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Five Pebbles blinked his eyes open tiredly. He looked around confused and hungry.
He was still in Suns' chamber, currently sleeping beside them in a bed the latter had built recently.
The lights were off, as expected, and the only sound present was Suns' breathing and the deep, calming hum of their superstructure.
Pebbles glanced at his lover, using the lights in his eyes to see slightly better.
Suns was partially curled under the large, red blanket the two shared. Their face was neutral, as always, and their mandibles clicked slightly every few moments as they took deep, even breaths.
Pebbles smiled and placed his best approximation of a kiss on Suns' forehead, then delicately moved the blanket off his puppet and got out of the bed.
He turned to tuck Suns in a bit better, then walked to the center of the puppet chamber on his thin, pointed feet.
Pebbles approached the limp umbilical arm that hung from the ceiling and began climbing up the rig.
This was standard procedure until Suns finally built a ladder or stairs, which they really should get started on, in Pebbles' opinion.
Reaching the top of the rig, Pebbles then went through the general system access pipe.
He emerged into a brighter environment, with neuron flies buzzing about and deep red inspectors gliding around and keeping the whole superstructure secure.
Pebbles briefly considered scanning one of the flies when it bumped into him, but decided against so.
Suns had allowed Pebbles to interface with, and control, many things in their can, just as Pebbles had allowed Suns to do. But they were currently sleeping, and Pebbles wouldn't want to accidently wake them with a sudden jolt of information.
This was a solo mission after all, a fact he was reminded of when his stomach grumbled angrily.
Sighing slightly, Pebbles launched himself right into the anti-gravity of Suns' systems bus and kicked off a wall to go down.
The sight of an active, though idle, iterator was still quite wondrous, and it served as a welcome distraction from Pebbles' hunger.
The constant swarms of neuron flies or the vast arrays of information scattered across the walls was quite stunning, and Pebbles was still overjoyed to see it years later.
Floating down to the floor, Pebbles reached the rough center of Suns' internal structure, which meant he had to take a hard left to go to the bio-labs.
Pebbles did so, and allowed his own mind to wander as he floated down the halls.
Hunger was a rather new sensation to him. It was something as intriguing as it was frustrating.
The concept was simple, of course. Everything needed nutrients and resources to stay alive, and pre-liberation iterators were no different. They had needed water and void fluid to stay alive and healthy.
But direct hunger was new. The grumbling in his stomach or the sensation of eating were feelings Pebbles was almost overwhelmed by when he upgraded his puppet a few months ago.
Now, it was just a feeling almost as normal as any other, though one Pebbles found fun to experiment with. Taste was quite the sense, and every cycle he tasted something new was a cycle where Pebbles found himself understanding the fat slugcat from so long ago. Eating was simply fun, and trying tasty food even moreso.
On the thought of tasty food…
Pebbles grabbed a pole and brought himself to a stop.
The opening to Suns' bio-labs was before him, the clean white walls and endless rooms stretching out forever.
Pebbles brought himself to the floor and walked into the long tunnel, gravity returning to his limbs as his feet clicked and clacked along the floor.
No matter, it's not like anyone was present to hear the rather grating noise.
Suns was still asleep and Spearmaster was at Moon's structure to stay with her and Ruffles for the week.
Pebbles quickly checked the date while he walked, using his antenna to connect with Suns' can and learn the time.
Spearmaster would be back tomorrow, which was amazing news. But Pebbles was stilled when he learned the hour
It was four in the fucking morning.
Pebbles began walking down the hall faster, the clicking of his metal feet growing louder and more annoying.
If Suns caught him awake at this hour again, they wouldn't be pleased.
One of the many new and slightly annoying things iterators had to deal with, alongside hunger, was sleep.
The actual act of sleeping was something Pebbles would gladly give up the world for, as he found rest and relaxation to be the greatest feeling of humility and calm there was. Dreams were also extremely weird and obtuse in ways that reminded Pebbles of back when he worked on the great problem, but in a fun and entertaining way too.
Circling back, since Pebbles' mind still drifted off far too easily, was the fact that a minimum requirement of sleep was a factor Pebbles had to consider now. Too little, and his brain would get seriously injured or hurt.
Sure, it may only be one cycle, but according to Suns, one cycle was one too many.
Pebbles internally smiled at Suns' concern, then felt relief when he finally spotted what he was looking for in this long chain of white rooms and tunnels. A single room with a large door.
This room contained what Pebbles desired; the fabricator.
Pebbles approached the room and clicked a button, causing the door to slide open and reveal another stark white and sterilized interior.
A table and chairs had been set up here, and drawers with various utensils and dishes were placed along the wall alongside a sink.
Directly opposite Pebbles, on the far wall, was a great machine of shining steel. It stretched from the floor to the ceiling, and was nearly three times Pebbles' height, since the fabricator was sized for the citizens and not iterator puppets.
Suns did manage to modify their fabricator though, so the actual fabrication of stuff happened at a height accessible to iterators.
Pebbles grabbed a bowl from one of the drawers and retrieved a spoon, then approached the machine and opened a glass panel to put his bowl in.
He then tapped at a keyboard on the front of the fabricator and directed it to fill the bowl with cereal first, then milk.
Pebbles watched as the machine hummed with power and began carrying out its function.
In the past, the really, really long past, the fabricator was a miracle of science.
A machine that could create anything if the resources were provided.
It was extremely expensive when Suns had been built, so they only had one, and even Pebbles had a limited number in his can due to the expenses required.
And now it was mostly used to make food.
Pebbles snickered at the thought as he retrieved his bowl of newly made cereal.
If his creators were alive in some way, which Pebbles doubted, and if they could somehow watch him, which he doubted even more, Pebbles was a hundred percent certain they would be fuming at this travesty against everything they stood for.
But they weren't here, and Pebbles was. He was free to do whatever he pleased, and if that included eating some cereal at four in the morning, then so be it.
Pebbles approached the table and dragged a chair out for himself, then placed his bowl on the smooth red wood and sat down.
Then he opened his mandibles and began eating spoonfuls of cereal, making sure not to spill any milk.
If Pebbles were to ever thank Hara for anything, it would be the puppet design she provided for the liberation.
Sig had designed it herself after a bunch of testing, and had given this version of iterator puppet alot of the features Pebbles was currently experiencing.
Things like sleep, dreams, hunger, taste and eating were all innovations she had made, though Sig had received plenty help with the former four.
Eating, though, was Hara's own invention in its entirety, and it certainly had her mark.
Unlike any sane iterator, who would've designed a mouth structure like the benefactor's, Nos decided to make a freaky bug mouth with six multi-jointed mandibles that could masticate, macerate or otherwise process any form of foodstuff provided.
All six mandibles were silver in colour, with a bit of the artificial skin puppet's had covering the parts of the mandibles exposed to air when not in use.
Sufficed to say, the mouth of an iterator was a horrifying mass of shining metal that looked more fitting of a monster than a formerly divine being.
And Pebbles loved it.
Yet another spiteful gesture to the benefactors.
He scooped another spoon of cereal, now soggy and more milk than anything else, and moved his mandibles out of the way to put the food in his throat directly.
Of course, a problem Sig never accounted for–somehow–was that the mouth structure couldn't really close while eating, unlike a citizen's mouth, which meant all of the utensils and dishes would have to be modified for the design to work.
Or the mouth could get updated, which is what Hara was supposedly doing, but it had been nearly a month without a word from her regarding the project, and Pebbles was pretty sure she was just stalling as long as possible to annoy everyone.
Probably that.
Pebbles finished his bowl at last and drank the milk, then brought it to a sink and washed the bowl and spoon.
He put the wet dish and utensil in a drying rack then began his journey again.
His mind wasn't so occupied anymore, so Pebbles just walked down the hall and floated through the systems bus, reaching the neural terminus in a few minutes.
He climbed into the puppet chamber access shaft, then climbed down Suns' umbilical rig and walked over to the large bed in the corner of the room.
Suns hadn't moved at all, so Pebbles was free to get under the bright red blanket without disturbing them.
When he returned to the warmth and comfort, Pebbles shut off the lights in his eyes and moved closer to Suns, wrapping his arms around their smaller puppet and bringing them close.
Even in their sleep, Suns reached out as well, attempting to lay an arm around Pebbles.
It wasn't elegant, not in any sense of the word, but Pebbles could help but feel warm and safe and loved when he saw that gesture.
He delicately brought Suns' arm around his torso, then moved a bit more so he and Suns were nearly wrapped around eachother.
With that done, Pebbles rested his puppet's head above Suns', and allowed sleep to claim him again.