TtOW! - Chapter 20: Let's Sit Around the Campfire (Patreon)

Eventually the trio finished their conversation, and turned in for the night.  The camp ward was by no means a perfect defense, so they also set up a night watch.  Ateia took the first shift, Taog the second, and NSLICE-00P the last.

NSLICE-00P set up her standby-sentry mode.  She closed her human eye and activated her helmet, her robotic eye flickering on occasion as she continued to scan the area.  Ateia and Taog both raised an eyebrow at that, but shrugged and went about their business.  Soon, Taog turned in for the night.

Ateia and Taog’s shifts passed without incident.  And then, NSLICE-00P disengaged her helmet, her human eye opening back up.

“Report: Standby mode disengaged, organic components reporting full efficiency.  Reviewing sentry logs, no anomalies detected.”

She turned her attention to Taog, who was still awake.  He kept his eyes on her as she approached him.

“Query: This unit’s timeclock indicates it is this unit’s turn.  Friendly Taog may engage organic standby mode.”

Taog shrugged, still watching her.

“I’m not sleepy.”

NSLICE-00P’s robotic eye flickered again.  Her sensor scans indicated that Taog was lying on that.  However, she couldn’t determine a probable cause why he would lie about that, him staying up wasn’t predicted as a potential threat, and Taog experiencing reduced efficiency over the next day would not impact current mission success rates.  As a result, NSLICE-00P concluded there was no particular reason to question him on it, and turned around.  She began a slow patrol pattern around the camp so that she could scan every direction more thoroughly for incoming hostiles.

Tao raised an eyebrow at first, watching her as she walked about, especially as she stepped around the tent Ateia was sleeping in.  But she did nothing out of the ordinary, repeating her patrol several times.

Eventually he sighed.

He knew he was being a bit paranoid, but this was their first night together.  It was the prime opportunity for foul play.

Not that he could stop NSLICE-00P if she truly intended to hurt them.

And…perhaps Ateia had a point.  The strange girl had taken care of them, after all.

So…he opened his mouth.

“Seero…”

NSLICE-00P halted her patrol and turned to face him.

“Acknowledgement: Does friendly Taog have a query or sentry update?”

He took a deep breath.

“What, exact, are you?”

“Answer: This unit is a Non-Standard Leashed-Intelligence Cybernetic Enforcer, Prototype Model.”

Taog froze, blinking several times.

“Um…what?”

“Elaboration: This unit was designed specifically to counter, apprehend, and/or terminate hostile non-standards.”

Taog kept blinking.  He had not expected her to just answer directly…and he had no idea what her reply actually meant.

“Um…”

“Query: Does friendly Taog have any additional questions?”

“Um…”

He shook his head.  Maybe another avenue might prove more enlightening?

“Where are you from, Seero?”

“Requesting Clarification: Is friendly Taog requesting data on this unit’s point of origin, or this unit’s current home base?”

“Um…I guess…the more recent one, if I have that right?”

“Answer: This unit apologizes but that data is not currently available.  This unit’s last recorded home base was the city of Serenia.  However, the last logged Commander wiped that designation.  This unit was kept mobile thereafter, and so does not have a permanent home base logged from that point, and so cannot provide detailed data on a current location.”

“Um…what about…that point of origin thing?”

“Answer: This unit was assembled in a classified location within the Alps.  Unfortunately, said data was wiped when the location was lost to hostile forces.”

“Um…and where…or what…are the Alps?”

“Answer: The Alps are a mountain range located in the continent of Europe.”

“Europe?  I’ve never heard of a continent called that.”

NSLICE-00P’s robotic eye flickered for a bit at that.

“Revelation: This unit assumed shared cultural references to geographic locations due to common language.  Can friendly Taog inform this unit of current continent?”

“Um…the continent is called Aluin as far as I know?  Well, we’re on an island right now, technically.  The Empire calls it Turannia, the locals call it Réimse an Bháisteach.”

“Acknowledgement: Logging intel on local designations.  This unit thanks friendly Taog for his cooperation.”

“Um, you're welcome?”

“Query: Does friendly Taog have any further queries or updates for this unit?”

“Um…no, that’s all, Seero.  Um, thank you for answering.”

“Acknowledged.  Resuming sentry patrol protocol.”

Taog watched as she turned back to scanning their surroundings.  He shook his head and turned back towards his tent.

He still couldn’t make heads or tails of her…but he apparently wasn’t going to figure it out tonight.  He couldn’t determine if she was lying when he couldn’t even understand her answers, after all.  Maybe he could take that as a sign of deceit but she always spoke with that strange speech pattern, so he couldn’t particularly say she was using it to obscure her answers.  By all accounts, she seemed entirely cooperative.

And, well…

If he thought about it logically, she could very easily kill them both at any time she pleased.  Watching her like this achieved nothing but satisfying his own pride and soothing his own anxieties.  So he might as well try to get some sleep.

But perhaps, Taog had gone to bed too early.

For once he had, a barely cracked-open panel on NSLICE-00P’s back fully opened up.

“Boss-queen, are you planning-intending to stay with these man-things?”

“Affirmative.”

“Why?”

“Explanation: Their strategic objectives align with those of this unit’s.”

“But but, they are taking-leading you to where the man-things live, yes yes!”

“Affirmative.”

Another head poked out, causing Rattingtale to jump.

“Snack, did you, like, forget?  The boss is, like, also a human, or something?”

“She’s a dungeon-master, you stupid, wretched spider-thing!”

“But, like, also a human?  That’s, like, what the royal records said, or something?”

“So what!”

Lilussees heaved a sigh.

“This is, like, annoying.  Like, use your head, or something.  If she’s, like, also a human, then why would she be bothered by being around humans?”

“That’s not the point, vile spider-thing!  If she goes-joins the man-things, we will be slayed-slaughtered, yes yes!”

“Eh…I, like, don’t think so?  Boss, you, like, aren’t going to kill us, right?  Or, like, let the other humans kill us, or something?”

“Negative.”

Rattingtale frowned.

“I don’t like-enjoy this, no no.  We just have to hide-wait inside our chambers, not knowing what’s happening-occurring around us while we are surrounded by wicked man-things?”

“Eh, I guess that’s, like, a good point, or something.  Boss, is there, like, a way to let us know what’s happening from inside our rooms, or something?”

“Analyzing…”

NSLICE-00P had determined she could see and hear everything that occurred within the monster hangar, as well as send communications directly to Rattingtale and Lilussees.  So if they could also see what was going on outside, they could offer advice and clarification on the foreign system without exposing themselves to harm.  So she determined the request was a logical one and reviewed the monster hangar.  Like the Dungeon Field generator, it was somehow connected to her systems, yet occupying its own space.  But she could feel the mana flowing from her core to the room.  And since her core was also her Geo-Oscillator Engine, electricity and data also flowed through that connection, so establishing an uplink to her sensors was theoretically possible.

And as she reviewed the monster hangar, a window from the foreign system appeared, displaying a live feed of the room in question.  As well as some options for modifications.

NSLICE-00P selected one of them.  A large screen appeared in the common room, along with smaller ones in each of the rooms.  When activated, they displayed the current feed from her sensors.

“Status Update: This unit has modified the Monster Hangar (Small) with the requested update.  Friendlies Excellion Formantus Rattingtale the Third and Lilussees may now view live sensor feeds from within the hangar.”

“For real?  That’s, like, pretty neat.  Thanks Boss.”

“...y-yes yes, the Great-High King of all the land supposes-guesses you have done well this time, boss-queen.”

With that, Lilussees and Rattingtale returned to their chambers and NSLICE-00P resumed her patrol.

***

Morning came without incident.  Taog frowned as he realized nothing had happened over the night after all.  He shook his head and got up, getting to work on breakfast.

His bad feeling returned, however, when NSLICE-00P appeared to have no rations of any sort.  And in fact declined to share in theirs, saying something about her ‘organic efficiency’ being at optimal levels.  Seriously, just who or what was this girl?

The pair broke down their camp, packing up the tents and camp ward, and then they were off.

The forest began to thin out as they walked, and the slope of the road evened out.  Soon, instead of descending directly from the mountains, they were traveling up and down smaller hills, some with barely any trees at all.  In the distance, NSLICE-00P caught a glimpse of a wooden watchtower standing atop the tallest hill in the area.  As they drew closer, she saw a small barracks next to it with a basic palisade of sharp logs surrounding the outpost.  Ateia waved at the watchman atop the tower and the guards at the palisade’s entrance.  They raised an eyebrow at NSLICE-00P, but ultimately just waved back at Ateia.

Past the outpost, the dirt trail transformed into a paved stone road.  Ateia and Taog exchanged some small talk with the guards, and then continued along the stone path.

NSLICE-00P followed after them, stepping onto the stone road.  Her robotic eye flickered.  The increase in the technological sophistication of the road indicated a higher level of civilization, and so improved the success odds for her current mission.  She followed after the two, scanning to search for any electromagnetic signals she could connect with as she walked.

And so NSLICE-00P, the killer cyborg and walking dungeon, officially entered the Empire.

Author’s Note:

I’m sure everything will be fine and nothing chaotic or annoying will happen at all!  Don’t worry Taog, nothing bad could possibly result from leading the killer cyborg into the Empire!

More importantly, now we can have Lilussees and Rattingtale comment on all the man-things without me having to find times for them to pop out unseen haha.

Anyways!

Is leading a killer cyborg into the Empire a wise decision?  Will NSLICE-00P determine her current location?  What will Lilussees and Rattingtale think of all these man-things?  Tune in next time, to find out!