promuseboxing | Open Gen Post

Huh.

[ 3040. Holy shit. Holy fucking shit. Epsilon's image pixelates for a moment as he processes the sheer scale of that number. Hundreds of years. What the fuck. And then he disappears completely as he throws all his processing power at actually going through all of those garbage files he had noticed during the initial download.

What the fuck.

It makes sense, anyone with any common sense would have seen the swarm was destroying the biome too fast for it to ever recover but-- WHAT THE FUCK.

A minute later he reappears in front of her, a little better equipped now that he has some context. ]

...So what does that mean for me? They made me to fight the swarm. Me and my- [ His siblings. All the fragments of Alpha. ] The other AI fragments.

[Aloy blinks when he disappears, crossing her arms. Is he going through her files? He's definitely going through her files.]

Make yourself at home.

[It's muttered under her breath, and something about the intrusion of it bothers her when she's so used to and comfortable with being alone. Realistically, though, she can't blame him. And then he's back, and his question pulls her up short.]

I'm not sure.

[She's not going to stick him back in the armor. Logically she knows what an AI is—code and programming—but she still thinks of them as alive despite that. Speaking to CYAN had felt like speaking to a friend, if an eccentric one. She frowns, considering her options.]

No one would understand what you are. Most of them wouldn't. I could... take you somewhere, if you want, but there isn't much of the Old World left.

[ Take him somewhere? Sounds like human for put him in a server somewhere and hope that he won't do something stupid. Fuck that noise. ]

I don't have anywhere I want to go. In case you didn't notice I managed to fit on your focus without even needing to compress the gigs of bullshit you keep picking up.

[ He should probably try to be a little more personable for this, but honestly Aloy needs to know what she's in for. He's not some noble program that's trying to save the planet, capable of harnessing big forces. He was developed for something a lot simpler. ]

You mind if I stick with you for a while? My whole thing was helping people kill machines better. I could even show you how to use the block function on the focus for when that guy in your call history decides to bug you.

[Sticking him on a server would be cruel, but he's so abrasive her first instinct is to fire back with I work better alone or I don't need your help, but then he hits her Achilles heel. Everything she's learned about the focus, about all of the tech she runs into, has been pure trial and error, but he could actually teach her. Damn it.]

...What else can you show me?

[And then, because she can't let his snide comments go completely:]

Do you have a mute function?

[ He actually laughs at that. Nice. He likes the attitude, it means he won't get bored. Nothing is worse than being stuck with someone who doesn't know how to roll with the punches. ]

Nope. Tough luck, kid.

[ But he's not a total dick, especially when Aloy is his ticket out of this crypt. ]

If you need privacy all you have to do is tell me to log off. I'll go into standby until you call me up again. I can't override commands given by the human I'm paired with. And I can show you just about everything this thing can do. Well, except the stuff that needs the internet. That's kinda fucked.

[This is potentially a terrible idea, but he's got her. Plus, she can't just leave him here, even if he does turn out to be obnoxious.]

...Fine. Deal. What's your name?

I'm Epsilon.

[ It's probably a terrible idea, honestly. But this is what she's stuck with and Epsilon isn't about to protest his new digs. As much as he'll miss Carolina... she's been gone a long time. ]

What's yours? You look like the type to get annoyed if just call you Red.

I've been called worse.

[She says it dryly, but he's right. Red is a no go.]

It's Aloy.

Cool. And uh, nice spear I guess.

[ He makes himself at home in Aloy's focus. Designates some space for his subroutines and carefully makes them private because hey guess who knows how to do that shit. He might have also casually made Aloy's personal files private from other focus users. Sorry not sorry, Sylens. ]

Can we go now? I have literally been in this fucking bunker for hundreds of years.

Thanks.

[And yeah, yeah, they can get going. Aloy makes her way out of the room, heading back towards the entrance. They're going to run into a lot more bodies on the way, but there's nothing she can do about that.]

There are new machines now. You think you can handle them?

If it's a machine I can break it, it's what I was made for.

[ How bad can it be? If humans are alive that means whatever is out there isn't actively wiping the species off the face of the planet. Epsilon goes invisible for the moment, piping his voice to her through the focus. ]

How tough can they be if you're hunting them with a fucking bow anyways.

[What did she do to deserve this? Pissed someone or something off, apparently. Aloy picks her way around a half collapsed room, shaking her head.]

I'd hold your judgment until you see them. I've taken down Deathbringers with a bow, too. [Wait, he doesn't know what that means.] The Khopesh.

So you brought down a machine made hundreds of years ago with a bow and arrow. I'm very impressed. Also? Fuck the khopesh line. And the scarabs. Actually, just fuck Ted Faro.

[ What a dick. He helped destroy the world just to make a profit. Maybe humanity getting wiped out was inevitable. If Faro Industries didn't do it, someone else would have. ]

Is their biomatter conversion protocol disabled at least?

I don't know what that means, but I think I agree with you.

[The vehement way he says it gives her a hint, anyway.]

I haven't seen them use their conversion capabilities, but there aren't many of them still active.

...you don't-

[ Sorry if Gaia and CYAN gave you the idea that AIs had dignity, Aloy. Epsilon is throwing that all out the window with his groan of absolute horror. ]

Ted Faro destroyed swearing. Everyone I know is dead and humanity forgot how to use swear. Today sucks.

[She lets out a long suffering sigh. He's going to get used to that sound, probably.]

What are you talking about?

Swearing! You know, what you say when you're pissed off or need to emphasize something! You guys have to have some kind of swearing!

[They finally reach the entrance to the bunker—a makeshift one, at least, and Aloy is hit with a gust of frigid air as she steps outside. She shivers reflexively despite herself.]

Of course we do. I don't know what that one means.

Okay so you know when two humans are attracted to each other very much and decide the be disgusting and act on their urges?

[ Looking at the temperature change, Epsilon is suddenly pretty grateful he can't feel the cold. Must suck being organic. ]

Fuck is the crude way to describe that.

[Aloy rolls her eyes, then begins to ease her way down the cliff she had to climb up. She's a big girl, Epsilon! Use your words!]

I've never heard anyone describe sex as disgusting.

That's because humans are drowning in hormones that make sex sound like a good idea. All the fluids? Gross.

[ The human body is a mess. He analyzes the cliff as she starts her descent. ]

Go for the ledge to your right. The one on the left is unstable. And like a bad start to this whole partnership if you fall and break your legs in the middle of bumfuck nowhere.

Ugh.

[Does he have to say fluids? Gross. And the suggestion is a little unexpected, so Aloy hesitates for a second before doing as he says and dropping down. That ledge is a bit wider, anyway, which means she can shimmy her way to a different set of handholds rather than hanging from it.]

Was every AI made for military support like you?

You mean we're they all as charming as me? No. They weren't. Military AI were supposed to all be dumb programs, no higher cognitive skills.

[ Every so often he suggests a slight alteration to her path, pointing out weak spots in the rocks that should be avoided. ]

They started cutting corners when the Swarm happened. I'm technically a fragmented AI, that's why I can ride along in your focus.

[And she follows his instructions. She gets to level ground much faster than she expected, she has to admit.]

Fragments. You mentioned that before. How do you fragment an AI?

[Unless he was the subordinate function of another AI, like Gaia, but that doesn't seem to be what he's saying.]

...the same way you break a person. You hurt it. If it wasn't for the fact that the world was ending the military never would have approved it. They needed support for troops and dummy AIs weren't creative enough.

He doesn't sound thrilled about it, even as he justifies what they did. It was war, people did fucked up shit during wars. ]

I used to be part of an AI called Alpha. He was... special. They created him from brain scans of our project's leader.

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