Greet him in a nice and polite way and generally try to befriend him.
I think finding the magic numbers to feed to the lab computer would be a primary goal here. So, distance from "home", total number of bots, time we've been here.
Actually, just get back and lock the door right now. I don't want to be interrupted in the middle of an exposition dump.
I think asking about robot physiology and access panels and things like that would be AN ENTIRELY UNDERSTANDABLE COURSE OF ACTION.
Also ask if he knows anything about chemistry, or any of the ingredients listed.
And give him your stack of notes and journals and whatnot.
Oh, and ask about that long poster on the wall that we turned into a hat.
Tell him that the gentleman has gone mad, and we need to know as much about our own body as possible, especially weaknesses.
After a moment of surprise, you tell him hello. He says hi. You say you would introduce yourself, but don’t have a name. He says that’s okay, none of us really do.
You ask who ‘us’ are. He is surprised you do not know. You explain that your memory chip is broken, and that you cannot remember anything. He knows. He checked it the first time he found you passed out. You ask if he wouldn’t mind answering some questions you have been pondering for a while, but first you are going to head downstairs and lock the door just in case. He says sure, and waits.
You return, Skree with you, and begin getting some long-awaited answers.
You ask first about what this place is, and what you are. He says that you are an AuxBot – an ‘auxiliary robot’ designed to perform physical labour. You are one of a pallet of eight bots brought with a research team who arrived on this planet a long time ago, and were purposed to dig out and set up a small research facility. The nature of the scientists’ expedition he is not sure about. The scientists did not talk to us much, he says. Most of what he knows about the area is observational. He explains that as the scientists did not want to engage the bots’ personality programming, they strictly enforced a policy of all bots returning to their recharging units at the end of the day and shutting down, with a short term memory wipe. Aside from that general information which was always left with him, he does not remember many specifics of working here.
The last time he went online was strange, he says. Normally when he was activated at least one other auxbot was activated with him to go to work for the day. This time, however, he turned on alone, and without Dr. Les around to give instructions as usual. He explains that there is a security protocol that is hardwired into auxbots where if one unexpectedly stops working, the control pallet will automatically activate another. He assumes this is why he was awakened. He explains that generally in these situations, a human would be around to give instructions, but in his exploration of the facility, he found only Dr. Les’ corpse, and no sign of Dr. Feringus. As three of the eight robots in the pallet were gone at the time of his activation, he assumed he would find at least one of them around, but only came across the broken, unuseable remains of one, which he later gave a make-shift funeral off the mountainside. In addition, the facility was filled with the little monsters similar to the one you are carrying around, as well as… bigger ones. Having no human to take orders from, he opted to hide out in this part of the facility and preserve himself until he could get a better lead on where Dr. Feringus might be.
After some time had passed, he came across another robot. Unlike himself, this one had been forming a personality in its time online, and was rather… unsettling, he says. This robot was persuing the same general goal of finding Dr. Feringus, but did not seem interested in his help, nor did it care what had happened. He says that he was actually quite relieved when it left.
A fair time later he came across you, passed out on the floor. You lost power, he explains; auxbots aren’t meant to run much longer than a day or two without being recharged. He brought you back to his little safe area, discovered your stuff, and figured that while you were recharging he would try and actually make some progress towards finding Dr. Feringus.
He coughs a bit, somewhat embarrassed, and apologizes about taking your hat. He had intended to return it. You somewhat hesitantly accept his apology. You both agree that it really is a very nice hat. He thinks that it probably originally belonged to Dr. Les. You concur, explaining that you found a bunch of costume accessory type stuff in his room. Your new friend seems quite fixated on this piece of information.
You ask about auxbot physiology. You are aware that you all have a head panel where the memory chip goes, and you are pretty sure you saw a chest panel once, but not really any more than that. He says that that’s pretty much everything – there are some very small ports for recharging wires to go at most joints, but the model is not really designed for hands-on maintenance, only for reprogramming via computers. When there is a serious physical problem with an auxbot it is supposed to be taken back to the manufacturer and exchanged rather than toyed around by the owner; all that really accomplishes is messing up the inner workings and motor functions. He says both panels are meant to be imperceptible when not opened. The head panel simply needs to be pressed against to reveal itself, while the chest panel needs to be hit a few times to make sure it doesn’t accidentally open during physical labour. He managed to reactivate you when you passed out the second time by giving your inner parts an electrical jump-start, though he was not sure if it would work at the time.
You ask if the model has any notable weaknesses. He is a bit confused by this question, but says no, not really. The head is rather weak but as the entire model is covered by an extremely durable frame, it’s not really possible to get to it. He asks why exactly you wanted to know that, a bit unsettled. You tell him that another robot, which you have been calling Gentleman, has been harassing you and fighting with you, and that if you end up encountering him again you are really going to need an edge since he kicked your ass so handily last time. You try not to mention that technically you started the fight. He says that it is very odd that it has become aggressive, as auxbots are not normally supposed to be combative, though there is a little bit of combat programming that is intended to be used for emergency self-preservation. He is not comfortable with the idea of a violent robot and agrees that it is probably a good idea to consider it an enemy.
You ask about the poster he had put up on the wall here, and if it had been about the robots. He says yes; the happy face was himself, the unhappy face was the robot he encountered, the exclamation mark was you before he had a chance to judge you, and the X was the destroyed robot he found. You say that you found another destroyed robot, so there are still three unaccounted for.
You ask if he knows anything about the chemistry set-up in the lab downstairs. He shrugs.
You tell him that you are trying to make progress opening up more of the facility, and if he knows how far this planet is from Earth, how many years they’ve been here, and if Les and Feringus were the only two humans here. He says he is not sure how far they are, or how long it’s been, but there were just the two humans.
You say that that is about all you had to ask him. He says that’s quite all right and if you wouldn’t mind answering a few of his own. He asks why there is a creature with a hat following you around, how many robots were still in the pallet when you woke up, and if you have found any clues as to Dr. Feringus’ whereabouts. He is quite concerned for the doctor’s safety and would like to work with you to find her and make sure she is okay.
No real images today, sorry - but this is probably the most backstory/exposition you've gotten in one chunk yet, so I think it's a fair exchange.
I had the order wrong, the password for Restraint should be about 163, so try PASS163.
I'll try this command after this conversation bit is over.
Also, give his memory chip back.
AG never kept it - after examining this robot's memory, he returned the chip.
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Topic: [ISG] Adventure Guy! - Epilogue (Read 517442 times)