A Small Technicality - Ch. 13

Chapter 13: Immobile For A Precious Several Seconds

-A-

WHOA!

Alt somehow got to a safe distance, aware of where this was going.  Tidal began to get up, but a single combat robot nailed her with a well-aimed electric stun shot.  She hadn't even seen it coming.

Not only did this break Tidal's concentration again, but it also rendered her immobile for a precious several seconds.

-S-

FULLY CHARGE ION CANNON.  MAXIMUM POWER, MAXIMUM CONCENTRATION.

Sherbie fired.

It seemed to be twice as loud as anything he'd ever fired before, the earth-shattered boom knocking out his tangible sensors for a second or two.

-A-

The dust settled.  A large crater had been created in the ground, in the process severing several underground connections.  All was silent.

And Tidal?  Well... that was a little complicated.

She had, indeed, been vaporized by the blast, but her body had instantly tried to recompose itself, and "glitched" slightly in the effort.  You couldn't tell by looking at her, though; she was unconscious, but looked perfectly normal.  Slowly, she opened her eyes and looked around, a curiously blank expression on her face.

"DIRECTIVE?" Tidal queried, in a monotone voice.  Alt winced at the familiarity of the situation.

-S-

Sherbie grunted, ordering the courier bot to descend to the ground.

Once there, he hopped off, landing on his one good leg, cannon still extended.  He kept his injured leg up off the floor, and he stared long and hard at Alt.

Are you alright?

-A-

Alt had just lost her werewolf form again and returned to normal.

I... I'm fine, I think.

"DIRECTIVE?  PRIMARY SUPERIOR?"

I don't know about Tidal, though.

-S-

"You need to head to the medical facility."

Sherbie, ignoring Tidal with a sort of bitterness, headed over to Alt to inspect her whip-wounds.  He himself had several scratched in his cybernetics, one one lash down his chest that eerily showed off his metal ribcage.

Alt was layered in the things, and it made his blood boil.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled apologetically, brushing back a strand of loose hair from her face.  "I was kind of useless."

-A-

"You did what you could, Sherbie.  I can't fault you for that."

Alt glanced at Tidal again.

We can't leave her asking for directives all day.  What are we going to do with her...?

-S-

Sherbie glared hatefully at Tidal, who stared back with that stoic expression he knew he'd had before.

"Was that like me?  That nothingness?"

Even on Tidal's face, it seemed so wrong.

-A-

"Exactly like you."

Alt had to admit it was a little depressing, too, but if anyone deserved it...

-S-

Sherbie breathed in, accepting he had to say it.

"We can't let her carry on.  Number one, it's cruel even by my standards, and two, if she gets her mind back, we're screwed.  She won't make the same mistakes again."

Sherbie retracted his cannon, but knew they'd have to tell her to self-destruct.  He wasn't risking Alt or Technuloji again.

-A-

"...I suppose."

"DIRECTIVE?"  Tidal's voice was as monotone as before, but now it seemed a little impatient for some reason.

Alt took a deep breath.

"First instruction: disable your immortality."

Tidal closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them again and reported that the task was done.  Alt nodded.

"Next instruction... ... ..."

Alt hesitated.  She just couldn't bring herself to give the lethal command.

-S-

Sherbie hopped over, and crouched in front of Tidal.

Since her mind was organic, her memories wouldn't have been 're-set' as his had been.

"Query.  During the previous fight, did you possess the intention to kill?"

-A-

Tidal paused.

"... ... Negative.  Possessed intention to destroy and torture, but not kill."

Alt wasn't sure whether this was reassuring or not.

-S-

Sherbie nodded gravely, and asked another.  

"Query.  Is current state of mind permanent, or temporary?"

-A-

"Permanent unless affected by external stimuli."

Alt knew a potential loophole when she saw one.  "Query.  What 'external stimuli' would those be?"

"Specific orders to undo state of mind or powerful reminder of life before mental alteration."

-S-

Sherbie looked at Alt.

"I know that look.  Whaddaya thinking?"

-A-

Alt returned Sherbie's look.

"I don't have the stomach to tell her to kill herself.  She's pretty harmless the way she is now... why don't we just assign her a directive and put her to work?"

-S-

Still unwilling to take chances, however, he spoke sternly.

"Erase all memories of intentions to destroy, torture and rule."

When she finally answered 'affirmative', Sherbie straightened, groaning, his fin's fingers laying against his thigh.

"Any ideas on a job?"

-A-

Alt glanced at Tidal, then back at Sherbie, then back at Tidal again, then back at Sherbie again.

"Let's put her on coast patrol.  Regardless of her character, she's still in her element in the water."

-S-

Sherbie nodded, and moved away, allowing Alt to make the order.

-A-

Alt looked Tidal square in the eye and spoke clearly and precisely.

"I am Altair, your primary superior.  Your secondary superior will be issued later.  Your directive is to patrol Technuloji's coastline and deal appropriately with any and all abnormalities.  You will be issued more detailed directives at a later time."

Tidal paused for a moment, then nodded her head and affirmed that directive.

Later that day...

Alt walked into the war room, where Ohm was back at the map table.  A consistent white light on the map marked Tidal's location as she circled Technuloji.

"I have to hand it to you, Your Majesty," Ohm commented.  "That salamander makes a pretty good patrol soldier.  Brilliant thinking, giving her that task."

"It was nothing, Captain," Alt reassured him.  Her wounds were fairly mild and easy to patch up, so she was in and out of the medical facility pretty quickly.  Sherbie, of course, wasn't so lucky.

-S-

Sherbie stood stubbornly by the bed, refusing to actually get into it.

"Sherbie, really, the more weight you put on that leg, the longer it'll take to heal!" chastised one nurse.

"I've spent more time in here than the whole of Technuloji!" complained Sherbie almost childishly, scraping his hair back from his face, "No offense, but I hate it in here.  You guys are all great, but I spend too much time in here."

He still kept his leg raised off the floor, and eventually Franklin and another nurse came in, looking stern.

-A-

Franklin was a little confused by Sherbie's behavior.

"Sherbie, I know you don't like being here, but we don't have a lot of options.  Did the JI44 not work out for you?"

-S-

"The JI44 was fine, aside from the fact I wasn't solid and could therefore do jack about Alt getting whipped by some immortal salamander who was also the person that robotified my brain!"

Sherbie huffed out a long breath, before eventually relenting and allowing himself to be led to the bed.  Swinging his legs up, he was quickly given painkillers, and told to go to sleep.

He muttered a choice swearword before burying his face in the pillow and trying to relax.

-A-

Franklin and the nurse glanced at each other.  After a moment, Franklin smiled.

"...I've got an idea.  Bring the JI44 into room D.  We'll need to disconnect the holo-generator from the mental extractor and..." That was all that could be heard as they walked away.  What was he up to?

-S-

Alt, I think I'm about to be killed.

Sherbie grunted, and twisted slightly to get more comfortable as a small pack of robots began to work on the scratches on his fin, buffing it down and then adding a strengthening gloss over the top, blending the colors seamlessly.

Franklin's doing something crazy to the JI44.

-A-

"... ... ...Please excuse me, Captain.  I have someplace I need to be."

Alt left the war room in a bit of a hurry, leaving a somewhat mystified Captain Ohm staring.

What do you know about what he's doing, Sherbie?