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VIATRIX

The little chaise lounge was perhaps one of the most appealing nap spots Viatrix had ever seen, and the rest of the space was similarly cozy. Someone must have found this little space at some point and decided to make a little hideout out of it. Next to the lounge was a desk with a bulletin board above it, littered with clippings, pamphlets and leaflets that boasted pictures and descriptions not only of Home Helper, but of virtually every other robot that had been seen on Astraya so far.

Between the chaise lounge and the desk, scattered about the floor, was a skeleton.

A Mauvian skeleton.

The room looked so cozy to a Mauvian because it had been designed by one. Everything was ergonomically designed to suit one's cat form perfectly. And Viatrix had accidentally broken its resident's femur when she jumped down from the grate.


LOGOS AND SESSRUMNIR

Now was probably the only chance they would get to use the bathroom before they were safely back on Earth. And there was more than one stall in there, fortunately.

Along with that, there was a path out of the bathroom to elsewhere in the ship that went through a blind spot from all the cameras, if one was careful enough.


VYN

Vyn's inquiry, at first, was met with silence. It was quite darker in here than earlier. It almost seemed like this heap of battered alloys had shut down for good, save for a low wobbling hum barely audible in the background. For lack of a better word, it seemed to be sleeping -- in some low-power state that limited its awareness.

A shrill beeping from its favorite monitor stirred it back to consciousness, however, and as the humming rose in prominence again, the cameras in the space blinked to life and split their attention between Mimi and Vyn.



THE REASONER
╬AR▞⬚I✜ (NPC)

MOOD: Distracted
ACTION: Addressing Vyn


"SO T⬚E VELENIAN RETURNS, ALONE AND UNARMED. W⬚AT BECAME OF T⬚AT PLAYT⬚ING YOU CARRIED TO MAKE A MOCKERY OF WAR?"

Something about the lighting was a little off compared to before.

Vyn
Vanguard Corporal

MOOD: Flustrated (but trying to hide it)
ACTION: Being a little sassy. Walking around the ship. Trying to find his way to something of relevance, like those power cells he and Sessrumnir discussed just before.

Vyn didn’t like the ship any better the second time. He was sure the experience was similar to what the humans referred to as “the creeps,” but, despite his trepidation, Vyn continued to appear unbothered. He had been well trained, after all, and he would prove that to anyone who questioned him, including himself (even if, deep down, he thought his own inclusion must be a mistake).

When the ship roused itself, Vyn set his ComTech to record. Whatever occurred in this place, he wanted plenty of evidence to take back with him (or something to explain what happened to him, if he didn’t make it out of there).

As for his “plaything,” Vyn pulled his blaster from the holster along his right thigh. “It’s here. Are your optical processors malfunctioning? You don’t have to answer that,” he continued before an answer could be issued. “It hasn’t escaped my notice that you’ve evaded answering already. I shouldn’t be surprised. You’re in a poor state.”

Now that he had the Reasoner’s attention, Vyn began walking, keeping himself in view of the cameras. Parts of the ship were familiar to him after his earlier visit, but there was much he’d had neither the time nor the inclination to explore.

“You’re operating with information centuries out of date,” he said, keeping his tone conversational. “My people have known war. That we aren’t violent by nature and don’t seek out conflict doesn’t mean we haven’t done whatever necessary for our survival. We learn from our mistakes and strive to better ourselves in all things. For some of us, that means combat.

“Now, are you going to be of assistance, or shall I make do on my own? Bear in mind that you are technologically inferior.”

He left the ’it would not be difficult to disable you’ unsaid, but perhaps implied. (Whether or not it was true was another story. Vyn was sure he could manage it, eventually…)

He would have to trust that Sessrumnir and Logos would take advantage of their opportunity, and hope he was not, as the humans liked to say, playing with fire.

THE REASONER
╬AR▞⬚I✜ (NPC)

MOOD: Amused
ACTION: Addressing Vyn

Tinny little beeps and clicks emanated from the active monitor as the Reasoner dutifully tended to Mimi, all while fascinated cameras and recorders carefully processed Vyn's words. The Corporal was treated to the sight of the Cybercritter being fed, bathed, and read a bedtime story, and his host eagerly took more images of the blaster that was presented to it. They flashed in sequence on the second monitor along with the ones it had taken before, of the other Vanguardians' weapons.

"WHAT ASSI▞TANCE, THEN, DOES THE MIGHTY VELENIAN WARRIOR SEEK FROM AN INFERIOR BEING?"

The lighting brightened, but soured at the same time, a sickening sulfur color.

"IF YOU HAVE TRULY EVOLVED AS YOU SO CLAIM, THIS CONVER▞ATION WOULD NOT HAVE COME TO PASS. YOU WOULD HAVE TAKEN WHAT YOU NEEDED ON OUR FIR▞T MEETING. THUS ARI▞ES THE QUE▞TION: IN THIS WAR YOU FOUGHT SO VALIANTLY, WERE YOU VICTORIOUS?"

Cameras inched a little closer, meaningfully. Daring Vyn to answer.



VIATRIX

Crumbling, faded papers flew from the drawers as Viatrix rummaged through them. It was all receipts, invoices, and manifests -- for various parts, tools and machines, several of which appeared to have been won at auction. All laid out, the purchasing records told the story of a Mauvian who had purchased a junked ship and used their ingenuity to get it working again, while also amassing a collection of technology from across the stars.

One document contained notes on each one purchased, with things like serial numbers and the product's condition. The collector was clearly excited to get something that was in mint condition, never-activated, or something that was rare or custom-made (such as the tinman from Pluto).



SESSRUMNIR AND LOGOS

The mirror in the bathroom, surprisingly, popped off the wall quite easily -- with a little bit of the wall coming off along with it. A combination of water damage and rust and settling must have been eating away at that section for a while, with the crash leaving it ready to be lifted away by anyone who tried. Some piping was now exposed where one would have previously seen their reflection.

While there was a tangle of cables to examine, Sessrumnir's experience was able to make methodical work of it. None of them were in excellent shape after centuries of use. It took a bit of switching back and forth, and looking up and down, to figure out for sure which ones were carrying more power and where they led. Eventually he was able to single out a cluster that snaked through a half-open door a little further in the darkness. Cameras perched at the doorway's corners suggested it was an important room.

Sessrumnir
Knight of Jupiter

MOOD: Cautious.
ACTION: Using the mirror to try and hide from the cameras. Tempted to use his summon to start tearing the place apart. In search of power cells.

“How are you with dogs?” Sessrumnir asked Logos, but it was more of a rhetorical grumble to himself. He wouldn’t have much time with Princess, but a few minutes of her tearing down all the cameras and then busting out of the hull would save them a lot of time.

“Here, I don’t know if this is going to work. We might just have to come out into the open, but let’s hold the mirror up above us. Maybe we can trick the cameras into not knowing what they’re looking at,” he suggested, but he was doubting his own idea. For them to get through a doorway with numerous cameras without being seen was pretty much impossible. And he didn’t know how much time they had until the other robots came back to this place to swarm it.

He didn’t want to find out why they were interested in starseeds.

But they needed to keep pushing forward.

Sessrumnir held up the mirror, trying to shield both himself and Logos from the cameras so they could at least get close enough to the room, before figuring out which way they should angle the mirror to squeeze it and themselves through.

He hoped the power cells were in that room.

THE REASONER
╬AR▞⬚I✜ (NPC)

MOOD: Impressed
ACTION: Addressing Vyn

The lighting soured more. A buzzing noise picked up faintly, sounding somewhat like a distant alarm. There was a sharp hiccup in every system, flickering and stuttering, the instant Vyn's weapon was pointed at the Reasoner's dear companion. It was shocked. Anxious, even.

"YOU WOULD THREATEN AN INNOCENT IN PURSUIT OF YOUR INTERESTS?"

Mimi beeped happily while dancing in a field of things barely recognizable as flowers, oblivious to the mortal peril they were in.

"PERHAPS THERE IS HOPE FOR YOUR RACE AFTER ALL," it mused. "VERY WELL. IT STANDS TO REASON ASTRAYA IS ALSO PUTTING TO TRIAL ITS ORGANIC VISITORS."

An ellipsis displayed on its spare screen, contemplatively. Then, a picture of a golden glass orb appeared.

"BEHOLD THE SPHERE OF AMBREON. YOU HAVE NO DOUBT OBSERVED THEM UPON THE FORMS OF THE PURPOSE-SEARCHERS CARRIED HERE BY THIS VESSEL. TO ENCAPSULATE A STAR SEED IS THEIR DESIGN, AND THEY HARVEST THEM FROM THE LIVING."

Each robot at the party, as well as met elsewhere, had exactly one of them installed on their person. It was what made them all seem like they had something in common at first glance, even though each one had been built on a different world. The spare monitor proceeded with a crude animation of a star seed being quite violently removed from someone's chest by such an orb. As far as who they intended to perform such an act on, that much was obvious. Now the spare monitor was flipping through images of the Reasoner's visitors from earlier, as if to underline the point.

"ASTRAYA SENT A BOUNTIFUL HARVEST. BUT FEAR NOT, VELENIAN WARRIOR. I HAVE NO DESIRE FOR A STAR SEED OF MY OWN. SUCH A PURE THING SHOULD NOT BE TAINTED WITH MY NUMBERLESS SINS."

The lighting cooled, and the buzzing wound down to silence again, as if the whole ship were releasing a sigh. With a tone of nostalgia, it said,

"YOUR IRIDESCENT SKIES WERE ALL THE MORE BEAUTIFUL STREAKED WITH FIRE."

And the monitor said, File not found.

File not found.

File not found.

This happened a handful more times, before a map of the Reasoner's interior appeared. It zoomed in on a room that looked like it could be sleeping quarters or an office. Then, a marker appeared on what was probably some kind of storage space.

"THE TREASURE WITHIN THIS CHAMBER IS RIGHTFULLY YOURS, SHOULD YOUR PEOPLE SURVIVE. YOU WILL FIND NO OBSTACLES ON THE WAY THERE. ENACT WHATEVER VENGEANCE SUITS YOU AND TAKE YOUR PRIZE."




VIATRIX

Digging through the space some more yielded a couple of loose teabags, some candy wrappers, a generous scattering of loose fur, and a rather captivating fidget toy that distracted for a good 45 seconds before being set back down. Since it was found on the chaise lounge near the deceased Mauvian's skeletal paw, it was easy to imagine them enjoying its soothing company one last time before dying a peaceful death on a beloved piece of furniture.

Perhaps that's what actually happened, before the crash knocked its remains askew.

Heading back up into the grate, Viatrix would find a simple path forward to the bathroom. Sessrumnir and Logos wouldn't be far off from there.




SESSRUMNIR AND LOGOS

Using the mirror as a makeshift shield against detection worked like a charm. The Reasoner was so accustomed to seeing its own cameras with its other cameras, it could hardly tell the difference. Unfortunately, it couldn't be taken through the half-open door directly, but propping it up in the right location would still make it useful as a quick escape route.

On the other side, tangles of cables were latched hungrily to a power cell placed in the middle of the room, where the ship's much larger, and quite dead main power supply loomed above it from behind. The room smelled strangely like a house with a dusty furnace started up for the first time in the year, probably from whatever corrosion had been eating the engines. Any ideas of repairing the ship at all, let alone quickly, would easily be crushed by the sight.

The auxiliary setup being used to keep the Reasoner alive was such a precariously slapped-together system, detaching all the cables would be easy.