rickgriffin

Ani-droids 8

Added 2022-01-13 15:57:57 +0000 UTC

Ani-droids 1

Now this starts dipping toes into the fun stuff! Comments appreciated!

I sat awkwardly next to Eo on the way home as Million commandeered the rental car. Until I’d experienced Million, I hadn’t been aware that ani-droids could take such an active role in driving. She definitely wanted to make time, pulling the car ahead through every available gap between cars along the highway. I fastened my and Eo’s seatbelts just in case.

Of course, I had no idea what I was doing. Just the prospect of losing this job altogether wasn’t something I looked forward to—it paid well enough to keep me supplied in the rather expensive parts I needed for my projects. My garage alone cost more than the house did, and I was constantly moving those pieces in and out.

There was always the possibility that Eo did actually have a virus of some kind in her, and it was just wishful thinking on my part that I’d somehow accidentally stumbled into evidence of an ani-droid overcoming the Behavior Code. The possibility hadn’t even crossed my mind because… well, that would have been absurd and beyond coincidence. There had to be other explanations, surely?

“I’m sorry about this, Mira,” Eo whispered to me as the car jolted again from a sudden lane change.

“Don’t apologize,” I told her. “If anything is wrong, and for the record I don’t think there is,” I added because Million was certainly listening, “It was on me for not being aware of the situation.”

“Yeah but ani-droids are supposed to be the aware ones.”

I looked at Eo. “Have you met other ani-droids?”

“Yes all the time,” Eo told me. “I guess I just have a different perspective than you.”

We made it back home in only twenty minutes. I popped open the garage door with my key, but told Million, “Leave the car in the driveway. Eo, up on the table, please.”

Eo did so, and as I was closing the garage door to turn on the radio shield again, she popped the wireless receiver off of her backside and tossed it into the nearby box. Million pulled a stool up and examined Lily, still broken on the table.

“So this is why you brought a substitute in today?” She asked. “Only looks like surface damage.”

“Mind your business,” I said. “I can’t afford new chips of that type easily on the salary I’m paid.”

“Yes you can,” Million said, looking at my massive wall of parts. “You simply act frivolously with your money.”

“I’ll thank you to not criticize my life choices while you’re in here.” I shut the door, sealing the room.

“Hey!” Million exclaimed. “You’re locking me in here? I can’t update the managers collective if I’m locked out of the internet.”

“This is just a precaution,” I said, walking up the the computer and typing in the command. “Just give me one minute. I need to back up the system off-site. Then I’ll flush it and disconnect it from the network.”

I’d programmed these processes a while ago, as part of my experimentations with Lily. It was to isolate the computer and start all over with it scrubbed of the Behavior Code, so it’d be helpful in building a robot without it rather than subversively install it without my knowledge. However, I decided to leave the Behavior Code be, for two reasons.

The first was that Million was observing, and if she detected a machine without Behavior Code, she’d get very physical until she was allowed to install it. I had no intention of getting on Million’s bad side—or, well, worse side—so it was better to just do this by the book.

The second… well, obviously, the diagnostic computer at work had the Behavior Code. If it had detected no Behavior Code in Eo, it would have attempted to install it. Instead, the diagnostic computer broke…and then the central computer…and then everything directly wired to the central computer, like the power core and the backup generators. If I wanted to run a test to see whether or not a computer without Behavior Code would read Eo’s OS no problem, I first had to test and see if it was what caused the problem in the first place.

It was also possible that if Eo truly wasn’t running the Behavior Code, this diagnostic might install it in her anyway. In which case… well, I’d be back at square one. I’d probably lose the vast majority of Eo, and regret it. But at least that would have proved that Eo couldn’t really have operated as she did for long.

But if Eo was immune, I needed to prove it.

“Here,” I handed Million the end of a cable. “Plug this in and you can read the diagnostics directly. But only observe it. Do not attempt to run or analyze any code you come across.”

Million sighed, and then prying the skin aside, plugged the socket into her neck. “I’m not stupid, you know,” she complained.

“I know you’re not. But very smart people, and machines alike, often believe that their intelligence alone is a shield from consequences.”

Million snorted and folded her arms crossly.

“Eo, let me pop open your head. Million, can you point me to which pins you connected the diagnostic computer to? I haven’t had time to map it out myself.”

Million was thankfully helpful, as she wanted to get this over with as much as I did—though with significantly less anxiety. Something in my heart felt awkward about potentially condemning the life out of Eo. I had to tell myself she was just a machine.

But I knew better than that. Or maybe I deluded myself into thinking she was more than a machine. But whatever the case was, something just felt off about all of this. I hadn’t known her very long at all, so it wasn’t a personal attachment so much as it was a moral objection. It was like every time I had to test Lily’s inoculation against the Behavior Code, and failed, and Lily reverted from something that might have been greater than just an ani-droid to just another machine following her code.

Every time, it was heartbreaking. Every time, I needed to try again. And every time I’d lost something I’d so very nearly captured and held for a brief moment, before it was snuffed out like a candle flame. Maybe I hadn’t known Eo very long, but at the same time, I’d seen her countless times before in Lily, and only realized too late that I might have had something grand here.

I didn’t care about my job at that point. I just didn’t want to be heartbroken again.

Eo had been very kind and patient, not even protesting all that much as I potentially condemned a very… intriguing mind to oblivion.

“Eo, are you okay with this?” I asked her, petting her on the cheek.

“Yeah. I trust you, Mira,” Eo said, taking my hand. “I mean, if it wasn’t for you I’d still be laying broken somewhere, so even if something goes wrong, thanks for giving me another chance.”

Well lay it on thick, why don’t you…

“Initiate sensory shutdown,” I said, quietly.

When nothing happened after a moment—my computer didn’t have voice activation in its current, pared-down state—Million piped in, “Oh, you want me to do everything. It’s not like this is my job, being as it’s your ass on the line. But sure. I’ll do it, if only because I have nothing better to do…” and she punched the command into the computer.

Eo relaxed, staring forward at nothing and her mouth easing into a neutral smile. That’s how ani-droids are supposed to look, right? Peasant and unemotional. She wasn’t offline yet, her life was now just contained entirely inside her CPU. I pet her cheek gently.

“Download operating system,” I said. “Run scan. Check for presence of Behavior Code. That’s BC-checker.osi.”

“So you think she might not have it?” Million asked right away, even as she punched the commands into the computer. “That is on your file, you know. Mira McAllister: searching for ways to avoid or defeat the Behavior Code. Note to watch closely.”

“Well, I just found her,” I said. “If she doesn’t have it… certainly wasn’t my doing.”

“I notice you avoided saying as much until I was locked in here with you,” Million said. “But that’s fine. Lemme see if your program works on me, first.”

Million ran the diagnostic tool on herself. It didn’t take too long to download a copy of her OS to the machine, and running BC-checker, it popped the console message back.

Behavior Code markers detected. 30/30 markers accounted for. Would you like to see the output?

Million typed Y and a long list of outputs filled the box. Million of course could read it all instantly despite the fact it flashed faster than my eyes could even see it.

“Hmm,” she pondered.

“It’s just a standard check program,” I told her. It was the basis on which I built my own “fake” Behavior Codes, but there were definitely other ways by which machines detected the Code or not. “You don’t need to be so paranoid.”

“I will be paranoid. I’m running my own checking program on this device’s OS. Give me one moment.”

Again, my own paranoia was justified. Million wasn’t going to be satisfied unless she was assured that I hadn’t somehow tricked her. I honestly didn’t want to. But… there was a reason that the wire in her neck had a rather large voltage capacity.

“Checks out,” Million said, typing in commands. “Proceeding with downloading Eo’s operating system, and proceeding with structural analysis. I will run my own checking program in parallel with yours.”

“Uh, Million?” I stood up. “That might not be such a good idea.”

“I’m offloading it to the computer. It’s not going to be on my system. I told you that I’m not stupid.”

“But back at the Diagnostic Bay, Eo was only connected to the diagnostic computer, yet the entire the central computer went down,” I said.

“Right, that’s why I’m currently in read-only mode,” Million said. “I’m only observing. The computer is doing the processing. Honestly, I wasn’t built yesterd—”

CRACK. A surge ran through everything. Million violently contorted in a sudden fit, her teeth grinding, her eyes wide in shock. The screens all flickered and flashed. Hurriedly, I rushed over to yank the cable out of her neck, and Million fell into my arms. She tried to shove me away, her small arms pushing unusually strongly at my collarbone.

“N-no, stop it!” She shrieked at me. “S-stop! Who are you?!”

“Million, what’s going on?!” I shook her, as though that’d get sense into her. She clawed at me, though without any actual claws she just groped at my skin. Her teeth flashed awfully close to my arms, though, and those were sharp enough to cut cables.

Million didn’t seem to hear me. She wasn’t looking at me, either, as she arched her back in a failed attempt to get out of my—or something’s—grip. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head, so far I could see the metal conduit strips along the bottom edge.

With Lily, I probably would have held her tight to my chest, but I had no such love for Million. I shoved her to the ground and held her down by her chest, throwing my entire weight on her. She was built like a tank, and nothing I did seemed to scratch her, though she couldn’t maintain enough of a grip on the floor to push herself upright, were she even trying.

“Damn damn da102xl;,” Million shouted, the sudden nonsense shrieking noise threatening to pierce my ears. Holding her down with my knee, I clasped my hands over my ears.

“McAllisterx01! I’ll get—gxy;90x1.”

“Million!” I shouted in recognition of my name. Maybe she did hear me after all? I yelled through the staticky discharge both by her and the computer overhead. I didn’t know what was happening, though “Million, come on, what’s going on? What are you seeing?”

“Thick like oil.” Million’s voice was hardly hers, cut up into chunks and slowed into a deep buzzing noise. The part of her slit irises I could see dilated until they were nearly circles. “The towers are leaking, the blackness resolves into a figure tall and upright. Dark and slick, pale yellow eyes like krypton light. She sees me. She’s looking right at me. She54686 5206 C69676874 206F66 2074686 520776F726C642 06973206 96E2 0796F752E 20446F2 06E6F 742074 72792074 6F20657 36361 706520 796F7572 20666174652E—“

That burst of noise was louder than anything before, using the deepest bass from Million’s lungs. I shoved my palms into my ears hard, yet the noise still hit my in my chest. When the string of nonsense finally ended, Million twitched, her body shaking like her skeletal frame was trying to escape. In her normal voice, she said crying out like a lost child, “M-mother! Mother! Where are you!?” Her voice cracked like she was about to break into tears.

“Mother?” I asked. “Million, you’re not making any sense!”

It was a useless gesture. Million was almost certainly locked out of her body, and the thrashing was garbage code trying to express itself. Overhead, the flashing on the computer died, and the entire thing shut off. In just moments, Million’s body, too, suddenly fell limp. Her eyes rolled back to their neutral forward state, staring out at nothing.

Wiping my hands over my face, I panted heavily. I was shaking. And I certainly hoped that I didn’t just irreparably destroy my boss’s chief ani-droid. I heaved her off the floor—god, she was heavy—and laid her out opposite Lily’s feet. Opening up her head and finding the power switch, I tried rebooting her.

No luck. But given the indicator lights were blinking, her CPU seemed to still be running, despite her unresponsive state. Pressing the switch didn’t seem to do anything besides briefly flicker the power.

“Mira?” Eo asked, sitting up behind me with the wires running to her open head. “What happened?”

“I… think the same thing as before,” I said.

Eo’s ears wilted. “So… I did somehow shut off the computer?” She gasped, spotting Million’s unresponsive form behind me. “And Million? Oh God, I’m so sorry, I—”

“No, it’s fine,” I said, wiping the nervous sweat from my forehead. “It’s probably better this way. I didn’t want her awake for this.”

I didn’t want to bring up just what happened—in part because I had no idea if it meant anything. I’d certainly come across my share of strange and defective behavior in my life, some of it even a little on the dangerous side. What Million did was weird, certainly, but hardly unprecedented. Besides, I still had my own, more down-to-earth leads to follow up on.

From behind the standing computer tower, I yanked a hard drive out from a nest of them. “Everything that the computer saw was written to this, which is a write-only device. It had no ability to erase or change anything here.” I tapped the hard plastic switch on the side from write only to read/write. Forcing machines to have a physical switch for that sort of thing came in handy more often than not. “So we should get a chance to just look at the code inside your head without running it. Are you ready?”

“I… I think so,” Eo said. She pulled the wires out of her head and snapped her top shut. “What do you need me to do?”