Bastion takes a long moment to process that, then says, // If my manufacturer disliked what we were doing, it overrode it.

If the omnium needed you for a complex maneuver or a troop relocation it didn't give you the option of noncompliance. If you tried to wander too far away from the battlefield for no tactical reason, intentionally or unintentionally, you'd find yourself back there again. Aversive incentives beyond the ever-present threat of being killed by humans if you fucked up were unnecessary, at least for an entity that could afford to replace you, had thousands more of you to manage, and didn't consider pain a goal in itself.