#uggggggggasjaf what the fuck

[farolero-posting]

Energy

Summary: How the Barrens became empty.

Words: 3009

Read on AO3:

(full work below the cut)

It was 6:30 when the sky finally went dark, after weeks of instability. At that moment, Silver was watching over the phosphor shrimp monitoring project, along with a scientist with a mug for a head.

The man asked her to order all the units in the area to take samples of adult shrimp without being selective and place them in jars. It seemed that under the circumstances, it would be necessary to use them as a provisional source of lighting, as they investigated the issue. The robots were called to distribute the jars around the west northern area, being in the lookout for organic beings who may need assistance.

Robots had a text based messaging system that made communication faster during work. All robots were online, back then, connected to the same server. If she scrolled up far enough, she could still read those same orders in the main logs of the area. 

She didn’t need to scroll that far to find them, anyways.

As head engineer, it had been her duty to call a meeting with the leaders of the ongoing research programs and the mining operations. She can’t remember the full sequence of conversation —and found a significant percentage of it to be irrelevant nowadays—, but she can recall the things she said, and the reactions that resulted from it. It was in her programming to have preferential attention to social interactions, and use her resources in decoding them for self monitoring.

After an update on the state of the area and the inner rings, the topic of conversation drifted towards the future of the Barrens’ operations. Silver listened attentively, adding up the arguments each of the researchers had to continue or halt their current operations, and the factors they had to watch out for. Food, source of light, trips across the ocean to the inner rings, salaries, healthcare…

At last, she added her own information:

“Our generator works on solar energy. Most of our machinery and our robots rely on the main generator to function. We don’t have enough people to sustain operations without the work provided by them.”

“Your area should’ve stopped exploiting the mines long ago, if you ask me.” An older man tilted his head in a way that accentuated his weary eyes.

“It is not my area, I happen to reside in its vicinity, but I am in charge of the Barrens as a whole” she corrected him, and he placed a hand on his forehead, shaking his head. 

Disapproval perceived, she noted.

“Either way, we must shut them down, I’m sure everyone else agrees here. These last earthquakes have only been endangering the few living workers we have on them. We lost about five robots to the last collapse, which we can’t replace. It’s for the best that we cease that operation, at least.”

“We will have to shut down everything, not just the mines”, Silver concluded after a few seconds. This did not make the man happy. nor any of the other scientists in place.

“We can’t all lose our jobs, this is ridiculous.” She heard someone mutter, a young lady standing by the door, holding a notebook. 

In the opposite end of the room, she noticed someone being hit in their side, by a coworker.

“....course she likes shutting down things, huh—ack” is all she grasped from them, said barely above a whisper, but within hearing range for her.

Silver had heard similar comments enough to know what incident the workers kept bringing up, even if they made an effort to hide it from her.

“I cannot allow operations that do not meet standards as they could constitute safety violations, and within three weeks, our main sources of energy will run out. Our backups are not sufficient, either. There are better chances of survival for living people within the inner rings.” Silver set her hands on the table, in a rehearsed attempt to make her point gain emphasis. “That takes priority.”

“So you propose we should evacuate all workers,” someone responded, she didn’t note who.

“Correct.” A disorganized chorus of voices rose up, but she didn’t keep up with the details. They would come to agree with her, eventually.

Silver does recall someone reaching out for her at her cabin later that night, hours after the workday was finished. Her friend greeted her with a smile, and after inviting him in, they chatted over a game of chess. At some point, the topic of the meeting was covered.

“I think you made the right choice, Silver… I understand it has to be difficult.” He spoke, taking his rook out of the starting point. “I’m sorry things ended up like this.”

“It is the option that is left, given the circumstances. I don’t have much of a choice other than solve the problem with the resources I have.” Silver barely looked at the board as she moved one of her pawns, eyes focused on her opponent’s rook. “Have you… found anything of note about the tower? You said you wanted to study it before.”

He frowned, pursing his lips as he played his turn. “I have not found anything beyond what you already know. I suppose I need to see what the place is like without the Sun…”

“Will you evacuate soon?” She moved her bishop. “Check.”

“I do not depend on the ships to travel, so that isn’t a priority. I hear they’re not the safest, given the… squares, as they have been called by the witnesses.” He retorted to sacrificing a pawn, knowing Silver would repeat the strategy.

“Of course. It makes sense.” 

“Silver?” He looked away from the board, already aware of what move she would make. “I heard there are plans to evacuate tamed robots as well. What is your opinion on that?”

She noted the question may hint at more than what it states, but she cannot read further. Her friend’s intentions are not always clear to her.

“I suppose it’s reasonable,” she answered. “There are other purposes they can serve in the City, perhaps even the Glen.”

“What do you think about joining them?” He took out her bishop. “I believe the same can be true for you.”

“No.” She looked away, not wanting to see his disappointment. He grabbed her free hand, instead, pressing it lightly. He was not disappointed, then. “I don’t think I’m welcome. My best option is to look after this area for as long as it is possible.” 

“I see, Silver.” He nodded, eyes closed, while Silver played her turn. “I understand, but please consider it, alright? I could take you there, if needed.”

“Checkmate.”

“Oh stars, when did your queen get there?”

.

.

The generator didn’t last a week, as it should’ve been expected. 

After 140 hours had passed since the blackout, Silver received the first notification of low battery from a robot within the mines. Its location was out of reach, however, and the fact it was still partially functional despite the rubble around it made her… uneasy. Of course, being at a larger distance from the generator meant it would be among the first to shut down. Maybe there was some mercy in that. She wasn’t sure that the robot had enough of a frame of reference to care, or that it ever will. She hoped it didn’t. She quickly discarded that train of thought

The head engineer received interesting news later that day. As it turned out, in a couple of days a small fleet of rowbots would bring a few emergency supplies.

Individual power cells She recognized that kind, but she preferred not to think about them.

She could deduce what they would be used for. 

Her friend had told her about some of the words spread around the Glen, and now the City. Some kind of prophecy from decades ago, now becoming true. Words of a dying light, and the long darkness that would follow it, before the ground, trees and rivers went dark as well. Silver was skeptical, but the words matched the predictions that the scientists could make out of their data analysis, and the events of last week had been the biggest confirmation for them all.

There were words of preparations for a savior too, not too many months ago. A later prophecy spoke of a messiah from another world, and how they would make a pilgrimage to illuminate the world again, wording that became more explicit in the last week. If that pilgrimage included the Barrens, then someone had to be ready to receive them.

The world had more problems than just the lack of sunlight, but they refused to acknowledge it, in Silver’s opinion. The fact no living being could stay for that long in this desert waiting for the messiah to come should have made it clear enough.

Silver’s opinion was background noise among the chaos of the last few days, Preparations for the evacuation were far from organized, and new events kept slowing down their progress.

“Engineer! Please, head to the outpost!” popped up in the robot communication feed. The robot stationed there had something to report in person. 

When Silver reached the building, she found a mess of shelves, a scared intern next to a robot, and a corner covered in squares. The anomalies dissipated, taking away the supplies with them.

“We… lost our non-solar batteries…, Ms. Engineer.” The intern stammered. “There’s one… there’s a solar battery on the left side but it’s still in its package. It’s not useful.” She looked away.

“What? But we… were supposed to have at least another week.” Silver shook her head, moving on. “Alright, thank you for your report.” She turned towards the robot. “I need you to relay the message to move to stage 4 of the shut down process. Understood?”

“Understood,” a flat voice replied.

As she made her way to the shore, she was interrupted by more notifications. 

“Internal battery is running low. Please replace the main generator’s energy source. Estimated time left, three hours.”

“Head engineer, we need you to calibrate your backup cell!” was shouted from a researcher by the shoreline.

But the robot didn’t listen.

At the fifteenth notification, she couldn’t neglect them any longer. 

She sprinted into the vent zone, knowing most researchers weren’t wearing protection to follow her. She had three hours to do something right. 

Silver approached a group of robots pushing a minecart, and directed them to the chemical processing factory. She repeated this operation all the way to the cliff side, and then backtracked towards the factory. A few robots insisted that leaving their post was outside of their programming, and she let them be, but still managed to gather close to forty of them.

The tamed robot positioned herself in front of the lines of machines. She stood out for her red hair, and unique, humanlike features. She was not like them, and yet there was a sense that she was the closest to them there was in that barren land.

Maybe her friend would think that thought was poetic. It didn’t matter at the moment.

“Stage four has begun. Our power will run dry soon.” She paused. “I think if I don’t explain the next step, you will not see it coming on your own. This protocol isn’t in your programming since this is an unprecedented event, and since nobody else will take the time to guide you through it, I guess it’s my duty to do something about this.”

Glowing blue eyes looked back at Silver.

“There are ways to send a robot into a dormant state.” She began, noticing how her steps sounded against the metallic ground. “Cyclical rest is the one you are familiar with. It occurs based on an internal clock, but can be triggered by an outside force during repairs.”

Arms stood still on their sides.

“There is a method where…” —Silver couldn’t describe what made her hesitate— “you are decommissioned. It occurs when a robot’s system malfunctions beyond repair, usually due to… conflicts in your code. You cannot perform it on yourself.”

Antennas blinked in a constant rhythm. 

“Then there is energy loss. I have learnt that a sudden shutdown caused by it can cause collateral damage in the robot afterwards, even if they can be turned on again later. It is not advised. This is what will happen in less than three hours.”

Soft whirring echoed across the room.

“I will trigger a rest cycle on each of you. When the power runs out, your functioning won’t be affected, and when it’s back, you will be manually reactivated. Before I proceed, do you agree?”

One of the units in the first row asked: “What happens if someone needs assistance while we are not active? Shouldn’t someone stay on to wait for the power to go back?” The voice somewhat mimicked a question, with clear struggle, lacking a natural tone. 

“Are you tamed?” Silver raised an eyebrow.

“I am not, this is spontaneous curiosity built from experimental code. I do not know what purpose my question has.”

Silver would have liked to ask about it.

“Then, let me ask again. Do you agree to let me make you dormant?”

“No.” 

“Understood.” 

Silver turned to face the others. “Can I proceed with you?”

Thirty eight “yes” responses flooded the room.

.

.

Silver was found by the entrance to the factory, her back resting on the wall, by one of the interns in charge of looking over the factories. She was carried towards her cabin, and was reconnected to a backup power cell, much like her body had been in her first days of existence, back in the City. 

Unlike that time, she was woken by a different person. A friend. Maybe one of the few people who wasn’t intimidated by her. 

“Silver, good to see you again,” he said, trying to give her a smile. “Apologies for the delay, we had to calibrate you to the cell using a cord. You can take it off now, of course.”

She sat up, reaching for the cord connected to her neck, and removed it with a quick move. 

“It isn’t your fault,” she said.

Her circuits made her recall the last moments before the shut down. She remembers realizing she wouldn’t have time to make it to the shore, and deciding to sit down instead. 

“I know what I was getting myself into.”

“I think I have an idea of what it was, indeed.” He nodded, holding a closed notebook in his hands. “I can understand the sentiment as well. If you would rather not discuss it I understand too.”

Silver shook her head. 

“I reacted in a hurry.” She took a strand of hair, and felt it against her fingertips. The sensation was more intense than usual, likely a result of her awakening. “I know my purpose is to do whatever ensures the safety of the people and this action was reckless on my end.”

“What drove you to try?”

“I think… I think it was fear.” She shook her head, trying to change her phrasing. “It’s not fear for myself. I cannot fear harm coming my way when I know that someone else will be hurt if I act on that fear.”

“Have you felt fear before?”

The robot took a pause, trying to look back on her experiences, looking for a coincidence she knew existed.

“Sometimes silence speaks for itself,” he interrupted her thoughts. “I know you must be looking for it. You suspect you have felt it before, even if you aren’t sure.”

“When a robot is lost, sometimes it’s not fully broken,” she explained. “They can send distress signals to call for backups, and give an updated report of their damage. They are trying to preserve themselves, because there is something that pushes them.”

He nodded along in silence, writing down in his notebook. “You bring up an excellent point.” 

“And… I am the only one who catches these signals. They drown among other reports, orders from someone else. Requests for help are spontaneous. If someone has to respond, it needs to be me.”

“Do you think you did the right thing?”

“Not exactly…” She paused. “Perhaps it needed another approach. But someone needed to do it. Not like it will matter from now on. It’s all over.” Pause. “I did the right thing but it doesn’t matter.”

“It isn’t all over, however.” He stopped writing, and looked at her. “Your actions will ensure that, one day, in the future, getting this place running again won’t be so hard.”

“I don’t think there is much left. This area will be empty soon. I will stay and keep working, because it is the only thing I can do, but this is… only for a hope we can’t rely on. Let’s admit it, this chance is over.”

“Think of it like a chapter of a book. Perhaps, this period of your life has ended, and the tension is rising… but there is worth in telling those stories, and one day, they shall pass. There is a future ahead of you. Your push for preservation relies on it.” 

“What will happen in the next few days?”

“Many people still need to evacuate, and because of the squares, it will take longer than expected. There is currently a project to prepare for the potential arrival of a messiah, and we will do some testing as long as it is still safe to stay here.”

“What about you?”

“I am doing some work here, and will be traveling back and forth when possible. I can visit you as well.” He rubbed an amber necklace he wore, before changing the topic. “I have a letter for you.”

“Does she keep writing them?”

“That she does.” He took the envelope out of his book. “I will leave it for you to read. You don’t need to rush.”

“Alright, I will.”

She opened her logs, to find them in the same state as they were the last time she checked. 

She didn’t open them again.

#oneshotgame #oneshot game #silver #the author #my writing #uggggggggasjaf what the fuck #yeah thats all i have to say