[ INTRO LOG ]

[robotsatan]

You don't know how you got here. One minute you were walking, sleeping, maybe dead -- then you're here, your feet suddenly carrying you down an empty street. Where's here?

Any Cybertronian would recognize this as their home planet, Cybertron, but it's not a Cybertron they've ever known. It has all the familiar hallmarks, but none of the specifics -- the city isn't one anyone here could identify, and even at a glance it's obvious that no one's set foot on the planet's surface in hundreds of years. The city and its surrounding areas all bear the marks of devastating war, of dust and rust collected over centuries. With no one in sight -- right at first, anyway -- there's plenty to explore. In fact, if you start walking, you'll find that your feet may just carry you in one particular direction.

A) The crater.
On one edge of the city is a massive crater left by some wartime weapon that seems to have taken out a large chunk of the surrounding metropolitan area. At the center of the crater it's broken through the surface of the terrain to reveal what looks like it might be a promising energon deposit. There is some strange but native vegetation growing around the edges, too, that no Cybertronian would be able to identify -- small, metallic, brittle-looking sprouts that bear a curiously organic-looking fruit of some kind that doesn't look like it's intended for consumption by any natives of the planet. In one rocky nook of the crater, light catches on the surface of a pool of water, which seems strangely out of place on Cybertron. On closer inspection, it seems that somehow an underground water source has formed a spring in the crater.

B) The center of the city.
If you follow where your feet seem to want to carry you, you'll find yourself in the middle of the ruined city. It seems that the center of the city was once home to a massive forum, and some of the pillars and structures still stand. At the very center of the forum is a massive, elaborately constructed fountain, although it has now long since run dry of whatever used to fill it. One of the low, inner walls of the forum has a terminal embedded in its surface, although it looks curiously ancient, out of place with the rest of the city, and unlike the rest of the technology still left around, there doesn't seem to be any way to power it on or operate it. There are a few scattered pools of water and a few of the strange metallic plants in the city, too, but they're not quite as plentiful as in the crater.

The planet was obviously once home to a massive network of communication relays, but those have all been long since destroyed. However, with the bits and pieces left behind and a few determined minds, it wouldn't be too hard to build a working, if rudimentary, one...

Comments

[warcorrespondent]

No humans as far as Aftermath knew, buddy. He's going to be disappointed once he finds out there are actually some humans around, wasn't he? That or finding out how shitty Cybertronians kind of were.

Still, the way he relaxes after that earns a somewhat curious look from Aftermath. Bad encounter with humans?

"A person who collects and distributes news. Or other current information, really, news takes a lot of different forms."

[fuckinstoplights]

He's going to assume that means there are no humans. Because Kagerou's assumptions have always been good to go with. Clearly. His face is still turned skyward, so he misses the look.

"I've never... met an AI... who does that."

Because clearly all robots are AI.

[warcorrespondent]

"Never?"

Folding his hands against one knee, Aftermath leans over Kagerou once more, a curious expression on his face.

"What do you mean by 'AI'?"

[fuckinstoplights]

"Never..."

He has to sit through another spasm or two of dissipating charge before he can answer. But the question itself is strange. Why is he being asked that, of all things? He frowns as best he can.

"Artificial. Intelligence. AI. Robots."

Though the last word comes out more bitter than the rest.

[warcorrespondent]

"In my experience, AI is a very strange and fluid term. Clones of sentient organic life would be AI, but they wouldn't be robots, would they? On the flipside, an organic being putting themselves into a machine body would not be AI, but whether or not they're robots is up in the air." Tapping his chin speculatively, he continues, "It's a lot of red tape and politics."

"You see, I myself would not be considered an AI traditionally. My 'personality core' or 'spark', as far as anyone knows at least, was not artificially created. Unless someone considers possible divine creation to be artificially creating intelligence." Aftermath stops to think that one through; WOULD being synthetically created by omniscient beings be considered artificially creating intelligence?

"My point being," he continues after a moment, making a note to research more on that later on. "that the legal definition varies from place to place and it's hard to tell what people mean sometimes."

This was possibly a lot of words for a mech who was just recovering from EMP damage.

[fuckinstoplights]

He hears the words. He hears every one of them. But... by the same token, not all of them register. He doesn't have meaning to attach to them. He doesn't have the experience to puzzle them out. Divine creation? Red tape? Legal definition?

Honestly, it sounds a little like the things Azuma would babble about when he thought Kagerou wasn't listening. Things Shadowmaru was upset by, but pretended not to be.

He shutters his visible optic, tilting his head back while he tries to filter through all that information.

And fails.

"I... don't understand," he murmurs, finally. "I'm an AI... what. Does the rest of that mean?"

[warcorrespondent]

"Ah, well." Aftermath seems a bit taken aback. He takes a moment to think before carefully answering. "Perhaps this is a discussion best spread out over a bit more time, stranger. If you do not know a lot if what I am saying then I think we will have a lot to talk about."

Either the mech was very young or very, very under-educated. Aftermath would need some time to think through any answers he gives to the fellow. It would not do to have him growing up with any wrong ideas. Or at least, he would need to be able to give the very basic information and let Kagerou work out his own view on things.

[fuckinstoplights]

"Kagerou."

He all but hisses the word. The name. He can't help it. Even through the pain and fear, the confusion. That's his name. His and his alone. He is Kagerou.

Everyone should know it. So he'll never be allowed to forget it. So there's no way they can take it from him.

"I am Kagerou."

[warcorrespondent]

"Kagerou," Aftermath corrects himself, tone gentle.

"Are you feeling better?" he asks after a beat. "Do you need any fuel? And more importantly, can you run on energon?"

[fuckinstoplights]

He appears to relax somewhat, at the use of his name. The question, though, gives him pause.

"Gasoline." The answer comes slowly, but more steadily. "I use... gasoline. I don't need any now..."

[warcorrespondent]

"Gasoline?"

Where on Cybertron were they supposed to find that? Fuel made from million year old dead organic matter wasn't exactly something you'd be likely to find on a planet that was pretty much entirely mechanical. Then again, it was an alien Cybertron so perhaps...

Well, whether or not this Cybertron had it was moot because it sure as heck didn't answer the problem of trying to find the stuff.

"That does put you in a bit of a tight spot there."

[fuckinstoplights]

Now that just brought back the panic. The attempts at struggling, despite the paralysis in his limbs. No -- no, that couldn't be. He couldn't have gotten this far, only to starve...

"No!"

That, at least comes out clearly.

"I don't want to die!"

[warcorrespondent]

"You die if you do not fuel?"

It was unusual for non-Cybertronian machines. Even Cybertronians needed very specific types of injuries to die from lack of fuel. Most of the time, the body just put itself into stasis and shunted the rest of the fuel into sustaining the spark- which didn't really need that much energy.

[fuckinstoplights]

"Yes."

He has to pause, to regain the ability to move, through the panic. To fight down the shuddering spikes of energy trying to keep him down.

"AI. My AI... has to stay powered. Or it's -- it's gone."

[warcorrespondent]

"And your creators never created redundancies for that," Aftermath says in a tone that described exactly how unimpressed he was with Kagerou's engineering team.

"If your AI runs on electricity, I think we can probably rig up some kind of generator to keep it running." Is this helping with the panicking? Actually, he's not sure this was helping with the panicking.

"In the meant time, keep track of your energy readouts and power down as often as you can."

[fuckinstoplights]

"N-no. They... I'm just a prototype. Disposable."

They never meant for him to live beyond the facility. Never meant for him to so much as venture outside. No wonder there were no failsafes.

"G... yes. Generator. Okay."

[warcorrespondent]

"You know, if I ever find your creators, I'm dragging them in front of an AI rights court." There's pleeeenty of venom in his voice. "Not only are they incompetent, irresponsible and extremely unethical, they have clearly been abusive."

He puffs a hot vent of air and takes a moment to regather his composure before starting to speak again.

"Did they at least make it possible for you to hook up to some external power source?"

[fuckinstoplights]

"Wh... what?"

No, really, that angry statement jars more out of him than any question about potential power sources. He even goes still, staring up at the stranger. Court? He knows what a court is.

Why would someone put the humans who made him on trial? They hadn't broken any laws. He was just an AI...

Abusive...?

"I don't -- I don't understand. Why?"

[warcorrespondent]

"They've clearly lied to you about how valuable you are," Aftermath points out gently. "Even without the test for it, I can see that you you have personhood. They didn't want to deal with the fact that you do, so they gave you the idea that you aren't valuable."

"It's very typical tactic that a lot of companies use to stop the AI from speaking up, from going to find help. They don't want to lose an investment." Aftermath pauses briefly to take out his solar charger and battery pack, setting them on the ground.

[fuckinstoplights]

"Lied...?"

Why would they lie? Did that mean they were lying about Shadowmaru? How -- they can't have lied about Shadowmaru. His purpose for living can't be less than perfect. That's not possible.

"I'm not. I'm not valuable. Not an investment. They were just -- they were going to kill me anyway!"

[warcorrespondent]

"You're a prototype. They've probably sunk a good sum of money into making you. Your body, your AI, the personnel and resources they needed to put you together and keep you up and running." Aftermath sets up the solar array as he speaks, a ponderous look on his face.

"Why would they destroy what they've spent so much time working on? It's not a very sensible thing for a company to do." Then again, he wasn't asking the right question, was he?

[fuckinstoplights]

"I'm -- just a prototype. Just a. Flawed version." He shakes his head a little. "They don't. Need me. They have him."

It just didn't make sense to him. He'd been drilled with it. Made with the very idea he was, and always would be, inferior. It wasn't Shadowmaru's fault. Not even a little bit.

"They. Have him. He's perfect."

[warcorrespondent]

"A prototype is not a flawed version." Reaching out, Aftermath places a very gentle hand on top of Kagerou's upper arm. "A prototype is a prototype. If successful, a prototype will be used as the basis of things to come."

The fact that the young mech was so distressed had Aftermath worried. This probably wasn't the sort of thing he should have brought up. Farlane would have told him to wait until a more appropriate time.

It was a bit too late for that though and perhaps, he could help Kagerou on the way to find some kind of peace with himself.

"Who is 'him'?"

[fuckinstoplights]

"Yes... yes I am. I was made to be. To be less..."

He flinches at the hand on his arm. But he lacks the strength to pull it away right now. He can't conceive of this. Of them purposefully making him think he was lesser. Shadowmaru was perfect. He had to be.

He lets his optic power down. Trying to relax.

"Shadow... Shadowmaru. The reason I... he's the reason I exist."

[warcorrespondent]

"You do not have to be less for him to be perfect."

Aftermath lifts his hand away at the obvious discomfort.

This discussion seemed to be going around in circles. It wasn't a circle Kagerou seemed to be willing to break just yet either and perhaps it shouldn't be broken quite so quickly.

Sighing softly, the old truck turns back to his contraptions and tries to change the topic. "Anyways, do you have some way to connect to an external power source?"