"Lord Scalpel, I think there has been a misunderstanding. I don't recall—"
"Enough, little one. Stop pretending. It's getting tiresome."
Nathan tried to explain, but Scalpel cut him off, crawling over his head to perch on his left shoulder.
Fine. I'll bite.
Nathan decided to pivot. "Lord Scalpel, I admit I am... confused. Please explain."
He was genuinely curious. He didn't believe for a second that Scalpel had deduced his origin as a transmigrator. That was metaphysically impossible for a machine to scan.
"Ze-ze~ Little one, you know I coded the Information Chips for you and the others, yes?"
"Yes, Lord Scalpel."
"What neither you nor Starscream know is that one of those chips was... special."
Scalpel's voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper, his mandibles clicking with glee.
"Of the eight chips, I altered one. I removed the hard-coded loyalty protocols to Starscream. The drone with that chip would have free will. It wouldn't be a slave."
"So, little one... do you understand now?"
Oh.
Nathan's processor stalled for a microsecond.
He thinks I'm his experiment.
He thinks the reason I stared at Starscream wasn't because I'm a human soul in a robot body, but because his code worked.
"I see..." Nathan said slowly, feigning a dawn of realization.
Internally, however, he was laughing nervously.
That explains everything. But wait...
I definitely received the loyalty command. The HUD flashed 'LOYALTY TO STARSCREAM' in big red letters. I just chose to ignore it.
Which means... I'm not the sabotaged drone.
The real rogue unit is either T-18 (who is dead), or one of the six idiots currently in stasis.
But Nathan wasn't about to correct him. This was the perfect cover.
"So," Nathan asked carefully, "you believe the chip in my cerebral module is the modified one?"
"Idiot! Of course!" Scalpel rapped his knuckles on Nathan's helm. "If you had the standard chip, you would have bowed and scraped like T-19. Only a unit with free will would dare to stare down a Commander!"
"Ze-ze~ Though, it did cost you a beating. My apologies for that."
Nathan didn't mind the apology. He was too busy processing the implications.
"Lord Scalpel, if you coded the chips, wouldn't you know which one was modified before installing it?"
"You think Starscream is a fool?" Scalpel scoffed. "He inspected every chip. To pass his audit, I couldn't mark the hardware. They looked identical. I mixed them up during installation to maintain plausible deniability. I had no idea which body the rogue code ended up in."
Scalpel looked at Nathan with something akin to pride. "Until you looked at him."
So Starscream is paranoid, and Scalpel is treacherous.
And I'm the lucky beneficiary of a comedy of errors.
"Lord Scalpel," Nathan whispered, leaning in. "Is it safe to discuss this here? What if Starscream is listening?"
"Ha! Relax." Scalpel waved a claw dismissively. "This lab is shielded. If I couldn't block Starscream's sensors in my own home, I would have been scrap metal eons ago."
"Good to know."
Nathan relaxed. If the room was a Faraday cage, he could speak freely.
"In that case... when Starscream left, he sent me a message."
He decided to gamble. Trust was a currency, and he needed to buy in.
"A Brainwave transmission. He ordered me to watch you."
Scalpel didn't look surprised. He looked vindicated.
"Of course he did. Brainwave Comms... short range, undetectable, direct to the cortex. Typical Starscream cowardice."
Scalpel laughed. "He's terrified I'll betray him. Which, of course, I already have."
Nathan filed away the technical data. Brainwave Comms. Good for secrets, bad for range.
It was distinct from standard UHF (Ultra High Frequency) radio, which worked like a chat room, or Quantum Encryption, which worked like secure email. Brainwave was telepathy for machines.
"So," Scalpel said, jumping down to the console. "You are my rogue unit. You are my secret. And now, you are my spy."
He looked up at Nathan.
"Starscream thinks you work for him. But you exist because of me. Where does your loyalty lie, T-22?"
Nathan looked down at the tiny doctor.
He wasn't loyal to either of them. He was loyal to survival. But for now, the Doctor offered better perks.
"My loyalty lies with the one who gives me Energon," Nathan said smoothly.
"Ze-ze-ze~ Good answer." Scalpel turned back to his screen.
"Now, get back on the table. We have work to do."