Of Ponies and Puppies

Interlude

[Thought I kept things vague enough about a specific thing that I could easily bring it into the plot without changing anything, but turns out I said something concrete about it in a previous chapter so I've changed that bit so it's no longer Something Concrete. It's probably stupid obvious what it is.]

N shuddered as he hovered over Colt. A hand was placed on the small infant drone's form as he held him down, powered off. It was never easy to do this. Seeing his son like this, container of oil off to the side - it all reminded him too much of the past. However, Colt needed his oil changed and Uzi wasn't around to do it instead.

With a firm grip, N grasped his son as he held him over a container, oil spilling out.

Never easy.

He put Colt back down, open hatch to his oil reserves exposed and ready. A hand reached for the tempting container of oil. Oh robo-God, he didn't need to drink oil again, but it was still tempting.

It was never easy.

He held the spout up to Colt's intake, being careful to add in only as much as his internals would need. Oil, life-giving oil. He put the container down and picked up the cap to the oil intake, screwing it back on. The hatch is closed and N's finger hovered over the power button.

No getting around it, N was a war machine. In the past, he had ripped and consumed human and drone alike. Though he didn't remember his previous backups and their genocide on humanity, this backup - this N - remembered all too well his time on Copper-9. No matter what size, color of lights, or age - N had killed and consumed countless drones. Drones, like his own son, whom he had laid bare and consumed their internals. Internal components, like the oil he had poured into said son.

It was never easy.

His chest heaved in faux breath, one of his hands coming up to calm himself down. He chided himself for hesitating with the action. Colt's blank, dead-like, screen would be gone after he finished this. The button clicked, and Colt's internal components restarted. N smiled as a pair of digital white eyes greeted him. "Hey buddy", he tried, "daddy didn't take too long this time, did he?".

Colt blinked and smiled. N exhaled a sigh of relief. "Ok bud", he said, "I know you don't like being disconnected from your body. I get it, it's scary".

His son reacted without much change. The power button on an infant only disconnected them from their physical processes, their AI remained on and awake.

N knew from experience, and the experiences of others, how terrifying this could be.

He took Colt into his arms and cradled him. "It's alright. We don't need to change your oil for a few weeks now. Daddy took care of it". His eyes landed on the container of oil. It was bizarre that he could just ask for oil now, after all he had done. The Workers had their own stash they drew from, Disassemblers - his kind - had been forced to kill Workers for the oil in their bodies.

The thing he kept thinking about was that this stashed oil didn't taste as good as getting it fresh from a body.

As he stood there with Colt, a thought came to him. He directed himself to Colt, "hey bud, wanna see what mommy is up to?". Colt smiled in reply and N felt enabled. "Well, she's off at grandpa's right now working on a project, but I'm sure she'd love to see her two favorite dudes! Let's go!".

Two years had passed since they had Colt. It had been an awkward and stressful time for them, but things quickly found a flow to them. Uzi adjusted to working in her old room again and N oftentimes found himself a work-at-home father. He put a seat in the living room in view of his canvas for Colt to watch him while he worked. He'd talk aloud to Colt while he worked, an audio device plugged into Colt so he could voice train. Colt's voice had eventually evened out and became its own thing.