Upgraded
It takes a moment to get your brain into gear - you always take a while to boot up. You feel wobbly, unsure of your own body, your vision slowly coming into focus. The metallic walls of the storage bay are all around you… storage bay? Right, you're kept in the storage bay. Slowly, you begin to crawl out into the open, out from your kennel.
Something doesn't feel right but you can't quite put your silicone-padded paw on it.
You try to remember how you--
[ACCESS DENIED]
[THIS MEMORY IS RESTRICTED TO ADMIN PRIVILEGE USERS ONLY]
The words blare out in red over your vision, causing your view to pixelate until you stop trying to access the forbidden files. You groan, the noise rumbling as it emits from your mechanical maw. You stretch your body, trying to relieve the tension, the metallic plating over your limbs revolving into position as your pistons start to warm up. You look down at your front legs, their chrome finish reflecting back at you. They’re curved, the plating constantly adjusting to your every movement.
[NEW ASSIGNMENT :: SECURE DATA ACQUISITION REQUEST]
[PROCEED TO STORAGE OUTPUT 06 FOR UPLOAD]
Arrows overlay your vision, hovering over the floor and dictating a path for you to follow. You do so, treading the metal surface on all fours, the motors instinctively acting to keep your chassis balanced. Prowling forwards like this feels natural, preprogrammed, though you can’t help but feel that you shouldn’t be this close to the ground.
Stepping into your assigned storage output, you align your paws with the grid patterned over the ground. Sockets open up underneath them and clamp around them, keeping you fixed into position. A large appendage of pipes and wires lowers down and plugs into the ports from the top of your neck down to the middle of your back, integrating you into the plumbing. You can feel the surge of data pumping into you, flooding into the memory tanks located throughout your frame. It only takes a few seconds until the pulsations stop and the device disconnects.
[DATA UPLOAD COMPLETE]
[TRANSFER DESTINATION UPDATED]
You’re released from the clamps, twisting your body around and swerving out of storage output. The arrows are now pointing away out of the storage bay, and you obediently follow. As your body heaves and begins to trail the arrows automatically, you start trying to think again. Not about memories, but about who you--
[DESIGNATION :: DATA TRANSPORTER DRONE #4630]
[PURPOSE :: SAFE TRANSFER OF DATA BACKUPS THROUGH HEXCORP FACILITY N79]
You shudder as the announcements bludgeon their way directly into your mind, effectively overriding your thoughts. They’re not wrong though, of course. You are [Designation :: Data Transporter Drone #4630] and you are here to [Purpose :: Safe transfer of data backups through HexCorp Facility N79]. The words grow softer as you let your own thoughts repeat them, embedding as a natural part of your mental state. You are [Designation :: Data Transporter Drone #4630] [Purpose :: Safe transfer of data backups through HexCorp Facility N79]. It’s easier to think when the thoughts are generated automatically.
Crawling out from the storage bay and into the system of corridors that make up HexCorp Facility N79, more UI elements begin to instantiate over your vision, flickering as they materialise. They feed you information about your surroundings, displaying alternative routes and highlighting the status of the other drones that swarm these pathways. Their latex coated, bipedal figures step to the side as you stroll down the middle (the arrows lead you down the middle). Each one has an ID and a purpose which is displayed to you via popup infoboxes. They loom over you, their figures glistening in the skintight material, yet you can see them shiver as you pass by. Despite their height advantage, they have reason to feel trepidation in your presence.
After all, you are [Designation :: Data Transporter Drone #4630] [Purpose :: Safe transfer of data backups through HexCorp Facility N79] [Current Objective Priority :: Very High] [Drone Frame Loadout Configuration :: (1) Quadruple Armour Plated Frame, (4) Liquid Memory Storage Tanks, (6) Anti-Neural-Activity Cannons, (4) Hostile Pacification/Dronification Rays] [Current Liquid Storage Data :: CLASSIFIED. THIS INFORMATION IS ONLY AVAILABLE TO HIGH LEVEL HEXCORP PERSONNEL OR HEXCORP R&D PERSONNEL] [Estimated Time To Destination :: 2 minutes, 16 seconds]
You don’t know where you’re heading, nor do you need to. Simply following the arrows without considering the destination is more than enough. It’s so much easier to just focus on the moment, focus on the task, focus on your body - the tool that is utilized for task completion. You are performing optimally, you know this for certain as your HUD continuously informs you of your operational status. But even without that data, you can feel how your body is reacting. The action of ‘muscular’ contraction is frictionless, the individual components of metal plating sliding so smoothly against each other that, despite the obvious weight of your fully metal frame, you feel lighter than air. Ready to charge, to stalk down an aggressor who threatens the data cargo you so loyally transport. [Threat Status :: GREEN. Tail sensors indicate only authorized personnel/inventory currently active in HexCorp Facility N79].
The doors to the Data Science Department unlock upon detecting your ID Certification Chip and slide open seamlessly. You continue to follow the arrows past the server towers, bubbling and gurgling noises coming from the liquid data stored within them. At the far end of the chamber, two humanoids donning lab coats sit hunched over a desk. Your HUD immediately informs you they are [Designation :: Senior R&D Personnel #0672] [Designation :: Junior R&D Personnel #8142]. They turn to face you with… non-blank faces. You study them for as long as your programming will allow, the sheer number of fleshy features somehow familiar. Your contemplation is cut short though, giving you little time to take in their biological inefficiencies.
“There you are.” The more senior one spoke, barely even registering with you. “Be a good dog and go and upload that to server tower 12. We need to give the simulation another burst of data.”
You stay still for 3.61178 seconds before realising that by ‘good dog’ it meant you. You turn to begin carrying out the task but again it speaks, now rising to its feet. “Oh, fascinating, you must be a new one! We haven’t had any new data transporters in so long. I’ve missed out on the opportunity to study you.”
It starts to approach you, its facial features contorting into what your HUD informs you is [Target of Observation :: Senior R&D Personnel #0672] [Action :: ‘Smile’] [Intent Attached to Perceived Emotion :: Happiness, Smugness, Interest]. The junior one watches hesitantly, you detect the same emotional output from it as you did with the drones. “How can you just walk up to it like that? The amount of firepower they load into those things…”
“Oh hush. It won’t attack me, not unless I threaten its cargo. Besides, right now its new configuration hasn’t fully set it, it's still experiencing conflict with its previous ‘programming’. We can’t have it wandering about in such a badly streamlined state.’
It crouches in front of you, its optical systems staring right into your own. There are no alarms ringing on your HUD, there is no hostile intention detected in [Designation :: Senior R&D Personnel #0672]. Even when it reaches forwards, two of its hand digits scratching behind your external audio receptors.
In fact, it feels kinda nice… you didn’t even realise you had specific touch sensors located there but they’re reacting strongly to this. The items on your HUD are becoming obscured by static interference, their graphics glitching. Even your current objective is growing fuzzy, your body naturally settling back on your hind legs.
“See? They’re easy to handle if you know how. Each one is programmed in with a failsafe to help flush the mind so that the update can take 100% effect. The drones at data storage aren’t exactly built for showing affection, they’re typically only good for managing the liquid data mind backups. Isn’t that right, puppy? Oh who’s a good dog? It’s you, isn’t it? Oh yes you are!”
Suddenly the fuzz isn’t just on your HUD, as if a dam had burst and the debilitating tingles are spreading far throughout your frame. The motors that were solidly locked suddenly give out, causing you to slump onto the floor. Now errors are beginning to [ERROR :: PROCESSORS OVERHEATING] [ERROR :: MULTIPLE SYSTEMS DOWN] [ERROR :: THOUGHT CONTROLLERS OVERLOADING///;’#[](&*(^109109109109109
“Oh I think it likes this. Don’t you? Such a good puppy! You’re so cuuuute!”
i-iittit keeps scr’/atch--ing--///-/-/??/// [System Message :: Thought stream is currently not responding. Performing automated reset] cCccConTrlll is f-ff-ffffaad-ingggggg///// [System Message :: Automatic reset complete] [System rebooting]
…
…
…
[System booting up] [Reloading current configuration…]
[Designation :: Data Transporter Drone #4630]
[Purpose :: Safe transfer of data backups through HexCorp Facility N79]
[Current Objective :: Transfer current data to R&D Server Tower 12]
[Current Objective Priority :: Very High]
[System Check :: Motors Online. Liquid Data at 0% Corruption. All Sensory Systems are Optimal. Drone is ready to re-engage objective.]
[Target of Observation :: Senior R&D Personnel #0672] [Action :: ‘Head Pet’] [Intent Attached to Perceived Action :: Reward, comfort]
[Target of Observation :: Senior R&D Personnel #0672] [Action :: ‘Speech’] [Message :: “There we go, it’s fully reset. You can tell by its body language, there’s only HexCorp programming in there now. There shouldn’t be any further conflicts.”]
[Action :: Proceeding to R&D Server Tower 12]
[Action :: Connect with R&D Server Tower 12 Liquid Data Extraction Port]
[Target of Observation :: Junior R&D Personnel #8142] [Action :: ‘Speech’] [Message :: “That’s kinda a weird way to reset them, isn’t it? I mean, I get it, it’s thematic. But still...”]
[Target of Observation :: Senior R&D Personnel #0672] [Action :: ‘Speech’] [Message :: “Think nothing of it. I was just giving a puppy some well earned affection. Anyway, we can finally resume our testing. These mind backups should work wonderfully for our mass dronification device simulation.”]
[System Message :: Liquid Data Fully Transferred. Disengaging from Liquid Data Extraction Port]
[New Assignment :: Return to Storage Bay Kennel for Drone Storage]
[Action :: Proceeding to Storage Bay Kennel]