UPON VESTIA: CHAPTER THIRTY ONE

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Asher considered his words for a few seconds, glancing around the room as he thought, then looked to Kay again. "I've been thinking over everything that's happened today, and I feel like it would be wrong for me to leave Terra before the androids have been granted their freedom," he said. "I think it might be in the best interests of the children and the androids if I stay on Terra while Vestia goes on to the Imperium." He wished he could have phrased it better, but he just didn't know how. Ugh.

Everyone was discussing the protests now, so the new information Mourn shared publicly would be quickly picked up and re-shared a lot. It was unlikely that MegaBrain would be able to scrub all that data off the web, there were too many interested people trying to make sense of what had just happened. Before long, many of the more neutral or android-friendly news outlets would have published what Mourn had given them. Politicians, press, police, and the general public would all be messaging Mourn, if they could, with questions about his identity, the information, and probably literally any other question they could imagine up, relevant or not.

Yep, this was definitely making a splash.

~~
Tala nodded, looking pleased. "I am a most satisfactory warrior and have won many battles. It is good to be able to protect those who you care for, and fighting for hire pays well." Priorities.

Mourn wasn't about to reveal who he really was, he was intentionally vuage about the source of the information coming from a "former employee at the highest ranks" which was technically sort of true. Right?

He sat back, pleased with himself for the chaos he'd sown.

---

Silence tilted her head "can teach?" She asked.

"w.. what?" Ivor looked alarmed. "You want to learn to fight??!"

Silence nodded "Protect self. Not like before." her eyes narrowed.

Tala's ears flicked forward curiously. "I could teach you," she told Silence. "Your fighting strengths are likely different from what I am used to, and it would be interesting to find out how they are." She bared her bottom teeth in a smile.

~~
The press would dutifully report that the information had been shared by an anonymous individual who said they were a high ranking employee. They were disappointed to not get any more information on the person, but they kind of understood the need for privacy and secrecy.

Silence nodded. "good."

Ivor looked wary. He wanted no part of this.

---

Mourn was pleased, he sat back and watched the news unfold, then made a couple of copies of all the data just in case.

That done, he went to find the terran united androids and tell them he'd figured out their freedom code, least.. he thought he had.

"Do you wish to learn now, or at some later time?" Tala asked. She looked to Ivor, "I assume you do not wish to join in."

~~
Vestia would guide Mourn to the Terran United androids.
All the Terran United androids except for Tori were currently decorating a lounge room for Vestia, talking about the strange day they'd had. The thought of maybe having rights soon was just... so crazy. Whoo.

Ivor cringed.

"too scared." Silence explained dismissively. "you not busy no?" Tala didn't look busy, she didn't think like someone busy either.

Ivor stared at the floor, cradling his useless arm tight against his chest.

---

Mourn called out when he saw them "robots!"

Tala nodded. "You can always learn later," she told Ivor in what she probably thought was a kind tone. "I am not busy. Let us go and learn of your abilities, Silence."

~~
The three androids looked up.

"Oh hey Mourn," Carlos said with a smile. "What's up?"

Ivor nodded slowly, not quite able to argue with Tala.

"You find way?" Silence asked Ivor.

Ivor nodded. "h.. ha.. have fun.." he stammered.

Silence nodded and would follow Tala.

---

Mourn looked up at the ceiling, pointed and grinned stupidly at the three of them. His idea of a joke maybe?
"Have new code yes? think solved problem." He nodded.

"You may always ask Vestia for directions!" Tala reminded Ivor. Then she trotted off with Silence, heading for the training rooms.

~~
Mei laughed. She thought it was funny.

"You found out how to free us?" Ivan asked. He'd been the one who'd let Mourn experiment on him before, so he was pretty excited about any possible new developments. "And you want to test it out?"

Ivor stood where he was for a while, then looked up at Vestia's camera. "uh.. he... hello?" He wasn't at all used to talking to something he couldn't see like this. It was weird.

---

Mourn nodded "I work hard. Find way tell system ignore other OS. Well, no ignore as much as... it stop it being able to take control. You still get annoying naggyness, like... conscience... but no have to obey yes?" Least that was the theory.

"Hello," Vestia said to Ivor. "How're you doing?"

~~
Tala led Silence to a sparring room. There were some racks of blunt practice weapons, as well as some cloth body armor and such that wouldn't fit Tala, much less Silence's true form. Tala looked at Silence thoughtfully.
"Do you prefer to learn to fight in your true form?" she asked. Figuring out how to not get cut up by Silence's claws, and also not break any of Silence's bones with Tala's much heavier attacks, was going to be interesting. At a glance, it was pretty clear that their natural aptitudes were massively different.
But it was clear that Silence's true form would be highly effective in close quarters combat.

~~
Ivan nodded. "That makes sense, I think." What did he know? He didn't know how his Laws worked, just that they were like a vice on his brain that could clamp down at any moment. "I'm definitely willing to see if it works."

Ivor looked uncertain. "I.. don't know where I am." He told her.


----

Silence considered that. "more comfortable like this." She told Tala. Being in another form was just another thing to concentrate on.

---

Mourn nodded, looking pleased. "Good, we go see yes? if work, got way free other robots too!"

"Oh," Vestia said, trying to sound reassuring, "I can help you with that. Where would you like to go?"

~~
"That is a good reason to remain so," Tala said. Yeah, being distracted during combat was a sure way to lose. She considered the problem, she didn't really want to get cut up, that would just be a nuisance. "I will wear my armor," she decided. "That way you can focus on practice, and I will not need fear losing an eye!" Her ears wiggled in amusement. "Vestia, with pleas, send my armor!"

"On it," Vestia said.

~~
"Yes, let's do this!" Ivan said.

The other androids would drop what they were doing and go with Mourn too. They were curious, okay?

Ivor frowned. "I.. don't know..." He wasn't so good at making decisions on his own, he'd spent most of his life having everything dictated and controlled. All this freedom was a little overwhelming.

----

Silence nodded. "Try not to stab you." She nodded and flexed her talons.

-----

Mourn led the way back to his room, where the news was still playing on his laptop because he was too lazy to turn it off. Oops?

Vestia muted her audio so Ivor wouldn't hear her sigh. People who'd had their rights trampled all their lives could be kinda tricky to deal with. "Do you feel hungry, or are you you not hungry right now?" she asked patiently.

~~
The armor would arrive before long, and Tala would put it on. It was relatively lightweight armor designed to not impede her movements too much, but lightweight for a minotaur was still pretty heavy. It'd do a good job blocking most hits, and would definitely protect her eyes.
"Good, let us begin," Tala said. "Begin by attacking me, I would like to see how you move. For now I will not attack, only dodge."

~~
The androids looked to the news nervously, it was probably currently showing someone from the Terran Empire press team reiterating that the matter was being considered and that he couldn't offer his personal opinions or confirm or deny any rumors, sorry. He looked stressed, although he was clearly trying to appear professional.

"I.." Ivor looked perplexed. "N... no... I am.. I am not hungry, thank you." To be honest he wasn't sure what he wanted to do. All the people on this ship kinda spooked him, too many thoughts. A lot of which were not very pleasant.

---

Silence nodded. She was a lumbering beast, not really particularly graceful on the ground. She charged at Tala, but he attack was not very controlled. She clearly had absolutely no idea what she was doing.

---

Mourn glanced at the news, snorted dismissively at the man and turned it off. "stupid terrans." He muttered. "Sit sit, we fix! Yes?"

"Okay. Do you want to go back to your room?" Vestia asked. "Or go somewhere with other things to do?" She was trying to get him to choose, trying to not make it sound like she wanted him to pick one thing or the other. She figured it was probably good for him to make simple choices, right? Maybe. Hmm.

~~
Tala didn't have too much trouble sidestepping Silence. She considered that, she'd kind of expected Silence to be a little more naturally graceful for some reason. "Try again," she said, "Try to slash at me with your claws, I would like to see how they move."

~~
"Yes, yes," Ivan said. He looked grateful that the news was off. He opened his maintenance panel and handed Mourn his data cable.

Ivor hesitated, looking conflicted. "i.. i..." He struggled with this for a few minutes before finally, asking meekly "s.. somewhere... else?"

---

Silence nodded and tried again. Massive as she might be, she didn't really seem to much understand how she could use her wings, her tail and the reach those claws gave her to any advantage. She fought like a humanoid, because humanoids were the only things she'd ever observed engaging in hand to hand combat.
She made a swipe with her claw.

----

Mourn set to work, booting up his new code and plugging the cable in. He looked excited.

"The library maybe, or one of the rec rooms?" Vestia suggested. She'd have to tell Ethan to be nice to Ivor if he wanted to go there, but she was sure he could manage that. Sorta.

~~
Tala decided this wasn't going to go anywhere, so she changed tactics. "Which of your appendages have long and sharp spikes?" she asked instead. The more of Silence's limbs she could weaponize, the more effective a fighter she'd be, Tala figured.

~~
Mourn would be able to access Ivan's system easily, as he'd done before. He'd be able to get to work trying to change that code pretty quickly, although whether his changes were going to work was still uncertain.
Ivan was perfectly willing to cooperate with all experiments though, so that was nice.

"t.. the library?" Ivor brightened slightly, that was something familiar at least, even if he couldn't neccisarily read the books.

---

Silence thought about that. Two arms, two legs, head had horns.. She pointed to each in turn.

---

Mourn set to work installing the new code. It was surprisingly simple, it simply blocked the code that triggered the takeover, redirecting it to a dead end so it would try to search for that other os, fail to find the correct file and do nothing instead. It wouldn't stop the other system from triggering 'this violates the 3 laws' feelings necessarily, they'd probably still get a nagging sense of right and wrong, but it should mean they COULD ignore it and go against it.

"Yeah, we have a library. Have you been there yet?" Vestia asked. It was hard to remember everything her passengers did. "I can guide you there."

~~
"Are your wings or tail at all spiny?" Tala asked. The claws and the horns were definitely a good place to start, but that tail definitely had potential, as did the wings. She just had to decide what techniques Silence should hone with them. "How flexible and strong is your tail?"

~~
The code did seem to install correctly. The Three Laws OS couldn't hear any messages sent from the other OS any more, meaning Ivan was definitely free to act as he saw fit, although still with that 'conscience' provided by the Laws.

But suddenly Ivan froze in place.

The monitor displayed an error message, [Dual OS communication disrupted! Android deactivated in compliance with Terran Imperial Law - Please contact Terran United Customer Support for assistance]

Carlos and Mei looked at each other in shock. "Uh oh," Carlos said.

Ivor nodded slowly. "t.. thank you." LIbraries were usually quiet places weren't they? least, the one at the hospital had been. Very few people bothered to go there and you only got to gain entry if you weren't considered the sort of person to throw books around or something.

---

Silence shook her head, swishing her tail. "can hold branches." Her tail was at least partially prehensile, it couldn't hold her weight like a monkey's tail could, but it could wrap around things.

---

Mourn swore loudly. Stupid OS. He started tapping away, trying to solve the problem. It wasn't too difficult to remove the modded code, hopefully that would get Ivan at least booting up normally again. He tried that first. He'd work on tweaking the problem with the code once he knew Ivan wasn't dead.

"Here, follow my lights and I'll lead you there," Vestia said. She'd gently flicker her lights in the correct direction, giving Ivor a visual cue where to go.

~~
Tala nodded. "Excellent. Can you trip someone with your tail?" Even if it couldn't be used as a flail, it could still be useful in a fight.

~~
Ivan's system continued to display the error even when the Laws were restored, apparently once the safeguard was triggered, it wouldn't shut off on its own. Hmm.

The file system was still readable though, so Mourn would at least be able to tell that Ivan's memory files were still in place, and his personality parameters were unchanged. The android was still alive, just in a sort of stasis.

"Is he okay?" Mei asked nervously.

Ivor followed along obediently till he reached the library. He wandered in.

---

Silence considered that. "never tried intentionally." People might have tripped over her tail in the past, but she'd not attempted it on purpose. She grinned her weird grin and swished her tail side to side. "yes, think so."

---

"he.. in coma?" Mourn frowned, this was most irritating. "I fix, I good fixing." He wasn't about to call no terran united techs unless he had to, besides, in this current climate would they even answer? He was certain he could fix this himself. He shooed the other two androids. "I work, no worry robots, he still alive."

Vestia had warned Ethan to be nice to Ivor ahead of time, so Ethan wasn't taken by surprise at the guy's arrival, which was probably for the best for both their sakes. He looked up at Ivor curiously, although he still looked kind of bitchy and mean as usual. "Hello. Can I help you find something?"

~~
Tala was pleased by that. "Excellent. I think you have many ways to fight. Your tail you can use to trip your foes, and your wings could be beaten in their faces to disorient them. You are not greatly agile, so you will benefit from putting your opponents off balance." She looked thoughtful, "What of your telepathy, is it loud?"

~~
Carlos reached out, patting Ivan's arm. "It's going to be okay, Mourn can fix you," he said, even though he wasn't entirely sure of that.

Neither he nor Mei seemed terribly willing to shoo off, they were worried about their friend.

Ivor stifled a yelp as he spotted Ethan. "i.. uh.. b.. books?" He managed awkwardly.

----

Silence tilted her head. "If want, have to take off jewel first." She prodded the necklace around her neck that allowed her to speak aloud.

----

Mourn resorted to ignoring the androids if they wouldn't leave and set to work trying to solve this problem.

Ethan blinked. Okay, that was different. Most people here weren't all that nervous around him any more, for some reason. "I'm just the librarian, I'm not going to hurt you," he said. "Are you looking for any specific book?"

~~
"Telepathic screaming is highly disorienting," Tala said with a bovid smile. "It will not win a fight for you, but it may push the odds in your favor." She twitched her ears, "We shall try that some other time, I do not wish to train you with a headache. Here, you should practice with your claws, learn how best to swipe them to damage an arm or rip out a stomach." Maybe she was a little violent-minded, oh dear.

~~
The androids didn't leave, they'd much rather stay and worry.

Mourn would find that this piece of code was, like most of the Terran United code, very tenacious. It kept prompting Mourn to contact customer support, which probably wasn't a very feasible solution at the moment. He could try to convince it he was a Terran United employee, but it wanted a username and password to access those permissions, which he didn't have.

Ivan might be frozen for a while, then.