It was just past 0500 when StG woke, dressed, and quietly stepped out of her and K11's room. She was lucky the doll was such a heavy sleeper, since she wouldn't have made it out of bed, let alone the room, had K11 woken at anything StG did. CBJ-MS was, of course, the more difficult one. She lay slumped over the holotable in the dorm living room, fast asleep. StG stood stock still for a moment and listened to her team leader's quiet breaths.
Satisfied, StG crossed over to the door and turned the knob ever-so-slowly, carefully pulling the door open. It was well-oiled, thankfully, and made no noise as she stepped out. The dormitory corridor was dim from the day-night lighting cycle, and completely empty. That was certainly something to be said, considering how Kerr tried her best to keep everyone doing work at some point in the day, but StG didn't complain. The last thing she wanted right now was to be seen.
As she stepped along, StG considered everything that had happened so far.
She had been with Chrysanthemum for over two weeks now. Despite her original thoughts on the team, StG had grown used to and even liked the other members of the echelon. For all her doubts, they were very skilled, and had certainly earned their position among the best teams in S17. CBJ-MS smiled at her, treated her like a member of the echelon, and no longer looked down upon StG. The doll had gotten used to serving in a frontline team, and she found that it was quite enjoyable. Of course, nothing matched the pleasure she would get from taking down a Ringleader, but the experience she shared with Chrysanthemum was almost as enjoyable. Not to mention the lack of FAMAS.
Chrysanthemum had been at the forefront of Kerr's sector-wide counteroffensive, which Jericho had termed "Operation: Takeback." StG found the name terribly dry, but exactly the sort of thing Jericho would call an operation. The hours of deployment were so long that StG had to wake up at 5 o'clock to get any time to herself. Solitude – for the first time in a long while, the doll was actually busy on a regular basis, and not with self-prescribed time in the combat sims or drinking with G43.
She approached the atrium now. Despite the hour, the hall had a few individuals in it. Two security dolls lazed about the entrance to the command wing and a pair of uniformed Griffin soldiers were in the process of crossing from the elevator banks to the barracks entrance. Neither of them paid any attention to the doll exiting the dormitory area. StG often wondered what the human troops thought of their android counterparts. Ignorance, maybe. She, at least, saw the humans as a necessary, yet outdated foot soldier. Though StG ceded that she had never actually talked to, let alone fought with one.
StG44 stepped into an elevator and pressed the button for the IOP administrative level. Thankfully, it was a quick ride in the renovated elevator, and the doors slid open only about a minute after she stepped inside. The central corridor was wide but low, mostly dark save for a few running lights. StG starting walking down it. Most office doors were closed, but through the windows she could see the lights of computer banks constantly running. The eerie, yet reassuring hum and whirr of countless machines running 24/7 filled StG's as she walked along.
Soon, she reached the end of the hallway and looked to her left. The door to the office was wide open, and the doll could hear wisps of a quiet conversation as she drew closer.
"...drunk, and really loud," said a quiet, feminine voice that StG failed to recognize.
"A lot of Soviets tend to be like that," replied a male voice.
"Not me, I hope."
The male voice chuckled. "Well, I'll make sure that doesn't make it into your programmed predispositions."
"Gee, thanks."
StG stood just outside of the room's field of view before stepping into the entrance.
"Ah, StG!" said Schuhart, looking up from his desk. The IOP engineer smiled at her and gestured for the doll to step inside. "Please, join us."
"Us?" StG couldn't help asking, though she already knew someone else was inside.
"Yes. Have you met AVS-36?"
StG fully entered the room and looked to see who he meant. Against the wall was a reclining repair couch – a luxury item not often found in Griffin bases – in which rested a brown-haired, fair-skinned T-doll with numerous diagnostic cables attached to her body. However, her closed eyes and limp attitude indicated that she was deactivated, and her left leg had been skillfully separated from her body, leaving only an empty socket.
"Please pardon my appearance," said the female voice. "It was necessary for the modification process."
"I…" StG was at quite a loss for words. Schuhart made a short hand movement towards his desk on the far wall before he looked back down to the leg he was working on. A T-doll core rested in a diagnostic station, which was in turn hooked up to his computer – StG began to understand.
"AVS walked for the first time earlier today–" Schuhart glanced up at his wall clock– "er, yesterday. I've been up all night tweaking the balance in the locomotive areas."
"You don't need to stay up fixing it, dad. The system works out calibration errors the more I walk."
"I know, I know. But I'd rather you not look like a cripple in front of the other dolls... why don't you go to sleep? You need some rest after today anyway."
"Not while you're working on my leg," AVS insisted, but she quit trying to argue. StG44 furrowed her brow at the conversation, but held her tongue. Quietly as she could, the doll crossed to the empty chair in the room and took a seat in it, folding her hands into her lap and patiently waiting for the engineer to finish his tinkering.
"So, StG," began Schuhart. "Busy week? Weeks?"
"Somewhat," StG said, not feeling very conversational with AVS-36 listening in.
"Hm. Well, I'm glad you haven't been very damaged. We had a doll in the repair bay last week that needed an actual engineer working on them before they got back to a stable condition. I swear, they get more reckless as time goes by…"
"But that recklessness means they've never been critically injured before," offered AVS-36. Schuhart nodded knowingly, a thin trail of smoke from the soldering iron twisting up into the air.
"Precisely. Does that mean you've been looking at combat reports?"
"Some." StG glanced at the core, which was starting to sound rather peppy. "I wanted to compare them to repair bay logs for any trends, but didn't have enough data yet. I think there'll be a connection, though."
"Clever." Schuhart leaned back from the leg and set aside his tools. For the first time, StG noticed a camera attached to one of the computer banks that seemed to track Schuhart's movements. She supposed it was AVS's way of watching her creator while not hooked up to her body. Schuhart stood and crossed over to the computer banks. "Bedtime, dear. You're up far too late as it is…"
"And whose fault is that?" AVS shot back. Schuhart smiled tiredly.
"Mine. Anything else to say?"
"G'night, dad."
"Night, dear." Schuhart leaned over the core and gave it a peck before pressing the button to send it into sleep mode. StG composed herself again and waited for him to address her. The IOP engineer heaved a sigh as he pulled his office chair over to his computer and sat down, running a hand over his hair and turning on the monitor. StG checked his personnel records. He's 41. Computer whines filled the silence again.
"Right, Digimind," Schuhart said suddenly, startling StG. "So, how much do you know about the whole modification process?"
"Expensive."
Schuhart chuckled. "Well, that's true. Either way, it's a lot of processor upgrades, some hardware stuff, obviously a Digimind update, stuff like that. Paid for by Griffin, of course, provided you get slated for the upgrade."
StG swallowed. She still needed to petition for that, though she had her doubts if Kerr or NTW-20 would approve the request. "We'll see."
"Hm. Well, the upgrade itself can take anywhere from weeks to the span of twelve hours, depending on what's being done. That itself is determined by your performance and what the Commander approves, so you should really have a talk with her and your unit leader about it. Have you?"
"No," StG admitted.
"I would do that. Griffin may be a corporation, but it can't escape bureaucracy…"
StG said nothing. Schuhart yawned loudly. "Hm… well, I guess I should just get some coffee and go through the rest of today. Busy?"
"Yes," StG said absentmindedly. Chrysanthemum was going to be heading out with Leonid today, working to clear another subsector of S17. StG hoped that there would be something interesting today – it had been nothing but forest and foothill for the past week.
"Well, don't get yourself blown up. I've had to supervise one too many repairs over the past two weeks, and I'd rather not see you as well."
How concerned you are, StG thought, recalling how Schuhart had spoken to AVS-36. She had heard about there being a new doll, knew that Schuhart was up to something, but no one else had been able to shed light on the rumors. She was just glad that AVS wasn't some sort of stuck-up like so many others. Schuhart swiveled to face StG.
"One more thing about the Digimind upgrade: You get a fresh gun with new attachments, and IOP engineers get to mess around with your cosmetic appearance."
"...mess around?" StG asked.
"New costume, maybe a different hairstyle, stuff like that. A lot of them seem to immediately regret design choices the instant they push the doll out, so they see upgrades as a chance to 'correct' what they think they did wrong."
"Huh." StG didn't exactly like the sound of that, but supposed that nothing came without a price. "I'll think about it."
"See that you do." Schuhart pushed out his chair and stood, stretched for a moment before tightening his tie knot and reaching for his white coat. For a contemporary roboticist, he dressed rather old-fashioned, but StG chose not to voice that particular thought. The engineer fixed his glasses and turned to the doll, smiling as he pulled open the door. "We best be going."
StG rose wordlessly and crossed to the door, turning once she was out to watch Schuhart. The IOP scientist gazed fondly at AVS-36's core one last time before picking up a briefcase from the floor and pulling the door closed. The two began walking back towards the elevator banks.
"Mikael!" shouted a voice from the elevator. StG looked up to see someone in a cleanroom suit and holding a mask marching down the hallway towards them.
"Alexei," Schuhart said warmly, widening his stride to close the distance, lab coat flapping up behind him. StG kept pace easily. "You're up early, your shift doesn't start unt–"
"I know." Alexei rubbed a gloved finger across a spot on his face mask anxiously as he fell in with Schuhart and StG. "Macek called me earlier, said something was going on."
Schuhart's humorously grin quickly melted into a frown. "What is it?"
"Her mental state – well, it started recovering, at first. Clarity of mind, less strain on the Digimind, all good things. Then it all went pear-shaped."
They entered the elevator and Schuhart hurriedly mashed the button for a level StG had never been to. "No breach of containment?"
"No, the restraints held. Barely, we think. She really went berserk." Alexei swallowed loudly. "I started drafting a report for 16Lab –"
"No need," Schuhart interrupted. "They've been dark the past few weeks. I'm willing to bet Persica's preoccupied with something big… or just too lazy to check her email. Regardless, we won't be getting any input from them. I'll send something to the IOP design board again, see if they bite this time."
"Right," said Alexei, and fell silent. Both of them seemed to have forgotten that StG was there. She checked the time. 0537. The echelons sortied at 0630. She would have time to tag along on this, if Schuhart let her. She felt as if he was letting her join them. The elevator slowed to a halt and began opening, but Schuhart and Alexei were out before the doors had even drawn flush with the sides of the carriage. StG followed behind them, looking around the floor as she did. It appeared to be a separate part of the IOP factory, perhaps some sort of research and development area.
Another IOP technician, this one a woman, joined the three as they walked. "Here's the readout history from the past five hours," she said, offering a datapad to Schuhart. "This is where it spiked, and this is where we are now."
"Thanks, Sasha." Schuhart had switched into an entirely different mode than from how he had been with StG and AVS, dead serious and to the point. "Get me a phone, will you? I left mine in the office."
They arrived at a set of hazard-yellow doors. StG scrutinized the text on them as Schuhart swiped his ID card.
WARNING
DANGER OF SAPIENT ANDROID
Brilliant, StG thought. The doors opened, and they all stepped through.
Inside was a high-ceilinged, single-story lab area. In the center was a large, square test chamber of mostly metal with small, tempered glass portholes dotted across the walls. Surrounding it were diagnostic machines, tables, and, in the far corner, a weapons locker. StG stared long and hard at the yellow sign cautioning of laser radiation emblazoned on the locker. The room was full of IOP technicians, all of whom stared at the newcomers.
"Get back to it," the engineer barked, and everyone got back to it. "Alexei?"
"The windows, Mikael."
Without another word, the two each moved to a window, and StG decided to as well. The inside of the metal box was a homogenous, whitewashed room with absolutely no distinctive features except for the raised bed in the middle. On it was strapped a doll StG recognized – barely – as RPD. She had been stripped out of her uniform and dressed in clean white undergarments, though they did not look very new. The doll was thrashing about, pulling at her restraints and screaming at the top of her lungs.
Not that StG heard anything. She surmised that the room was soundproof and continued watching as RPD clenched and unclenched her fists, tearing at the palm of her hand with her fingernails. Coolant dripped to the floor in a steady stream, the self-sealing skin unable to patch itself when being repeatedly opened.
"Well, shit," said Schuhart.
"Language," muttered Alexei, but he didn't really seem to mean the words.
"Have you sent anyone in?"
"No, we kept containment."
"Good, that's good. Uh… use the remote instruments. Draw coolant, see if it's clean. Have you tried anything to subdue her?"
Alexei shrugged. "Her Digimind was unresponsive… or perhaps resilient."
Furrowing his brow, Schuhart said no more, and watched as a long, telescoping arm extended down from the ceiling, sticking itself into RPD's chest. The doll flailed ever the more furiously, if that was even possible, but the arm was quite unaffected, and withdrew quickly. StG looked to see one of the technicians standing by a station on the far wall, ready to receive the coolant sample.
"Sir, your phone," said the female technician, returning to Schuhart. He stared at it for a split second before taking it from her hand and dialing a few digits.
"Yes, it's Schuhart," he said. "I'm with RPD… No, it's not, it's getting worse. I'm going to– no, no. I don't think so. The restraints have worked fine up to now. Besides, we have weapons … if you want to, ma'am. No, of course … I'm working on it." Schuhart made eye contact with Alexei and performed a series of gestures, resulting in the technician hurrying away. "Soon. ASAP. You can come down if you want, but I guarantee you it won't be pretty. Yes. Well, no, but they should wait outside… policy. StG44 is in here. Yes, I allowed it... I'll have someone call you if anything happens. Yes, ma'am."
The phone call ended, and Schuhart handed the phone back to the woman. "Turn on the speakers, will you?"
"We, uh… not a good idea," she said.
"Just do it."
She moved to another side of the metal box and fiddled with something before the unpleasant, tortured screams of RPD filled the room. StG winced, but Schuhart only blinked.
"LET ME OUT! OUT! WHY DO YOU HAVE ME LIKE THIS?! AAAGH… I'LL MURDER YOU! ALL OF YOU! LEAVE ME ALONE! LEAVE ME… alone…"
"I think that's enough," said Schuhart, and the technician muted the speakers just as RPD was raising her voice again. The engineer licked his lips and swallowed, and for the first time StG saw an expression of trepidation flicker across his face.
"Sir, your suit is ready," Alexei said, returning. Schuhart nodded and turned to StG.
"This could end very poorly, so I would like it if… if you left."
"I– I'm sorry, sir?"
"Preferably now. This is confidential, after all, and Kerr didn't sound very happy with it. I let you down here to humor you, but now it's gotten serious enough to order you out. And suffice it to say that not a word of this is leaked."
StG pursed her lips, her gaze turning back up to the window, where RPD continued to struggle. The doll's silent screams echoed in her ears. "Yes, sir."