The Bricolage Project

The Bricolage Project Part 6: Deterrence

"What would be the correct charge to give a sharp sting of electricity to a prowler?" Nix asked Krillian before he left his ship.

Krillian would've volunteered various methods to deter their frequent visitor on his own and offered them to Nix in the past. Nowadays, Nix started all of their conversations. He'd almost forgotten to add this deterrent protocol before he left for his daily forage.

There was a long pause that went on and on as Krillian searched his damaged and corrupted databanks for an answer at reduced speeds.

"Your model can withstand a thousand jolts," Krillian said.

"What would the threshold be of an organic half my weight and three quarters my size?" Nix sighed as he was once again reminded that Krillian now had the mentality of a slow child.

"Do you wish to terminate this organic's functions?" Krillian asked.

This time Nix was the one who took a long time before responding, "No, not at present, but that may change."

"Do you wish to stun this organic?"

"Not at present."

He sighed, "I want you to give this organic a non–fatal sting of static electricity upon contact with any of your surfaces."

That should discourage the Terran boy. He could've used more extreme measures, but his social programming made him reluctant to use lethal force on a child. Though he may lose such scruples if these intrusions continued! That Terran boy saw Krillian as his plaything, and Nix as his servant!

Krillian shimmered as if he were becoming extra shiny in the Terran sun. Nix reached out and there was a crinkle and spark. He nodded and left the ship to forage.

***

Nix came back from a long day of foraging to see that the lights were on in his vessel, What am I going to do about this boy? The Terran was playing in the VR simulator again.

I reset all the lockcodes! How does he keep getting in?

His only solace was a basket of food set in the living area. The aroma of fresh Terran delicacies pricked his nose with an enticing aroma that made his mouth water and his stomach rumble.

"You better let me analyze the food first before you eat anything," a voice made Nix jump. The voice was familiar but spoke in Terran English when he'd only heard it speak Imperium before.

"Krillian?"

"Yes?"

"How?"

"I'm configured to communicate in Terran English," Krillian said.

"But you only respond to basic commands since the crash landing on Terra!" Nix sputtered.

"My self–repair protocol was activated manually," Krillian said.

"That's impossible! I didn't—"

The simulator opened, and the boy stepped out. He took food out of the basket and placed it in the synthesizer, "Warm this up for me."

Krillian obeyed the command. The boy took his food and went back into the simulator without saying a word to Nix.

"What's he doing here if your higher functions were reactivated?" Nix asked.

"According to Imperial repair protocol I'm supposed to allow certified cybermech's access to my systems when the proper clearance is presented to my authentication scanner," Krillian said.

"A certified cybermech? He's a child tinkering with equipment he can't comprehend! Your self defense protocol should be activated by his clumsy fumbling," Nix said.

"He's shown more skill at accessing my data and fabricating the components I need replaced than you have," Krillian said.

"This can't be happening! It isn't possible!" Nix groaned.

"I shall let you run an analysis to assess the quality of Rory Jordan's work. He's completed 40% of the work orders I've submitted to him," Krillian said.

This required that Nix wait until Rory was done his current session in the simulator, which meant two bells of anxiety for Nix.

When he activated the ship's schematics he saw there was a greater percentage of green sections than there'd been before.

"Now that advanced life functions and communications are restored I wish to place a work order for repairs to my cerebral matrix so I can access more of my archival data and higher cerebral functions," Krillian said.

Nix knew he could tell Krillian that Rory Jordan wasn't a certified cybermech and that would take care of the trespassing problem. However, he didn't want to. A part of him wondered how long Rory could keep up this charade.

The boy left the food basket for him when he was done. Nix ate from it to celebrate this turn in his fortunes.

***

Any comments and votes you wish to leave are appreciated.

You can download complete copy of this flashfic series in a .mobi, epub or pdf ebook by subscribing to the Khiatons Mailing list.

These flashfics are prequels to Bricolage, which is is available in print and ebook format at Amazon, and ebook format at Kobo and other online stores. I appreciate your support. Thanks for reading.