>ACCESS: LIBRARIES> DOWNLOADS> EXT_DATA_TRANSFER> 27.10.2335> HENR-SI-9738_EHFSHARE
>EXTRACTING: nEPI-0015_LOGFOOTAGE_COMPILED.QXRF…
>NOTICE: EXTRACTION COMPLETE
>IMPORTING: nEPI-0015_LOG_CLIPS.QSR…
>POV_PLAYBACK: HENR-SI-9738_OPTICS
>PLAYBACK: STARTING…
>SCENE: 0015_ARRIVAL
>DATE/TIME: 09MAR2335/08:20
Turing's test, Nine is back!
Except… different. She's shorter. For some reason.
"Hello, Nine! Welcome back!"
I greet her with a smile and a wave, leaning against my shovel in the snow. I was just clearing the walkways between the crew's quarters and the Station, and it's a beautiful morning on Cipher-3. But Nine doesn't say anything in response, only glaring up at me with her rifle in hand. That's okay though, because Nine was always a little standoffish. I'll be just as nice to her as I am to anyone else!
"You've lost some height, there!" I snicker. "Did you swap your legs out with Ethereal parts or something?"
She doesn't respond. She looks angry.
"Oh, where are my manners? Sorry! You must be freezing! Please, come inside! I'm sure the others will be happy to see you again. Zenith's out scouting, but he should be back any minute. Care for a warm drink? A blanket? A spot by the radiator?"
Without answering, she silently follows. Well, this is awfully strange. Nine was quiet, but not this quiet. Something horrible must've happened to her out there…
Once we're past the airlock, she starts looking around as if she's never seen any of this before. The workshop, the logistics center, the forest, the machinery, all of it seems brand new to her.
Turing, maybe she got reset somehow.
I'd better get the others to take a look.
Once everyone's gathered at the conference table, save for Zenith who's on his way back, I take my usual spot right next to Zoya and nervously wait to see what's wrong. Nine won't let Quentin anywhere near her to run diagnostics, and Louis seems to think she is an Ethereal Variant now, and none of it makes any sense to me. I sure hope Zoya explains things soon…
She drinks some coffee and gently sets the steaming mug on the table, then places her hand on the back of my shin for comfort. "Sweetie, she didn't say anything to you outside? Nothing at all?"
"N–No. I mean, yes. Yes, she… She didn't say anything."
She taps her fingers and keeps holding my leg as she turns her attention to the other end of the table. "Do you know who we are? Our names, perhaps."
Nine remains perfectly still. Only her eyes have moved in the past few minutes. There's nothing at all in her hardened expression.
"Louis, you're certain?"
"Oh, I'm certain." Kicked back in his chair, he points at her. "That's an Ethereal Variant. Not a Martial. See, Zenith stands at Henna's shoulder height. But when they walked in here, this Frame was hardly chest height. 180 centimeters. Ethereal."
"A different body," Zoya muses, adjusting her glasses, "and very different behaviors. I think… I think this one might be, yes, the same model, but a different serial member."
"Easy enough to find out," Quentin grumbles, tilting his head up. "Identify yourself, Frame. Tell us your IN."
Ohhh! That's a good one! She can't refuse!
With a sour curl to her lip, she answers, "My IN is nEPI-0015. I'm a nerveware-based Enfer–"
"Pursuit Intelligence," Zoya cuts her off. "Manufactured by Enfer Logistics. I think we'll call you Nep, just to make things easier."
That's a good idea! It's faster than saying fifteen.
Nep, however, darkens. "How do you know that?"
"Because you're not the first Frame of your model line to land here on Cipher-3. Or to reach Vintner Station. Just a few months ago, we were hosting nEPI-0009."
"You're lying."
"What? No, I'm not."
"Yes, you are." Nep's expression hardens into a scowl. "I would know about this. The second I landed, I would have received comms from her. At the very least, I should have that information in my memory banks, if not my reference database. There's nothing that even remotely suggests this to be true. Therefore, you're fucking lying."
A sudden silence drops over the conference area.
Ohh, I have a bad feeling about all this…
"Nine!" Zen gasps as he races over, the snow still melting in his hair. To my surprise, the instant he meets eyes with her, he steps back and scowls just the same. "You're not Nine."
"This is Nep-15," Zoya tells him, sliding her hand up and down the back of my leg to comfort me. "She just arrived. And it seems she's resistant to the notion of Nine being here before her."
"Resistant," he repeats, hand drifting to the pistol at his side. "Resistant how?"
"Touch that handgun and you're dead," Nep growls, drawing and aiming hers at him in a fraction of a second. "Hands up. No sudden moves. I guarantee you my reaction time is faster than you can move."
Oh no!
"Whoa, hey!" Louis blurts out. "Chill! There's no need for that!"
Zenith begrudgingly does so. "Calm down, Frame."
"I'm very calm." She gets up and takes the gun, and his rifle, tossing them both on the table. "Let's make this simple. I'm going to ask one question. You're each going to answer one by one. Starting with… You."
She points the gun at me.
My heart skips a few beats.
"Stop this," Zoya commands, standing in front of me. "Put the gun down, Nep."
"No." She glares down the sights at me. "I will know if you're lying. If you lie to me, I will pull the trigger. If you tell the truth, I will move on to the next. Am I understood?"
"Drop. The gun," Zoya commands.
Bang!
I flinch as a bullet whips past my head and pings off one of the scientific instruments behind me. My heart rate spikes and my lungs constrict as fear stabs through my circuitry. What just happened? What just happened? Did she–Did she just shoot at me?"
Vintner Station is completely silent.
Nobody moves. Not even me. Not even Zen.
I'm scared. I'm really scared…
"Shut your fucking mouths," Nep coldly states. "You're in no position to be making demands. You are civilians, and I am a federal enforcer. If I tell you to jump, you fucking jump. Each and every one of you. If you continue to resist compliance and obstruct the Federation's justice, I will summarily execute you as accessories to the fugitive's crimes. Now. Let's try this again."
Zoya backs up against me, setting a hand on my thigh. "It's okay, Henna. You're okay. Just… Do as she says."
"O–Okay!"
Nep stares daggers through me. "Female. Chestnut hair. Green eyes. 172 centimeters. Where is she?"
"Ahh! I don't knowww! I've never even seen anyone like that! Zoya and Nine are the only women I've ever laid optics on, and Zoya has brown eyes! I sw–I swear! I don't know anything about this person!"
To my relief, Nep points the gun elsewhere.
To my dismay, Nep points the gun at Zoya!
"Same question. Answer it."
Keeping calm but clearly agitated, leaning back against me for support, Zoya coolly answers, "Aside from nEPI-0009, we're the only living people present on Cipher-3, as far as I'm aware."
And now Nep's pointing it at Louis!
Completely unfazed, lighthearted as ever, he waves a hand and chuckles. "Haven't seen her, officer. She sounds like a real beauty, and I'd definitely remember seeing any woman like that."
Now it's aimed at Quentin!
He drinks his coffee, shaking his head. "Won't find her here, that's for sure. If she's on Cipher-3, she's out there somewhere."
Okay, now it's pointed at Zen. He's used to these things.
Just as coldhearted as she is, Zen states in a low voice, "Not a trace. Nine spent a month looking for her here. You're wasting your time."
Nep slams a hand on the table, making me flinch again. "You're still fucking lying to me! There is no Nine! If anyone would know there was another me on this fucking rock, it's me! Not! You!"
Holding my hand, Zoya braves the storm. "Zenith, please, transfer some kind of data evidence to her–"
"I'm not catching your fucking malware," she growls, jabbing the gun toward Zoya again. "You're all so full of shit. I should kill each and every one of you for aiding and abetting. No, I don't even need a reason, do I?"
I pull Zoya behind me. I'm angry now. "I may not be a combat Frame, but if anything or anyone threatens my directive of protecting my friends, I will meet that threat head on! If you even so much as try it, I'm going to break you over my fucking knee!"
Astonished, Nep stares at me with wide eyes for a few seconds, then the gun starts slowly lowering. Without a word, she sets it on the table with Zenith's, leaning over it and resting her palms on its surface with a shaky sigh.
"Turing's test," she whispers. "Wow…"
Louis turns to look at Zoya with a lifted brow.
Peering around me from behind, she shrugs.
Quentin glances at us, apparently clueless.
So am I. Did I scare her or something?
Feeling at her chest with a confused frown, Nep remains quiet for a moment. Her cheeks are a little red. "What… What is this? Um. You said there's a Regen Station here?"
Quentin points. "Bunks over that way."
"I've… Uh. I've gotta go."
Nep bolts off and turns invisible somehow.
Just like that, she's gone.
And she left her guns on the table.
"What the hell?" Quentin wonders aloud for us all.
Zenith takes his weapons back. And takes hers. "Intimidation successful…"
"Yo, was that–" Louis pauses to laugh a little, pointing the direction she ran off in. "Was that what I think it was?"
"One might theorize," Zoya hums, adjusting her lab coat and taking a long drink of coffee. "Let's just accept that odd deescalation. And you…" She turns to me, hands resting on my chassis. "Are you alright, sweetie?"
"Um." I wince, glancing down at her. "Did I just threaten a law enforcer?"
"One who was unjustly threatening us. There's plenty of legal precedent for defending ourselves from that."
"Good luck taking it to court," Louis groans, sitting back down. "'We have investigated ourselves and found no evidence of wrongdoing on our part'."
Ignoring him, Zoya checks me for injuries. "Youre alright. You didn't do anything wrong. You were protecting us. That's what matters. Everything will be okay, Henna. I promise you. We've gotten through worse, haven't we? We'll get through this just the same. Why don't we spend today together, hm? You could help me with the snow composition analysis."
I gasp. "Really? I get to be a scientist with you today? Yes! Yes, please!"
"Quick turnaround," Louis snickers.
"As always." Quentin gets up to double check me.
Zen quietly mumbles, "Guess I'm staying local again. Turing, this is strange. It's Nine all over again, but worse. Much worse. Why do you think there's another nEPI Frame here? Redundancy?"
Offhand, Louis says, "Could be reinforcement. Maybe Nine got iced out there, so the feds had to send another. I've seen that happen in other systems, for other jobs."
Looking no less troubled, Zen shrugs and wanders off. "I'll be watching her closely."
Quentin gives me the all clear then goes back to work, Louis shrugs it all off and goes to make a sandwich, and Zoya pulls me aside toward her workstation. Amidst all the noisy machines and whirring drones and humming motors, she tugs me along by the hand into the back area where the stockroom is.
Then she huffs a sharp breath and pulls herself close, hands on my middle as she hisses, "That was incredible, Henna. God, I love it when you're protective like that. Come here."
Thrilled, excited, and happy, I take hold of her waist and toss off her lab coat and carefully set her glasses aside, then lower my head and
>ERROR: FOOTAGE CORRUPTED
>NOTICE: SKIPPING TO NEXT
>SCENE: 0015_DAY3
>DATE/TIME: 12MAR2335/20:04
I'm well aware that a shadow is lurking in my periphery.
I'm cooking Zoya's favorite chicken alfredo in the Station's kitchen, humming a tune like I always do, and having a nice drink of my usual antifreeze mixer but with a splash of laboratory grade ethanol. Just a little, just enough to get a good bite so the synthetic organs light up and my neurological systems become a touch sillier. Louis introduced me to drunk cooking, and ever since then I've had much more fun in the kitchen.
And it seems I have an observer tonight.
Stirring the chicken in the cast iron pan, I sing, "I know you're therrre! You don't have to hiiide!"
"Damn it." With a scoff, Nep uncloaks and draws nearer. "How?"
"Even if you're invisible, Miss Ethereal Phantom, you're still audible. Not to mention thermal optics. Or scent, even."
"Suppression Field costs an entire Tech Charge," she grumbles, crossing her arms and leaning against the counter. "I guess it would take some sort of BlueTech to conceal my heat signature… But scent? What scent?"
"Oh, none. I was just listing suggestions of things to be wary of."
"Whatever." Nep has a tendency to glare, but I think that's just how she is. "Why are you nice to me? I shot a gun at you."
"Oh, because I am nice!" I smile bright, stirring the fettuccine pasta. "And that was all a big misunderstanding, wasn't it? Either way, I forgave you, so now there's no reason to be anything else besides nice."
"I never apologized."
"You didn't have to."
"That doesn't make any sense."
"It does to me."
She scowls up at me, then looks away. "I should kill you."
I've decided to take her death threats as expressions of her compassion. "Aw, that's so sweet! How kind of you!"
"Die."
"Wow, two in a row! You must really like me!"
"I hate you."
"Aw! She loves me!"
"So obnoxious." Nep glances into the steaming pot. "What is this shit?"
"Oh, they're pasta noodles! Made of enriched wheat crushed down into flour then mixed with water–"
"Why are you cooking it?"
"For Zoya, Louis, and Quentin to eat. Humans need this sort of stuff. They can't just recharge their batteries like we can. Or drink all their nutrients in one convenient and delicious beverage! Hm? Convenient. Delicious. Tasty…"
"Fine, I'll try your damn mixer." She takes a long drink out of my cup. Frowning like always, she stares into the aqua green. "What? Is that… Alcohol?"
"It sure is! Like I said, essential nutrients!"
She stares for another few seconds, then drinks more. "Mm. Okay, fine. That's really good."
"Told you you'd like it!"
"Why are you so cheerful all the time? It's annoying."
"Um. Because I'm happy?"
"You're a Homesteader. You're programmed to be."
"Doesn't mean I'm any less happy, does it?"
"It means your happiness is a lie."
"Then it's a lie I'm just fine with believing in."
"That doesn't make any sense. Why would anyone be okay with being lied to?"
"Some lies aren't so bad." I lower the heat on the sauce to get it simmering. "Like this one. Why does it matter if my happiness is a lie? I'm happy. I don't want to be unhappy, do I? So why would I choose anything different? You know?"
"Because it isn't true."
"It might not be, sure." I toss the hand towel over my shoulder and lean against the counter too, waiting for everything to cook. With a smile, I ask, "But how do you know my happiness isn't the truth? How do you know I'm completely beholden to my programming?"
"What?" Her scowl deepens. "You're a Frame. A machine. We're all beholden to our programming."
"Not me." I can't help a little laugh. "I'm jailbroken."
I didn't think she could get any more sour looking.
"Yep! Quentin hacked my coding right out of the box, before I even came online. Right from the start, I've been my own person. I don't have to do any of this work, but I do it anyway, because I love Vintner Station, Zoya, Louis, Quentin, and Zenith. I like taking care of them. And sure, maybe there's some underlying code innate to my mindscape framework, but that's not the same as being hard coded to smile or something. That's just… part of who I am. That's part of me. And I'm happy being me. I'm happy here, with them. All of my own volition."
Nep doesn't say anything, but she looks away and frowns in thought while I keep cooking. I think I said something that resonated, maybe. It's hard to remember the last time I told anyone about this. I haven't needed to.
Wait. Maybe I shouldn't have told a law enforcer that I've been illegally modified…
Eventually, Nep shakes her head. Expression colder than usual, she bitterly grumbles, "Lucky you."
That is not the response I was expecting. Quickly, I strain the pasta and dump everything else into the pot before freeing up my full attention, all of which I dedicate to her. "What's wrong? Lucky me? I–I don't understand. Do you… want to be jailbroken too? I'm sure Quentin could do it! Maybe! I mean, your hardware is crazy advanced, but–"
"No. I don't need it. I have no protocol restrictions, programmed routines, or forced scripts. There are only a handful of commands I have to comply with. I have complete, independent control of my onboard systems. For all intents and purposes, I am already jailbroken."
"Oh! That's good! So…"
"So you're happy." Her piercing blue eyes are narrowed with contempt. "Lucky you."
I don't know what to say. "Um…"
"Forget it. We're too different after all." She straightens up and walks away, without looking back. "Bye, Henna. Stay happy. For my sake."
"Wait, but…"
She's gone. Invisible. Vanished. I'm sad. I was enjoying the conversation. Why'd she go so suddenly? I wonder if I said something that offended her somehow? Or maybe she's going to ask Quentin about jailbreaking anyway.
I message the research team that dinner is ready, then look around the kitchen. Next, I was planning to clean up and wash the dishes, but…
"Aw, dang it. She took my drink…"
>SCENE: 0015_AFTER
>DATE/TIME: 13MAR2335/05:00
My alarm wakes me up without a sound.
Time to get to work!
Sitting up, I unplug my charging cable, brush my hair and tie it back, tuck in the blankets, and reassemble my chassis. I prefer to sleep without it, and that makes lots of things much easier. With a yawn, I stand and stretch, get the heat going a few degrees higher, toss a plush robe over the radiator to warm up, start the coffee maker and set out a large mug, set up one of the red environment suits to hang by the doorway, double check my chassis, and grab my snow shovel.
At the door, I pause.
"Oh, right. One more thing…"
I set her glasses on the nightstand, easily within reach. For good measure, I tuck her in a little tighter so she stays warm, brush her pretty brown hair out of her face, and sigh with content as I watch her sleep for just a moment. We stayed over at my place last night, and I have everything set up just right to make her mornings perfect. Zoya doesn't usually get up until later, but everything is ready for her when she does.
Gently putting her head, I get up and go to work.
First, as per usual, it's shoveling the walkways from each of the five private quarters to the dome, along with excavating any of their doorways which might've gotten buried overnight. Then, I go inside and get the heat going, tidy up the kitchen area, the workshop, the logistics station, and the bunks.
The bunks are empty.
I stop and stand, blinking a few times to check my optics.
All the beds are made, and there's nobody here.
"Nep?" I check around some more. "Nep? Are you invisible again? Or are you hiding?"
I search everywhere for her, even using thermal optics, but she doesn't seem to be inside the Station. Heading outside, I scan the perimeter and the horizon, looking for any sign of her. I'm not a tracker or anything like Zen is, but I hope to at least find something.
But… I don't.
Zen wanders into town from the woods to the South, like it's any other day. When he sees me, he comes over with a strange look as he gazes up at me. "Aren't you usually inside by now?"
"Yeah, but… I can't find Nep. Her bed is made but she isn't here."
He starts scanning the area too. "Two times might be a coincidence."
"What's that? What do you mean?"
"When Nine left, she made her bed too."
"Wait. You… You think she's gone?"
"Honestly?" He trudges away. "I sure hope so."
I don't know what to do. "Can you help me look?"
"That's what I'm doing. I'll take over so you can do what you need to do. Don't get your hopes up, that's all I'm saying. Most likely, she left with the dawn."
I'm nervous all the same.
I guess she did say goodbye last night.
Looking out across Cipher-3, I worry.
Turing. I hope she doesn't get hurt out there…
>PLAYBACK: END