--- Kat ---
As Kat reford on the other side, it the fact that this place was clearly designed for a dwarf hit her like a tonne of breaks. Mostly due to the fact that she was now forced to crouch if she wanted to avoid her horns scraping along the ceiling. Lily teleported inside a few monts later. [Damn. I’m glad I was in mphis form for this...]
*Don’t you always teleport in mphis form? Plus didn’t I warn you?*
[Yeah but it’s still true! This place is tiny. Sure the argunt it’s for dwarves holds water but its small even for them... probably? I don’t actually know what the average height for them is...]
Kat shrugged and started to move forward. A small part of her mind was tempted to turn parts of her feet into water or sothing to allow for her to stand up straight as the two of them squeezed through the tunnel. [At least think about transforming your horns though.]
*My horns are a massive pain in the ass to transform into water. It’s so much harder. It is in fact, easier to remove most of my head horns included then it is just to vanish my horns. In fact... it my be proportionally easier the more of my head that’s missing... or maybe just my skull? Hmmm... no probably too dangerous to check.*
Lily grumbled ntally a bit but didn’t say anything as they ca up to another door. This one seed just as fancy but it had an actual handle. Kat grasped it and yanked the door open. Her hand felt a bit tingling once again as the door handle tried to do sothing but Kat simply ignored it. As they stepped through into an open room with a reasonable ceiling, Kat couldn’t help but wonder how weird the room was. The entire space was entirely white. They’d even smoothed out the material such that there were no seems except for the two doors. One at the other side of the room, and the one they’d just entered into.
Kat was about to ask Lily what she thought the place was for... when a bright light flashed in the centre. After it dimd, Kat could see a large bulky golem in the middle of the room. It was unlike anything else they’d seen in the facility. It seed to have been powered down before but now that it had moved into the room it was activating.
The golem itself started in pieces, it started as a torso with the head balanced on top and large blocky hands and feet arranged nearby. As sothing started to activate the golem, and a whirring sound could be heard, long thin tubes of glowing tal extended from the central body to fit in the openings in the appendages. The feet looked more like shoes than anything else and the hands looked a bit like boxing gloves. At least until the tubes were inserted at the fingers uncurled.
*Should we be attacking this thing instead of letting it go through a startup sequence?*
[I an... maybe but like... I have no idea what would happen if we interrupted it. The rest of them exploded and it was a decent blast. This one is MUCH larger and I can feel the mana coming off of it. If this thing explodes? I actually have no idea what will happen.]
*Oh great. So we can’t even stop it?*
[Maybe?]
"Scanners online. Intruders detected," stated the golem. *Why does it sound so much like a robot?*
[Do you think it’s a perception thing?] "Statent: This unit requests you leave,"
"What happens if we don’t?" asked Kat before she could think better of it.
"Error. Unknown language. Error, Understanding achieved through unknown ans. Query detected and analysed. Searching for answer in database. Answer found. Answer to query: Extre Violence,"
*Well I suppose that’s clear.* "Why?" Kat decided to ask.
"Query detected. Unable to find response in databank. Please rephrase query if you wish for an answer," said the golem. *Ok... interesting. Note that despite asking us to leave, we were able to ask it a question, then another question. I wonder if we just... don’t attack it the thing might go back to sleep?*
[Wishful thinking but maybe it will reveal sothing it shouldn’t?]
*Maybe... it seems to only have preprogramd responses. I suppose it depends what the creators let slip in when they created it.* "Why are you required to perform extre acts of violence if we fail to leave?" Kat asked. Slowly, just in case.
"Query detected and analysed. Searching for answer in database. Answer not found," said the golem.
*Alright not all that useful then.* Kat tried a few more questions back and forth like "What is your na, where were you made, what things can we do to avoid fighting you, and who created you. Sadly the golem didn’t seem to have answers to ANY of those questions. Though Kat did find one with a response. "How do we leave?"
The golem replied with the sa long spiel along with "Through the door." Only for Kat to point it was still locked so they couldn’t leave that way. "Analysing main door composition. Main door integrity intact. Main door currently locked. Intruders unable to leave. Error."
Kat sat back and watched as the golem sort of twitched and jerked around for a few monts before the jerky movents slowed and then stopped. "Main door can be unlocked. This unit does not have permission to unlock the door. Unit to force intruders to leave or die. Unit cannot force intruders to leave... scanning through database for instructions."
The golem then started to slump forward slightly. It’s legs shrinking a bit as its hands ca forward allowing for it to be in position sowhat like a gorilla. Legs at the back, hands at the front and it would almost look to be asleep if not for the fact that it’s eyes were still glowing brightly. If anything, they were brighter then before.
*Alright what’s the plan. This is the closest we can get to ’distracting’ the thing. Do we try to sneak past or do we try to think of sothing that can break its logic centres even more?*
[I’m really not sure we even CAN do that. It’s not a computer, no matter how much it sounds like one. I have no idea how the heck it was enchanted nor do I know what the common pitfalls are going to be.]
*Surely they’re basically the sa. Most issues are ’human made’ to so extent. Oversights made in the creation of sothing like this. The fact that it’s not really moving at the mont is a great example. Though I do wonder why it’s taking so long to look everything over.*
[Alright fine... but we try to sneak past first.]
Kat nodded and transford into her water form. As soon as she did so though, despite the golem ostensibly being trapped in a logic loop it stood up and a visible wave of sothing shot over the room. "Scanning. High concentrations of Higher Energy in water. Water that was not present before. Intruder missing. Conclusion. Intruder now made of highly energy dense water. Warning. This unit is to defend against intruders. Should the water move closer this unit will attack."
Kat imdiately transford back and took a step away. "Intruder returned. Water vanished. This unit concludes their assumption was correct. This unit informs intruders that further transformations may result in an attack."
Kat glared at the robot as it went back to slumping over, now much less certain she could sneak past it. *Alright I was NOT expecting that... though it’s weird. This is ant to be a guard but it’s quite sophisticated especially considering the fact that it’s just got this room to work with. I’m almost surprised it hasn’t just attacked... but it seems to want to work things out?*
[I’m not sure it’s sentient... but I agree it’s weird. Did the creator want this thing to focus on de-escalation? Why would they do that for sothing like this? Do you think it’s ant to be a prototype? Like... surely the most secure area should have MORE aggressive golems not less.]
*Yeah that IS weird. I’m also kind of stuck on what to do. How are we ant to get past it?*
[We fight it?]
*Right... but let’s say I can hold its attention for long enough for you to get to the door behind it... what are the chances you can even open the door while the golem is still working?*
[Ah... admittedly quite low.]
*Right? Then there’s the fact that if we just focus on destroying it... the explosion could take you out. Heck it might even take out if it’s strong enough and there’s not exactly anywhere to hide from it.*
[I an... we managed against that dragon...]
*True but I’ve got no idea what a more standard explosion would do to our insides. The dragon issue was mostly a heat one.*
[Hmm... well I don’t want to leave you to fight it on your own... maybe be ready to fall back to the door?]
User Comments
0 comments from readers