COMMENCING STARTUP EXPERIMENT;

[bluebot]

;Startup intiated.
;Clear to port B.
;RB2 set to input.

;Configure BB initialization.

;Initialization at 34%.

;Run TEST screen function.

;Running.

;Running.

;Running.

;TEST screen intiated...

Comments

[OPEN]

[bluebot]

You can come across a lot of interesting things in the zones. Wreckage, mostly. Scrap metal. Objects scorched and broken and forgotten. Sand covers most of it. Scavengers pick at the rest. It's rare you ever find anything worth anything. It's rare you ever find anything intact.

But sometimes, you get lucky.

Empty highway. Overturned transport truck. Dead bodies dressed all in white litter the ground and decorate the pavement. Whoever ended this road trip didn't stick around to claim the spoils or didn't make it out alive. There's enough parts in the truck alone to feed a crew for months. The cargo in back, sealed in a steel crate, is untouched and relatively unharmed.

The lid fell away when the vehicle swerved, crashed, and rolled. One side of the crate is dented slightly, but the contents...

Laying on her side like that she just looks like she's sleeping. Eyes closed, one arm gracefully extended and the other held close to her body. She can't sleep. She doesn't sleep.

But she'd give anything to dream.

For // REDBOT

[bluebot]

Blue should have noticed sooner. Much sooner than she did. Red had started moving slower, only by fractions of a second at first, then full seconds, and then she had gotten weaker. It took her longer and longer to charge each time. She was at 79% before Blue finally realized.

Red's battery. It wouldn't go higher than 79%. No matter how long she sat there, no matter how much rest she got, it wouldn't go higher.

Maybe it's still too early to worry, but that doesn't stop the expression of mild panic mixed with some form of preemptive despair from appearing on Blue's face. She stands behind Red at the window, gently running her fingers up the other bot's spine before resting her hand on Red's shoulder. "Maybe you should stay home tonight. I'll go alone."

[redbot]

It's not that Red hasn't noticed; she's just been hoping, wishing that Blue wouldn't. There's barely a thing she can do about it, anyway. She's tried Plus, hesitantly, on her nights out alone, using the last of her meagre credits. A new battery is too costly. And she has to face it: she's old. A few models older than Blue, who is already tipping on the scale of obsolescence. Even if she could afford a new battery... well, it's possible that she would never come back from the Lobby.

Eventually, though, she can't hide it anymore. She's slower, less responsive, and it's costing her, both on the street and with Blue. Seeing her face when she finds out, though -- that's worse than suffering alone.

"No." She turns slightly, into Blue's arm. "We need the money. I'll be fine."

[bluebot]

Blue doesn't want Red to see her face now as it is. Instead, she rests her forehead against Red's back, wrapping her other arm around Red's waist. "We can get by..." Blue practically pleads, "You don't have to go."

Because what if it won't be fine? What if something happens and Blue's not there? Losing Red... it just isn't an option. There has to be something they can do. Blue would go without for as long as she had to if it meant they could afford a new battery. How hard could it even be? All they have to do is go down and apply. It's simple. It's supposed to be simple. There's a system in place to make things simple!

But that system doesn't explain the broken robots on the streets, begging for money or salvation. And it doesn't explain the plus junkies hanging out in dark corners, sparking up for just a few more precious volts; for just enough to keep them going a little longer. And it definitely doesn't explain the absence of other red models in the city.

... They just don't make 'em like the used to. Blue's noticed that, too.

[redbot]

All of these things frighten Red on a daily basis, and she doesn't want to succumb to them. She doesn't want to become obsolete and useless, she doesn't want to become addicted to Plus, she doesn't want to risk applying for a new battery. She'll have to do something -- but not if it means leaving - or scaring - Blue.

"I have plenty for one night." One transaction, maybe, but not the entire night. "I don't want you out there alone, Blue. I can't just... sit here while you work."