Bleached Out Eyes

Chapter 6 - Digits and Dreams

"Touch your left index finger to the tip of your nose," Kobra instructed Party, who followed the direction perfectly, "Okay, now touch your right index finger to the tip of your nose."

Again, Party did so perfectly.

"Now, hold out your arms," Kobra put his hands at arm's length, showing Party what he wanted him to do, "And, with both hands simultaneously, slowly touch each finger, in turn, to your thumb."

Jet had done the best he could in trying to fix the broken component in Party's back, and had even found and repaired a loose connection that none of them had known about before; a long red wire, hanging loosely by a bundle of other long red wires, all connected to another small circuit board that had made Party's entire body twitch when Jet had tapped at it with his screwdriver.

Now that he was seemingly fixed, they had no way of making sure that in fixing him Jet hadn't also damaged anything else, so Kobra had had the idea of trying an old style 'Sobriety Test', checking Party's motor skills.

Everything with Party seemed perfectly okay, leaving just one check left.

"Okay, guys," Kobra looked at Jet and Ghoul, who were sat either side of him, with Party stood in front of the trio, "This part might be a bit... Jarring. I know it freaked me out a bit when I first had to do it, so... I don't know," he stood up, "Prepare yourselves, I guess?"

Jet and Ghoul looked at one another. Jet seemed worried but intrigued none the less, but Ghoul was just worried. The way that Kobra had used the word 'jarring' suggested that one of the two newcomers was about to do something that might scare them, and this did not prepare Ghoul in the slightest.

Kobra stood up and moved to stand in front of Party, one hand holding a pencil, poised over the page of a notebook on a nearby table, his other hand placed over Party's collarbone, resting his thumb just below his throat, feeling around for a moment and pressing down on a button hidden beneath his synthetic skin.

Party's face instantly lost all emotion and his arms hung stiffly at his side. Kobra then said, loudly and clearly,

"State, battery function efficiency."

Party's mouth began to move, doing nothing more than monotonically reporting exactly what Kobra had just requested.

"Battery function efficiency. Current power level, seventeen point eight five seven one percent. Current power useage, zero point seven one four two percent per hour. Battery last changed, sixty nine hours ago."

As Party's mouth robotically spewed out these words and numbers, Kobra scribbled them down into his notebook. Once the droid had stopped reporting the facts and figures of his internal functions, Kobra removed his hand from Party's collarbone, and all animation returned to his body, his eyes shifting, shoulders slumping and arms jolting as he seemingly regained consciousness.

"You okay?" Kobra asked, not moving from in front of Party, arms held up as though the redhead might collapse onto him.

"I'm okay, yeah. I'm fine." Party swallowed hard and nodded, shutting his eyes for a few moments. He glanced over Kobra's shoulder at Jet and Ghoul, and seemed to shy away a little.

Ghoul was a little shaken, having never seen any droid, porno or otherwise, act in such a way. They had always seemed so human it was a little bit of a shock to the system, just as it must have been for Party himself.

"Sorry you had to see that. I know how weird it might seem, but it's weird for me too. I'm fine though, don't worry."

"That's... It's not weird, it's..." Jet pulled a face as he tried to think of a good word, but ended up resorting back to what Kobra had said, "Jarring. It's literally just jarring. You seem so human, normally. If I hadn't just been fixing your insides I'd think you were just like, a normal human person."