Continue Online (Part 3, Realities) (45 page)

At least I had a goal now. I sifted through the pile once more, this time separating out the
[Core]
s. It surprised me that the other
[Mechanoid]
s hadn't done so yet. Maybe they were too busy reconstructing everything. Maybe they didn't feel that it was worth the time.

Legs and arms were placed out. Most were partially melted now, with the top layers peeling away like a candy cane. They didn't have flesh or bone layers. Only ribbons of color that spiraled through everything down to the middle. I tried to match them up. What had started as a quest for Iron and Ruby turned into a desire to piece them all together. Leaving them in a lump felt disrespectful.

The more I put together the worse my feeling became. I tried not to yank remains of out the pile, but they needed to be sorted. To be measured as individuals.
[Mechanoid]
s and everything in this game might just be the dreams of AIs, but they deserved more than this.

"Unit Hermes." A blue tinted
[Mechanoid]
walked nearby. This one was rail thin and sleek. The illumination of blue shone brightly enough to almost look clear. "You appear distressed."

In my hands was a
[Mechanoid]
chest with blood on it. The realism brought me to a halt. My fingers traced a trail along the mess. Absently something in the back of my mind questioned how blood could survive in space, or indeed how this got onto one of our people at all. The rest of me felt another level of sadness. Our, this races kind weren't the only ones.

I myself had blown up a lot of them. My thoughtless rush to fire lasers into other ships. The thought made me shake with loathing. How had I forgotten who I was? Monsters were one thing, players another, but all the other human denizens of this world? They didn't deserve to get caught up in our crossfire. Even if Hal Pal said they were all cardboard cutouts that didn't matter until someone paid attention.

"No." I didn't look up for long. More than a few
[Mechanoid]
s paused to stare at my actions. This blue one was the only person to actually talk, though.

"You seem like you desire assistance," the bright blue one said again. I glanced at the
[Mechanoid]
. Aqua, this was one of the five I hadn't met. Male or female didn't matter, but their role sounded like that of a healer.

"I'm..." I looked at the seven or so half constructed
[Mechanoid]
bodies. They were broken, entire portions of their bodies were gone. It annoyed me. "I'm missing a lot, it would help me to, try and put them together again."

"Very well. This is a good method for you to contribute. If you are able to recover enough, we can try to bring back more than Iron or Ruby."

"I would like that."

"Then contact me when you are ready. This one will activate its core to call back the programming of those deceased." Aqua spoke unusually, referring to itself in the third person.

I nodded. They would be reconstructed back at their home world, but I also remember Treasure had said such a process came with costs, a loss of data and ability. For players, the penalty boiled down to stats and skills, for these
[Mechanoid]
s it could be worse. Or maybe we weren't doing them any favors. Putting them back on the
[Wayfarer Eight]
might just be marching them forth to be broken again.

Either way, I could help.

Aqua knelt down and started lining pieces up. I watched for a moment to try and understand. The thin
[Mechanoid]
touched parts of a broken arm and shoulder together. They glowed briefly with a plain white light and sealed at the edges. Successful fusions stayed connected, forming a complete shape. Other portions that didn't fit and would be set off to one side. Two of the nameless
[Mechanoid]
s, both with varying shades of white and blue colors, would then take the incorrect piece and put it back into the pile.

I wasn't sure how I felt about this being turned into a quest. That hadn't been the point at all. Still, I wanted to do it. My efforts were making progress on several smaller pieces. Another hour passed where I managed to get a half formed reassemble. Jeeves came in with his ship and started unloading additional body parts.

I stopped putting together items to look at my companion. The AI didn't notice my presence at all. It looked to be completely lost in the task of moving parts. Each movement was mechanical and devoid of any sort of light or emotion. Even the normal strands of dirty gold were dimmed.

"Jeeves?" I tried to raise my voice. All my prior attempts to contact it or join parties had failed.

The AI didn't respond. I set down the torso in my arms and ran over. Each footstep upon the
[Wayfarer Eight]
's widened hangar echoed loudly. I grabbed the AI by the shoulders and tried to turn it in my direction.

"Jeeves!" My hands shook it. Other than halting from my grasp the AI showed no response. There was no hint or spark within it. Neither voice, butler or maid, came forth. My eyes cast up and tried to figure out what to say.

"Unit Jeeves is tired." Aqua stopped sealing together body parts and wandered in our direction.

"Yes. Maybe." I didn't know if an AI could actually get tired. There were many odd things when it came to the AI's existence. For one, Jeeves appeared to be gender neutral, which wasn't bad, it threw me off a little each time I thought about it. "Jeeves isn't like me, I don't know what this will do to it."

"This one is aware of the subtle differences, Unit Hermes though you feel it otherwise." Aqua stepped over to Jeeves and held out a hand. Seeing the two of them standing together showed how tall Aqua was.

Light flared and its blue glow increased. Jeeves' own energy
[Core]
s tried to brighten as well, but they rapidly reverted to their dull coloring. The lanky blue one tried again but had the same result. Whatever was happening made it impossible for my friend to stay energized.

"This one called Jeeves is not one of us, nor does it seem to be like you," Aqua said after a fourth defeat. "It appears to be stuck between our reality and another, home in neither."

"What can I do?" I asked.

"Unit Hermes, you have much to learn about what it means to be a Mechanoid. Your lack of understanding may be why this one did not provide approval for the Mistborn." Aqua turned a hand toward our pile of half-completed bodies. "What do you see when this one mends that which was broken?"

I ignored his commentary about approval and thought about this situation. Aqua and I had never met before today. The
[Mechanoid]
certainly didn't seem like a fighter. Iron and this blue one were distinctly different in their approach and manner. Iron was abrupt and to the point, but didn't intend to be rude. Aqua spoke rather differently and felt more like a patient teacher.

"You touch them together, and then light." I had paid attention.

"You see, but do not appear to understand," the
[Mechanoid]
said in my direction.

"I don't." I wanted Jeeves to be better. How had he gone from functional to broken this quickly? The thought felt stupid once it came to mind. How had I gone from stable to a drunken mess after Xin's death? The answer was seeing those I cared for pass on.

I tried to watch Aqua's motions. Nothing made enough sense to act upon. Blues eyes stared from a lanky body into my friend's almost plain dirty gold. Jeeves wasn't focusing on anything correctly. Part of me desperately worried about what might be going on with its programming. Turning an AI's ability to process information upside down required a lot of conflicting issues.

"Look here." Aqua sat down next to a broken leg that had come apart at the knee. "It is not about simply putting two like objects in proximity, but of putting pieces that recognize each other in direct contact."

Aqua kept up its repairs the entire time, looking over at me to see if it made sense. My mind tried to reason through it for a solid minute before reaching a conclusion. This was a fancy way of explaining that Jeeves felt disconnected from everything. Alone, in a sea of items that should have been familiar.

That feeling had haunted me for months. The crushing absence of companionship at Xin's death had nearly destroyed me. Sometimes it wasn't about words or a magical turn of phrase. All the speeches and words of dead philosophers couldn't resolve a painful absence of connection. I wasn't a hugging sort of person, but Jeeves deserved one.

I stepped in and wrapped my arms around him in a bear hug. It felt weird to be embracing anyone who wasn't family, but at the same time, it might help. The AI was much smaller than this new form of mine, part of me felt like its emotional frailty was magnified by the difference in size.

"Ah. User Legate," Jeeves spoke. "I am sorry. I did not notice your arrival."

Hearing it respond made the knot in my stomach loosen a little. I hadn't known what to do. My words to the Hal Pal consortium clearly hadn't solved Jeeves' emotional issues. A hug wouldn't completely resolve things either, but it helped us both.

"It's okay. I kept myself busy." I smiled and kept awkwardly hugging the AI. Jeeves did not hug back, but it did look around with renewed interest. Previously dull lights on the AI's
[Mechanoid]
body lit up. Stepping back gave it room to take in our situation. The AI stared at the mass of bodies behind us being reconstructed.

"What are you doing, User Legate? Mechanoids do not require manual reconstruction." Jeeves tilted its head in my direction and raised an eyebrow.

"They lose data, right?" I looked at the pile as well. Some of the nameless
[Mechanoid]
units were now sorting through our heap and trying to match up missing items.

"It is only data loss, User Legate," Jeeves said while blinking rapidly. A brief moment of muted confusion crossed over its features.

"For them, maybe not. Maybe they lose memories or something." I scratched my head. Dull clinks of noise reminded me that this body had no hair. "I just, wanted to help."

"You do not need to do this, User Legate. You may find other ways to contribute should you desire."

"You've helped me get this far. What kind of friend would I be not to try and return the kindness? You keep bringing in the pieces. Aqua and I will try to put them back together." I glanced down at the blue lined
[Mechanoid]
. It looked back and gave a faint smile then nodded.

"Very well, User Legate. Thank you," the AI said, sounding pleased. Jeeves turned back to the
[Wayfarer's Hope]
, which sat docked on the far side of our open hangar. Less than a moment later our ship was going back into the aftermath of our battle in search of bodies to reclaim.

I waved at some of the lesser
[Mechanoid]
s and they promptly followed Jeeves into their own ships. Part of me felt conflicted about not picking up humans for a kind of burial as well. It would be difficult to convince one race to care for another. I felt the need to ask, though.

"Aqua. Can we do anything for the Knuckle Dragger's crew?"

"Do not think us heartless simply because we appear to only worry about our own. We are not like the Cricket or Behemoth." Aqua put together a female
[Mechanoid]
's battered torso. She sat in six different pieces with a clear dent in its core. This pile was the one I tried to match up to Ruby's mask and
[Core]
s. Deep crimson red that almost screamed blood.

"What's being done?" I pressed for an answer while searching through the latest collection of parts for missing puzzle pieces. Only five hours were left to try and repair whomever we could. I wanted to at least repair Ruby and Iron if none of the others were completed.

Aqua didn't sigh or sound upset. It picked up one piece and ran slender fingers over its surface. The
[Mechanoid]
shook its head and set the shard aside as mismatched against Ruby's body.

"A drone will be left behind. We do this at all large battle sites. A recording will show all those who passed, and broadcast signals for the humans along with the bodies of those we manage to identify," It said while gradually putting together parts of Ruby's body. She looked to have been shattered into dozens of pieces.