INT. JASON’S APARTMENT – NIGHT
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnD4Eur2p61
[Jason closes the door and yanks the crate lid fully open. SD-A steps out casually. SD-K stumbles like a bot who just got out of a tumble dryer.]
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmh6dH4qyGJ
SD-K
“This place has the exact dimensions of a storage server error.”
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlrixOt9yai
JASON
“Hey, not every bot gets to live in a luxury cube with exposed wiring, soundproof cardboard walls, and that sweet, sweet scent of overheating capacitors.”
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwWiRCZURYI
[He kicks aside a battery wrapper and heads to the back corner where a rusted pod charger hums next to a tiny bed (barely enough space for a mid-sized dog bot) and a curtain that hides a grimy makeshift bathroom.]
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKpLxlMR9B0
JASON
“Alright. I’m taking a shower. You two—manage yourselves. Don’t touch the HUD terminal, don’t drink the backup coolant, and definitely don’t open the mini-fridge. I lost something in there six weeks ago, and I think it evolved.”
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfDwgj7iIoR
[He pulls the curtain shut behind him. Mechanical sputtering starts—his shower is literally just a pipe that sprays hot mist and rattles like it’s doing taxes.]
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeQyUiOtfJE
SD-A
(walking around, inspecting wires)
“This is actually... kind of cozy. In a pathetic, crumbling sort of way.”
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzTUXX2lIZa
SD-K
“His bed is smaller than our coffin box.”
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLBNVTxxjVf
[K leans down, tapping the power-charging pod with his boot. It flickers like it’s had enough of this life.]
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsPCe5tBQBJ
SD-K
“This thing’s about to file for retirement.”
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcdDS9uofVq
[SD-A stops in front of a half-lit terminal mounted into the wall. He pokes the screen.]
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGFvbX1PiQ3
SD-A
“He’s got records. Look.”
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRqrRQOQe3g
[The display flickers to show Jason’s case logs, footage, and snippets of the Vision Tech propaganda posters he saw earlier.]
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPM6HOs54VD
SD-A
“Those terminals we found… same logos, same messaging style. Pre-Liberation design. One of them had logs mentioning Project Monolith and something called ‘IT-A03.’”
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOvewcOjZPi
SD-K
“‘IT-A03’... as in Ita, the moon?”
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkIH2SrgSv1
SD-A
“Likely. I also found this symbol on one of the walls. Matches the one we saw on the parasitized bot earlier. The same one I scanned back at the hangar.”
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSRXJpnw23G
[He pulls up a holographic overlay: that strange emblem—almost like a hybrid between a Vision Tech seal and some organic, branching pattern.]
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCnXzQ7aa7Z
SD-K
“I don’t like this. You’re saying there’s a rogue unit out there influencing bots with—what—infected metal?”
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG3GNhV5gtS
SD-A
“More like... organically reprogrammed alloys. Based on the old tech they pulled from Ita. Vision Tech was testing it before The Liberation. That prototype might still be alive.”
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIu1oMbvjIu
[Suddenly, the bathroom curtain slides open. Jason steps out, damp and vaguely shinier, holding a bottle of mint-scented machine oil and looking way too relaxed.]
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgw2KkfUjKp
JASON
“Well! Nothing like a minty oil rinse and five seconds of existential silence. So—what did you break?”
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkEdnLdwq6U
[SD-A and SD-K both look at each other. SD-K shrugs.]
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH9Ayk2oj7K
SD-K
“Your sense of privacy, probably.”
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqgnnwnT01C
JASON
“Ha. Jokes on you—I never had one.”
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm0vM8JvVUE
[He flops onto the little bed, clearly too big for it, metal limbs dangling off each side like a crime scene chalk outline.]
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCPMBHZ6Hyr
JASON
“Alright, lay it on me. What juicy, horrifying information did you uncover while violating my personal interface?”
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJCRmCjp3FQ
SD-A
“The infection we saw—it’s tied to Vision Tech. We think it’s linked to a prototype they were testing with organic metal from Ita. It’s... changing bots.”
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpPB43vQBkF
JASON
“So we’ve got a cosmic metal zombie plague and it’s made by the same people who manufactured exploding coffee mugs and emotionally unstable vending machines. Great.”
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdf8blHwMYq
[He takes a swig of machine oil, then makes a face.]
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFEtjjlWsPz
JASON
“Ugh. This one tastes like disappointment and expired battery acid.”
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZqRXvGUDuo
SD-K
“That’s probably what it is.”
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz4ccIxQwqu
[The lights flicker. Jason squints at the ceiling, then lies back.]
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX656ACpZut
JASON
“Well... let’s enjoy our night of totally not dying. You two need rest?”
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxhtC3qsUrp
SD-A
“We don’t sleep.”
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy44sTzI2gl
SD-K
“But we do recharge. And not in that pod.”
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBtAwlEdPil
JASON
“Smart bot. That pod hums like it’s one sneeze away from self-destruct.”
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnSfM9poH1A
[They all sit quietly for a moment, the muffled city sounds outside mixing with electrical buzzing inside.]
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyiKPbzIpEp
JASON
“…Y’know, I used to think I was just a bot with a weird job and a worse apartment. But now I’ve got plague bots, parasite metal, and two illegal guests who probably snore in stereo.”
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyDhhyeZFrM
SD-K
“I don’t snore.”
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxyOs6QYrSo
SD-A
“He does.”
62Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYKt8baJtWM
FADE OUT.
ns216.73.216.57da2
