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The center felt almost alien after hours. Most of the lights were turned off to save power. Halls normally humming with bots were now empty, except for a lone cleaning bot shuffling room to room. It paid Viroid no mind as they walked through the maintenance wing. Viroid had come up with a few ideas of what Xiph might want them for. Most of them were not great. Maybe they just wanted fewer witnesses around for when they ripped Vi’s head off. Or maybe xe’d figured out they were spyware and wanted to strap Vi down for interrogation. Would xe even bother to interrogate them, or would Xiphoid just pull out their memory drive and hook it up to xer laptop, surely the head maintenance bot would know how to do that. Or worse. By the time Vi was done running back through their options, they'd been standing outside Ziphoid's office for 2 minutes. There was only one way to find out which was right. Xiphoid passed the time waiting at their desk, fiddling with their fingers. The blade tools were their favorites, obviously, but trying out different arrangements was plenty fun too. They'd just unscrewed their last sharp finger when their door finally slid open. Xiph greeted xer guest with a smile. "Ah, Viroid! I'll be with you in just a minute, go ahead and take a seat." Xe waved a half-assembled hand at the spare chair, but Viroid didn't take the offer. Before Vi could come out and ask what the hell they were here for, Xiphoid was one step ahead of them. "Y'know, I'm surprised you said yes earlier,” Xiphoid spoke casually, without looking up from their hand. “I didn't even get to tell you what I needed." They shot a quick glance at the other bot, just long enough to give a sly grin. "Are you that desperate to spend time with me?" Vi sputtered. “Wh- What do- N- I’m not desperate??” They paused to let their processing catch up. “I just. Didn’t have much work today, figured whatever it is, I could help.” Xiph just chuckled. "Uh huh." Xe tightened the connection on xer last finger, then held xer hand up to admire xer handiwork. Half of them were tools Vi couldn’t even name, but there were still plenty of sharp objects. Those they could guess the use for. They all moved in sync, bending and flexing as Xiph tested the joints. Satisfied, the repairbot finally turned their attention to their guest. Aperture eyes focused down on the Viroid as Xiph stood to their full height and approached. "Here, let's just get started." The doctor put a firm hand on Vi’s shoulder and started guiding them to the center of the room, to the raised metal surface that acted as their workspace. Surrounded by small rolling surfaces, bright lights on adjustable stands pointing down like a spotlight. Viroid didn't know much about human medicine, but the image of an “operation room” came to mind. It was just as they’d feared. This was the end. Viroid dug their heels into the tile, tried to come up with a protest, but it was no use. Xiph pushed them down to sit on the table, then onto their back. With each contact made onto the surface, there was a click, and their body seemed to stick to the table, like a fly in a web. Looking up at the mechanical amalgamation of tools coming down upon them. Vi grabbed at it with a last free hand, but it was no use. The hand came to rest on their chest and had a sharp finger to their core before Vi finally spit out a clear: "Stop!" The doctor froze. Neither bot moved from the position, Xiph's hand resting against Vi's core, Vi's hand gripping Xiph's wrist. Silence except for the gentle whir of their fans. Viroid genuinely hadn't expected that to do anything. And yet, Xiphoid had stopped, blankly watching them process. After what felt like an incredibly long moment, the doctor spoke up. "Why are you nervous?" "'Why am I nervous?' I don’t know, maybe because you just started pushing me around with zero explanation?? What're all these tool fingers even for?" Viroid finally tugged the hand off their chest, shoving it back at the doctor as they shouted. Xiphoid didn't seem to take offense, continuing to analyze xer patient's response, before concluding: "You've never had maintenance done before." At this, the doctor tilted xer head, looking quite surprised. "Are you really that new?" Vi's screen darted to look away, immediately confirming the answer. Vi was aware they’d been worked on a few times at their own facility, but it was before they'd been fully activated, so they had no memories stored of it. Even at this facility, as much as Viroid had been hanging around the maintenance wing, they'd seen very little of the actual process. Is this really common knowledge? Seeing the embarrassment in their expression, Xiph took a more compassionate tone. "Hey, that's fair! I'm told the process is a bit strange for bots at first. Sorry, I'm so used to it myself, I forgot to take it easy." Xe took a step back, and the doctor’s usual stiff and strange posture loosened, making xer almost seem to shrink. Hands lowered and out of sight, head bowed with a smile, even the hair seemed to tuck itself back behind xer ear. Xiph was genuinely being apologetic. Vi wasn't sure how to respond. Especially when they were still locked to a table. "... You're fine. But uh… maintenance? Why would I need maintenance?" "Oh you don't! I don't think so anyway, I guess we'll find out. No, I was just checking your file the other day, and I couldn't find your blueprints!" Vi’s fan went up in volume, but Xiph didn’t miss a beat. "It's not unusual for new models, the company really likes to take their time filing them, y'know, still staffed with humans up there and all." Xe rolled xer eyes with a smile. "But, I was worried about you needing repairs in the meantime, so. I thought we'd do a little reverse engineering, and I'll fix you up with a temporary one! My treat!" Xiph looked down at them, still quite excited, but Vi was still obviously stressed about the idea. Xiph attempted another gentler expression before adding, “Is that okay? We don’t have to if you don’t want to.” Viroid shifted as much as they could, still stuck on their back. Did xe really mean that? They weren’t sure, but… "I guess you did prove that with you... Actually stopping when I told you to." "Of course! Oh, right, that's just a part of repairbot programming. Consent and all, helps prevent any accidental damage." Xiph waited patiently for a moment longer, the two staring at each other. Then Xiph remembered they have to explain everything. "... You do need to give me clear verbal agreement to continue. Is it okay if I continue?" "Sure, uh, go ahead?" Xiphoid paused a bit longer, hesitant. Then nodded. “We’ll work on that.” |