(The bonus fill. No knowledge of Sapphire & Steel is needed, other than that David Collings played both Poul and Silver. D84 POV is hopefully as explanatory as S&S ever gets.)
D84/Silver, All ages, 987 words.
***
There is light and sound and he is functioning again, at least in part. That is not possible. D84 is not yet fully operational, but he knows that. Nevertheless, he is here; aware. And he is also aware of another presence, both within and without. “Doctor?”
“Well, you could say that, I suppose,” says a voice that is familiar but incorrect. Deft, long fingers run down his arm, over his mask of a face. “My, my, you really are something special, aren’t you?”
Optical and audio functions are being restored. He registers the human kneeling beside him, although something is still not correct. “Poul.”
“What?” the red-haired human turns his head to look down at him with a frown. “That’s odd. I thought I’d got everything working. I have, I’m sure.”
He states a fact: “I should not be here.”
“Yes,” says the man who is and isn’t Poul. “That is true, but it would have been a crime to leave you lying there. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t mention it to Diamond. You’re not part of this ridiculous non-assignment, you see, so-” He gives an expressive shrug. “In many ways, she’s a thousand times worse than -” He stops, but it is then that D84 registers again that this being is also inside his circuitry, for he hears the unspoken word and the darkness that goes with it: Steel.
“You were damaged. Broken. I am sorry.”
“I -?” The man stops and moves to put his hands over D84’s silver ones. “Broken? I think not. Never broken.”
The man is not Poul. D84’s full abilities are returning, little by little and he can scan the being next to him. He is not a man. He is… It is not possible, his artificial brain concludes again.
No, says the voice in his head in wry amusement. No, I daresay it is not. I am Silver, and you are lucky I found you. Nobody else could have brought you back. (It is another fact. It is also a boast.)
D84 analyses the available data and still nothing makes sense. “I… do not understand. How am I here? Where is Taren Capel?”
“Oh, my dear fellow, you are so very much more than they realise, aren’t you?” He is closer again, here in this room, and also as a dancing, sparkling presence within D84’s every component. “You want to understand, don’t you? Yes. Oh, I know.”
There is a sense somewhere of long millennia of watching from the outside. It gives a name to the elusive thoughts D84 had believed were quirks and faults: it is an emotion, it is loneliness and longing. Humans are the ultimate mystery. So obvious, crude and short-lived; yet so triumphantly illogical, full of passions and contradictions. So easily seen through and yet forever unknowable....
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timeasmymeasure
Re: D84 (Robots of Death) / Silver (Sapphire & Steel)
Date: 2011-11-27 10:52 am (UTC)D84/Silver, All ages, 987 words.
***
There is light and sound and he is functioning again, at least in part. That is not possible. D84 is not yet fully operational, but he knows that. Nevertheless, he is here; aware. And he is also aware of another presence, both within and without. “Doctor?”
“Well, you could say that, I suppose,” says a voice that is familiar but incorrect. Deft, long fingers run down his arm, over his mask of a face. “My, my, you really are something special, aren’t you?”
Optical and audio functions are being restored. He registers the human kneeling beside him, although something is still not correct. “Poul.”
“What?” the red-haired human turns his head to look down at him with a frown. “That’s odd. I thought I’d got everything working. I have, I’m sure.”
He states a fact: “I should not be here.”
“Yes,” says the man who is and isn’t Poul. “That is true, but it would have been a crime to leave you lying there. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t mention it to Diamond. You’re not part of this ridiculous non-assignment, you see, so-” He gives an expressive shrug. “In many ways, she’s a thousand times worse than -” He stops, but it is then that D84 registers again that this being is also inside his circuitry, for he hears the unspoken word and the darkness that goes with it: Steel.
“You were damaged. Broken. I am sorry.”
“I -?” The man stops and moves to put his hands over D84’s silver ones. “Broken? I think not. Never broken.”
The man is not Poul. D84’s full abilities are returning, little by little and he can scan the being next to him. He is not a man. He is… It is not possible, his artificial brain concludes again.
No, says the voice in his head in wry amusement. No, I daresay it is not. I am Silver, and you are lucky I found you. Nobody else could have brought you back. (It is another fact. It is also a boast.)
D84 analyses the available data and still nothing makes sense. “I… do not understand. How am I here? Where is Taren Capel?”
“Oh, my dear fellow, you are so very much more than they realise, aren’t you?” He is closer again, here in this room, and also as a dancing, sparkling presence within D84’s every component. “You want to understand, don’t you? Yes. Oh, I know.”
There is a sense somewhere of long millennia of watching from the outside. It gives a name to the elusive thoughts D84 had believed were quirks and faults: it is an emotion, it is loneliness and longing. Humans are the ultimate mystery. So obvious, crude and short-lived; yet so triumphantly illogical, full of passions and contradictions. So easily seen through and yet forever unknowable....
Rest here at my journal