Calliope moved her hands through the air, large pieces of Machinery around and slotting them into one another. She was building a frame, it looked to be scaffolding and machinery and assembly. A small platform at the middle, with robotic arms around it, tubes and wiring falling around like loose ropes.
"Assembly Deck finished…" She said as she snapped the final part into the top. A Large circular part of metal cylinder covered in multiple telescopic layers. Controlling the rivet gun and welding torch, she fused the metal into place. Letting her magnetic power release in the areas she was finished with, not letting the rest of the weight push against the done parts until it was ready.
"What are you building?" The Artificial Intelligence machine called 'Helpy', standing for Harnessed Electrical Language Periphery Yield. It was a small camera on rails that had articulated joints that ended in a sphere, covered in panels and exposed wires that had come loose from the entropy of lacking maintenance. Harnessed (Connected to the Rail) Electrical (Powered by the Electrical Grid and used it to send signals and run operations) Language (Can speak and absorb information) Periphery (An object that outputs from itself, the periphery/furthest point being its head) Yield (Collection of all these things into a single device)
"Asking again?" Cali asked in an Annoyed tone. Hands dropping, and the metal whining slightly as everything was properly set in place. "Like I said before you useless scrap heap- it's an assembly bay for my Armors. So that I can use a modular system and platform to make additions or changes to it. Just gotta start with actually making a new base suit…"
She sighed, scratching her scalp with the screw driver finger. Upon looking to Helpy's lack of Response. She saw that they had a saddened look on their lens. A segmented line of two moveable panels pointed down and away. Like a furrowed sad eyebrow.
"Ugh…Sorry. You know how frustrating it is for me to have to repeat myself when Im working…" She turned to face another area of the large open area. She'd moved everything around to allow it to be a flat clean surface to reorganize. Using her Mag Mag fruit to control the walls and reshape them. She had a Generator Set up for Emergencies she found that ran on Power Crystals, the FABM moved to an easier place to use it, work bench at the wall, storage and tool rack next to it. Scrap pile on the opposite end inside a recycler machine which sorted scrap and rendered broken pieces into useable bars, sheets, and coils of the material. Finally, now there was the Assembly Bay at the opposite wall facing the FABM.
"I accept your Apology Ms. Awesome Spark Tits!" They said with a very energetic and unaware tone to the words they used. Calliope had changed her Name to such in a crude joke when she restored power, which turned HELPY back on, though in a reset state.
"Thank you." Helpy gave a 'smile'
"Helpy, wheres something electronic that I can use to build another version of you? Or maybe like, a repair station or something?" She turned to face the lengthy Articulated Machine.
"Ah! Ms Aw-" They began only for Calliope to raise a hand to stop them from continuing. "Only Address me as Calliope, Cali, Calli, Rascal, or Iron Maiden or Derivative of."
"Yes Calliope. As I was saying, Dr. Tehertz repaired me by hand. There are no repair stations. But I could find the Schematics for my Personality Core." They said.
"Personality Core?" She said back.
"Yes" Helpy's 'face' opened up. Exposing blinking lights and multicolored wires, the shimmering hue of the Blue Power Crystal encased in rings wrapped around it, in front of it was a yellowish green textured ridge about half an inch in width.
"That Yellow, flat square shape is my Personality Core. It's what holds all of my information and personality. While the rest of it draws from the mainframe archive on the top floor." Helpy used small articulated hands and arms to point on the inside of their face. The connection slide up with a hiss like a disk tray to reveal that the square shape shad a maze of grooves and metal strips with an emissive circular shape in the middle of it which moved and blinked in the form of fluctuating light just like Helpy's lens did.
"Wait what? Theres a Main Frame?" She tilted her head.
"Yes! You fixed me 9 and a half months ago." Which was only a few months after Calliope had landed on the Island
"But you have not discovered all that this facility has to offer." They continued.
"There are 12 Floors within this Facility. With each section dedicated to a Variety of Sciences and Research purposes. The floor we are currently on, which is the sixth and the ground floor, is the floor meant for prototypes and near functional inventions. This is why their are small embankments along the walls that lead to other small rooms." Helpy pointed to the wall where the assembly platform sat. The same windows that Calliope had seen the Medical Bed in.
"But I shall explain the rest of the floors briefly. From the top floor, is the Main Computational Mainframe or MCM. Which is where all the Data for the Computers are. As all the Monitors you see are merely Interfaces and Terminal for interaction with the larger machine. Then below that is Observation Deck. Where a variety of utensils and utilities lie to observe state of the Island. From Weather to Temperature and it unique magnetic phenomenon. Below it is the Thinking Room. Dr. Tehertz had one in every one of his Work Islands, a place for him to sit in and think. It has all he would need for pondering. And includes many journals and preliminary drafts as it was where he drafted blueprints" Helpy could on their six digited fingers.
"Below it is the File Storage. A Level dedicated to and meticulously organized for all Dr. Tehertz did on this island. It also includes numerous stored reading from the Observation Deck. Then, the final floor, the one right above you, is the Robotics and Automaton storage. Directly below you is the first below ground floor, Dedicated to storage of failed inventions. Below that is a Foundry, where materials are made from scratch down to Microchips or Sheets of Alloy. Then theres the Floor dedicated to Experimentation Floor. Where the Inventions and Experiments actually occur."
"Under it is the Floor for Biological Research, Medical Machines and the Like. Below it is the Power Generation Array or PGA. It also serves as the Maintenance access to observe and fix problems for all other floors."
But Helpy held up only 11 Fingers.
"But you said there was 12? You only said 11." Calliope said with a point. A slight playful scowl.
"I did indeed! It is because…Well. The 12th Basement is meant to be top secret stuff!" Helpy said lifting their hands up and shaking them quickly
"Yeah? Then why'd you tell me about it in the first place? Why didn't you say there were only 11?" She put her hands on her hips. "I- I-" His eyes closed slightly. "I apologize. Yes you are correct Ms. Rascal."
"The Final Floor, the 12th, is the Largest Floor. It is a Floor Dedicated to Science. It has just about everything in there. From failed Experiments, Unfinished Prototypes, Working Inventions, Machines for just about everything even one that, according to my database, was meant to be used to track the probability of Piracy Activity."
Sher pursed her brow…"Piracy Activity…That would mean…"
"Yes! The Marines would be able to stop Pirates before they even become pirates!" He spoke in an excited robotic tone.
"But thats fucked!" She snapped "Thank god its not being used. Because thats a dangerous thing. Just because someone has the likelihood to do bad. Doesn't mean they will do bad!" She recoiled. Frustration covering her face.
"Just because someone is, doesn't mean they are what they might be. Their Existence as a probability shouldn't be a death sentence!" She was getting worked up…That was exactly the same reasoning that the World Government did what they had to Water 9. Her Father. Why so many people hated her for her…Gender Identity. They thought because she was Trans that it would mean she wasn't trustworthy. Can't make decisions. And was nothing more than a Stupid girl who was a Silly Boy who didn't know better. And that was worse than anything…
Her hydraulics in her cyberware creaked and groaned.
"Ah…I see." Helpy said. "A Classic Philosophical quandary…I apologize. Dr. Tehertz designed me to Ask Questions and Confirm the ideas he had, in that I plainly explained back to him what he had complexly said to me."
"If I may. What you just told me is; It only matters the actions a person has taken and do take that matter. Not the ones they may take or that people think they will."
Her hands loosened. "Yeah. Let me guess. Tehertz was also a Philosopher too?"
"Indeed. A True polyglot by the definition of the word."
Calliope explored all these Floors. She'd imagined they were all cleared out given how sparse the ground floor was. But given no one besides her had been in here since Terhertz had left years ago, it's not like anyone other than him would have the ability to move things out.
The Computer Mainframe was massive. Towering Steel Cases with switches and dials to control the output and input of data along with the readings of the telemetry. It was suspended by massive suspension cables. Roots of cables traveling around as a single terminal sat directly beneath the floating behemoth of cuboid shapes of varying extreme sizes and variants. The last piece of information that was in the Log and had been put into the Terminal had been 21 Years ago.
The Observation Deck had an enormous sextant, sundial, weather vain, and a variety of other tools and appliances to measure phenomenon. There were windows surrounding the circular room, charts showing seismic information. With a massive spike 20 months ago.
The Thinking room was an empty room with the style of dark wood with a full circular desk in the middle and a chair attached to the ground that swiveled easily. The walls were open bay style letting the dusk light in. But, it was far from clean. Everywhere there were scribbles and notes. Scratched into the wood, Drawn onto the walls, painted, marked, or smeared. Not a single Part of the room was left unmarked. From the chair she sat in, to the desk, the windows and the ceiling. Equations. Notes like 'Need more markers'. That note in particular was specifically faded. There were also numbered ideas. The first one she spotted was #1045, 'The sun is the answer. Its radiance and touch of everything is the key?' with notes surrounding it like 'The Sun Speaks to me in laughter.' 'Its rays kill and foster in the same radiance.' But as she continued to look at the Ideas. The lower the number. The more Reasonable. Until she found the first. #1 'Solve Everything'
The File Storage was a massive archive of rows and rows of labeled filing cabinets. There were millions of papers. From blueprints for what looked to be a rocket ship, to prototypes of the Harbingers. The walls pocked with holes where the blueprint canisters were held. All labeled. Weapons, Vehicles, Tools, Blueprints for the very things that she had seen on this island. The FABM. And even Helpy. He had made everything from scratch. Everything he had made was either of his own making or advancements of previous technologies not of his own.
The Automaton Storage Was nearly empty. Filled with only the stragglers of the Robotics. None of them were nearly as advanced as the Harbingers she had seen far to many times. But they were more complex than those punch card and clock work mechanisms. They used computational and electronic machines that was combined with some analog technologies. Exactly as the Terminals looked to have functioned.
The Storage was filled with hundreds of Machines and Technologies. All abandoned. Yet all of them were Decades in advancement at least. With some seeming to be centuries into the future. Thermal Monowire that are covered in a Plasmatic layer. Magnetic Levitation and suspension. Molecular thin edges.
As for the foundry. It was a massive amount of Machines for Production that required melting processes of materials and casting of them. Metal Forges, Kilns, Casting. Massive channels for pouring and cooling. A enormous pool in the middle of the floor filled with a dark liquid meant for cooling. Chains, Conveyors, Pneumatic Presses.
Experimentation Level was wide with a flat and sparse open area. Lines scored into the ground to form countless squares despite being in a circular confinement. The floor could move, elevate up or depress down. They could push away to reveal targets or a variety of other objects for use in experimentation. Large strip lights above with bright stark lights. Providing an even universal lightning that caused no shadows to be harshly cast.
Biological…Had far too much for Calliope to Understand. Test Tubes, Vats with what looked to be misshapen growths of flesh? Or some form of Biological Material in a blueish liquid that bubbled. Empty Petri Dishes. Unused chemistry flasks and glassware. Centrifuge. Sterile containment with gloves to manipulate what was inside the display. The Chalk Boards and notes around the dozens of large square science tables spoke on Genetic Engineering, Biological Enhancement, Hormonal Treatment, Anatomical Research and Experimentation. And perhaps most important of all, was the Devil Fruit drawings on the chalk board. There was Three. One said Pika. Another was Form. And the Final one was Eria. Pika was a Yellowish Star Shaped fruit with swirling patterns.. Form looked almost like a Hand with pinkish hue with Feathering lines.. And Eria was basic in being orangish with layered streak lines and divots.
Pika- Failure.
Form- In Progress.
Eria- Impossible.
Second to last, the PGA. It was a massive room with a pulsing electrical ball of sparks and lightning inside a glass container, like a plasma globe, but with coils pointing inward, seeming to extract the energy inside the sphere before shooting up through glass tubes with copper coils inside, glowing with light and energy. Shielding and plates stationary around the power souce. Massive tubes and cables flowing around and up into the rest of the Facility. There were also panels for switches and lights.
Last. There was far too many invention in the Deep Storage to count. Enormous pieces of Machinery. Containers. What looked to be fabrications of pieces for buildings. Weapons. The same one repeated a dozen times, and dozens of weapons all the same. It wasn't a scrap yard. It was a display and museum of imperfection to the eyes of a man who needed everything to be perfect. They just. Sat there. Some pushed away, other collected into containers, but none were actually piled upon each other.
Hours Later. Calliope let drop all the miscellaneous pieces she'd found and could reasonably carry with her. Letting it spill across the table. "Ugh….And here I was thinking I'd already done enough! First it was that Haki stuff you had stored in your library, and now I have literally all of Tehertz notes and research to use!" A small, tired smile came over her face.
Haki. Was a pain in the ass for Calliope. According to the Tests she'd done, she was an Ejection type affinity, with what she seemed to be a lean to Firmament. She knew if she wanted to get stronger. She'd have to learn what ever this was so that she had other things to rely on if she couldn't use her Fruit or Cybernetics…
"Now….Where to continue…" She murmured, extending a finger lazily, activating the drill finger.