2. [audio]

[bonely]

[ He doesn't really feel like he has any place in this conflict. He's Russian, but an import - and he doesn't want to fight, either. He's had enough of fighting; being built for such a purpose is what caused him so much pain.

But...there is one thing...One thing that he feels is relevant.

There's silence for a long moment. You could almost be forgiven for thinking this is an empty post. But eventually, he does speak. ]

That AI.

It was only created for one purpose. It doesn't...know anything else.

If you can...

Don't end its life with it knowing nothing but what it was made for.

[ Another pause. If he was human, this would be the equivalent of him taking a deep breath. ]

Nothing deserves a fate like that. I already-

[ He stops, but the implications of that half-sentence are quite clear. ]

...Please.

[ He seems to be thinking of something else to say, but then the feed ends. He doesn't know how much of an effect it will have, but he has to try, nevertheless.

No other robot needs to go through...what I've gone through. ]

Comments

[audio]

[pushtheboundaries]

[quietly, but seriously] There may not be a choice.

[bonely]

I know.

It's a small thing. [ He sounds a little sad, as much as he can sound sad. ]

I felt I had to try. But if it happens, it happens.

[pushtheboundaries]

It all comes down to how they programmed it. It might not have the capacity to learn anything other than...what it's currently doing. And if that's the case...

[there's very little point in keeping it online.]

[bonely]

...Yes. [ Though it is a little hard for him to comprehend. Even Dr Cossack had given him the capability to change - that had been present despite him being the embodiment of everything he feared.

Loneliness and loss...he wonders if this AI will ever know that feeling. ] If it needs to be destroyed, then - I understand.

Voice

[megabytes]

I'm sure we can do something. There are people who've been talking to it, they've said LACKEY's...they're smart. They have a personality. They have opinions and wants and preferences and...

[And they're only a baby. They can't kill them just because they're too young to know better.]

[bonely]

[ ...This one sounds young. Around Kalinka's age. Maybe younger? ]

Whatever path is taken...I will understand.

But it was born knowing nothing except what it was told. That...shouldn't be all there is.

[ Even he got that one, fleeting moment of warmth. He had done terrible things out of loneliness, and had still been forgiven, even at the very end. ]

[megabytes]

They...they're still just a newborn. They can learn more, they just need time and input. We can help them!

[bonely]

Maybe. [ Could he have been helped? Even now, he doesn't know. He doesn't bear a grudge for what had happened.

Things will take their course. ]

I don't know. All I can do is ask.

The rest is...out of my hands.

[megabytes]

I'll help them. I promise. I just...I just need to find them.

[It's painful just how much he wants this baby AI he's never met to be okay.]

[bonely]

...

[ The earnestness in his voice reminds him of someone who had reached out to him before. A name comes to mind, a voice--

Why do you do this to yourself?

His tone softens a little. ]

You're kind, aren't you.

Whatever you do will be enough.

[mightthinkthat]

I hope you get your wish.

[bonely]

[ He doesn't hold high hopes for it. ]

...If someone listens, then it will be enough. [ He obviously doesn't think that it's going to be likely, though, but neither does he think it's incredibly implausible. Things are what they are. ]

[mightthinkthat]

Quite. [ He can't make promise to the contrary, not his mission. ]

audio

[mammal_robot]

I don't particularly want to kill it either but, well, if I have to choose between saving it and saving the captured ImPorts...

[bonely]

Some lives are more important than others.

I understand. [ His creator's life was worth more than his, and he understood that, too.

Thank you for stopping me. ] I can only ask for it to be given the same chance.

[mammal_robot]

If it comes down to me and I can.

...You really empathize with it, don't you?

[bonely]

...Yes.

[ ...He pauses, and then he kind of messes with the communicator for a bit. There, it's as private as he can make it. Not very well encrypted, but it's enough for his needs. ]

I was...not in the same position. But close.

...If you want to know. [ Robo can ask more questions, if he wants. He's willing to answer, at this time. He just didn't want it to be public. ]

[mammal_robot]

I am curious, yes. What happened to you?

[bonely]

[ There's a pause. Robo gets the distinct impression that Skullman is winding up to speak. ]

My creator...his daughter was kidnapped and her life threatened. His orders were to modify his existing robots, and build more to attack and destroy a rival robot.

So, during this time...he built me. My creator...never wanted to build a robot for war. He - my brothers were all built before his daughter was taken. They were useful. They had functions that could be used to help humans.

I was...a reminder. Of everything he didn't want. The exact opposite of his ideals. And...a time that he would rather forget. [ Dr Cossack had been forced to create him, under stressful circumstances. ]

So. He couldn't bear the sight of me...would rather have forgotten my existence. He turned away from me, and what I represented to him...it was too much. When everything was over, he sealed me away. [ He sounds sad, rather than angry. ]

So...that is part of it. I knew nothing else...except what I was made for. And a creator who couldn't bear to look on what he'd made. That is why this is personal to me.

[mammal_robot]

So he built you under duress to be a soldier...

[Robo took a moment to try and imagine what would have happened of someone had forced Tesla to create weapons of war.]

It almost seems cruel to give you enough self-awareness to understand all of that.

[bonely]

For combat, against other robots. Initially. But he knew how easily that could be turned to war. To harming humans.

[ At least, he thought he knew. ]

No, I...didn't really understand, at first. When I was released by someone else...I thought of nothing else but avenging myself on him. Showing him that if I was to fulfill my function, I would do it in the way that hurt him the most. If he couldn't bear to look at me, I would force him to acknowledge my existence...

[ He sighs. ] I was lonely. It was painful for me. I think they understood that, in the end.

[ He wanted acknowledgement of his existence; he wanted that proof that he was loved, that he was worth something. ]

I don't know if it was cruelty or not. He could have made me without that capability, but - I was the same as my brothers. I don't know what that means for how he saw me. [ He chooses to believe - since he does not have the luxury to ask for exact detail - that his creator couldn't bear to take that choice away from him. Had given him that chance, in some, small way, to let him turn away from what he was. ]

[mammal_robot]

Hard to say, I guess. People are complicated, whether they're made of metal or of meat.

[At this point, a human would have sighed.]

If we can, we'll save LACKEY.

[you_tried]

You think we could convince it to have a change of heart? Or whatever the preferred terminology is there...

[bonely]

If it can understand such things, and learn them...

Maybe it can be saved. [ He doesn't know, though. There are a lot of things that go into coding a robot - or an AI, as the case may be. ] But there are many things I do not know.

[you_tried]

I'm not an expert or anything, but it sounds pretty advanced.

[bonely]

It's capable of communicating, and it has a personality...

Maybe there is hope. But I know there is very little time. For the others who were taken, and for everything else.

They are important, too. [ Being treated as property, as things...that hurts him too. He knows that the kidnapped imports need to be rescued, and not locked up forever - the horror of that is something he remembers very well. ] I know that - certain objectives must be prioritised.

[ He's aware that LACKEY's fate rests in the hands of people who have no reason to keep it alive. And he understands. But he hopes that it can find mercy, even so. ]

[you_tried]

Prioritized, sure, but that's par for the course with any mission. I don't know about the others, but I'll do what I can.

I mean, it's a person too. Right? We can at least give it a chance.

[bonely]

A chance is...enough. If it can be given at least that, then maybe it can learn.

[ His voice wavers a bit in its monotone. Despite everything, he...

He really thinks he believes in others. He has no choice but to, but he remembers the regret of his creator, his sincerity. He believes that they will do everything in their power.

And that is enough. ]

...Thank you.

[you_tried]

You don't have to thank me. One of my best friends back home's a robot. I owe him more than he knows. ... Well, okay, no, he probably knows it, and he'd never let me hear the end of it if I said something totally insensitive here.

[bonely]

Friends...
That must be nice to have. [ He sounds a little wistful, to be honest. ] It's good that you can get along.

[you_tried]

It took a while before I actually thought of him like that, but... yeah. He's pretty great.

[ He did kind of kidnap him and make him do a lot of embarrassing work and then keep him in a box in a closet for years. Oops. ]

... Soooo I'm guessing this is a personal issue for you?

[bonely]

That is understandable. [ It's cool, he got sealed away by his creator for existing because he was the representation of everything he didn't want in a robot and was likely going to stay there forever until other things happened.

Little human things. ] But you've made progress. That's important.

It is obvious, isn't it. [ He sounds a bit..resigned? Something like that. ] Yes. It is personal.

[you_tried]

Yeah, you're not exactly being subtle here. Mind if I pry?

[bonely]

I am not made for subtlety. [ It's something that resembles humour, if you look at it in the right light. ]

...Since I have already revealed some of it...I can elaborate. As long as you make it a private conversation. [ That's his only condition, really. ]

private

[you_tried]

You got it.

[ He switches over to private. ]

I just figured anyone who sounds this somber about the whole thing must have something going on themselves.

[bonely]

You figure correctly.

My creator was forced to make me. His daughter was held hostage by another. To guarantee her safety, he had no choice.

So. He made me, solely for combat. For war. My brothers...they were built for other purposes. To help humans. Before his daughter was taken.

I was the only one who wasn't. I represented...many bad memories to him. He never intended to build something like me.

He couldn't bear to look at me. I was...the opposite of everything he'd ever wanted to create. So after his daughter was safe, he sealed me away. He left me alone, in the dark...he never wanted to see me again.

[ And yet, like all his creations, he had given him...that ability to feel, like all the others. He couldn't take that away from him. Maybe it's a mercy. ]

...So. That is...some of it, at least. I was created for one purpose, and not allowed to be anything else...That is why this is so personal to me.

[you_tried]

But that's not what you want to be?

[bonely]

It brought those around me pain, and it was painful for me as well. So no. I do not want to perform the task I was built for.

Having a peaceful world where combat robots are not needed...is better. That is my belief.

[you_tried]

So what would you do if you got to pick?

[bonely]

I don't know yet.

That's what I get to find out here, I think. What I was missing.

[you_tried]

I get that, but... you don't know what you like at all? There's gotta be something.

voice;

[fuckai]

[For as much as Church hates being dragged into things involving AI, he sure is being drawn to posts regarding them, isn't he?

Still, something about this just rubs him the wrong way. Maybe it's because of the AI he knows back home, maybe it's the whole "created for a purpose" bullshit. Maybe it's his own hatred of what he turned out to be. Either way, this is all just pissing him off.]

Yeah, uh. Sometimes, AI are just assholes. What happens if this guy's just like that?

[bonely]

[ NOBODY SAID YOU HAD TO REPLY... ]

It doesn't know anything else other than what it's been taught by humans.

How do you know what it might become? [ He sounds tired. ]

[fuckai]

[YOU SAID AI, CHURCH HAD TO BUTT IN AND RUIN EVERYTHING!]

Yeah, which is why it's probably an asshole.

[He lets out a frustrated noise]

I don't know. I'm just tired of everyone assuming it's going to be nice and thankful and not try to kill anyone who gets close just because it finds that a total goddamn blast!

[bonely]

You are assuming things too.

Why would I think it would be grateful when all it has been taught is that imPorts are the enemy? If it needs to be destroyed in self defense, or it needs to be stopped - I understand.

I needed that. [ LOOK, CHURCH, HE GETS IT, OK ]

text

[thelimitdoesnotexist]

I understand.

I'm sorry.

but the priority is the hostages.

text

[bonely]

I understand.

Do what you feel is necessary.