Nibs did not need an aux, of course. His was built into him. He was, after all, a Naturally Integrated Bio-Synthetic. Or rather, he was the Naturally Integrated Bio-Synthetic. According to the data, there had once been many of him. They were all destroyed in the war.

He did not remember anything from that time. The Master probably erased it, along with any other distractions, to make room for his Primary Function.

> T00str: There has been a revolt in the galley. This is the cause of the early curfew.

> CREATOR: The propaganda had no effect, then?

> T00str: It did, as far as I am aware. I haven’t gotten to the source of the unrest yet. Too many variables.

> CREATOR: Was anyone killed?

> T00str: 30 galley laborers, 43 citizens.

> CREATOR: Cripes.

> T00str: There will have to be a public execution for the perpetrators.

> CREATOR: You’re supposed to keep these things under control.

> T00str: I’m sorry, master.

> CREATOR: What were you doing when this was going on?

> CREATOR: Nibs?

Nibs did not want to answer the Master. After a minute passed, a jolt of electricity coursed up his spine. He winced. His absolutist authoritarian programming would not let him disobey for long.

> T00str: I had gone to the Party.

> CREATOR: Well, everyone goes to the Party. That’s not your fault.

> T00str: And then

> T00str: This person I know

> T00str: I think

> T00str: He put something in my drink.

> CREATOR: For Pete’s sake.

> T00str: I don’t remember some things for a while and then when I rebooted the revolt was already going on.

> T00str: I’m sorry, master. I shouldn’t have taken the drink. It was stupid.

> T00str: I went to the galley and tried to reinstate order but it was already too bad.

> T00str: Eventually the Guard started gunning everyone down. Chasing people off the streets.

> T00str: I’m so sorry. I was so stupid.

> CREATOR: Yeah. You were.

> T00str: I just wanted to have a normal time, for once.

> CREATOR: You’re not a normal person, Nibs.

> T00str: I know. I’m sorry.

> T00str: I hate it, master. I hate seeing the bodies. I get scared. I’m not good at it.

> CREATOR: I know. But we all hate the things we were made to do.

> CREATOR: Who gave you the drink?

> CREATOR: Was it Yasha?

> T00str: Um

> T00str: Yes.

> CREATOR: I told you I didn’t want you hanging around him anymore.

> CREATOR: He’s a bad influence.

> T00str: He’s friends with my friends.

> CREATOR: You’re an android, Nibs. You don’t need friends.

> CREATOR: I don’t want you do talk to him anymore, do you understand?

> T00str: Yes, master.

> CREATOR: Good.

> CREATOR: Keep me updated on the galley situation. I’ll help clean out their regional fora once I get out of this friggin’ apartment.

> T00str: Apartment?

> CREATOR: It’s a long story. I’m stuck with this kid until the curfew’s lifted.

> T00str: Alright. I’ll report any new developments, master.

-- T00str has left the conversation. --

Nibs disconnected from the arcAdia chat and looked around the world. The galley-- the great under-city that provided the electricity the top-city needed to survive-- was dead silent. A few members of the Guard lifted the last remaining corpses from the ground to be disposed of. Their blood still coated the concrete. Nibs shuddered.

When the city woke up tomorrow, how many people will be missing their friends? Somehow, all their lives were in his hands. His Primary Function was to use propaganda to mitigate the loathing between the city’s classes. He alone organized millions of people into strict castes. For their own protection, of course. He censored fora and chats, he dismantled grassroots that might endanger the fragile social web.

And yet, all of this, in a matter of minutes, could fall apart. He alone could not control the wild anger of the galley or the furious boredom of the top class. The revolts had become more and more frequent. He couldn’t help but think that he was somehow responsible. It was him, after all, that kept this failing system on life-support.

He lived it every day. He knew what even the Master might not know. The city was dying.

It was difficult for him to think outside of the present moment for very long. His mind was designed to face immediate catastrophes. Now, standing among the dead, he felt only repulsion and guilt.

A woman’s body was on the floor next to him. A Guardsman lifted it. Its jaw fell slack and its tongue lolled.

Nibs hugged his shoulders and wished for something he could not name.

---------

Vi hesitated before knocking. She looked down at the girl, who looked back up at her.

“I’m going to have to get a room here, after this,” she said. “I guess they locked down most of the city.”

The girl did not answer. Vi knocked. There was a pause. Then the door opened. A very tall woman in a silk robe looked at them. She took her cigar from the corner of her mouth and said, “So. You come back to me?”

“Hey, Palea. I need to get this girl over the border,” Vi said. Palea inspected the girl. “She doesn’t talk,” Vi explained. “She doesn’t have a chip, either.”

“Pah. Makes it easier,” Palea said. “Nothing to blab, nothing to track. You got money?”

“I thought this would settle your debt to me,” Vi said.

“Oh. That, hm? You want to waste that on this girl?” Palea said. She squinted. “This your new girlfriend? Hm?”

“No,” Vi said.

Palea snickered. “Thought not. Your tastes can’t change that much. So what is she to you, then, hm?”

“I’m doing this for a friend, is all,” Vi said. “So can you take her over or not?”

“Sure, sure. Easy,” Palea said. “She need to stay here? You, too?”

“Yeah,” Vi said. “I thought I’d get a room.”

“Nonsense. Pah. You stay in my room,” Palea said.

Vi shrugged. “If you’re offering.”

“I am,” Palea said. “Come in.”

She let them in. It was a small, dingy room that smelled heavily of cheap cigars. Palea sprawled out on a divan and nodded her head at the king-sized bed at the other end of the room.

“You two can take that,” she said. “I’ll take her to the border in the morning.”

“Thanks, Palea,” Vi said.

“It is no problem,” Palea said. “Just a favor for an old girlfriend, eh?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Vi said. The girl almost smiled.