Buy One, Get One Free Prose in The Centurion's Riddle | World Anvil

Buy One, Get One Free

Captain Lang stood over Lockette and Dr. Lebowitz, her expression as blank as a new piece of paper.   Lockette had learned early on that meant disapproval.   For the last two weeks, she had been on a physical therapy regimen designed in Hell, and Lockette knew exactly who was putting their foot to the gas. Atticus McCallow had visited her only once, in the first few days to "check progress", and ever since Lang had been elbow-deep up her ass. The only reason Lockette hadn't gotten out Mr. Whack was that Mr. Whack wasn't here...   And that she had hacked Lang's comm unit on day two, and figured out just how fucked up their situation was.   It was a really good motivator.   They'd already gotten through walking and standing, with running being a... Work in progress. Today, they were working on what Lang actually wanted to see, and what Lebowitz didn't think she was ready for. Lockette was surrounded by guns -- lots of guns. Her molecular borer, laser pistols, classical machine guns, shoulder turrets, and so much more fanned out around her, and Lockette studied each of them, one at a time.   She had to understand how each one worked down to the individual component, and then she had to understand each component at a molecular level. It was a ton of information to process for the poor and squishy Humans, but Lockette was an Android, and classically trained to boot.   She was also Lockette Endrinmaster XII-2, and anyone with a name that cool should be able to summon guns into their hands.   Captain Lang: "Are we expecting results today? I can return another time."
Dr. Lebowitz: "She's got it. Five minutes."   Lockette smirked. She was holding the molecular borer, her favorite gun in the whole pile. She already knew how to tear it apart and put it back together, and had done so dozens of times over. It was the perfect subject, and so she honed in on it, focusing on each piece, and then storing the compiled observations into the back of her mind. Unlike an organic, what she could hold in her memory was limited by her actual memory, and not silly equations describing attention and motivation.   To hell with five -- it took her two minutes.   The original molecular borer clattered to the ground, and Lockette pulled a second one out of her nanites, which felt oddly like throwing up but from inside her chest. Dr. Lebowitz clapped, and Lang kept on looking fresh out of a deep freezer. Lockette lifted up the gun, checking the sights, switching the battery, and even firing a miniscule test laser. It all worked flawlessly, like she was holding the real thing. If she hadn't literally just made it out of her body, she would have struggled to tell the difference.   Dr. Lebowitz: "That's fantastic, Lockette."
Lockette: "Why, thank you. Happy now, Captain?"   Lang didn't reply, her eyes scanning the gun for any visual malfunctions, and then a glance over to Lockette's vitals. All were stable. She nodded. Lockette would have cheered, but then Lang said:   Captain Lang: "Call me again when she can do them all."   And walked right out of the room. Lockette glared at her back, emotional sensors flaring, and then sighed. It's not like she could run after her. So instead, she picked up the next gun, and studied it. She replicated it in under an hour.   The next one took thirty minutes.   She had them all three days later.

Comments

Please Login in order to comment!