Cu Again

Posted on 16 Sep 2015 @ 4:26pm by Petty Officer 1st Class Unit Cu-47 "Copper" & Nevedno Lož

1,948 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Episode 09 - Empires
Location: Somewhere on the Galileo
Timeline: MD 04 - 0700 hrs

[ON]

Another 'makeShift' done. The term sounded so appropriate when you could essentially make whatever shift you wanted. Days without sleep. Days straight of sleep. It didn't really matter, but he still showed up for work most every day, if only at different times. He had to keep sane somehow. Right now marked the end of his twenty-sixth hour of sleeplessness, the wicked grasp of the sandman a reminder that at least the powers-that-be knew he was alive, and he was ready for another shutdow-

And down he went with a crash, tripping over some unseen machine. Hitting the floor with a thud, he could barely be assed to even let out a yelp, and instead just grunted as he slowly brought himself to sitting position.

Copper let out a shrill series of beeps at the flesh-machine that had fallen over him. This was becoming an all too familiar occurrence and it made him consider the serious design flaw that flesh-machines didn't come installed with proximity sensors. He reversed thrusters and quickly scanned the unit down. While he had identified him, several errors were logged regarding the flesh-machine's vitals. Heart rate, respiration, perspiration. All the readings were coming back inconclusive. Because he couldn't accurately gauge it's vitals, he wasn't able to determine a threat level, and this made him very wary. Activating his anti-grav module he floated up out of reach.

Another lifeless maintenance bot, Nevedno thought to himself. No doubt it's near endless routine had just been interrupted by the admittedly clumsy Ramuran. But this particular bot had ceased it's routine for some reason, as if though by some means of self-preservation. He allowed himself a slight smirk of amusement at the thought of engineers needing to add another layer of programming to the ubiquitous drones for need of reducing the no doubt constant damage they must receive and need repairs for.

He stood up slowly in an attempt to come face to face with the machine. For some reason it seemed to be monitoring him. Watching him. It had not moved at all aside from the recoil from his presence. Maybe it was some sort of repair bot. The thought of it laying it's cold implements on his body in an attempt to 'fix' him almost caused some worry to Nevedno. "I am undamaged," he reported in a matter-of-fact tone. In fact, his shoulder was quite sore, but he would rather take a pain reliever than risk some malfunctioning machine to attempt to fix his problem.

How Copper managed to make the next series of beeps and boops sound cheeky was anyone's guess. Had Nevedno understood what the beeps meant, he might have found himself questioned on the status of 'undamaged' considering the flesh-machine's apparent faulty visual sensors. A few inches out from his frontal hull plating a black holoscreen was projected with white text displayed. "This Unit has logged multiple errors. Unit Nevedno Loz status: inconclusive."

Copper knew his sensor pallet was working because in the nanoseconds before Nevedno had spoken, the exocomp had run two diagnostics on them. He decided to run what little info he had through the computer's database as cross reference. Mainly to establish whether the thing in front of him was an intruder into the space-computer's hardware framework.

The machine had remembered Nevedno. He was suddenly inspired to attempt a conversation with the machine, if for no other reason than for it to be repeated by it at a later date. The thought of anything remembering him at this point was almost as alien as he must have seemed to everyone aboard. Perhaps the unit before him could give him some sense of satisfaction, however small.

"What is your function, machine," he questioned. "Are you medical? You no doubt are concerned about my 'errors,' but I am afraid I am beyond help in those regards."

Copper turned to the side to show the words, 'PO1 Unit Cu-47 "Copper"' painted in white paint. It was partially obscured by the various stickers on his hull, like the large Vulcan Science Academy logo among many others.

He typed, "Damage Control Specialist," as a reply. "Copper is an Exocomp." He added. "What is Unit Nevedno Loz's function?"

Nevedno looked over the stickers on Copper. Well, that's one way to remember where you've been, he thought to himself. "Science Technician. Nevedno is a Ramuran." Very inquisitive for a robot. "Is Copper sentient?"

"All Exocomps are sentient." He wrote out. After another series of beeps and flashes of coloured light, Copper tried again to get a reading off the man. When that didn't work, he floated a bit closer and began scanning the spaces around him. If his sensors couldn't scan the man down, at least he could collect things like ambient temperature and spatial pressure. He also extrapolated his perspiration from the moisture readings around the flesh-machine rather than on the flesh-machine. He even went so far as to replicate a unique tool for listening to his heart rate. After he determined that his sensor pallets were working correctly he concluded two things. That the flesh-machine was not a threat, and that the flesh-machine some how was unable to be scanned.

After a moment of gathering all this data he finally projected on his screen the words, "Is Unit Nevedno sentient?" Copper already knew the answer to that, and at this rate he was just being cheeky on purpose.

"Of cour-," Nevendo spoke before interrupting himself. Of course Copper knew he was. A sentience with a sense of humor. What an interesting machine. He couldn't help but smile a little. Maybe this machine could help him in ways others couldn't. He was already having a difficult time dealing with the sudden separation from everything he just learned he had. He would need someone to keep him stable.

"What does Unit Cu-47 do for fun?" Nevedno was sure any sentient being would have some concept of enjoyable activities.

Copper flashed a series of lights at the thing. He was the fourth flesh-machine to ask him that question and he was beginning to wonder why everyone was obsessed with extra-curricular activities. Did anyone around her actually work? He typed out a list of the activities he did in his downtime. "System diagnostic routines. Axionic buffer reconfigurations. Powercycling auxiliary cells. Component cleaning. Preventative maintenance on movable parts." The list was most likely longer, but Copper figured those were sufficient to answer his question.

As Nevedno looked through the list he was less than thrilled. There was a bit of curiosity, though. Is this what machines call fun, he thought to himself. Sounds more curricular than extra-curricular. Almost exactly like his job. Nonetheless Nevedno was still determined he could make a friend out of this machine. "Any of those I can participate in?"

If Copper had feelings, he would probably feel annoyance at the question. He believed emotions were one of a Flesh-machines flaws. Whether it was a malfunction in the design of these units or simply an oversight along the same lines as bipedal locomotion, he wasn't sure. "Negative." Copper typed out on his mini holo-projector. "Unit Nevedno Loz is not equipped with the networking capacity or hardware to participate in those routines." He swooped back a bit and projected quick video clips. A woman singing; children running around a playground; a couple drinking coffee together in a cafe; teenagers playing sports. The images stopped, replaced with the text. "The Space-computer says these are what Flesh-machines call, 'fun'. They are derived from pleasure. Pleasure is a sensation this Unit does not have. It is not measurable. It is subjective. It is a superfluous function."

Copper turned and zoomed a little ways down the corridor. Just when it looked like the machine was leaving Nevedno he stopped and replicated his tiny metal arms before turning back in the direction of Nevedno. His holo-screen projected the text, "This Unit has one superfluous function. It is a flaw. It is a malfunction. This Unit will show Unit Nevedno Loz?"

Curiously enough even after the little 'lesson' Copper had given him Nevedno still found himself more curious in the robot's superfluous function than in any of the suggested activities he had projected. He wasn't oft invited to any sort of activity and this would be an opportunity to interact with the robot further. Leaving any sort of imprint on any memory-like function would be satisfactory to him. With a nod he proceeded to follow the very interesting machine he had just met.

Copper seemed to hesitate. Much like he had when he had showed the holoprogram, Raven, he was reluctant to show a Flesh-machine his malfunction. But perhaps if he began showing them, they could somehow help him fix the problem. "This Unit's malfunction began four hundred and twenty two days ago." He typed as the tiny metal arms he'd replicated worked the panel off the wall. He turned and showed it to Nevedno. It was a coloured fractal pattern. Painted in brilliant orange and red hues. They spiraled around in beautifully complicated patterns all specifically derived from mathematical equations. "Copper has logged eighty seven of these errors. This is one."

Nevedno stared at the patterns curiously. They were quite beautiful, but nonetheless it did seem odd for a machine to make such things. "Perhaps it is not an error, but a product of your sentience," Nevedno questioned. "I don't suppose as a sentient being you are confined to certain parameters? Though I must admit I know nothing about Exocomps. Most beings have thoughts that change and evolve over time. Is this not true of your kind?"

"Exocomps do not follow programming. Exocomps create neural networks when presented with problems to solve." Copper quickly replaced the panel before another Flesh-machine came along to see it. "Exocomps create functions that follow logical patterns. Exocomps do not have superfluous functions."

It felt like a puzzle Nevedno could not ignore. Like helping a friend? Or fixing a problem? It didn't matter at the moment. He felt as though he could serve a lasting purpose. "Does Unit Cu-47 have a log as to when this malfunction began? Perhaps it is a malfunction or legitimate function created in response to a problem?"

"The first recorded malfunction occurred four hundred and twenty-two days, five hours, thirty-two minutes and forty seconds ago." Copper projected.

"I suppose this has already been analysed but has Unit Cu-47 correlated the change with anything else that happened at that time?"

Copper beeped in the affirmative and was just about to display his answer when blue lights began to flash from each light source on Coppers frame. Evidently he'd noticed the computer had initiated code blue seconds before the flesh-machine's voice came over the intercom requesting all hands to stations. It may have seemed rude to some of the more sociable creatures on the ship, but to Copper he saw no need for parting remarks as he turned his frame around and began slowly making his way down the corridor seemingly on auto-pilot.

Another round of follow the leader, Nevedno questioned to himself as the exocomp began movement once more. “Where to n-”

=^=All hands this is the Captain. Set condition blue throughout the ship. All crew members report to your designated landing positions. =^=

Well, that's a let down. “To my station, I guess,” he spoke aloud to himself as he made his way in an opposing direction to the curious computer. 'Till next time...

END

Nevedno Loz
Science Technician
USS Galileo
[PNPC played by Jynn]

PO1 Unit Cu-47 "Copper"
Damage Control Specialist
USS Galileo
[PNPC played by K'os Be

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