The Recode project. [Inanimate Insanity AU]

Testube couldn't sleep. It disturbed her that she still had no clue on how to repair 2GS-p, the blueprints on her desk were a crippling reminder of that fact. However something else scratched away at the back of her brain. What was that crash that she had been almost a Witness to previously in the week. Before she got caught up in her pondering, mephone 4 came to greet her, 3GS by his side. They looked happy together, it made her smile. Before she had a chance to update them on their older brother's condition a thought crossed her mind, what if she took them with her to seek what had crashed the night before? It wasn't a bad idea and they would be back by the morning.

Suddenly a hand waved in her face. "Are you okay? Your zoning out again." 3GS said softly he looked at his brother who was beside him "shes not as bad as you when you do that, you know?" He stated nudging his brothers arm gently. Testube laughed to herself as they argued quietly between each other but interrupted them before it escalated. She explained the situation to them carefully not wanting to seem like she was begging them to go with her. Surprisingly they both agreed neither had had a chance to really get out of the hotel and she could see it was taking its toll.

Before she knew it they were out the door, heading towards the contesting grounds of season two with a deafening silence drifting between them as the cold wind whistled past them. It came to her mind, how many mephone's had been lost to cobs over the company's years? How many more mephones were there, presumably prototypes actually accounted as a mephone. Were the prototypes a sub-species of mephone? Her interest peaked as these thoughts rushed her mind. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to ask a few questions, they were friendly with eachother now. She started the questions of slowly as they walked, the two mephones awnsered accordingly until one question popped into her mind which she asked without a doubt to it.

"And what was your relationship with Cobs like." It fell silent suddenly, she only realised what a personal question this was as it slipped from her tongue. Before she had the chance to apologise she got a shakey, unsure reply from the blue mephone who walked slightly ahead of the other two. "At first he was like a father... but he soon showed his true colours. I just wanted to make him proud but look where i ended up." He knew he was only valued as a soulless robot who had committed crimes against his company, but that didn't bother him in the slightest. He quite liked being a run away, it was the frill and the fear of it all. 3GS took a while longer to reply however.

"He sent me to war. I killed them and he killed me." He murmured this in a low tone, barely audible. He looked downwards as silence filled the air. Mephone went to comfort him but not before walking straight into a tree. He stumbled back slightly, looking around slightly embarrassed making sure no one saw. Testube couldn't help but laugh. For outdated AI they were so weirdly sentient. They continued walking, making friendly small talk.

Eventually after what felt like hours to them they arrived at a scorched clearing, whatever had crashed had left pretty quickly but not before it managed to leave evidence of it's arrival. They looked at the scorched earth below them, dusty and broken flowers littering the clearing. Something stood out to mephone, he was drawn towards it. His vision was strange at this point, detecting things that weren't real or in the scene surrounding them. Testube began to take notes of the surroundings on a small sheet of paper she'd brought with her, requesting they take photos of anything out of the ordinary.

Suddenly mephone felt his foot knock something, a small stone tablet. The surface was covered in blue lines that wrapped the object tightly like a small insect stuck in the pit of a spider web. He tried to unravel it but to no avail. The stone sparked to life almost instantly once he ran his other hand across the jagged surface. Carved symbols in the rock lit up. Revealing a word. He squinted at the sight unable to make out any of the words before him. So he made his decision.

He strolled over to testube, tapped her on the shoulder and handed the rock over to her without a word. The light dulled before all three of them. The words re jumbling and fading into nothing once more. It was beginning to get light out. It was best they head back to the lab. testube could run her tests, and they could get some rest.