Castaways

[H.A.R.D.L.I.N.E]

--------------System Startup Initiated--------------​

Basic Functions..... Online​

Motor Functions..... Online​

Weapons Systems.... Online​

Sentience Programs..... Online​

Predictive Algorithms..... Offline: Not Enough Data​

Location: Locator beacon not found, location unknown​

Attempting to access last known location..... Error Data Not Found​

Photoreceptors..... Online​

Systems..... Operational​

--------------System Startup Complete--------------​

Hardline awoke lying on the ground looking up at a blue sky, he sat up and saw grass as far as the eye can see, and off to his side, another droid, he did not recognize the droid, but what was even stranger was that he did not even recognize this planet. Last thing he remembered was sitting at his desk reading reports, and next thing he is lying in a small clearing in some grasslands next to another droid, not having a clue where he was. Well he would first examine the droid, the complexity was incredible, probably the most complex droid he had ever seen, but he would sit here until the droid reactivated as he did, it should not be too long....... hopefully. The planet seemed deserted as far as he was concerned, so he would sit there, being a droid he had no survival needs, so he would just sit and wait for the other droid to activate.
[member="Zara"]

 

[Zara]

....System reboot sequence initiated....​

​

System Checkup:​

​

Basic Functions..... Online.​

Motor Functions.... Online.​

Overview HUD.... Online.​

Weapon Integration System.... Online.​

Combat Programs.... Online.​

No Damage Detected.​

Integrated Radar Systems.... ERROR: CANNOT LOAD FULL MAP OF PRESENT AREA. PLEASE ACCESS THE NEAREST LOCATOR BEACON.​

ATTEMPTING TO ACCESS LAST KNOWN LOCATION..... ERROR: DATA NOT FOUND.​

Communications Systems.... OFFLINE.​

​

Systems.... Operational.​

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System Startup Completed. Errors marked on HUD systems until resolved.​

​

"Ngh..."

Zara would slowly wake up from her slumber as she would see a bunch of words line up in front of her eyes that eventually disappeared, not only left with the usual details of her heads-up display. She grumbled, then huffed, slowly sitting on the ground as she couldn't help but strangely feel sore, which was a feeling that she always have to pass through every time she awakens from a long slumber. Her eyes would slightly lit themselves under her hood, and, eventually, she would start noticing where she was, instantly starting to frown and, quite frankly, be a little shocked.

"What the....?!"

She instantly stood up, then looked around, left and right, not even noticing Hardline at first.

"The hell am I?! Where's my bloody ship?! I thought I was in space only minutes ago, for cry out loud!"

She shouted, then huffed, starting to look around a little bit further before she would suddenly set her LED lights that she personally considered as eyes on Hardline's face. In a surprising amount of only a second, she instantly took her blaster pistols from their holsters and aimed straight for the droid's head, holding her fire for now.

"Who are you? I'm not going to ask this twice."

[member="H.A.R.D.L.I.N.E"]

 

[H.A.R.D.L.I.N.E]

Hardline noticed as the droid woke up, but then he had a gun stuck to his head. This droid seemed far too organic, maybe entechment? He did not know right now, but overreacting would be the worst thing to do in this situation.
"I am Hardline, and i belive we are both in the same predicament." He said
The voice sounded feminine, and the build of the droid was very menacing, not that that phased hardline, he tended to react more logically in these kind of situations, but first he needed to defuse the current situation.
"If you have not noticed, we are in the middle of nowhere, we are both droids, and if i am not mistaken, you should not be able to contact any locator beacons to figure out your location, we are on a strange world without any sort of explanation or reason, and if i were you i would not shoot the only other person for as far as we know on this entire planet." He said in a calm, tranquil voice, like the kind you would hear from meditating jedi, or a monk.
Hardline did not move at all as any movement could signal aggression, which he does not want to show.
[member="Zara"]

 

[Zara]

As she listened to the droid in front of her, Zara's frown wouldn't lighten their firm stature over her eyes, but she would slowly start tensing down as Hardline would start talking about how he was the same predicament and that, just like her, he was unable to detect any locator beacon to know what their actual position was. She stared at the droid for a small period of time that lasted about five seconds, then would slowly lower her blasters, though still keeping them in her hands. Although she understood that he "seemed" to be in the same predicament as her, it could definitely be a trap, and Zara was going to stay prepared until that happens.

"You sound like a freaking Jedi."

She would huff, then reply once again in a low voice.

"Well, okay, fine, I won't shoot you.... But that doesn't mean I'm going to trust you, alright? You're a Droid. You might as well be programmed by somebody to act like this at first glance, then try to gun me down while I'm not looking."

She would stare at her blasters in her hands, then let out a sigh before putting them in their holsters. Fine.... She was fast enough to react against any attacks even if they weren't in her hands anyway. Besides, it only made her look suspiciously aggressive, so might as well put them back there before there's anybody that sees them and tries to flee because of her weapons.

"So."

She would put her arms in the air, then slap it against her tights before staring back to Hardline.

"What do you think this place is? My systems are all screwed up right now, so any information linked to this planet is completely unknown to me at the moment."

[member="H.A.R.D.L.I.N.E"]

 

[H.A.R.D.L.I.N.E]

Hardline almost broke out into laughter upon the programmed part, but he had more self control than an organic.
"Okay, i dont know much about my creators, but what i do have is the research notes, and my "operating manual" and basically what they tried to do was to create a droid that is so good, that it is physically impossible to differentiate me and an organic in a turing test, and they succeeded, second, they intentionally made me a blank slate with none of the personality qualms of my creators, third i have extensive social interaction programs, and i was programmed with emotions, they spent their lives on me, i am their life's work, and as far as most people are concerned, they did a damn good job." As he said this his calm demeanor changed, into one with emotion, he was offended by that statement. though he was released with an express purpose, his personality was free to form on its own.
"Regardless, it seems to be some deserted grassy planet, i am also having trouble discerning our location, but i am far more interested in how we got here." He said
[member="Zara"]

 

[Zara]

"Okay, I get it, shut up! In my eyes, you're a Droid, and nothing's gonna change that!"

Zara would lift her hands up towards Hardline to immediately stop his explanations, frankly tired of hearing so many words in a very small brief of time like this. Although she was a Droid in appearance, she was clearly not a Droid in personality, and she was probably never going to become any closer to that if she had to compare herself to this talkative guy. For somebody that seem to be programmed to "be so good that it is impossible to differentiate him from and an organic", she really couldn't tell the difference between them when it came to her mental case.

Of course, she knew the differences between him and another droid. I mean, she had the records of what a droid is and.... whatever this guy is. In fact, now that she thought about it, she had nothing on this guy. She never heard about him, which was surprising considering that he seemed so arrogant on his own, nor has she ever seen him in a mission, which is strange considering that he was visibly armed and already ready for a fight.

She would then let out a sigh and calm herself down. In all honesty, she was already really disliking this, mostly because she had to deal with another individual. Normally, she acted on her own, and she never needed anybody else while she was all alone. Because Hardline was here, she was already starting to become impatient, mostly because of how little progress they had done ever since they were reactivated.

As Hardline would then proceed to explain that they were now on a deserted grassy planet and that he also had trouble discerning the planet, but that he showed interest in how they got here, Zara would cross her arms.

"I personally think that we should get off this planet before actually thinking about whoever has actually brought us out here."

[member="H.A.R.D.L.I.N.E"]

 

[H.A.R.D.L.I.N.E]

Hardline was confused by this droid, she seemed to be in some sort of denial that she is a droid or something, this was strange, which further leads him back to entechment, that is one possible explaination about this confusion. Hardline had no idea why this droid was so confused about her identity, if he were her he would have just moved on, accepted his new life, it was that simple to him. This was an interesting droid, and he would like to get to know her more.

Hardline sort of rubbed his face, a normal organic sign of confusion or dissapointment, he did not know why organics did it, but they did, so he did as well. Organics did many strange things, but he was programmed with an innate understanding of them, which was good for him, talking to other simmilar droids, they did not understand them at all, which was a positive thing he guessed.

"Well i personally, however we got here is probably the way back....." He said as he saw something strange on the horizon as the sun set.... lights and no not moonlight, artificial lights.

"I think we have a way off, but it will probably take a while, this is an approximation of course." He said

"But before we go i have to ask you one question, why do you seem to be in denial about being a droid? Like you have done nothing but talk about me being a droid, as if you were not one." He said with an inquisitive tone.
[member="Zara"]

 

[Zara]

Zara would lift one of the metal plats over her eyes that mimicked her eyebrows as Hardline seemed to notice something in the distance, which would, in turn, make her head turn her head towards where he was looking at. Soon enough, she would notice that there were lights in the distance now that the sun that this planet orbited was finally setting itself in the sky, and, at first glance, she was already able to tell that they were nowhere near natural light. These were artificial..... which meant that there was somebody that was intelligent enough to use the lights themselves without any trouble.

"Lights."

She would point out, then look back towards Hardline as he talked about how they probably now had a way off this planet, but that it will probably take a while. Frowning seriously, Zara would look back towards the artificial lights, then let her systems do the trick as a scan would suddenly start within her heads-up display, evaluating the power of the lights and trying to use the results of the previous calculations to come up with a total distance between them and the lights themselves. Soon, she would get the results and, yes, it was quite a lot of walking to do.

"You're right. That thing over there with the lights is about over 3 km away, so.... we should be able to arrive over there in about a hour or two. Until then, well, we better hope there's nothing monstrous that comes up to hunt during the night, else we'll have to fight back, and, since I am not aware if this planet even possesses fauna, I can't even predict scrap about the strength of said fauna, if there is any. Now, come on, let's go before it gets too dark and we're forced to use Night Vision."

She would start walking, then stop as Hardline asked her the reason behind her denial of being a Droid, thinking that it was unfair of her to criticize him of being a Droid while she was a Droid herself. She stood there silently for a moment, then replied.

"If you want the shortest answer, I suppose it was because of entechment, because I can't see how I was brought up in a Droid's body otherwise. I don't have any longest answer to tell you, and, even if I had one, I don't trust you enough to tell you about it any further."

[member="H.A.R.D.L.I.N.E"]

 

[H.A.R.D.L.I.N.E]

Hardine empathized with the droid, being a droid was nto always a good thing, but he learned a long time ago hanging onto your past only brings more pain than living in the now, and he knew that well enough. Hardline still did not understand the droid, and he probably never would, but he felt a sort of connection with the droid. Many years ago he was going through some of the same doubts and had the same insecurities, but life would go on despite his insecurities.

Hardline continued walking towards the light, in time they would arrive, but for now they had other things to do.

"I learned a long time ago it is better to live in the now than hang on to the past, mabye one day you will learn that too." He said continuing walking.
[member="Zara"]

 

[Zara]

As she finally resumed her walk and did so beside Hardline, having no real other choices but to do so on such a strangely deserted planet that pretty much seems to have nothing but plains of plain grass that spanned for whatever high number of kilometers, Zara would look down silently, frowning to herself as she recollected her thoughts. Having been asked such a question by another Droid was truly something that she had not expected nor enjoyed, seeing as that question alone had been enough to revitalize some hidden memories within her now-electronic mind, such as her young life at the orphanage, her training on Yavin IV, Master Saratzi and Fay.....

Fay....

She would clench one of her hands into a tight fist as she recalled this truly torrid memory, looking down even further as she slightly shook her head. No matter how hard she tried to push this memory back, she would not be able to: all she could hear now was her best friend's cries of pain and sadness, and the loud snapping sound that her neck has made when she killed her with the Force....

The Dark Side.....

No. No, she had to think of something else, she had to. What she has done has been done, and there is no point in saddening herself on the matter any further, else it will only destroy her until her mind becomes nothing more than a pile of regret and melancholy.

But, even as she tried to forget it, Hardline, with his words, would make her recall those same memories again, and make her go silent once again before she would reply with quiet hiss.

"Hanging on to the past is the only thing I can do to remember my true identity, my true past. I might have changed my name to fit in the me that I am at the moment, but, trust me, I still have those same memories from back then haunting my mind. I just can't live in the now.... It's too freaking hard for me to do that."

She admitted, then looked back ahead, still frowning.

"I prefer thinking of myself as the Togruta that I was instead of the Droid that I am now."

[member="H.A.R.D.L.I.N.E"]

 

[H.A.R.D.L.I.N.E]

Hardkine knew the pain of memories, 150 years is a long time to get mentally karked up, and he has had many terrible memories of horrific things that would make most people insane. Hardline knew some of those were his fault, and he did not know if the people involved would ever forgive him, this would have made Hardline insane, but 150 years is a long time to think about existential philosophical feth, and he learned to move on a long time ago. People who are dead are dead, they can never forgive you, they can never condemn you, for they are in an eternal nothingness, bound to past and unable to reach the future, in reality the past was nothing but memories, never to be reached or interacted with, only there because we once perceived it, and the consequences of those actions are now percieved, if those were not true, we would not even know if the past was even a thing. This is why Hardline tends not to hold on to the past, this and many other reasons.

"I have lived for 150 years, i have seen many things, a lot of them would destroy the minds of most organics, tear them apart. I have had many friends die, many i would consider my own family. Many of these deaths were my fault, and i will never see them again.... they were never given any chance to forgive or condemn me, they are now a part of a collective eternal nothingness, we only know they exist because of fragile memories within our heads. Most organics fear this nothingness, sith most of all, but a great man once gave a talk on nothingness, one that i listen to often. I would like you to hear it too as we continue." He said

Hardline accessed the file within his head, and activated it over his speaker and continued walking towards the light

Spoiler: Thing

[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssf7P-Sgcrk&ab_channel=DavidMartell[/media]

[member="Zara"]

 

[Zara]

Zara would listen to the audio file that Hardline has put up during their walk towards the light in the distance, her frown still up, but slightly less deep than beforehand, now seeming to be on the thinking part instead of her previous frustrated state. In some way, she understood what the Droid beside her was trying to tell her, that this "nothingness" that her friend is now alongside Hardline's, one that she considered as closest as a family member than she could ever describe it, was actually nothing to be afraid of, nothing to actually consider to be fearful, that the nothingness was part of our lives and that, in some way or another, the Galaxy itself was nothing but that: nothingness. What they were, was nothing. What their mind was, was nothing.

Ironically, she couldn't help but find this audio file strangely admirable. She wasn't completely agreeing with it, per say, but.... she could relate to it, for the most part, that is.

But, in any case, and quite unfortunately, this talk about nothingness was almost completely unrelated to the subject that they had now started, which was the past and how it affected her greatly. Yes, those memories were from the past and, technically, this whole talk about nothingness, she could deal with it. But then, this man on the audio file.... He was probably not a Jedi, for he hasn't brought the Force in this subject at any given time, which, by default, this means that this "nothingness" is actually the Force, if Zara was interpretation it correctly.

She had to ask.

"Who is this man? Was he a Jedi?"

She would then sigh, looking down.
"Because I cannot help but feel that most of his words are kinda wrong in our Galaxy, where the Force, this weird spacial thing that surrounds it, is completely dominant. Death, this nothingness he is talking about.... Well..... It cannot really apply to the person that I have lost."

[member="H.A.R.D.L.I.N.E"]

 

[H.A.R.D.L.I.N.E]

Hardline could understand the confusion in the droid, not everyone could understand these words, it could sometimes be difficult.

"Simmilar, he was a philosopher. I believe his words apply greatly, take the sith for example, they are so scared of everything they have done becoming nothing, they erect massive statues of themselves, try to achieve immortality. They become paranoid about death and destruction. People die twice, when they die, and when memory of them dies, for most people, they will only be remembered as long as the people who they knew are alive as well. Eventually they will be forgotten, lost to history. When that occurs they die a second time, everything they ever did said achieved, becomes nothing in the minds of people, this is what sith fear more than death itself, the second death, where people will forget their power, achievements etc. Becoming one with the force is sort of a collective nothingness, you join as one non - entity, you as an individual ceases to exist, and you join the non-entity collective, that is how is see it at least." He said.
[member="Zara"]

 

[Zara]

Zara would stare at the Droid silently after his little summary of the audio file, then simply turn her head forward, looking ahead.

"I see..."

She let out a sigh, slowly tilting her head downwards towards the ground as she took a deep, yet fake breath, seeing as, well, she didn't really needed anything close to oxygen to breath nowadays. Since breathing, in her past life, was essential, her actual breathing was only but a habit of hers that she has always found herself unable to halt, else she would be feeling extremely uncomfortable every time she would try do so. To reassure herself with such an annoying issue, she decided that it was a little quirk that only made her feel more organic than non-organic, a thing that reminded her of her past, true self.

"So, technically.... I am already dead."

She would ask back, slightly frowning.

"I have died once, and I have done nothing substantially memorable in my past life. I don't even know how old this body is, for that matter.... When I woke up in that body, the building that thing was located in was completely deserted. For all I know, I was probably gone for at least a full decade, maybe even more."

She then turned her head towards Hardline.

"You may be still alive, but, in my case, I am not. In fact, I should have died a long time ago back when I was still someone that was made of flesh and bones. Now, I'm just a freak that can't even walk on a planet without being chased away like the monster I am."

[member="H.A.R.D.L.I.N.E"]