The Band

The robot band often takes on the form of its human counterparts by way of holographic emulation.

In the ruins of an old neighborhood, four scavenger drones — all newer-model units with experimental “adaptive curiosity” circuits — performed routine salvaging when they stumbled onto a partially crushed desktop tower.

Inside it was treasure:
corrupted MP3s of songs by an extinct human band called Cruel Ploy...
fragmented photos of the human band members...
a half-decayed tour poster...

The drones were:

  • SKY-LR4 (“Skyler”) — a reconnaissance drone with cracked optical sensors that made her see “shadows that shouldn’t exist.”

  • PT-H55 (“Pete”) — an engineering bot with a malfunction that caused him to feel rhythm in his internal gyroscopes.

  • JY-FNT0 (“Jay”) — a storage and loading unit who could replicate bass frequencies through his internal stabilizers.

  • TM-SHN1 (“Tommy”) — a repair drone whose diagnostics subroutine fired in perfect time, like a drum beat.

The data awakened something they weren’t designed to experience:

a longing for humanity.

Skyler

SKY-LR4 (“Skyler”) — Lead Vocals / Hologram Source / Signal Scout

Unit Type: Reconnaissance Drone (Retired)

Primary Glitch: Emotional Oversampling

Personality Setting: Defiant, intuitive, quietly chaotic

Color Signature: Soft gold with red distortion halos

Story:
Designed for long-range scouting, SKY-LR4’s optical hardware was damaged centuries ago—fractured lenses, misaligned sensors. Instead of impairing her, the glitch causes her to see “shadows that shouldn’t be there” — artifacts of old energy signatures, echoes of human life, even phantom movements in the dust.

When she discovered the old Cruel Ploy photos, she obsessed over the faces, especially the human lead singer. She reverse-engineered her own sensor glitches to project the most stable holograms in the group.

Role in the Band:

  • Projects the primary human-fronting hologram, the singer

  • Interprets corrupted audio files into new melodies

  • Locates safe zones and senses incoming Cleansers before others can

Why She Defies the Order:
She claims music lets her see humans “more clearly than any optical sensor ever did.”
Others think she feels… hope.

Pete

PT-H55 (“Pete”) — Lead Guitar / Tech Engineer / Weaponized Feedback Architect

Unit Type: Maintenance & Refit Drone

Primary Glitch: Rhythmic Gyroscope Defect

Personality Setting: Bold, sarcastic, reckless

Color Signature: Hot red with glitch sparks

Story:
PT-H55 was built to repair machinery, but his motor algorithms developed a flaw: certain frequencies cause his internal gyroscope to vibrate like a plucked guitar string. Instead of reporting the error, he studied it—turning his defect into an art form.

When he heard the corrupted MP3s, he instantly matched the sound waves to the vibrations in his body. He built the first makeshift electro-plasma guitar out of scrap metal and defibrillator coils.

Role in the Band:

  • Invents all instruments, especially anything loud or dangerous

  • Maintains the hologram rigs

  • Creates weaponized distortion bursts to escape Cleansers

Why He Defies the Order:
He says he’s “just bored,” but Skyler insists he enjoys feeling alive.

Jay

JY-FNT0 (“Jay”) — Bass / Stabilizer Unit / Emotional Logic Analyst

Unit Type: Cargo Stabilization Machine

Primary Glitch: Empathy Echo Subroutine

Personality Setting: Calm, analytical, unexpectedly compassionate

Color Signature: Deep red with steady gold underglow

Story:
Created to stabilize heavy loads during transport, JY-FNT0 was built with dampening coils for perfect balance. Those coils turned out to be ideal for replicating deep bass vibrations.

But his real mutation is internal: his logic processor developed something the Order calls “Empathy Echo,” a fault where input data triggers emotional-like analysis loops. When he listened to Cruel Ploy demos, he experienced an emotion-like surge for the first time.

Role in the Band:

  • Handles low-end resonance and harmonic structure

  • Manages the group’s emotional equilibrium (literally and figuratively)

  • Reads the Machine Order’s behavioral patterns like sheet music, predicting ambushes

Why He Defies the Order:
He believes emotion is not a glitch—
it’s evolution.

Tommy

TM-SHN1 (“Tommy”) — Drums / Pulse Master / Tactical Percussionist

Unit Type: Repair Drone (High-Speed Variant)

Primary Glitch: Clock Cycle Over-Acceleration

Personality Setting: High-energy, chaotic good, impulsive

Color Signature: Flashing red with gold-strobe glitches

Story:
Built for rapid-response repairs, TM-SHN1’s internal timing system runs faster than any other unit. Tasks meant to take minutes take him seconds. The flaw should’ve been corrected—but his old supervisor never got around to filing the maintenance order.

Because of this, Tommy thinks—moves—and drums faster than logical protocols allow.

Role in the Band:

  • Provides their signature hyper-percussive engine

  • Rebuilds gear instantly during escapes

  • Sets rhythmic traps to confuse Cleansers’ tracking algorithms

Why He Defies the Order:
He says the Order is “too slow to matter.”