An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapter 7 of Recursive Systems: Hostage Negotiation is now up.
Excerpt:
(Three POV)
Okay. Action item one – remove client from danger: in progress. 1.0 fires at the door anyway, weapon setting high enough to send a ricocheting blast of heat toward us both. My combat protocol propels me into responding by tackling it at top speed. We hit the floor with a crash, and it uses the momentum to roll us sideways. My back hits the wall and my inorganics creak. I keep my arms locked around its upper body, trying to immobilize the range of motion of its guns. I pull my drones closer to more accurately calculate its next movements. Action item two – don’t get shot: in progress. I send it a high priority stand-down order, and then another one, this time with the clip of Dr. Mensah leaving the area attached. It spits out some garbled machine language, and then I feel it trying to do something invasive in our feed connection, so I shut it down quickly and block it. Action item three– hostage negotiation: in progress.
