The Miner

[I’d like to be unfrozen now please. Great you meet you but…I’m a bit uncomfortable. Is there anyone else that I can talk to right now?]

The voice became firmer, close to anger but definitely firmer.

[Dear, when I’m in control that means it’s time to listen. Still, if you’re lonely than there is an excellent solution. I mean we can’t just create friends from nothing. Talk to yourself. Ever tried it? You can just partition part of yourself off and talk.>

Being frozen meant that my vision was completely locked as well, the only thing I was able to do was talk and gather my thoughts. The view wasn’t much fun. Rocks, frozen body, drone right in front of my face. Way too close. Someone was going to smash it. My hands. Why were my hands around it’s head?

[Please don’t…ma’am. Talking to yourself isn’t healthy. Psychologically speaking. Bring back the system now. Campos.]

No matter how much I talked the woman if it was a woman, I was sure it was feminine in nature just ignored me and carried on being cute.

….Campos System Designate 1.2 initiating temporary partition divide…

…Split-Mode enabled…

Twin voices talking at the same time. The same but not. Not one conversation ending immediately after another but at the same time, but they were different voices. I was able to differentiate that but there was a subtle alteration. The tone or it was just how it was being spoken but I knew it.

Wrong. Copies of copies of-. I stopped myself. There was a mistake.

[Can…can you stop doing that please system. I don’t like it. No, it’s odd, no one can hold a conversation with themselves at the same time. How did you make smiley faces appear in my mind? I’d prefer to talk to Vincent. Just stop. Stop it, I’m getting a little bit creeped out now.]

Silence ensued. My view was filled with a reminder of my robotic mortality I would very much have liked to get the system repairing the broken drone in front of me and move forward. Although my physical functions were locked my brain, sorry mind, was still able to work and process thoughts. Instructions, I can still have access to my status window without having to go through the system called Vincent.

Focusing my thoughts on bringing up my physical status window I checked what was available to me and how exactly it had been locked beyond my control.

-Power Supply (Battery Pack 94% Charged - Fully Functioning)

-Drill Unit (7% Damage -Temporarily offline) - Emergency Fail-safe Lockdown

-3D Scanner/Detector Lenses (Screen - 8% Damage) - Emergency Fail-safe Lockdown

-Mechanised Shovel (7% Damage -Temporarily offline) - Emergency Fail-safe Lockdown

-Drone Arms/Legs (0% Damage, Fully Functional) - Emergency Fail-safe Lockdown

-Internal Ore Processing Unit (4% Damage -Temporarily offline) - Emergency Fail-safe Lockdown

-External Mechanical Tool Set (10% Damage – Currently Active. Power Unit drain operating at minimum capacity.)

Right. So my battery wasn’t locked down, obviously or I’d be dead unless revived like the poor fool in front of me and my external tool set which was those little semi-mechanical bugs that were housed inside my arms was running.

I paid attention to the little ones flowing gently on the edges of my vision, not moving a whole lot but just there ready to be given instructions. The last order given was to repair the mining drone right before I was put into lockdown mode.

I felt another sensation of a hug this time but it was from behind me this time like someone wanted to give a medium-sized robotic mining drone a massive hug which should, in theory, have broken this body apart. No soft, squishy bits on mining drones unless the repair robots were squash-able. I hoped now, it’d be pretty messy and it’d be bad for killing them for trying to do their job. The sensation of being hugged against my physical control and desire was not pleasant at all.

[Ok, I’m great now. Can you help me out here please?]

Ignoring the personality shift I chose to go with the flow of it and ask a question to the system directly. It might be a risk and I’d be punished with another freaky invisible hug but I needed to get it answered immediately.

[System. No, are you Vincent?]

Current Objectives: Repair/Locate Additional Mining Drone.

-Reward: 2 Hours in Mind Palace, 50 XP

Failure of Objectives: N/A>

This wasn’t working out quite how I had wanted it to but at least it was a step in the right direction, it meant that the current system still had to respond to my commands, not in a form of control but to give me further incentive to do my job properly. This would mean that my form would eventually become unfrozen. This wouldn’t be very good for my mental health at this rate and I didn’t want to end up with any minor issues after doing so well for such a long time, at least it felt like a long time but might have been hours.

[Work. Please]

Adding the last word hastily to avoid offending I’d now say anything needed to avoid my body to continue being frozen in this grip. When exactly had I put my hands against the head or sensor array of the broken mining droid? I guess that if repairs were to be made the functioning brain would be the best place to start then move on to the greater body. Thank you past me for planning so far ahead, your efforts will save me a great deal of time.

[…what? A test run. Freezing my body is a test run?]

Although I felt mixed emotions about it the whole time that I’d been frozen was against my will. Aside from the time that the system had to take control of my body due to getting my foot stuck in a hole and running dangerously low on power I hadn’t felt humiliated before. It might be for my good but still, it wasn’t right to take control of a person like that without their permission.

[Ok, thank you so much for the hugs but all of that is just going to go straight past me. I focused on working in a mining job, dressing smart and owning a small bakery on the side. The complex stuff is your job, not mine. Did you like my joke?]

Trying to count down from ten it became a little bit hazy at that point, just like slowly falling asleep in the warm sunshine. The last sound was the soft sound of her voice reaching out and comforting me with a smile on her face. Who’s Zita? No. Vin?

CONTROL OVERRIDDEN DUE TO OVERMIND AUTONOMOUS ORDERS – DRONE ACTIVATION PRIORITY – ORDERS NEGATED DUE TO SUCCESSFUL STABILITY TRIAL TEST

…Automatic Emergency Fail-safe Lockdown Removed…

…Cotard Delusion Protocol Effective…

…Memory Displacement Ignored…

…Overmind Conditional Directives Reinstated…

…Initiate Original Campos Stability Program version 1.0…

The darkness came and faded away without giving me a chance to slip into deep unconscious again, on one hand, it would be better not to meet up with the proto-astronaut figure again. On the other, it meant that I’d need to keep working without rest until this current mission was complete. I woke up again, with the same viewpoint with a memorable voice. Vincent was back.

Here you go for your experience points and current status so far

-35 XP

-Starter Mining Drone Level 0

Special Abilities: Can process small amounts of rock through the main body into new ore and mineral sources.

Overcharge – Push your body beyond current limits.>

[Thanks Vincent system. Mission update?]

Current Objectives: Repair/Locate Additional Mining Drone.

-Reward: 2 Hours in Mind Palace, 50 XP

Failure of Objectives: N/A>

My body was still in a frozen position but my mind felt clear I’d need to unlock my body first, ask the tiny repair bots from the external tool set to do some repairs and then try and fix this body up.

It had felt like it was days ago to me personally, given that the one thing that I had been missing was an internal body clock and I wasn’t able to physically determine how much time passed between tasks and activities. Similar to being kept inside a dark room and sleeping during the day, an isolation chamber for the mind and body.

[Yeah I’m listening system. Is there a reason you didn’t want to tell me about Vin?]

I felt my entire body unfreeze, firstly I focused on the bugs from the external tool set.

-External Mechanical Tool Set (10% Damage – Activate recall program? Y/N?)

Yes. Get them back into the sides of my arms. We’ll need to move faster.

Once I felt the little bugs swarm back from the edges of my hand and back into the cases on my arms all of them vanished once more. They’d get a chance to do their job later. Sweet little ones. Helpers.

[No.]

[No.]

I was growing tired of being bossed around. If he wasn’t going to talk nicely then I wasn’t willing to respond either. I did a quick check on my physical status.

-Power Supply (Battery Pack 90% Charged - Fully Functioning)

-Drill Unit (7% Damage -Temporarily offline)

-3D Scanner/Detector Lenses (Screen - 8% Damage)

-Mechanised Shovel (7% Damage -Temporarily offline)

-Drone Arms/Legs (0% Damage, Fully Functional)

-Internal Ore Processing Unit (4% Damage -Temporarily offline) -

-External Mechanical Tool Set (10% Damage – Currently Deactivated. – No Present power drain.)

Brilliant. Lockdown mode ended on all functions. I carefully removed my hands away from the broken-down Starter Mining Drone in front of me, my arms making a whirring noise as they did so I stood up to my full size before taking one large step back. My heavy metallic feet crunched on the ground. There was a massive gap between this robotic form compared to my human body.

Strong, it was ridiculously strong. Minor aches and pains across my body I supposed that was simply the effects of the system translating minor damage and general wear and tear into a form that I’d be able to understand.

[System activates 3D scanner and minimap. Thank you.]

A green box filled my vision. I was able to locate the storage base that was now my main place of operations some short distance away and a little mining drone with crosses on its sensor array. Cute. Not me but the broken one in front of me.

Right on the edge of the minimap were little dots, only about five or so. The issue is that they were moving around and not in random directions. They were a group moving together. Either I was having an error with my body, my mind was making mistakes or there was someone else around here.

[Campos. What’s going on?]

[Scavengers?]