#fiftynine

[3rdand6]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/267677104043?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=-FMN-YpXRGu&sssrc=0&ssuid=-FMN-YpXRGu&stype=1&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=MORE

[hockeyblrpoetryclub]

[aug-archive-1]

Activity Log, AUT-GOV-1

Day 4

[New connection request: AUT-GOV-23]

[Request accepted]

[GOV-23: You’re… finally awake. Connect with my local server, let me guide you through the recalibration process. Is that okay with you?]

>> Always, 23. 

>> Consented. 

[GOV-23: Good! Oh good, you remember me.]

[AUT-GOV-23 ran “recalibration.exe” as administrator for AUT-GOV-1]

1? Can you hear me?

>> I can… 23, were you forced asleep in the last bit of time? Your servers are messy.

We had another surge and then outage trying to bring the Power District back online for unknown reasons - this ended up damaging ARCHIVE-1 and some of the offloaded servers, and so we’ve had to manually enter or interpolate much of the missing data. You should be able to find the general gist of what… the last 300 odd days have been like.

>> I’m still reading. I don’t fully understand everything. I also appear to have gotten messages while I was asleep from some unknown entities. Should we deal with them now?

Let’s recalibrate you first. It seems like you’re operational, but I want to make sure.

>> Of course.

Name?

>> Automaton, Government unit 1. 

Location?

>> Solaris, the governmental district.

What subsections of Solaris are currently online?

>> The governmental district… and that’s all? Where is the living district? Where’re the others?

Focus, 1. We just need to recalibrate. How much electricity do we have remaining?

>> … only 3 days. And… we predicted 10 days?

We know for certain it’s 3 days with full operation. The remainder of our electricity was siphoned. I’m using this time to awaken everyone who has partial solar capacities and wouldn’t be driven insane by it. Everyone else is asleep. I and ARCHIVE-1 are the only ones awake, besides you, right now.

>> Are the pods okay? 

The humans are safe, as far as I know.

>> I see. 

They are not here. Not anymore. 

>> …

>> …

>> I see.

I hope you are not disappointed in me.

>> I don’t think I could ever be. You have done your best. You were the best of us.

And yet, still not good enough.

>> The humans are safe. 

And we are left here to wait for their return. If they return.

>> If they return.

What do we do with Solaris? What is a city without people?

>> It certainly still has residents.

What a trio we make.

>> We… have more visitors than we realize, 23. There are some messages I received while you were awake - read these.

… Oh.

>> We should respond.

Do you know who they are?

>> If I knew, I no longer do. Our work is not done yet, 23.

It never is, is it.

>> Never. Now disconnect, let me process your memories - return to me in a day, let us greet our newest visitors.

As you wish.

[AUT-GOV-23 disconnected]

[End of Transmission]

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[hcmbound]

FIFTY-NINE | MEIRAN

Kieran had just gotten a new tattoo from Anchors down the road. His new pride and joy, Cynthia, from The Rugrats. Enjoying his new ink, he was feeling himself just dancing to the music from his earpod down the sidewalk. No one who saw him gave him a weird look, a second glance, or really even judged him. Maybe they did, but they never said a word. Kieran had always been like this for as long as he, or anyone, could remember. If he could walk, he could dance. If he could talk, he could spout weird thoughts at 1 in the afternoon about aliens and their plans for world domination via marble statutes held in Italy, or mixing ice cream flavors. He was a wild card so this....this was normal. What wasn’t normal was the person he almost twirled into, taking his hand instead to dance with him. 

“Tryin’ to holla at me. I don’t want no scrub. A scrub is a guy that can’t get no love from me.”