N4 could still feel the drive to discover. It was most intriguing to see how the survival programming contradicted itself. Outside of the door was danger, but staying inside the room was just as dangerous. Cutwire was never without his armour, and N4 was never left to recharge without invasive cabling attached to his processor.
Staying in the room with Cutwire would be to ignore one of his primary directives, but leaving could result in his immediate offlining. Both options had equal risks, but where his survival programming seized up and looped indefinitely, his logic-core told him that discovery and experimentation could lead to survival. The ultimate survival. There was a word for it listed in his memorybanks, but 'safety' was not at all the word that N4 meant. Safety was an illusion, survival was not.
The new mix of programming allowed for prioritising. N4 still had enormous files detailing every single texture of his cell's walls, and he lamented all the lost time. All those breems of running his hand and dermal sensors over the surfaces of his room could have been spent on investigating Cutwire and the layout of the building.
Maybe before the survival-patch, he would have been happy with any new shred of information, or any manner of experimentation. With the survival programming, priorities shifted to things his processor hadn't even considered. Every cycle, Cutwire hooked a tube into his throat, where his fuel would trickle into his systems. Without that fuel, there was no survival, so N4 needed to find a sustainable source of fuel, or make one, if he wanted to survive.
Depending on Cutwire was not viable as a strategy for survival. N4's memorybanks had an uncanny habit to summon the memory file of the purple mech, shaking and twitching mindlessly after Hammertop had yanked his cords out of the ports.
It was a lucky coincidence that one of N4's priorities for survival was exactly the same as one of his primary directives; exploration. He had to delicately balance on the line between compliance and defiance.
N4's file on Cutwire's personality cortex was slim, but it was enough that he dared to ask his creator for freedom from his room. Two cycles after waking up with the survival programming, N4 spoke to his creator.
"Query; permission to fullfill primary objective .34 outside of designated room?"
Cutwire seemed taken aback, and N4's systems seized in preparation for a fight that his logic processors knew would not be happening. "Well- is the datapad no longer satisfactory?"
"Datapad is sufficient." N4 fabricated. "Explorative coding desires more."
Cutwire's optics narrowed a little, and he hummed. He jotted down a note on his datapad, and quirked a smile. "Well, you're all going to get a social patch in a few cycles. That should satisfy those coding urges for a bit..."
Cutwire gave him another datapad, and took the old one. He fiddled with the wires that connected N4 to the terminal-on-wheels, and murmured under his breath. "...probably still too effective...hmm..." N4 turned his head so he could see the terminal, and he watched his own code scroll over the screen. Cutwire removed a few lines, and N4's fingers dug into the table in an attempt to ignore his screaming survival programs.
It was impossible to tell what was being changed inside of his head. N4's logic processors were lost without concrete data, and the survival programming was spinning in an endless loop of contradicting ideas and outcomes.
Cutwire hummed a disjointed tune as he finished, and rolled the terminal out of the room, leaving the cubicle like nothing had happened. N4's head felt heavy with cords that the creator hadn't seen fit to put away, and he idly felt over their surface. He wondered if tugging them out would be more dangerous than leaving them in.
Cutwire could think that removing the cables was a little too smart for his programming, or he could think that it was a part of his exploring programs. N4 gripped the table like a lifeline, and reasoned that leaving the cables in was the best decision.. If he took them out, it would have to be under he guise of experimentation or exploration, and N4 reasoned that destruction of his creator's items was the most likely to get him destroyed.
N4 left the cables hanging from his processor, and played with the puzzles on the datapad as if it was the only thing that mattered in his world.
Before the survival patch, it would have been true.
0oo0
There were other mechs inside of the room, and N4 recognised them from when he had seen himself in the reflection of his datapad. Their identical blank yellow optics stared into his own, and all five of them stood in a messy circle while the creators uploaded the social program.
N4 was identical to all of them, and they were identical to him. They didn't speak and didn't move. N4's survival programming had him standing just as straight and emotionless as them. Acting out would be his death. Perhaps the other ones that were him, but not him, realised this as well.
N4 wished that he had the easy communication that Cutwire had. They were different from him. N2 kept turning his head to the tool-tray at the creator's bench, and Hammertop cursed at Cutwire for bad programming.
"How difficult is it to program a tiny nuance?!" Hammertop yelled. "The damned drone is just supposed to collect relevant and valuable objects in a legal and acceptable manner! You're coding a kleptomaniac, and this is gonna be the SEVENTH time we have to wipe it!"
Cutwire was nervous, and N4 watched enthralled as the calm mech's servos tapped nervously on his datapad. "I'll fix it, alright? Just a minor set-back...Boltwrench, can you get the social patches?..."
N4 had not correctly categorised Boltwrench. Bolt had been an affectionate nickname, and Boltwrench was the mech's complete name. N4 refused to admit to himself how much it mattered to him that he had stored false information. He just opened Bolt's file, and renamed it to Boltwrench.
Boltwrench himself had not been well documented by N4. All that he knew was that the mech interjected the useless word 'uh' into every sentence and appeared nervous no matter where he was. Boltwrench was tugging one of the other purple-coloured mechs away from Hammertop's toolbox, and Hammertop himself was carefully connecting one of the others to the huge computing unit that took up half the room.
It took effort to stand still and passive as Boltwrench plugged his ports full, and N4 purposefully calculated the falling path of a speck of dust so he could avoid looking at the monitor where Cutwire was selecting the program that would soon be installed.
N4 endured it all, and sucked up as much new information as he could. The sensation of programs deleting, installing and updating felt as if his frame was being manipulated like a puppet, but he did not make a peep. After only a few breems, the new programming activated, and N4's survival coding wailed. But his systems were still functional, and his memorybanks were only a few percent fuller.
"Alright... done! Now let's see some results! N-drones, interact!" Hammertop exclaimed with a grin, and N4 ignored him as best as he could. His new social programming weakly nudged to the surface, and he tugged a few opening lines from it.
"Hello, fellow N-drones. I am N4."
"Hello, fellow N-drones. I am N2."
"Hello, fellow N-drones. I am N1."
"Hello, fellow N-drones. I am N3."
"Hello, fellow N-drones. I am N5."
They all spoke at virtually the same time, and then fell silent. Cutwire laughed. "Hahah! Jinx!" Hammertop stared Cutwire down with a low hiss and the mech quickly looked down at his datapad.
Unsure of how to proceed, social program floundering, N4 remained quiet, and so did the other drones. Perhaps it would be best to speak up on a whim, and see if that would win him points with the creators. His survival coding reminded him that being different than the others could lead to scrutinisation, and more coding, more prodding in his mind. N4 held his vocaliser quiet, and waited for the next suggestion of his new 'social' programming.
"Excuse me, I did not mean to talk over you." One of the others said. Remembering the round of introductions, N4 deducted that the speaker had been N3. N4 watched as the drone made a small bow. His own social programming had not suggested the action to him, but after a worried look, he found that the other N-numbers had not bowed either.
"That is quite alright." N4 spoke in perfect unison with numbers 1, 2, and 5. He could hear Cutwire's stubby fingers tapping on his datapad, and N4 tried to ignore the confused flaring of his survival programming. Act out? Act the same? Act out? Act the same?!
Logic was again his saving grace. Act as if exploring. Follow the primary objective- it is what they want to see. It is what will let you survive, for long enough to take it in your own servos. His logic centres were hard and cold, and oh so welcome in the heated circuitry in his frame.
"Query: primary objectives?" He ventured, and his social programming gave him a quick ping. "My own primary objectives are exploration, discovery, and s-ssurvival."
He hoped that the creators had not noted his hesitance at stating his third primary objective. It felt dangerous, to utter that survival was also part of his primary objectives. The creators knew everything about his programming. As long as they believed he acted only out of discovery and experimentation, they would be satisfied. They would not wipe him.
N1 twitched violently as he answered in a flat voice. "Primary objective: protect and secure." A small pause. "Nice to see you."
N4's social programming picked it out like the platitude it was, and he turned his attention to the other drones, watching the creators from the edge of his vision.
"Primary directive; Collecting and protecting." N2 said.
"Primary directive;Calming and interacting with Cybertronians. Solving social conflict." N3 answered in a dead monotone.
"Military. Offensive and defensive actions against any hostile." N5's vocaliser grated. N4 found it logical. The mech's primary directive explained why the drone had his limbs strapped tightly against his body, and why his protoform was heavily damaged.
The conversation fell silent, and N4 watched with growing anxiety as the other drones stared blankly ahead. N3 was the one to break the silence. "What a weather today, don't you think?"
N4's social programming informed him that it was a manoeuvre to prevent possible awkwardness in a group setting. He remained silent, and took in the scene as N3 continued to spit out random splurts of text and assurances that their environment was safe and that communication was desired. A quick little look at his creators and Hammertop's narrowed optics told N4 a lot about what the creator thought about their progress.
N4 quickly returned to the inane replica of conversation, and followed the basic nudges of his social programming. No acting out. Not with Hammertop frowning.
"Alright, that's enough. Shut your vocalisers, all of you." Hammertop said, and the forced conversation fell quiet. Hammertop flipped through a few pages on his datapad and then tossed it down on one of the tabled. Boltwrench flinched and Cutwire frowned at the N-drone ensemble.
Hammertop growled. "Fragging drones... They ALWAYS need more AI!" He moved to the terminal and started scrolling through the five different sets of coding that belonged to him and the other N-drones. "More coding, more patches, less loopholes, no bugs-... frag these useless things..."
Hammertop paused, and N4's intakes stalled as he watched the creator magnified his file. What had he found? What had caught his attention? Could he run? Should he run? Should he fight?
N4 found that he could no neither as Hammertop hummed and tapped a finger on the terminal.
"...survival protocols... That's right." Hammertop turned to Boltwrench. "Have you tested that yet? Does it work?"
"Uh, well, that 'self-discovery self-disassembly' issue was fixed, but uh, besides that I didn't get to test yet. Since uh, N1's new patch hasn't made him crash yet." Hammertop looked at Cutwire, and N4 saw the larger mech bulk up with pride.
"I like to think that I got that nasty contradiction out of the coding this time, he's passed the first three tests." Cutwire preened.
Hammertop's optics suddenly bore straight into N4's, and he froze. Being singled out was bad, and there was just not enough information to see to his survival. Don't run. Don't show distress or they will know you are different, and they will wipe your systems!
"Well, I got time." Hammertop drawled, and he ushered the other drones aside. "Let's do a little test right now." Hammertop walked over to N5 and started undoing its bindings.
Cutwire shook his head. "No, the results from the other programs aren't in yet! "
Hammertop turned around. "You made a copy of it this morning, didn't you? No data lost, no harm done... Do you have a better idea on how to test N4 and N5?" Cutwire sighed, and waved a hand in a mockery of consent for the experiment.
Boltwrench was standing by the side and looked both anxious and excited as Hammertop started to undo the bindings on N5's limbs. N4 watched as his fellow drone clenched and unclenched his servos obsessively.
N5 was military. Offensive and defensively programmed. N4 studied the other mech as intensely as he could, and tried to stop his thin plating from clamping up to protect his protoform. His audials picked up on Cutwire tapping on his datapad and making an observatory 'hmm'. N4 kept his composure, standing straight and at ease even as his survival protocols were running calculations at his top speed.
Hammertop snapped his fingers a few times in front of N5's optic, and then pointed slowly at N4. "That is your target. " N5 did not react, and Hammertop reached behind the drone's head, pulling at something-
N5 charged forward and N4's survival programming finally won over the rest of his coding. Discovery, exploration, experimentation, remaining under the radar for his creators- useless, worthless, unimportant because N5 was going to crush his frame.
N4 dove out of the way and his hands scrabbled over the room floor. N5 was already after him and N4 simply ran. He threw his frame against the door that would have led out to the hallway, and knew that he would not be able to put in the code he'd spied off off Boltwrench fast enough.
N5's punch hit him in the shoulder and he slammed himself against his assaulter, trying to slip past. His legs bumped against one of the tables and his audials registered a squeaky 'meep' coming from the direction of his creators.
All his focus zoomed onto the three double opticed mechs, and he ran in their direction. They stumbled backwards and N4 lunged to hide behind them, N5's ventilations hot on his back. N4 could actually see Cutwire's optics widening in shock as he tried to pull the mech in front of him as a shield against the drone soldiers-
"OVERRIDE – !" Hammertop roared the words, and N4 felt his engine stall. His struts locked and he crumpled to the ground like a doll. N5 landed on top of him with an heft gush of warm air, and from the corner of his optic N4 could see the other N-models in a similar state on the ground.
"That was... interesting. It could really use a couple of patches." Hammertop and Cutwire lifted N5 off of N4, and started restraining him again. "Took too long for the program to kick in, but it fared better than I thought. Good work Boltwrench."
N4 could feel the feeling return in his limbs, and he pushed himself upright. He still wanted to flee the room, and stay away from N5 and the creators at all costs, but it would only get him hooked to a terminal again. No. He needed to survive- he had survived for now, and he would continue to do so.
Hammertop spoke again. "It reacted pretty late though. It should have been able to see the attack coming." N4 stood up and kept himself rigid. "Cutwire, how far along are you with the experiments on that one's primaries?"
"Oh, I got discovery pretty much mapped out. Experimentation too." Cutwire answered as he shoved a table back to where it was. "I'm still working on that glitch it had. Bolt's survival coding is working well enough, but overall efficiency is down by 15%."
"Hm... Definitely not refined enough then. Cutwire, see if you can work out that self-disassembly glitch within the discovery programs. We'll wipe him and try the experiment without the survival protocols."
N4 listened in trembling silence as his creators planned a date for his offlining. His fuel lines were tingling and his processor was spinning out of control. Survive. Survive. His optic focused on the door, knowing that an escape attempt would not be successful. He hadn't been able to open the door when N5 had been set to kill him, and it was still closed. No escape.
"Give me six cycles. That should be enough to finish up and rework the coding." Cutwire said. Hammertop grunted in response.
Six cycles. In six cycles, N4's creators were going to keep him from fulfilling his most important objective.
"Uh, wouldn't it be better to do it sooner?" Boltwrench said. "I mean, since N6 got destroyed we're, uh, kinda lagging. With our experiments."
N4 swore that one of his systems stopped working right then and there, but Hammertop frowned. "And you think Clinchthird is going to accept unfinished reports? Get real Bolt, and get yourself a vocaliser update while you're at it."
N4 stared ahead as the creators rounded them together again, and continued testing the new social programming. N4 was a perfect drone, and followed the suggestions of the program like he should. In his processor he was frantically combining and twisting every piece of information he had in the idle hope that would show him his angle at survival.
Before that day's recharge cycle, Cutwire fed him more fuel than usual, and N4's pre-installed infopackets helpfully supplied the notion of a 'dead mech's meal'.