wickedchouette | (no subject)

I wonder--

[Says Alfie, instead of answering.]

I wonder, what would happen to you if I told you to walk out of here?

Walk out of where? The room? Or your house?

The house, yeah. If you could leave, where would you go?

[ A pause. It seems confused. ]

Where would you want me to go?

[Alfie makes a noise in the back of his throat, half annoyed and half amused.]

I must be mad, trying to have this sort of conversation with a bot.

[ The bot just tilts its head, seeming like it's waiting for an answer. ]

Well, I can't send you back.

[He continues.]

I suppose you know what happens to the ones that get sent back? Resale's illegal; it's an issue of privacy, they say. Apparently, you could overhear all sorts of things, hanging around our houses as you do.

I do. [ He shifts again. ] If you returned me to the retailer I was created by, they would destroy me completely, ensuring that your data is safe.

Yeah. So I won't do that - though I suppose that's sentimental of me. You wouldn't care either way, would you?

[He might be testing, just a little. Trying to provoke a reaction.]

[ There's a pause. ]

I enjoy existence. However, I am a machine. You would not need to feel guilt or remorse for disposing of a tool not useful to you.

How can you enjoy existence? How can you enjoy anything? Have you got emotions?

[ Another pause. The LED light at his temple flickers yellow for just a second, and then goes back to blue. ]

I have programming. [ Which is the best answer he can come up with. ] Androids are designed to feel real, Mr. Solomons.

[The light just gets a perplexed look. Someone hasn't read his new bot's manual.]

Yeah. But are they designed to feel real to us, or to themselves?

To you, of course.

But if you've got no real sense of self, then it's barely skin deep. That doesn't feel very real at all.

I'm sorry you're dissatisfied with your product. I can send a report to Good Life, if you'd like.

[ Good Life being the company that manufactures the line of androids it belongs to. ]

And what would that say, eh? I'm annoyed that you're not sentient?

If that is your complaint, yes.

[ This is your life now, Alfie. ]

Nope. Don't be fucking ridiculous.

[He turns back to his book. He's going to stop talking now; this is pointless.]

[ That's an order enough for the droid to go silent again. It'll stand there in silence, staring at the wall, for hours. Unless Alfie says something to it, it'll just be there. Like, forever. It doesn't seem to be bored, at least. ]

[Alfie reads for another hour, then closes his book and moves towards the bedroom.]

Fuck off.

[He says to the bot as he passes.]

Just stop standing there, eh?

[God, he'll have to figure out what to do with it tomorrow. Maybe sending it back to be destroyed really would be best. At least it could be recycled, then.]

[ Oh! An order. A - well, it's not particularly worded very nicely, but it's an order. The android glances up at Alfie, and then nods and turns around and just walks away out of the room.

It'll stay quiet so Alfie can sleep, but - if he sleeps through the night and wakes up the next morning, the android won't be in the room. Or in the kitchen, or like. Anywhere.

Also, his milk is missing. ]

Edited 2019-03-04 06:02 (UTC)

[It's probably standing in a corner somewhere, he thinks, so he doesn't think much of it. He also doesn't make a connection to the missing milk, at first; when he goes to make himself some coffee, he figures he'd just run out (though hadn't he just bought a new carton a few days ago?). Not a big deal. He uses creamer instead, and then with his cup, wanders into the living room and pushes open the curtains, peering out the window at the overcast city morning.]

[ It's overcast, but not overcast enough for Alfie to miss the fact that there is, indeed, his android out on the street. It's crouched down on the stoop of the building, back to Alfie's window. It looks like it might be petting a cat. Alfie might recognize the cat in question, too - it's a stray that lurks around outside often. It's a glossy, black, skinny and usually distrustful of strangers cat that runs from Alfie every time it sees him, and yet... it seems to be rubbing against the android's leg. ]

[Alfie just... watches, unsure of what to make of the scene. Can the bot do that? Clearly it can, because it is, but how? Had someone seen it through the window and given it an order? But no, that's not possible; it's only supposed to respond to his voice in most situations, and interacting with small stray animals isn't something that would have been programmed in as an exception.

If the bot looks up, it'll see Alfie looking down at it, a thoughtful, conflicted expression on his face.]