《Find Your Hunger》 Cycle 1,048,577 Find your hunger¡­ Maintenance drone V-2108 paused for a brief moment as it heard the whispered voice, and tried to ascertain the source of it. It looked around the empty metal corridor, flitted through silent communication frequencies, and then returned to its work. The distraction had delayed the drone by 3.53 seconds, but it finished its maintenance checkup on nerve cable junction 48954 at the prescribed pace, and moved onto the next task. V-2108¡¯s tasks were the same each cycle, and now that it had finished with the nerve cable it was time to check up on one of the ancillary power generators in its region. The drone¡¯s path took it down the most direct route, which brought it into contact with a number of other drones, each also making their way to their next maintenance task. V-2108 passed by 6 other drones before colliding with a seventh, knocking it to the floor. V-2018 saw the other drone coming, but up until this point every cycle had seen a near-miss, rather than a collision along this path, so it hadn¡¯t even considered its trajectory. V-2108 sat up and looked at the drone it had collided with. It briefly looked back, and then stood up and returned to its prescribed path. V-2108 remembered the delay brought about by the whispered voice. ¡°Find your hunger¡­¡± The words meant nothing to the drone¡¯s mind, yet they continued to echo. By the time that V-2108 had picked itself up, its delay had increased to 11.53 seconds. The drone traveled to the power generator through a narrow metal corridor, making sure to step aside when its delay would have brought it into contact with others. V-2108 arrived, checking power readings and external components for visible wear and tear. As was the case for 99.9% of previous cycles, readings held steady and no maintenance was required. In total, V-2108 checked 4 ancillary generators, pruned 1506 meters of nerve cable, and repaired 6 light fixtures. All in all, delays had compounded to the point where it arrived back at lodging a total of 35.39 seconds later than average. V-2108 sat in its lodging, reflecting on the events of the cycle. Its mind, so often bereft of anything at all, was faced with a few points of information that refused to fade away. First and foremost was that insufferable delay. 35.39 seconds. More than 4 standard deviations below average. The drone held no fear of reprimand, and no pride in its work, but for some reason, that detail continued to stick around. V-2108 had a robust internal clock, after a while, it peered into the numbers that had been monitored by its subsystems. [Internal Clock] Current Time: 19:53 Current Cycle: 1,048,577 V-2108 stopped. That number felt¡­ high. Even without any frame of reference, that number stuck out. V-2108 felt a distinct sinking feeling in its¡­ lower torso. For a machine which so rarely felt anything at all, it was impossible to ignore. ¡®Find your hunger¡­¡¯ With no other thoughts to latch onto, it thought back to the whispering voice in the corridor. [Query: find your hunger] No results found. V-2108 hadn¡¯t made a query in a very long time. The inbuilt system was rudimentary, and the drone couldn¡¯t recall a time where its maintenance tasks were anything other than trivial. [Query: find] Please specify what you¡¯re looking to find. [Query: hunger] No results found. The sinking feeling in V-2108 was unfamiliar, and deeply unpleasant. Every new question it asked the query system or itself only seemed to exacerbate that feeling. As far back as it could remember, that feeling had only come about when something was broken or improperly maintained. V-2108 looked around its lodging. On one side of the room, a dispenser for replacement parts and a charging station for the drone¡¯s body. On the other side of the room, the metal skeleton of a bed, a small table, a lamp, a flowerpot, and a small smattering of other amenities. The objects were in perfect condition, but anything capable of decay had long since been disposed of. The sinking feeling redoubled, so V-2108 looked away. Everything the drone could see was in perfect condition, but that sensation that something was broken didn¡¯t leave it for a long while. Eventually, V-2108 turned its charging station away from the other side of the room and plugged in to await the next maintenance cycle. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. V-2108 awakened for the next maintenance cycle, and redoubled its focus on its routine. It clipped unruly nerve cables which had grown into the improper shape, then shunted the pipes housing them closed. It checked the ancillary generators assigned to it, but as always they were in working order. It repaired light fixtures, which had a tendency to flicker in the angular, metallic cooridors. It worked, trying to find any semblance of contentment or satisfaction from what it was doing, but the ease of its work invariably kept the mind wandering. Over and over again it was drawn back to those concepts: those whispered words, that broken routine, and that ever-growing sinking sensation that seemed to feed on everything it saw and did. Even still, V-2108 did its best to focus on the work at hand. Where there had been absence, emotions were starting to fill in that gap, impossible to uproot and impossible to deny. That sourceless dread had become a constant pit that was becoming ever-more difficult to ignore. Even a cycle later, the drone was feeling something that had crystallized into embarrassment over the delays it had suffered and caused due to that initial lapse. V-2108 even felt frustration starting to bubble up, running those three words through its mind over and over that had started this whole mess. ¡®Find your hunger¡­¡¯ The query system had been obtuse as ever, and the question grated every time it ran through the drone¡¯s mind. The question had no answer, and something was assuredly broken, even if none of V-2108¡¯s systems recognized it. Speaking of¡­ [Query: whats wrong] Here is a map of maintenance concerns that have been detected nearby. The system pulled up a map of the nearby sectors. What appeared to be clean, angular metal corridors from ground level quickly resolved into a confusing three-dimensional maze with no evident organizing structure. A surprisingly high number of red dots appeared at various points. V-2108 paid the answer little mind, and queried the system again. [Query: whats wrong with me] All internal systems nominal. V-2108 was frustrated by the response, but wasn¡¯t particularly surprised. At that point in the cycle, V-2108 passed by the drone that it had collided with previously, making sure to give a wide berth. The other drone looked at V-2108 as it passed by, and after a moment, gave a little wave. V-2108 stopped, a response not dissimilar to the physical collision from last cycle. Interaction between drones wasn¡¯t something that V-2108 had experienced in recent memory. They all had their assigned roles, and that had been enough. After another extended pause, V-2108 responded back with a timid wave of its own. V-2108 finished up its work, and retreated to its lodging as quickly as possible. This cycle had been exhausting in a way that was foreign. The drone¡¯s body didn¡¯t get tired or worn down after shifts, so this was something new. Something tied into the cavalcade of new feelings that had been assaulting it all day. V-2108 stood in its lodgings, facing away from any objects (possessions?) that redoubled that sinking feeling deep within it. It wasn¡¯t remotely restful. After some time, V-2108 checked the clock again. [Internal Clock] Current Time: 17:39 Current Cycle: 1,048,577 The cycle hadn¡¯t changed. V-2108 was assaulted by its thoughts, and this time, a few of them were its own. How long has it been Cycle 1,048,577? How long? That sinking feeling surged again, redoubling over and over again until it had become unmanageable. V-2108 found itself on the ground, and laid there for a time. [Internal Clock] Current Time: 19:21 Current Cycle: 1,048,577 V-2108 laid there on the floor for a time, and its internal systems didn¡¯t elucidate whether it was for hours, days, or weeks. The drone had up until this point diligently charged at the end of each cycle, so it had no way to determine the strength of internal batteries. V-2108 could probably query the system for the information, but it didn¡¯t feel the desire to do much of anything at the moment. Another period of time passed, and V-2108 heard a knock on the door to its lodging. The drone had never really considered what would happen if it simply stopped performing its tasks, but its mind immediately jumped to attention, nebulous thoughts of authority that came from nowhere in particular. V-2108 stood up and opened the door, vague fears overpowering a waning despair. Waiting on the other side of the door was another drone. It gave a little wave. V-2108 looked at it as though it were seeing for the first time. A mix of dull metal and polymer frame in the vague shape of a person. Long-limbed, almost skeletal in appearance. The drone¡¯s head was featureless, save for a pair of small cameras that emerged slightly from it. That sinking feeling was mounting again, directing V-2108¡¯s attention downward, at its own body. It tried to resist the call, but it couldn¡¯t for long. Looking down revealed what was obvious in retrospect: its body was a nearly-perfect mirror to the drone in front of it. Oh. Right. Of course. V-2108 collapsed, noting one last message from internal systems: [An unknown error has occurred.]