Logs:Bugs in the System

Bugs in the System
Dramatis Personae Ladybug, Rosy Maple Moth
In Absentia	2019-06-09 B's bug bots on a secondary mission during the Prometheus raid.
Location <PA> Hofstadter Research Facility - Cambria County
The blaring alarms and flashing lights have transformed the bland hallways of into something out of a low-budget sci-fi film. This impression might be helped along by the 10cm long metallic ladybug-shaped robot skittering along the edge of the corridor ceiling. Several guards in full tactical gear run past, black boots thumping by heavily, but the bot is undeterred. It's making a beeline for a doorway labelled "AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY", as if this weren't already a top secret government research facility. Humming along in the ladybug's wake is another bot that skims along just a centimeter or so beneath the ceiling. Moth-shaped although larger than moth-sized, pink and yellow wings, deep pink feet, with a plump yellow head and body. It comes to land on the doorframe, its colorful wings folding in against its body. The click of metal feet against the edge of the door is quiet as the bot inches toward the control panel. Settles there, for a moment, its feathery pink antenna frozen at a stiff sharp angle to each other. After a pause, the door hums obligingly open. The ladybug darts in through the door and stands still a moment. The alarms are still wailing, but there are no personnel here. The corridor continues here for a little ways, with a heavy door on each side labelled "SERVER ROOM" 1 and 2. Dire warnings about the lethal hazards of the fire suppression system inside adorn each door. The ladybug bot skitters over to the door that leads to server room two. The moth flutters in after, the soft buzz of its wings largely drowned out by the blare of the alarms. The cheerfully rosy critter flits straight past the door, at first, winging back around a second later to plant itself on the door to server room two. With a tap, tap, tap, of feet, it climbs up to sit over top of the door, waiting once more through some unseen communication until the door opens and it zips readily into the warmer hum of the server room. The ladybug takes wing now, as well, following the moth into the server room. Rows and rows of server racks fill most of the space inside, save for a single (unmanned) workstation in one corner. It's this last that they head to, landing on the dark gray tower and climbing down to extend a USB connector that it then inserts into one of the ports. The moth continues to hover, for a time after the ladybug has continued deeper into the room. Its glassy lens-eyes stay focused on the door until it has slid back closed. Only then does it circle over to the workstation, thunking down to bump against the ladybug. It flutters back into the air after this brief jostling, its antennae wiggling in the air. When it settles again it's more tentative. Carefully touching down next to the ladybug this time, slowly sidestepping to give the other bot a more polite distance. The ladybug pivots around its USB connector to make space for the other bug bot, its intricately constructed feet performing an elegant dance as it moves. Nothing dramatic happens that would be visible to an outside observer, though if there had been one there they might notice that the hundreds of indicator lights on the machines that fill the room have started blinking more rapidly. The moth is quiet. Patient. A slow waggle of antenna, an intermittent flicker of glow from its eyes. It stays still through the continued blare of the alarms, the thumping of footsteps from outside, the rapid cycling blink of lights that cycle around the room. It's only when the ladybug finally eventually disengages from the machine that the moth shifts. Slowly clicking a few steps over, plugging itself into the terminal as well. Around the room the lights flicker quicker. More erratically, flashing fast and jittery. Then, all at once, the blinking stops. The servers go dark. A moment later, the rest of the lights in the room go out as well, leaving the little bugs together in the darkness.