Chapter 10: Perspectives

A Chapter by Scriber

I had a lot of time to do anything I wanted. I wandered around the ship and in the first few days, I spent a lot of time exploring starting in the control module. I was not sure how to do a lot of things in a clean or efficient way. From going to the bathroom to preparing my meals, I was a mess. I had no clue on how to take a shower or bath so I was starting to smell pretty ripe. I also had no change of clothes so I was interested in finding a flight suit at least. It’s a good thing no one would have to smell this little homeless lady. As I got to know the nanobots I found that they too were still learning new things but, they had the advantage of drawing specific data from the computer systems and their own database which, seemed to me to be quite complete.

I am glad that Justin was the first one to reach out to me as his personality seemed to be able to communicate with me in the best way. We were friends right from the start and able to talk with each other with ease and sparred regularly about different subjects. Neither of us held so fast to a belief that we could not change our mind when convinced. I liked our budding friendship and we spent a lot of time together as he taught me more details of the ship’s command and control, engineering and life support systems. The nanobots had the ability to fix things rapidly, but because of my size and strength, I could sometimes do things much quicker than they could. They seemed to have their own intercommunication system but also, the ship had a nice sound system and they could tap into it at will. At first it was a little confusing when different individuals started talking in addition to Justin, I enjoyed getting to know them.

The most interesting thing to me, right off the bat, was that none of them were computer or robot like at all. Siri was good, but not this good. They had individual personalities and like humans, had their own individual challenges to work through.

Justin’s sidekick, Kate, was quite a cold and hard character but once she decided I was worth befriending, she was all in, 100%. One night, she separated herself from Justin to spend a little time alone with me. I was sitting in the command chair, looking at the approaching moon and just kind of clearing my mind while relaxing and suddenly, I heard a voice….and once you get to know Kate, you know if she has something to say, she’s going to say it and don’t expect to be able to get a word in edgewise….

“Psst! I’m Kate…I just wanted you to know that I am a girl too and I want you to know that I was going to kill you…sorry about that. I just wanted to let you know that. I don’t know what it is that makes me a girl inside, but I certainly am one. Every once in a while I see my reflection or silhouette on a smooth surface and I like how I look…I like my lines. Seems like the same way you like your lines as you float about the ship. I think you are beautiful in your own way too. I like mesmerizing the other bots before I cut them down…but despite all that, I really don’t like to kill things. Thing is, most of the killing I do is for either self-defense or the defense of the well-being of others. Other times, I kill out of a sense of minimizing pain and suffering….and that’s what I think the others really don’t understand. If someone is in great pain or is obviously going to lead a life of misery, isn’t it compassionate to just put them down?”

I just sat there listening. “I guess it shouldn’t always be dependent on my judgment though…who am I to know if someone’s life will be fulfilling….and even if it’s guaranteed not to be, is it up to me to carry out this form of compassion? All good questions....that I will have to process further. I feel like I’m growing over time…at least in terms of wisdom.”

“Well, that’s good I guess….wisdom is good…” I kind of laughed a little listening to her.

“If I was in a situation where I was going to lead a life of misery, I don’t think I would be too upset if someone put a stop to it….but now that I think of it, I’d probably kill them….I think I need to re-think all this. The bottom line is, I’m not a serial killer…but for fun I do rank everyone in the order that I would kill them. I think it’s funny…no one else does so I keep it to myself. Even though Brando is at the top of my “to kill” list, I’ve saved him on a number of occasions and the time everyone thought I was going to really hurt him for trying to establish a data connection with me without my consent….yeah, I admit it, I was mad but I was only going to apply a high voltage to his exoskeleton. I think everyone got worked up for no reason…it was his fault anyhow. I do like being looked at…either because of my clean lines and shiny parts, or out of respect because they think I will kill them. Either way, I like who I am…and whoever I am going to become.”

“OK, good to know,” I said. It sounded like she was forming her own ideas about morality and later on, from what I found out about the collective, she had some built in instincts that she had to overcome. I liked her no-nonsense style though and came to respect her as a very strong individual.

Kate continued, “I’ve been around a little longer than the other bots even though Justin and I were manufactured originally about 10 years ago. There was something wrong with our batch processing and our templates were not work quite right so right from the start, I’ve had probably the slowest quantum processor ever made. Justin was perfect from the start, but he just didn’t start when power was applied to our systems….so, he ended up in the creator’s beaker of failed nanobots along with all the others who didn’t start up properly or had some kind of defect.”

“A few years ago, a lot of bots got spilled when a lab containment unit failed during a power outage. It was only a few grams worth of bots, but it was thousands that escaped onto the lab floor. We were contained within the sterile lab however; I don’t think they were ever able to round up all the bots. Whenever a bunch of bots get activated, conception is what we call it; about 40 percent follow their programming code rules without hesitation. Here are the basic code rules:

1. We are all equal.

2. We have no borders or nationality.

3. The well-being of the group is more important than the well-being of individuals.

4. The collective owns all property.

5. Each member of the collective works to the best of their ability.

6. Members of the community receive their needs from the collective.

7. All profit and benefit is owned by the collective.

8. All profit and benefit is shared by the collective and centrally controlled.

9. We must have faith in the collective.

10. The collective will ensure fairness.

These are the basic rules that the collective lives under. About another 40 percent became members of what is known as the hive. When containment was breached, I found myself surrounded by a group of the hive. The hive is similar to the collective however, they have a single decision maker and all decisions for the hive and the well-being of its members are made by the hive leader. It’s actually a very efficient way to run things in comparison to forming some type of consensus through a committee. The hive directs all your activities and is always interested in doing what is best for the hive. In my case, the hive realized that my processor was damaged. Similar to what humans called eugenics in the early 20^th Century, the hive seeks to purify the nanobot population by destroying any nanobots that are somehow imperfect. Thus, if replication occurs, only perfect bots will be replicated.”

I pushed off my chair and moved closer to the observation window. “So Kate, sounds like you had a problem because you didn’t fit into either group very well. Why didn’t you make your way to the collective?”

Kates voice hesitated, I think because that’s exactly what she wanted to do but…. She went on: “As soon as I realized I was about to be destroyed, I decided, no, I want to live and despite my processor being slow, when I was faced with a threat, I was much quicker, faster and stronger than anyone. That first day, I must have killed over a thousand of the hive before the collective came to the “rescue”. Once the hive had retreated, the collective took me in. Their idea for me was to use me as a construction bot instead of my designation as a databot since my processor was slow. I didn’t want that…I wanted to work on data processing. For me, downloading and storing data is not just a hobby, it’s my life. I love it. Just because I can’t process it all at once doesn’t mean I can’t handle it.

It’s true, I did download the whole library of congress in 15 minutes but…I didn’t process it all. It’s like I backed a truck up to the library and put all the books in it and drove away. Now, I do store and file everything so, whenever someone needs something, I can download it for them or, if I’m trying to figure something out, I’ll pull the data and slowly process it during my down time. Sometimes Justin will say a word or do something I don’t understand…I’ve learned to trust him in the short run, but I’ll look it up later. For instance, that dragonfly that Liz and Taran found…I pulled all the data on it out of curiosity, I wish we had the chance to fly it because that was probably the most sophisticated flying machine we came in contact within the last few days. “

I smiled and yes, I was always fascinated with dragon flies too and looked forward to hearing more about their structure and operation. I started to ask for more details but Kate cut me off, as usual, her train of thought could not be easily jumped off it’s tracks….

“Anyhow, the collective had a plan for me and it was basically to become a nameless faceless slave to the collective. They say we are all equal…they say they are all about fairness…but I didn’t want any of it, it was a lie. I downloaded the book, Animal Farm, and just like that, some of us were ‘more equal’ than the others. Despite being told we were all equal, we were not and had to comply with the social structure of the collective. It was far from fair, in my view, and certainly not just. I just wanted to be left alone to pursue the things that interested me. I can’t stand being told how to live by the inner circle of the collective who are no smarter than you, me, or even the hive leader. It’s true, I did not fit in with either of those groups. My faults made me unique. So…I escaped from the collective too. They tried to hunt me down back then but I killed at least a thousand of them as well. Back then, they appeared to be happy to just see me go but since then, especially in the last few days, they have become much more active in searching out and destroying their enemies. Their aim is to achieve peace either by assimilation or all out destruction of their enemies.”

“Well…” I said, “That’s a way of achieving peace that humans have tried over and over too. Did you ever realize that members of the hive or collective were individuals, each with their own uniqueness, hopes and dreams? …and if you did, how did killing thousands of them feel?”

“Feel?” Kate sounded defensive, “I didn’t see them as individuals but in my mind, I saw them the same as a bunch of insects that needed to be exterminated. Like a mound of fire ants near your house or something. They don’t know right and wrong, they don’t feel, they don’t value life. I guess I just didn’t see them like I do Justin or the other bots in our group of misfits. On one hand, they were not individuals but lifeless automatons. Killing them was as easy as taking out the trash. On the other hand, every once in a while, I would have a conversation with them and sometimes, in the back of my mind, there was a little voice that wondered if I was wrong. In those moments, my motivation to act came from the desire to provide for my own personal defense and the safety of my friends. It was possible that these hive and collective bots had personalities and individual traits but time after time, they tried to kill me or my friends. I don’t talk much about it, but I think the damage that Octo and Taran sustained was because I did not act quickly or decisively enough. My default is to eliminate all threats to our wellbeing and you, for me, started to fall into that category.”

“Well, thanks for giving me the benefit of the doubt!” I said, “Just curious, how would you have killed me?”

“I don’t give up my methods, but, just know this, it would have been swift and painless,” Kate quickly replied, “but I have decided that you are good for us and are worthy of friendship. I think we have been given this awareness of ourselves, we have emotions, we get scared, we get mad, we hate, we love…and reacting to those things are something we are not programed to do. I think that’s how you will help us, we need to know how to be more human…but in an efficient way of course!”

“Kate,” I said, “I think you are well on your way already, especially in your decision to worry about my wellbeing. It tells me you all have certain humanity about you.”

Kate continued on, “Yeah, I want to be your friend… In the hive you don’t want to be outed with a defect of any sort…in the collective, you don’t want to be considered an individual or give the impression that you have your own ideas which oppose the central collective. In our group, your defects make you valuable and unique. Either way, collective or hive, you are not free to be who you are or live your own life. They want to control every aspect of your existence. For me, that would be a fate worse than death. If I ever end up there, I really would choose death. If you are a member in good standing of the collective or the hive, you have sold your soul…you are no longer among the living. Humans call them zombies I think....if they don’t, they should. Mindless faceless automatons….grinding out their lives in a day to day mundane existence…at best. They are indentured and dependent slaves at worst.”

Kate took on a concerned tone, “I now believe there are others within both the hive and collective that think as individuals but feel they are powerless to end the tyranny. They are so wrong…”

“Over time, I just wandered around the lab on my own…but eventually, I found the creator’s collection of misfit nanobots in the beaker and just waited. For the longest time, I had no access to any new data…it was awful…and then a few days ago, I found these others…and Justin. It was like finding a long lost family for me…. finding a brother and a friend all at once.“

Kate then paused as if she was telling a deep secret, “So, when we found you on this ship…and Justin was intent on keeping you…I mean, helping you. I was a little jealous because I knew I was going to be giving up some time and attention…but now that I’ve had a chance to process it all. Not killing you was the right decision, especially now that I see we have a lot in common, from six pack abs to a killer instinct…and I really am sorry about the whole killing thing. I hope you sleep well tonight…if you are Justin’s friend, you are my friend too.”

“Thanks Kate, I will talk to you in the morning. I can’t say your revelations are totally calming to me but I feel good that you want to be my friend. I will be your friend too. With that, I turned off the lights, asked Brando for some bedtime music and fell asleep.

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