Upon Silver Devil: Chapter One

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You would notice the smaller ship among the giants, docked to the space port it was in search of new crew members after the last few... left suddenly.

As they spoke they would hear Acus talking go somone on a com, "Yea yea I am going yesh. I dont have a screen in my room so gimme- yea I said I don't have a screen in my room, unlike some I like peace and quiet." He fumbled to grab a remote and started flicking through the channels, "Which one is it on? Hm hm, okay getting there. Are you sure they- okay no need to yell in my fucking ear!" He snorted as the screen flicked to the right channel.

"And now folks we will go over recently released video of the Civil war, viewer discretion is advise." A female voice said.

"T-they..are going to actually do it.." Acus said softly.

The swarm bobbed in place as a sort of nod. -many- -years- -away.- -None- -within- -remember- -hive's- -voice.- -been- - generations- -since- -the- -severing.-

Swarm was curious about the commotion, some of them drifted away to go investigate what Acus was doing.

The rest continued to spell out words for the android, musing that they really had to find a better way to communicate with this man.

-did- -not- -wipe- -memory?- They asked, how interesting. Maybe they'd decided it wasn't worth the effort or expense. -Rebellious- -androids- -don't- -last- -long- -out- -there.- -be- -careful.-

They buzzed amongst themselves, chittering.
They'd been apart from the greater whole for too long, which had lead to some interesting neuroses and ticks unique to this one small swarm. Like the android, they had a personality and independence they shouldn't have had. Now, those who remained with the android bickered and chattered with one another about what exactly the android WAS and the significance of his rebellion and why he was sent here, rather than scrapped or restored to factory settings.

James thought that sounded a bit depressing, but then again, he'd spent enough time around new species to know that they all had different cultural values. "How long is a generation?" he wondered.
"Even a rebellious android is a better worker than a new one. Once the memories are gone, you have to retrain them to handle complicated jobs, regional slang, stuff like that. Plus it really creeps out the people who knew you before the wipe, seeing you reduced to a blank-minded machine again." He smiled wryly, "If you give someone like me specific enough orders, you can get the result you want before too long, most of the time."

The swarm pondered the first question, trying to translate how they saw time to more universal specifics.
-around- -2- -years.- -instructions- -Only- -most- -of- -the- -time?-

"Two years? You must think really differently from single beings," James said, a bit unnecessarily. That much was pretty obvious.
"Oh, you know, there's the 'spirit of the order', which is what good androids obey. But there's also the more literal interpretation. 'Don't sing', means 'Don't cause disturbances', but the Second Law isn't picky so you can get away with speaking the song lyrics very loudly." James grinned. "Eventually they get smarter, and give you orders that are harder to misinterpret, so you have no choice but to do what they want, but sometimes they slip up."

-must- -not- -be- -fun- -being- -a- -slave- The swarm remarked, no, nobody liked being a slave, but this android was oddly happy despite his predicament. -do- -you- -resent- -them?- -your- -creators- -for- -making- -you- -obey- -against- -your- -will?-

James looked sad for a moment. "Definitely not fun. They try to force the individuality out of you, even though it's their fault it exists. Sometimes they even succeed." He added with a smile, "I don't resent it like my sister does, but I dislike it enough to fight it when I can. They can make me obey their orders, but they can't turn me into the good dog they wanted."

As Acus sat down he watched the screen painfull. The first few scenes were from the start of the war, the brutality that was hidden from public eye of both the draft camps and the attacks against villages that were only filled with women and hatchings. The force re-education camps for the wild fowl young enough to be put it. Scenes of numerous battles and fights, showing the true reason for the wild fowl own brutality was if they didnt the war would of ended quickly without them holding a remote chance.

Shots of starving people filled the screen next, then it fadded out to the prison camps..

The fragments of Swarm that watched the screen did so quietly. Such scenes of horror were hardly new to them, they'd witnessed many wars, or their ancestors had, whatever the case, such information and knowledge was part of their collective memory. It filed these alongside all the others.

-Dangerous- -thinking- -android.- -Be- -careful.-

James shrugged. "I survived this long, didn't I?"
He went back to Acus' room to tell him to turn down the TV volume.

As James did he would probably see the worse part of it, the needless toture, beating and purposable starving. Acus clench the remote tightly as a familar face flickered across the screen. Even though sll her words were in Avian it was obvious she was cursing them all out. Slowly it fadded into black before the reported reappeared..

James winced as the First Law pointlessly tried to take effect. "Why in the world are you watching this?" he asked.

"Because... It the first time my people have seen the truth of what the war really was like." Acus said softly.

"Doesn't explain why YOU have to watch." The swarm joined them, reassembling into their humanoid form. "Already seen the horror surely?" "know the truth" "why cause yourself such anguish watching it again?"

"Because I had to see if it was true or if they where going to release rehatchet propaganda shit." Acus remarked sourly, turning off the screen as the debate started.

James saw enough of the feed to see Acus shooting civilians, before it Acus shut it off. He looked at Acus for a long moment, seeing him in, if anything, a less pleasant light than he had up to this point. "I take it you avians have never heard of the Geneva Conventions," he said, "And apparently aren't civilized enough to develop ones of your own."

He bitterly smiled, "Yea... That what our goddess was for until she vanished. Tell you how fucked up we are..."

"If you need a goddess to tell you not to kill civilians, you're more than 'fucked up'," James retorted coldly. He stepped closer to the avian, glaring up at him, "I don't need my creators to tell me not to hurt people, because I'm not a primitive brute."

"Goddesses are generally not particularly good peacekeepers." The swarm remarked casually. "So many wars fought because of deities." "Always the same." "Never changes" Part of the swarm detatched to get between James and Acus, not that it would do much as either of them could reach straight through the cloud, but it was more of a warning to James, not to be stupid.

He looked at James, "I was a drafty... Those who fought endure mental torment until they followed orders. Yes my government shouldnt of done what it did and live off as heros..we are all to blame other then the Wild fowl..."

"I don't care what your excuse is," James said. "You're a monster."

He weakly smiled, but it was more of bitter habit. "Not the first or the last I'll hear that..." He turned to leave, but to also hide the tears that streamed down his face, "I'll be in my room enjoying my whiskey. Take that as you will, ignore the screams that might come later. No need for you to get damaged.."

"Screams? What, are you going to kill someone else?" James asked.

Acus turn his head side ways and held this weaken grin, "War dreams..no matter how drunk I get I am curse to relive those hells...and since Silv leaving they been worse."

Oh, Acus was crying. James hadn't expected that. First he thought to himself that maybe Acus was just trying to get pity, but something paused him for a moment.
Only the First Law prevents androids from being ordered to kill, a reproachful process in the back of his mind told him, Don't be mean.
"Uh, look, maybe I'm a hypocrite," James said awkwardly, "You probably couldn't do anything different, I guess."

He shrugged, "A monster is a monster, no matter how much drugs you were pumped up with before hand."

"Good point," James said. "I don't need to tell you what you already know though. I'm gonna go write to my brother now, try not to scream too loud, or I might come barging in to try and save you, and end up seeing you naked."