Provisional Title: Sqid in the maintenance shop
[!0.987]2022-10-07

[x0.97] Helix's story continues

[!2.5] Do not touch!

[x0.7][!0.65] Do not touch!

Oh, no! I should
not have touched!

Provisional Title: Sqid in the maintenance shop
[!0.987]2022-10-10

Helix, you didn't cause the loss of power.

The lights went out when I touched the sign.

Coincidence.
Correlation does
not mean causation.

It's like when something disappears when I'm around. Coincidence.

No. There we have a pretty strong link between correlation and causation.

Provisional Title: Sqid in the maintenance shop
[!0.987]2022-10-12

Anyhow, back to my story.

It was pitch black. I was likely to be eaten by a grue. A common hazard when you're operating in text only adventure mode.

Then the back up lights came on and when I saw everyone was panicking normally, I knew things were going to be all right.

Grue

Provisional Title: Sqid in the maintenance shop
[!0.987]2022-10-14

I continued to explore and tried
to stay out of everyone's way.

Then I saw the first robot here other than myself. He was just as surprised
to see me.

We discovered that similar programming produces similar reactions.

Provisional Title: Sqid in the maintenance shop
[!0.987]2022-10-17

If the other robot was a threat, it wouldn't be running away from me. It would be running at me. I reversed my direction to give chase.

Another trait of similar programming.
It can result in looped behavior.

Provisional Title: Sqid in the maintenance shop
[!0.987]2022-10-19

After a bit of back and forth,
we established communication.

The other robot told me he was part of a secret society that hid from humans and repaired equipment when no one was around. They called themselves “The Invisible Order of Brownies”.

We both thought it was a good
name because all humans like
an order of brownies.

Chocolate brownie, Brownie (folklore)

Provisional Title: Sqid in the maintenance shop
[!0.987]2022-10-21

He asked which group I belonged to. The Lost Bouys? The fiddlers on the roof? The Stealthy Green Toupees?

I told him I was a tourist. I didn't work
on the station. I gave my goodbyes and prepared to leave. He said I couldn't leave knowing about robots secretly working
on the station.

It was then I realized I was in a tourist trap.

Provisional Title: Sqid in the maintenance shop
[!0.987]2022-10-24

The plan was simple. They were going to lock me in a room for twenty four hours and let my day memory overwrite.

As the other robots closed in,
I remembered I still had the sign.
A sign printed by a human hand!

Effectively, a direct order.

[!0.8] Do not touch!

Provisional Title: Sqid in the maintenance shop
[!0.987]2022-10-26

The “Do not touch!” sign shouldn't have stopped the robots for long.

It didn't need to.
I used a trick I learned from Sam.

They were all discussing ways to get around the sign. I helped by tossing in a few suggestions of my own.

While they were arguing about which method was best, I made my escape.

Provisional Title: Sqid in the maintenance shop
[!0.987]2022-10-28

Then I put the sign back and returned to
the ship.

So many robots. You'd think one would have been seen.

I'm sure they've been seen. Just not reported.

You have robots secretly repairing machinery. It makes the operators jobs easier, the technicians jobs easier and makes the station safer. All you have to do to keep things going is not say anything.

People will speak up to change a bad situation. They're less likely to speak
up to change a good one.