10 Minute Tales

Mar 17

Aurora was the best marksman Queenson had seen, but he wasn't impressed. She was just following the instructions she had been given by that crystal.
"Looks like that crystal went in fine." Queenson nodded. "Go get the other one installed."
"The sensors?"
"Yeah. Surprised you don't need further hardware to use that properly."
"Sensors for A.I.s are more... ways to use the senses we do have, even better. Like, being able to recognise what we see even faster."
"Sentinel's scout drones are reported to be able to see through walls."
"Pfft, show me something that can see through walls and I'll show you something that's using other clues. Sounds, camera feeds, whatever. Nothing in this dome can actually see through walls, far as I know."
"When was this version abandoned for Error again?"
"Not long, a couple of months at most." Queenson frowned softly. He hadn't heard about any major technology improvements since then... but he couldn't rely on that alone.
"Get outta here, get your upgrade." Queenson huffed. "Gonna try to up my own accuracy."
"Not gonna beat me." She grinned, turning to leave the armoury. "Perfect one hundred in the green."
"I'm not gonna try to beat you, I just need to be confident in myself."
"Yeah, yeah." She waved dismissively, closing the door behind her. Queenson frowned as he turned to the targets, drawing his pistol and checking it one last time, before opening fire on the target. Steady, precise bursts of energy lunged forth from the barrel, arcs of loose energy flickering around the projectile before sinking into the target. Queenson nodded, ejecting the battery magazine and smoothly sliding another in before opening fire again. All his talk about proper gun control, and he couldn't deny the same rebellious thought that had nearly gotten him fired a decade ago. It felt good to have a gun.

     Avo entered the Geoco building, the door to his lab sliding open silently. He entered, shutting it behind him, then leaned against the door with a deep sigh of relief. Catching his breath, he checked to see if Queenson was available for communication. No signal. He wasn't surprised. He got up again, walking over to his computer and quickly powering it up. He sat down in his chair roughly as he typed his password in, all twenty characters falling into place like soldiers before him. Most labs like this had a crew assigned to it, but Avo had insisted he maintain his lab and research alone. He didn't want to admit he was paranoid, but he was the first to agree that his level of caution seemed... almost unnecessary. He sighed as he brought up Error's blueprints - Aurora's blueprints - to test if they were up to combat. He had been worried about it ever since Abe had suggested it, and even now he had his doubts. He looked over the numbers that said she could take three times the amount of instant force than a human, and worried about how damaged her limbs would be if the point of impact was her joints. He read the notes that pointed out her sensory capabilities exceeded those of the strongest animals pre-Ascent, and he worried about those that were out of her range. He sighed as he stood up again, walking over to the table. Aurora and Error would both need his protection. How to make sure they could get it?