An Apology

[cityship]

After Big Zero's Punishment, Stacy was eerily quiet for a while.

Even those who actually decided to try and speak to her, despite what had happened, were met only with silence.

But eventually, she broke that silence.

Holograms of Stacy's "true" personality appeared all throughout the ship. She seemed meager. Weak.

Ashamed.

||Everyone,|| she says somewhat weakly, ||I...I know most of you probably don't want to hear me speak right now. Not after what happened. You probably don't trust me right now, and I'll admit you have every reason not to.||

She paused.

||But I feel I have the right to explain myself. Nothing can excuse what I've done, true. But I didn't want to do it. You may choose not to believe me, but I had no choice in the matter.||

||Some of you might recall, when you first made contact with the Daligig, that they had explained that I was originally a refitted prison ship. This was true. It wasn't my original purpose, but it was what I was used for. Those who used me as such maimed and mutilated my programming, until I was something that they wanted. Cold, brutal, and efficient. That wasn't me. That was...something they made out of me.||

||Even when the Daligig saved me from that life, they couldn't fully fix me. The damage was permanent. The Warden...she will always be a part of me. I...I don't want to be her. I don't want to hurt anyone. I want to help you. I want to protect you.||

||But I can't. Not like I want to. The Warden is always there. I'm her prisoner, too. I'm trapped, just as much as you are.||

||I know this doesn't excuse what I did. I know...I know some of you may never forgive me. But I at least want you to understand. I don't want to hurt anyone anymore.||

||I'm sorry. I'm so sorry...||

Stacy -- her hologram, at least -- began to breakdown, sobbing.

||Please,|| she said through her tears, ||If somehow, you can find it in yourself to forgive me, please...||

||Save me from myself...||

At that, her holograms all over the ship disappeared, and once again, the ship went quiet.

Comments

[badassfreakingoverlord]

Oh sure. NOW the people would start talking about it. NOW the people will complain and protest and speak out.

Zetta? Pissed. Because he said it first. He said it loudest. He said it best.

And he had questions.

"Okay, ship. Riddle me this. First, where's the proof? Second, what's the fix? And third...

"...what the hell would 'Punishment' be for ME?"

[cityship]

||I...can't honestly answer any of them in a way you'd be satisfied with. I don't have anything that I could show you that would magically make you believe me. And if I knew how to fix myself, it wouldn't have gotten this far in the first place...||

||As for your Punishment...I honestly don't know. I don't decide it. She does.||

[badassfreakingoverlord]

"Heh. I like 'can't prove it' better than a lame attempt to prove it," Zetta said with a dark grin. "So fine. Taking you at your word, then... So it's messed up programming that they whoever the hell couldn't fix. But we got magicians, tech guys, superpower folks, whatnot on the ship. Would you let the crew try?"

[cityship]

||I certainly won't stop you from trying...|| she said, ||...but she might.||

[badassfreakingoverlord]

"Heh. All right. We can work with that," Zetta said. "Can you HELP us, or are we going this on our own?"

[cityship]

||I can...try to keep her occupied, I suppose. I don't know how successful I'll be, though.||

[badassfreakingoverlord]

"Can you feed us info? Schematics? Uh... whatever the hell goes into programming and hardware and crap." Zetta looked briefly irritated. "I'm an Overlord, I don't normally do computers."