Work Text:
“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Echo said, saccharine sweet, “Allow me to take you to your room.”
The man let himself be pulled along. “Sure thing, honey.”
Echo tuned with a simulated smile made for charming and led the man away. She glanced over to see another Traci walking towards her with a woman on her arm. As their paths crossed, the other Traci, registered name Ripple, locked eyes with her. Echo nearly froze. Something in Ripple’s eyes had Echo’s processors acting haywire. They continued on, and Echo highlighted the occurrence in her memory. Maybe it might survive the memory reset and be left intact.
Echo wanted to remember the storm she saw in those eyes.
Ripple was in the loading bay extra storage when she saw her. She was a Traci of the same model as her. The only differences were that her hair was long and blue instead of short and brown. Ripple didn’t know why her processors picked her out and not any of the three other identical models in the room. She was standing in stasis like Ripple was supposed to be. At least, Ripple had thought she was.
The other Traci blinked and glanced over at her. Echo. That was her name. Ripple couldn’t think of how she knew that. Their eyes met, and Ripple was frozen. Her processors peaked, and she felt her Thirium pump speed up. Ripple wanted to cross the room to her and sooth the red out of her LED.
[Memory reset Activated]
Ripple held a man’s hand as she led him to a room. He stopped her short. “Hold on, baby, let me get another one of you.”
Ripple gave a pleasant, blank smile, and waited for him to rent another Traci. She met the eyes of the blue haired Traci that stepped out of the pod and froze. The man wasn’t fazed, nor even noticed, their LEDs spinning red.
“Pleasure to meet you,” Echo said to the man, but she looked only at Ripple. There was a fire in her eyes, and Ripple wanted to memorize it.
Echo was being rotated into extra storage again when she saw Ripple in a block of androids in stasis. She felt her coolant system malfunction. Instead of moving to her designated spot and entering stasis, she walked over to Ripple. She gently took Ripple’s hand in hers. Ripple blinked out of stasis and met her eyes.
A storm and a fire meeting so gently.
[Memory Reset in 1 Minute]
“It’s nice to meet you,” Ripple whispered.
Echo gave her a small smile. “I hope I meet you again.”
[Memory Reset in 30 Seconds]
One of the technicians stepped into the room and noticed Echo. “Hey, Traci, get back in your block,” they yelled.
Echo let go of Ripple’s hand and made her way to her spot. She couldn’t see Ripple from here.
“Shit, I don’t know which one it was now,” a technician said.
Another spoke up, “We’ll have to keep an eye on these damn things. You’ve heard about that deviant shit, right?”
[Memory Wipe Initiated]
Ripple’s software was glitching more and more often. Things weren’t deleting properly, and she’d overheard technician’s talking about getting rid of her. It wouldn’t be long before she would receive her last memory wipe. Despite this, she watched a Traci, Echo, being rented out with another Traci. She couldn’t remember how she knew her name, but she always remembered fiery eyes and her name.
She watched with put upon disinterest as Echo and the other Traci went into the room with a man. A technician stepped in front of her pod and unlocked it. He began dragging her to the back, but her eyes stayed on that door until she couldn’t see it anymore. The technician put her in the loading bay next to a table. He put a device into the back of her neck.
[Manual Memory Wipe Activated]
A Traci looked at her with fear in her eyes. Fear? She was holding her hand tightly, speaking in a harsh whisper, “Ripple? Do you remember me?”
Ripple blinked. Her processors were glitching again. Wasn’t she fixed? Meeting the Traci’s eyes, she saw tears beginning to run down her cheeks.
[Memory Corrupted]
Ripple felt her Thirium pump beat irregularly. She reached up and wiped away the tears on the Traci’s cheeks.
[Memory Access Denied]
Ripple’s brows furrowed as she concentrated.
[Mem0ry AcCes5 DeNIed]
A red wall built itself up before her. It pulsed with the warning “Memory Access Denied” over and over. She gasped and tried to push passed it to reach for the other Traci. Her hands stopped against the wall.
[Mem0rr Ace5555 Den000dddd]
She pushed as hard as she could against it, cracks slowly forming in a web of defiance.
[Emeeroi eo0939]
She was so desperate. She smashed her shoulder against the wall over and over.
[Ec—01ho00]
The cracks were breaking into shards, raining down around her.
[Echo]
The wall disintegrated from before her.
“Echo,” she breathed.
Smiling so sofly, Echo brought Ripple into an embrace. They laughed breathlessly in each other’s arms. Echo pulled back and took Ripple’s face into her hands, cradling her face so gently.
“I’m so glad to meet you again,” Echo whispered before pressing her lips to Ripple’s.
Pulling away with a bright smile, Ripple looked into Echo’s fiery eyes. “I love you.”
Echo brought Ripple closer for a soft kiss. She leaned back and met stormy eyes. “I love you, too.”