🪐
![Project R3B3L Part 6/? - Green-[C]🪐
[IMG=Y3H]
[C]🪐
[C]Color Coding: Green
[C]🪐
Dr. Bailey smiles the most out of all the](https://image.staticox.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fpm1.aminoapps.descargarjuegos.org%2F8217%2F03d41ad694989c8f0133ebaccb323339c33e22f7r1-500-503v2_hq.jpg)
🪐
Color Coding: Green
🪐
Dr. Bailey smiles the most out of all the scientists. She also complains the most, but the way she does it feels different. She’s more honest. More real. Authentic.
Today, she rushes into my room as I’m leaning over the piano improvising new chord progressions. With a great thud, she slams a chair next to mine and stares at me expectantly. She fixes her glasses which were lopsided from her crash into the chair.
“What is it this time, Dr. Bailey?” I take my hands off the keys. Her smile grows wider as she jumps from her chair and leans over my shoulder. Her curly hair brushes against my metal exterior. My hand flies absentmindedly to my smooth face. I wonder what it’s like to have millions of individual strands running down your head and neck. Alas, my artificial features don’t include hair. I’ve always ired Dr. Bailey’s, though. The sea of brown curls frame her heart face so… beautifully.
“I found another song for you. It’s a bit harder than the ones you’ve done so far, but I think you can take it.” As Dr. Bailey’s body is pressed against mine, a sense of uneasiness washes over me. My wires tingle under her touch… They've been doing that more often recently.
I study the notes for a moment. Before starting, I cup my hands over my knees, like Dr. Bailey taught me, and float them over the keys. Gently, slowly, I press the starting keys and glide into the slurred notes. The piece is slow, but shifts across measures abruptly, forcing me to quickly move across the piano. Like a butterfly, I fade out of the room, out of the lab, and fly into a world all my own. One where Dr. Bailey watches me dance along to the music of black and white.
⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀
🪐
⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀
I know Dr. Bailey’s location.
On instinct, I run to Richard. I find him in his tent standing over his computer, reading what I assume is data from my last test. Humans seem to like tests.
“AC-3, hey!” Richard’s face brightens momentarily before his emotions shift to worry. “What’s wrong?”
“I…” My system falters, my thoughts scrambling. Voices echo from side to side in my mind. My fingers twitch uncomfortably and my gears struggle to move on my command. What used to be second nature now stands at the forefront of my system. Moving is a difficult task to perform in my moments of confusion.
“AC-3, is your system failing?” Richard tries to stand behind me to access my control pad, but I quickly move away from him. A sense of urgency and panic surges through my body.
“I need to go back.” I mutter, my head bobbing awkwardly as the information I learned settles in. “I have to go back, Richard!”
Richard has his hands up now. All my controls are twisted and my sensors fail to comprehend what he’s feeling. I can’t see his face, and this makes me panic even more.
“She’s in danger and I need to go back!” I’m shouting now which causes Richard to stumble backwards. I don’t care how much I’m scaring him, because I’m terrified that Bailey might be hurt. She needs me. I… need her.
My chest begins to pulse, and my weapons system kicks in as a reaction to the stress levels reaching full capacity. My hands turn into blasters, and Richard yells out for me to stop. As I stumble around the tent, he looks at someone behind me, nods, and my world goes dark.
⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀
🪐
⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀
“AC-3, do you recognize who this is?”
I’m awake. His fingers are in front of my eyes. Between them is… paper. A slip. A shimmer of a laminated… What's the word? Photograph. I think there’s a human on the surface. Surface? Am I in a cave? No, I’m in the lab. Wait, what do I mean by lab? Where’s the hive? Where are the others? Why is it just me? Why is it so quiet?
“AC-3! Focus!” Hands on my shoulders. I’m in an earthquake, no, I’m being shaken. Why can’t I move? My eyes slide down, slowly, painfully, from the photograph to… my arms. Where have they gone? What is this metal casing? Armor? Am I… a beetle? No, I’m a computer.
Computer. What is that word? Why do I know it? I shouldn’t know that word. Papers fold through my mind… files. There are so many things I never learned suddenly in my mind.
“Maybe you need another sweep.” His voice is so loud. I recognize it, but at the same time, it’s the most foreign sound I know. Contradictions. What does the hive think? Wait, I can’t hear them. Why can’t I hear them?
He makes me fall asleep. I hate this part. The black nothingness reminds me of the caves back home. Mother always said to stay out of the caves, but Brother and I never listened.
Will I ever see them again?
⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀
🪐
⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀
When they bring me back, I jolt awake. How long has it been? Where am I? I look at my hands, which are handcuffed. What am I?
“You’re awake.” Everything is jumbled, I barely make out what Richard says, or that it’s Richard at all. For a second, I think it’s Dr. Scott, asking me who is in the photograph. My answer was always me, but it never looked like me. It looked… otherworldly.
“What… what did I do?” I put my head into my hands, squeezing my eyes shut from the piercing pain all over my body. Like a thousand needles stabbed between my casings.
“Well, you were almost taken apart to be used for spares, but then we found something.” Richard puts his hand on his neck, rubbing it as a form of comfort. He was going to take me apart? Wait, what did he mean by “found something?”
“What did you find?” I look up at his face, my sensors kicking in and reading hope and… concern.
“We found codes created by one of our own. She ed away a long time ago so they must be old, but still…” Richard’s voice shakes, as if the memory of her was still painfully raw. Pushing back the emotion, he continues, “If she didn’t mark every code of hers with a signature, we’d never know it was her’s. But, it must be important for Corporate to use it on you. I think… it might be why your program is so… unique.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“AC-3, when you left the lab, did you…” Richard pauses, his eyes shifting from side to side as he carefully searches for his next words. “Did you go against your orders?”
I don’t reply. I don’t want to reply. I suppose that’s the way it’s always been. I have always wanted or not wanted to do things. Should I, as a robot, even have wants?
“You’re not responding, did I break something?” Richard runs his fingers over my control . The sensation burns more than ever before. As he fumbles with the wires in my neck, I slump over and bury my face into my hands. My system whirls as I stir over the events I saw in Bailey’s message. I have wants, yes, but those were selfish and because of those wants…
“I abandoned her, Richard.” My confession shocks me more than it confuses Richard. Just like the fire in my chest hurts more than the ugliest wound would hurt my patients.
“Who did you abandon?” Richard drops his hand from my neck and slides it over my shoulder.
“Her name is…” I stop myself. Is she even alive now? “... was Bailey.” My words drip with uncertainty, but my tone of voice stays the same. How jealous am I that my emotions will always seem artificial to the world outside my raging mind.
“I’m sorry…” Richard sits down beside me. His hand falls off my shoulder and down across his lap, like hearing about death takes energy out of him.
“It’s not your fault.” My shoulders grow more tense. If it’s anyone’s fault, it’s mine. To it this would cause my system to fail again. “The lab was attacked and instead of staying and helping, like my program begged me to do… I abandoned her… all of them.”
We sit in silence. He doesn’t say anything. I don’t dare to say anymore than I mean to. The idea that he was going to take me apart… whatever we had before feels different now. I can never see him the same way again.
Perhaps this is how Truman felt? Does he believe I’ve failed him? What else have I done to hurt the people I care about? What kind of medical robot harms people the way I have? As these questions turn over in my mind, I know there’s no one who can answer them.
Richard eventually leaves me alone, sitting in the tent on the table he meant to dismantle me on. I stare ahead of me. While I seem docile to someone on the outside, my mind rages on, busy with a plan. As I sit mulling it over, I realize that a butterfly has made its home on my hand.
While I watch it crawl across my metal casing, I map out a route back to the lab. I’ve failed Bailey once, I must never fail her again. And I’ll start by studying those files, and searching the lab for her. If I can’t save her, the least I can do is give her a proper burial.
⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀
🪐
Comments (5)
Also! Just wanted to add that, as always, this was really well written, and I commend you for that, because these specific scenes/chapters are hard to write. And it’s even harder to keep writing consistently good throughout. But you always make it damn interesting and a joy to read.
Wonderful work Elliott! :heart:
Thank you!!! Ah, it means the world to hear that, especially since I’ve poured my heart into AC-3 and Project R3B3L 🥺 :revolving_hearts:
Yeahhhhhhh! Part 6 is here!
And yet another great chapter in this sci fi saga! But also a very different one, compared to the rest. This one was more… contained. Yeah, I think that’s the word. It focused mostly on the relationship between AC-3 and Dr. Bailey, which makes sense, considering how the last chapter ended.
Again, I love how it’s structured. It starts with a clear memory of the two at the lab, which you know are my favorite scenes to read. And this one was especially intimate and squarely from the perspective of AC-3 and how they see the doctor. It’s fascinating and I adore the details of AC-3’s behaviour, like touching their face after the hair brushes against their body. Seems like AC-3 has a very soft spot for Dr. Bailey. Much more than I initially anticipated. I ship it! XD
But, of course, that was the quiet before the storm, and it wasn’t supposed to last :cry: And the scene afterwards was heartbreaking. I could never imagine that AC-3 would break down like that, like actually break, but it makes sense, since they are, at the end of the day, a computer. But oh boy! That did not go well.
The scene afterwards is confusing and disorientating, which was exactly what it needed to be. I’m so curious as what the photo “test” is all about. And the strange implication of AC-3’s thought process (presumedly the one they have at the start of their “existence”). A hive? Mother? Brother? So many questions!!!
And then Richard goes and almost takes them apart? That is so devastating, but sadly realistic. The discrimination, that distrust, it might seem to go away after some nice talks and “getting to know each other”. But that’s all superficial. It’s easy to be nice when things are going well, but when s**t hits the fan, like it did in that scene, that’s when you see those prejudices rear their ugly head. None of the rebels ever truly cared for AC-3, in any way. They only saw them as a machine. And it must hurt so much for them to realize that :cry:
Yess!!! And it’s not months after the last one :’)
Thank you!! And yes, that’s what I was going for. I wanted to hone in more on the relationship between them :D I’m glad that sang through and I’m also really happy to hear that it’s more put together <3
I’m just treating you to the lab memories with Dr. Bailey before the pain comes in, hehe. Yes!! AC-3 definitely has a soft spot for her. Good to hear you ship them lol. I’m not revealing any canon ships, but I welcome any head-canons you’ve got for me!
I struggled a bit with that scene :’) I tried to convey a sort of,, panic attack of sorts? I still feel like some things could be added to further that feeling.
Hehe!! Those questions will be answered eventually, just gotta be patient!! There are so many things I wanna tell you, but I wanna keep it a surprise. I’ve been writing down all my notes and stuff in my sketchbook, since it’s so complex and it’s hard to untangle the web of a story that I wanna construct. For now, I’m playing out the strings that will give you the full picture at the end :))
It is the beginning of the strange relationship AC-3 will have with the rebels. At the beginning I had planned for them to take the side of the rebels completely, but I realized that the rebels would NEVER accept them wholeheartedly. Their mistrust of robots is too great for them to see past it. As more and more action takes place, we’ll really see how AC-3 fits in with the whole war :eyes:
LOOORRREEEE!!LOOOORRRRREEEE!!!