'What exactly am I? I know I'm much more corporeal than I was with Him, but it is not as if I can move my limbs as necessary. My joints are old, rusted and immobile, and my body is as heavy as lead.' I was frantic, trying to move something, anything at all, yet I remained in the same position, leaning against something. There was an utter silence around me, interrupted periodically by the drip of water.
A mildly annoyed voice spoke up in my head, a little startling in the quiet. 'Do you not know who you are? You're a robot, and a rather self-respecting one, if possible, since I do have an image.' I spoke a little, uncertain. 'Right, I'm a robot, which is something mechanical? I'm sorry, I have no idea what I'm doing or what I am right now.' The voice let out an exasperated huff at that. 'Well, I reckon I'll have to get you up to date on that. That comes second though. First, get us OUT of here.'
My eyes were not my own, despite them serving me well enough for me to be able to see the dark ceiling. There was a distinct feeling of my sight being foreign, different from whatever natural vision I tended to have, like glass were placed directly on my cornea to clear my sight. I could not feel my eyes (I was not sure if they were eyes, at that point), and being able to control them without being able to sense them was certainly a little frightening.
Much odder, then, was a blue-lined box that appeared, its background a translucent black, partially obscuring my vision. There was text on it, a neatly written 'Welcome, User 001.' 'An interface,' the other mind supplied, a little more familiar to me by then.
'Uh, alright, I guess. How am I supposed to navigate this thing?' A wave of regret came from the other part of my consciousness. 'Why did I let you take my body?' It sighed. 'Try scrolling- what's that? Oh, of course you don't know the word,' a slight scoff came, after which he continued, 'try adjusting the cameras up and down to look through the contents.' I heeded its advice, noting the use of the word 'camera', at which point the… interface moved upwards to reveal multiple options.
Host: User001
Titles: The Fool
Quest Interface: Suggested Courses of Action
Disposition: (Locked)
Cyborg Body State: Tier 1, Rank 1
Weapons Assimilated: Electromagnetic Wave Emitter (available),Sound input (available), Vision and Object Recognition (available),Motor-controlled Movement (unavailable), Sound output (unavailable),
Relations:-
Humans: (unknown)
Robots: (unknown)
Edict- Memory Recovery: (Locked)
I looked curiously over the entire thing. I knew He had called me His Fool, but I didn't know it was a title. It stung a little. On cue, the consciousness spoke up. 'The Fool? I gave my body to The Fool. Oh, I am screwed,' it groaned in my mind. I snapped at him, 'if you don't have anything good to say, shut up. Shit, no, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to- please speak.' The apology came too late, though, as I was met by silence in my mind. Cursing internally, before stopping once I realized that it could likely hear me (seriously, what must one do to have some privacy in one's own mind?), I went through all the options again. The 'Quest Interface' caught my attention. I focused on it, and the interface registered my request for elaboration.
A new box popped up, with more text in it. 'Hello, I am The System. How can I help you today?' The words seemed kind enough, so I was earnest in my answer. 'You know my predicament,' I thought, 'I cannot move, I cannot speak. Please, tell me how to get out of here.'
There was a pause, and a rotating circle appeared as an answer to my plea was prepared. Then, a procedure appeared, letter by letter, on the interface. I read it, with no little amount of confusion, and began to follow it.
'First, gauge your surroundings. Use electromagnetic waves and their echoes to map out where everything is.'
My surroundings were dim, but light filtered in through some slits in a high window, so I had figured out that I was indoors, and that it was day time. I followed the guides given by The System, sending delicate pulses of electricity to the emitter attached to me. While working, I reached out once more to the other consciousness. 'Hey, I'm sorry I got angry with you. I know it must not be great to have to give up a lot of control of your body, but I need to know things if I am to save your home. Please speak.' I spoke, I cajoled, but to no avail. When the data regarding my surroundings had returned, I reluctantly turned away from the other mind and paid attention to what I had gleaned.
The ceiling reached at least twenty feet above me, the window at around sixteen feet. The room I was in was enormous, and perhaps a workshop of a sort, considering its size, the multiple tables lining the walls, and the tools and machine parts strewn about, which was abruptly concentrated in a high pile, which I was leaning against. It had been long abandoned, though, considering the oil and water pooling here and there. The door was to my right, and thirteen feet above ground level, with stairs leading to the bottom of the room- both pieces of information useless considering the fact that I could not move. I let out a soft groan, before I focused on something new, speaking aloud,'...but, what is that?' The waves had bounced off some irregular shapes outside that looked like they were moving. There were humans there.
The consciousness perked up. 'Some of the waves have not returned,' it mused, 'they have something absorbing and detecting the waves.' Voices came from outside, and before I could ask or chew out the consciousness for its earlier silence, it urged me to intensify the strength of the waves. The voices grew louder, and so did a beeping noise, undoubtedly from the detector they had. The door above me creaked open, and the till-now-indistinct voices gained a sudden sharpness, as did the irritating beeping as it guided the humans over to me. Their boots were heavy, and they ended up somewhere beside me. My head being tilted upwards gave me a good view of my finders. One was lankier than the other, both dressed in muted, slightly filthy clothes, multiple rips and holes marring the fabric. The tall one had darker skin, a strong nose, deep set eyes, and an open face, eyes betraying his shock at finding me there. The shorter one was older, and her eyes betrayed nothing but hints of boredom and greed.
"It's… intact?" The boy stammered to who was clearly his master. "Won't it attack us?" The woman shook her head, irritated, frizzy black hair swaying with her. "Child, do you see nothing?" The woman admonished, "Do you not see the rusted joints? They cannot have electricity flowing through them. The emitter must still work, though, and I have my doubts about the microprocessor, but it may just be functional." She flashed a toothy grin at the boy, before barking at him to pick me up and take me upstairs. I imagined a rather well written 'thank you' for the system, despite the apprehension of the other mind. As arms hefted me over the shoulder, I relaxed a little, despite never knowing when I had become that tense.
Another command came from the woman, "Quicken your pace, boy! This will fetch us a pretty sum, and we'll have to sell it before the others get their hands on it! Finders keepers and all of those rubbish rules of the market. No integrity, I swear."
…Perhaps it was simply too early to relax.