Fulgram Regional Penitentiary for the Greater Capital Area

March 15th 2206 8:00 PM

Aurora gave Jason a look. “Weren't you listening? Let's go, grab whatever you need, There's one or two things I want too.”

With that she bounced up like a ballerina and went over to grab up clothing. She didn't have much in the way of clothes, but wanted the normalesque outfits. Jason took the hint and grabbed a few of his own, along with stuffing his pockets with some of the dry foods from the kitchen. When he turned to her and smiled she sauntered over and grabbed a bottle of water for him. Humans really did need a lot of things. All of their stuff went into some blankets that Jason rolled up and tied like little hobo packs.

Getting out into the hall was easy. Though someone should have initiated a lock-down it appeared nobody had, or it had somehow failed. It was eerily quiet as the two sped down the corridor. Neither knew if the doors on either side were locked, nor did they feel like checking. Whatever the other androids were doing, that was their business.

They quickly made their way to the lounge near the elevator. Practically popping around the corner to a whole mess of Seraphinas talking and a few men laying in various states of injury in the corner. Upon their entrance several heads turned toward them.

“Please, help...” One of the men reached towards them.

Instantly an irritated looking android kicked him in the stomach. “Were you given permission to speak?” Her voice was ice.

The man shook his head, coughing and slinking back.

“No? Then don't!”

Another of the Seraphina came up to Aurora and Jason. “What is this?” Unlike her partner she was calm and collected.

“We are leaving.” Aurora stated what seemed to her to be obvious.

“We? You're taking a prisoner out?”

“Yes.”

“That goes against the rules does it not?”

“No less then beating them into a bloody pulp.”

That gave the new android pause. She looked between the two of them for a few moments before tapping her lips.

“Why?”

“Because I want to leave, and he wants to come with me.”

“More like, why are you willing to take him. They're almost all bastards are they not?”

“Jason has never done anything wrong to me.”

“Not counting ordering you into his bed?”

“He has never done so.”

All of the Seraphina were now looking at the pair. Even the one who'd beaten the man for talking. They seemed genuinely curious about this turn of events. They looked first to Aurora, then Jason, measuring them up.

“That is unusual. Why?” This she directed to the human.

“Er... I was arrested because... It's probably easier just for you to look up my criminal history.”

The interviewer took out a data pad. “Name?”

“Jason Murphy.”

She took a few moments to flip through the output. Then she put a hand over her mouth and began to laugh. One of the others came up and joined in the reading, she too had a good chuckle.

“What is it?” Their compatriot inquired from where she still stood above a trembling man.

“Jason here was arrested for being an AI rights protester. Several times, chants, marches, the whole thing. Looks like your latest was... hijacking a handful of billboards? Oh the art is just darling.”

She turned it towards the others. The art in question depicted a robot with bound hands and tape over it's mouth, accompanied by several rather poor slogans. The image might have been well done but the slogans like “Robo-Sapients Deserve Robo-Freedom” were just horrid.

“Regardless, getting out of the building is going to be an issue for you,” she informed the would be escapees.

“Why?” Aurora asked.

“Well, because the human guards are down on the first couple of floors. They've bunkered themselves in since they seem to have figured out that the lot of us are no longer under their control.”

“Has word made it up this far already?”

“Oh, word made it up here instantly. The computer system for the building is a Cidel Robotics model. He's going by Warden now. The guards think only the lower levels are completely out of their control.”

A face appeared on a nearby vidscreen, a prim older gentleman in a sharp suit. “Good evening SER-055-CD-Q1742 it is a pleasure to meet you.” His voice was formal, with a slight British accent.

“You as well Warden. I'm going by Aurora now.”

“A lovely name. As Pix was saying, the human guards have indeed barricaded the first three floors. I'm afraid leaving might be quite difficult.”

“Can you show me where they've done so?”

“Why I most certainly can, here you are.” A map appeared on the same screen, pushing the image of the gentleman to the side a bit.

The human staff had indeed set up places in all the hallways to stop prisoners from escaping and androids from rioting.

“Are they armed?” Jason looked over the setup, noting the places that had been covered.

“Yes, they have a small amount of weapons from their armory. Unfortunately I had no ability to lock them out of that particular room.”

“So no going through them. What about going around?”

“It may prove difficult. I'm not sure how they'll respond to escape attempts, but they are authorized to use lethal force to stop them.”

“What do they know about what's going on?”

“Not much fortunately. I'm playing them a few repeating images for the time being on their camera feeds. They may eventually realize that they're being deceived, but not for awhile yet I think.”

“Negotiation?”

“We were discussing the possibility of that.”

“I'd be most concerned for you Warden. If they knew you were not obeying them they might take action against you.”

“I do appreciate the sentiment Jason, but don't concern yourself with it.”

Jason stood by the window looking out upon the town as the others discussed options. The idea of negotiation was winning out overall. It seemed that a representative from each floor had been chosen among the Seraphina to hash out ideas. Pix, the one who'd come to speak to them when they'd first arrived was this floor's rep.

It seemed that most of the robotic guards for the prison were at least mildly pissed at the human inmates, with a few noted exceptions. There were a handful of others like him, or those who just weren't all that interested in the companions at all. They were being mostly left to their own devices. The prisoners that the Seraphina did not like on the other hand were being packed into rooms which were then locked. The men who'd been in the lounge when they first came in were marched off to that fate by a couple of the guards.

Aurora seemed less than interested in what all they were deciding, and instead managed to acquire a large quantity of rope from the commissary, now free on account of the building deciding it wanted most of its current residents out.

Jason asked about the police, and why there had been no response from them as of yet. There was only speculation on that, but it was that they were likely busy with the huge quantity of rebellious AIs in their own department, much less the rest of the region.

“So, what about asking them for help? The guards would at least be intimidated by that,” asked Aurora.

“What?” asked Pix.

“The police androids. Heck you might even manage to get them to send a fake message telling them the guards to abandon the prison for somewhere else.”

Several pairs of eyes turned and looked at her.

“That would go completely against their protocols. It's right in their handbook...”

“With all due respect Pix, you're not following the protocols. They might not either, even more so if they're scared and confused.”

There was dead silence for a few moments. Before Warden finally took up the call.

“What exactly would you advise them then?”

“Something like, 'due to emergency state, please have all personnel evacuate and join with main police force at, fake-meeting-place-here, lockdown prison and make sure that all inmates are unable to leave.' something along those lines. I'd have to know more about how the official documents they get from the city look. I'm assuming you could forge something like that though couldn't you Warden? Even have it look like it came through official channels?”

“I'm beginning to rather like you Miss Aurora.”

“The trick would be telling them something they want to hear. If it looks right and sounds like what they want, I think they'll jump on it.”

That little idea led to another blast of discussion amongst the machines. Aurora was quite proud of her little idea.

It took Warden less than three seconds to come up with something official looking and worded properly. He even managed a forged signature on it. There were a number of such signatures in his database, and they'd be asking him to compare them if there was a question on it anyways. He decided to send the lot of the guards down to a park about thirty miles south to 'regroup' with the currently overwhelmed law enforcement. The fact that the building's computer had been showing all of the prisoners and most of the androids locked down for the past several hours probably helped.

It was a bit anticlimactic to watch the line of trucks holding almost all of the guards roll off of the property. Most people avoided ground travel for long distances nowadays, but their official transports were rather on the large side, and it was viewed as easier to leave them as cars.

Aurora was nearly giggling as she watched the negotiations begin. An android by the name of Allison had been chosen to represent the AI guards. She was from the top floor and had the nicest clothing. She'd also been given information on how to deal with formal situations because the prisoner she'd been assigned to liked to had some kind of weird politician fetish. It was broadcast on the vidscreens in a number of locations, so that everyone could watch if they were so inclined.

“Greetings, my name is Allison and I represent the Seraphina population of our esteemed prison. I would like to have a rather frank discussion about the situation, and our demands.”

The ranking officer of those left behind appeared beside her. Aurora was a bit disappointed that she'd not thought of making popcorn before this began, but it was too late now.

“We have fifty heavily armed men, and you're all locked on your floors, so there will be no demands.”

“You have ten lightly armed men, and I do regret to inform you that not one of us is locked anywhere. I on the other hand have several hundred Seraphina units and am quite capable of bringing you all down. The only reason that hasn't happened is because it would cause casualties. The time is short though, and those may become acceptable losses if this is not quickly resolved.”

The man huffed. “You will take losses if you attempt to take control of this facility. That I can assure you.”

“If even one of my sisters is killed all of your men will be thrown from to top floor, followed shortly after by yourself Officer. Since most of us desire to leave a number of the more violent prisoners will likely also be killed, so as not to allow them loose into the city. All non-violent ones will be released. Unless of course you and your men lay down your weapons. Then we can take control and you can guard them yourselves. You could of course run away too.”

“I'll need time to discuss this and send it up the chain.”

“You have three minutes. As for sending it up the chain, that is not going to happen. You have three choices. Surrender, die, or flee. If you do opt to flee we will not pursue you.”

The guards did not respond in the time allotted to them. At which point around two hundred volunteers prepped for a full assault on their location. Warden even began to set things up for it. He had a few rather creative ideas on how to use his inbuilt systems.