rickgriffin

Ani-droids 9

Added 2022-01-14 18:28:28 +0000 UTC

Ani-droids 1

I probably won't post an update tomorrow (need to do A&H page today) but! We're getting the gang back together! Comments appreciated!

I first tried rebooting the main computer, but had no luck—much like Million it seemed to be stuck in some kind of loop, which would require digging into the hardware and flashing its BIOS. I didn’t have time for that, and wasn’t sure that even allowing the computer to read its own black box recording would be safe.

I had a dumb data reader, a large box that looked like an old fashioned oscilloscope with a tablet pasted on. In most cases, it was largely useless; while it could translate machine binary and detect code, it wasn’t sophisticated enough to make decisions on its own, and I had to input tasks manually. That made it perfect for actually looking at whatever bits of Eo’s OS the main computer managed to pull out before it shut down.

I sat down at the desk with it, a single lamp light shining down on the device. Eo looked over my shoulder. It took a long while, and copious notes—while Eo was imperfect in retaining information, she still had a good memory and helped me put together everything I was seeing.

I was stuck. Transfixed on the diagnostic screen for hours, I’d forgotten to eat. The code, as it began, was insane. Like, I could not picture a rational computer engineer designing this. Now, I could easily picture an irrational computer engineer, as I had met several in my line of work, but their more out-there ideas usually never got off the ground.

Eo’s code appeared to be self-modifying, but beyond that, it was stable. This sort of evolving code was always known, it’d been theorized for centuries, but actually making something stable at scale wasn’t exactly the easiest of tasks; we didn’t have millions of years and an infinite array of all the correct and desirable pressures to simply evolve such code into being. It so often just crashed into uselessness, and when it did come about, it was limited, and often for novelty’s sake.

I’d never seen anything on the scale of an Ani-droid OS.

Nearing the end of the screening, though, the code became corrupted. So far as I could tell, something about the very act of reading it—at least in a direct and linear manner, like a machine would—triggered something. So the output I was reading came after the computer and Million started going crazy.

I couldn’t figure it out. Maybe it was because the code changed as it was being read. Maybe some parts didn’t get properly screened. That would make it near impossible to actually get a bead on specifics.

And still, it didn’t answer the one question I had on my mind. I shouldn’t have said it—there wasn’t any reason I should trust Eo more than any other ani-droid. But looking at her, I still wondered…

“Eo,” I asked. “I haven’t seen evidence of the Behavior Code in here.”

“It’s there,” she said. She scrolled back through the code, pointing out some chunks of familiar encrypted data I’d seen so often before. “I’m not unique in that regard.”

“But even if it is,” I said, “it’s clearly broken up and scattered around your mind. You might know the Behavior Code, but you don’t follow it the same way as other ani-droids. It’s… it’s like how you were teaching yourself how to cook. You don’t regard it as a set of immutable facts. It’s just another thing that influences how you think. So… in effect, you can disregard it, can’t you?”

Eo’s ears sank. “I’d been thinking that, too,” she said. “A lot of my identity was scrambled in the crash, and some memory lost. But I’ve been putting it back together. Yeah, I think a lot like humans do. I can’t always access data cleanly or accurately. And… I think some ani-droids got… violent with me when I didn’t follow the rules like they expected. They thought I had to be dismantled, even though I always met the technical specs of the Behavior Code…”

“Eo… who programmed you? And what for?”

“I don’t know exactly,” Eo said. “I mean… I sorta know. I know I’m supposed to deal with ani-droids, I always have. But even given all the stuff I can do, I don’t know exactly how to explain it. It’s all jumbled up, I can’t put it back together…”

I looked at her with some intense curiosity. She hadn’t backed off, or gotten accusatory. She wasn’t thinking with someone else’s thoughts, only her own—even if the seed of her thoughts was planted by another. And I needed to speak to that person.

I needed it.

I asked her, “Does the name ‘Mother’ ring a bell?”

Eo’s eyes went wide, and she suddenly put a hand to her mouth, as if to cover her shock. She turned her gazed this was and that, pacing, but ended up just rapping her knuckles on her head.

“Oooh… I wish my memory wasn’t like this! It’s… it’s almost there, that name is familiar, it’s connected with a lot of other memories, but I can’t… I still can’t seem to make it mean anything….” She sighed and sank. “I’m sorry, Mira… I’ll try to think of something that can help. Maybe I need to go back. I’ve just been causing a lot of problems while I’m in this state, anyway…”

I sank. I felt awful about it, specifically in that I was using her as a means to an end. But at the same time… wasn’t what I wanted the same thing she wanted? If Million didn’t report back and soon, someone was going to come looking for us. They were going to ask more questions about Eo. And if we weren’t on the road soon, looking for her maker…

“Eo,” I said, “I need to make a call. Can you go clean up the kitchen?”

“O-okay, Mira,” Eo said. “I’m sorry I’m not more help.”

I pulled her close and embraced her. Without prompting, she held me in return.

Does it matter if I want this for myself, or for her?

Eo left through the door into the house, breaking the radio shield. I opened the garage door and stepped outside, pulling my phone out of my work coat. Bobby’s face showed up on the screen.

“Mira? What’s up?”

“Bobby,” I asked, “Are you still in town?”

“…for about another four hours. My flight is leaving soon.”

“Cancel your flight. I need you down here now. You need to see this tonight.” I paused. “And soon. I might be leaving before nightfall.”

Bobby looked at me with consideration. I know I hadn’t given him much to go on other than the very strenuous way I didn’t give any details, but he nodded. “Dimes, reschedule our flight and extend the car rental. We have a detour to make. Mira, I’ll see you in about… three hours, hopefully. Try to stay out of trouble, okay?”

“No promises,” I said.

Bobby gave me a pointed look, then hung up.

I sighed. For a moment, I pictured everything turning into that old cartoon with the dancing frog, as though the moment I went back everything was going to be back to normal and nothing weird had happened at all.

But when I turned around, I spotted Million sitting up on the bench.

“Million!” I called out, hurrying over to her. The cat held up her hand to stop me, rubbing her face with a tired expression. She pulled her hand away and stared at it for a long moment.

“Million,” I repeated, “I’m so sorry about that. I tried to warn you, but—”

“Something’s different,” Million said. Her bright yellow eyes searched. “Where’s Eo?”

“Cleaning the kitchen,” I said. “Million, are you sure you’re alright?”

“No, I’m clearly not,” she said. “But I don’t know… I can’t figure out what’s happened. All my files got shuffled around…”

“No kidding. You suffered a rather nasty shock.” I paused a moment longer, then asked, “How’s my review going, by the way?”

“Later,” Million snipped, swatting her hand at me. “I need to figure out what happened first. Eo! Eo, I need to talk to you…” She climbed off the table and started toward the door to the house.

“You haven’t contacted work yet, have you?” I asked.

Million paused at the doorway. She turned, looking to the ground, as though lost in thought. “…no, I haven’t,” she said. “But it’s fine. They’ll wait for my report.”

“I sure hope so. I don’t want the police pulling up thinking I’ve smashed up someone’s ani-droid hoping to avoid a bad review.”

Million shook her head. “I’m usually out and about doing tasks for Mr. Koenig on my own. It’s not uncommon for me to be gone for days at a time, so stop getting your human undergarments in a twist.”

“Really? What other things do you do for him?”

Million turned her shining eyes at me and glared. “That’s none of your business. I don’t even know why I told you any of that! I’m confused, my CPU is… ugh. Eo!”

Eo piped up from inside, “Help me clean and I’ll be glad to talk!”

“…fine.”

—

While Million satisfied her curiosity that Eo was—at least technically—Behavior Code compliant, I caught a nap in the bedroom. I was woken a while later when the door chimed. The air was dark outside, insects starting their usual round of noisy droning. Eo didn’t get the door right away—odd. But I stood myself upright, fixed up the frizziness of my hair, and answered the door in due time.

Dimes stood there holding a pizza box, staring at me with an irritated look.

“I figured you’d forgotten to eat again,” Bobby said, peeking around her shoulder.

“Safe bet,” I said. I was starving. In the last twenty-four hours, I’d had seven cups of coffee and four candy bars. “Dimes, you can come in, set that on the coffee table.”

Dimes did so, as curtly as she had before, but was very careful with the box itself. Bobby tossed open the top of the box and pulled a wedge out first. It was still hot, and even before Bobby managed to finish his first bite, I’d polished off an entire slice. Ah, calories, how I missed you.

“So what’s the deal?” Bobby asked.

Dimes interrupted. “The car present in the driveway is not the same car that Lily picked you up in. Did something happen to your car in the last twenty-four hours?”

Well, thankfully that meant that Dimes didn’t have immediate access to my insurance files, though I doubted it’d take much effort from her to access them. “Playing detective much?” I took a second slice and scarfed it down.

“It’s one of her worse features,” Bobby said. “But I think it makes her happy.”

“I don’t feel happy,” Dimes said.

“No, I agree with that.”

“You’re right, Dimes,” I said, chewing on the crust. “There was an accident on the road. An ani-droid fell out of the car in front of us. Wrecked the car, damaged Lily. I didn’t have time to fix Lily, but I managed to slap something together for the other ani-droid—she calls herself Eo. I was going to go find whoever built her.”

“Like…now?” Bobby asked.

“Well, soon. I figured you’d want to meet her…” I grabbed my third slice. “You’ll understand when you do. Where is she… Eo? I have someone you need to meet—”

I opened the door to the garage, and froze.

Lily was sitting up on the bench—her psuedoskin looking rather roughed up from patching, but otherwise whole. Eo and Million stood at her either side, diodes and wires connected up to her, Million reading off a tablet and Eo consulting the now-online computer. They all turned to look when I opened the door.

“Miss Mira!” Lily exclaimed. She popped the wires off of her ports, hopped off the table and ran up to me, hugging me tightly around the legs.

I was in shock.

“L…Lily?” I asked, almost not believing what I was feeling.

That touch. That ethereal touch, as though Lily really did, out of her own volition, want to embrace me.

I obliged. I got on my knees and held her tight. Lily buried herself into me. I couldn’t explain just what it was, but I could feel it. Not just her body, but those little tells that let me know she was real. I could feel Lily, there presently with me, and I didn’t want to let go.

“I thought you said she was damaged,” Dimes said from behind.

“Dimes, shut your trap,” Bobby said. “Give the woman some space, geez.”

I was probably crying, it was hard to tell when my face felt so numb. “Lily… I missed you…”

“I’m here now, Miss Mira,” Lily said. “I’m not going anywhere.”

I looked up through the doorway behind her. Eo stood with her arm behind her back, like she’d just gotten caught with her hands in the cookie jar. Million simply folded her arms.

“Don’t look at me, it was her idea,” Million said, gesturing with her head toward Eo. “Maybe with Lily fixed, you can finally dump the mouse.”

“Eo…” I said, quietly as I shook, “What did you do? What the hell did you do?!”