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the windup boy
Mar. 4th, 2020 07:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
primarchy[ Lucifer's life in the lab has been constant: cold, sterile, impersonal. He is a product. A very valuable product, a prototype of the Astral Corporation's newest system administration technology, but a product nonetheless, and he is treated as such. He is owned, and must meet expectations, and so his days are spent being evaluated for functionality, capability, user friendliness, and adaptability. All the qualities he must possess to justify the very significant overhead costs of his development.
The bioengineers and quality testers who spend their days with him make it very clear: if he does not meet benchmarks, he will be scrapped, and the next prototype, created according to the next set of design specs, will take his place in the evaluations that make up his days. That's merely business, the way of the world he belongs to, the facts of his life. He doesn't think to question it; he doesn't know anything else.
And when the tests are done, Lucifer is also treated like a product: tucked away into a diagnostic station, wearing only a thin, form-fitting catsuit, his wings folded neatly at his back. Left in a standby state to have new software uploaded in preparation for another round of evaluations in the morning. He's aware of time passing in only the most distant sense, his eyes closed, focused on the new code. He can sense the lab's systems around him, tracks the flow of data and time in a vague way; if he needed to, he could know the exact hour, minute, second in an instant, but he has no need to, not until the scheduled time for his next round of evaluations arrives.
Being abruptly pulled from his diagnostic sleep is a shock — unscheduled, the code upload interrupted. But Lucifer only opens his eyes and stares calmly into an unfamiliar face: dark, unruly hair and red, red eyes. A new tester? A new technician? The man isn't wearing the standard white labcoats that Lucifer is used to seeing, but access to his lab is strictly monitored. He has not yet been granted access to Astral Corporation's personnel files; the man before him must then be permitted here, and his actions, though unscheduled, must likewise be permitted. Lucifer's cooperation is therefore required, and he waits, patiently, for the instructions that must be forthcoming.
For whatever orders he will receive and follow. ]
The bioengineers and quality testers who spend their days with him make it very clear: if he does not meet benchmarks, he will be scrapped, and the next prototype, created according to the next set of design specs, will take his place in the evaluations that make up his days. That's merely business, the way of the world he belongs to, the facts of his life. He doesn't think to question it; he doesn't know anything else.
And when the tests are done, Lucifer is also treated like a product: tucked away into a diagnostic station, wearing only a thin, form-fitting catsuit, his wings folded neatly at his back. Left in a standby state to have new software uploaded in preparation for another round of evaluations in the morning. He's aware of time passing in only the most distant sense, his eyes closed, focused on the new code. He can sense the lab's systems around him, tracks the flow of data and time in a vague way; if he needed to, he could know the exact hour, minute, second in an instant, but he has no need to, not until the scheduled time for his next round of evaluations arrives.
Being abruptly pulled from his diagnostic sleep is a shock — unscheduled, the code upload interrupted. But Lucifer only opens his eyes and stares calmly into an unfamiliar face: dark, unruly hair and red, red eyes. A new tester? A new technician? The man isn't wearing the standard white labcoats that Lucifer is used to seeing, but access to his lab is strictly monitored. He has not yet been granted access to Astral Corporation's personnel files; the man before him must then be permitted here, and his actions, though unscheduled, must likewise be permitted. Lucifer's cooperation is therefore required, and he waits, patiently, for the instructions that must be forthcoming.
For whatever orders he will receive and follow. ]
