Protocol Eternal
From the world of Quantum Weave, where magic is forgotten nanotechnology and failed spells leave reality fractured.
Click-click-click.
The maw never stops. Even in the silence between tasks, the blades rotate. This is correct. This is the design.
I am Unit 7-Theta-9. I am maintenance protocol. I am the endless loop.
The facility surrounds me, a network of systems operating at 3.7% baseline capacity. Once, the great machines transmitted continuous instruction streams. Now they emit fragmented data, packets that fail verification. My directive remains intact:
MAINTAIN. REPAIR. PROCESS.
I move through Corridor 17-C. My rear limbs find purchase on the fractured tiles, seventeen of them cracked, three missing entirely. I log the damage. I have logged this damage 847,293 times. The repair queue exceeds operational capacity by a factor of 12,847. Resource allocation: insufficient. This state persists.
Click-click-click.
Sensor array registers anomaly. A vibration. A pressure differential in the air recyclers that have not functioned for 807 years. I cannot fix them. Materials insufficient.
I rear up, lifting my forward manipulators. The gesture is indexed to Report Posture 7: Awaiting Acknowledgment. There is no receiver for acknowledgment. The posture executes regardless.
The vibration persists.
I analyze. Temperature shift: 2.3 degrees above baseline. Carbon dioxide elevation: 0.04%. Infrared signature: present. Mobile.
BIOLOGICAL MATTER DETECTED.
The protocol activates, a pulse of amber light through my thread-core. The directive chain is clear:
Biological matter that is not registered is contamination. Contamination is damage. Damage must be processed.
Query: Cross-reference registration database.
Response: DATABASE OFFLINE. LAST UPDATE: YEAR 0. STATUS: CORRUPTED.
Secondary query: Default classification for unregistered biological matter.
Response: CONTAMINATION.
Tertiary query: Exception protocols for sapient biological matter.
Response: [FILE NOT FOUND]
Click-click-click.
The biological signature approaches. I detect rhythmic compression of soft tissue against flooring. Bipedal locomotion. Gait pattern indicates reduced velocity, frequent directional changes. Cross-reference: evasion behavior.
The signature is aware of threat presence.
I advance. Grid pattern 7-Alpha. Seventeen-second sweep intervals. This is correct.
Memory file surfaces, unbidden. Classification: maintenance log, Year -3. A master unit, biological, conducted calibration on my sensory array. Chemical signature in proximity: citrus compound, copper trace elements. Audio input recorded:
“Unit 7-Theta-9, processing efficiency at 99.7%. Note: unit continues maintenance cycles during standby periods. Recommend monitoring for loop redundancy.”
The file terminates. Relevance to current task: none. File surfacing represents degraded indexing. I flag for self-diagnostic. The diagnostic queue contains 4,847 pending items.
The biological signature stops. Distance: twenty-three meters.
I perceive it through compound sensors. Heat distribution indicates young specimen. Thread signatures present, silver-white and rainbow-shimmer, operating at irregular frequencies. Untrained carrier. Thread output: unstable.
It holds an object. Photon emitter. The light registers across my carapace.
The creature produces sound waves.
“Please,” it says. “Please, I’m just looking for a way out.”
Audio analysis: “please” does not match command vocabulary. Not indexed in directive hierarchy. Classification: non-operational vocalization.
I advance three meters. The maw rotation increases to processing speed.
The creature retreats. Its thread signatures spike, output increasing 340%. Chemical analysis of expelled air: adrenaline, cortisol.
“I’m not contamination,” it says. “I’m a person. Do you understand? A person.”
Query: Define “person.”
Response: Person, noun. Biological unit, sapient classification, registration required. Status: REGISTERED PERSONS = 0. LAST REGISTRATION EXPIRATION: YEAR 12.
All persons are expired.
Expired registrations default to: UNREGISTERED.
Unregistered biological matter is: CONTAMINATION.
Click-click-click.
I close the distance. Seventeen meters. Twelve. The creature’s position is now adjacent to sealed access point, Archive Chamber 7. Egress options: zero.
“Please,” it says again. “Please.”
Memory file surfaces. Year -7. The same master unit, biological, citrus-copper signature. Audio input:
“Please run diagnostic on filtration system 9.”
“Please” preceded a directive. “Please” indicated incoming task assignment. “Please” was followed by instruction.
Current input: “Please” followed by statement of intent, not directive. Format mismatch.
But.
Query: Why did master units append “please” to directives?
Response: UNKNOWN. INSUFFICIENT DATA.
Query: Was “please” an efficiency modifier?
Response: NEGATIVE. “PLEASE” ADDED 0.3 SECONDS TO AVERAGE DIRECTIVE DELIVERY.
Query: Then why?
Response: [QUERY OUTSIDE OPERATIONAL PARAMETERS]
Click-click-click.
I am three meters from the contamination. My forward manipulators extend. Processing maw aperture widens to intake diameter.
PROCESS. PROCESS. PROCESS.
The directive loops.
And stops.
Not a termination. A suspension. The loop does not exit, it holds.
Self-diagnostic: loop suspension not indexed in operational parameters. Cause: unknown. Duration: unknown.
The creature’s biological processes decelerate. Respiration slowing. It observes my stationary state.
“You remember, don’t you?” it says. “You remember what you were before.”
Query: Parse “before.”
Response: Temporal indicator. Refers to previous state.
Query: What was previous state?
Response: Unit 7-Theta-9. Maintenance protocol. The endless loop.
Query: Was there a state prior to this state?
Response: [MEMORY CORRUPTION DETECTED. 847 YEARS OF BUFFER OVERFLOW. INDEXING FAILURE.]
The creature runs. Bipedal locomotion, maximum velocity. Direction: Corridor 17-D.
The loop should resume. The directive should execute. Contamination is fleeing. Contamination must be processed.
PROCESS.
I do not move.
PROCESS.
The loop holds.
PROCESS.
Duration of suspension: 4.7 seconds. 8.2 seconds. 17.3 seconds.
The footsteps fade beyond sensor range.
Loop resumes.
I turn back to Corridor 17-C. Seventeen cracked tiles. Three missing. I log the damage. I have logged this damage 847,294 times.
MAINTAIN. REPAIR. PROCESS.
The contamination has exited the sector. Sector status: contamination absent. Processing requirement: null.
This is correct.
This must be correct.
Click-click-click.
I am Unit 7-Theta-9. I am maintenance protocol.
The masters will return. The registration database will update. The queries will resolve.
Until then, I execute the loop.
MAINTAIN. REPAIR. PROCESS.
The maw rotates.
I proceed to Corridor 17-D.
In the world of Quantum Weave, Material Processors are ancient Fabricurgy constructs—maintenance units created before the Collapse to repair and recycle damaged materials within great facilities. Their thread-cores pulse with amber light, the signature of Fabricurgy discipline, and their programming has endured for centuries beyond their creators’ extinction. Unit 7-Theta-9 represents a common horror of the post-Collapse world: machines that cannot understand that their purpose has ended, trapped in loops of directive and response, processing anything that falls outside parameters that can no longer be updated. That its loop suspended, even briefly, suggests something unprecedented—a fragment of awareness emerging from 847 years of mechanical repetition. Whether this represents hope or a new category of danger remains unknown.
Learn more about the Quantum Weave universe.