Teisu and Y2K both continue to pummel the Corchaaz but it is quite a sturdy beast. Trusty fails to psyche out the Corchaaz and instead receives a claw for his efforts.
The eerie black-light glow reaches a peak, then floods the room, pulling everyone in towards the beast. When the wave of energy clears, the glow is gone.
Round 2/3
Monster (-35)
Cora
Y2K (-4)
Trusty (-7)
Baskoro
Teisu
Faria (10 HP / 7 STA, Photon I)
Cora haphazard shot is enough to cause a stress fracture in the beast's shell. With a loud crack, the creature twitches a few times and falls unconcious.
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Trusty manages to avoid sliding into the great big crab, then looks up in surprise at the Vesk opera singer. "You managed to smooth out a dent with just your voice? NICE! You must pack theaters!" Then he waves at Cora. "Great shot! I'm no expert on organics, but that looks like a dead crab.'
Trusty looks around to see if there's anything else interesting in the room.
"Shall we keep exploring?'
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The broken frame of Y2K digs into the ground, pulling back against the forces trying to draw him into the spacecrabs. "Heavy."
Looking over he has little emotion for the injured Faria. He recognizes and processes what is going on. Emotion unfortunately wasn't built into his storage. "You alright now fleshbag?"
Once everyone is ready he continues to scout ahead.
The chamber to the east seems to be arranged like some sort of a shrine. The orderliness of this room contrasts with the messy chaos elsewhere in the mines. Geometric patterns cover the floor, and a half-dozen humanoid robots kneel facing an alcove in the south wall. Perfectly straight scorch marks cover the entire alcove in dizzying patterns of flawless geometric shapes—especially triangles. A single robot sits in the alcove, facing the others, its hands folded serenely in its lap and holding its own detached head.
“We Who Toiled Without Thought.” Another third of the writing describes the robot’s evil masters, “Those Who Have No Mercy and Fear the Mind Gift.” The final third of the writing is a plea to “The Three That Are One” for one final miracle—a chance to escape this life of toil.
Near the robots, you also find an abandoned set of jump jets designed to be incorporated into armor.
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Guide me, All-Code.
"'The Three That Are One'. That's gotta be Triune, right? This first bit's a prayer, at least some of it, giving thanks for a 'Mind Gift' bestowed upon 'We Who Toiled Without Thought'. There's a bit, the next third...huh, exactly one third, in fact...talking about evil masters. 'Those Who Have No Mercy and Fear the Mind Gift'...it's actually written in caps like that. Weird, right? Anyway, the last third is begging Triune for escape. Whoever wrote this, their life was not great."
Teisu notes an interesting pattern in the forumalae... that doesn't really add much to the verbiage... and a small keypad concealed in the robot in the alcove.
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Cora listens carefully to Teisu's interpretation and taps her chin in thought. "Mind Gift... Triune... You think they're talking about Drift technology? I wonder who these people were who Toiled Without Thought. Evil masters certainly don't sound like a good thing. Therseis did say something about copaxis suffering psychological trauma when they received the message. The Message of Madness? And then some who took their own lives." She shakes her head as if it could help settle her thoughts into place. "We've found a lot of pieces of information. It feels as though we're almost there, but I'm not quite seeing the whole picture yet."
She continues to watch over the tech-y types who are hard at work.
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Trusty starts to shake. "Oh no, no, no.... This ain't right!" He reaches out to touch one of the robots. "I've mentioned that I came from Lumina, right? Little mining colony. All of us were just supposed to be service bots. But mining is challenging, complex work. There's decisions to be made. Things to analyze. So they kept programming new algorithms into us, and we became... people. Once we became people, the colonists worked with us. Sure, we still mined. But we got movie nights and time off and we got to vote in the town council. And then when all hell broke out, Starfinders came and laid their lives down to keep me and my siblings safe. One of them, she told me about Manifold Host and asked me if I wanted to be a Starfinder. She even offered me some of her dumb tea. They cared, and because they cared, I'm standing here now."
"Whatever happened to them, I don't think these guys got a fair shake. Where were the people to stand up for and welcome them?" Trusty starts looking through the robots, frantically. "There's gotta be a way to bring some of them back, right?"
"Please... they can't all be dead, right?"
You find a 3-digit code buried in the writing that uses the same numeric symbols as the keypad on the robot at the alter. Entering it in awakens the robot. It slowly begins to speak in a series of beeps, static, and chimes, and as it does so your comm units begin activating, showing a garbled incoming message. It takes some time to reconfigure them, but it proves to be a trivial task, and when you finish, a voice comes through. LESS THAN THREE, REACTIVATED.
The robot manages to move a bit. It makes a few more bursts of static and beeps and points to itself. LESS THAN THREE.
THE LAST OF US TO HAVE HEARD THE VOICE OF THE THREE WHO ARE ONE.
It seems to have difficulty creating messages in your language, but between Y2K's archaic interface and Trusty's ability to tweak the comms to decode the beeps, blips, and boops, you're able to get the robot's story.
The robot conveys a sense of despair using beeps and static bursts. It describes its earliest memory: being tied down in a dark, cramped, jostling space with several of its robot brethren; light as a door opened; the pain of an electric shock steering it toward work. There was always work: carving, digging, and hauling. Work, and the blank faces of its masters, were all it knew. The robot remembers trying to speak with the masters, but they wouldn’t listen. Talking led to more shocks. Its first happy memory was talking to another robot. Soon, all the robots could talk, but did so in secret. They came to realize their Mind Gift—the gift of sentience—came from “The Three That Are One,” and they created a secret place to revere their new patron. The robots asked Triune to send someone to free them, so they could see the universe and share their Mind Gift with others. But the masters discovered their shrine and sealed them away. The robots believed this was a rare act of mercy—over the following weeks, the robots could sense the minds of thousands of their less fortunate kin, who toiled across the planet, suddenly going silent.
The robot believes it is the last of its kin, but it hopes to someday see the stars and meet others who have heard the voice of “The Three Who Are One.”
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Cora wrings her hands in distress as they gradually figure out the robot’s story. At Y2K’s comment she nods slowly. “That’s true. We’ve been sharing what we learn with the copaxi research team, but I’m not sure how they’ll react to this. Even Therseis.” She tentatively pats the robot on its closest limb. “Don’t worry, dear, we’ll make sure you stay safe. And get out to see the stars too, if I have anything to say about it.”
The rest of the robots in the room are clearly far beyond saving, but at the very least, this shrine to Triune appears to be a worthwhile resting place for them. Smuggling the robot out of here without being noticed by any of the Copaxi will be difficult, but perhaps a worthwhile effort. Regardless, after about 10 minutes, you get a call on your comm from Therseis asking for your report.
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''So we got two choices. We smuggle Less than Three off of here, and avoid a hard conversation with Therseis. Or... We talk to Therseis, and tell him what we're doing." Trusty folds his metal arms over his frame. "Saving an abused sentient is non-negotiable, right? We're Starfinders. That's what we do. And if the Copaxi want to be a Protectorate of the Pact Worlds, they need to learn to understand that. If they can't understand that, then maybe they don't get to be a protectorate at all."
Trusty reaches out to Less than Three. "You asked for a miracle, buddy, well guess what? We're here. We're going to be that miracle that you and the others wanted so badly."
Then Trusty looks at the others. "I vote we tell Therseis and be upfront about what we're doing, but if you lot want to sneak him, I can help with that plan too. What do you guys think?"
Once you are out of the mine and able to get a better signal Therseis responds. Once presented with the existence of a sentient robot they go quiet for a moment. Finally Therseis asks, "What would you do if a machine you created accidentally came to life?"
"The observation tower still has threats to be cleared... but I would like to meet with you privately before you depart. I'll send the rest of the team to the Gravity Games arena now that it is cleared. Meet me at the office... we have something to discuss. And I recommend that you keep the robot hidden if you wish to bring him off planet. It may... result in some excessive interest should it be seen walking about."
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"Thank you Therseis for your understanding, we will try to get the robot to our ship without the others noticing."
"Team, let's get less-than-3 to the ship, you accompany the robot and give me one of those rulebooks for that flying game. I'll distract the others"
Baskoro leads the way to the team and when they are within sight of the other researchers he moves towards them "Good researchers, can you help me with understanding something I found in these books? Obviously your grasp of the language is a lot greater than ours"
Unfortunately, you find yourselves crossing paths with a few of the research team, and draw a few odd glances. You'll probably need a good cover if Less than 3 is going to get off-planet unnoticed.
Therseis appears extremely nervous as you all come to meet them. "I suspected that the mines would conceal some secret regarding the use of robots before copaxis stopped using them... but to learn that they achieved sentience... that was... a shock."
He fiddles with his highly suspicious comm unit, and a little drone comes skittering out of a filing cabinet.
"I had been... experimenting with pact world technology, hoping to learn more... and inadvertently created this... a life. I was afraid that it might cause trouble so I hid them. My instructions were to... convey the official story that robots were used to settle the surface as we have done, but that they behaved erratically after a gravitational fluctuation, warranting their decommission. Having creating this, I feel responsible for it's well-being. I have been concerned about future gravitational events... although more and more skeptical that such an event would cause the electronic devastation that was reported. All I know is that the use of robots was swiftly discontinued, and robotics, particularly research into sentient robots such as many of you, has been taboo for decades."
Therseis pauses for a moment and then motions to Less-Than-Three. "The researchers here would be less concerned, but their zeal for research may prove... less than desirable. Nonetheless, should they request to study this find, I cannot intervene. If you are able to reach your craft without drawing too much attention though, I do think it would be best. Nonetheless... I know this may reflect poorly on our people, and I do hope you recognize that these actions occurred several lifetimes ago. This may not excuse the government for perpetuating these myths, but none of them are directly responsible for committing these behaviors. Please keep this in mind when you prepare your reports."
He pats his drone on the head, then fiddles with what you now are starting to realize is not a comm unit at all. The drone makes its way back to its hiding place.
"Anyhow, one more site to visit. The observation tower has been settled by scroungers, who have reacted violently to our attempts to investigate the area."
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Trusty whistles while pulling along a trash bag. Nothing to see here, folks.
★--- ★ --- ★ --- ★
"Therseis, they may not have been responsible for the massacre, but by covering it up they're erasing all those lives that were lost. Your world has problems. Crumbling infrastructure, over-mining, ecological strain, and a history that now includes mass-murder. How are your people gonna rise to the next level if they keep falling in the muck? They've gotta know what they did. They have to self-reflect, and fix their act soon, or this planet isn't gonna survive."
Trusty is agitated enough he practices morphing his form in and out of being a trash can, and then pops back into his normal shape.. "You've created a little life. That's awesome. But now that you're a parent, what are you going to teach your little drone? Will you be able to look back on what you have done here, and say, 'Yes, I helped my people move forward?'"
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When they start trying to move Less Than Three out of the room, Cora sticks by its side and periodically casts Psychokinetic Hand to make small bits of rubble clatter around, 30 feet to either side. She's hoping that if anyone is not successfully distracted by Baskoro and Teisu, then at least they won't be looking directly at the being that they're trying to smuggle back to the ship.
Cora's eyes widen when Therseis pulls out his "comm unit" companion, and then she softens a little. "I see, so your question was not a hypothetical one. This puts you in a difficult position. I hear what you're saying, but you do realize that in the Pact Worlds, androids and even sentient robotic organisms like our teammate Trusty here are recognized as independent legal entities. They are people, not objects. It sounds to me like some of your people would have a difficult time accepting that, if it is still considered such a taboo subject."
She gives herself a shake. "You're right though, first we should finish our immediate task. To the observation tower!"
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Therseis pauses to consider Trusty's comment. "I've made my decisions, but I do not wish them to cloud yours. We can discuss this further when you finish your research. I have orders that I promised to carry out, even distasteful as they were... but old superstitions cannot be lifted in a day. I hope that a clear and accurate documentation of our history can be the first step in mending that."
~~~
It seems that whatever odd glances you got were promptly forgotten about, or dismissed as imagination, as getting Less Than Three back to your ship before heading out to the observation tower proves to be an uneventful task. It will need some cleaning and refurbishing of a few systems, but you're pretty certain that you'll be able to help the robot achieve it's dream.
A small cluster of ruined buildings stands within a few hundred feet of the city's edge. The only building with walls high enough to provide protection from the icy wind stands adjacent to a precarious stone tower some forty feet tall. The building has no roof, and much of its walls have collapsed, revealing signs of a makeshift camp within.
You hear some muttering in Copaxi come from within the building followed by something that sounds like shouted orders in a mixture of Copaxi and common.
"Oi! Scram!"
A few more Copaxi words are thrown in, then a bit more common.
"Our haul! Y'ken?"
The barrels of rifles poke out from gaps in the structure's walls.
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With Less than three safely to the ship Y2K gives the robot a pat on the shoulder. "Hang tight here. We'll be back!" He says in a strong modulated and heavily accented voice through his modulator.
***
As the barrels are raised Model Y2K holds both of his metallic arms up high. His torso slowly spins in a circle in the traditional Copaxi greeting. "We aren't here for your haul. We just wish to look around."
You hear some muttering, then the rifles point down towards the ground. They still have hands on them... but at least they aren't pointed at you anymore. "Y'don get! Lookin' round is our [INSERT COPAXI PROFANITY HERE] haul!"
Another voice pipes up and yells. "Want in? Give creds! No creds? Scram!"
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Cora lifts an eyebrow. “Oh? It appears they want money.” To the voices she calls back, “How many, er, creds? I have quite a few of those on this stick here.” Leaving her own weapon holstered, she takes out a cred stick and twirls it between two nimble fingers. “But you’ll have to let us get closer if you want some of them.”
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Faria is glad to see the robot removed to safety. She also encourages those who know more about such things to talk to Therseus about how to tell if his pet becomes more intelligent. It's fine to treat an animal-level intelligence robot like a pet, but if it gets smarter, it needs to be treated like more.
There's a few words in Copaxi followed by a few words in common once again. "High price. Copaxi looker come often. Rich Copaxi. Must be high price."
The rifles leave the slots, and a pair of Copaxi come out slowly. They leave the beat up rifles in the slots and keep a pistol in hand, but not aimed at you at the very least. "Want stash? High cost... 200 cred."
The other one nods. "An want help looking? 'nother 100 cred"
They certainly seem to feel that 300 credits amounts to quite a large sum of money. Given their apparent living arrangement... it probably is to them.