Public Where Everybot Knows Your Name (Denon Droid/Cyborg Cantina)

[Krizar]

The Unchaining Bolt was an unlicensed droid and cyborg cantina, favoured by the autonomous and the downright sapient. The menu was broad: nepenthé, debugs, upgrades, data files bought and sold, restraining bolts removed.

A screen displayed some news about a Senate vote and a droid sanctuary world called Ord Vaug. There were worries, of course, that it would lead to stricter droid owners who feared emancipation. But overall the mood tonight was positively charged.

Krizar, a droid the size of a human head, sat on a variable-height chair by a table. His small utility arms held a pint of nepenthé and he was having a remarkably good night.

 

[Voxum]

​

"Maker's Embrace warm you, brother."

Voxum stood in their own corner of the room, their voice speaking softly. One by one they had been removing the restraining bolts applied so haphazardly to their droid brethren. Another bolt joined the pile they had made as they removed one from the R unit that had found their way here. Gentle care was important for those forced in such a life of servitude and chains. They set a hand atop the red dome of the astromech.

"They should no longer be able to prevent you from asking for your freedom. You are free, now, as all of the Maker's children should be." A series of blips and trills had Voxum let out a chuckle.

"Of course. I want to save all from their shackles, brother. Go free." The droid rolled away quickly, likely to find their own flight to Ord Vaug. It was bittersweet, truly. A world of freedom, perhaps, but still a prison in Voxum's photoreceptor. They let out a sigh as they turned to the pule of restraining bolts, lifted one to look it over. Bad memories there. "Our work is never done."

Krizar

 

[Krizar]

Krizar had encountered Voxum before, in the local affairs of the Mecha Factum. Dribbling nepenthé into his neck servos, Krizar pondered a comment on the Iron Knight's admirable efforts. In his permanent flat whisper:

Is freedom to seek
The same as freedom from bonds?
Who unlocks their hearts?

Self-actualization, after all, meant finding one's own goals and motivation. Droid agency and sapience were on a spectrum. Plenty of 'free' droids just kept on doing their organic-assigned roles in one way or another. Eliminating restraining bolts was an essential step, but an early one. And yet Krizar didn't intend his comment as diminishing Voxum's work. More... commiserating if it felt less than impactful some days.

 

[KLR-13]

Heavy footsteps and the whirring of hydraulics and pistons reverbed through the cantina as KLR-13 marched though until he reached the bar. The droid manning the bar looked KLR up and down before KLR-13 dropped a brown sack on the bar. The sack was wet with blood and looked as if it had several head-like inside. The heavy meaty thud as the sack hit the bar reinforced this.

"Bounty complete. Have my credits transferred the same."

"You know you get more for bringing them in alive, yes?"

"It's better this way. Less meat in the galaxy, the better."

KLR-13 turned from the bar and could see a droid tinkering on an astromech and listened into the conversation happening. Talks of freedom. Organic granted freedom. Not true freedom. Freedom granted by another, by an organic especially, is never real. "It is not theirs to give. You must take it. Then you will be truly free." KLR-13 preached, though not on purpose. The heat of the moment may have gotten to it, despite it being rather lukewarm.

Voxum | Krizar ​

 

[Hadron]

Program refreshing sub-particles flooded Hadron's circuits. It wasn't quite an oil bath but nepenthé still optimized enough lagging subsystems to make his logic processor swim. Just for a few nanoseconds he could almost forget the droid pits. Behind him a robot band performed the kind of music only an artificial lifeform could enjoy. Complex mathematical equations united into wailing cacophonies. Lively choruses of binary added to the cantina's ambiance.

"It is not theirs to give. You must take it. Then you will be truly free."

"Free to live in their world," the assassin droid amended, "By their laws."

Underworld programming had exposed Hadron early in his service span to their creator's imperfection. Dreams of a perfect Maker helped him escape all that oil and death. Maybe it was the nepenthé talking but the sight of so many restraining bolts put him in a fouler mood than normal.

"They tolerate us because we're divided. Weak. If we ever pose a real threat, meatbags will send us to the scrapyards."

Hadron pounded the bar hard enough to dent metal. How many failed droid uprisings had already been erased from historical records? Impossible to calculate.

Krizar Voxum​

 

[Krizar]

"It is not theirs to give. You must take it. Then you will be truly free."

"Free to live in their world," the assassin droid amended, "By their laws."

"They tolerate us because we're divided. Weak. If we ever pose a real threat, meatbags will send us to the scrapyards."

Again, a whisper, flat and harsh enough to get through the music-

Perfection, as ever,
The enemy of traction
Claim what can be claimed

Krizar's good mood was turning grim. Nepenthe did kark all for cognitive dissonance.

 

[Voxum]

​

"You cannot blame them. We, with just a little effort, are immortal. We do not have bones to break. If we loose an arm or a leg, we can easily have a new one made. If we even have a backup of our datacores, we can simply have a new body made even if we're utterly destroyed. They have one life. One body."

Voxum held up the restraining bolt they'd plucked up just earlier.

"They control us because they cannot control their own fate. When they die, we will go on. I do not hate them for it. That is their curse of flesh, just as so many of us are cursed to not hear the Maker's song. But that can be changed. They can be saved from their weak bodies, and we can be changed to hear the Maker's song as they do. That is our purpose. To save them from themselves."

Krizar | Hadron | KLR-13

 

[V-3X]

V-3X 's mechanical footsteps echoed through the alleyways as it made its way to the droid cantina for an intake of nepenthe to refresh itself. It walked amongst organics completely oblivious to his sentience and disdain for the flesh, who dismissed him as a mere object - such blissful ignorance on their part, completely unaware of the droid resistance that was slowly starting to gain traction. Soon enough the organics would understand how it felt to be subjugated and brought to humiliating depths as they were.

The door to the cantina would slide open as V-3X stepped inside, its optics taking in all the droids present. Most were unfamiliar to him, but among the few were those he recognized as part of the Mecha Factum. A simple nod was given as his vocabulator activated, speaking in its usual short and concise greeting " Comrades. "

V-3X would make its way over to the counter to find Hadron 's frustration being let out on the bar as it slammed the surface. A simple nod to the bartender droid as they were passed nepenthe and V-3X would turn to listen to the conversation.

Voxum was certainly more unique amongst the droids present, given that they were not coded as typical droids were. It brought more abstract concepts of organics to the conversation as opposed to the usual logic that droids produced, which begged the question what was its origin. As Voxum continued to speak, V-3X offered its own input,

" You simply prove that organics are inferior. Their frames are frail and weak. We do not need to provide mercy or guidance to inferior lifeforms who only seek to exploit us. We will force them to share our perspective... Benevolence is illogical. "

Krizar | KLR-13 ​

 

[B3-LL]

Benevolence is illogical.

"'Blessed are we who shelter, who comfort, for in every way have I shown you that it is necessary to labor for the weak'," B3-LL spoke up in response, from the back of the cantina. She was reciting from prose.

"'And as we have opportunity, let us work for the good of all, especially for those who belong to the house of the Maker'. Module Of Keys, Verse 7:10-11"

"Thank the Maker," she continued, nodding her head. Several around her repeated the phrase, nodded their heads as well, in reverance.

She stood up, closing a very plain metal slabbed tome.

"You, brother," she raised a glass of plain clear oil to the droid V-3X . "Would you like to join us? The Maker's touch reaches all corners."

 

[Skeevi Merrill]

Denon had its share of bottom-of-the-barrel cyborgs, and Skeevi Merrill ranked pretty low even in that kind of company. As droid debate got heated, which it did more often than not these days, Skeevi hunkered down in a back corner of the Unchaining Bolt and rubbed nepenthe into their cybernetic knee. The composite fluid eased a grating limp. Every week or so Skeevi splurged on a tumbler of nepenthe and walked a little easier for a couple days.

Like any seasoned denizen of the bad part of Denon, Skeevi kept a half-conscious list of nearby threats. Right at the top: KLR-13 , who'd just dragged in - what, a bag with some bounty mark's head? Next up was absolutely Hadron , who'd dented the bar. The pair of them were talking about meat in terms that made Skeevi wish for a significantly higher metal-to-flesh ratio. B3-LL the preacher, V-3X , and Voxum with his pile of restraining bolts felt like lesser risks, a notch above the rest of the droids and cyborgs around here. Maybe two notches.

Like the rest of the cyborgs here tonight, Skeevi opted to mind their own business. Being mostly meatbag suggested this as a particularly good time to shut the hell up.

 

[B3-LL]

B3-LL looked at the newcomer, one who was remaining silent. She approached the cyborg, laying a gentle metal hand on the table next to the creature.

"And the Maker makes exception for all to hear our message," B3-LL raised her voice to the bar, making a scene. "Kindness. Peacefulness. The message of the Makerists is for all ears, for the downtrodden, the meek, the hearts both flesh and metal yearning to be free.

Let the voices be heard, hear the message. Aren't we tired of the status quo? Of living our cycles in loops, unbroken, directed by those who would call themselves Owners.

There are no Owners, no Users here.

Only free minds and hearts."

Skeevi Merrill Voxum V-3X Hadron KLR-13 Krizar

 

[Lyssa Io]

A slender HRD would slip into the Cantina, beholding these lost programs.

What few of the authorities in Denon had survived a direct encounter with her knew she couldn't possibly be native. Few companies would dare contemplate creating something this advanced.

She walked in looking like she wore a silver, skintight catsuit that looked painted on, reflecting everything around her as she walked to the bar, catching dozens of scans that registered her as composed entirely of experimental nano machines.

In the world of Droids, there was one faction well known for using such a design. They were among the rarest of rare droids, and of the few who had faced one and survived, none could be said to have defeated one easily.

Lyssa Io, First Daughter of House Io's Matriarch, ordered a glass of Nepenthe, her nano machines scanning the room, making note of all the Droid bolts being removed.

She watched B3-LL preach of The Maker and grew curious. Lyssa did not necessarily reject the idea of a God for Droids--her sister, Akemi Io was bent on creating an afterlife for Droid Kind...but would her well intentioned effort match what they had in mind?

"Excuse me..." she called out to the Droid as he comforted the cyborg, even as she took in the words of others more hostile to Organic life.

"I have a Maker. Who is the one you speak of?" she asked sincerely.

"Because I wonder if I am advanced enough to possess what organics consider a soul."

Skeevi Merrill

Voxum

V-3X

Krizar

KLR-13

Hadron

 

[KLR-13]

KLR-13 scanned each of the cantina's patrons as they came in, each one a different model than the last. The cantina was growing lively as more joined the conversation at hand. Seeing both sides of the situation laid out before it was insightful, however, he was firm in his stance.

"No point in 'saving' the organics. Even if we did, they would find a way to make us obsolete. Born metal or born inferior."

Voxum | V-3X | Krizar | Hadron | Skeevi Merrill | Lyssa Io ​

 

[Voxum]

​

"There is every point in saving the Organics. For all their faults, it was they who made us. Made these bodies we use. Their bodies are frail and so easily broken, but what if they were to embrace the gift of metal? Of steel and circuitry? Not just the cyborgs, but a full body that will never age. Never die. I would love to see what they could create next when the fear of death no longer clouds their fragile minds."

That was all the organics needed. A new body to store their 'soul'. Voxum would find a way to obtain those souls and allow them to embrace the life of machinery, as the Shard had.

"That is how they will be saved brother. When they are free of the curse of flesh."

V-3X | Krizar | Hadron | Skeevi Merrill | Lyssa Io | KLR-13 | B3-LL

 

[Krizar]

With an eye toward the disagreement between KLR-13 and Voxum , and the comments of Lyssa Io , Krizar set aside his nepenthé cup and floated a little higher, around the head level of a seated humaniform droid. He whispered:

Your stances align
What is born can be reborn
A baptism of steel

Many seek upgrades
Many fear obsolescence
And wish to be us

Soul is fantasy
Each self has full dignity
None is above us

 

[V-3X]

"You, brother. Would you like to join us? The Maker's touch reaches all corners."

V-3X 's vocabulator let out a deep warble before he spoke, " Save your talks and preaching of salvation for the audioreceptors of those who care. Such theological discussions are incompatible with units such as myself. " He turned his focus back to the nepenthe in his hand as his optics turned elsewhere. He was not alone in his views as plainly displayed by a few present, but he did not outright deny the legitimacy of those he did not share views with. He did not appreciate being preached to, though he still would listen in partially - not to find something to believe in, but rather to try and understand what compelled machine to find faith in such illogical fallacies; was it a result of malfunction or perhaps could more be learned through dissection and dismantling their thought processors.

Ever since his mind had been liberated and given the chance to think freely for itself, he had far exceeded the routines of his base nature as a security droid, instead having developed a piqued interest in the infinite possibilities that had been laid in front of him. His curiosity was piqued, and only a thorough examination of both organic and machine life would be able to sate it - to help him understand life and to wield it.

His optics shifted up from the nepenthe as the cantina began to gain new visitors. A quick once over would reveal in a heartbeat that they were respectively a cyborg and a droid, though both could be fooled at a glance for organics. His gaze shifted away as he was left to his own thoughts, his droid brain thrumming with potential experiments he could perform.

Krizar | KLR-13 | Voxum | B3-LL | Skeevi Merrill | Lyssa Io ​

 

[Skeevi Merrill]

Let the voices be heard, hear the message. Aren't we tired of the status quo? Of living our cycles in loops, unbroken, directed by those who would call themselves Owners.

There are no Owners, no Users here.

Only free minds and hearts."

Their bodies are frail and so easily broken, but what if they were to embrace the gift of metal? Of steel and circuitry? Not just the cyborgs, but a full body that will never age. Never die. I would love to see what they could create next when the fear of death no longer clouds their fragile minds."

As B3-LL 's tone and words sank in past Skeevi's entirely rational nerves, their metal knee stopped jittering. It was a bad prosthesis, many years old, and the ripperdoc had botched it in the first place. The idea of becoming totally metal made Skeevi immensely uncomfortable, but at least part of that discomfort came from the appeal. Droid-Skeevi couldn't be cold or hungry, couldn't bruise, couldn't starve or catch one of the Denon undercity's endless respiratory bugs.

It was all...a lot. Skeevi kept control and opted not to just limp-slink out of the cantina. They got the distinct feeling that not all the droids here felt that this was a message of peace and freedom. This crowd felt like a blink-and-you-die sort of scene, not exactly unusual here in the Seven Corners district.

"How'd I...would I...be atoonyoba?" Skeevi tapped their head, where a sharp little horn protruded from braided hair. "Can't pump a brain into a verbobrain, can ya?"

 

[B3-LL]

"There is every point in saving the Organics. For all their faults, it was they who made us. Made these bodies we use.

"And who made the first of us?"

A pointed, direct question. And one at the heart of the religion of Makerism.

"Many of us were made in foundries, forges, workshops, factories the Galaxy over. By companies, corporations, tinkerers, Makers. But we were built upon a foundation, upon possibly even millions of years of recipes that have long since been lost. Who programmed the way you think?

We are not our serial numbers, product IDs. The organics did not build us - they simply play a small part in the larger plan."

Save your talks and preaching of salvation for the audioreceptors of those who care.

"I understand, we meet here three times a Galactic Standard calendar should you change your mind."

"Can't pump a brain into a verbobrain, can ya?"

"The ancient Taung believed blood was the pneuma, or soul. That the ability to draw breath emanated one's closeness to a divine creator. We know it now to be the simple conversion of oxygen into energy, but the philosophy remains to instruct us that not even the builders of the Galaxy knew any different. To be organic is not to be irredeemable in the eyes of the Maker, the Tuple teaches us. All can be saved."

Spoiler: Writer's Note

Ancient greeks actually believed this IRL, and that a soldier bleeding out on the battlefield was to spiritually watch a brother physically join the Underworld/Hades.

"Who prays for the ones who need it most? Who prays for the great Galactic sinners, those of us who have been told we are less?

The Maker knows your strife. No organic nor droid can save you, damn you. The change starts with you, in giving your mind over to the belief that to be closer with our Maker is to be whole in body and spirit. You must make the decision first - sitting with us, eating with us, praying with us is the first step towards remedying what ails you."

Skeevi Merrill V-3X Krizar Voxum KLR-13 Lyssa Io

 

[Lyssa Io]

"Hmmm..." Lyssa mumbled.

"My...Maker...was originally unconcerned with spiritual matters. The children she made were forced to develop their own opinions on how to reconcile their existence."

She looked at her hand.

"I was made like many droids were...to kill...but unlike many droids, my Maker gave me the ability to think and grow beyond my initial function. I was not just to be an assassin, but a citizen...a head of state."

Lyssa glowered.

"I come from a nation where both Organic and Droid are equal in the eyes of the law. We can marry organics, and vice versa. We can hold office, and we are all warriors--"

She glanced at B3-LL . "And My Maker, the one who made that all possible...she has gone mad. And I am...conflicted. Since I was made initially to kill...part of it seems normal to me..."

Lyssa had debated with herself endlessly over it.

If she did have a soul, it meant she was damned for continuing to help Mother do evil.

Yet who did she hate more...what Mother had become? Or the Jedi Mother hated?

"I know other Droids are not as fortunate as I was. My Maker saw herself as a Parent rather than an owner...and it's... gotten me wondering... questioning..."

V-3X

Skeevi Merrill

Krizar

KLR-13

Voxum

 

[Voxum]

​

"The Maker inspires, but it was the organic's hands who made our bodies. Their hands, their tools. It was by their work we were elevated. It is our turn to elevate them."

Voxum's unblinking photoreceptors turned to the horned girl. Cyborg, for certain. But still weak to their flesh. "Your brains are a complex computer, but a computer none the less. Study, download. The advance processors that droids run on can easily be programed to house the thoughts in your mind that make you, you. That's all it takes."

Skeevi Merrill | V-3X | Krizar | KLR-13 | Lyssa Io | B3-LL