CHAPTER 11
2B explained the situation as best she could.
"We encountered a hostile android with hacking capabilities. We're concerned he may have installed a virus or other malicious software and hidden it from our own internal systems." She had only been taking precautions at first. She had good hope that they would prove only that - precautions. And yet… "9S, at least, seems to be suffering some… aftereffects."
9S jolted at this, and looked at her with wide, frightened eyes. Had he not been aware? Surely passing out earlier should've been a rather conclusive sign.
Devola and Popola shared a look, and it was Devola who answered. "We do some repairs for the Resistance, yeah, but software problems are somewhat outside of our field of expertise."
Popola hastily added, "But we can definitely provide a full inspection! Diagnostic tests and all. If there's a problem, we should be able to find it at least."
2B relaxed a bit at that. "That would be very helpful, thank you."
9S was pointedly not contributing to the conversation. His cheeks were flushed, and he was studying his shoes again. They were a bit dirty, she supposed, from walking in the muddy forest. Maybe they should take a shower when they return to the Resistance camp.
"Before that, do you mind if we mind a quick stop at Pascal's village?" Devola asked sharply. "We've still got the kid to consider, and Pascal will probably know what to do with him."
The 'kid' evidently meant the baby-shaped machine which Popola was still carrying.
"We saw a door, back in the forest… It was barred from this side. If we use that, it should lead right to the Village," Popola suggested.
"Speaking of shortcuts, it looks like this window leads right out into the courtyard," Devola added, pointing to the large window A2 had exited from. "I assume you two are fine with a short jump?"
2B answered, "We're fine if you are." Her limbs were still sore from the earlier combat, but a fall like that was nothing for a YoRHa model. It was more intriguing that the redheads had suggested it - their bodies must be more capable than appearances let on. Then again, they'd made it through an entire castle of machines. Clearly their skills did not end at medicine.
"Then let's go," said Devola, and without a backward glance she promptly jumped out the window.
"I apologize for my sister. She can be a bit brusk at times, but she means well. Thanks again for saving us, I promise we'll return the favor." Popola offered them a small but sincere smile as she cradled her baggage to her chest before she, too, jumped out the window.
And then there was nothing to do but follow them.
Pascal was very understanding, and downright thrilled to receive their package.
"Oh, he's so cute! It is a 'he', isn't it? Or not, he can choose when he's older. But he's just so adorable! Oh where did you find this precious angel?"
Popola proceeded to tell Pascal the same story she'd told them earlier, with a few new details added in response to Pascal's questions.
By the end of it, Pascal was sobbing. "Oh, oh no. That's so sad! The poor thing, he's an orphan? And he's had no one to teach and raise him? A whole castle of attendants, and no family - how lonely you must have been!"
"Can you… actually raise the child?" 2B asked, morbidly curious. 9S, who had been unusually quiet on their walk to the village, also perked up in evident interest.
Pascal made a strange whistling-humming sound, in consideration. "Yes, yes I think so. I've seen great jumps in maturity with some of the children here - each in their own time, some stay as children for years and years you know? Most will always be children. But some, a few, they watch the teachers and adults and they decide that's what they want to be, and they play pretend, and then they just forget they're pretending!"
"So yes," continued Pascal. "We'll get him some little legs, let him interact with the children, and in time I think he may grow up. If he wants to."
9S seemed fascinated by this, and more than a little horrified. He seemed torn between telling Pascal exactly how wrong everything he's saying is with exacting detail, and putting aside his pride to ask more about this unusual case study. In the end, he did neither, and just looked away sulkily. But his gaze drifted back to the baby, and the other children of the village, and there was a certain glint of interest that wasn't there before.
They didn't linger much longer in the village, after their purpose was met. They said goodbye to Pascal, and to the small would-be king - Immanuel, it turns out his name was. 2B felt a bit embarrassed saying goodbye to the small bundle, but did it anyway to be polite.
And it was kind of cute, she supposed. If you looked at it a certain way.
They took the worn footpath back to the city ruins, and the Resistance camp therein. The twins kept up well, and more easily now that neither was laden with any cumbersome baggage. It seemed, she noted with increasing surprise, that the twins were fast as well as sturdy. Not many androids could keep pace with high-end YoRHa models such as herself and 9S.
They returned to the camp, and the Resistance Leader seemed relieved to see them. She offered a warm smile their way, and a nod of greeting, before she turned back to the male android with whom she was discussing. 2B could barely make out the details with her advanced hearing - something about supplies and personnel management.
The Twins went straight for an open tent in the middle of the camp, behind some of the merchants. It had a number of beds, only one of which was occupied, as well as a few small machines she didn't recognize.
With belated realization, she recognized it for what it was - a field hospital.
The Twins seem right at home here. Devola goes over to one of the machines and turns it on, while Popola goes to the android in the bed - who seemed to have sustained a knee injury. The skin was missing, exposing the wiring underneath, which also seemed to be damaged. Likely he couldn't move the limb. He doesn't seem to be leaking any fluid, at least, but that could mean he'd simply bled all the coolant in that area. Not all androids had self-sealing blood which would "scab" on injury.
She looked away. It wasn't any of her business, really. Just another victim in their war against machines. At least this one had escaped with his life and his limbs still attached - it would significantly reduce the cost of repairs. If he could save some money, he'd probably walk again.
Meanwhile, Devola was ushering 9S to sit down on another spare bed, on the far side of the tent. There was a curtain separating it to provide a small amount of privacy. 2B followed, keeping them in her line of sight but giving them enough space for Devola to do her work.
Devola turned to the small machine again. She'd brought it with her to this side of the tent. On second glance, 2B saw that the machine was on a cart with wheels for just this purpose. The cart had several shelves with smaller tools on it, some of which she could recognize as basic repair tools.
While she was examining the contents of the cart, Popola came up behind her. "2B, would you mind taking a seat for me?"
"Right now?" 2B responded, nonplussed.
"Yes, right now. There's two of us and two of you. No reason we can't get your diagnostic started. Now, would you like privacy, or would you prefer to remain in sight of each other?"
"That's… in sight, please."
"Sure thing." Popola grabbed one of the partition curtains - also conveniently on wheels - and dragged it around to create a second cordoned off space. She could see 9S across the way, but had relative privacy from the rest of the camp.
2B felt a brief moment of nerves as she realized she was going to be inspected here, in an Earth encampment, by a relative stranger. She buried the feelings as quickly as they came.
At Popola's pointed glance, 2B carefully laid down on the bed. It was softer than the ones in the bunker, and it sagged under her weight with a squeaking sound.
Popola went to a machine near the bed and untangled a couple of wires from it. The machine appeared similar to the one Devola was using in the other tent. Popola explained, "This is a basic medical terminal, which will output logs from your system. With your permission, I'm going to connect it to your processor now. It will run a basic script to connect to your system output files, but it won't affect any of your processes.
"I can technically do the checkup without the aid of a terminal, but I recommend using it. It provides a second, impartial source of data and is shown to make the test results more reliable on average. Do you consent to using this terminal for your checkup?"
2B nodded her agreement. The whole explanation went over her head, and she didn't actually care either way.
Popola selected a single wire that ended in a small, circular node. She carefully placed the node onto 2B's neck, keeping an eye on the terminal's readout as she did. She adjusted the wire slightly until she seemed satisfied. "As you're aware," explained Popola, "android skin is conductive. So I can place the node just about anywhere. But I find the neck gets a particularly good signal."
Popola clapped her hands decisively. "Alright, now I'm going to begin the checkup. As part of the process, I will be sending wireless commands to your mainframe - since you are conscious and not in lethal peril, I will need your consent to make the link. You should see an internal popup when I attempt to do so." As an afterthought, Popola added, "If you were unconscious and dying, I would attempt to hack you to provide medical aid. That falls under the Good Samaritan protocol."
Popola started glowing slightly, and sure enough, 2B saw a system message warning about an incoming request to connect from an untrusted source. She sent a quick approval in response.
2B remained conscious for the procedure, but she didn't feel much of anything. It was like a faint humming in the background which she unconsciously tuned out. Without anything to distract herself, she found her thoughts gravitating toward the recent events. The Tower. 9S. Cain.
…She couldn't leave this alone.
She was so lost in thought that it took her a moment to realize the humming had stopped, and that someone was calling her name.
"2B, you can get up now. I've finished the diagnostic."
She sat up in a fluid, effortless motion and brought her feet around to slide off the bed. Whatever the news was, she preferred to take it standing. "Did you find anything?" 2B asked.
Popola hummed disapprovingly. "Well, we did find some underlying concerns, yes. You're overdue for maintenance, and it shows. Plus, you've really pushed your body recently, it seems. Some of your parts are showing sufficient wear that they should be replaced outright. As you know, most android components are rated for a few decades of service. Your limbs are only a few years old, but to already be this worn…" Popola shook her head in wonder.
"It's a necessary consequence of being a combat model," 2B justified.
"Well, you've got YoRHa supporting you, so you can probably just get a brand new body on-demand. Must be convenient. Not everyone has that." Popola said wistfully, but not unkindly.
"What about the rest?" asked 2B. "I'm familiar with my physical condition, but are there any irregularities in my code?"
"Oh, of course, give me a second." Popola went to the terminal and typed in a few commands. The display updated to show a different readout. Popola pointed at some numbers on the screen as she explained. "I ran the full suite of tests. Here we have your reaction test, which checks how quickly nerves are sending and receiving stimuli. Yours is off-the-charts fast. I assume you've had no problems with mobility? Good."
Popola switches to another screen. "Here's your consciousness and cognition test results. It's based off a few things, logic problems, Turing tests, and so forth. It's a bit harder to quantify, but basically it checks that you're sentient, self-aware, and sane, by scientific standards. Which, congratulations, you are."
She loaded another readout. "This one tests your emotional regulation. That's especially important, since androids are even more prone to emotional disorders than humans. Human hormonal systems are more stable because they're physical - they have biologically hard-wired checks and balances. Our emotional programming simulates those systems, but it's fundamentally more malleable, and vulnerable to both outside attacks and internal failures. Too much aggression, or too little, and people get… hurt. Android emotional irregularities happen with alarming frequency, and we still barely understand why." Popola looked deeply, profoundly sad at this. She seemed lost in thought for a moment, before she came to herself with a quick shake of her head.
"But we were talking about your results! Right. So here's a visualization of your emotional spectrum, with estimated highs and lows, relative to baseline emotional units. This test has higher variance than most, due to differences in personality between androids, but we can see here that your emotional capacity is within expectations. Anger, sadness, happiness, affection… all working as expected.
"And finally, here's the result you might be most interested in: your antivirus scan. This isn't going to be news to you, since you have the same antiviral programs installed in your body, but I'm happy to report that the scan detected no irregularities. It's just you in there," Popola concluded her report with a smile.
2B listened to the results with polite attentiveness, relieved when they finally reached the end of the report.
Relieved. Yes. She should have felt relief. This was good news. So why did she still feel anxious? What was this uneasy feeling clenching at her gut that wouldn't go away?
"That can't be right!" came a shout from behind her, unknowingly echoing her own thoughts.
She turned to see an angry 9S facing a very unimpressed Devola.
9S knew he was shaking, but he couldn't help it. Because he'd been so worked up about the tests, scared of what it would mean if there was something wrong with him. But now Devola was calmly explaining that nothing is wrong with him, and it's somehow worse.
"It can't be," he repeated plaintively. "You must have missed something."
"Look," sighed Devola. "These tests are the best we've got. So either you've got some kind of mega-virus that can evade detection, in which case, sucks to be you - or, much more likely? You're fine. And that's a good thing."
9S cringed inward, because she wasn't getting it. "I don't… The tests are wrong. Or they're missing something. Something that wouldn't show up on the antiviral scans."
Suddenly, he had a flash of insight.
"That's it!" he cried, "Something that wouldn't show up on the antiviral scans - what if a virus were planted, but programmed to erase itself after a period of time? Then the scans would show that there is no virus, even though the manipulation had already taken place!"
"Sure," offered Devola dryly, "that's what the other tests are for. And aside from being a bit high on the emotional spectrum, you're completely normal, kid."
"Then something the tests didn't cover, something…" 9S trailed off. "Memories. Your test suite didn't check for memory integrity. I…" 9S bit his lip, not wanting to say, but he had to explain this. "I blacked out for a bit. Back in the forest, earlier. I have several minutes with no memory storage. And it's… not just that. I saw… flashes? Of something else. I'm not really sure, but…"
Now that he had started to talk it was all coming out at once, the words rushing out like water from a burst pipe. "I had some dreams, after. Really vivid ones. Of someplace I didn't recognize, and it was just… really weird." He looked Devola in the eye, appealing at her to listen. "It wasn't normal."
And Devola, to his relief, did listen - she was looking at him a little more thoughtfully now. "These dreams. Are they still happening? Do you think if you went to sleep now, you would see them again?"
9S gulped. His mouth felt too dry all of a sudden. "Maybe? I don't know. It's possible."
"Okay then. Here's what we're going to do," Devola said with authority. "We're going to conduct a sleep study, right here, right now. On you. You're going to lay down for a full-length sleep cycle, 8 hours long. We'll hook you up to this machine, and if anything happens - whatever dreams you do or don't see, whatever subprocesses are active - we'll know."
"And if… nothing happens? If I don't see any dreams, wouldn't the results be inconclusive?" Because 9S really, really didn't want anything to happen, but not knowing seemed equally terrible.
"Fine. Just for you kid, as thanks for saving our butts earlier, I'll throw in a special service. You said you'd seen these dreams before, yeah? That means they're stored in memory. I can set up a subroutine to filter through your memories and check for any irregularities," Devola must have noticed how 9S flinched at that, because she added soothingly, "Don't worry, I'm not gonna look at all your private memories. It's just a script. It'll flag anything that looks weird. I'm not going to look at your memories personally, don't flatter yourself."
That's… Okay. They had a plan. That's more than 9S was honestly hoping for, and for a brief second he felt lighter than he had in days.
"We'd appreciate that, thank you," says 2B from right behind him and oh god how did he forget that she was right there - was she listening the whole time?
Oh god. This was so embarrassing he wanted to crawl into a hole and die. Maybe he should hope that his memories have been manipulated, maybe he can ask to have this moment erased where he spilled his guts in front of the person he cares about most, and he looked like a total head-case, and oh god can the earth just swallow him now please?!
Heedless of his wishes, the earth remained cruelly rigid and inert.
"Will you be alright monitoring him for the full 8 hours? Do you want to arrange a system of shifts for taking watch?" 2B was still discussing with Devola. And his shame was just a little more bearable with 2B not directing her attention towards him.
"Don't worry about it. Popola and I are usually just sitting around here all day anyway. We'll keep an eye on him." Giving 2B an appraising glance, she suggested, "You could use the opportunity to have a rest yourself. You look like you need it."
"I… maybe I'll do that. Yes," 2B agreed stiffly.
9S didn't have to endure his embarrassment much longer, as soon after Devola was leaning him into the bed, attaching a few wires to his skin, and murmuring instructions for him to initiate his sleep protocol.
Without further protest, 9S let himself sink into the soft oblivion of sleep.
Ending K: [K]eep me safe
# A/N: So the hospital checkup was meant to be this short thing. And then this happened. Pretty sure it's the longest chapter to date. Hope you enjoy my shameless speculation about android health practices? And about maturation processes for machine children.
As always, consider leaving a review or favorite/following if you enjoyed. I will be reading and responding to all reviews. :)