Chapter 281 - Wave Soundly

Afton found Dr. 8 hovering over what looked like some sort of record player, though the record that was currently spinning on it had many glowing blue lines running across its surface, it also occasionally sparked with electricity, releasing a random strange noise every time it occurred.

To be honest, despite Afton's maxed out Science and Repair skills, he wasn't really sure what the device was, its purpose, or even if it was for entertainment or actual scientific discovery... Deciding not to bother questioning every strange sci-fi-looking tech he found in this place, he coughs into his hand to catch the scientists attention.​​

Once Afton's presence is made known, the robot abruptly stops the record player, this causes a clacking sound as the record stops, releasing sparks that are thrown away by the halted momentum.

Though something peculiar happens once the record stops... Afton could hear music coming fro, well, everywhere... It's as if he was surrounded by music players from every direction, the music in question? Jazz blues.

Dr. 8 spots Afton looking around in confusion and so uses a manipulator to start the record player again, the music dissipating instantly after. "*Bzzzzzch!*" they sound out, the familiar static replacing anything legible.

"Uhhh, huh... Look, I have no idea what you just said... So, couldn't you just like, write? Or something?" Afton questions, scratching his stubble sheepishly.

"*Bzzzzch!*" Dr. 8 says, floating to his desk and grabbing a pan with a manipulator... It's safe to say that their robotic limbs weren't made for writing, so when the robot attempted to write on paper it looked like a mass of squiggly lines... Something a child with dyslexia would draw if you asked them to write Antidisestablishmentarianism... Simply put, illegible. "*Bzzch!*" 8 sounds out, somehow looking smug despite having no real facial expressions.

...

"So, er, did you draw a dog or something? Or maybe it's a mothball?" Afton questions, staring hard at the paper.

"*Bzzch...*" a sad sounding static is his only reply.

...

Hang on... Now that he'd gotten some time to actually speak to 8, something about his communication was giving him deja vu... He just couldn't put his finger on it. Ah! There's one way one certain for him to find out though. "8, I need you to say, 'The quick scribe jumped over the lazy paladin.' for me?" he asks, wanting to know if this feeling he was having was just him getting confused.

8 looks at him for a moment before shrugging his monitors, "*Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzch*"

...

Afton's eyes shoot open as he finally realises what this was... Back in the brotherhood, they taught everyone how to take robots apart, put them back together again, etc. This of course included ways to diagnose various problems, if a Mr Handy's hovering was janky and stuttering, then it's gyro-propulsion needed repairs. If a Protectrons manipulator kept heating up to rediculous degrees, then it may have a faulty laser, or damaged energy cells.

And, of course, if a robots voice module was broken, the sound it'd produce wouldn't be random. No, it'd literally be speaking code. Code that would have been translated via the voice module, but couldn't due to it being damaged.

As an Initiate, Afton was taught how to listen to this *code spew*, as it'd allow the robot itself to explain what'd happened, how it was damaged, and if it knew of a way to easily fix it. As for what the reason was for them to learn this? Well, there weren't exactly manuals lying around the wasteland with the robotics schematics, so it saved a lot of time to just ask what the problem was.

Well, that, and the fact you're able to easily hack robots that are literally shouting their code at you. It's literally like telling someone your password, operating system, how to turn off your anti-virus, as well as when you're parents would be home... Yeah, pretty serious, not that he'd let Dr. 8 know what Afton was potentially capable of doing to him.

So this is was the feeling of deja vu was... It'd been so long since he'd learned about it that he'd almost not recognised it. Dr. 8 was speaking via RobCo term link code, and while Afton was somewhat rusty, he was sure he'd be able to pick it up fairly quickly...

"Repeat it one more time for me... Please?" Afton asks, and 8 reluctantly does so.

"*The quick scribe jumped over the lazy paladin... Can we stop now? This is humiliating..." 8 says with Afton somewhat understanding what he'd said.

"We can stop, anyway, I feel like we haven't actually been able to introduce ourselves properly to one another yet. So. I'm Afton Parker, nice to meet you Dr. 8." he says, presenting his hand to the robot while trying to sound as friendly as possible.

"*I already know your name, but if you wish to redo this social ceremony... Not that you'd be able to understand me anyway.*" Dr. 8 says before shaking Aftons hand with a manipulator.

"It's not about redoing the 'social ceremony', it's simply about being polite. Oh, and I can understand you by the way. RobCo term link is fairly easy to comprehend when you've been glued to terminal screens for most of your life." he casually explains.

"*Ah, I see-Wait what!? That's inconceivable! Even my colleagues who are well versed in code aren't able to understand through this medium of communication.*"

Afton just shrugs, "Well, I am so, if you'd rather I just leave you be then-"

"*No! For the love of everything intelligent, no! If I'm stuck being unable to communicate for any longer I'll go MAD! Isolation is not a natural state for humans, or for former humans!... So, if you could lend me your ear every once in a while Mr Parker, I'd greatly appreciate it.*" he says, his tone one of begging despite it spoken in frantic code.

"Alright, I don't really mind. But I do have some things I need to ask you."