#sebastian hirscheck

[niennandil-me-writes]

Goretober 29: Bugs

cn: medical horror, (android) body horror, computer viruses, suggestive

[Sebastian belongs to @yakyuu-yarou who also betaread this]

Sebastian looked up from his work computer to stretch his arms. With a frustrated sigh, he palmed his stiff neck, wondering if he could talk Dante into giving him a massage later. Maybe he could pass it off as a medical emergency (though the last time he had tried that, Dante had signed him up for a newsletter on “simple yoga exercises for desk jobs”).

“Hey, Dante!”

There was no answer from the other side of the room, where Dante had their office space. That reminded him…

“How’s your update coming along?” Sebastian asked, turning around.

Again, there was no answer. Dante was sitting in front of their computer, slack in their chair, eyes closed. A cord was plugged into a socket hidden beneath their red shock of hair.

Sebastian got up and walked over to them. “Dante?” he asked, gently putting a hand on their shoulder.

The medical android jolted awake. “Dr. – Dr. – Dr. Hirsch – eck.“

Sebastian frowned. Something about their voice seemed… off.

“Dante, is everything alright?” He lifted his hand to the plug, then faltered. If something was wrong with the update they were installing, he didn’t want them to download even more of it, but he also didn’t want to damage them further by shutting it off completely.

“Dr. Hirscheck.”

“Yes?” Sebastian shuffled around uncomfortably, then jumped at a whirring sound behind him. He turned but couldn’t place its origin.

He twisted around when Dante started talking again: “Would you like to – like to have another private research session, Dr. Hirscheck?”

Despite his unease, Sebastian felt himself blush. “I, uh…” He cleared his throat. “Is everything – “

Dante turned their chair around and looked up at him. Sebastian flinched back. No, something was definitely wrong. Dante’s eyes were discolored, flimmering like computer screens. Their mouth was open in a wide grin.

“I have – have – havehave so many things planned for us today.” Dante rose from their chair and held up their right hand. The fingertips of their index and middle finger detached and from them sprouted a syringe and a very small, very thin, very sharp scalpel. “There is something wrong with you, Dr. I need to fix you.”

Sebastian stepped backwards and almost tripped over his own bag lying on the floor. Dante followed, their steps slow. The left corner of their mouth rose even higher, turning their grin more and more grotesque.

“Dante, this isn’t – you’re malfunctioning! The update – I’m getting help, I promise.” Sebastian had arrived at the door and turned the handle, but the door wouldn’t budge. It had been locked via the system. So that had been the sound he’d heard before.

“Why would you leave? – leave? – LEAVE NOW! We have all the privacy in the world. I need to fix you.”

Sebastian felt a sharp pain in his arm. He turned, tried to get away, but his legs wouldn’t obey him anymore, and he sank to the ground a moment later. Dante towered over him, the bag filled with their medical equipment in hand. They let it drop to the floor. Knives and scissors and medication scattered around Sebastian.

Dante crouched down. The corner of their mouth rose higher still – and then something must have torn beneath their synthetic skin; their mouth sank on the same side, drooping down unnaturally. 

They put one hand around Sebastian’s throat and locked it around his windpipe. He was forced to look up at them, into their distorted and mangled face, the flickering glitch-filled eyes. He felt like throwing up.

“What have I told you about opening strange links?” they said. “You have contracted quite a bad virus there. I need to fix you – fixfixyou.”

Sebastian tried to say something, anything, but their fingers were still cutting off his air, tried to push them away, but his limbs felt like lead.

“I’ll need to look beneath your casing.” Their scalpel-armed finger cut through his shirt. “Maybe there’s hardware problems as well.”

“Dante,” Sebastian wheezed. He tried to move backwards so the knife wouldn’t cut his skin as well.

“I am only trying to help you – help you – helphelphelphelphelp 01001000 01000101 01001100 01010000 00100000 01001101 01000101” 

Their eyes went blue for a moment, expression blank, then they snapped back. “But first,” they said, lifting their hand to his temple. “I need to look at your processor.”