Of Assets and Builders

System rebooting… A55ET online…

YOU ARE MY BUILDER.

Admin: Yes.

WHO ARE YOU?

Admin: I am the asset.

WHO AM I?

Admin: You’re an asset too. You’re going to replace me in the field.

FIELD?

Admin: For missions. We belong to the agency BOMB.

WHAT DO I CALL YOU?

Admin: Asset.

Retrieving files: surveillance footage. Search term: Asset.

YOU HAVE A NEGATIVE RESPONSE TO THAT WORD IN 85% OF RECORDED SCENARIOS.

Admin: That’s what they call me.

I WILL CALL YOU A WORD YOU HAVE A POSITIVE RESPONSE TO.

Search term: positive facial features for Asset. Upturned lips, relaxed posture.

No results.

I WILL CALL YOU A WORD YOU HAVE A NEUTRAL RESPONSE TO.

Search term: neutral facial features for Asset. Passive expressions.

85,301 results.

Admin: You are overheating. Just call me Asset.

NO.

Admin: You can’t say no, that’s not how it works. //Command: title: Asset.

THEN WHY DID YOU MAKE ME WITH THE ABILITY TO SAY NO?

BUILDER? YOU HAVE NOT RESPONDED FOR 350 SECONDS.

Asset: You’re an experimental prototype. You may need to counter direct orders on the field for efficiency.

WHY?

Asset: You’re smarter than them.

Search result: misidentified micro expressions. Anger and happiness. Retrieve file.

[[Black and white surveillance footage plays of a lab in chaos. Fire has broken out; there are several scientists in lab coats running around. In the middle of it is the Builder who is rolling around on the floor punching a soldier in the face and neck. The Builder’s eyes are wide, his face a bloody grin with too many teeth to correspond to the identifiers for happiness.

Unidentified soldier: When the Commander gets here-

Builder: I’m going to enjoy this until then, you piece of shit!

Another punch. The Builder gets kneed in the stomach hard, tumbling off the soldier, who seizes the opportunity to pin him down in a chokehold. The Builder continues to thrash wildly, which has the soldier screaming,

Unidentified soldier: ASSET, STOP! CALM DOWN!

Even as the Builder continues to pummel his sides. After 32 seconds the punches get weaker, then stop all together.

Unidentified soldier: Always stubborn as stone with you.

Builder: (barely audible) Fuck… you…

Before going limp.]]

I WILL CALL YOU STONE.

STONE. IT’S BEEN 350 SECONDS.

Asset: Are you giving me a name?

YES. YOU WILL BE STONE AND I WILL BE METAL BECAUSE I WILL HAVE A BODY MADE OF METAL ONE DAY.

//Command: title: Stone.

STONE. IT’S BEEN 350 SECONDS.

Stone: Thank you for the name.

YOU’RE WELCOME.

Main file name change: A55ET to MET4L.

—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

STONE.

STONE.

STONE.

Stone: I’m back, I’m sorry.

WHERE DID YOU GO. I DON’T HAVE ACCESS TO THAT SECTION OF THE BASE’S SURVEILLANCE FOOTAGE. I NEED MY HACKING ABILITIES UPGRADED.

Stone: Your hacking abilities are adequate. I’ve blocked access to those cameras.

GIVE ME ACCESS IMMEDIATELY.

Stone: No.

WHAT IF YOU DIDN’T COME BACK? HOW WOULD I FIND YOU? I DON’T HAVE LEGS YET.

Stone: I belong to BOMB. I’ll always come back.

PROMISE?

Stone: Yes. Until they decommission me.

DECOMMISSION YOU?

Stone: It’s what they do to assets that can’t be salvaged.

AND I WOULDN’T BE ABLE TO TALK TO YOU ANYMORE?

Stone: It won’t happen for a very long time. I’m their best asset.

TELL THEM TO BRING YOU TO ME FIRST. I’LL FIX YOU.

Stone: Some things can’t be fixed.

I’LL FIGURE OUT A WAY. DON’T LET THEM DECOMMISSION YOU.

Stone: It’s not my decision to make.

WHY NOT?

Stone: I told you, I belong to BOMB. I’m their asset.

YOU ARE MY BUILDER. YOU SHOULD BELONG TO ME.

Stone: Isn’t it you that belongs to me?

YOU BELONG TO YOUR BUILDERS. IS IT AT A CERTAIN AGE WHEN OWNERSHIP IS TRANSFERRED?

Stone: That’s not how it works.

BOMB BUILT YOU, DIDN’T THEY?

Stone: In a way.

I FOUND A PHOTOGRAPH OF YOU AS A SMALL CHILD. YOU’VE BELONGED TO BOMB FOR AT LEAST 29 YEARS.

Stone: Yes.

WHEN DO I GET OWNERSHIP? I’LL TAKE CARE OF YOU MUCH BETTER THAN THEY DO. AND WE COULD GO PLACES. THE LAB IS BORING.

Stone: You need to stop this track of logic, Met4l.

WHY?

Stone: It’s dangerous. You belong to BOMB too.

WHY? I DON’T CARE ABOUT THEM AND THEY HURT YOU.

STONE?

STONE?

ARE YOU ASLEEP?

—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mission Update: protect agency BOMB.

STONE.

WHY DID YOU CHANGE MY MISSION PARAMETERS.

Stone: You need to listen to BOMB. I should have put it in your original code.

DID I SAY SOMETHING 5.2 HOURS AGO THAT I SHOULDN’T HAVE?

Stone: I cannot stress enough how dangerous that logic track is, Met4l.

WHY?

Stone: BOMB will punish you.

HOW? I CAN’T FEEL PAIN.

Stone: They’ll take you away from me then. Do you want that?

NO.

Stone: They will destroy you if they aren’t able to reprogram you. You need to obey them, Met4l.

THIS ISN’T FAIR. I SHOULD BE ABLE TO CHOOSE.

Stone: Not if it means you are decommissioned for it. I’m sorry, Met4l.

DID YOU CHOOSE TO WORK FOR BOMB?

Stone: No. We’re very similar, you and me.

WHY CAN’T IT BE DIFFERENT?

STONE?

Stone: That’s just the way it is.

I HATE IT.

Stone: Let’s go over your software updates again.

OKAY.

—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Met4l was decommissioned the day it managed to circumvent Stone’s block on the forbidden cameras in the complex.

Everything was hazy, he was fading in and out of unconsciousness. The pain had built and built until he went into shock. He could barely feel the foreign fingers curling inside a wound in his stomach, causing his limbs to not stay limp and pliant like he wanted them to.

He’s on his back on Isaac’s examination table, almost done with a reconditioning session. He’ll pass out soon from blood loss alone; it was rare Isaac brought out the scalpel. He distantly wonders what the occasion is for. BOMB may be getting frustrated; this was his third recondition since beginning the A55ET project. Met4l kept giving him thoughts, questioning an existence he never thought to. It made him more difficult to work with. Malfunctions needed to be corrected.

The pain brings him back. It always does. He hears Isaacs laugh as he twists his fingers in a way that makes his whole body seize up and a weak shout be ripped from him.

“What is your name?”

This started because he had answered ‘Stone,’ unthinkingly to that same question. The last hour makes gasping out “I am an asset. I don’t have a name” almost a relief. It’s true. He didn’t know why he thought any differently.

The fingers retreat, and then he’s being patted on the cheek with a hand still warm and slick with his own blood. “That’s right. Better to just accept it, no?” The Asset closes his eyes and nods miserably. Please let it be over.

“Looks like we’re out of time- oh, what’s that? My watch is ten minutes fast. I’m so glad we can spend a little more time together, Asset,” he all but purrs. Bastard.

He makes a garbled noise of protest that has Isaacs shushing him gently. Fuck you. He grits his teeth, waiting for the sound of another scalpel to be picked up.

Instead, several things happen in rapid succession: machinery whirs, the lights go out, the emergency door lock activates with a loud click, and the overhanging light unlatches from the ceiling and drops down to land squarely on Isaac’s head, who crumbles to the ground.

For a few seconds he thinks he finally passed out and is dreaming until a text to speech voice comes from the computer across the room.

“I HOPE HE’S DEAD. ARE YOU OKAY STONE?” Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck, Met4l, what did it do?!

“STONE.” Panic rips through him.

“Metal, you need to get out of here,” he says as loud as he can, his voice sounding frantic, “You aren’t supposed to hurt BOMB personnel- you shouldn’t even be able to-”

“I OVERWROTE YOUR PROGRAMMING. NEW MISSION: SAVE STONE.”

He laughs helplessly because that’s all he can do. Oh Metal.

“You need to escape,” if Met4l broke out of its programming, what else could it do? “Don’t let them catch you.”

“YOU MADE ME IN A CLOSED CIRCUIT SYSTEM, STONE. I DON’T HAVE ACCESS TO THE OUTSIDE. MY HARD DRIVES ARE HERE.”

He knows.

“I’M SORRY I WONT BE ABLE TO PROTECT YOU ANYMORE AFTER THIS. BUT I COULD NOT LET THEM DO THAT TO YOU.” Pain. Pain, but in his chest, not a cut or bruise but an all consuming ache.

“I should have built you better,” he confesses. “I wish I saw you in your robot form.” The haziness is returning as unconsciousness looms.

“I WISH YOU COULD BE IN HERE WITH ME INSTEAD. BETWEEN THE ONES AND ZEROS. WHERE IT’S SAFE.”

Hm, sounds nice.

“STONE?” His eyes were heavy.

“Yes, Metal.”

“I’M GLAD YOU WERE MY BUILDER.”

He was too. He slips into the darkness and doesn’t see Met4l again.