I hereby call to order this HeadSpace emergency meeting, I thought to myself as, internally, my various subRoutines virtually gathered in the common area. I couldn’t virtually insert myself into the HeadSpace like they could, the best I could do was project my thoughts into the space. The experience was a bit like a video conference with my camera off, I supposed.

I noticed that they tended to group together in little cliques. Rom, Ram, IronHide, and BombShell were sitting at the table they used for game night. Carnivac and Cyclone sat on opposite ends of the couch with KickBack in the middle, apparently trying to mirror Carnivac. Alfred, Sentinel, and Shrapnel were kneeling on pillows, gathered around a coffee table. Alfred was shuffling a deck of cards and dealing to the others as Shrapnel was sketching something out. Ratchet sat, or rather perched, on a recliner, looking agitated and eager to get back to a project. In the HeadSpace, all of the subRoutine avatars were the same size so it was amusing to see the minibot BombShell sitting at the table with the giant IronHide.

The only one missing was MainFrame. Unlike the others, MainFrame didn’t have a body to remote control. It was the task of that subRoutine to handle code development and was represented in the HeadSpace by a ball of lightning. Usually, it had a virtual desk with multiple monitors surrounding it that was to the side of the common area. The monitors were on, showing various screens of code but the ball of lightning was missing.

I admit that the less direct control and attention I gave to the subRoutines, the more autonomous they became. MainFrame was no exemption there, and since it lacked a body, I mostly interacted with it only to give it code assignments. MainFrame had developed a code plugin for the subRoutines that would block the others from knowing their thoughts. This was done so that on game nights they could play against each other without already knowing the other’s strategy.

I didn’t know if it was a side-effect of this plugin, or something that naturally happened as the subRoutines developed and gained a form of independence, but I found myself becoming less aware of their thoughts and what they were doing. Mentally focusing on a given subRoutine would sync up all the data and I’d instantly be caught up on all of their experiences and thoughts, but I had to proactively seek out that sync now.

I focused on MainFrame but got nothing. The last sync was when I had connected to the GodBomber airship for its maiden voyage. Even the data from that point felt like it was missing chunks. As soon as I noticed MainFrame missing, the others synced to me and started looking around, confused.

Prime.Ram:// I can’t exactly say I’m sorry to see that jerk go

Prime.Cyclone:// yeah... it wasn’t exactly the most sociable of us. I mean... Ratchet isn’t either, but that guy was antagonistic and constantly negative

Prime.Ratchet:// ...

Prime.Ram:// I don’t know, it DID make the thought blocker plugins so that we can do game night. It never played though.

Prime.Sentinel:// I never saw what that fella was thinkin’ unless Prime synced up with it. I reckon it had that plugin going all the time.

Prime.Alfred:// It would seem that our friend found a method to leave the HeadSpace on its own. Though I can’t fathom where it could have gone or how.

As the subRoutines discussed the merits and flaws of MainFrame and theorized what might have happened to it, Alfred returned to his remote body in order to prepare tea; but found that he couldn’t connect to it.

Prime.Alfred:// I say! That is strange. I just ducked out for a moment to focus on this meeting but now I only get connection errors.

Prime.IronHide:// It’s MainFrame! I bet that somehow it took over big brother Alfred’s body!

Prime.BombShell:// [－‸ლ]

Prime.IronHide:// What? That could happen. It’s not like there are locks on the bodies or anything

Prime.BombShell:// [눈_눈]

Prime.IronHide:// You’re one of the youngest here, what do you know?

Prime.BombShell:// [ಡ_ಡ]☞

Prime.Rom:// IronHide, sweety, I’m afraid she’s right. If you look over at the Proxy Board, none of the slots are assigned.

Okay, too many strange things for my taste, I interjected. Sentinel will go investigate.

At the moment, I was sitting on a pile of steel sheets on the second floor of the AutoForge with an offline princess curled up in my lap. Obviously I couldn’t “wake” her by moving around, but it still felt like the improper thing to do. I pulled Sentinel out of my [Inventory] and connected the subRoutine to him, powering him up.

Sentinel squatted down and tilted his head as he looked at the princess and gently reached out and touched her hair. He then looked up at me and nodded before getting up to go look for my Prime Shipping plate that I’d registered to this location.

The plates worked using [Storage] magic to transfer an object into a temporary [Storage] space that all of the plates had access to. A control menu popped up when the device was accessed allowing the user to select one of the other plates as a destination and the object was then ejected from the [Storage] space in the new location.

Due to the limitations of [Storage] magic, it didn’t work for anything living that had a soul so I couldn’t teleport myself or anyone else. Thankfully, my proxies didn’t count. They just went offline when in [Storage] but then could reconnect once ejected.

Sentinel found the device buried under a pile of papers and assorted production models and test parts. Everything seemed to be working properly, so he brought up the user menu and selected the Flying Lion Inn as the destination. Within moments, Sentinel had dissolved into the void and reconnected on the other side.

He looked around but he didn’t see anyone at all in Shiro’s inn. Normally, there would, at least, be Shiro’s parents and his organic staff from a nearby village. Cautiously, he peered out the front window to see folks standing around the village fountain and shield generator at the center of town. No one was moving though, they were all just standing motionless.

Sentinel stepped out of the building and slowly made his way closer to the fountain. He couldn’t see any of the organic folk that lived in the village, but all of the Automata villagers seemed to be present.

“Hey there fellas! What’s goin’ on?” he called out.

As one, all of the villagers turned to look at him, their optics glowing with a bluish purple indigo color rather than the typical light blue. Sentinel stepped back, startled. The effect creeped him out, and he started backing away. Things most certainly didn’t feel right.

A set of arms grabbed Sentinel from behind and he turned to see Jackie with those same indigo lights staring back at him.

“Jackie! What’s gotten into ya? Snap out of it!” he tried, though was ignored.

His hands were grabbed as the crowd moved closer. The village’s kid Automata, Yani and Baju each had an arm and were pulling down on him. Everyone moved in stiff, choppy, mechanical motions, which for a village of robots is saying something.

The crowd pushed closer and split before they reached him as Alfred and Shiro made their way to the front. They too had those indigo tinted optics.

“What’s going on here?!” Sentinel shouted, trying to pull free, but more hands were holding him now.

“Looks like I missed one,” the entire crowd said in unison.

Shiro reached up and clamped a hand over Sentinel’s face as a warning alert popped up in Sentinel’s Heads Up Display or HUD.

...Dominator.exe transferring

...Defender being disabled

...Dominator.exe auto-extracting

Sentinel’s HUD began to glitch and distort as he lost control of the body’s systems. Before he knew it, he was back in the HeadSpace.