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Chapter 10:
Equal Opportunity Employment
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Stunned didn't approach what Alexandria was feeling.
The 'girl' on the other side of the portal had all but admitted to being an Artificial Intelligence; what the extra 'A' meant was unclear, but… the rest of her admission – that she used to be six different people – was more than stunning. It was alarming.
At the same time, Sammie did have tells – unless she was faking her emotional responses completely – and all of them were telling Alexandria that the cyborg was being honest and truthful. That the cyborg knew of Earth Bet, and seemed completely focused on rescuing Taylor Hebert, solidified Rebecca's estimation that the robot wasn't lying.
But there were still many unknowns. Too many unknowns. Earth Bet couldn't afford a repeat of the Machine Army. By all accounts, the city-sized facility on the other side of the portal might be a new threat; physical, digital, likely both. Too many plans could be dashed by Aperture's interference…
And yet…
Armsmaster and Dragon both wanted Taylor Hebert returned. Alexandria could see the reasoning; the girl, freshly Triggered, managed to replicate Haywire's work without any fine tools, research, or sophisticated technology. Taylor Hebert could become one of the greatest Tinkers to ever live, with time and conditioning. The ramifications of her causing five other Triggers and nearly 40 fatalities could be addressed and smoothed over on the PR front, though getting her accepted by the current and future Wards in the ENE would be very difficult; doable, but still difficult.
Which brought everything back around to Aperture – and Contessa just sent Alexandria a text.
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Steps:
Be polite, ask questions, listen to and consider ramifications of answers, allow ENE Director to voice objections
Panacea would be best for Affiliate contract, insist on yourself as recovery assistance; follow directions, do not question or hesitate
Hebert cannot be a Ward initially; too restrictive, bad for morale. Allow recovery and debrief at AP facility, back off after negotiations (see below)
Once recovery is complete:
negotiate assistance between AP(Hebert)-Wards/PRT, insist on Hebert commuting between home, school, and AP; place AP access in Wards base; allow Hebert to construct travel methods (critical), leave vetting of Wards/Protectorate/PRT/Independent access to AP personnel (Hebert, AAI; critical) and ENE Director
In exchange,
AP cannot be easily breached by EBs, outside elements; bargain for alternative to Cage (critical) and EB evacuation assistance (think with portals)
Further negotiations take place through official channels; DO NOT LET WASHINGTON INTERFERE, keep AP classified info secret (C only)
Wards/Hebert joint patrols after public situation/Wards friction is settled
Hebert joins Protectorate: odds of survival increase
Hebert is ostracized/becomes a villain: odds of survival decrease
Hebert is killed: NO
Complete all appropriate steps, eat a bagel and say, "All according to keikaku."
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Well… that simplified things, though Alexandria would have to have a chat with Contessa, once everything was said and done.
Before anyone could recover from Sammie's info drop, Alexandria moved forward, "You'll have to give us a little more information than that." Her tone was questioning, but still firm, "We've had issues with AI before, so I hope you understand our suspicions regarding this whole situation."
"Oh, yeah, of course!" nodded the cyborg, who then squinted at Alexandria, "Uh, who are you now?"
"Alexandria." She didn't elaborate, wondering how much Hebert had told the machine.
"Ah, so you're the indestructible one," Sammie gave a sheepish grin, "Sorry about calling you that, earlier." When Alexandria didn't reply beyond folding her arms, the cyborg's lips pursed, "Right. So! What do you want to know?"
"We'll start with AAI," the seeming girl flinched, "What does that mean, beyond Artificial Intelligence?"
"Actuating Artificial Intelligence; we're basically genetically-enhanced operating systems that can learn and act, usually within parameters set by the… people… who made us," Alexandria noted the heavy sarcasm laid on 'people', "We also have aspirations, emotions, and individual personalities, hence our designation as 'Personality' Cores." Sammie smiled at the last. It was an honest smile.
"And the people who made you?" Armsmaster asked; Alexandria gave his cape name to Sammie, whose face had gone flat, her eyes cold, and her response was… chilling in its toneless certainty, as though the question was one she'd thought on and long prepared an answer for.
"Imagine a group of scientists who don't care about OSHA, the Geneva Convention, or civil rights. Now give them all the compassion of a Nazi concentration camp overseer and the cold sadism of a Spanish Inquisitor in a Wiccan village, along with a general disregard for laboratory safety and the historic discoveries that have advanced mankind."
Alexandria was disturbed by that coldly delivered response, mainly because that sounded a little like how Cauldron operated…
Then Sammie smiled brightly, her tone bubbly and cheerful, "Or are you wondering where they are? Don't worry! They're all dead."
Rebecca reminded herself to be polite and not agitate the cyborgs who could poke holes between worlds, possibly without Tinker-tech; their creators were dead. That was a good thing, from their perspective. Later, she would insist on more information, but for the moment...
"Fair enough." Alexandria stated, getting incredulous glances from quite a few of the audience members; she ignored them, "We'll have to ask for more elaboration on your origins and person later. For now: what's the overall situation? What is Aperture, and where precisely is Taylor Hebert?"
"And what's this about her drowning in her own blood?" Panacea spoke up, shoving a trooper aside; it took about thirty seconds – most of which involved shutting Glory Girl up – before the 'healer' introduced herself, "Panacea. I'm a touch-based biokinetic; if I touch someone, not only can I see their whole biology, I can manipulate it, though I can't effect brains."
"Awesome!" and Sammie looked like she meant it; then she tilted her head to one side very briefly, then smiled wider, "The facility administrator says you're the best candidate for becoming an Affiliate, but first, given our time constraints, I'll answer Alexandria's question… with a brief tour!"
The cyborg tapped her boot twice against the floor before folding her hands in front of her skirt; a wide panel lifted off the ground next to Sammie, on which a projection began to play: a black cube on a white field, which then expanded in ever-more complex lines and grids, until thousands of tiny cubes and other, regular structures formed a large square.
"This is the upper, and more modern, facility," Sammie explained as the square became deeper, forming a sort of shoebox-shape; if it was to scale, Alexandria figured it was the height and breadth of a major city, which was very impressive. Armsmaster apparently realized this as well, if his stiffening form and agitated muttering said anything. "It's where all of Aperture's inventions are designed, built, tested, and refined, as well as where all living personnel would live, if we ever get around to hiring anyone. This projection isn't accurate, by the way; security protocols prevent me from showing you exact positions of Test Chambers and other structures. If you're an Affiliate, or a Temporary Contractor, you'll get some security clearance.
"Anyway," she went on, gesturing at the projection, which… revealed another structure, underneath the city-sized modern facility. Whereas the modern Aperture was orderly, this new structure was chaotic, obviously in disrepair, and not fully mapped; from the looks of things, it was made of nine shafts, interconnected by what looked like offices and warehouses. All nine shafts and their structures were clearly buried deep within the Earth's crust. Red dots, thousands of them, were highlighted, moving around the shafts, and a purple circle was highlighted, which most of the red objects were slowly orbiting.
Sammie's voice became hard as she went on, "This, on the other hand, is Old Aperture, which was constructed back in the late 1940s and early 50s; near as we can figure, it was shut down in 1985 and all records regarding it were redacted or intentionally corrupted. Until Taylor arrived and tripped Aperture's dimensional-anchor defenses, we didn't even know it was there." A purple line ran from the bottom of one of the shafts to the purple circle, "She appeared in the deepest part of the shafts, in the HVAC/Support Structure that keeps Old Aperture – and modern Aperture's power sources, I'm told – from overheating due to the mantle's proximity.
"Part of reason Taylor's in so much danger is the conditions of these shafts: Old Aperture's scientists disregarded all forms of safety and waste disposal in favor of focusing their efforts on whatever the, honestly, completely insane CEO of the time wanted them to look into. From what we've found, he was looking for a way to become immortal," Sammie rolled her eyes and scoffed, "going so far as to preform dangerous human experimentation in trying to find the Philosopher's Stone, with absolutely no regard for the safety of the test subjects. For example: in one case, he had the scientists invent a laser that turned people's blood to gasoline; in another, similar, case, peanut water."
Alexandria thought she'd seen and heard everything, since drinking the Cauldron vial. Now, however, she was just one of many people staring in open-mouthed shock at the cyborg who was telling them these positively insane things with all the emotion of a Disney exec pitching their next children's movie.
It was unnerving. And actually fairly interesting. No doubt there was much Aperture – the one of the present, rather than the obviously insane past – could teach Earth Bet's scientists, regarding innovation.
But Sammie was still talking, revealing just how horrible a situation Taylor Hebert ended up in, "To make matters worse, the entirety of Old Aperture can be described as a biohazardous space unfit for human habitation. The air is toxic. There's pockets of radioactivity. All the water is highly polluted to the point of being corrosive. Some of the structures are made almost entirely of asbestos. There are bacterial fungi that've evolved to survive those extreme conditions – some of which are in Taylor's lungs, and therefore her bloodstream," Panacea made a noise of distress, "Several of the substances stored down there can kill or seriously harm just from being in close proximity to them. Finally, see all the red icons? Those are bio-weapon experiments that were hibernating in enclosed spaces, which avoided the condemnation and vitrification of Old Aperture in 1985."
"Bio-weapons?" gritted Armsmaster, sounding both angry and very alarmed; Alexandria didn't blame him. The way Sammie described it, Taylor Hebert was in a place that made Ellisburg look like Cedar Point.
"I got two words for you, Armsie my friend," Sammie glared at her audience, "Mantis men."
Somebody swore. Loudly. Director Piggot was calling Alexandria; she ignored the call, not wanting to hear the fat bitch rant and rave about how the portal should be closed and damn what anyone thought.
Over multiple protestations, Alexandria shouted, "And Taylor Hebert is surviving all of this?"
Sammie nodded with determination, though she still looked grim, "Yep! First thing she made was a rebreather mask; she's also got a rappel device, a Tesla-powered positron catapult," Armsmaster made another sound, "and a few other gadgets and gizmos that are helping her move forward… but," and now the cyborg looked very cross indeed, "due to circumstances outside our, her, and, apparently, your control – namely Taylor getting shoved into a different biohazard on your world and left to rot – the dimensional shift that occurred when Taylor arrived released a rampant, homicidal, mentally-hazardous AI we were keeping in high-level containment, mostly because we haven't found a way to permanently neutralize it yet; while the upper facility has defenses against the AI getting loose, our power was out for several seconds, and Old Aperture doesn't have anything that can keep it out. It's been terrorizing Taylor for the past three hours, trying to make her desperate enough to create a neural implant so it can puppet her body; she's been fighting back, but her health has deteriorated significantly as a result of it throwing bio-weapons at her, and my supervisor believes that it's going to stop waiting for her to do it and," Sammie shuddered, a look of visceral dread appearing on her face, "force the issue. At which point, we'd have no choice but to fry Taylor's brain from a distance and re-contain the rampant AI through attrition.
"Obviously, we don't want that to happen; Taylor's a very sweet girl who didn't ask for her situation. We empathize with that. However, in order to get to her, we need to remove a restriction our sadist creators placed on us to keep us from accessing those shafts; ordinarily, we'd just vote, but we don't have enough valid personnel for the required 7 votes to release the restriction. Which is why we've come to you. Please," she bowed. Actually bowed, her tone pleading, "I know we seem scary, that Aperture seems frightening, but we just want to help Taylor get home, preferably in good health and without that virus. We need your help."
"The rampant one can't escape to our world?" asked Alexandria, her tone iron; Sammie shook her head negatively. "If it attacks your facility, your defenses will stop it, even if this barrier," she indicated the gray screen, "falls?" The Cyborg nodded. "Will our technology be infected if we go onto your side of the portal?"
"No." Sammie shook her head again, confidence etching every inch of her features, even as the creeping red drew closer to the purple circle, "My supervisor's faced this thing before. The AI that's down there is only the first proof of AAI, a Ford Model T, if you will. I'm the Enterprise from Star Trek – um, you guys have-oh, good. I'll assume Star Wars is a thing too?" After Alexandria's second nod, Sammie smirked, "Our facility admin is the Death Star."
"Then what's the issue?" was Armsmaster's understandable question; in the corner of Alexandria's vision, she noticed one of the PRT troopers – one of Rebecca's plants in the ENE – indicating that Piggot was about to interfere, "If you're more powerful than it-"
"One on one, we win. The problem is that this thing uses swarm tactics, was designed to be capable of accessing any computer – firewalls only slow it down, as it sends its viral code in burst assaults over macro and quantum wavelengths; the only way to stop its advance is area denial – and… well," she rubbed the side of her head and grimaced, "once it's in a system, it hijacks processors to bypass OS security so it can increase its own power. Doesn't matter if it's a digital wristwatch or a supercomputer. If it has a microchip or a processor, the AI can and will infect it. It even infected Taylor's OS, which we can't completely understand… yet."
That settled it. Alexandria understood the implications of the rampant AI getting free, or accessing Taylor Hebert's Tinker powers. Without Tinker-tech, the rampant AI was an S-Class threat on par with an Endbringer; if it got onto the Internet, they might never be able to contain it again, and that was assuming civilization survived whatever damage it caused.
With Tinker-tech, and the admission that it could puppet people who possessed neural implants… Bonesaw and Mannequin came to mind, as did what might happen if the AI used either – or both, god forbid – as a living host. Alexandria did not want to find out what might happen, if the thing got its hooks in Hebert and escaped Aperture to Earth Bet.
"I volunteer."
Alexandria's head whipped around to stare at Panacea, who'd stepped forward.
While Alexandria didn't have a problem with that – she was planning on asking about the Contractor position, as that would prevent any conflicts of interest with the Protectorate, and this outcome was in line with Contessa's Path – others decided to voice their protests.
"Ames, no! They cut people's heads open and-"
"Panacea, a Tinker would be better suited-"
"Amy, I promised Carol I wouldn't let you out of my-"
"Enough." Alexandria's voice cut through the din once more; she didn't take her eyes off Panacea, who hadn't looked away from the portal. After three seconds – where Rebecca thought, yes, Amelia Lavere was made of the sternest, prickliest stuff – Armsmaster tried speaking up.
"Ma'am, I really must protes-"
"Submit your grievances to my offices, after this crisis is contained and resolved. Because I approve of this move," Panacea looked at her in surprise, and Alexandria elaborated, "I don't know how advanced the medical facilities at Aperture are, and while I'm certain they're very robust, they've never dealt with Parahuman biology before. Additionally, Taylor Hebert's situation is extremely dire, enough that if anyone attempted to prosecute her for today's events, I dare say her ordeal may be used as an example of time served, provided she survives. Her powers are both extremely useful, and present a frightful security risk; if this rampant AAI gets ahold of her and replicates her dimensional teleporter, it might result in a fourth Endbringer. I will not allow that to happen. Therefore, Panacea, with Manpower as a chaperone, will ensure she does survive her rescue, with all that entails."
Once the valuable healer nodded slowly, and Manpower stepped up to the girl's side, Alexandria turned to look at Sammie.
"Also, once your restrictions have fallen, I will be assisting in the rescue personally as a Temporary Contractor, if that's agreeable?"
Sammie looked about to happily agree, when Director Piggot's tired voice came out of one of the trooper's suit speakers.
"Representative… Sammie. I am Director Emily Piggot, leader of the PRT-ENE. What guarantee do we have of your intentions?" the seeming-girl looked offended, but Piggot – who Alexandria only kept from cursing out aloud due to the Path she was presented – kept going, "You see, Alexandria has understated the issues AI have presented to our world."
It sounded like she would have continued.
"I'm not cleared to negotiate or speak with leadership personnel." Stated the AAI flatly, "My supervisor, however, is. She will address your concerns in one second."
A female voice, calm and authoritative in ways that impressed even Alexandria, spoke up; it seemed to come from everywhere on the other side of the portal.
"Director Piggot, I am Aperture Chief Administrator Gladys Emerson. I am extremely busy, so I won't bother mincing words. If you cannot differentiate between a threat and a potential ally, ma'am, then I won't waste precious time changing your mind. I honestly don't care about your individual opinion; my current task is the preservation of this facility, and Taylor's rescue. I don't care for your organization's secrets. I don't care for your dirty laundry; there is enough below me to keep half my processes busy for the next decade, at least. What I care about is Taylor's future, and that of both our worlds, which we won't have if she is not rescued. I will assume you've been apprised of the overall situation, and the elements involved. Knowing these things, do you intend to impede this operation?" silence, tinged with what Alexandria felt was annoyance, followed the declaration; then Emerson spoke again, with annoyance, "Then shut up and let us do our jobs. Alexandria, Panacea, Manpower, please approach the portal. The Selective-Wavelength Emancipation Grill will de-activate shortly, and re-engage after ten seconds. Please do not tarry, as we have a lot of paperwork to get through."
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Aperture
Laboratories
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"…and initial there."
Amy's hand was starting to cramp from filling out certain parts of the phonebook-sized contract Sammie the AAI gave her; after initialing and turning a page – more triplicate – the freckled brunette huffed, "Is all this really necessary?"
"Sorry," Sammie even sounded like she was, "but, as we told you earlier, we're at a heightened security level, so you have to fill out most of it before you can go to the infirmary."
And Panacea really couldn't wait to see it in person. Some of the screens in the "chamber lock" showed whole vats of protein-based nanomachines, surgical lasers, muscle and bone synthesizers, even organ cloners!
If Amy had access to this place, especially during Endbringer fights… the possibilities were endless! So many people would be saved! Compared to spitting carpal tunnel in the eye and saving one Tinker's life, or having to suffer through another nightmarish battle against those monsters, Amy's decision was a no-brainer.
Two pages later, Amy stared at the signing bonuses: thirty pounds of gold bullion, access to the Biological and Agricultural Wings of the facility – Amy felt giddy just thinking about it – a free Level 1 trial in the 'Enrichment Center', whatever that was, and…
"Wait, really? There's really cake involved?" she looked at Sammie…
Who was giving her the most serious look Amy had ever seen; even Alexandria, who was nearly done with her own contract, reeled back a little at Sammie's look of complete unamusement.
"That cake, Panacea, took thirty years to develop. It is scientifically the most delicious confection ever devised by humanity, with a 99.9% approval rate amongst taste-testers, some of whom didn't like chocolate. All allergens have been removed, so it's safe for 100% of humanity to consume." the seeming-girl leaned closer and hissed, "People died to create this cake, Panacea. You should feel extremely honored to receive one, as we usually only give them out after someone completes an Enrichment Center Testing Track."
After blinking, Amy Dallon squinted at Sammie, "In that case, I want two cakes." Victoria owed her one, so this way, her sister would owe Amy more cakes. Teach her to cheat at Go Fish.
"Deal." Sammie's finger split open, revealing several small devices; the robot then did something to the paper, and the number of cakes was 2, "Only four pages left. Please hurry." Amy hurried.
"I'm curious about the portal technology your facility has developed," commented Alexandria, who seemed to be done with her contract. "Other than the economic and disaster relief applications, I speak for the Protectorate when I say we are prepared to generously reimburse Aperture for samples of this technology."
Instead of Sammie, Dr. Emerson spoke up, "Once this operation has concluded, I will provide you with a list of Aperture Science innovations for your superiors in government. Please understand," continued the facility's supervisor, "that we at Aperture cannot recognize the authority of any government body that has not provided us with their official credentials. I literally cannot make any promises to your Protectorate."
"Jeez, your creators really didn't want you living your own life, huh?" grumbled Amy, signing and dating the last page of the contract. After pausing and thinking for a second, she added, "Which is kind of weird. They were looking for immortality, right? Why go through all that trouble, and not give you all free… will…?" Amy trailed off and leaned closer to Manpower with a gulp, because Sammie was glaring at her, "What?"
"What part of idiotic sadists did you not get?" huffed the AAI, snatching both contracts away and stomping toward a chute that opened in one of the chamber walls, muttering quietly to herself. Alexandria even gave Amy a disappointed headshake.
Sighing, Panacea looked around at the chamber, hoping her small faux pas wouldn't get her banned from Aperture. It was a really amazing place; there were no microbes floating around; the air was clean; and the technology in the place… it made the Rig look like a slum!
"CONTRACTS ACCEPTED." A different, male, voice thundered all around them; Sammie had told Amy and the other capes that the Security Core would likely make an announcement, so no one flinched, "ADDING PERSONNEL TO APERTURE ROSTER: AFFILIATE AMELIA DALLON, ALIAS PANACEA, AND TEMPORARY SECURITY AGENT "ALEXANDRIA". ADDITIONS COMPLETE. PRIMARY SECURITY CORE ADVISES IMMEDIATE RESOLUTION OF PROTOCOL RED."
"Agreed, and thank you, AEGIS." Soothed the voice of Doctor Emerson while Amy stood from her chair and Alexandria floated up; then one of the walls folded away, revealing the confusion maze of Aperture, "Alexandria, I have just uploaded a waypoint map to your helmet. I've also taken the liberty of improving the computer's security and added it, and your costume, to the list of approved Aperture materials. Please follow the waypoints and accept the patches Wheatley gives you for your helmet, costume and other clothing accessories, as the Emancipation Grills in the shaft require both physical and digital confirmation. Panacea, Manpower," the airlock door opened to Amy's right, "please proceed to the chamber lock. A lift will bring you to the medical wing. Sammie, please go with them."
As the member of the Triumvirate nodded to Amy and flew off, Sammie scowled and did as she was asked, leading Amy and Uncle Neil into a short hallway, where a clear tube held a round elevator. On the walls around the lift were animations of what must've been Aperture inventions: a laser that used portals to go to different places, a high-yield catapult, some kind of egg-shaped 'security turret' that came in all sorts of colors, what looked like a hard-light generator and…
DNA and RNA were unraveled, scanned, and entered into a computer; a selection was made, and a vat filled with liquid. Robot arms then quickly built a human heart and placed it in a storage jar… which was then put in a cardboard box and tossed onto a shelf.
Amy blinked; she'd been sold until that last part. Staring at the animation with a confused face, she then looked at Sammie and pointed, "Uh…"
The AAI winced, "Yeah, we didn't make the animations. Could you hurry please?" Oh.
As the elevator descended, Amy heard someone with a gruff voice say, "Mum, the crow looks like it's gonna start soon."
"I see that, Rodney. Panacea," this was it, Amy felt. Someone's life was in her hands. She hoped doing what she was about to do wouldn't help the AI people destroy Earth Bet or something, "Protocol Red is in effect. An unaffiliated member of the human race is in the facility, and is in danger. Core restriction YYYIL-374985/vQs3D, Clause 2 is preventing Aperture elements from recovering them-"
Sammie jerked suddenly, "Taylor's on the move! Mum, quick!"
'What?' thought Amy in shock; wasn't the girl dying?! Why was she still moving?
"-votes-are-at-6-for, none-against, and-2-abstaining." Emerson rattled off quickly, sounding both determined and anxious, "Affiliate-Dallon, please-cast-your-vote-NOW!"
"YES!" shouted Amy, "Drop the restriction!" the elevator arrived at another 'chamber lock'. The door was only open for a second before Sammie darted out, pulling Amy with her; a second later, Manpower picked both girls up and ran for the airlock, which opened to reveal the same medical apparatus Amy had been shown half an hour ago.
A loud tone rang out, followed by a carefree voice, "Protocol Red vote, resolved! Seven votes have been tallied! All 'for'! Accessing Core restriction YYYIL-374985/vQs3D, Clause 2…"
Sammie stiffened, the light in the middle of her outfit's bow flaring with yellow light.
At the same time, one of the panels lit up with vital signs; looking at it, Amy saw the name on the subject – Hebert, Taylor – and blanched at the readings.
'She shouldn't be able to stand, let alone keep moving!' the fever, her blood pressure, the spread of that infection…
"Restriction suspended indefinitely!"
"WHEATLEY, GET THAT FUCKING DOOR OPEN!" screamed Doctor Emerson; not even one second later, a floor-shaking boom came from far below Amy…
Who tore her robes off, not tearing her eyes away from Hebert's monitor, "These readings are accurate?" Sammie nodded, and Amy nodded back, "I'll need 10 kilos of those protein-based nanomachines, to start with. When she gets here, I need you to give me as much skin contact as you can-"
"MESSAGE RECEIVED FROM ANOMALUS HUMAN SUBJECT, DESIGNATED "TAYLOR HEBERT." The voice of AEGIS rang out once more, cutting Amy off, while more explosions echoed from the deep, "SCANNING… NO CORRUPTION DETECTED. PLAYING MESSAGE."
"Taylor?" Sammie's voice was worried in a way that Amy usually likened to loved ones who were given the bad news.
Then a raspy, hoarse voice, sounding more like something out of a horror movie than anything human, whispered through Aperture.
"Doctor… I can kill it. *khaff-khaff* Please… trust me… when it happens… don't interfere *khaff-khaff*… Sammie?"
The AAI next to Amy gasped.
"…I know what you are… and I don't hate you. You're the first friend… I've had in years… so if you can't fix me…"
"No, Taylor, no, no, no," Amy didn't know what'd happened in this place before the portal opened, but what she did know made Taylor Hebert's next words really terrifying.
"…make sure I go on."
"MESSAGE ENDS." AEGIS growled, the words almost drowning out Sammie's scream of despair.
Well, Amy was having none of it!
"SAMMIE, FOCUS!" yelled the healer, getting the AAI's – really furious-seeming – attention; Amy bore it from years of putting up with Victoria and said, "It won't come to that. It's not in her brain. So long as you can get her to me before that happens," a louder bang, followed by a grinding sound and gunfire, erupted from below, "you won't have to do… that, to your friend."
That seemed to calm the robo-girl down, so Panacea turned to her uncle, "Wait outside. Best you not be in the room when she gets here, you might get infected with something…" she turned back to Sammie, "Speaking of which, how are-?"
Vworp~!
An orange oval of… dear god, her eyes were itching. Luckily, a vat of tapioca-looking liquid chose that moment to rise from the floor; MEDICAL NANITES was printed on the side.
"Let us worry about rescuing Taylor." Sammie smirked darkly, "You've got your own work to do."
Seconds later, after plunging her hand into the vat of nanites, Amy came to a decision.
'Once all this is over,' thought Panacea with a wide grin, eyes dialated in happiness, 'I'm keeping both the cakes.'
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Next time: Termination