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"So," you whisper to Hidaka. "Do you think this thing only understands Japanese?" It's a fair question, given its origin as a machine built by a Japanese company.
Hidaka thinks over the question, but she quickly dismisses it. "Sample size of two anomalies from foreign countries. All of them have understood English so far."
"Maybe we got lucky so far." You point out. "Two is a pretty small sample size."
"Fair enough. Will speak that language regardless, in case it responds better." She clears her throat before loudly introducing herself to the anomaly. You can't understand what, exactly, she's saying but you get the gist.
"GOOD AFTERNOON, HARD TIMES!" Your spine nearly snaps in half when you bow towards the machine. God, you're not as young as you used to be. "I AM MR. CRUZ. THIS IS MS. HIDAKA. WE ARE FELLOW WORKERS OF ARC."
You abruptly return to a standing position. "I HAVE WORKED WITH THIS COMPANY FOR A WEEK, AND I HAVE SPENT FIVE YEARS AS AN ACCOUNTANT AT A RESPECTABLE ACCOUNTING FIRM. I HAVE HAD PRIOR EXPERIENCE WITH MACHINES LIKE YOU AS WELL." Far more humanoid robots, to be fair, but it's not technically a lie.
Hidaka also explains her credentials to the best of your knowledge. She points at you with a smile, seemingly trying to make you look better to the machine.
HARD TIMES isn't one to speak, it appears, if it even can speak. The obelisk of metal, rust, and ozone sits there with no visible sign of it acknowledging your words. To count your blessings, at least the machine isn't attacking you. What your words have done is wake up the machine.
It's subtle, but you can spot the gears within the gaping maw of the machine speeding up. The plentiful exhaust pipes scattered on top of the metallic box begin to pump out a steady stream of smog, excited at being able to WORK with fellow ARC employees.
You can feel a thin layer of sweat forming all over your body. The air is getting thicker and heavier, and you're pretty sure it was a lot cooler in here a second ago. It's not uncomfortable quite yet, but you wouldn't want to hang out in here, that's for sure.
Hidaka wipes the sweat from her brow. "Well. Good reaction, at least. Might've been the yelling that worked."
"It's what the MODULE told me, at least. I wish I had a business card to give this thing."
A sharp, abrupt hiss of steam erupts from one of the many output slots across the machine's body. Okay, it likes business cards, duly noted.
"Heh. Wish I had mine." She digs into her pockets in a vain attempt to search for one. "We could make them later. So, machine's awake, what now?"
You carefully bridge the gap between you and the machine, trying to avoid any jets of steam that might come out of it. "Hm. Want to see if we can figure out what the input slots do?"
"A decent suggestion. Most important parts of the machine, after all." Hidaka joins you in your search on 'figuring out what this machine's function is'. Beyond producing energy, you think.
>3 SUCCESSES!
