For Sanjuno!
Yeah... she makes me do a lot of stuff, doesn't she? *grins* Well, this was intended to be Rings'verse, if she approves it. If she doesn't... I guess it's just a cool ficlet I did?
Tabula looked up, rubbing her neck and stretching out the kinks. She had been working for joors... How many joors? She had lost track... a quiet clicking caught her attention, but when she looked around, she didn't see anything out of the ordinary. "Gah... Am I gonna have to get my audios checked on top of everything...?" she muttered, shaking her head a little. No one answered her, of course, so she went back to her work.
Color; gender; age; grounded or not, when it was known; and whether or not the 'specimen' had been able to do anything special before death. It bothered Tabula how precise the tables were, how every few blank spaces there were. There were only a few names to add, but there were always new ones, at least two a groon. How was all the information gathered... Tabula didn't really want to think about it, really, as she divided the chart by gender, by age, and by flight status. Even she could see the correlation between flight-capable and 'talents'. She needed the credits...
The clicking came again, and Tabula stood up. She was already working alone in the lab, so why not take more time? No one would even know, would they? Searching for the clicking grew difficult... Tabula could almost swear it was moving, and it seemed to be coming from more than one direction and... Sweet Primus, it sounded like sparklings.
"No..." Tabula muttered, shaking her head. She knew they did raids on Vos, from time to time... It was needed! War-builds couldn't be trusted with sparklings, especially not war-builds as flighty as the Seekers were. And they died, a lot of them died, she wouldn't deny that... But the sparkling houses were in an entirely different complex, all they did here was research! "I- is anyone there...?"
The clicking came yet again, and, turning her head quickly, Tabula managed to catch a glimpse of something blue and green. Oh, Primus... "Hey... You... can come on out. N- I'm not going to hurt you..." Tabula called, voice soft.
A face peered around the computer, grey and blue, and a wary fear in red optics. The chirping came again, this time very clearly from three voices, and then the sparkling, it couldn't be anything else, spoke. "Not... going to hurt us?"
Tabula found herself shivering, at the question, at the fear in the voices, and from the simple fact that three voices were speaking at once, the same words. "No, I'm not... My name is Tabula. Why... What are you doing here?"
The sparkling glared at her before withdrawing behind the computer again. An answer did come, though, "We were brought. You took us from our families, won't let us go back, why are you doing this? We just want to go home!"
"But it- it's not safe for you?" Tabula couldn't keep her doubts from coming through, though. Pit, she wasn't even sure this sparkling, or sparklings, were Seeker-sparklings. Her spark wrenched in sorrow, and she couldn't deny the lie in her thoughts... this whole wing of the compound was Seeker-studies. She couldn't see the sparklings, but the femme would bet credits on their origin.
The sparkling looked out again, but only to give her a very rude gesture that Tabula couldn't really be surprised it knew. "Not safe... our families! Our creators, brothers, sisters... You come, you break our bonds, you hurt us, and you say we were not safe there?"
Flight capable had more Sigma talents. All Seekers were war-build. No other build had a wing of research dedicated to them... Tabula moaned a little and dropped to her knees with a clatter. Primus... "Please, come out. I won't hurt you... I'm all alone. I- I didn't know. I- I need to stop this!" She looked towards the door, but before she could move, the sparkling spoke again.
"You cannot. We do not want to admit it, but... we do not even know if any of the others survive. You cannot stop it..." It slipped out fully from behind the computer, and Tabula was first surprised by... how bulky it was. He was. Mostly blue, with green patterning on his chest... and two others slipped out behind him, very much alike in build, but... different. They way they moved... Tabula wondered how much body-work had been done on them. They seemed unsure how to move...
"I have to do something!" Tabula mewled, looking at the three sparklings... wait. Her vents hitched as she looked at them, saw how they drew close to each other for comfort. "Will you let me? Will you trust me for just a little while?"
The three mechlings didn't look at each other, and yet the femme was sure information was shared. Finally, one nodded, and then spoke, just the one, and the change made Tabula shiver a little. "What do you wish to do?"
"I- I need to save my work, and then send it to my boss. After that, I have two orns free, that will give us a head start. I'm not sure where we'll go... Maybe Kaon, I've heard that's a good place to hide..."
"Your work will help others to hurt our race," one of the other sparklings said, peeking around the first one, who seemed the bravest of the three. Tabula wondered if the challenge in his voice was real, or her imagination. Either way, he had a point.
"If I don't send it, he'll know something's up, or try to make me come in to work," Tabula answered, vents working faster than she liked. All the scientists, they seemed so... nice... Unless she asked about what they did...
Again, there was that sense of communication between the three, though they didn't move. Just what was up with them, what had been- been done to them... "What if your console was discovered to have a virus? One which corrupted all files... and used the network connections to infect others?" the third of the trio spoke, asking very seriously.
"A virus...? That might... what are you...?" Tabula wasn't completely surprised when the sparklings walked over, pulling out cables and plugging into her computer.
"This will begin replicating an orn after you send the files. Records will show..." the first one started, but the third one finished, "that your console was infected from a rather non-work suited broadcast which you watched in your off time." The second sparkling smiled at Tabula, an unsettlingly sardonic expression as he asked, "We do hope you do not mind being thought ill of here?"
"Where did you get that...?" Tabula asked, watched.
"Spyglass' creators were computer programmers," the second sparkling answered, motioning slightly at the first mech. "With Spectro and I helping, we have the computing power to create this."
Tabula relaxed just a little as they gave names. But- "You can share processor power...? Tha- No, you don't have to answer."
"We are not ready to," Spyglass agreed, unplugging Spectro from the console. "Viewfinder should not... I should not use names! Please... Just call us Reflector. You may send the data."
Three mechs... who wanted to go by one name. Tabula had heard rumors. Gestalts... "Reflector... I understand." Reaching over the mechs, Tabula pressed the keys needed to save and send her work, feeling rather odd as she realized that the information she had spent joors on would be useless. The work that showed so clearly that flight, that Seekers, had a high propensity for Sigma powers... "Done."
"Then please... let us be going?" Once again, the plea was delivered in a tri-part voice.
Tabula nodded. "Yes... let's go."
1,292 words. Yay?
Tabula looked up, rubbing her neck and stretching out the kinks. She had been working for joors... How many joors? She had lost track... a quiet clicking caught her attention, but when she looked around, she didn't see anything out of the ordinary. "Gah... Am I gonna have to get my audios checked on top of everything...?" she muttered, shaking her head a little. No one answered her, of course, so she went back to her work.
Color; gender; age; grounded or not, when it was known; and whether or not the 'specimen' had been able to do anything special before death. It bothered Tabula how precise the tables were, how every few blank spaces there were. There were only a few names to add, but there were always new ones, at least two a groon. How was all the information gathered... Tabula didn't really want to think about it, really, as she divided the chart by gender, by age, and by flight status. Even she could see the correlation between flight-capable and 'talents'. She needed the credits...
The clicking came again, and Tabula stood up. She was already working alone in the lab, so why not take more time? No one would even know, would they? Searching for the clicking grew difficult... Tabula could almost swear it was moving, and it seemed to be coming from more than one direction and... Sweet Primus, it sounded like sparklings.
"No..." Tabula muttered, shaking her head. She knew they did raids on Vos, from time to time... It was needed! War-builds couldn't be trusted with sparklings, especially not war-builds as flighty as the Seekers were. And they died, a lot of them died, she wouldn't deny that... But the sparkling houses were in an entirely different complex, all they did here was research! "I- is anyone there...?"
The clicking came yet again, and, turning her head quickly, Tabula managed to catch a glimpse of something blue and green. Oh, Primus... "Hey... You... can come on out. N- I'm not going to hurt you..." Tabula called, voice soft.
A face peered around the computer, grey and blue, and a wary fear in red optics. The chirping came again, this time very clearly from three voices, and then the sparkling, it couldn't be anything else, spoke. "Not... going to hurt us?"
Tabula found herself shivering, at the question, at the fear in the voices, and from the simple fact that three voices were speaking at once, the same words. "No, I'm not... My name is Tabula. Why... What are you doing here?"
The sparkling glared at her before withdrawing behind the computer again. An answer did come, though, "We were brought. You took us from our families, won't let us go back, why are you doing this? We just want to go home!"
"But it- it's not safe for you?" Tabula couldn't keep her doubts from coming through, though. Pit, she wasn't even sure this sparkling, or sparklings, were Seeker-sparklings. Her spark wrenched in sorrow, and she couldn't deny the lie in her thoughts... this whole wing of the compound was Seeker-studies. She couldn't see the sparklings, but the femme would bet credits on their origin.
The sparkling looked out again, but only to give her a very rude gesture that Tabula couldn't really be surprised it knew. "Not safe... our families! Our creators, brothers, sisters... You come, you break our bonds, you hurt us, and you say we were not safe there?"
Flight capable had more Sigma talents. All Seekers were war-build. No other build had a wing of research dedicated to them... Tabula moaned a little and dropped to her knees with a clatter. Primus... "Please, come out. I won't hurt you... I'm all alone. I- I didn't know. I- I need to stop this!" She looked towards the door, but before she could move, the sparkling spoke again.
"You cannot. We do not want to admit it, but... we do not even know if any of the others survive. You cannot stop it..." It slipped out fully from behind the computer, and Tabula was first surprised by... how bulky it was. He was. Mostly blue, with green patterning on his chest... and two others slipped out behind him, very much alike in build, but... different. They way they moved... Tabula wondered how much body-work had been done on them. They seemed unsure how to move...
"I have to do something!" Tabula mewled, looking at the three sparklings... wait. Her vents hitched as she looked at them, saw how they drew close to each other for comfort. "Will you let me? Will you trust me for just a little while?"
The three mechlings didn't look at each other, and yet the femme was sure information was shared. Finally, one nodded, and then spoke, just the one, and the change made Tabula shiver a little. "What do you wish to do?"
"I- I need to save my work, and then send it to my boss. After that, I have two orns free, that will give us a head start. I'm not sure where we'll go... Maybe Kaon, I've heard that's a good place to hide..."
"Your work will help others to hurt our race," one of the other sparklings said, peeking around the first one, who seemed the bravest of the three. Tabula wondered if the challenge in his voice was real, or her imagination. Either way, he had a point.
"If I don't send it, he'll know something's up, or try to make me come in to work," Tabula answered, vents working faster than she liked. All the scientists, they seemed so... nice... Unless she asked about what they did...
Again, there was that sense of communication between the three, though they didn't move. Just what was up with them, what had been- been done to them... "What if your console was discovered to have a virus? One which corrupted all files... and used the network connections to infect others?" the third of the trio spoke, asking very seriously.
"A virus...? That might... what are you...?" Tabula wasn't completely surprised when the sparklings walked over, pulling out cables and plugging into her computer.
"This will begin replicating an orn after you send the files. Records will show..." the first one started, but the third one finished, "that your console was infected from a rather non-work suited broadcast which you watched in your off time." The second sparkling smiled at Tabula, an unsettlingly sardonic expression as he asked, "We do hope you do not mind being thought ill of here?"
"Where did you get that...?" Tabula asked, watched.
"Spyglass' creators were computer programmers," the second sparkling answered, motioning slightly at the first mech. "With Spectro and I helping, we have the computing power to create this."
Tabula relaxed just a little as they gave names. But- "You can share processor power...? Tha- No, you don't have to answer."
"We are not ready to," Spyglass agreed, unplugging Spectro from the console. "Viewfinder should not... I should not use names! Please... Just call us Reflector. You may send the data."
Three mechs... who wanted to go by one name. Tabula had heard rumors. Gestalts... "Reflector... I understand." Reaching over the mechs, Tabula pressed the keys needed to save and send her work, feeling rather odd as she realized that the information she had spent joors on would be useless. The work that showed so clearly that flight, that Seekers, had a high propensity for Sigma powers... "Done."
"Then please... let us be going?" Once again, the plea was delivered in a tri-part voice.
Tabula nodded. "Yes... let's go."
1,292 words. Yay?