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The
characters and incidents portrayed and the names in this story used herein are
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Heaven is my judge, not I for love and duty.
ZerOthello
By
Eric J. Juneau
ACT
I, Scene 1:
"Your circuits must be
scrambled. To think that you could
just... just let this slip by me.
Without thinking I wouldn’t care.
It- it-"
"Slow down. You'll overheat. If you think I would have let this pass
without letting you know, you're wrong.
Sometimes events like this happen and you're incapable of doing anything
about it."
Janus brushed his upper lip. Duplex leaned forward with clenched fists,
exasperated. Janus would say he was 'in
a snit', but that was familiar. Working
with him for so many years was a trial in itself, when the reploid let his
temper fester like this.
"My account is nearly gone and
I have barely anything to show for it," Duplex continued. "All my credits, my shore leave, traded
to you."
Janus looked up at the chronometer –
"You haven't done anything to
see that I'm promoted, advanced, upgraded - anything! All I am is a water cooler combatant. And I don't even drink water. Don't you see what I'm saying?"
Janus could see fine with his
night-optic vision. Duplex was flailing
his arms wildly, flustered and frustrated.
Janus contemplated how one would actually see what he was saying.
"You've just been stringing me
along," Duplex finished.
Duplex was a pale yellow robot, a
little more rotund than most reploids based off X's design, and not nearly as
advanced as those made today. His helmet
looked like a fisherman's hat, rimmed around the brow. His eyes were too big for his head, glass and
mosaic.
"I'm through listening to
your-"
"Be quiet, Duplex." Janus held up his hand. It shut him up. "Haven't you been listening to me at all
during this?"
"Well-"
"I assure you that I'm doing
everything in my power to turn your payments into promotion. But these things take time. You know that Strike Fox and Straylight have
been in competition for recognition the longest, but neither of them have
succeeded in gaining a promotion. What
those two are looking for is just a rank and a grade. Pieces of paper. But it's the power and privileges that you
seek. The dynamic duo has the most and I
detest them as much as you," Janus lowered his voice to a growl of hate so
Duplex would know what he meant. The duo
he referred to were X and Zero, the commanders of MHHQ. "You know why? They're hypocrites. Our progenitor, the supposed Alpha, is a
pacifist, yet he's the best fighter in the force. The constant combat we face, X destroys all
Mavericks without a second thought.
Ridiculous, two-faced robot. And
for all his whining he doesn't show an ounce of remorse. His partner, the crimson crusader, the fabled
prodigal son, he's a fine Maverick Hunter leader, a true commander. He has the moves, the skills, the title he
deserves, but people mistake him for being level-headed. He is emotionless,
he would have to be, to kill so many reploids.
They may be Maverick, but he forgets they're his own people. This takes a great toll on him. A fierce conflict that lies in his mind,
ready to burst."
"You certainly take great pride
in being a reploid," Duplex noted sarcastically.
"I take pride in being
independent. Would you hold loyalty to
such hunters as them?"
"No."
"Then there you go. I have no love of them. I hate everyone – humans and reploids alike –
who revere them as gods, who make golden idols of them. Look through the halls tomorrow. You'll see hunters walking up and down them,
gleefully serving their masters, waiting until the day they're shipped out to
battle, gleefully following them into battle and gleefully getting their heads
blasted off. They deserve exactly
that. If I were running this army, I'd
promote those loyal to themselves. That's the only true kind of loyalty. It's the only loyalty I retain. Those who can stand for themselves are the
true warriors, like me. I wear my heart
on my sleeve. I show my feelings. The me you see in
the halls, is not the real me. Believe
me when I tell you I find no reason they should be the commanders of this
army." He pressed his fingertips
together.
Duplex sat back and let out a puff
of air, winded from Janus' long harangue.
"Those two certainly wear a great burden."
"Indeed."
"It- yeah." Duplex scratched the side of his head. Janus noticed the action,
and thought of how all these human behaviors were just programmed into
reploids, but in Duplex they seemed especially synthetic.
"I'll tell you what,"
Janus said. "You wanna do
something? Let's do something. Let's get something started." Janus rose to his feet and pumped his fist.
"Now, wait, let's- let's not do
something rash now."
"Aw, come on, you wanted me to
take some action? You wanted to see some
results? You've made your payments, now
let's see the ensuing fruits."
Janus pulled Duplex out of his respite by the shoulder. The gold reploid nearly stumbled forward,
trying to keep up with Janus' quick pace.
"Janus? Are you sure this is a good idea?"
"You don't even know what I'm
going to do." At the end of the hall,
Janus pushed the up button for the elevator and it dimly lit pale orange.
Duplex stood behind Janus, nervously
darting his eyes left and right and twitching his fingers. He looked Janus up and down while he was
waiting. He was a reploid with a slim,
lean figure. His shark gray armor was
sleek and trim, the opposite of his own corpulent
body. His helmet had a violet jewel,
shaped with five spires protruding and angled back over his scalp, like a
rising star. Duplex didn't know what
Janus was designed for – battle, stealth, scouting, maintenance, or something
else.
The elevator doors opened, dousing
the two in muted yellow light from the darkness of the hallway. Janus stepped in and Duplex followed, placing
himself slightly behind Janus again.
Soothing muzak and the whirring of
the hover unit became the only sounds in the sterilized elevator. Duplex's reflective eyes flickered anxiously
from the back of the stoic gray reploid to the decreasing numbers on the
digital panel. "Ummm, so what are we
going to do?"
"We're going to see Dr. Cain
about a small matter."
"Small matter? Of what?"
"Why should you care?"
"Well-"
"Now you've given me your
payment, have you not? So what does it
matter to you how you get promoted? Just
that you get promoted."
"Janus, I don't want to hurt
anybody in this."
Oblivious, Janus replied, "Why,
at the end, you may become the new commander."
"No!" Duplex yelped. He checked himself and returned to a normal
voice, stepping front of Janus and putting a hand on his chest. "No, I don't want to be commander."
"Why not? Thought you wanted to get advanced in
rank. Can't get much more advanced than
that," Janus slyly smirked.
"I don't want to be a
commander. I just want a few grades
higher, just to get some more privileges."
"Why not?"
"I don't want that much
responsibility..."
"Aha!" The *ping* sounded
and the elevator doors opened. Janus
stepped out and looked around. It was
essentially the same as the other hallway, bathed in dirty yellow. "You see, you are want of courage,
steadfastness. Those who take the risks
get the rewards. Let me let you in on a
little secret. Risks are almost always
worth it and they almost always pay off.
You just need to know how to manipulate the circumstances so they fall into
your favor." He looked back and
forth for anyone in the hall. It was
clear, as it should have been – this was the human's personal quarters. Janus walked straight down the corridor. "That's why Strike Fox and Straylight
are top in class. They're always trying
to outdo each other, taking the risks and grabbing that brass ring." Janus stopped in front of a door.
"What does that mean?"
Duplex asked.
"I've no idea. Humans and their expressions." Janus looked up at the top of the door,
waiting for someone to answer. He
started pressing it anxiously and repeatedly.
"Act frenetic," Janus advised, slighting his hand back to
Duplex.
Duplex was frustrated with
confusion. The obtuse manner Janus was
speaking in was overloading his mind, but he was afraid to ask him anything
more, afraid he might get another harsh answer.
"Is he not here?" Janus
touched the glossy panel next to the door.
"Where is Dr. Cain?"
The panel displayed a line of dots
trailing back and forth as it searched for Cain on the tracking system. It lit up in orange-yellow letters 'DR.
CAIN IS IN LAB B'.
"Figures," Janus said to
no one in particular. "At this time
of night. Humans have no sense of their
limits."
The gray reploid turned around and
headed back to the elevator. Duplex
snuck behind, rubbing his hands together nervously and shifting his eyes.
"Why- why do we want Dr.
Cain?"
"Why not? Have something against him?"
"No, I just want to know what
it is you're planning."
"You cannot know what sort of
thoughts are in my head, even if my memory was in your hands."
Again the elevator doors opened and
again they stepped in. This time, it
dropped sharply to the basement level.
Labs were built down here because the space underground was plentiful
and economic, just as long as the area was excavated first. Plus, they were sectioned off from most of
the complex in case there were any explosions or major containment leaks or
from a Maverick invasion, protecting valuable secrets.
The elevator dropped them off at the
hallway where the walls were slit metallic instead of the soothing taupe
paneling of the living quarters. Janus
touched them idly, running a finger down the block line that gave illumination.
"Run," Janus commanded.
He took off at frantic sprint down
the hall. Duplex watched him tear away,
dumbfounded as to what was going on.
Realizing that he couldn't answer so far behind, he picked up his squat
little body and started chugging after him.
His top-heavy frame wobbled side to side as he pumped his stubby legs.
Janus burst through the double doors
of the laboratory. A collection of
scientists and research reploids were surrounding a giant cannon-like machine
in the middle of the room and a panel with colored squares flashing. General Brandle was there, making adjustments
to the switchboard against the wall. He
was the chief of the human military presence in MHHQ, which accounted for about
half the support staff, the other consisting of reploid soldiers and a
smattering of scientists and technicians.
His sun damaged face resembled a stone bust.
"General!" Janus ran right
to him and made puffing noises, simulating that he was out of breath. "General? Where's Dr. Cain?"
"He was called to an emergency
meeting. Why?" At the same height, Brandle looked Janus
square in the eye, somewhat angered at his time being broken up.
Janus slowed his breath down. "I'm not sure I should tell you,
sir. It's not such a matter that you can
do much about."
"Speak,
reploid. If you have something to say,
say it. Don't just interrupt my work for
no good reason."
"Is the computer system still
online?"
"What? Of course it is! Don't you see it?" he gestured to the
gigantic blackboard flushed with lights.
"Is the data still intact? Have we been compromised?"
"What the devil are you
blathering about?"
Duplex tumbled through the double
doors, stumbling up to the two. Janus
barely took notice of him.
"You again. Is this another case of crying
wolf?" The general's cheeks turned
red and his brow furrowed.
Janus said, "This is a definite
problem, General. Duplex confirmed it
for me."
The general addressed Duplex
directly, looking at him as if he were disciplining a child. "I've told you before. If you have a problem, do not come to me -
report to your senior officer. Chain of
command!"
"Uh, er-" Duplex
stammered. "Sir, what Janus says is
true. Um, we thought it was too, too
important to, uh, respect the chain of command."
"Just tell me exactly what's
going on!"
Janus interjected, "We caught
Zero hacking into the computer system.
We thought he may have gone Maverick, but it's not exactly a textbook
sign. We found he's created a privileged
account under his name. It uses a shell
script to deprioritize the permissions on his files and his status each time he
accesses it. Well, essentially it gives
him superuser level all over the network.
He didn't do this under proper authorization either. He hacked into the system, created his
account, and logged out. We have the log
files to prove it."
Janus presented a disk to the
general he had in his storage and promptly inserted it in the nearest terminal
and opened the sole file full of text.
He skimmed down the lines at a pace no human could gather any
information.
"Here, at the end," Janus
pointed to speed up the process.
"Note the timestamp."
Janus smirked as the general bent down and peered at the screen.
"These could've been altered,
couldn't they?" Brandle said.
"I assure you, I checked for
alteration and they were clean. You may
discharge me if I am lying."
"Me too," Duplex piped
up.
"What if you are lying? How do I know?"
"Sir, I'm a Maverick
Hunter. What reason do I have to
lie?"
General Brandle frowned and turned
back to the console. He carefully read
the lines of code, his eyes moving slowly back and forth. Janus waited patiently with his arms crossed.
"Get security," he
commanded quietly. "Find Zero! Find Cain!
Something has to be done about this!" He rose and looked throughout the room. "Are you listening?" The scientists and reploids in the room
halted and looked around with wide glassy eyes.
They dumbly stared at the general, since they were not used to such firm
military discipline.
"Get the troops! Apprehend Zero! On the double!"
Scientists began scrambling around,
having no idea what to do about the general's orders. Janus thought of how so much of human history
was being demonstrated in the room right now.
General Brandle ran over to the
central panel and picked up his communicator.
"Lieutenant Byers. Come
in. What is your current location?"
Janus turned to Duplex while the
chaos surrounded them. "I must
leave you now."
"What? Why?" Duplex's eyes pleaded with him to
stay.
"I've started you off here, but
now I must go to finish it."
"Why must you always speak in riddles? Say what you have to say."
"Duplex, you know me better
than that, that's not my style. General
Brandle just said there was an emergency meeting. That can only mean Mavericks. I've got to go rouse our commander to these
events."
"What? Zero?
But-"
"Believe me, I have no love for
the reploid, but I still have to pretend I do.
He should be in his diagnostic chamber now. Meet us there when the time is right." Janus walked out of the lab, unnoticed by
anyone.
Duplex heard Brandle click off his
communicator and turned back to Duplex.
"The account's definitely there," the general said, fury
marring his face. "And it's got
superuser access. Now the entire
computer defense system has been compromised.
We'll have to build it again from the ground up." He began running back and forth from console
to console sporadically, guided by his erratic thoughts. "Feh, firewalls, ID's, passwords, it's
all meaningless junk. How did you know
of this? Check if the data has been
altered. See if there're any attempts to
alter the databases. What do you think
Zero's intentions are?" "I'm not sure, sir." Duplex fidgeted, unsure of how to act as the
general barked orders and asked rhetorical questions. He felt very intimidated right now with
military personnel running back and forth, caught in a torrent of humans.
"This is madness, Duplex. Why should we allow robots access to
computers, when they are computers themselves.
They have the know-how to hack in and bring down everything. It's like giving an insane man a
bazooka. Far too much freedom. We allow them far too much. We're dependent on our communication network. If it goes, we go. If it gets hijacked, all our asses are handed
to us. It's hard enough beating back
those damn things without them having more advantages over us."
Duplex was unsure whether he should
be defending his race or supporting the general's opinions. He touched his fingertips together nervously
and kept his mouth shut.
Brandle continued, "At this
point, I'd rather a snivel like you be in command. At least you're loyal to the cause. Zero, I don't trust. An unknown past leads to an unknown future, I
always say. Where is that bastard
anyway? Reploids don't sleep. Find him, for Christ's sake. I want answers."
Duplex raised his finger. Surprisingly, the easily distracted general
paid attention to him. "Sir, I
think I know where Zero is, if you'll follow me."
"Lead the way, little guy. If this turns out all right, I'll make sure
you get a commendation for this."
Duplex's mouth spread to a grin, unseen by any as he opened the lab
doors. The general turned to the
soldiers gathered behind him. "Make
sure your weapons are ready. No telling
what we can expect from him."