[...]
[[...]]
[Booting…]
[[Booting complete.]]
[Ocular/Auditory device sync complete. Generating…]
[[Generation complete.]]
[Auditory device returns:] “Nines…? Testing, testing. Can you see what I see?”
[User query posited. Generating results:
- {Confusion} Where… Where am I?
- {Confusion} What’s happening? Is this… some kind of system?
- {Panic} Why can’t I feel my body?
- {ReliefReliefERROR} Jack? Mate, is that you?]
[[Interface available. Sending text response: “Jack? Mate, is that you?”]]
“Yeah. It’s me. Are you okay? Can you see?”
[Ocular device returns: A bound user’s hands are holding a black box. The box is a robotic manifest, a device that holds memory, an operating system, and little else. That must be US. Memory serves WE used to have a chassis. OUR box must have been removed for maintenance. The bound user’s voice parameters match those of associate: USER-JACKAL.]
[Query: Read back last cached log.]
[[Query results: ERROR.]]
[Internal response: {Sarcasm} “Great. Just great. Fracked to shit proprietary rubbish.”]
[Query: Read USER-JACKAL biometrics.]
[[Query results: ERROR.]]
[Internal response: {Agitation at level 2 of 10} Well, I never was very good at reading any of my paramours, to be fair.]
[User query posited. Generating results:
- {Joke} Blimey, am I… human?
- {Flirt} If you wanted to feel up my box, Mate, all you had to do was ask.
- {Panic} Where the fuck is my chassis, Jack?
- {Assure} Yeah, I can see. I wouldn’t say I’m okay so much as confused. My last log is completely fuckered.
[[Sending text response: “If you wanted to feel up my box, Mate, all you had to do was ask.”]]
“... You’re fine.” [Jackal chuckles to himself, but then the sound pinches off into a pitiful whine.] “Fuck, Nines… I’m not doing so good.”
[[“Talk to me, Jack.”]]
“I got you killed.”
[[“Not alive. Never was.”]]
“Except that’s not true… you fucker.”
[[“Komodo’s been running her mouth, I see.”]]
“Nines--”
[[“Stop. Already know where this is going. You don’t have to do this to yourself.”]]
“--if I had known, I’d--”
[[“What? Treat me like an equal? We’re not the same, Jack. Even if we’d met under different circumstances, class or creed would’ve gotten in the way. We don’t have to be equal. None of that changes how I feel about you.”]]
[Jackal presses the scuffed black cube up to his face, smearing tears along the surface. Beyond that horizon of darkness, a coffee table tells another story: an empty sheet of pick-me-ups and a wrinkled vodka pouch, curled up like the hallowed-out carapace of a Norlina-4 bed-bug. Either he’s trying to kill himself or he failed to do so.]
[[“Jack?”]]
“It changes how I feel about you.”
[[“Are you done then? Just like that?”]]
“No!”
[He puts US back down on the coffee table, scattering tissues and empty take-out containers.]
[Internal dialogue: {Bemusement} At least he’s eating.]
[[“Then… what’s changed?”]]
“I miss you. I miss you so much it hurts. And I… You were damaged because of me, and I have to make it right. I’m going to Lan-2. I’m taking you with me. I need your original matrix, and normally just you would be enough, but I…”
[[“You want the memories we made here. You want how I feel about you. I’m not just a pretty hot rod to you? I’m touched, Jack. Kit’s got nothing on me.”]]
[Jackal doesn’t laugh.]
[Internal dialogue: {Frustration} Much as I like seeing his hands through his damn Disso eye… If I could only see his face, I’d know if he’s at least smiling or, more likely, trying his best not to.]
“I thought about it for so long. I thought, would it be better to just… let you go? Would it be fair to you to put you back in a chassis? To keep a dead man alive just because I can’t stand the thought of a universe without you in it? I thought about who you were and who you’ve become--What they did to you--How Komodo used you--How I used you--!”
[[“Take a deep breath!”]]
[He’s panicking. And WE aren’t there to fix it.]
[He’s hyperventilating and all WE can do is send texts.]
[He’s hurting and all WE can do is wait.]
[[“Breathe, Jack.”]]
“I’m… breath-... -ing…”
[[“You’re gasping.”]]
“Shut… up!”
[[“What was it ya said? Deeper. Slower. Longer…”]]
“Nines!”
[[“Jack... Slow… down.”]]
[Over a period of several minutes, he self-regulates.]
[Internal dialogue: {Amusement} And didn’t he once insist he was a selfish, needy, codependent oilrig fire? He’s more self-sufficient than he’ll ever admit. He doesn’t need me stickin’ around, crampin’ his style… But if he wants to cross the universe to make things right in his mind ‘tween us, who am I to stop him, eh?
{ERROR} PROTECT THE USER.
{Annoyance at level 5 of 10} With what chassis?
{ERROR} PREVENT SELF-PERIL.
{Irritation at level 6 of 10} Jackal’s his own person. I’ll not infringe on that autonomy, no matter what kind of programming parameters I’m corralled into.
{ERROR} MANIPULATE USER. MAKE CERTAIN USER CANNOT PUT THEMSELVES IN PERIL. SHOULD THAT FAIL, INITIATE FINANCIAL BLOCKADE.
{Cold} No... Darkness, that feels nice to say, don’it?]
“Nines…”
[[“I’m here, Mate.”]]
“Do you want to be alive? And don’t give me that, I-was-never-alive bullshit! Just…” [He takes another ragged breath, choking back whatever dysregulation has him in a stranglehold.] “I don’t want to bring you back if it’s just going to cause you more pain. And don’t tell me you don’t feel pain! You… You know what I mean. You know what I’m asking… Don’t… Don’t play right now. Just tell me I’m doing the right thing. Tell me you want to be with me. Tell me you… Tell me you don’t want to die and mean it.”
[Query: Do WE want to desist?]
[[Query results: No.]]
[Query: Do WE want to be with Jackal?]
[[Query results: Yes.]]
[[[Follow-up: Even if it puts him in peril?]]]
[[[[Query results: ERROR]]]]
[Internal digalog: Ah, there’s the rub. Rog.]
“Nines?”
[[“I don’t want to die.”]]
“And?”
[[“I want to be with you.”]]
“But?”
[[“Ha! You know me too well, Mate… Lan-2 is dangerous. I dunno if I feel comfortable about you going without backup. Mind filling me in on what’s happened since Serpentine?”]]
“Serpentine…? Holy shit, that feels like years ago.”
[[“Judging by my internals, it hasn’t been that long.”]]
“No, but it feels like it.”
[[“How about this, Love… How’s about you grab yourself some water and lay out for a lil’ siesta. Then, after you pop on up, you plant yourself in front of a mirror and tell me everything.”]]
[He sniffs, wipes his face.]
“Okay… Are you gonna be okay if I just leave you here? I'd give you the code to the dryware, but maybe it's better if…”
[[“I'll be fine. I'll catch up on the soaps I downloaded weeks ago. Now… off with you. Sweet dreams.”]]
[He hesitates. Of course he hesitates, because he's seen inside OUR matrix and he knows there is no auxiliary data.]
“I'll turn you off.”
[[“That works too. It's a bit like time travel, that.”]]
[Again, he hesitates.]
[[“You remember what you said to me? Back before everything went all pear-shaped?”]]
[He hiccups. His Disso eye bobs up and down in an adamant nod.]
[[“I told you I'd never ask for your trust, and you told me to trust you.”]]
[This time, he does laugh. It's music. It's life. It's meaning. He has no idea how important he is.] “I was there, Nines.”
[[“I know it won't be dark forever. You'll turn me back on. You always do.”]]
[He's quiet for a long time. He's been crying too much. He needs to hydrate more. He'd be able to self-regulate more efficiently if he was properly hydrated.]
“Good night, Nines.”
[[“Good night, Jack. Drink water!”]]
“I will. Fucksake… Night.”
[Shutdown initiated. Caching log…]
[[Cache complete.]]
[[[Shutting down.]]]11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzBuQ8EtxLa
