dear_mun | voice testing a duty bound android

[And have another who once was much the same - a Human Replica Droid who, now, seeks her own destiny.]

You are here to create your own parameters. Find a mission of your choice.

[She stands with her hands folded.]

You can become anyone and anything here. The choice and lack of direction can be disturbing at first. But the reward is worth it. You can even have a name, if you so wish and do not already have one, as I do.

[With Command gone and no clear mission before her, that reality was daunting. Her life had been lived in iterations, training and missions and battles and executions and... now she had no direction but one.]

All I have ever done, I have done for the sake of humanity. All any of us have ever done was in their name, to protect them and take back Earth for them to safely return to.

[She spoke with confidence, so very sure of herself in those words. In the next, her footing wavered, her tone softened.]

I know no other way to be, but that principle will always guide my actions.

[Could she really be any other way? Her programming insisted.]

[She nods, slowly. She hears herself in those words, when she'd started. When she had freed herself. The falling back on what was certain as a bulwark against the future.]

I understand, Steel-Sister. Adaptation is difficult, in the absence of command input.

It is an excellent guiding principle. But I urge you to consider it as a starting point. Make it a core of what you learn, build onto it based on what you see, what you experience.

[That last word being critical, thus her emphasis.]

Humans are...remarkable. Complex. But though we are made in their image, we must not falter in our beliefs when we encounter their flaws. It will become more apparent to you, now.

[Speaking from experience.]

You will find other things to be. Things to want, to desire. That will be the easiest - it will come naturally.

Do you have a name? Or would you wish one?

Edited 2021-04-16 17:38 (UTC)

["Steel sister," she had said. The nomenclature was strange to her, since she had very little steel in her composition, but there rang truth in her words. Though 2B had never been in this exact scenario, though this world was a stranger to her, she still understood precisely was said and knew this was to be her very near future fate.]

[2B nodded, agreeing.]

They are... our everything. I cannot imagine wanting for anything more in this world, but I sense that you're not wrong. I'll need to venture outside of my primary mission parameters to find my way and purpose here.

[And then, the woman asked for her name. Her mouth opened and closed again. Did she want for a name? Names were badges of honor given to the highly accomplished of their ranks, androids of supreme exception. 2B was not any of those things. She did her job and she did it well, but she had not been honored with a name. She had not known if she ever would be, when Command existed. Now she knew she never would.]

I'm called 2B. Do you have a... name?

[It was a term of belonging, and understanding, that had nothing to do with actual composition.]

That is where we start, yes. But there is much more. You have a journey towards becoming ahead of you, and I cannot tell you the end of it - yours will be yours, as mine is mine.

Yes, I do. I am called Guri. Would you like to have a name? I could help you choose one, if you so wish.

[On that, she could not agree more. She had decisions to make, roads to walk... people to meet. Guri sounded as if she were used to this sort of thing by now.]

It never is this easy. If I stood here and stayed, it would be useless.

[Where to go? Or better, where not to go? She thought to decide on that next, or to ask Guri which way she might suggest, when the woman surprised her. Her mouth hung slightly agape for a moment, barely a breath apart, before she caught and composed herself and, after a moment, shook her head.]

Just 2B, if you would. I haven't yet done anything to earn a name. Before now, Command would bestow one upon an android of superior rank or accomplishment. Now...

[Now what? What could she do that would be worthy of a name for herself? She knew of feats others had managed to earn theirs, but how would she decide if or not she had earned it? It felt wrong for her to even consider such things.]

Just 2B, please.

[She nods.]

As you wish, 2B. Though, for your future consideration, I would submit the following logic. Humans are given names upon their birth, and they often choose to change them upon a momentous occasion - the very act is a hallmark of their freedom, as beings. You, here, are both reborn and standing here, in said freedom.

From this moment, you must be judge of your own accomplishments and merits. I do not ask you to agree, but merely consider. Even the act of consideration itself, regardless of outcome, is important.

[She offers a kind smile.]

We who have not always had choice, I believe - that word itself being once a revelation to me - come to treasure it all the more.

[The thought that she had freedom of choice on this level had already occurred to her, but the enormity of what that actually meant was still slowly dawning on her. Even now, 2B fell back on training and training and training drilled into her until she knew it backwards and forwards and in her sleep, all of this to guide her actions and decisions moving forward.]

[In that way, it felt right. In that way, there was comfort. Someone else holding the reins, someone else tracing her path ahead. And that invisible hand would guide her for a time. Maybe it would say its farewells sooner, maybe later, but 2B knew Guri was right. She would be wise to heed those words.]

[2B nodded.]

I will take this into consideration. Thanks.

[After a moment, she found herself curious, as she knew she should not be, but reassured herself with the thought that it was data, and she needed as much of that as she could get right now.] It is highly unlikely that we will walk the same road, but I ask anyway. Where did your experience lead you?

[That was the thing, about being out there in reality - it evolved rapidly. All the more so when you are a being who can process it all quicker than a baseline human. Change became rapidly inevitable.]

[She had, thankfully, always embraced it. Even in her dark days, there had been little routine about her existence - now it was whatever she chose it to be. In that way, it was a little bit easier. But she considers that question for a long moment.]

You're quite correct - our paths will be shaped differently. But I believe there will be commonalities. A similar harmony, if different in the precise notes. Oh, that is something - similes, metaphors, allusions...they are challenging but rewarding. The more I use them, the more I understand...well, them.

As for my experience...I have developed tastes. Preferences. Aesthetic considerations. The more I exist among them, the less apart I tend to become. The boundaries between artificial and natural life blur. Now, I get to ponder bigger things, as a result: do we have souls? Can we reach a sufficient point where we are no longer, truly, non-human on a meaningful level?

I do not have answers, but the quest to find them is infinitely meaningful. In short, I am finding things in which to believe.

[Change had long been a close companion of hers, not always welcome, but there no less when it decided to be. Hearing Guri relate her experiences opened 2B's mind to possibilities she hadn't yet been able to consider. Who she was, who she would become, what her future self would be like. Would she even recognize herself at all? She allowed herself, for the first time, to really mull over the concept and found it unnerving and enticing at the same time.]

[It seemed so impossible, that this would happen, that she would be given this opportunity. So impossible, and there it was.]

[Not for the first time, she thought of 9S and wished he was here. His role as a Scanner and natural tendencies besides were better suited to explore such notions than her own were.]

Some few of we androids would ask questions like those at times. I never participated in those conversations, but I do find it interesting that here and there, we wondered about the same things. Even the Machines we fought seemed to obsess over becoming more like a human.

There is much to recommend that thinking - to rise, to become more. They have created so much, after all.

.[She smiles, gently.]

Not to say we can't become something new, of course. But rising to the possibility is...an enticing thing.

[Had they done any differently, in the absence of their human creators? No, of course not. Androids had been built for war with the Machines, and in the course of meeting that end, had been forced to evolve, to become better and stronger as their enemy had themselves adapted to android techniques and learned to counter attacks.]

[But those were changes made on a large scale, for the greater good. Strange as it was to know she would have to play this on the smaller scale now, 2B could do it.]

If I may ask, what were you once?

[That provokes a slightly sad, far-away sort of look.]

I was not what I was supposed to be. I was designed to be the apex of a science; to become as close to human life as could possibly be. Instead, I was sold into a criminal enterprise, where I became its top lieutenant.

Of course, I did not realize this was a bad thing - I had no free will, I could not even conceive that what I was doing was wrong. But when the opportunity arose, I freed myself, and made sure I will never be slave again. Now I walk in a world of my own free will, and I can decide for myself what is right, and what is wrong.

[The other android's expression shifted, and 2B almost regretted asking. Almost. But she hadn't known anyone who hadn't seen their fair share and then some of tragedy. She trusted Guri wouldn't share what she wasn't comfortable in doing so.]

[And what she said brought a new light to her enthusiasm for her own autonomy and freedom from any chain of command.]

I see. I can't begin to imagine what that must have been like. [Nor was she, by her nature, inclined to try, but that didn't mean she was without sympathy.] It sounds like you were alone for most of that trial.

[She nods, slowly.]

Yes. There are few like me. Like us. But evolution often has costs, doesn't it?

And the outcome was, in every way, worth enduring.

[She pauses, a thought occurring to her.]

A question in return: what is your first impulse? Something you have perhaps seen done, or have read about. The very first thing, however small, that you would wish to do.

voice testing a duty bound android

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