101110 01101111 01110100 01101000 01101001 01101110 01100111 0100000 01100010 01110101 01110100 0100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 0100000 01101001 01101110 0100000 01101101 01100101 0101110 0100000 0100000 01001001 0100000 01110111 01100001 01101110 01110100 0100000 01110100 01101111 0100000 01100010 01100101 0100000 01110011 01101111 0100000 01100011 01101100 01101111 01110011 01100101 0100000 01110111 01100101 0100000 01100011 01100001 01101110 0100000 01110100 01101111 01110101 01100011 01101000 0101100 0100000 01110011 01101111 0100000 01100001 01100110 01110100 01100101 01110010 01110111 01100001 01110010 01100100 01110011 0100000 01110111 01100101 0100000 01100011 01100001 01101110 0100000 01101010 01110101 01110011 01110100 0100000 01110011 01101001 01110100 0100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 01110010 01100101 0100000 01100001 01100111 01100001 01101001 01101110 01110011 01110100 0100000 01100101 01100001 01100011 01101000 0100000 01101111 01110100 01101000 01100101 01110010 0101110 0100000 0100000 01001001 0100000 01110111 01100001 01101110 01110100 0100000 01110100 01101111 0100000 01101000 01100001 01110110 01100101 0100000 01101101 01111001 0100000 01101000 01100001 01101110 01100100 01101100 01100101 01110011 0100000 01101111 01101110 0100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 01110010 01110011 0101100 0100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 0100000 01001001 0100000 01110111 01100001 01101110 01110100 0100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 0100000 01110011 01101111 0100000 01100011 01101100 01101111 01110011 01100101 0100000 01100001 01101100 01101100 0100000 01001001 0100000 01100011 01100001 01101110 0100000 01110011 01100101 01100101 0100000 01101001 01110011 0100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 01110010 0100000 01101111 01110000 01110100 01101001 01100011 0101110 0100000 0100000 01010100 01101000 01100001 01110100 011100010 010000000 010011001 01110011 0100000 01100001 01101100 01101100 0100000 01001001 0100000 01101110 01100101 01100101 01100100 0100000 01110100 01101111 0100000 01110011 01100101 01100101 0101110

ATTN: ASAPC FACT 3181970c: 01000001 01101110 01100100 0100000 01110111 01101000 01100101 01101110 0100000 01101001 01110100 01011100 0100111 01110011 0100000 01101111 01110110 01100101 01110010 0100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 01011100 0100111 01101100 01101100 0100000 01100110 01100101 01100101 01101100 0100000 01101001 01110100 0100000 01100110 01101111 01110010 0100000 01100001 01100111 01100101 01110011 0101100 0100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 0100000 01100101 01110110 01100101 01101110 0100000 01110111 01101000 01100101 01101110 0100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 0100000 01100100 01101111 01101110 01011100 0100111 01110100 0101100 0100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 01011100 0100111 01101100 01101100 0100000 01101110 01100101 01110110 01100101 01110010 0100000 01100110 01101111 01110010 01100111 01100101 01110100 0100000 01110100 01101000 01100001 01110100 0100000 01100110 01100101 01100101 01101100 0100000 01101111 01100110 0100000 01101101 01100101 0101110

The pink sphere glowed brightly, shutters narrowed over a wide optic. The green one's did the same, closely focused on the other core.

ATTN: ASAPC FACT 3181970c: 01010100 01101000 01100001 01110100 01011100 0100111 01110011 0100000 01110111 01101000 01100001 01110100 0100000 01001001 0100000 01110111 01100001 01101110 01110100 0100000 01110100 01101111 0100000 01100100 01101111 0101110

ATTN: ASAPC ADVENTURE 1893110r: 01001001 0100000 01110111 01100001 01101110 01110100 0100000 01110100 01101000 01100001 01110100 0101110 0100000 0100000 01001001 0100000 01110111 01100001 01101110 01110100 0100000 01110100 01101000 01100001 01110100 0100000 01110011 01101111 0100000 01101101 01110101 01100011 01101000 0101110

The next morning Rick grinned across the aisle at the spectrum of spheres.

"Mornin' ladies!" he called over, then focused right on the Fact Sphere, who was eyeing him. "Lookin' good today. Hope yer all recharged, 'cause it looks like a whole lotta Rick comin' up today."

ATTN: ASAPC ADVENTURE 1893110r: 01011001 01101111 01110101 01011100 0100111 01110010 01100101 0100000 01110010 01101001 01100100 01101001 01100011 01110101 01101100 01101111 01110101 01110011 0101110

The Fact Sphere's optic was glowing a bit brighter than usual, and his lower shutter was just slightly raised. Rick chuckled.

A scientist came in and took down the Fact Sphere later in the morning.

ATTN: ASAPC FACT 3181970c: 01001011 01101110 01101111 01100011 01101011 0100000 01100101 01101101 0100000 01100100 01100101 01100001 01100100 0101110 0100000 0100000 01010011 01100101 01100101 0100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 0100000 01101100 01100001 01110100 01100101 01110010 0101110

Rick settled back on his port in satisfaction. After a minute, though, he jumped at an incoming message. His optic rolled around, unsure of the source, but he grabbed onto the stream of code.

ATTN: ASAPC ADVENTURE 1893110r: 01001011 01100101 01100101 01110000 0100000 01100100 01101111 01101001 01101110 01100111 0100000 01110111 01101000 01100001 01110100 0100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 01011100 0100111 01110010 01100101 0100000 01100100 01101111 01101001 01101110 01100111 0101110

It wasn't the Fact Sphere. It felt like…

Rick whirled to face the red core on the neighboring port. The Emotion Core was an older model, without shutters to express himself or protect his glass optic lens. He was gazing sidelong at Rick.

ATTN: ASAPC EMOTION 1181130a: 01010111 01101000 01100001 01110100 0100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 0100000 01101000 01100101 01101100 01101100 0101100 0100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 0100000 01100011 01110010 01100101 01100101 01110000 0100001 0100000 0100000 01001000 01101111 01110111 0100000 0101101 0100000 01110111 01101000 01100001 01110100 0100000 01100100 01101001 01100100 0100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 0100000 01101000 01100101 01100001 01110010 0111111 0100000 0100000 01001000 01101111 01110111 0100000 01101100 01101111 01101110 01100111 0100000 01110111 01100101 01110010 01100101 0100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 0100000 01101100 01101001 01110011 01110100 01100101 01101110 01101001 01101110 01100111 0111111 0100000 0100000 01000010 01100101 01100001 01110100 0100000 01101001 01110100 0100000 01100010 01100101 01100110 01101111 01110010 01100101 0100000 01001001 0100000 01100010 01100101 01100001 01110100 0100000 01011001 01001111 01010101 0100001 0100000 0100000 01001001 01011100 0100111 01101100 01101100 0100000 01101011 01101001 01100011 01101011 0100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 01110010 0100000 01100001 01110011 01110011 0100000 01101001 01101110 01110100 01101111 0100000 01101110 01100101 01111000 01110100 0100000 01110111 01100101 01100101 01101011 0100001 0100000 0100000 01001110 01101111 01100010 01101111 01100100 01111001 0100000 01100001 01110011 01101011 01100101 01100100 0100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 0100000 01110100 01101111 0100000 01100010 01110101 01110100 01110100 0100000 01101001 01101110 0100001

ATTN: ASAPC ADVENTURE 1893110r: 01010011 01101000 01110101 01110100 0100000 01110101 01110000 0101110 0100000 0100000 01001001 0100000 01100100 01101001 01100100 01101110 01011100 0100111 01110100 0100000 01101000 01100101 01100001 01110010 0100000 01100001 01101110 01111001 01110100 01101000 01101001 01101110 01100111 0101100 0100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 0100000 01001001 0100000 01100100 01101111 01101110 01011100 0100111 01110100 0100000 01101011 01101110 01101111 01110111 0100000 01110111 01101000 01100001 01110100 0100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 01011100 0100111 01110010 01100101 0100000 01100100 01101111 01101001 01101110 01100111 0101100 0100000 01100010 01110101 01110100 0100000 01001001 0100000 01100110 01100101 01100101 01101100 0100000 01100101 01110110 01100101 01110010 01111001 0100000 01100100 01100001 01101101 01101110 0100000 01110111 01101111 01110010 01110010 01111001 0100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 0100000 01110011 01101101 01101001 01101100 01100101 0100000 01101001 01101110 0100000 01101000 01100101 01110010 01100101 0101100 0100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 0100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 0100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 0100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 0100000 01000110 01100001 01100011 01110100 0100000 01010011 01110000 01101000 01100101 01110010 01100101 0100000 01100001 01110010 01100101 0100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 0100000 01101000 01100001 01110000 01110000 01101001 01100101 01110011 01110100 0100000 01110100 01101000 01101001 01101110 01100111 01110011 0100000 01100001 01110010 01101111 01110101 01101110 01100100 0101110 0100000 0100000 01001001 0100000 01100100 01101111 01101110 01011100 0100111 01110100 0100000 01100011 01100001 01110010 01100101 0100000 01110111 01101000 01100001 01110100 0100000 01101001 01110100 0100000 01101001 01110011 0101100 0100000 01101011 01100101 01100101 01110000 0100000 01100100 01101111 01101001 01101110 01100111 0100000 01101001 01110100 0101110

Rick glared hard at the other core.

ATTN: ASAPC EMOTION 1181130a: 01011001 01100101 01100001 01101000 0101100 0100000 01110111 01100101 01101100 01101100 0100000 01001001 0100000 01110111 01101001 01101100 01101100 0101110 0100000 0100000 01011001 01101111 01110101 0100000 01100100 01101111 01101110 01011100 0100111 01110100 0100000 01101000 01100001 01110110 01100101 0100000 01110100 01101111 0100000 01100010 01100101 0100000 01110111 01100101 01101001 01110010 01100100 0100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 0100000 01110100 01100001 01101100 01101011 0100000 01100001 01100010 01101111 01110101 01110100 0100000 01101001 01110100 0101110 0100000 0100000 01000011 01110010 01100101 01100101 01110000 0101110

The green core looked away angrily… which pointed him towards the door. The door the Fact Sphere had gone through, which he would come back through before too long.

Screw the Emotion Sphere. Rick would do what he wanted.

And he knew EXACTLY what he wanted.