A machine's guide to Divinity

FEAR /// FIRST: The Calm Before The Storm

Uzi and N were talking with each other as V1 and V followed them silently. Now tied up with her tail and V1's whiplash, V grumbled to herself as she slowly regenerated. "Soo. What are we going to do with our resident psychopath?" Uzi asked, talking about V. She then looked back to see V1 dragging V with its whiplash. V stared at them scornfully, trying to break free.

"V, I'm so, so sorry about this. Really." N said, looking at V with big, sad eyes. Uzi rolled her eyes as V1 shrugged. "I'll be off to your landing pod, see you there," V1 spoke via writing on a coin and tossing it to N."

"Oh, ok then, see you soon!" N spoke as V1 readied its wings. Balancing on a tree, V1 slammed down, jumping from the tree as V1 fell, it stored the momentum within its wings and it jumped forward as it hit the ground. To N's astonishment, It flew up into the sky as V followed suit, dragged by the whiplash, screaming in terror. "..." No words escaped N and Uzi's mouths as they gawked at the machine.

"Soo. Do you know what that thing is?" Uzi asked N. "I don't know. The only thing I remember is it owns a yellow computer. And it's insanely fast." He replied. Indeed. Uzi had to agree on that. It had outrun two disassembly drones, saving her and it had dominated V in combat.

***

"Please! I can't- " The muffled shouts of V could be heard in the sky as V1 performed another gigantic jump in the air. V1 looked at V with amusement as it fell, landing on the ground with a slam. V soon followed, and knowing disassembly drones had no protection against falling except for their wings, V1 readied to jump again. V watched in horror as V1 slid vertically on the walls once again, wings out. V was again, in the air, accelerating upwards at incredible speeds. Below, V1 could see the terminal. Behind, it could see V being dragged from the whiplash. She was limp, seemingly fainted from the physical stress of being dragged by three slam-storage jumps in a row,

"N's going to be so mad when he finds out."  V1 thought as it landed, catching V with one arm. Then it set her down on the snowy floor, waiting for her to wake up. V1 threw some snow on her visor, forcing her to reboot.

Grogilly, V looked around and saw the blue horror staring at her. She tried to speak, searching for words of utmost profanity to use in this insult. "YOU-"

But her stressed-out motion-balance system had other ideas.

[Warning: Motion-Balance system overloaded]-Program unresponsive.

The M.balance system has failed to recalibrate its sensors due to being overrun by uncalculated motion from the host. Initiating purging system... ... ...

expelling unaccounted balancing fluids in 3..2..1...

***

Uzi and N arrived at the drop pod to see the entrance covered in oil. "Looks like someone's been...Oh." N looked at V1. It was covered in oil. His visor flickered, showing an 'X'. "What did you do to V?" He asked, enraged. V1 pointed inside the pod. N stormed inside as Uzi followed. "Frankly, I don't really care if you killed her or not." She whispered to V1. A scream of N could be heard from inside the pod. Uzi came out, grimacing "Ew. I wish I hadn't seen that." "Uh, I'm sorry for the um. Misunderstanding..." N said, voice trembling, covered in oil. "N, uh, go get your clothes cleaned. We'll wait." Uzi said as N ran off.

V1 and Uzi looked at each other. "Soo. thanks for the help back there, I'm Uzi." She spoke as V1 pointed at its chest plating. "V...1? Is that your name?" Uzi asked. V1 nodded. "Ugh, can you even talk?" Uzi asked, exasperated in this way of communicating. V1 shook its head and sent a line of code using the terminal. "No, I cannot speak yet. I plan to build a voice box soon to fix this. Communicating via the terminal can be slow sometimes, so I refrain from using it mostly. The past two days have been an exception for me."