INT. JASON’S APARTMENT – NIGHT
76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAFeUsRBg3k
[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.]
76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXBV5Tlkd3E
SD-K
“This place has the exact dimensions of a storage server error.”
76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY9S2X2NUuk
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.”
76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRcaqTdWwKZ
[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.]
76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXSpqADmA6q
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.”
76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwJaEmMvIyq
[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.]
76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsyoacO4SBy
SD-A
(walking around, inspecting wires)
“This is actually... kind of cozy. In a pathetic, crumbling sort of way.”
76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq9w2ocIhJq
SD-K
“His bed is smaller than our coffin box.”
76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeaIjn0uFdm
[K leans down, tapping the power-charging pod with his boot. It flickers like it’s had enough of this life.]
76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7GvAl6rBBY
SD-K
“This thing’s about to file for retirement.”
76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWRSSs0TuNx
[SD-A stops in front of a half-lit terminal mounted into the wall. He pokes the screen.]
76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlw0yMxdQBl
SD-A
“He’s got records. Look.”
76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvPMBRZ0jRc
[The display flickers to show Jason’s case logs, footage, and snippets of the Vision Tech propaganda posters he saw earlier.]
76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGWeChVqe3d
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.’”
76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4yfSgvjMvz
SD-K
“‘IT-A03’... as in Ita, the moon?”
76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsLRWxXpzKt
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.”
76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8Zcq6Wr7Rv
[He pulls up a holographic overlay: that strange emblem—almost like a hybrid between a Vision Tech seal and some organic, branching pattern.]
76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3xCnlU6JXf
SD-K
“I don’t like this. You’re saying there’s a rogue unit out there influencing bots with—what—infected metal?”
76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZV5Akf76aG
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.”
76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjJUARTjUkC
[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.]
76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBvW1gAycCm
JASON
“Well! Nothing like a minty oil rinse and five seconds of existential silence. So—what did you break?”
76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSKRMm6fQOs
[SD-A and SD-K both look at each other. SD-K shrugs.]
76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwbKJpuPr5Q
SD-K
“Your sense of privacy, probably.”
76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ49mXIE50M7
JASON
“Ha. Jokes on you—I never had one.”
76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgdkfvEz0pg
[He flops onto the little bed, clearly too big for it, metal limbs dangling off each side like a crime scene chalk outline.]
76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFGBm25kmHv
JASON
“Alright, lay it on me. What juicy, horrifying information did you uncover while violating my personal interface?”
76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyNM20gZISW
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.”
76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSDsjh7Tzm2
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.”
76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8yD0Nqg9Sj
[He takes a swig of machine oil, then makes a face.]
76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz341kwGx0C
JASON
“Ugh. This one tastes like disappointment and expired battery acid.”
76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2eA0YfOml1
SD-K
“That’s probably what it is.”
76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3r3qvwi25D
[The lights flicker. Jason squints at the ceiling, then lies back.]
76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡib9ATsSrIj
JASON
“Well... let’s enjoy our night of totally not dying. You two need rest?”
76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiBMptmu90u
SD-A
“We don’t sleep.”
76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOFHoqdhfQK
SD-K
“But we do recharge. And not in that pod.”
76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuCYcwKREte
JASON
“Smart bot. That pod hums like it’s one sneeze away from self-destruct.”
76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGqH9ZKlnph
[They all sit quietly for a moment, the muffled city sounds outside mixing with electrical buzzing inside.]
76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGoFNzvifqC
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.”
76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzq06qnZ06H
SD-K
“I don’t snore.”
76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡALMfb1Pyzc
SD-A
“He does.”
76Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxWTDTm7Xto
FADE OUT.
ns216.73.216.0da2
