/run system check
/system check complete – operating levels optimal – CPU at 98% efficiency
/run environmental analysis
/environmental analysis complete – geolocation 51.5079° N, -0.08772649° E - air temperature 68 degrees Celsius
/run primary objective
/entering river (memory check ref “Thames”)
/run environmental analysis
/ environmental analysis complete - water temperature 54 degrees Celsius – no organic life detected – toxin level 97% - sample collected for further analysis
/mobility impaired – running servomotor auto-correction – unsuccessful – repeating servomotor autocorrection
“Looks like Surface Walker 1 is having some issues. Should I move to manual control?”
“Give him a chance, it’s his first time out in the field.”
/repeating servomotor autocorrection – correction successful – resuming primary objective
“Told you. We haven’t spent all this time and money on a remote control toy.”
“It’s exactly all that time and money I’m worried about. If he gets stuck in that river, I’m not going to be the one to go up to the surface and get him.”
“You worry too much. He’ll be fine.”
/riverbed sample collection in progress
/run field analysis – high levels of toxin detected – further analysis required
“How are the system logs looking?”
“Good, so far”
“Can we be a bit more specific than good?”
“We can, but he’s running around 38 million operations per second. I’m a quick reader, but even that is a bit beyond my possibilities. We’ll be able to download and review the system logs once he’s returned to base. Nothing dangerous is flagging up, so it looks like we’re good for the moment”
/performing environment scans – large objects detected – water craft - run image recognition – scan historical archives - HMS Belfast recognised
/organic matter detected – skeletons – homo sapiens – estimated number 700 in immediate area
/live camera feed – error detected – running diagnostic checks
“Live feed is looking patchy.”
“It might be the level of toxins in the water.”
“And we didn’t test for this?”
“We did, just not for this level of exposure. He’s running diagnostics on himself. It should be fine”
/diagnostic check complete – optic nerve casing overheating – applying coolant to area
“And? What’s the report”
“Hang on. Let me isolate the operation. Looks like we’ve got overheating in the optic nerve casing. Not a huge issue, he’s regulating the temperature”
“I don’t like this. It shouldn’t be over-heating, not at this early stage.”
“It’s fine. We anticipated this. Roy is-“
“Don’t call him that. You’ve been told before.”
“Sorry. Surface Walker 1 is an extremely complicated machine. Organic matter and robotics are an incredibly volatile combination. Once we have the date from this expedition, we’ll be able to correct these issues.”
“If we have any more issues, I want him pulled back immediately.”
“Fine, but the chief isn’t going to be happy if we don’t get the full data.”
“You let me worry about him”
/approaching skeletons – sample taken for analysis – initial analysis 99% homo sapien – likely female
/further visual analysis – object worn around neck – silver locket – heart shaped - <not anatomically correct>
/retrieving locket – opening locket – photo inside - male and female depicted – scanning facial recognition – accessing archive
/optical live feed issue – running diagnostic
“We’re losing the feed again.”
“Don’t worry about it, it’ll self-correct.”
/diagnostic ongoing – unknown error – diagnostic running in background
/facial recognition archive accessed – female ID confirmed Louisa Hobbs (d.o.b. 2199) male ID confirmed Roy Hobbs (d.o.b 2198) – sys error – >>>>>>>>>>>I AM ROY>>>>>>>NO>>>>>>>ROY IS DEAD>>>>>>>>>>
“We still haven’t got the live visuals back online. What’s he doing?”
“I don’t know. The system log flow is being interrupted.”
“Right, pull him out. Now”
/recall mode activated - denied - >>>>>>>>>>>>NO. I WANT TO SEE HER AGAIN>>>>>>>>>>>>>
/shut down live feed >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>LOUISA. WERE WE IN LOVE? ARE WE STILL IN LOVE???>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
“What’s going on?”
“I’ve got no idea. He’s not responding to the recall instruction.”
“Go to manual, now!”
/manual control mode activated – denied - >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>I NEED MORE TIME WITH HER>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>I MISS YOU>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>WHERE AM I?????>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
“Shit.”
“What’s going on?”
“We’re losing the system log. It’s like he’s trying to access his organic memories.”
“This shouldn’t be possible.”
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>HOW LONG HAVE I BEEN HERE?>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
“He’s not responding to any manual input.”
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>I WANT TO BE WITH HER AGAIN>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.
/run system shut down
“No, no!”
“What?”
“He’s activated total system shutdown.”
“Security, get a surface team up there, now!”
“They won’t get there in time.”
“Fuck’s sake, do something!”
/system shut down confirmed
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>I WILL SEE YOU AGAIN>>>>>>>>>>>>
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