A Deal is Struck

Posted on Sat 19th Sep, 2020 @ 1:37am by Captain Jason Harrington & Exo-Comp EXQT
Edited on on Tue 6th Oct, 2020 @ 3:26am

1,067 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Resolution
Location: Krios Minor AKA Trader's Moon
Timeline: MD 8, 1215

Can this deal be saved?

---

Mia typed out a short sales agreement, reading aloud as she went. "Jaren, hereinafter known as the Seller, agrees to the price of 2 strips of latinum for a bot known as Peggy and 10 slips for 3 more bots in the same lot. Captain Harrington, hereinafter known as the Buyer, agrees to hold Seller blameless for any malfunctions discovered after delivery of said bots, which are being bought in AS IS condition."

"I think that will do it, gentlemen," she said, flipping her PADD around for each thumbprint. She had decided to see if she could get the last two bots, as well. If the captain didn't go for it, she would buy the second two at her own expense, so long as she got them for the 5 slips. Otherwise, the bots were on their own.

Jason smiled at his First Officer, he approved of her ingenuity. He had tried to play the upset customer, but it hadn't worked out very well ... or had it?

He placed his thumb on the PADD approving his portion of the transaction and waited for the seller to see what would happen.

Jaren knew this was as sweet as it could get. However they had arrived here, this was a done deal. He took the revised bill of sales, and almost said something to ruin the deal, but sense prevailed. He kept his mouth shut, pressed the PADD and tried not to smile. With that amount confirmed in his system immediately, all he had to do was program Peggy.

"Alright! One moment here, Peggy is this'n's designation." He held the smoother chrome-bodied drone in one hand with some effort and showed them her input. "Link up to here. She'll listen and send messages to the others. You need special communications to interact with them.

"That one is called Banshee, as you may have heard earlier, and is quite loud, and also can broadcast through miles of rock or metal. Peggy does the thinking and Banshee does the squawking. They'll get the others to do whatever you ask. Their language doesn't translate well, so it's tough to talk to them directly. Anyhow, transfer protocol is ready."

As he spoke, he callously tossed and handled Peggy, prying open the input plates, but the input of transfer commands told Peggy this was a win, all four of them were staying together! The message they sent must have had the right effect. Peggy analyzed intent, motive, and risk/reward for the buyers in this exchange to determine this was an act incongruous to commercial economy. She realized they were willing to lose operational resources, trusting the message from them was real. This was rare, and a sign of future cooperation potential.

<{[PEGGY]*[ALL]=(TransferPRO.crt);ADMIN[JAREN]->[C.Jason/Miarau.M](Approval!effect:IMMEDIATE)}>

The other three took their fellow's word and changed their directives. With no new orders they continued to sit there, powered but inert. Like that, they changed allegiances, no love lost to the despicable Jaren.

Peggy sent a message in as clear a language as possible to the people who bought them. Peggy wanted the fourth memory core Jaren removed, but lacked the syntax to outright say it.

<{[PEGGY]*[C.Jason/Miarau.M](Query:(4/4Qcore)=(3/4present)([JAREN]return(4/4Qcore))}>

Jaren knew the bot speak well enough, translating for the group, "No, no. I paid for those upgrades and removed it before I even set you out here for sale, and they paid for you as is."

<{[PEGGY]*[C.Jason/Miarau.M](CommandImperative;(3/4present([JAREN]return4/4Qcore)(4/4Qcore))=(3/4present)([JAREN]return(4/4Qcore!)!)!}>

Banshee knew Peggy was getting riled up, and Zombie was getting ready for something to happen. If Peggy were losing control, they would all likely go crazy, so Banshee restrained its colleague, speaking to all of them,

<{[BANSHEE]*[ALL]([C.Jason/Miarau.M]/SYSops:"endtask":%return(4/4Qcore)[JAREN](Generalized.cooperation-FAULT)=FAILURE[ALL]);([C.Jason/Miarau.M]*(Service)}>

Peggy understood the point, Jaren wouldn't cooperate and they would risk ruining their rescue by these people to continue pursuing it. Lobotomized by 1/4 of its capacity, Peggy was not happy at all but simply activated its repulsors and gyros, forcibly correcting its own position out of Jaren's grasp. Any of these bots had the mass and capability of lifting several tons, so Jaren was lucky Peggy felt strongly about not causing harm to others.

Peggy moved to a flanking position hovering a meter above the ground behind Miarau. Wordlessly, the others fell in line, all four floating near Miarau, as well. They didn't like being sold and forced to play games, but this was how they traded up, and each day gave a new chance to find something more.

Nessy raised its optical stalk to Miarau's face, blinking the optical lens in a photo capture. Zombie sent a handshake greeting to her PADD as well as a message asking to carry her bags,

<{[ZOMBIE](Prog:Cargo"Conveyance")(Request:[C.Jason/Miarau.M]=Hold-materialweight>5Kg?)}>

Jaren saw them come to life with the new owners and felt a flicker of hatred at the clearly personal animosity those bots showed him. The clear willingness with which they left him for new owners was hurtful. It was good riddance though. He was in a business that was unforgiving, and those bots didn't do as they were told. Machines that could think for themselves were a problem, especially if he needed people he could rely on to stay quiet. As they all left him, he realized this was the highlight of his long day, ten strips was enough to get him to tomorrow, where it all began again.

"Please, feel free to carry our bags, little ones." Mia handed them over.

"And don't worry about the missing core. We'll come up with something," she added, as soon as they were out of sight and hearing of the shop. She felt as if she needed a shower after dealing with that man, and wondered if the little guys would enjoy an oil bath.

"I think we won that round, boss. I just have a great feeling about these bots." She grinned at all five of the others, walking backward to face them. "They're smarter than he thinks, that's for certain, and they can be cooperative or obstructive, I believe. I'll find out more in the engineering bay. I can hardly wait!"

 

RSS Feed

Comments (1)