Chapter 2: Zero-day Vulnerability
"I told you, I don't remember where I was going!" FN-49 protested as she walked through the forest, tailed by Sabre team. Her rifle was slung behind Swiss's back, rendering her totally defenseless in the middle of enemy territory. "I was just running blindly in the dark, you know?"
"Shut up and keep walking," Dazzle ordered, "You're the only one here that can lead us to Alchemist."
"And why should I even help you anyway?" FN-49 retorted, spinning around to stare daggers at Dazzle. "You're just gonna kill me anyway, I- I might as well take one of you down with me!"
FN-49 was about to complain some more until her eyes wandered to Swiss, who was just a few paces behind her. She was also maintaining her distance from her teammates to not infect them. Now that both were standing, FN-49 realized for the first time how young Swiss looked. The Sangvis doll was over a full head shorter than FN-49, and although physical age worked differently for dolls than for humans, Swiss also had a noticeably more childlike and energetic demeanour than her teammates. Swiss looked back at FN-49, a gloomy expression on her face.
After a moment, FN-49 quickly turned and began walking again without further complaint. She rolled her eyes. When she saw Swiss's sorry state, it reminded her of the kids she used to take care of in her previous job.
"Hey." Swiss's voice appeared from beside FN-49. The small doll had jogged forwards and was now walking beside her.
FN-49 ignored Swiss.
"What's the biggest difference between a dinergate and a dog?"
FN-49 looked at Swiss in the eye for a second before turning her head back to the front.
"Are you okay?" Swiss asked after a few seconds, genuine concern in her voice.
"I'm sorry," FN-49 finally quietly said as the two continued forward.
"It's okay," Swiss replied, casually kicking a rock on the ground. "Most people don't end up apologizing."
FN-49 glanced at Swiss again.
"So… How are you feeling?" Swiss asked after a while.
"I think I'm hallucinating," FN-49 admitted, "I can't keep focus on things, and I'm hearing and seeing things that aren't there. It's slowly getting worse."
"…Yeah, I'm starting to hallucinate too, haha…" Swiss responded, her voice wavering slightly. "I see things in the corner of my vision, and when I turn to look at them, there's nothing there. It's kinda creepy, you know?"
"I hope we can find Alchemist soon," Swiss continued after a while, "I can't remember a bunch of things properly. It's like when I try to think about certain things, it's always at the edge of my mind, like when you have a word that's constantly at the tip of your tongue."
"We'll find Alchemist," FN-49 said, trying to sound confident. "I think I remember the terrain here. We're on the right track."
"Really?" Swiss asked, widening her eyes a bit.
"I think so. But even if we do find Alchemist… Can we really beat her?"
"Oh, don't you worry about that," Swiss replied, a small smile returning to her face. She turned around, looking at her teammates. Dazzle, who was the nearest one a few metres behind her, stopped walking.
"What's the situation?" Dazzle asked.
"Nothing," Swiss said, "Just checking if y'all were keeping up."
"We're keeping up," Dazzle responded, "Keep your eyes forward. Stay alert."
"Right, right," Swiss said before continuing forward.
"You seem to be pretty close to your teammates," FN-49 pointed out.
"Yeah, I suppose," Swiss replied, "Though…"
"Though what?"
"I dunno," Swiss said with a shrug, "I feel like I don't fit in sometimes, haha."
"You don't fit in?"
"Like, they're all quiet and cool and stuff, and here I am always yapping all the time. Honestly I feel like I'm being babysitted—babysat?—half the time."
"You… Do speak more than I imagined you to."
"What did you imagine me as?" Swiss asked with a giggle, "Some sort of edgy ronin ninja thing?"
"A what?"
"Or like one of my teammates," Swiss continued, deep in thought. "A Child of the Night."
"You admire them a lot," FN-49 pointed out.
"Of course I do," Swiss agreed, "And one day, I'll be just like them, I hope."
"Anteater… Albatross… Aphid… Aardvark…" Swiss muttered to herself as she followed FN-49.
"Are you… naming animals?" FN-49 eventually asked Swiss.
"What other animal names start with the letter 'A'?" Swiss responded.
"Uh, armadillo…?" FN-49 said, raising an eyebrow.
"Damn it!" Swiss cursed under her breath, "I forgot about that."
"Antelope?" FN-49 continued, "Apes? Ants? Arctic hares?"
"Okay, okay, stop!" Swiss interrupted, cutting FN-49 off. She seemed rather irritated. She raised a hand up to her forehead, giving it a few smacks. FN-49 looked at Swiss a bit, thinking about how Swiss had been acting a bit strange lately.
"Um, Swiss," FN-49 began after a while, "You, seem to be progressing faster than I am. Is it because you have more information in your mind?"
"Probably yeah, no offense or anything," Swiss replied, "The more data you possess, the more routes the- the… I can't remember what the algorithm was called. It eats your mind faster, basically."
"Oh. That must be tough."
"Yeah, it sure is. I mean, my whole role in the team is to basically know a lot of things… So with me forgetting everything, well, what does that make me?"
"Well, I'm sure you're more than just that," FN-49 suggested.
"But when it comes to the missions, that's what I am," Swiss explained, "Dazzle is strong, decisive, and has her special flare bullets. Sapphire is perceptive, accurate, and has special integration with her sniper rifle. Night Eyes is… well, you probably already know."
"But what about me?" Swiss asked, "I have my toolkit yeah, but the only thing I bring to the team is my brain… which isn't working anymore."
FN-49 didn't know how to respond.
"Swiss…" FN-49 asked after a while more.
"Hm?"
"How long… Do I have?"
"You? I can't be sure, but I'd estimate you have about a day or two."
"I see…"
"Sorry for the bad news, I guess," Swiss said, staring at the ground.
"Are you… scared?" FN-49 quietly asked after a while. The question caught Swiss off-guard, who quizzically looked at FN-49.
"Sorry, I meant, with the whole virus thing slowly messing up our neural clouds," FN-49 elaborated. "I'm scared of it, but at the same time I'm also scared of going back to Alchemist. Ugh, it's like this terrible sinking feeling in my stomach that gets worse the closer we get."
"I… I don't want to die," Swiss said, suddenly turning her head to face FN-49. "I heard that this sort of mental deterioration could happen to older dolls who don't get their neural clouds properly maintained, but- But I don't want to…"
"To be honest, I'd take dying over getting captured by Alchemist again," FN-49 said, "We're tactical dolls after all, death doesn't have the same finality for us as it does for humans."
"But…" Swiss responded, "It's scary… isn't it?"
FN-49 looked at Swiss. She had heard many stories of the infamous Sangvis Ferri Sabre team, but all of those were rumours at best. The other members certainly lived up to their reputation, but never in her mind would she have imagined one them to be so… innocent and naïve. It reminded her of her own early days as a tactical doll.
"Yeah, I guess it is," FN-49 agreed, lost in her own thoughts.
The two fell silent as each was trapped in their own thoughts.
"Hey," Swiss asked after a few minutes.
"Hm?" FN-49 responded, turning her head to look at the Sangvis doll.
"What's the biggest difference between a dinergate and a dog?"
FN-49 stopped her tracks, turning to stare at Swiss.
"The thing about a dinergate, is that-"
"Swiss, you already asked me that question."