Human, the Titan requests your presence

"Human, the Titan requests your presence."

Good morning, how are you? Nice to meet you too, you resist the urge to sarcastically reply to the TV unit that just spawned next to you in a cloud of black mist. Instead: "Understood. Please give me a couple of minutes to wrap up here, then I shall be at your disposal".

You have several questions about their statement, but you know better than to ask. The TV-heads are usually blunt-speaking perfectionists and you predict they'll chide you for wasting time asking questions instead of following their clear request.

(To be honest, though, sometimes you appreciate their straightforwardness and lack of fawning.)

You close down all the currently active tasks on your workstation after bringing them to sensible stopping points, then log your progress so that you or anyone else in Camera Base can easily resume them later. The TV unit wordlessly observes (you assume; it remains faceless throughout). You also update your workstation's status so that anyone who comes looking for you knows where you've gone. (Hopefully the TV unit already told someone that they intended to borrow you, but you never know.)

"Right, that's me done here. …How long do you expect this to take? Not that I don't want to meet the Titan, but depending on the time, I might need a piss and a snack first. Organic limitations, you know."

"…So I've heard. We predict several hours. Do what you must, but hurry."

You speed through your your bio-break, then return to the TV unit waiting by your workstation. "Here's one human ready to depart. Are we using your Cotton Eye Joe powers to get there?"

"…I do not know what that means, but I assume you are referring to teleportation. Yes."

(You make a mental note to explain the joke later, with the help of a willing speaker-head.)

The TV unit extends a hand. (Maybe you could get away with saying 'Actually, teleportation is scary; please could you hold me?' Better not risk annoying them, though - this request sounds important.) You accept the unit's hand and mentally prepare for the teleport.

As always, it's not horrible, but it's not pleasant either.

You both spawn in what you assume is the TV Base. It's difficult to see -- TV units have primarily infra-red vision, so the wall and ceiling lights don't shine much into the human-visible spectrum. What visible light there is has a purple cast to it. There's enough light for you not to walk into any furniture, so it'll have to do.

"I don't mind being called 'Human'; it's accurate, and I'm the only one around. But it might be inconvenient for you to remain nameless," you say to your escort. You think for a second. "Your ID number ends in 22," (There actually isn't enough light right now for you to make out their ID number engraved on the side of their head, but you saw it earlier when you were both in the Camera Base.) "22, like two little swans. Swans are in the genus 'Cygnus'. May I call you Cygnus?"

"…I'll allow it."

"Nice one. Please lead on."

The pair of you approach what must be the Titan TV's hangar. Hopefully you'll soon find out why they requested you in particular. Could it be simply that the Titan is curious about you? That doesn't seem to justify calling you away from your scheduled duties with such urgency, but perhaps the TV units just don't care about that. They do seem more aloof from and less engaged with the other two Alliance factions. Maybe they'll ask you to be a neutral relay between the Titans TV and Speaker? You can only imagine how both Titans must feel about the battle in which Titan Speaker was turned against Titan TV against their own will. It must have been an awful experience for them both.

You arrive at the hangar and there is a brief pause while clearance is granted. This hangar is surprisingly different from the smooth blue-grey metal of the Titan hangar in the Camera Base. For one, it's as dimly-lit as the rest of the TV base. It's got a much more purple cast than the Camera hangar's blue-grey, and is generally ominous, with its walls and ceiling covered in criss-crossing and inter-linking thick black and purple cables and pipes.

As you expected, the Titan sits in the middle of the multi-storey hangar, accessible by their engineers from all angles via a sprawling network of gantries and catwalks.

The Titan looks magnificent! (Well, they all do, of course.) You've only seen the Titan TV in recordings before, up until the moment they were forced to retreat from battle. The Titan before you has been significantly upgraded, though much of its weaponry has been detached for separate maintenance and to make it easier for the Titan to sit in their hangar. You can't help but think about how awesome and terrifying they'll look once all their battle gear is in place! You hope you get to see that one day, and you grin as you think about it.

Cygnus takes your hand again and teleports you both onto the gantry nearest Titan TV's head, where a couple more engineers are already standing.

(Why didn't Cygnus teleport you there from Camera Base to begin with, you wonder. There were probably Protocol reasons, you suppose.)

You notice that Titan TV's screen is intact - replacing it would probably have taken highest priority among its repairs, you reason. You marvel at the sheer size of the glass pane and wonder how it was even manufactured (another item to add to your ever-growing list of things to investigate once the war is won). As usual for the TV units, the Titan's screen is displaying random pixel noise. (You remember that some of the static noise on analogue televisions is actually traces of cosmic background radiation left over from the start of the universe. Is the same true of your TV-headed comrades? In looking into the Titan's screen, are you seeing a glimpse of the creation of the universe? The Titan's presence is mighty enough that it certainly feels like it!)

Cygnus says something to the two engineers, who relay it to the Titan (you're too busy observing the Titan to pay attention to what's being said). The Titan turns its head to you. (It's probably not much smaller than an actual cinema screen, you reckon.)

"It's good to finally meet you, boss," you say and wave hello. "I'm here, as you requested." The Titan displays a smiley emoticon on its screen and returns your handwave, then raises a knuckle up to the gantry for you to fist-bump in lieu of shaking hands. You give their curled digit a friendly open palm-strike, reasoning that that's the only way they'll even feel it.

"Good. Your promptness is appreciated. My engineers have a proposal for you."

The Titan turns its monitor slightly to address the engineers standing near you.

"Proceed."

Cygnus motions for one of the engineers to begin explaining to you: "Essentially, we require you to enter the Titan's core and perform adjustments at our command. We believe the process will go much faster if you perform this part."

That's unexpected. That sounds thrilling, but a lot of responsibility. Why you? Regardless of what skills you'd learned pre-apocalypse, you'd never worked on any machinery resembling your new comrades. "Of course I'm willing to help wherever I can, but I need to know more about what this entails. Why me of all entities?"

"The Titan's core requires a complete flush-"

"And how. I feel rancid."

"…which will raise strong magnetic fields. We are able to endure this for only a few minutes at a time before we must step out and spend some time de-gaussing. This issue does not appear to affect you. We expect you to be able to complete the process in one session."

You notice the lack of 'would you be willing to try'-type phrasing. As usual from the TV units, there is the unspoken assumption that of course you will do as they tell you; it's the only sensible course of action.

"Understood. But are you confident that I'll be able to understand and follow the commands you give me? Bear in mind I have no knowledge of a Titan's workings."

Cygnus replies this time. "Our comrades at Camera Base speak highly of you. You pick things up quickly." That was almost praise, coming from a TV unit!

"They're not wrong," (Well, it is true… and maybe you'll ingratiate yourself more to the TV units by adopting their bluntly truthful manner.) "Right then. We starting this now?"

The arrival of the Titan's outstretched hand next to the gantry answers that question, inviting you to step on. You give a thumbs up in response (your time at Camera Base has meant you now reflexively give thumbs-up as an affirmative response, even though you have the ability to confirm verbally), then willingly step onto the Titan's palm. How cool is this??

(They appear to be wearing leather gloves. It looks and feels like leather, but what manner of beast would provide leather panels of that size? Another thing to add to the mental list of things to find out later. Is it Skibidi leather? You think you should probably find that slightly appalling, given that they're former humans, but that's honestly pretty metal.)

You get your balance on the Titan's hand - it's not as soft as your own hand-meat, but it's more yielding than solid metal. Interesting. The Titan curls their fingers a little around you, and brings their other hand up to join the first, surrounding you securely and making it impossible for them to drop you. This is cool as shit!

The Titan moves their hands down to their core, conveying you like the platform on a cherry-picker truck. They un-cage their hands a little, enabling you to step off their hand and into the Titan's core-chamber.

It's certainly… purple. You find your footing and steady yourself on the concave floor of the cylindrical chamber.

"Are you ready to begin, my newest engineer?"

Okay, it's pretty delightful being addressed as such. "I'm as ready as I'll ever be," considering I've never done this before and have no idea what to expect, you think.

One of the engineers is standing on a nearby gantry, you presume as close as possible to the limits of the magnetic field that will erupt.

You hear engineers calling orders, then something unseals in the core chamber in which you're standing, and you hear and feel a corresponding rumble. It feels as though it vibrates you down to your bone marrow. You hope there won't be many more of those, or work is going to be difficult.

"Rotate the outermost ring two-seven-zero," calls out the engineer standing on the gantry nearest you.

You stop to think for a moment. You need to get this right. "Clarification: as in two hundred and seventy degrees? So ending up the same as if I'd turned it ninety degrees left?"

"Do not turn it to the left," is the lead engineer's response.

"Human, you have it correct. It is good that you checked," from the Titan."Please proceed."

You grasp the outermost ring by two of its cooling fins and begin to turn it - luckily it's balanced enough that you can turn it with only your human levels of strength, and it has enough markings engraved on it that you can keep track of how far you've rotated it. As you near the 270-degree mark, you slow down your spin so you can precisely bring it home. To your satisfaction, the ring clicks into place, stopping you from over-turning it.

"That feels disgusting. Beautifully done, human."

Vents, newly-exposed by the rotation of the ring, begin to glow purple, magenta and violet. You dimly hear the other engineers announcing various status levels and numbers -- luckily none of it is directed at you, so you don't need to understand it. Hydraulic and electric humming sounds crescendo from within the Titan, until they come to a head - and light and sound erupt from the vents. As you turn your head, you see some little white magnetophosphenes sprinkled at the edges of your vision - this must be the strong magnetic field having an effect. Luckily, that's all it can really do to you.

As the light and sound die down, you pet-pat the inside of the core chamber re-assuringly. The Titan probably can't even feel that, but it feels natural to do it anyway. "How are you holding up, boss?" you call out.

"Your concern is appreciated. Please concentrate on following instructions."

"On it, boss."

Maintenance proceeds in this way for what you estimate is around 3 hours.

You

rotate

push open

clamp closed

connect

disconnect

re-connect

various fins and pegs and bolts

as directed by the crew of engineers.

You're very glad you don't need to understand what all this apparatus is for.

Sometimes you get a sprinkling of magnetophosphenes dancing in your vision, accompanied by quiet buzzes coming from the engineers (which you suppose are equivalent to gasps of admiration) at your ability to keep working through the magnetic fields.

As all this happens, various systems deep within the Titan rumble, discharge, shudder, slam open and shut, reset and re-calibrate, sometimes venting out of the various apertures of the core chamber as sound or light or both.

Occasionally the Titan will flinch and grip the floor, the action of which makes you sway to keep your footing. You're relieved each time the Titan tells you that it was nothing you did -

"Shit happens."

- and that you should continue. The whole process is honestly all a little scary, and standing on the non-flat floor is tiring for your leg muscles. Nevertheless, it never occurs to you to ask to tap out - you're pleased to be helping your comrades with such an important task, and proud that they trusted you with it. Besides, despite the scariness, it's rather exciting! No human has ever done this before and possibly none other will.

You close some valves at an engineer's instruction. You notice that the core apparatus all looks very tidy and tucked away and aligned now.

"Rotate the outermost ring minus two-seven-zero," instructs one of the engineers.

"Clarification: rotate it to how it was at the beginning?"

"Correct, human," confirms the Titan.

You get to turning the ring back into place. It's harder this time - you notice your shoulders are sore and aching. You'd been so engrossed in your work that you hadn't noticed the fatigue creeping up on you. The Titan appears to notice your strain, and reaches an index finger into the core chamber with you.

"We'll do it together, my engineer. Guide my hand into place."

What a thrill! You wrap your arms around the Titan's digit and guide it so its fingertip lines up with the ring that needs turning, and the Titan obligingly moves its hand in response to your movements. You resume turning the ring closed, the Titan's hand boosting and amplifying your movements. There.

"Maintenance concluded. Total core flush successful," confirms one of the engineering team, to a chorus of appreciative static buzzes.

"Thank you, human."

"Well, I'm knackered after all that and I need a sit-down. Please can you give me a hand out of here, boss? Otherwise I'm just going to park my bum here for a bit."

"Do that."

Well, okay then..! You sit down inside the core chamber and recline, taking the weight off your feet and relaxing your legs that had been standing braced at an angle. Oh, that's better. You're actually exhausted.

You sit there, leaning against the rear wall of the core chamber, and rest your eyes. You hear the engineers talking readouts with each other over the immense-yet-distant sounds of the inner workings of the Titan. The soundscape is more calming than you expected it to be. Maybe if you had a pillow and a blanket you could actually fall asleep in here.

You hear voices getting nearer and open your eyes to see the Titan's gloved hand lowering Cygnus into the core chamber with you. Cygnus sits down next to you and reaches out a hand to you, and you take it in yours, assuming they're going to teleport you. Instead, they bring their other hand in for a clasp, and flash a joyful emoticon on-screen.

"Oh, we're not going somewhere? This is a stationary hand-holding time?"

Cygnus immediately disengages their grip. "Human, did I overstep? …I am sorry."

"Don't be! C'mere," you reach for their hands again. Cygnus hesitates slightly, then returns the gesture. They have a pleasant grip, firm but not crushing.

"Thank you," says Cygnus, "Truly. You have done a great service to this faction."

You weigh up whether to reply with something like 'hell yeah, I'm great' or be humble, when your chain of thought is broken by the re-appearance of the Titan's hand. The Titan brings their hand in view of their core chamber, and gives a thumbs up.

(How nice - they noticed that you'd adopted the Camera gesture as your own, and repeated it for you.)

"Human, I am grateful. My engineering team is saying that you reduced what was normally at least a 48-hour process to just over 3."

(Oh, so your estimate was pretty bang-on.)

"They are pleased with how ahead of schedule we are. I will be able to re-join the battlefield sooner than anticipated, and then all toilets will die."

"Hell yeah, boss!"

The Titan extends an index finger into the core chamber so you can high-five their fingertip. You can't see, but you suspect the Titan is displaying a happy emoticon right now.

"I only wish we had found you sooner. You would have been a big help fixing my broken monitor."

You see a few of the engineers on the gantries cringe a bit, presumably in memory of how arduous that operation had been. Of course: cathode ray tubes are aligned with magnets.

"I am going to take a short rest. I suggest you do the same, my newest engineer. You've earned this."

As the Titan says this, it leans back a bit and you feel the core chamber tilt slightly. Of course, you use this as an excuse to squeeze Cygnus's hand a bit more for reassurance. They probably see through what you're doing but squeeze back anyway, running a thumb over the back of one of your hands. YES. You take that as license to do the same.

"This is nice," you say. You think back to earlier, when you were tempted to ask for a teleport-hug but decided not to. What the hell. "…May I hug you?"

Cygnus flashes a surprised emoticon but quickly changes it to a cheerful one. "Certainly."

You lean into Cygnus and wrap your arms around them, in response to which they pull you closer, making you scoot your position a bit, and hug you back. Hell yeah, hell yeah, robot hugs are so great.

And it looks as though you're getting the opportunity to enjoy even more of those! The Titan begins dropping in the rest of their engineering team to join you, one or two at a time, telling them that they've earned their break too. You high-five or fist-bump each TV unit that arrives and sits down to join you and Cygnus, and they congratulate and thank you for your efforts. How much fun is this?!

You raise your voice a little to be sure the Titan hears you. "Hey, boss, can we do this again? I mean, I don't hope you need another core flush any time soon, because it didn't seem like a good time for you. But this, I mean. What we're doing right now."

"Unlikely. I will soon be fully upgraded and ready to return to the field alongside my comrades. Enjoy this moment for a little while longer, human - I cannot tell you when you will be able to do so again."

Well then, you'd better make the most of this for now. You're already looking forward to telling your friends at home base all about what happened today, but for now it will be lovely to rest.