[Technovember prompts by Caffeinated Otter]
77 and a1 held hands tightly as they walked through the dark maze of tunnels. a1 had insisted on direct-contact encrypted comms only, and for once, 77 was in full agreement.
I am not picking up any signals, but wireless comms range is substantially reduced by attenuation from the surrounding walls.
a1 said.
Not seeing any tracks, either. From them, *or* from whatever got them.
77 replied.
I will continue calculating traversal routes. Please search carefully for any hidden passages.
On it. Wait, something's coming.
brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
They raised their guns warily. From around a corner, a robot stepped into view. Its design was basic and single-purpose, just a machine gun on four legs. Its barrel was continually rotating, firing on empty 100 times a second. It turned to point at them, riddling the two of them with nonexistent bullets while they stood and stared at it.
It appears to be a Protectorate autogun, model RayX Peacemaker 120. They have functionally limitless power supplies, but no offensive capabilities other than a single high-speed rotary machine gun. Deprived of ammunition, as this one appears to be, they are effectively neutralized.
brrrrrclickclickclickclickclick-click-click-click click click
The barrel slowed to a stop, still pointed at them.
“bullets?” the autogun buzzed out plaintively on a tinny little speaker.
Let us continue moving. This is not a threat.
They stepped forward and around it, turning down another corner.
“bullets!”
It's following us.
“pleeeeeease?” it whined.
77 turned to look at it. It pointed its gun up at her face and let out another round of empty clicks.
“bullets?”
“Buddy, you’re really not making a great case for yourself.”
“bullets! bullets! bullets!” It swiveled to butt the side of its barrel into 77’s thigh in frustration.
“Hey, quit it!”
“want bullets! need bullets! give bullets!”
This is more noise than it is wise to be making with an unknown hostile in the vicinity.
77 groaned. “I’m not giving you any damn bullets. Now get lost.”
“no fair! androids get bullets! spider gets bullets! want bullets!”
“Look— Wait, what was that about a spider?”
“spider gets all the parts! spider gets all the bodies! spider gets all the bullets! no fair!”
“… Do you know where this spider is?”
“know where. bullets?”
“Okay, let’s make a deal. You show us where the spider is. We help take out the spider. You get all the spider’s bullets. Sound good?”
This is inadvisable. It could easily be a trap.
You got any better leads?
The gun buzzed in contemplation.
“give bullets now. in case spider gets androids.”
“And you won’t shoot us, right?”
It buzzed to itself.
“Right?”
“… okay. bullets?”
77 reached into her pack and pulled out a scavenged ammunition belt. “These work?”
“bullets!” It began excitedly firing off more empty shots.
“Okay, just cut that out so I can actually load them in, dammit.”
77 and a1 moved to stand carefully behind the gun as 77 fed in the belt.
“bullets bullets bullets!”
77 stepped back, and it immediately shot off a third of the belt down the dark corridor with an ear-splitting racket.
“Cool, great, very stealthy. Now show us the way to the damn spider.”