Day 30. Beta, Delta, Epsilon. Four Rex opened his eyes to a dark room. He looked around and spotted Katherine sitting on a chair next to him. Despite the dark, he could see her favorite bright green dress and the slight bruising on her right cheek, but she still smiled all the same. "Hi Rexxy!" "Katherine Varience." She scrunched her face up and crossed her arms. "It's just Kate. Call me Kate." "Whatever..." He sat up and hopped out of the charging station. "Do you have the..." He ran several algorithms trying to decipher what he was going to say. Katherine pulled a drive from her skirt pocket. "This thing?" Rex took the drive and inserted it into a slot in his head. The information came pouring back to him. "Yes that's it... Thank you." "Does it hurt?" Rex blinked and looked at her. "Hurt?" "Sticking that thingy in your head." She pointed to the side of her head. "No... I'm just a machine. I don't feel pain like that." "Well what if you did? Would it hurt?" Her curious eyes watched him. He paused for a moment. He ran several algorithms and shook his head. "That's not important." He walked over to a computer and began researching more. Katherine rolled the chair over and plopped next to him. Her legs swung a bit off the floor as she watched. She pointed at the screen. "What's that?" "Code. It's what I speak." "I thought you spoke English..." "I speak English cause I know the code which tells me about English." "Isn't code the clicks and beeps you make?" "No its a series of prompts that i..." "But you make clicks and whirls when you think!" He paused and looked at her. "Cause that's how I'm programed... with the code." "So what your saying is I can speak code if I make clicks and whirls?" He sighed. "Don't you have somewhere else to be?" "Nope! Not until Daddy gets home! Besides I'm stuck in here anyway." "Use the door." "Its locked." "How did you get in then?" "I unlocked it then locked it back as I went in so no one would notice!" "... how are you going to get out? And eat?" She began to speak but stopped. She scratched her head and thought. "I... dont know... Do you have food here?" "I don't eat..." "But you have food?" "No..." "That's dumb. Why don't you have food here?!" "Because I don't eat." "Well go learn to eat and get some food! I'm hungry..." Her stomach growled in response. Rex shook his head. "Humans..." He walked over to the door and typed in the code Doctor Varience used to get out. The door cracked open. "Ok go on." She walked over to the door and looked at him. "Aren't you coming?" "No." "Why not?" "Because I have better things to do." "No you don't. You sound just like Daddy..." "Why can't you go on your own?" "Cause I'm bored and it's lonely at the room..." She kicked the floor a bit with her foot. Rex watched her for a bit. "We could get in trouble." "So?" She opened the door. "Come on!" He ran several more algorithms before walking towards the door. "Fine... But I'm coming back here as soon as I drop you off." "Why can't you stay?" "Because I need to figure something out." Her eyes grew sadder. "You sound just like him... Just as mean too." She quickly walked out of the door and closed it. Rex was left in the quietness of the room. The computer still ran code prompts as it cycled through all the information regarding his search. He looked at his hands then at the door that leads to the firing range. He felt something in his algorithms that he didn't recognize, something humans called Guilt. "I'm not like Dr. Varience... Not like him." He walked through the door and kept it ajar. He loaded the map of the building that he found and walked. It took him an hour to dodge all the security measures and other scientists that roamed the halls but he managed to make it to a room labeled "Varience". He ran an algorithm. "I can't believe I'm doing this..." He knocked on the door. He heard the patter of feet as the door opened a little. Katherine's eye lit up as she opened the door fully. "Rexxy!" She took his hand and pulled him in, shutting the door behind them. "You came to see me!" "No I'm here to gather some more data... but I was making sure you made it back here fine." She grinned. "You can't fool me Rexxy! Come on! I'll show you around." She took his hand and led him down the narrow hallway. It opened up to a pretty spartan room with just a small section of a kitchen on one side and a couch and holographic screen on the other. Three doors were near the back of the square room, two being shut and the other opened to a small room. Katherine "dragged" him along and showed her little collection of stuff. The room was mostly barren except for a bed/desk combo, a dresser, closet, and a little assortment of dolls and toys. The light bulb flickered a little as she sat on her bed. "Very... Nice place." "Its not very fun... Daddys either is in his room or in the bathroom... but I always have Damien to play with!" She picked up a toy that looked like a robot. It was sloppily painted green and had mishappen blue eyes. "It reminds me of you!" He looked at the toy. "It looks nothing like me." "He's green, your green! He has blue eyes, you have blue eyes! Your like cousins!" "I don't have a cousin." "I thought all robots were family." "No. We are not. I'm alone." She frowned. "Doesn't it get lonely?" "Not really. I don't need company, I'm a machine." "You are better than a machine! You are my friend. And friends need family so Damiens your cousin and that's final." Rex started to object but stopped. He began to feel another emotion, Sadness. The updated algorithms were accommodating how he would feel. He simply held out his hand. "Let me say hi to... Damien then." She smiled and handed him Damien. He took it and looked at the face for a little while. "Hi..." Katherine covered her mouth and tried to sound like a happier version of him. "Hey cuz." She giggled happily. He looked at her, then back at the toy. "How have you been..?" "I'm doing ok. How bout you?" "I'm fine..." "That's good. That's good." She smiled and held her hands out for Damien. Rex handed the toy back and watched her. She held the Damien close to her and looked at him. The silence was apparent for a while. Rex looked around the room several times before Kate spoke again. "Can you teach me code?" He ran a swift algorithm. "The beeps and clicks or actual code?" "Beeps and clicks, duh." He shook his head. "I don't think..." "Every noise must mean something! So let's make a code!" Her eyes widened. "A secret code! That way we can all talk and no one will know what we are saying!" He paused and ran several algorithms. "We only have a few days." "We can make a basic one atleast!" He sighed. "I'll try to teach you code then." "Yay!!!" She hopped up and down. She set Damien beside her and made a spot for Rex to sit beside her. He sat down and looked at her. "Alright..." He made a simple click noise. "That means Hi." She tried to repeat the sound. "Not quite." She tried over and over until she got it right. "That's good." He made a noise sounding like De-du. "That means I'm thinking." She kept repeating the sounds until she got it right. They continued this throughout the night. Making their own language so they could talk between them and grow the feeble friendship of man and machine. https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/150851930/0/0 link to part 2 https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/158129425/0/0 link to part 4