c.chun ➤ 001 ➤ text

[arkproject]

Hi, everyone. I'm Catherine!

I've been talking to a few people about our mission, and I've been thinking... Do we have any ideas for how to restructure the government that don't require full-scale fighting? Like, if we could gather evidence of the corruption and expose it to the public, through, say... cyber espionage? It would at least give us more information, even if we don't go that route.

Reconnaissance is a good first step!

I'm not an expert in this, but I figure one of you is. So I want your thoughts! Or if you have experience hacking and want to teach me. It sounds like it would be easier to sneak in and put a physical receiver into one of their central systems, but in the spirit of keeping our options open, I might as well learn.

Even if doing it the manual way is going to be very slow.

Comments

[arkproject]

I see your point. That's exactly the kind of thing we could try to look for. It seems like there should be at least a few that would be kept under arrest rather than executed.

[undeserved]

[ androids didn't keep prisoners of war - even their own traitors were killed instantly. but it sounds like humans work differently, and in their favor, this time. ]

We can hope. There should be information somewhere in the government's network. Or the Vakdir's.

[arkproject]

Right, the police. You're full of good ideas, aren't you? I was thinking it might be helpful to find the records of any attempted uprisings before, too, and see what happened to them. What made them fail.

[undeserved]

It was Keith's idea, not mine.

[ not the police part, but she still doesn't feel right taking credit. ]

Do you know how to infiltrate a computer network?

[arkproject]

Not exactly. I'm not the networking type of computer engineer. Once I'm in I do alright, though-- so I was thinking of trying to plant a wireless receiver somewhere, if we got the chance.

[undeserved]

Somewhere?

[ 2B assumes she has a destination in mind for this thing. ]

[arkproject]

Well, a computer, obviously, but I don't know what a good target would be yet... Probably we should ask Rost.

[undeserved]

[ okay she figured that much but... good confirmation!! ]

Maybe you could attach one to a surveillance drone. They must take them in for maintenance at some point.

[arkproject]

I think someone is trying something like that with the cleaning bots. Makes sense. I'm better at the building things than the sneaking things in side of things.

[undeserved]

Right. The cleaning robots.

[ that makes sense, too. As does Catherine's problem, honestly... ]

I'm meant for direct combat. Sneaking isn't something I've ever had to do, either.

[arkproject]

Direct combat? What were you combating?

[undeserved]

Machines. [ she feels like she repeats this story so often - every time she has to, it fades a little bit further into the past, like a strange legend. but it was reality. she can't afford to forget everything she did there. ] The Earth I know was invaded by aliens controlling an advanced army of machines. They defeated humanity's forces and mostly conquered Earth. Humans retreated to space and began producing combat androids like myself to try and take the planet back.

[arkproject]

[ Meanwhile, Catherine thinks this sounds perfectly reasonable, except for the weird aliens part. But okay, whatever. ]

Good for them. I think. At least they had somewhere to retreat to. Was it working? The taking Earth back?

[undeserved]

[ THIS IS A LOADED QUESTION. 2B hesitates before typing out the answer. Not because she doesn't know it, but because it hurts to admit it. All of them knew the stalemate wasn't budging; still, they had to keep fighting on. There was nothing else. ]

The war started about 6000 years ago. It was still going on when I came here.

[arkproject]

[ Oh. Uhhhh... hmm. Well. This is Catherine, and the whole reason she likes robots so much is they don't get hung up on stupid human things. So she just types out: ]

Sounds like they should cut their losses. It's a waste to have you stationed there. You're probably doing more good here.

[undeserved]

[ Catherine doesn't mean it that way. Logically, she knows that. Logically, she also knows that Catherine is right. She's known that for a long time - that it's pointless. Earth will never be the way it was before. Humanity is extinct. All they're doing is throwing bodies at a problem that can't be fixed.

But it hurts to hear it. And it hurts especially to hear it from a human - someone she's supposed to have been fighting for. Someone all of them were supposed to have been fighting to protect, to save. So many of her comrades died for this, suffered for this. She doesn't want to think it was a waste. It can't be a waste. If it was - then that simply hurts too much to bear. ]

I don't know.

[arkproject]

[ Meanwhile, it's not as much of an abstract question for Catherine as one might assume. ]

Well, why do they need Earth so badly? If we could've retreated to a space colony... That people survived at all is amazing. If I knew someone like you was stuck back on the Earth that we abandoned, I don't know. I'd feel bad. I wouldn't want to leave you behind.

When A.I. reach sentience, you're not really replaceable anymore. But I guess I don't work on combat applications for a reason.

[undeserved]

They didn't survive. By the time I was rolled out, humanity was already extinct.

[ they did leave her behind - her, and all of the other androids. Not that 2B knew that until recently. This is what she concentrates on, because the rest of what Catherine is saying makes her ache inside too much. She's certain a combat A.I. shouldn't be feeling an ache like this, but she does - she always does when these topics come up, and it always torments her. ]

[arkproject]

[ Even Catherine can tell when she's struck on something that sensitive. There's a long pause before she answers. ]

I'm sorry. I stand by what I said. I'm glad you're here.

[undeserved]

It's fine. You don't have to apologize to me.

[ she doesn't know how to feel about a human apologizing to her for what happened, or saying she's glad 2B is here. It certainly doesn't make her feel better. The words sit heavy on her - it's a waste to have you stationed there. You're not really replaceable. Is she right? Would the other humans agree with her? If they did, then why was she even built?

Once again, she knows already. But the only answer she can find isn't satisfying.

In true 2B form, she does her best to try not to think about it. ]

I'll do what I can here.

[arkproject]

[ Catherine has never been the sort to shy away from hard truths, no matter how painful or debilitating they could be. She faced the end of the world dead on, without flinching, every incarnation of her. And she faces Simon and her dead coworkers and everything else exactly as they are.

She won't, can't, do any less for 2B. Her lot is awful, and she deserves better, and that's not Catherine's opinion but something closer to an indisputable fact. She's not about to pretend otherwise.

But... she can try to be a little... sensitive. ]

That's all any of us are doing, right? Simon and I can't un-destroy our human race, either. At least we're in the same boat.