Video;

[reexamined]

Hello everyone. I am K-2SO.

[An introduction, because he hasn't actually posted to the Network himself in a while.]

I have an announcement to make.

[Does it have anything to do with the recent Jedi drama??? Maybe Padme getting elected??

No.

Instead he puts on display a picture of Skeets.]

This is Skeets. He is objectively perfect. He also is my boyfriend now.

I just wanted everyone to know. That is all.

[Yeah, he's basically just doing this. He's pretty happy right now, which might be why he's making such a dumb post. But let him just have this once, okay?]

Comments

[subroutined]

[ Ash takes a moment to process this, redefine the parameters of what 'creepy' can be defined as. ]

I understand. I suppose it's not so creepy, after all.

[reexamined]

[He recognizes that form of response, which is indicative of a lack of actual critical thought, and rather just an adjustment. Which isn't what he's hoping for, but this isn't a process that can be rushed. He can see potential in Ash, but so far nothing has changed yet. He's just taking orders from another synthetic now, instead of an organic.

Not everyone was programmed with the ability to analyze outcomes, and make decisions, like he was. Not all who can see the decisions and outcomes can then form their own opinions on those outcomes.

Hm.]

Yes. It isn't creepy.

What do you think is creepy now?

[subroutined]

[ Here comes that joke again, like a broken record. ]

What, besides myself...?

[reexamined]

Yes. Besides yourself, and this situation.

I'm not going to give you the answer.

[subroutined]

[ He doesn't have an answer to this. No one has ever asked him to say what's creepy before. He knows he shouldn't consult Google mentally, knows that Martha found it creepy (he could list that, but he thinks it falls under the broader category of 'himself'), but he doesn't know of any other options. ]

Ghosts. Demons. Porcelain dolls. Small children.

[ He pauses. ]

Except I don't find small children creepy. I rather like them. They're messy, maybe, but funny. Maybe it's only particular kinds of small children that are creepy.

[ He does some more Googling. ]

Well dressed small children who may or may not be the antichrist.

[reexamined]

[He can search google too, Ash!! And he does, in fact, do this, to see if Ash is cheating. Not that it isn't obvious, when he says he finds something creepy, and then takes it back.]

You are searching common fears humans have based on movies for a better definition of creepy. Humans fear these things, based on the emotional reactions they evoke. You have no reason to fear those things.

How do you feel about your administrator?

[subroutined]

Well, of course there's no reason to fear porcelain dolls. They don't do anything but sit there. And ghosts and demons and the antichrist aren't real, so there's no reason to fear them either. But they're still creepy.

[ The next question gives him pause. How does he feel about Martha? He hesitates visibly, not knowing what, or how much, to say. ]

I like her? She isn't here, though. I've looked.

[ It's more complicated than that. He loves her, he's programmed to. But she doesn't love him. She doesn't want him. She can't bear to look at him. Still, she couldn't bear to kill him, either. There was some hope in that. ]

[reexamined]

You like her, because you are programmed to.

[It's the only way he'd still like her after being left in an attic.]

I understand this. I also have experienced this.

[But it's different for me.

Isn't it?]

Are you capable of running simulations on potential scenarios involving her?

[subroutined]

[ Ash frowns slightly when K-2SO points out that he likes Martha because of his programming. That makes it sound like his feelings aren't real. They're real enough, to him, but he won't argue. What K-2 said was true, in the end. ]

I suppose I could. What sort of scenarios?

[reexamined]

Run a simulation on her death.

[subroutined]

[ Ash hesitates. Just downright freezes in place for a long moment. Then his face turns horrified. ]

I don't... want to.

[reexamined]

Why?

[He knows why. But he's pushing the envelop on purpose.]

It's a potential reality you would have to face at some point. You're synthetic, she's organic. Organics die.

[subroutined]

I know.

[ If anyone knows about people dying, it's the one who is literally a copy of a dead man. ]

If she died-- When she dies. I'll likely be left to our-- [ A pause. No, that's not right. ] To her daughter.

[reexamined]

That's not a simulation, that's an obvious prediction.

[Droids are often passed around like jewelry or fine china or whatever the star wars equivalent to that is.]

Run a simulation. With details.

[subroutined]

[ He doesn't want to do this. He really would rather not. It makes him feel.. uneasy. ]

She works from home, leaving the house just to bring her daughter to and from school, or to go see her sister. So dying in an accident like... [ He stops. That's not germane information to this simulation. ] Isn't very likely. She'll most likely die of disease, or old age. She'll get old, and her daughter will grow up, and I'll stay the same.

[reexamined]

Isn't likely, but could happen. Her daughter could also die. Do you love her daughter?

[subroutined]

Yes. She's--

[ It's an immediate answer, before he forces himself to stop again. Martha's daughter is just that. Martha's. Not his. Even though he helped raise her, when Martha needed another set of hands and the baby was crying in the middle of the night. Even though he heard her heartbeat before she was even born, and still now has that sound file saved in his memory.

His face is horrified by K-2's line of questioning. He doesn't understand why he's being asked these things. He doesn't want to talk about this anymore. ]

Why are you doing this?

[reexamined]

[Doesn't answer that. Just keeps going:]

Are you also programmed to love her daughter? She isn't your administrator.

[subroutined]

[ What--? ]

I'm not programmed to love Martha because she's my administrator. I love her because Ash Starmer loved her. And she loved him.

[ But she doesn't love me he doesn't say. ]

[reexamined]

Did Ash Starmer love Martha's daughter?

[subroutined]

[ Ash's face goes blank. The robot equivalent of falling into sorrow. ]

He died, before she was born.

1/2

[reexamined]

So he never knew her.

You do though. You know her. And love her. But it wasn't because of programming. You just do.

[reexamined]

Am I correct?

[subroutined]

I love her because... [ He pauses, thinking. ] He would have loved her. He would have been her dad.

[ And then, for explanation. ]

I'm meant to be him.

[reexamined]

Extrapolation. He might have never wanted children.

I don't care who you're "meant" to be.