The shuttle landed in the bay with a cacophony of clattering and hydraulic whines. The Bunker was designed to take in live specimens, but it happened so rarely that the systems had all but begun to atrophy. It was a surprise they still worked, let alone that anybody remembered how to operate them.
"It was a fantastic job on your part to capture it alive," Commander White saluted 2B and 9S perfunctorily. "Even if you are top-class field operatives, the 'alive if possible'' designation was filed more as a suggestion than a command."
2B saluted back immediately, 9S after a moment and with a bit of sarcasm.
"Any time a non-machine animal shows aggression toward androids, successful living captures become a vanishingly rare eventuality. You've both performed far above expectations."
"Surely you only asked us because you assumed we could get it done?" 9S asked with a grin that suggested the notion of them failing was comical.
"You received the assignment because you were in the area and it was a high priority." Commander white looked at him flatly, "Even if models showed you two having the highest likelihood of mission success, they still put a live capture as less likely than the total loss of both units."
"Commander, our battle with the animal didn't suggest capabilities that made total loss a possibility," 2B responded stiffly, "It would be worth reviewing the records of its previous attacks. The model was wrong."
"I've reviewed the records enough, due to their nature they are Sensitive Compartmented Information." Commander White's tone became stern, "Your access to records kept by Type-R and Type-Z units is need-to-know."
"Potentially sending us to our deaths seems pretty need-to-know," 9S scoffed.
"Commander, if all previous attacks were on science-class androids, why would the models suggest high danger to a battle-class and scanner?" 2B ignored him.
"The beast is documented to have stalked and evaded previous units in a way that suggested extremely high intelligence," The commander softened, "Any time humanlike intelligence is demonstrated by an organism, its threat level is placed at maximum until such a time as we can prove it shouldn't be."
9S gave 2B a look, which for once she met.
"Even with the element of surprise, it shouldn't have been a mechanical possibility for it to destroy a unit, regardless of type." 9S pushed.
"You should know as well as anybody that 'loss beyond recovery' does not solely describe destruction in combat." Commander White looked down her nose at him, "Such as when you hacked into a machine database which obstructed your communications with the base. Several failed return signals designated you as a loss."
"Some communication in that case would have avoided a lot of trouble, 2B could have told you I was fine," 9S protested, "I don't particularly like experiencing a remote kill command without knowing-"
"As her scanner unit, your failure to respond marked 2B as also lost." The commander seemed to have settled on making an example out of him for arguing, "Any compromise to your system security leaves her vulnerable, and either of you bringing vulnerabilities aboard is something we can less afford than manufacturing replacements for the pair of you. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, commander," 2B bowed before 9S could protest.
"We assigned you to retrieval because we expect you two to take risks, calculated ones," She jabbed a finger at 9S. He saluted loosely but refused to bow. "There was no implicit risk in the work the units it previously attacked were doing, but they wound up designated as losses. I have no interest in arguing or explaining our systems of risk assessment beyond that."
"Yes, commander," 9S sighed. You didn't win arguing upwards.
Commander White cooled down a bit and both 2B and 9S relaxed, but not before 2B shot 9S a particularly harsh glance. She was a kiss ass, there weren't many better ways to put it. Or maybe there were. She didn't suck up so much, she just did her job exactly how they told her to do it when they told her to do it and she didn't argue back even when they were wrong or screwing her over. She didn't like being chastised or chewed-out, she didn't like things slowing her down or interfering with her work even in microscopic ways, and seemingly the only thing she ever worked for or got off on was the person telling her to kiss their boots informing her that her lips had done a good job cleaning them.
If there was a better term for that than kiss-ass, he'd need more time to come up with it.
"Either way," Commander White finally continued, "You'll be finding out exactly what the thing's real threat level should be. I want you both to head down to research to look into it."
"Commander, neither of us are trained in research work." 2B saluted but protested, at least as much as you could protest without actually offering any resistance.
"This is a rare situation, but in the case of a live specimen like this which we've designated a maximum-level threat, any direct study has to be done either by or in the presence of combat-certified androids." The commander shrugged, "The specimen will be heavily sedated, and you'll likely just be overseeing as a Type-R does the work-"
"Commander, forgive me, but I was hoping for a chance to relax after our time in the field." 2B's voice wasn't protesting, he realized, almost more... pleading? "For every twenty-four hours in the field, we are supposed to be allotted two hours of personal time. Perhaps we could delay this until after that?"
"This work will be regarded as taking place in your personal time slot," The commander said flatly.
"Bullshit!" 9S yelped. 2B flinched, but he wasn't sure if it was from what the commander had said or his yelling, "If you're calling it work, how can you justify cutting into our personal time with it?"
"Your designations specify twenty-four hours of certified work, which you've done. But neither of you are certified for research work, so this is designated in the same way we would record a unit receiving training in another discipline."
"Yes, commander," 2B saluted, though 9S could make out consternation on her face. He watched her turn on her heel the second the commander had dismissed them and start making her way toward the research division. He had to struggle to keep up.
"Can you believe that?" 9S sighed when he had fallen in behind her.
2B didn't respond, if anything, she just started walking faster. 9S couldn't tell if she was mad at the commander or...
"Hey, you don't think this is my fault, do you?" He protested, "The commander does things like this even when she isn't mad at me, don't blame me here."
She just kept walking, 9S couldn't get a good enough look at her face to see her expression, but he was pretty sure she was scowling.
"I'm not sure what you're upset about, what do you even do in your free time anyway?" He pestered.
"What I want to, usually," She responded hotly without slowing down.
"Look, if you're trying to get it over with as quick as possible, don't bother. Knowing the commander, the better plan would be to try to drag it out long enough that it cuts into our next work assignment."
"If those are the kind of calculations that go into your decision-making, I understand why the commander mistrusts you."
"I'm serious, this isn't my fault!" He sped up enough to get in front of her, but he was surprised to see she looked more depressed than angry. "That's just how the commander is sometimes."
"So it would seem," 2B responded in a voice that was completely void of emotion, despite her face.
They had arrived at research, which was lit up in a way that designated it was restricted, but as soon as they were in range, the doors hissed open.
There were a couple different science androids gathered around the containment cell with the specimen, looking through the alloy glass and chattering to themselves in fascination. It wasn't like any other animal in the catalog, they could safely rely on that. It was like a wolf in some ways, but it was giant, bipedal, and had clawed hands with opposable thumbs and impressive manipulation capabilities. They had put in several different items, seemingly unable to decide if it would best amuse itself with children's playthings, dog toys, or a salt lick. It was able to pick up and investigate all three with human-like dexterity, but what it decided to do with those things afterwards was usually either to sniff it, chew it, or both.
"Battle-Type android is present in the lab," One of the scientists announced over the lab comms, "All androids who lack clearance for experiment viewing are asked to vacate."
The huddle of scientists turned and looked at 2B and 9S in an almost resentful way, all but two or three of them shuffling out of the lab. When the doors hissed shut again, the sudden lack of noise was palpable. At least for a moment.
"2B!"
One of the remaining research androids stepped forward and bowed. She was short, shorter even than 9S, with shaggy red hair and a research scope built into a pair of glasses. She was also thin, even by the standards of androids built to waste absolutely nothing in terms of space and material. When she offered a hand, it was practically skeletal, but her skin was rosier than either 2B's or 9S's, making it look like she had a permanent full-body blush.
"Ah," 2B gave a very short and awkward handshake, "9S, this is 5R."
"When I heard we took the specimen alive, I knew it had to be you!" 5R gushed, barely even glancing at 9S. "But I never dreamed you'd be the one coming down here to do my research with me!"
"This will be coming out of our off-time," 2B responded flatly.
"I know, I know," 5R filibustered as she gestured toward the thing in the cage excitedly, "The last thing you want to do when you could be relaxing is spend time down in the lab poking and prodding the big fuzzy thing you just fought, but this is the opportunity of a lifetime! I'll give the commander my highest commendations of your work. I'll see to it you never have to work down in the labs again! You know, unless you want to."
"That's very kind of you-" 9S started.
"Hold on, I need to put the lab in lockdown mode!" 5R started jogging away. "I can't wait another second to get started on this!"
5R started furiously interfacing with the computers on the other end of the lab, shuttering viewports, locking doors, tightening hatches. 2B looked at her, sighed, and clasped her hands behind her back as she waited.
"She's nice," 9S teased.
"She's... intense..." 2B responded softly.
"Sorry, you find somebody intense?" He pushed, "You scared she's going to attack? Betray us? Ask you on a date?"
"People who take more joy in their work than their leisure... concern me." 2B responded flatly.
