Synth

“Ah, there you are.” E45 said as soon as TO entered the Efficiency Office. The officer had a bunch of files opened before them; several of which they combined with a gesture of their hand before sending them off into nothingness. A moment later TO’s chip beeped and when they checked their files they saw that they had a new, very large file sent to them.

“That’s more detailed information on the synths in Recovery.” E45 said, paying no attention to the other synths in the room, “You’ll go over every aspect today-”

“I thought I saw all the information yesterday.” TO said. They knew they’d find it hard to focus on such a task today; they were worried about GiDi now, worried about having been so thoughtless as to break their promise to C12. They only hoped that there was no harm done in the short period of time that they had left GiDi alone. It was hard to imagine that something might happen, but of course if something did happen then TO knew it would be all their fault! After all, they were the one that C12 had asked to watch over GiDi.

“You saw the basics, to familiarize yourself with how the general stats work.” E45 said, “Today, you’ll be picking through the synths themselves. I’ve set it up so that the synths that are working below expectation are listed in red on your files.” They gestured to a desk in the corner, “Go through it; you’ll have a couple of days to organize your files. We’ll be going to Recovery when you’re done.”

“To do what?” TO asked, their ears flicking down as they recalled how GiDi had wondered if synths were repurposed down there. TO knew that they weren’t, but the panic still flooded them.

The crack of bones.

The sound of a blade slicing through skin.

The smell of disinfectant

“The best way to improve efficiency is to deal with those aspects that are not running at the desired efficiency. As I said, those who are underperforming are listed in red. You can view up to 10 spans of data if you must, and you can see nearly every aspect of each synth’s work. After you’re organized, then we’ll go and see them working. We’ll speak to the underperforming synths, and see why they’re underperforming. There’s also some stats I want to know as well; How many of those synths we need to bring up to average to bring Efficency’s stats up to what King Decon would wish. and what kind of numbers we would have if every one of those synths in red were brought up to average. Understood?”

“Understood.” TO said as they made their way an empty desk in the corner to work. They didn’t want to do this. They were worried about GiDi. They were worried about going to Recovery.

Mostly, they were worried that they had broken their promise to C12. If GiDi got repurposed now, would it be their fault?

They opened the files and started working through it, doing their best to distract their mind from the chain explosion of worries that seemed to occur in their head. They had one worry, which triggered another, and another, and another.

TO knew that DH could never hate them. TO understood that because they knew that they couldn’t hate DH no matter what DH did. Still, if GiDi got corrected, and if it was TO’s fault, then they knew that they could hate themself for it at the very least. If they could hate themself, then so could DH. So could C12.

And of course, so could GiDi for as long as they were allowed to continue to hate.

======

TO, GiDi, and DH went to the dormitory after they had their meals. TO ideally wanted to go to the Fight Training Room to get some flying in and stretch their wings. They wanted to recover and get their wings back to normal as soon as possible, but this seemed more important to TO. They had to see if Avery was alright, and they had to know what it was that the other synth did to get corrected.

They were nearly done with their meal when Avery finally came into the dormitory, walking past them and towards their own pod. They stared down at the floor as they walked, their wings wrapped around them tightly.

“They’re here.” TO said as they set their food aside. They started down the ladder, and gave GiDi and DH a nod, “I’ll tell you if they tell me anything.”

“Alright.” GiDi said. DH just nodded; their job was to keep GiDi company and keep them from getting too involved with the news.

TO climbed down to the floor and strode towards Avery, walking quickly so that they could get to the pod before Avery had the chance to seal themself up inside. They only just managed it, leaning against the wall next to the pod just as Avery was about to press the button to close the barrier.

“Hi.” TO said cautiously. Avery just looked up and gave a low hum before they looked away. Their hand hovered in the air next to the button for a mere moment longer before they lowered it.

“How are you doing?” TO asked.

“I am… I am doing what I’m supposed to do.” Avery said.

“Are you alright?”

“Why shouldn’t I be.” they said, saying it as a statement rather than a question.

“Well. I was worried about you.” TO glanced around at the other synths around them who weren’t paying much attention yet. “Can we talk?” TO asked.

Avery was silent for a few moments before they shifted to allow TO to sit down in their pod. As soon as they were inside Avery pushed the button to close the barrier

“I can’t tell you what happened.” they said simply, “I’m sorry. I can’t-“

“That’s not the only reason I wanted to talk; I am worried about you.” TO wouldn’t try to lie and say that they didn’t want to know, but it was true that they were worried about their new friend, “The three of us are.”

“You told GiDi and DH?”

“I was worried about you, so I told them.”

Avery shook their head, but didn’t say anything.

“You’re clearly not well.” TO said carefully as they leaned forward. “Is there anything we can do to help?”

“...There is not.” Avery said, “If I’m unwell, it’s my own fault and I’d rather deal with that then make others worry.”

“Look.” TO said, “I know you can’t tell me anything about the testing; I get that. That’s fine. But can you tell me something about why you feel like this?”

Avery glanced down at their hand, then back at TO, “I can’t.” they said as they held up their hand. “I just can’t.”

They didn’t want to be listened to. Of course. They didn’t have music on now, so if they put on music suddenly it’d be suspicious, and even if they whispered their voices would be clear in the closed up pod.

“That’s fine.” TO said. “If you want a distraction though, maybe we could do some flight training?” They were making this up as they went along now, “We could head to the Flight Training Room. I have to stretch my wings anyway.”

Avery was quiet for a long time before they answered, “...Maybe tomorrow.” they said, “I just want to be alone today.”

TO leaned forward again, “Are you sure?” they asked. They reached out and put a reassuring hand over Avery’s, but then they froze; they knew that that was something that DH or GiDi would appreciate, but Avery was much more reserved and didn’t like to be touched as much.

Avery grabbed TO’s hand before it was pulled away, and looked up at TO. Broken was the only word that TO could think of to describe how they looked; their ears were down, and they looked like they wanted to cry, but it was more than that. It was more than sad or upset.

Broken; it was heartbreaking to see. Avery suddenly crumpled, doubling over, putting their hands to their face as they started to sob. TO reached out and held them, wrapping their wings around them, and letting them cry into their shoulder. They were only like that for a minute or so until Avery calmed down and sat upright, pushing TO away without looking at them, wiping at their eyes and taking long, deep breaths.

“Sorry.” they managed to whisper.

“It’s fine.” TO said, but their voice was shaking; they had never seen Avery like this before.

“It’s not. I’m sorry. Please leave; I really do want to be alone.”

TO hesitated for just a moment before they nodded, pressed the button to open the pod, and slipped out and back into the hallway. The pod closed immediately behind them leaving Avery alone in the comfortable quiet that they enjoyed. It felt wrong to TO to leave them; they didn’t understand how they could want to be alone if they felt so terrible.

Well, they didn’t have to understand it. Avery enjoyed their solitude, and if that’s what they wanted then TO would respect that.

Still, they worried.

======

“I don’t know why you’re so concerned about all this.” TO heard DH say as they climbed into their own pod, “It’s just civilians being… Well, civilians!”

“It’s the insurgency trying to topple everything King Decon has done, and I’m trying to figure out why!” GiDi insisted. “How could anyone want to do that?

“Because they’re civilians.” TO said simply as they settled in, “They haven’t been created by King Decon like we have. They haven’t been training through His processes like we have-“

“As thought they could make use of his training.” DH said, “Or even survive it.”

“-and as such they’ve been allowed to live their own little lives and can’t appreciate what He’s done.” TO sighed as they settled in, “What are we talking about anyway.”

“GiDi wants to dig into the galactic news, to see what’s happened with the insurgency in the last couple of days.” DH said, “I’m telling them that it’s more important to prepare for our examination.”

“Look, I have to know.” GiDi said, “There has to be a reason why they’re doing this, right? I mean, one of the things the insurgency is against is the relocation initiatives-“

“Why would anyone be against that?” DH said, their ears flicked forward in abject confusion, “What, do they want to live in cities with other people and resources, or on tiny little moons that are hardly good to use even for short-term mining operations.” DH rolled their eyes, their ears pinning back, “The relocation initiatives are good; they move people from the outreaches of their solar system to one planet, supplied by the resources of the other planets. People are together and can form bigger communities, and the other, resource rich planets can be mined without harming anyone.”

“Well, there’s worry about overcrowding.” GiDi said, “And some species did want to stay on their home planets-“

“They wanted to stay away from other people, bigger civilizations, and greater access to food and technology?” TO shook their head, “Don’t worry about why they’re doing this; they’re civilians; they don’t make sense.”

“They must make sense to themselves though.” GiDi said, “Even if it’s not actually logical, I want to know their logic.”

“That feels like something for when we’re done testing.” DH said, “We have too much to prepare for before that.” They looked at TO, “Speaking of… did Avery say anything?”

TO shook their head, “They didn‘t want to talk about it.” They said. They decided to leave out their reaction; there was no need to worry their friends any more. “They’re going to meet me in the Flight Training Room tomorrow to talk.”

“Will they really?” GiDi asked.

“I hope so.”

“Well, speaking of Flight Training.” DH said, “Should we head there so you can get your wings back in order?” They gave a small, forced grin as their ears twitched with worry “I imagine that if you’re still recovering then I might be able to beat you in a race!”

It didn’t surprise TO that DH was worried. There was a lot to be worried about, but despite their worry, DH gave a grin, and did their best to try to distract GiDi.

TO felt their heart swell and very quickly started to climb back down the ladder, “Yes.” they said quickly, “I need to fly.”