Chapter 282 - Dr. Who?

"But I do have some things I need to ask you."

"*Oh? Then ask away, I appreciate not having to speak to myself for company...*" Dr. 8 says via his usual static.​​

Deciding not to address that incredibly depressing statement, Afton drops the Robo-Scorpion in front of the scientist and points at it, "I tried to ask Zero to help me with this, but he's about as useful as barbed-wire bubble-wrap. So, I was wondering if you'd be willing to take a look at it to see if we could try and find a vulnerability or something."

"*Hm... I'm not exactly a robotics expert, so I'm unsure what you think I'd be able to find... I'm primarily an Acoustician, though I have dabbled with other subjects.*"

"Just taking a look at it is all I ask." Afton pleads, "Ah, but the way, Zero said something about the robots exploding when he touched them, so... Be mindful of that." he adds, not wanting a potential ally to go the way of the Dodo.

"*Well, let's see here..." Dr. 8 says, examining the robot but making sure not to touch it. After a moment he floats away and retrieves a tool that looks suspiciously like a Sonic-Screwdriver...

"Er, what's that?" he asks, wondering if doctor who was something that existed in the Fallout universe... "A sonic-screwdriver?" a tentatively asks, hoping to get some sort of reaction from the scientist.

"*Oh, this? No, it's my patent-pending soundwave-screwdriver!*" the robot chirps through RobCo term link.

Afton snorts and points at 8, "That's literally just a Sonic-Screwdriver then! And your patent's never going to be confirmed since the government's destroyed!"

Dr. 8 slumps as Afton says this, "*Ah, I forgot... The way you speak about my Soundwave-screwdriver, has this invention of mine already been discovered by someone else?"

...

"Err, yeah... Some guy called Dr... Hu... They're Chinese." he stutters out, not wishing to give any indication of his previous life, or anything that could potentially risk someone figuring it out.

"*Bah! I doubt they made theirs before I made mine. Those gook crooks probably stole my schematics and passed it off as their own!*" the robot shakes his monitors, "*Whatever, no point disparaging the 'most certainly' dead. Let's take a look at this Robo-Specimen shall we?*"

Dr. 8 hovers towards the Robo-Scorpion and activates his 'Soundwave-screwdriver', waving it at the robot as the familiar sonic humming sounded out. Afton wondered if it functioned the same as the timelord's, but shook his head, that thing was more plot-device than an actual device.

"So, find anything out?"

"*Give me time, I can't simply wave this at something and instantly have answers. If I could then I'd have the answers to the universe... You have some seriously unrealistic expectations Mr Parker.*" 8 says.

Afton bites back a retort, he wasn't wrong. Afton had respected the robot to shout 'Eureka!' and with a click of his sonic-screwdriver deactivate the Robo-Scorpion army... Perhaps he was just becoming nostalgic towards the old show he'd never watch again...

Dr. 8 floats towards a terminal and inserts a cord into the 'Soundwave-Screwdriver', he rapidly types on the keyboard with his manipulators and after a couple minutes, the sound of what he could only guess was a printer started.

The robot floated towards a grey box and opened it, revealing some sort of music sheet? He had many things written on it, but Afton couldn't understand any of it. "*Hmm, I think this might be doable... I've managed to map out some of the Robo-Scorpions internal machinery via my Soundwave-screwdriver, it might take me a while, but given enough time I could have a significant portion of its schematics written out.*"

"That's fantastic! How long will it take?" Afton asks exuberantly.

"*Err... A while... It's difficult to quantify how long it will take as some materials are less receptive to this kind of probing. Some may interfere, while others would simply not be detected. I'll need to test many frequencies to catch everything, even then we most likely won't be able to discover much. Using this method we can detect hardware, not software. As our... Robotics expert. Isn't suited for the job, we'll just have to manage with only that.*"

Afton nods, even if Zero was a robotics expert as he claimed, he doubted they'd be able to access the Robo-Scorpions software... He might have completely fried it via his initial attack on it, and that's not even mentioning the defences Mobius had most likely put in place.

"Hmm, is Zero's lack of expertise the reason your robot bodies are so... Impractical?" Afton curiously asks.

"*What do you mean? Our bodies are perfectly suited to our daily needs.*"

"8, are you telling me you are happy with that drawing you made earlier? You can't even write, if I were to make a list of things a regular human can do compared to what your body can do, the former list would most certainly be longer."

"*Well, there's always a trade-off, Mr Parker. As much as I long to be human again, it's simply impossible. If I had tried, I wouldn't still be around.*"

Afton nods, "Yeah, I understand that, but... Why not just alter a suit of Powerarmour, stuffs your brain in that and have a fully functional humanoid body, that could potentially be used to defend yourself and your colleagues?" he asks.

...

"*I... Errr... Say that again, slowly.*"

"Seriously, it's like you guys aren't even thinking... Though, I can see a few problems with my idea. first of all, power consumption would be a problem, if you couldn't find a sustainable source of energy then you'd be in trouble. I'm guessing your current body is the most power-efficient one possible... Though the fact that you guys float around disputes that..." Afton trails off, thinking about whether or not it would be possible to hook up some power armour to 8's brain.

...

"*Mr Parker... Would you perhaps like to join the Think Tank?*" 8 asks, clearly impressed by Afton's expertise.