[CW22] Tr4ns4cti0ns

Tr4ns4cti0ns

Above, the bustling streets are filled to the brim with people and cars. The shiny, fresh tiles on the floor can barely be kept clean in between morning, midday, evening and night rush hours. The noise of people talking to devices, the tires rubbing against cement, of signals controlling flows of people, are all distant.
Down below, just through a tunnel underpinning one such street — not for people, for wastewater — two individuals emerge. The low tide of the toxic sludge allows one to barely stand on the rims of the channel, still freshly wet from whatever was dumped here recently. With each step ones’ shoes make squeals like whatever is left on the floor is tearing it apart every second it has to make contact with the ground. The other one doesn’t wear any, the cold clunks of metal on concrete are indifferent to its coating.
The one with shoes is leading the other, with confident stride dodging each puddle too wide for her shoes to bear. The other follows, taking any step just as the one in front, like a small animal taking advantage of the deep footprints left in snow by a much larger one. Not because she couldn’t see for herself where to go, but because she’s are already busy with the heavy crate she is are carrying, metals rustling inside with every motion.
A few more steps after the tunnels exit, finally some stairs — dirty just as much, but a way out regardless. The first carefully traverses the steps not to slip so close to relieve, the other follows without much struggle. Emerging at the top they find themselves in a narrow alley, just downstream from the clean and bustling streets, significantly tarnishing the floor with each step that follows.
A few discarded boxes lay to the side, just opposite the stairs just climbed, she takes a break from leading and sits down.
“Was there really no easier way to take?” asks her companion, payload still in hand.
She retorts playfully: “Why’d you care? You don’t have to smell it, so what’s it to you?”.
“If you slip and die I’m out of a place to sleep, Shiv”, the metal companion snarks, less playful.
The woman lodged on the crate takes out a cigarette from one of the myriad of pockets on her knee long coat, a lighter is produced from another. The darkness of the alley is shortly illuminated by a little flame, fighting with the lights on her companion for the shadows on the wall. “Still find it funny you call it sleep. You’ a curious little doll y’know that?”.
The doll accused stares down the alley, towards the distant light of the productive street. She doesn’t remember why or when she started calling her charge circles “sleeping”, neither is she in the mood to dig through the many logs she had written over the years. She is more confused at how this remark annoys her, why it seeps more into her than the toxic dirt under her feet. She knows the answer, but that doesn’t mean she has to acknowledge it. “Will the stuff in here be enough?”.
She takes another huff from her cigarette before answering. A small cloud of toxic fumes emerges. “I’d say most likely, mostly, maybe. Hard to say what price we fetch today”, she gives a smirk.
“It is like you are trying to annoy me today”, she remarks neutrally, but she is anything but.
Another huff from the cigarette, another cloud of smoke. “Maybe I’m just not used to a bot being annoyed”. She puts out the cigarette besides her on the crate, and leans back against the wall. “Y’know its like a kid discovering for the first time that the house cat will scratch em’ when it pulls her tail. Maybe a bad idea, maybe cruel, but you’re young, the thought of being able to affect the world is kinda exciting, so you do it again just to make sure it was really you who did that and not some freak accident”.
The bot tilts her head in confusion, the literal lights in her eyes narrow. “That doesn’t make any sense”, she voices with pronounced annoyance. “Are children like that or are you still making fun of me”? Internally she knows not relating to the experience of being a child is hurting more, than trying to decipher the weird things her housemate says sometimes is confusing.
“Maybe I am, maybe I’m not, who really knows y’know?”, she smirks again.
Fed up, her companion turns down the alley and starts walking. “You had your break, let’s go”.
Shiv jumps off the crate, a short sprint bringing her up to height after being left behind. “Pulled your tail too hard, did I?”, she chuckles.
Crate still rustling in her hands, she gives her a glance. “Meow”, she voices sarcastically. Looking back ahead, she hides a little smirk of her own.

Leaning against a wall just outside and opposite the makeshift shop, the bot is reading its notebook diligently. Through the crude door bolted onto a self made wooden frame, held together by the pieces of sheet metal surrounding it, the muffled noises of negotiations and the rustling crate can be heard.
With some labored noises, the door springs open, creaking all the way until it hits the wall. Shiv steps through it, seemingly annoyed she yells back: “I swear one day ‘this piece of crap be stuck for good, and you starve in there”. Whoever is on the other side does not answer her audibly, but after a moment she shuts the door regardless.
“Isn’t it bad to yell at the person we sell stuff to?”, the doll resting against the wall asks scared.
The woman takes a place just besides it, leaning against the same wall and takes some cash out of her pocket. “Eh, when he starves in there we ain’t be getting paid anyway”, she starts counting the money in her hands.
The bot looks at her, troubled. “Maybe we could help?”, it asks more itself than Shiv.
“Don’t trouble yourself”, she interrupts while counting. “Being nice ‘round here gets you either exploited, stabbed, or both”. She finishes her count, and puts the money back into a different pocket this time.
It rises from the wall, visibly saddened by the remark. “You say that about every place we come by…”.
She rises from the wall, visibly confused by her companion. “It is what it is, you gotta survive down here somehow”.
She starts heading down the narrow path between the buildings, the bot surprised they are already moving on from the conversation hurries after her. “Shiv where are you going”?
Without looking back she replies: “I think it’s time for a lil’ shopping tour, don’t ya think?”.
“Shiiiv, why are you wasting our hard earned money”.
“I ain’t wasting it, I’m investing”.
“Investing”?!
“I think it’s time we get some nice racks to put on you, so your white metal and blinking lights don’t stick out ‘much”.
“Couldn’t we just pull a few of our… it means… like, wouldn’t a few pulled wires already achieve that”?
“I’m not just worried about you lighting up the dark cargo hold we supposed’ to sneak around in, even without — you still stick out too much”.
“Then let’s just get a blanket or something?”.
The narrow path finally opens up, it takes a few faster steps to walk besides Shiv. Now next to her, it can see a mischievous smile on her face. “You really wanna just put a dirty blanket on you, like some sort of rascal stowaway”?
“Isn’t that what we’ll be”?
“Well, regardless, let’s just have some fun with it won’t ya? My treat”
Her companion looks at her with genuine confusion. “What’s fun about getting clothes. Your coat is as practical as is this body”.
Suddenly the woman stops, startling the doll into cutting its next step short. “Just because it’s practical doesn’t mean it also a beauty. Y’know how much work ‘it was to sew all these pockets on? Have them all symmetrical and all that”, she huffs.
It raises its hand in surrender, scared. “It… I… didn’t want to insult…”, it stutters. “It looks good on you”.
Shiv stares at it with narrowed eyes.
It starts growing smaller, hiding its head in its neck.
Suddenly, Shiv starts laughing. “You really got some range don’t ya”? She starts walking again, bot hurrying after her barely able to catch its emotions. “I swear you ain’t got thick metal, but sometimes it’s ridiculously thin”, she chuckles.
Next to her, caught up, it doesn’t know how to reply. It knows why Shiv might have that impression, Miss Sonja is much more used to dealing with people and standing up for herself. Even if it tries to hide it, it can barely keep up with her navigating this deal. It wants to do its best regardless.
The woman gives it a glance. “I promise I’ll pick something nice for you, as payback for early, ‘kay”?
It thinks to itself for a moment, recognizing what situation she might referring to, it feels guilty about getting the “Payback” that is supposed to go towards Miss Sonja. It can hardly explain these emotions to Shiv, so instead it wants to try to deflect. “So you really do want to waste our money”?
Hearing the provocation, the woman just gives a little smile in acknowledgment, but keeps her cool and pace. “Told’ you I’m investing. It’s not just the ride we need to catch, it’s all the way leading up to it. Worse even if we do reach our goal. ‘round here a doll like you is an everyday sight, over there it might be banned tech”.
The bot tilts its head almost playfully, forgetting to look ahead where it is walking. “Why?”.
“Having a pair of cameras and microphone from a different company stumble through your street without your permission is kinda bad manners, y’know”?
It doesn’t, but it is scared to ask for clarification. It takes up its notebook and starts writing down these words for Miss Sonja to decipher later. Writing, it still doesn’t pay attention to where it is walking.
“You still wanna come with, right”?
Still writing its notes, it tries to fake confidence at the same time “Of course! How else are we going to make it to that friend of yours”?
“I’d hardly call ‘em a friend to be honest”, she takes out yet another cigarette from her coat. “But they do what you pay ‘em to do, as long as you got someone to keep watch”.
“What do you mean”?
“That’s kinda part of the deal isn’t it? You could just abandon me when we reach the city, but then you got nobody to keep watch over them actually pulling out your AIS while you’re turned off, right”?
It recalls something about that in its notes, but it didn’t realize the implication until now “You’re afraid of that”?
Shiv takes a huff from her freshly lit cigarette “Eh, you’re smarter than that I hope. If not you can only be so useful to me anyway”.
Hearing this pragmatism does make it sad. It had hoped that besides Miss Sonja it could at least make a genuine connection with Shiv, but that seems far out of reach, just as Miss Sonja does through the lines in her notebook. But just like her, it knows that that can be changed. “Couldn’t you also just take some of the cargo we ride with? You said before it was valuable…”, it tries to recall some other notes.
Shiv lets out a puff of smoke, then a sigh. “It is, but when someone has the influence to smuggle that amount of weapons, that consistently between cities, I rather not mess with ‘em”. She drops her cigarette, not even bothering to stamp it out. “Besides, you’re much more valuable to me anyway”, she smirks.
If metal could blush, it would. It knows she does mean it in the economic sense, but it can’t help but be happy about any type of perceived praise.
“Anyway, you think you’ more of a hat type of gal, or the cap kind”?
“Ehhh”?
“Clothes hide only so much, gotta conceal your face somewhat too”.
“Huhhh”, it pouts.

[CW22] Tr4ns4cti0ns