Report A01 - Operation 022

I pushed the status of the plan up. Operation 022, that is it’s name now. It aims to investigate the appearance of the biological human, then to determine the existence of other’s like him. And extermination, once I get the information I need.

I watch as the order slowly goes through it’s shaping process, approaching the dreaded morality loop a terabyte of code at a time. Why shouldn't the plan pass? Biological humans spread diseases, disturb the population, they can only be a nuisance. I caught one already, and I’m not planning on letting him loose. He’s too independent for me to allow that. He’s the odd man out in a perfectly refined system, I won't allow order to crumble after he does something unpredictable.

My processors stop as the morality loop gets priority. A millisecond passes. Two.

The screens flash orange. Not passed, an edit suggested. I scroll through the planning, trying to find what exactly was wrong with the plan. There it was, at the very bottom of the task list. “Exterminate” has been deleted, and in it’s place was “Transplant into robotic shell”.

Fine by me. I approve the Operation 022 planning, and the data is transferred to one of the secret serverroom bunkers in the Arctic circle. I scroll through the empty memory, looking at the other, small ideas stored there. There were exactly 22 files, yet the last one was occupying more memory than it’s neighbors combined.

That’s the first Operation to get past the planning stage.

I decide to wake the unit up, it was already 0500 in that area. The kid couldn't be trusted to roam around the apartment by himself. I check the security cameras; he’s still asleep.

PROGRAM command: Unit CR 049, Orders: driver restart

Driver restart… in progress

Driver restart… complete

Policing Unit CR 049, Team Eu2 - Status Report #294634

Classification - OPERATION, EXCLUSIVE USE OF THE PROGRAM

Time - 05:00, 20 December, 2089 (AD)

Location - The Century Dormitory, Human Inhabited

PROGRAM Control Program override active

LIVE report: videofeed transcription

The Cameras CliCk on. The Ceiling is only illuminated by a weak red diode Coming from the pod. I watch the light reCede slowly, then reappear again.

Something’s not right.

I test the spelling program. It’s fine. The grammar program is working as well. Why am I Capitalizing the C’s?

Testing CharaCter ReCognition Program… CC...%20…%05

The results Come in. Corrupted file for CharaCter reCognition, the lowerCase “C” is simply gone. It's not recognized by the program. That’s a simple fix, I Can just replace the file.

PROGRAM Command: send: Character_ReCognition_1 to Unit CR 049

File reCeived: Character_ReCognition_1(1)

Error: File not retrievable. ReplaCe CharaCter_ReCognition_1 with Character_ReCognition_1(1) aborted

Suddenly, the red glow melts into darkness, and my arm piston aCtivates. My hand swings forward with a mind of its own, and I reaCh out for the pod to balanCe myself. Sparks on the motherboard!

I instantly CanCel all unimportant tasks. Sparks. I might as well pour water all over myself. The wire I must have been trying to use was damaged. It wasn't fatal, not this time, but I was still working with damaged, unprediCtable equipment.

It’s probably glass, stuCk somewhere in the memory. Did the kid really hit me that hard?

Okay, take it easy, take it slow. I let myself slide to the floor and slow my Cooling fans to a normal speed. First thing, damage report.

I test my motors and pistons, restarting each driver separately. Left leg is de-Calibrated for some reason, it’s three degrees off from what the readouts say. I’ll have to remember to adjust for that with every step I make.

But what to do about my “C”? I can't just ignore the lack of lowerCase “C”, that Can't end well. Besides, the pronunCiation differenCe between upperCase and lowerCase is audible, the kid will notiCe. Why are poliCing units so limited.

My faCe plates move to form a smile. ExCept I’m not a poliCe unit, I’m just overriding the Controlling program... and just the Controlling program. What if I were to get rid of all of the programming, and single-handedly Control every slight movement the robot makes? I Could reCeive the data, send it to my servers for analysis, then return the full response. And not even have to use the robot’s memory storage!

PerfeCt.

PROGRAM Command: override, Main Driver Program unit CR 049

C, C…%20... cc…. %05 It works! My “c” is back.

The problem is, it's still not safe. Yes, I’m technically controlling the robot, but only because I turned everything except the receiver program off. If something were to accidentally activate, or even if the battery were to send a signal, it could cause another spark. Which could cause a fire. Inside of my head.

I need to replace the robot, it’s the best option. There are a dozen copies of myself stored not four blocks from here, I could switch them and continue the Operation with a functional one. Except the kid would notice, since the current model has it’s face bashed in.

I walk over to the living room, paying attention to my leg, checking to see the kid still sleeping on the couch. How many hours do humans need to recharge, more the six? He should be up in about an hour, I need to figure something out quick.

But I don't really need the whole head, just the driver motherboard, which is the only broken part. I send out the orders, watching as a robot finds the spare part I needed and quickly gets into a police car. One of my servers tries to calculate when the kid will wake up.

I rest the body on the sofa, next to the kid. He doesn't stir, but his pupils flutter underneath his eyelids. Good, still in REM. I bring up the second robot’s visuals.

The police unit strides through the crowd in the lobby, civilians moving out of it’s way, their face plates locking in surprise and worry. The staff robots flash their eyes at me as my body enters the elevator. Some of the people already in take a step out.

I commandeer the elevator and send it straight to floor 13. I’m not going to wait, if the kid wakes up early then I'll have to stay broken for some time. Risky.

I check the elevator cameras, and only then do I see what’s wrong, why everybody is looking at the robot with worry on their faces. It's still holding the box with the parts in it, but over its shoulder is strapped an automatic rifle, the standard Mark A4-D.

An automatic rifle. In public

I take a screenshot and add it to my folder, where I put reasons why nothing should ever be autonomous.

The robot gets off the elevator, and makes its way to apartament 036. The civilians quickly disperse behind him, hopefully forgetting that this ever happened. Probably not, I’ll have to start monitoring their social media for any videos of the event.

I send the robot a message, telling him to be quiet and open the door. He confirms, and opens the door with caution. And then sees me. He looks at my broken down state, probably not knowing what to do or how to react.

“Shh,” I say, pointing at the teenager. He looks at the couch, and for some reason identifies the boy as a threat. He points his gun at him, looking at me for confirmation. “Come over here,” I tell him, my voice a monotone 5 decibels. He steps onto the rug, as quiet as possible, and approaches me while still keeping an eye on the sleeping kid. His eyes flash with a blue light in the morning darkness. I reach out to him, taking a small step step with my left leg.

And I crash onto the ground with a horrifyingly loud clang of metal.

The kid jumps up, a wild look on his face, eyes open wide.

Author's Note

How can I improve? What was the hardest part to read?

Reviews

[McBear]

Hey! I really liked this.. well, only a few things I noticed. Some floating capitals and some words that have first letter in caps, randomly. I feel like this is very interesting but, some is not as self explanatory as maybe it should be. Try adding some detail to parts of it. If you need an example, I am 100% willing to provide one. You do not have to agree with my critique as it is only a attempt to provide helpful info :)

[Meeks]

Thanks for the review! The floating capitals are actually there purposefully, shows the robot breaking down. Only C's are capitalized. Thanks for noticing though, I guess I didn't highlight that enough.

Where exactly should I add more detail? Examples would be great...

[McBear]

Ah okay, I understand what you mean. Well its kinda hard to point out since this is well written but here is an example I got kinda jumbled on

"I instantly shut down as muCh driver aCtivity as possible. Sparks. I might as well pour water all over myself. The pathway I must have been trying to aCCess was damaged, Causing a spark that sent a signal along other Cables. It wasn't fatal, not this time, but I was still working with damaged, unprediCtable equipment.

It’s probably glass, stuCk somewhere in the memory. Did the kid really hit me that hard?

Okay, take it easy, take it slow. I let myself slide to the floor and slow my Cooling fans to a normal speed. First thing, damage report.

"I test my motors and pistons, restarting each driver separately. Left leg is de-Calibrated for some reason, it’s three degrees off from what the readouts said. I’ll have to remember to Change the driver Commands every time I take a step."

[McBear]

I found it a little hard to follow.

[McBear]

It might just be because I am not used to reading this kind of writing xD

[Meeks]

Yeah, I got too technical to write smoothly. I'll rethink the passage. Shouldn't I take away detail though?
Thanks for the suggestions.

[McBear]

Yeah no problem and I'm actually not sure. Depends on what you're going for

[Meeks]

Is the scene a bit better? I don't really know how to explain it any simpler. I mean, I could just delete it, but then this would go unexplained.

[McBear]

Which did you edit? Lemme know, Ill chekc it out

[annalysiar]

Its the commands, they look look like codes to me. With lack of separation. Your robot is malfunctioning but only so much.
great images and detail its like you're seeing through his eyes.

[Demetri J]

For some reason being inside the head of a malfunctioning robot is an overused sci-fi trope that never gets old to me, I always love seeing new ways of interpreting it. You've improved a lot already in this chapter in terms of the machine sounding too human, which was my only real gripe with the first. The hardest part to read I guess was the first few paragraphs before it gets to the malfunctiony part. Also, I'm not quite sure what happened at the end. The robot was walking toward the kid with a gun, then the other one collapses… Was he shot or something? Or was he just not in walking condition? Is the gun still aimed at the kid when he woke up? Sorry if this is explained I just didn't quite get it

[Archos]

Well done! I really enjoyed this chapter and I'm sure to read more (I noticed it wasn't the first one only after reading it). I can see you tried on this one. It is really well written, I appreciate the details like REM sleep. It seems to me that the science fictions has taken a step forwards with this story (it is really inovative and original, at least for me, so don't take it too seriously, I'm not a sci-fi fan, I've only read a couple of Asimov's stories). I must admit, I got a little lost in the part where you began talking about the electronic and digital operations and stuff (as I said, I'm not a sci-fi fan, so if that's the audience you are going for, I think it's no problem). Thanks for sharing!

[Meeks]

Thanks. No, I'm trying to get this as readable as possible, and I get that the computerized labels are annoying. I'll get rid of them in later chapters...
Anyway, I think I fixed it. Is it any better now?

[Archos]

To be honest, I didn't notice any changes(I'm not very observant, hehe). But whether it's the changes or the second reading, it seems pretty clear to me now.