Capítulo 281: Wave soundly
Afton found Dr. 8 hovering over what looked like some sort of record player, though the record that was currently spinning on it had many glowing blue lines running across its surface, it also occasionally sparked with electricity, releasing a random strange noise every time it occurred.
To be honest, despite Afton's maxed out Science and Repair skills, he wasn't really sure what the device was, its purpose, or even if it was for entertainment or actual scientific discovery... Deciding not to bother questioning every strange sci-fi-looking tech he found in this place, he coughs into his hand to catch the scientists attention.
Once Afton's presence is made known, the robot abruptly stops the record player, this causes a clacking sound as the record stops, releasing sparks that are thrown away by the halted momentum.
Though something peculiar happens once the record stops... Afton could hear music coming fro, well, everywhere... It's as if he was surrounded by music players from every direction, the music in question? Jazz blues.
Dr. 8 spots Afton looking around in confusion and so uses a manipulator to start the record player again, the music dissipating instantly after. "*Bzzzzzch!*" they sound out, the familiar static replacing anything legible.
"Uhhh, huh... Look, I have no idea what you just said... So, couldn't you just like, write? Or something?" Afton questions, scratching his stubble sheepishly.
"*Bzzzzch!*" Dr. 8 says, floating to his desk and grabbing a pan with a manipulator... It's safe to say that their robotic limbs weren't made for writing, so when the robot attempted to write on paper it looked like a mass of squiggly lines... Something a child with dyslexia would draw if you asked them to write Antidisestablishmentarianism... Simply put, illegible. "*Bzzch!*" 8 sounds out, somehow looking smug despite having no real facial expressions.
...
"So, er, did you draw a dog or something? Or maybe it's a mothball?" Afton questions, staring hard at the paper.
"*Bzzch...*" a sad sounding static is his only reply.
...
Hang on... Now that he'd gotten some time to actually speak to 8, something about his communication was giving him deja vu... He just couldn't put his finger on it. Ah! There's one way one certain for him to find out though. "8, I need you to say, 'The quick scribe jumped over the lazy paladin.' for me?" he asks, wanting to know if this feeling he was having was just him getting confused.
8 looks at him for a moment before shrugging his monitors, "*Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzch*"
...
Afton's eyes shoot open as he finally realises what this was... Back in the brotherhood, they taught everyone how to take robots apart, put them back together again, etc. This of course included ways to diagnose various problems, if a Mr Handy's hovering was janky and stuttering, then it's gyro-propulsion needed repairs. If a Protectrons manipulator kept heating up to rediculous degrees, then it may have a faulty laser, or damaged energy cells.
And, of course, if a robots voice module was broken, the sound it'd produce wouldn't be random. No, it'd literally be speaking code. Code that would have been translated via the voice module, but couldn't due to it being damaged.
As an Initiate, Afton was taught how to listen to this *code spew*, as it'd allow the robot itself to explain what'd happened, how it was damaged, and if it knew of a way to easily fix it. As for what the reason was for them to learn this? Well, there weren't exactly manuals lying around the wasteland with the robotics schematics, so it saved a lot of time to just ask what the problem was.
Well, that, and the fact you're able to easily hack robots that are literally shouting their code at you. It's literally like telling someone your password, operating system, how to turn off your anti-virus, as well as when you're parents would be home... Yeah, pretty serious, not that he'd let Dr. 8 know what Afton was potentially capable of doing to him.
So this is was the feeling of deja vu was... It'd been so long since he'd learned about it that he'd almost not recognised it. Dr. 8 was speaking via RobCo term link code, and while Afton was somewhat rusty, he was sure he'd be able to pick it up fairly quickly...
"Repeat it one more time for me... Please?" Afton asks, and 8 reluctantly does so.
"*The quick scribe jumped over the lazy paladin... Can we stop now? This is humiliating..." 8 says with Afton somewhat understanding what he'd said.
"We can stop, anyway, I feel like we haven't actually been able to introduce ourselves properly to one another yet. So. I'm Afton Parker, nice to meet you Dr. 8." he says, presenting his hand to the robot while trying to sound as friendly as possible.
"*I already know your name, but if you wish to redo this social ceremony... Not that you'd be able to understand me anyway.*" Dr. 8 says before shaking Aftons hand with a manipulator.
"It's not about redoing the 'social ceremony', it's simply about being polite. Oh, and I can understand you by the way. RobCo term link is fairly easy to comprehend when you've been glued to terminal screens for most of your life." he casually explains.
"*Ah, I see-Wait what!? That's inconceivable! Even my colleagues who are well versed in code aren't able to understand through this medium of communication.*"
Afton just shrugs, "Well, I am so, if you'd rather I just leave you be then-"
"*No! For the love of everything intelligent, no! If I'm stuck being unable to communicate for any longer I'll go MAD! Isolation is not a natural state for humans, or for former humans!... So, if you could lend me your ear every once in a while Mr Parker, I'd greatly appreciate it.*" he says, his tone one of begging despite it spoken in frantic code.
"Alright, I don't really mind. But I do have some things I need to ask you."
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Capítulo 282: Dr. who?
"But I do have some things I need to ask you."
"*Oh? Then ask away, I appreciate not having to speak to myself for company...*" Dr. 8 says via his usual static.
Deciding not to address that incredibly depressing statement, Afton drops the Robo-Scorpion in front of the scientist and points at it, "I tried to ask Zero to help me with this, but he's about as useful as barbed-wire bubble-wrap. So, I was wondering if you'd be willing to take a look at it to see if we could try and find a vulnerability or something."
"*Hm... I'm not exactly a robotics expert, so I'm unsure what you think I'd be able to find... I'm primarily an Acoustician, though I have dabbled with other subjects.*"
"Just taking a look at it is all I ask." Afton pleads, "Ah, but the way, Zero said something about the robots exploding when he touched them, so... Be mindful of that." he adds, not wanting a potential ally to go the way of the Dodo.
"*Well, let's see here..." Dr. 8 says, examining the robot but making sure not to touch it. After a moment he floats away and retrieves a tool that looks suspiciously like a Sonic-Screwdriver...
"Er, what's that?" he asks, wondering if doctor who was something that existed in the Fallout universe... "A sonic-screwdriver?" a tentatively asks, hoping to get some sort of reaction from the scientist.
"*Oh, this? No, it's my patent-pending soundwave-screwdriver!*" the robot chirps through RobCo term link.
Afton snorts and points at 8, "That's literally just a Sonic-Screwdriver then! And your patent's never going to be confirmed since the government's destroyed!"
Dr. 8 slumps as Afton says this, "*Ah, I forgot... The way you speak about my Soundwave-screwdriver, has this invention of mine already been discovered by someone else?"
...
"Err, yeah... Some guy called Dr... Hu... They're Chinese." he stutters out, not wishing to give any indication of his previous life, or anything that could potentially risk someone figuring it out.
"*Bah! I doubt they made theirs before I made mine. Those gook crooks probably stole my schematics and passed it off as their own!*" the robot shakes his monitors, "*Whatever, no point disparaging the 'most certainly' dead. Let's take a look at this Robo-Specimen shall we?*"
Dr. 8 hovers towards the Robo-Scorpion and activates his 'Soundwave-screwdriver', waving it at the robot as the familiar sonic humming sounded out. Afton wondered if it functioned the same as the timelord's, but shook his head, that thing was more plot-device than an actual device.
"So, find anything out?"
"*Give me time, I can't simply wave this at something and instantly have answers. If I could then I'd have the answers to the universe... You have some seriously unrealistic expectations Mr Parker.*" 8 says.
Afton bites back a retort, he wasn't wrong. Afton had respected the robot to shout 'Eureka!' and with a click of his sonic-screwdriver deactivate the Robo-Scorpion army... Perhaps he was just becoming nostalgic towards the old show he'd never watch again...
Dr. 8 floats towards a terminal and inserts a cord into the 'Soundwave-Screwdriver', he rapidly types on the keyboard with his manipulators and after a couple minutes, the sound of what he could only guess was a printer started.
The robot floated towards a grey box and opened it, revealing some sort of music sheet? He had many things written on it, but Afton couldn't understand any of it. "*Hmm, I think this might be doable... I've managed to map out some of the Robo-Scorpions internal machinery via my Soundwave-screwdriver, it might take me a while, but given enough time I could have a significant portion of its schematics written out.*"
"That's fantastic! How long will it take?" Afton asks exuberantly.
"*Err... A while... It's difficult to quantify how long it will take as some materials are less receptive to this kind of probing. Some may interfere, while others would simply not be detected. I'll need to test many frequencies to catch everything, even then we most likely won't be able to discover much. Using this method we can detect hardware, not software. As our... Robotics expert. Isn't suited for the job, we'll just have to manage with only that.*"
Afton nods, even if Zero was a robotics expert as he claimed, he doubted they'd be able to access the Robo-Scorpions software... He might have completely fried it via his initial attack on it, and that's not even mentioning the defences Mobius had most likely put in place.
"Hmm, is Zero's lack of expertise the reason your robot bodies are so... Impractical?" Afton curiously asks.
"*What do you mean? Our bodies are perfectly suited to our daily needs.*"
"8, are you telling me you are happy with that drawing you made earlier? You can't even write, if I were to make a list of things a regular human can do compared to what your body can do, the former list would most certainly be longer."
"*Well, there's always a trade-off, Mr Parker. As much as I long to be human again, it's simply impossible. If I had tried, I wouldn't still be around.*"
Afton nods, "Yeah, I understand that, but... Why not just alter a suit of Powerarmour, stuffs your brain in that and have a fully functional humanoid body, that could potentially be used to defend yourself and your colleagues?" he asks.
...
"*I... Errr... Say that again, slowly.*"
"Seriously, it's like you guys aren't even thinking... Though, I can see a few problems with my idea. first of all, power consumption would be a problem, if you couldn't find a sustainable source of energy then you'd be in trouble. I'm guessing your current body is the most power-efficient one possible... Though the fact that you guys float around disputes that..." Afton trails off, thinking about whether or not it would be possible to hook up some power armour to 8's brain.
...
"*Mr Parker... Would you perhaps like to join the Think Tank?*" 8 asks, clearly impressed by Afton's expertise.
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