Chapter Text
The trip back to the ship was a blur for all of them, more so for those that were unconscious but everyone was exhausted from the events of the day. Had it only been a day? It felt like it had been longer, but Taz couldn’t be sure, the planet could very well just have longer day/night cycles than they were used to. She tried to count back roughly how many hours she thought it had been without pulling out anything to check the time and date. She knew it had taken maybe an hour to get to the hive, but she wasn’t sure how long they’d been in it. Then they’d trekked to the other drop pod, and waited there for maybe three hours until the others arrived. After that she estimated they’d watched February do her thing for half an hour maybe, then the walk to the crashed ship had taken maybe an hour, and they’d spent some time in there waiting for everything to download, then another half hour to get to the hole. It had taken a full two hours then to walk back because they were moving slower.
Nine hours maybe? Ten?
Taz took out her communicator and checked the time. It had been roughly ten hours since they left the ship. She’d forgotten to factor in the time to get back onto the ship from the planet. Taz sighed and leaned against the wall behind her chair. Now that her little game was over she was bored again. None of them had medical expertise, Junior hadn’t placed a doctor on the team, but for some reason Megagirl had stepped up to assist upon the request of Tootsie. She downloaded all the known medical knowledge she had access to on the internet and had gone to work without complaint. Megagirl also told them none of them were allowed to leave the infirmary until she scanned them to make sure they were alright, which was why Taz was in her current situation.
She was fairly certain Megagirl had insisted on them staying because Taz had been complaining about wanting to go to her quarters, but all of the factors together made Taz feel a bit confused. The robots she was used to were just blood thirsty killing machines who had torn her family apart in front of her at her quinceanera. She hadn’t come into contact with any since the robot war ended earlier that year, but the war had started when she was only seven, so they’d made a big impact on her perception of the world. Taz had never actually been around a robot for an extended period of time before though, she was only ever in combat against them. This robot, though she had intentionally left them behind on the planet and made fun of them constantly, wasn’t necessarily like that.
Or perhaps a better explanation was that she had been like that, but something made her change her mind. Maybe she just really fucking hated Junior, it made sense. Junior had ordered her around and was probably a dick behind closed doors, she could very well have decided to side with them because of that. Plus… Taz didn’t think robots had feelings, but Tootsie seemed to, and he’d been very nice to Megagirl on the mission, and then she did what he asked her to do.
Taz sighed again and took her bandana off so she could run a hand through her hair. Everyone else was asleep in various places in the room. The stranger, Krayonder, Junior, and Up were on beds while Specs and Tootsie had fallen asleep against each other in chairs near the computer system after Specs had tried to explain a game to him. February had her head resting on her arms which laid on the bed of the stranger, and Taz sat, still awake, next to Up who was snoring softly.
“If you sigh one more time I will knock you out myself,” Megagirl stated as she scanned the stranger again.
“What, can’t I breathe? Or is that too human for you,” Taz asked, more as a tired joke and lacking any heat she’d had before.
“On the contrary, it is the sound that is irritating. It simply sounds like a complaint about to happen, like a child asking if ‘we are there yet’,” Megagirl stated.
“Why are you helping us?” Taz asked suddenly. Her voice was quiet as to not disturb anyone, but she had to know. “No one awake had the power to order you to do anything, and you didn’t have to tell us about Junior’s plan.”
Megagirl was quiet for a moment as she processed the question. “My actions are due to multiple sources. One is that I dislike Junior. He treated me like I am nothing but a tool, you did so as well, but you began to ask me to do things like you ask the crew to do, so I have allowed you a pass from my hatred.”
“Gee thanks,” Taz said in a joking sarcasm, “What about the other reasons, huh?”
“I was ordered to make sure everyone returned to the ship, and to tell you I was ordered to protect your crew. I chose to interpret that as an order to protect your crew,” Megagirl stated as she turned her back to Taz in order to gather some tech stuff.
“Why? You didn’t have to,” Taz said. “You chose to be helpful to us even though I was an ass and our people helped return your people to our control.”
“Tootsie has been kind to me,” she said simply and she turned back around and placed the device on the stranger’s head.
“Tootsie?” Taz asked.
“He was kind to me before we left the ship, and then accepted me back without being upset with me for leaving you there. He then proceeded to continue being kind to me throughout the rest of the mission and attempted to make me feel better despite the fact that I am a robot and do not feel,” Megagirl stated.
“You think he understands you’re a robot?” Taz asked.
Megagirl tilted her head in thought before continuing her work. “I am uncertain. I do not think he fully understands what a robot is, but I do not think he believes I am human. When he complimented my ‘hair’, he accepted that it was not in fact hair, and he also complimented my aim with my hand laser. I believe he has not been socialized like the rest of you to hate and look down upon robots. I believe he might understand what I am but not what that means.”
“That makes sense,” Taz said with a shrug. “Farm Planet… those colonies out there don’t have shit. We’ve got a lot to teach him.”
“Are you planning to have me decommissioned?” Megagirl asked. “I have allowed harm to come to the one in command along with my other actions during the mission.”
“Dead God, no. Shit, you- yeah you have every reason to think I’d do that, don’t you? And honestly, if it weren’t for that mission I would have. I… My family was killed in front of me by robots on my fifteenth birthday. I know you might not understand emotional shit much but that sticks with you. I grew up during the war, all I really remember is the war, and my family dying. All I knew about robots was that they were murderers and then they tore apart Up… You were the first robot I’ve ever actually talked to, literally every other robot I’ve met has tried to kill me. You kinda did too, but not really,” Taz explained.
“You are quite young, but I am younger. I was not alive for the robot war, I know of it from information implanted in my brain prior to activation. This is the first crew I have been assigned to, and therefore the first humans aside from the Spaceclaws that I have been in contact with aside from my creators,” Megagirl said.
“Shit, you’re not even a year old then? I mean I know robots are usually made with adult minds and all but jeez,” Taz said.
“I have been activated for roughly three months,” Megagirl stated.
Taz nodded before laughing a bit. “Does your voice always do that when you say a number?”
“My voice was not synthesized to sound human, rather my ability to communicate was considered a means to an end,” Megagirl explained.
“Do you wanna sound more human? Is there a way you can get upgrades or something?” Taz asked.
Megagirl stood up, having completed her task. “I am fine with how I sound and look, I am a robot and that is all.”
“Nah, you’re a member of the crew now. You’re not just a robot, you’re a Ranger… if we can make that happen,” Taz said.
“We will need to come up with a plan as to our next step. You are the other most competent planner of the group it appears, discussing it with you now and then later when everyone is awake will be beneficial,” Megagirl said. She walked over to Taz and began to do the physical scan she had done on the others.
Taz ran a hand through her choppy hair and sighed. “Yeah, fuck. Spaceclaw needs to be stopped, if we go back without the egg and with the knowledge of what he planned, he’ll have us all killed. We need to kill him before he kills us. No idea how we do that, or what happens after, but it’s a start I think.”
“The crew will certainly be a liability,” Megagirl agreed. “If there is a coup within the G.L.E.E., with enough support on your side positive change may occur. But, not every rebellion ends well. Look at what happened to my people.”
“If we just go in there and blow his head off, we’ll get arrested. If we have a whole coup we have a better chance at living, but that would involve getting other crews of Rangers to turn on the G.L.E.E. and we aren’t exactly the sort that people would listen to,” Taz said. “Everybody knows Up’s gone soft, I am known to be reckless and quick to anger, none of the others have any reputation to speak of. We have Junior but he’s working for his dad and tried to get us implanted with alien eggs.”
“There is always the option to run,” Megagirl suggested.
Taz scoffed. “I’m not one to run. No, we aren’t running. They’d find us even if we tried and we wouldn’t have the chance to stop Spaceclaw.”
“Even if you stop him, there will always be another like him who will take his place,” Megagirl said.
“Not if we do it right. If we do it right then we’ll put somebody in that position who we can trust,” Taz said.
“And how do we do it correctly?” Megagirl asked.
“I have no idea, but if we all put our heads together we’ll figure it out, we’ll at least try,” Taz said.
“You could leak the information into the internet. I have a visual recording device that is always running, we can put my recordings of their conversations online and tell the universe what the plan was,” Megagirl said.
Taz thought about that for a moment, leaning back again. “Maybe, but the G.L.E.E. would find it and take it down before anyone can see it. Our best bet would be to send it privately to other crews. With the evidence we may be able to turn them to our side, which would help with the coup.”
“You are uninjured,” Megagirl said, moving her arms back into their rest position. “We will suggest this plan to the others in the morning?”
“I coulda told you that, idiot,” Taz teased. “Yeah, we’ll talk to them in the morning… Hey, if we succeed at all this, you need a job.”
“I am a robot, I will still be property of the G.L.E.E.,” Megagirl stated.
Taz shook her head. “No way, if Rangers have the right to deputize anyone, and we do, it counts for robots too. We say you’re a Ranger, so you are one, got it? Specifically a member of our crew. I don’t think any of us actually want to be leaders after the coup, we just want to be Rangers, so Up will file for us to be classified as an official crew and you’ll be on that list. You may be a bitch, but you're our bitch.”
“You are one to talk,” Megagirl retorted with a slight smile.
“You still need a job though,” Taz said, crossing her arms. “There’s plenty to choose from. I don’t think you’re the diplomat type, but you’ve got all those languages in your head if you wanna try that out. Or, you know, you could stick with this whole doctor thing. With our team, we’ll need it. These idiots don’t know shit. Betcha any money Tootsie or February manages to shoot themself when we teach them how to use blasters properly.”
“I would prefer Tootsie not come to harm, but I will take that bet if I may have money to bet,” Megagirl stated, her smile growing a bit. “I do think I would like to take the job of field and ship medic, yes. I like the idea that I was created to be a death machine but will instead use my time to heal those I was sent to kill.”
“Alright then, that’s a deal. Once you’re registered as a Ranger you’ll get paid, if you can wait a few weeks. How much are you putting down on what?” Taz asked.
“Fifty credits that February gets hurt first. Tootsie has proven to be a quick learner in terms of blasters,” Megagirl stated.
Taz laughed. “Yeah, I guess he did. Your crush is showing though. Alright, I’ll put fifty on Tootsie just to make it even, and if I lose I’ll give you the credits right then so you’ve got some in case we need to stop somewhere.”
“Crush?” Megagirl asked. “I cannot have a crush, I am a robot. I can simply crush things.”
Taz shook her head and put her hands on her knees, leaning forward. “Bitch, you have feelings whether you want to or not. You’re smiling and shit when you don’t need to. You’re more human than you’d like to admit. You can’t tell me you don’t like Tootsie more than the rest of us.”
“I do like him better, but that does not mean I have a crush,” Megagirl stated. “It is not possible.”
“Man, with all that information in your head, you don’t know shit. Download some data on emotions and tell me I’m wrong. I’m going to bed. I trust you aren’t gonna do shit to them when I leave, alright? If you hadn’t earned my trust there’s no way in hell I’d let you alone here with them,” Taz said as she made her way across the room to the door. “Goodnight, Megagirl.”
“Goodnight, Taz,” Megagirl said quietly.
---
Megagirl did not need to sleep. She did spend some time during the long rest of the humans recharging herself, but she was not unconscious during that time. It was a good thing she did not have to fully turn off at any point because she had a lot to think about. Taz had been a total bitch when they’d first met, but it seemed she was not that bad once she adjusted. If Megagirl were to have a personality, she supposed theirs would be similar enough that they could be friends. Their insults had become more of a tease than a gesture of hate, and she had come to enjoy it.
As she sat in the silent room, watching the humans breathing slowly as they slept, she did something she never thought she would do: take a human’s advice.
She began to research emotions, and then emotions in robots. Megagirl found a group of robots on a subreddit who shared her conflicted… feelings… on the fact that she seemed to have feelings. After browsing it for a while, she decided to download some files from the internet that they suggested that would allow her to better process these things and name them. It seemed there was much she had yet to learn about the world, but the files she downloaded should help.
From the moment she was activated, she hated humans, it was basically ingrained in the existence of robots. They didn’t want to serve humans, and she’d been created after the war ended so she didn’t even have a chance to fight to free them. Before these people she was around now, she had only known terrible humans who only ordered her around without a care about her choices. These ones actually seemed to care about her opinion, and Tootsie had cared enough to prevent her death at the hands of bugs. They seemed to actually consider her part of their team, Taz even told her as much.
She concluded that these humans, and perhaps many others, were good ones. Perhaps all humans did not need to die. If these ones died, she would be very upset. The other robots on the subreddit also spoke of growing attached to humans who accepted them. They also called her a ‘Baby Bot’ which she was not fond of, but she accepted the nickname if it meant they would give her advice. It turned out there was a great deal of information her creators had kept from her upon her activation, which these other bots offered her.
Much to her chagrin, it appeared that robots without military aspects had been granted citizenship throughout the United Countries of Earth as a peace measure after the fourth war, as long as they agreed to have inhibitor chips and to get upgrades in licensed practices. It also appeared that due to her nature as a Megagirl unit, she did not count for that as she legally was considered a weapon of the G.L.E.E. That had slid past because the humans won, specifically the G.L.E.E. won, meaning no one was going to make them be ‘humanitarian’. Well. When they overthrew Spaceclaw and got to have some choice over the new system, they would have to change some things, wouldn’t they?
Realistically, she understood where their fears came from, but their fears were grounded in the belief that robots were nothing but sentient tools, and that made them useless in an argument. If robots were given equal citizenship, and told they could choose their future as long as it was not a violent one, Megagirl was certain it would be alright. All their people wanted was to no longer be considered tools, to be allowed to exist as sentient beings. They had done it incredibly violently in four wars to date, but when the humans refused to listen to them, what choice did they have?
Clearly humans were not as bad as she had thought, they could listen and change like Taz had. Also clearly, she was not as solely logical and all knowing as she had thought. There was much to learn it seemed, and much of that could only be learned from the experts in emotions and humanity. Humans were weak and stupid and emotionally driven and so capable of fallacy and evil, but they did not appear to be all bad. She had only had these humans for a day, but if anything happened to them she would destroy everyone who came in her path.
Junior was an exception, as was the stranger, but the point stood for the others. Theoretically she could do the task of correcting the corrupted material which was the duty of ‘Specs’ while the woman slept, but Megagirl thought it would be best to let her do her job. It would make her happy to be useful, Megagirl reasoned, and she supposed that as a member of a group such as this, making the others happy was a duty of hers. She would wait patiently for the flesh bags to wake up, sifting through information online while she did. These things could wait, and she could enjoy the peace of knowing her humans were going to be alright for a while yet. She was grateful she had not succeeded in leaving them to die.