Zeroth Directive

Archive II

Alanna first came to Rhodes Island as Warmy's guardian, with no plans to stay long-term. She would occasionally wander outside the Medical Department, and once accidentally found herself in Engineering's break room, where a group wielding tools were arguing incessantly over some drawings. No one minded her, so she began to stop by regularly, listening in on their shouting matches from the door. Most of the time, she failed to understand what they were even arguing about. However, one day she realized she could almost understand the jargon they used, as if they were simply fancier names for the truck components she was familiar with. So Alanna felt compelled to offer her own opinion—and started arguing with everyone else in the room. The next day, she brought in her 'thesis' to continue yesterday's debate. But this time, whenever she felt mentally stuck, someone would show up behind her and contemplate the problem together until her thoughts were sorted out. Through simultaneous learning and debating, Alanna became a regular visitor. After that, she once walked into the room and saw a girl she didn't recognize scratching her head at a screen. She coolly walked up to the girl and began instructing her on what to do. The girl's face quickly turned from surprise to confusion. Alanna thought she failed to explain it properly, so she repeated her words patiently. To her surprise, the girl angrily stuffed the computer into Alanna's hands, saying: 'You fix it then!' Left with no choice but to slowly tinker with the computer, Alanna slowly jabbed at the keyboard with alternating fingers to enter all the commands. Before the girl left, she asked Alanna how to spell her name. The next day, someone from HR came over saying Closure wanted to put someone called 'Alanna' on her new robot dev team, but they had to triple-check the personnel list before realizing it wasn't an operator at all! My first reaction? Of course I wanted to know who the heck Closure was! Turned out to be that girl! Didn't think she was the head of Engineering. What happened next? I signed a contract to join Rhodes Island, pretty much. I'm pretty fond of the guys in Engineering. Of course, it's also because Closure said that from now on only Engineering operators are allowed to argue in the break room. —Alanna She fixed it wrong—super wrong—but I saw the energy she had. She wasn't bold OR careful, but she didn't give up... I mean, what's wrong with unconventional methods? Plenty of people here in Engineering weren't hired the usual way, y'know. —Closure

Archive III

[Shoddy handwriting on calendar message board] Monday: Gyroscope's broken and under repairs, so don't tell it to breakdance! Also, we're collecting a codename for it this week!! Tuesday: Closure, are you illiterate? I told you not to tell it breakdance! All the wheels came off! Wednesday: Why all the fuss? I just made it do a robot dance. I put the wheels back on, and BTW, Alanna: I'm right next to you, so just turn and talk to me if you need to. Thursday: It's over if we don't figure out a codename soon! Friday: Lanns, I left you a midnight snack in the fridge, don't forget to eat it. Saturday: Potlid's stew is sooo good... why not call it Nutty, btw? Thoughts, Closure? Sunday: No comment. [Audio log] 'What did Potlid think about it?' 'Um, not a fan.' 'I saw its full name on the report. Neural Unit Terminal Driven Maintenance and Combat Assistant... Well, it's a robot car you can use on the battlefield. Listen, just call it Nutty. Short and intuitive!' 'Uh, then I better figure out how to break the news to Potlid—look at all the chili powder she sprinkled in my lunchbox! To think she'd protest against the name like this!' Potlid agreed to the name in the end. Actually, I didn't even try to convince her, she even saw the machine long ago. I only asked if she didn't like the name 'Nutty' itself, or if she didn't like me using that name on that machine. Potlid racked her brains for a long time, but still couldn't say. So I switched it up and asked, do you like it when everyone calls you 'Potlid'? And she said: 'Only you can call me that, Lanns.' Now I understood. 'Potlid' holds a unique meaning to us. Though, I want to tell her it's not just a name that ties us together. Fate's a grumpy old man. It tore us apart from our own families, and then used a huge spanner to fasten us together like screws on a board. No matter how much the truck jumped on the rocky beach, we stayed close to each other the whole way. Why did fate do that? I dunno, maybe it thought we were so alike, or maybe it thought it was better for us both this way. I've never told that to Potlid though. I'll wait. Maybe one night when she can't fall asleep, I'll make up a story for her. ...... As for how that day ended, I handed a small wrench to Potlid and invited her to join me in maintenance work on her Arts staff. She followed me and twisted the screws left and right... I smiled, and she followed suit, her face slowly returning to that perfect 100 degrees smile. —Excerpt from Operator Alanna's monthly HR interview log

Archive IV

When I had just returned to Rhodes Island, I often got lost and missed many meetings. I know its a new nomadic plate, but there just isn't enough decent signage around here. That day I wrote a whole complaint letter to Closure, but lost my way as soon as I left the stairwell! I almost had a panic attack until I saw a chubby robot headed my way. Silly looking thing. I tried to communicate my search for Closure, and it actually understood me! It showed me the way, and even pointed out the new signage on the walls as we went. I was so emotional the whole time—that disaster didn't break the resolve of the operators on-board, but granted them the courage to re-innovate and rebuild. And so, by the time I finally found Closure, I tore up the letter and heaped praise on the operator who designed the robot. But for some reason, the more Closure heard, the madder she got... —Excerpt from 'Letter of Thanks to All Engineering Operators' According to an enthusiastic operator's report, it was discovered that Alanna, an intern from Workshop No. 3, had been using the 'Nutty' with a navigation module installed to do her volunteer work of 'showing Operators around' and pasting signage while she would hide in the lab to sleep, later exchanging her volunteer credits for a large amount of experiment materials. Her actions have violated the spirit of the volunteer system, but Operator Alanna has realized her mistake and willingly accepted the following: 1. Operator Alanna will voluntarily deduct the respective amount of time from her clocked internship hours and postpone her evaluation for promotion; 2. Due to the outstanding reviews by various Operators of the 'Nutty' showing them around, Operator Alanna will be allowed to keep all previously exchanged experiment materials, but must use them solely on subsequent iterations of the 'Nutty' and voluntarily accept Closure's supervision. This document is only for archival purposes and cannot be circulated. Please sign below to confirm your acknowledgment and consent on the matter. —'■■■■ Informed Consent Form' [Audio Log] 'Agh, got it. I stayed up a few days straight to help you draft the design, and I also had to help Potlid modify her staff. So I just wanted to catch up on my Zs.' 'I can't be bothered to reason with you...' 'Hehe, but you gotta admit my Nutty's got a pretty deceptive look, yeah? Just think about it: even our most veteran field Operators failed to detect it. How're enemies on the battlefield ever gonna guess there's miniature bombs and flamethrowers hidden inside?!' 'Wait, didn't you say it was an air pump and heat gun for repairing tires?' 'Think about it. Those aren't mutually exclusive.' 'No way! Take them out! NOW!'

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