A Broken Clock

[Bip]

"You're a good girl, Bip."

Two wide teal opticals stared back at the dying human male bleeding on the concrete.

"Correction, Master; I am not a 'girl'. I am a droid. It is impossible for me to have a gender."

The human male cracked a smile. Bip was programed to register the emotion and mimic it. It's mouth joints pulled back, it's hard ivory shell cracking along the seams, revealing the inner working of it's face. Not a pretty smile. Her Master had worked hard to fix it, but Bip was an old droid. It had seen a dozen of it's Masters 'shut down'. And Bit remembered them all. Stored neatly away in it's extensive memory banks.

the glow behind Bips optic sensors flickered slightly as it read the Masters vital signs. More organics were closing in around. He did not speak, but he was not dead yet. Blood gurgled up between his lips. He coughed. The speeder than had hit him was long gone. That was unimportant for the moment. Bip had snapped an image of the speeders registration number. The Authorities on Lothal would get it, and that would be that.

Bip touched his hand, not out of any real concern or need to comfort him, but because it was easiest to read his pulse this way.

"Master, your heart rate is dropping dangerously low. Shall I contact anyone for you?"

Master shook his head. Bip was aware that in her time serving Mister Zenni, he had shown no interest in anything other than his work. A simple accountant, he worked with numbers. Bip had been his only assistant. Bip was good with numbers too.
Now here he was, bleeding on the ground. And in moments, a medic finally arrived.
By then it was too late.

Bip let go of it's former Masters hand, stood up and walked away.

 

[Ka-Aver]

As [member="Bip"] turned she almost walked right into the broad chest of a stern looking Weequay. Hands to his side he was strapping two heavy bladters and a two handed glaive to his back. He stood out in his traditional tribal garment among the Lotharians around. But not enough to cause a stir on his own. He peered over Bips shoulder at her former masters corpse. Then he slowly turned his head back at Bip in front of him.

"You Miztah zannai's machine?" he asked with an uncomfortably raspy voice.

 

[Bip]

"Correction; Was Mister Zenni's machine."

The droid scanned this new life form, it's teal optics glowing as it did so. Both lid-less optics went dull again when it was finished. The organic was a weequay, a species of near-humans hailing from the world of sriluur, a desert world. They communicated through pheromones with members of their own species.
Bips programing did not really allow for sarcasm, but one of her Masters did attempt to program it for understanding and mimicing humor. Bip's logic centers calculated the chances of offending this organic by making a joke about the species. The chance of offending was about 68.3%. Her programing decided against this.

[member="Ka-Aver"]

 

[Ka-Aver]

"Miztah Zannai owez workz for the Huttz" Ka-Aver continued and sniffed the air. "Hiz death will upzet my bozz and I dont wantz an upzet bozz... " he leaned closer to the droid but quickly withdrew as a sensor started to spin on [member="Bip"] .

"Canz youz count az good az mistah Zannai?"

 

[Bip]

"Yes. I was aware that Mister Zanni worked for the Hutts," the droid replied, "I keep his files in my memory banks."

The droid slowly dipped it's head- a gesture she'd learned a long time ago.

"I am fluent in seven billion forms of communication, I can calculate and analyze data, and yes. I can count."

[member="Ka-Aver"]

 

[Ka-Aver]

Ka-Aver wore his typical weequay stone face but he felt uncomfortable, droids were complicated systems and Ka-Aver never really got em. But he could not go home empty handed. This must be worth something...

"Then youz pay for miztah Zannai, yuz. My bozz will put you to good work. Youz come - yuz?."

[member="Bip"]

 

[Surge]

Tragedy has struck. Malevolent intent? Not sure. Simple hit and run? Simple accident?...Nothing's truly simple, even with the most mundane of happenings. *Sniff sniff!* An ionized charge is in the air. The driver sped up, possibly used a boost. He wanted to strike swiftly and viciously. Reduce the chance of failure. Efficient...This hints to something deeper...Why was this man important?

These thoughts coursed through his mind like the electricity through his body. There was no specific reason for him to be here, other than the fact that he was passing though and that a small part of him considered a personal investigation to be worthwhile. He had witnessed the accident and had to analyze everything from far enough away from the crime scene, but the pieces came to him. He knew nothing of the man other than the unfortunate circumstances. Standing nearby was the officer, who was absorbed in the dreadful business of trying to process this at an inconvenient time of day, an electronic female, and some sort of alien male.

Veldar wore navy blue jeans, white tennis shoes, and a black hoodie. He tried to keep his face tilted downwards so as to minimize the chance of being spotted and questioned. He had just turned his face up to survey the situation. The only people who would notice his glowing face was [member="Ka-Aver"], [member="Bip"], and the officer, if he bothered to look up. As he spoke to Bip, he kept his body angled between the two of them and his legs apart. He wasn't trying to consider this male humanoid as hostile, but there was still something unsettling about him...

Veldar started off by being direct, not knowing enough about formality. "Who was this man? Is someone after you and him? This tragedy could be more than a simple hit and run..."

 

[Bip]

It took a moment for Bips speech detectors to anylize what the male weequay was saying, the accent was so heavy. the droids optics went dull again as it tried to work it out, then they lit up a second later.

"This unit is owned by none as of mister Zenni's death," she responded, "If there is an employer of my former Master, this unit would deliver the information stored in my memory banks. An employer of my Master is my Master as well."

The droid had opened it's mouth to continue, but some....thing(?) with a blue face spoke first. Bip tried to process what it was looking at. Failed. Error. No data found.

Bip stared with dull eyes.

[member="Veldar Tor'Vaas"] [member="Ka-Aver"]

 

[Ka-Aver]

"Good... " the weequay tried not really sure how to behave around the droid. "Should... youz should goez with mei to meetz the bozz then. On other planet." clearly the weequay was trying hard to figure out how the droid worked. He stopped talking as [member="Bip"] turned his attention elsewhere and glanced at the same way. As [member="Veldar Tor'Vaas"] came into sight Ka-Aver frowned. He did not recognise the creature and he turned to face it.

"Yuz? What do youz wantz?" he hissed at the stranger. Ka-Aver readied himself, he was a hutt enforcer and shit happened all the time...

 

[Surge]

If one listened closely enough, they would hear a noise reminiscent to the background thrum of electricity, such as wires for a lighting system that was in use. He didn't like the hissing, for it reminded him of something that represented danger. However, he figured that it was likely just a part of his dialect, so he merely kept a cautious eye on the brute. The female seemed to have gone into some sort of standby mode, so he addressed the male.

"I'm not sure what I want, but this man had to have died for SOME reason. That is enough to warrant a break from the monotony."

[member="Ka-Aver"] [member="Bip"]

 

[Bip]

The droid took some time for her 'brain' to cool down. It was always a struggle when it didn't know something. Confused it. Made it freeze up.

"I have contacted authorities already and sent the images I have taken of the vehical in question."|
The droid tilted it's oddly human-like head, white wire-y strangs falling over it's shoulders.
"Was there some addition information about the accident you might require?"

[member="Veldar Tor'Vaas"] [member="Ka-Aver"]

 

[Ka-Aver]

Ka-Aver felt at unease. He shifted foot and looked around checking if any police were approaching.

He opened his mouth a few times only to close it, clearly he was trying to think of something to say.

"Thiz droida waz miztah Zannai. Miztah Zannai waz zomeone my bozz liked, yuz. Youz zay Miztah Zannai waz killed for buzinez?"

He kept an eye on Bio, since he did not want to loose his price but felt very unsure about this new arrival and what it really was after.

[member="Bip"]
[member="Veldar Tor'Vaas"]

 

[Surge]

He addressed the female first, saying, "You...don't care? You're not even the slightest bit curious about what happened to this man? One master dies and you just move onto the next one?...I'm sorry. I thought you were different."

He then addressed the male, saying, "Who was this man? What kind of speeder drives onto the sidewalk by ACCIDENT these days?...I don't believe in coincidences...."

[member="Ka-Aver"] [member="Bip"]

 

[Bip]

If Bip could blink, it would have. It gave a gesture similar to a shrug, tilting it's head to the side.

"This unit is simply a droid. This unit was not programed to simulate sympathy."

[member="Veldar Tor'Vaas"] [member="Ka-Aver"]

 

[Ka-Aver]

Ka-Aver felt unsure, he shifted his weight turning heas head as if looking for an escape out of the conversation.

He coughed some just to fill the silence with something, then tried:

"Youz polizzz blue man?"

Ka-Aver figured he would make a mistake if he started telling about the dead mans connection with a distant hutt cartel. It might scare the man off or if he was connected to the law raise his suspiciouns even further. He kept that card to be dealt later regardless.


[member="Veldar Tor'Vaas"]
[member="Bip"]

 

[Surge]

Before Veldar could say another word, a tall Italian man wearing green ran up to the trio with a large vacuum cleaner strapped upon his back. He turned it on and sucked Veldar into the containment apparatus section of his Poltergust 3000. With a gleeful jump of triumph and an air fist bump, he ran off to find more "ghosts".

[member="Ka-Aver"] [member="Bip"]

 

[Bip]

The droid stared ahead, circuits struggling desperately to decide what best to do. What just happened?

[member="Ka-Aver"]

 

[Ka-Aver]

Ka-Aver scratched his head looking at the man darting down the street.

"Uhrm... thiz plaze iz ztranger..." he shook his head and turned to Bip. "Youz Ready to go nowz?"

[member="Veldar Tor'Vaas"]
[member="Bip"]

 

[Bip]

More whirring from inside the droids head. Then some more. Then a click. Bip was an old model. It's processors were not what they used to be. It's brain had given up, rebooted. Bip blinked.

"Yes," it answered, "This unit does not need to prepare for departure."

(Sorry! Was on vacation for a week.)

[member="Ka-Aver"]

 

[Ka-Aver]

Ka-Aver nodded.

"Good. Then we go." the weequay pointed the way and headed toward the public shuttle service.

[member="Bip"]