The Binary

First Contact

              "Well type it something back!" Pitch shouted at Bass after the group sat staring at the screen for what felt like hours but was only fleeting minutes. "We've been sitting here for how long and we haven't sent them anything back!" She stepped away from the laptop to pace around the room. "We need that open Bass! That's our way into The Hive!" She said as she pointed at the computer and the computer beeped loudly as garbled text began to fill the screen.

"Pitch, what the hell did you do?!" Bass said as she stood up and looked at the screen, rising from her chair as it flashed rapidly between images of android schematics. "This isn't good, hell what did you do!" Bass was shouting now as she looked all over the screen and hit the buttons to try and figure something out.

The images finally stopped and a soft female voice played through the laptop speakers. "Introducing from The Hive, the newest in Artificial Intelligence, the Human Assisting Helper Bot 2.0." The Screen blinked as it showed the long and shining body of an artificial intelligence. "They'll clean for you, cook for you, and even mind the kids." The voice continued as the bot was shown doing the various listed tasks. "Bots available in models Dijit, and Pyxel." The screen flashed two separate robots, one a slender framed female with long blue hair down her back in braids, and the other a taller lanky masculine frame with a fluffy mop of blue hair. "The Hive Robotics, Who Says That You Can't Pick Family?" With that the laptop blinked off and went back to the previous text input screen.

Dijit was standing a way back from the laptop now, his hands in tight fists, "Th-That w-w-was an old com-mer-mercial-l." He managed to get out, despite shaking slightly, his voice catching on glitches in his programing. "It's list-ten-ing-ing." He pointed out, "It coul-d-d be recor-cording us now." He frowned, "If they-they- aren't-t-t watch-ching us as we-well."

"Dijit go and take a breather." Pitch pointed to the couch, "You're going to glitch yourself into a reboot, and we can't risk plugging you in right now if they did track us." Dijit took a step back rubbing the back of his neck as he went and sat on the couch. He watched Pitch intently as she brushed herself off before swinging a leg into a chair to settle and sit down. His concentration couldn't be broken from them as he seemed to be mulling something over in his head.

Bass came and sat herself down next to Pitch as the two of them stared at the empty text box. Pitch lifting her hand to touch the mouse before deciding against it and lowering her hand. The Bass did the same before she shook her head, "I'm gonna type." She said clicking as she messaged the box back.

'[Queen]: Hello?'

Pitch glanced at Bass as no response came from the bot. It simply remained still. "No one's there, Bass. We either waited to long or it's some sort of fucked up deterrent." Pitch pulled at her hair in irritation. Bass sighed as she leaned back in her chair and frowned irritated. "We tried out best-"

'Client is Typing...'

The two girls went still as their eyes fell onto the keys. Pitch sucking in a sharp breath out of anticipation. Her hands knitting together in front of her body as she adjusted to better pay attention to the screen.

'[Client]: Hello! Please attach H.A.H. Bot Extension to Proceed.'

Slowly Bass turned her head till she was looking at Dijit. "Absolutely not." Pitch said quickly back, grabbing her friend's hand, leaning in close so that she was right up in Bass' face, her voice coming out as a stiff and firm hiss, "Absolutely not, Bass. Don't you even think about it for a second." She was grabbing the girl's shirt.

"That's what you kept him for!" Bass whisper shouted back into Pitch's face, "He should have been recalled when all the others were! You left that-that piece of spyware in our home!" She ground out between clenched teeth. Trying to keep her voice level, "You said we needed to keep him in case we got something that we needed him to open!"

"He's my friend now! He's your friend too!" Pitch snapped, "What if they turn him off, huh? What then? What if they use him to track us?" Pitch let go of Bass, staring her dead in the eyes, "No." She said firmly once more, "Absolutely not, Bass." She slammed the laptop closed and walked over to where Dijit was sitting on the couch. "Let's go. We're going to my room." She said and motioned for Dijit to follow, the A.I. standing to his feet and following behind Pitch obediently.

The two of them climbed the stairs to the bedrooms. The younger girls already tucked away in their beds for the night. A picture frame of the houses' residents hung on the wall, slightly askew, well nearly everyone in the house, there was a fourth younger girl in the picture, this one with long white hair that nearly touched the floor, and bright orange eyes. Pitch stopped to stare at it for a second, a sigh escaping from her before she tugged Dijit into a room with her.

"You can go ahead and sit there." Pitch said pointing to the bed in the corner of the room. It was a small twin sized thing with a few quilts and knitted blankets laying on it. Dijit sat on it a bit awkwardly as Pitch undressed, uncaring as she changed in front of Dijit into a soft pink nightie, shaking her hair out. She came and stood in front of him, getting close enough to his face so that their noses were nearly touching. "You need an update, we'll try to sneak you into an internet café tomorrow," She said as she kissed his forehead and crawled into bed, patting the space next to her that Dijit squeezed into, holding onto Pitch quietly.

"Bass is an idiot." Pitch pouted puffing her cheeks out, "She's stupid and I hate her."

"No, no you don't." Dijit yawned.

"I do right now." Pitch huffed, "She's a moron. She wants to do something stupid and-"

"I don't care if you plug me into it." Dijit said quietly as he squeezed Pitch tighter.

Pitch sat up now in bed turning and looking down at Dijit, "What?" She said and tightened her jaw, "What?"

Dijit stared back up at his master, his programmer, "I don't care if you plug me into it. I heard you arguing. I'm inorganic not deaf." He said and frowned at her, "Is that really why you kept me? For that and house work?"

Pitch shook her head no quickly, "Of course not, I kept you because you're my friend Dijit I-" Pitch pinched the bridge of her nose, "Okay... Okay... we—" She sighed, "I need to rest. I've been gone a long time getting that thing. We can talk about it in the morning. I need to rest." Pitch flopped herself back down on the bed in Dijit's arms.

"If it'll make life easier for you, Pitch." Dijit said quietly, "I'll do anything for you, I promise."