Ch 12 – Consequences

"Who are you?"

"I am a Griffon and Kryuger Tactical-Doll USP Combat, Retrofitted Civilian Protector model."

"Who is your commander?"

"Commander Zachary Bryant, Sector 09. Lieutenant to Commander Ursula McRoy."

The feminine voice paused for a moment. It chuckled lightly. "What a find, huh?"

"You can say that again." A new voice said. This one was gruff, masculine. "Combat core is busted and etching software is blown to hell. Digimind is a mess. Neural Cloud is hanging by a thread. How did she survive that thing?"

"Hard to believe a thing like this could be so lucky when we've lost so many." USP felt her head jolt sharply.

"Don't kick the thing! We're not done!" The masculine voice was angry now. He yelled at the other voice for what felt like hours. Then, he was quiet for a moment. "Alright, one last question: where is your base?"

USP slowly opened her eyes. Bryant was sleeping in a folding chair next to a makeshift repair bay. The other repair technicians were working on the other dolls injured during Operation Lancet. It hurt to think, and she couldn't 'feel' her combat core. Her system was still running diagnostics. The only module currently active was Audio/Video. She was able to see and hear, but have very limited interaction with the rest of the outside world. She was aware of the hustle and bustle, but also the searing pain every time she tried to think.

A technician came over to look at the monitor she was wired to. She gave a warm smile and put a hand on USP's forehead. "Go back to sleep. Everything will be better soon."

Her diagnostics and self-repair protocols finished a few hours later. The system sent a notice to what was left of her scrambled Neural Cloud to wake up. Slowly, she regained feeling through her body. It was unbelievably sore, and she uncomfortably tingly all over. She still had a brutal headache. USP sat up and took a slow breath. A tech turned to her and smiled. He pushed a button on his radio and called for Bryant. The Commander was there a few minutes later.

He walked over to USP and put a hand on her head. "I'm glad to see you're alright." USP nodded slowly. She felt a warm feeling slowly push out the pain and discomfort. "Are you alright?" She nodded slowly and put both her hands on top of Bryant's hand.

"Where…is…everyone else?" She said slowly. She couldn't form the sentences well. Bryant's face twisted in a pained frown. "Oh…I'm…sorry."

"Don't be…" Bryant whispered. "I shouldn't have put you in that situation."

"But…is the base…is Ursula okay?"

"Yes. You all did great. You saved them all." USP smiled.

"Good. Then, we…did all we could." She leaned forward and put her head on Bryant's shoulder. "What…happened to the others?" Bryant sighed.

"When a doll's neural cloud gets destroyed, they can just restart from a backup." He gently tapped USP's head. "But, every doll's digimind is unique. It changes hourly, but holds too much information to back up. If that gets destroyed, even if we restore the neural cloud, the digimind won't process the memories and experience properly."

"And that tank destroyed their digiminds?" Bryant nodded slowly. "But then…how did I survive?" Bryant shook his head.

"I have no idea. I don't know. But I don't care. You are safe, and that is all that matters." USP nodded and pulled away. "We are going to head home as soon as the techs are finished running tests. I'll be back in a little bit…I want to give Kalina the good news." USP smiled and nodded, before lying back down and resting.

Bryant left the repair building and pulled out his phone. Kalina was quick to answer. "Well, is she okay?!"

"Yes, USP is alright." Byrant said, barely holding his joy back. "She won't be able to fight again, but at least she's fine." He took a deep breath as Kalina cheered in the background.

"See…I told you it would all be fine in the end." She said weakly. Technically, Bryant had a casualty rate of 75% for this mission. But this was still a reason to be happy.

"So, did you look into her digimind?"

"Oh, yes…hold on…where did I put that….ah, here it is." Bryant heard the fumbling of paper as Kalina returned to the phone. "According to my search, her digimind did get completely destroyed. I found a lot of scrambling and general damage."

"Then…how is she…"

"It looks like someone manually repaired the Digimind or modified the neural cloud."

"Impossible. No Griffon tech has been able to do anything like that." Kalina was silent.

"I'm not saying it was Griffon. And I doubt it was SF either." Both were silent for a long time. "Bryant…there's a very real possibility that it was someone not associated with SF or G&K. Based on the extent of the repairs, I'm very certain it could be…you know…"

"Anti-Android… they just don't know when to quit." Bryant sighed. "Tell the defense team to double their patrols until Lancet is finished. Tell them to keep an eye out for human forces." Kalina acknowledged and ended the call. Bryant put his phone away and stared off into the mid-day sky. The Anti-Android Association had plagued him for ten years before he retired. Now, they were at it again. At least they had the courtesy to give him a 'welcome' back present before they became a thorn in his side.

Bryant sighed and turned back to the repair center. He'd have to deal with them sooner or later. But for now, he had to help USP recover.