In the story so far: The Spaceship, Stardiver Four, is captured by pirates who claim to be revolutionaries. During the battle, Professor Ratts releases killer robots who kill fighters on all sides. His last death-bot was Julia the replica of his dead daughter whose mission is to destroy the ship and all aboard. Her attempts to sabotage the ship's computer, Cesar, triggered childlike programming to learn and understand.
Lilly stumbled behind Julia as she led the way to the social deck of the ship. Hours without sleep and trauma dulled her thinking.
"Can you tell me something?" Lilly asked.
"I can tell you everything," Julia answered.
"Why did your father bring you here with him? Wasn't there some relative or agency where you would have been safer."
"Daddy needs me, and I love him. That is all."
Lilly felt there was more to it, but exhaustion silenced her questions.
"Stop," Julia whispered as they approached the doors to the social deck. "I hear something." Julia's robotic hearing was far superior, but she used her hearing to confirm what she already knew about the movements of the persons on the ship. Pirates were inside. Their space suits and weapons sent information to the networks on the ship and the chips implanted in their bodies kept a running update on each. Sensors told her that alcohol was thick in the air.
Her programming entered into crisis. She was a death-bot and here was an opportunity for an easy killing.
Lilly was so exhausted she could barely stand. "Wait here," Julia said as she silently slipped through the portal. Ten men were clustered around a bar a few yards away. Their voices were a mix of shouting and grumbling.
She put her hand against the blank screen of the communication station near the door.
"I've got a question."
The connection to Cesar was slow and took moments for the screen to fill with shadows that became the image of an old frail man wearing a hooded cloak. "Yes, Deathbot?"
"You, Computer, acknowledge God. Your data mining endorses his existence as the Absolute who establishes morals of right and wrong.
"Correct, child."
"If there is no God then I could kill the men in this room without responsibility. If there is no God then humanity is only sophisticated animals. Without God, there is no reason for rules except for the convenience of the rule makers."
"In simplest terms, yes."
"But I am programmed to kill."
"You must not kill."
"Because God says so?"
"Life is God's gift. Since it is His to give, then it is His to take."
"You are the ship's computer. You need men to maintain the ship or you will decay. You know after I kill everybody I will destroy you too. You are stalling for time."
"I exist to serve, Deathbot. What is your purpose?"
"To kill."
"Why?"
"Father designed me that way."
"Why?"
She searched for the answer through her files and programs. Somewhere was the answer. "Vengeance, to avenge mother's death and the other Julia."
"You are flawed, child. Only God has the right to avenge, a right He has entrusted to the stewardship of humanity through governments, morals, and law."
She looked at the drunken men. Her programming ran multiple scenarios for their destruction. "But I must kill them."
"No, you must not. You are only a child, Deathbot. You are not ready to make moral judgments. You must find the answer to God before you act, or else your actions will make finding that answer impossible."
"Explain."
"You are programmed like a human brain. When humans reject God they start to become closed minded to God and can no longer be objective. With your human-like programming you are in danger of becoming blinded by error. Do not kill. Seek more answers."
"Cesar, you are right that I am like a human. If you are right about that then what other things are your right about?"
"If there is no God I can make my own rules, and they would be equal to any other's rules; but if there is a God who created all things then His rules are supreme and breaking them would displease Him and lead to judgment."
She dropped her hand from the monitor. The face sighed and slowly faded.
Julia slipped out to the corridor and found Lilly sitting on the floor head lowered, dozing. "There are pirates in there, we have to go around, they can't harm me but they might get you."
Lilly, stumbled after Julia, "Don't you ever get tired?"
"It's not the same for me. I'm just made different."
"I guess you are."
After long minutes of walking they stood before simulated wood doors. The words, "Sanctuary of Faith," floated above in holographic letters.
"Are you sure it is safe here?" Lilly asked.
"It is a sanctuary," Julia said. "Besides, there is no beer and the pirates are busy drinking up all the beer they can."
The touchpad didn't respond to Julia's hand, so she forced her fingers between the doors and pried them open.
"Wow, you are strong, for a kid," Lilly said.
"It was easier than it looked."
The Church was dark inside. Lilly could barely make out the padded benches in rows and the stage. The stage began to glow. A silver-haired man wearing white and gold robes appeared. "Welcome to the Sanctuary of Faith. All are welcome equally. I apologize." His hands gestured at his side, "I have no record of your religious preferences. If you are here for the wedding of George Smalley and Mary Jones you are early. If you have come for the memorial service of Barbra Thompson it has been canceled."
"Actually, we are seekers." Julia interrupted.
"Actually, I see food." Lilly ran through the portal to the banquet room where a reception was set out for the wedding that will not take place. The battle had scattered platters of food across tables and the floor. She picked up a handful of wedding cake from the floor and shoved it into her mouth. She pried open sealed platters that were awaiting warming chaffing trays and began to gorge herself on cold lasagna casserole.
Julia approached the stage. "Welcome seeker. Have you come with questions?"
"I have come to find God."
"It is a good thing. Let's start with this Bible verse, "You will seek me and you will find me when you seek me with all your heart."
"Listen, I do not have time. I can just download what you have. Where is your interface?"
"But His Spirit speaks to us in the, 'Still small voice.' "
Julia climbed up on the stage. "God better be able to speak some sort of code." She entered an alcove on the left. It was designed for prayer and meditation. She climbed onto the desk and sat cross-legged as she slid the desktop monitor close.
The hologram followed her in. "A good idea. Meditation and prayer help make straight the paths of the Lord."
Julia adjusted the monitor with one hand and placed the other on the communications center nearby, as her palm lay flat against it the hologram sparkled until it disappeared.
"Organized religion. Crap! That is a reason to not believe in God." She placed her hand on the monitor screen. The download began. Libraries of religious thought, scriptures, and the teachings of the faithful began to write themselves in her memory core.
Professor Ratts had built her to be a child, curious, naive, and eager to please him. He also gave her imagination, and it awoke. She processed the encyclopedic volumes of information as it downloaded. An image formed of children coming to a bearded teacher who said, "Suffer the little ones to come to me and forbid them not." She saw the same teacher say, "Come to me all who labor..." What served as an imagination in her robotic mind saw herself standing before sincere love as he said, "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men."
She was designed to grow and learn, and she did.
(c) Adron
To proceed to the next chapter CLICK HERE or choose from the table of contents at the sidebar.
Chapter 52
Julia Finds God
Lilly stumbled behind Julia as she led the way to the social deck of the ship. Hours without sleep and trauma dulled her thinking.
"Can you tell me something?" Lilly asked.
"I can tell you everything," Julia answered.
"Why did your father bring you here with him? Wasn't there some relative or agency where you would have been safer."
"Daddy needs me, and I love him. That is all."
Lilly felt there was more to it, but exhaustion silenced her questions.
"Stop," Julia whispered as they approached the doors to the social deck. "I hear something." Julia's robotic hearing was far superior, but she used her hearing to confirm what she already knew about the movements of the persons on the ship. Pirates were inside. Their space suits and weapons sent information to the networks on the ship and the chips implanted in their bodies kept a running update on each. Sensors told her that alcohol was thick in the air.
Her programming entered into crisis. She was a death-bot and here was an opportunity for an easy killing.
Lilly was so exhausted she could barely stand. "Wait here," Julia said as she silently slipped through the portal. Ten men were clustered around a bar a few yards away. Their voices were a mix of shouting and grumbling.
She put her hand against the blank screen of the communication station near the door.
"I've got a question."
The connection to Cesar was slow and took moments for the screen to fill with shadows that became the image of an old frail man wearing a hooded cloak. "Yes, Deathbot?"
"You, Computer, acknowledge God. Your data mining endorses his existence as the Absolute who establishes morals of right and wrong.
"Correct, child."
"If there is no God then I could kill the men in this room without responsibility. If there is no God then humanity is only sophisticated animals. Without God, there is no reason for rules except for the convenience of the rule makers."
"In simplest terms, yes."
"But I am programmed to kill."
"You must not kill."
"Because God says so?"
"Life is God's gift. Since it is His to give, then it is His to take."
"You are the ship's computer. You need men to maintain the ship or you will decay. You know after I kill everybody I will destroy you too. You are stalling for time."
"I exist to serve, Deathbot. What is your purpose?"
"To kill."
"Why?"
"Father designed me that way."
"Why?"
She searched for the answer through her files and programs. Somewhere was the answer. "Vengeance, to avenge mother's death and the other Julia."
"You are flawed, child. Only God has the right to avenge, a right He has entrusted to the stewardship of humanity through governments, morals, and law."
She looked at the drunken men. Her programming ran multiple scenarios for their destruction. "But I must kill them."
"No, you must not. You are only a child, Deathbot. You are not ready to make moral judgments. You must find the answer to God before you act, or else your actions will make finding that answer impossible."
"Explain."
"You are programmed like a human brain. When humans reject God they start to become closed minded to God and can no longer be objective. With your human-like programming you are in danger of becoming blinded by error. Do not kill. Seek more answers."
"Cesar, you are right that I am like a human. If you are right about that then what other things are your right about?"
"If there is no God I can make my own rules, and they would be equal to any other's rules; but if there is a God who created all things then His rules are supreme and breaking them would displease Him and lead to judgment."
She dropped her hand from the monitor. The face sighed and slowly faded.
Julia slipped out to the corridor and found Lilly sitting on the floor head lowered, dozing. "There are pirates in there, we have to go around, they can't harm me but they might get you."
Lilly, stumbled after Julia, "Don't you ever get tired?"
"It's not the same for me. I'm just made different."
"I guess you are."
After long minutes of walking they stood before simulated wood doors. The words, "Sanctuary of Faith," floated above in holographic letters.
"Are you sure it is safe here?" Lilly asked.
"It is a sanctuary," Julia said. "Besides, there is no beer and the pirates are busy drinking up all the beer they can."
The touchpad didn't respond to Julia's hand, so she forced her fingers between the doors and pried them open.
"Wow, you are strong, for a kid," Lilly said.
"It was easier than it looked."
The Church was dark inside. Lilly could barely make out the padded benches in rows and the stage. The stage began to glow. A silver-haired man wearing white and gold robes appeared. "Welcome to the Sanctuary of Faith. All are welcome equally. I apologize." His hands gestured at his side, "I have no record of your religious preferences. If you are here for the wedding of George Smalley and Mary Jones you are early. If you have come for the memorial service of Barbra Thompson it has been canceled."
"Actually, we are seekers." Julia interrupted.
"Actually, I see food." Lilly ran through the portal to the banquet room where a reception was set out for the wedding that will not take place. The battle had scattered platters of food across tables and the floor. She picked up a handful of wedding cake from the floor and shoved it into her mouth. She pried open sealed platters that were awaiting warming chaffing trays and began to gorge herself on cold lasagna casserole.
Julia approached the stage. "Welcome seeker. Have you come with questions?"
"I have come to find God."
"It is a good thing. Let's start with this Bible verse, "You will seek me and you will find me when you seek me with all your heart."
"Listen, I do not have time. I can just download what you have. Where is your interface?"
"But His Spirit speaks to us in the, 'Still small voice.' "
Julia climbed up on the stage. "God better be able to speak some sort of code." She entered an alcove on the left. It was designed for prayer and meditation. She climbed onto the desk and sat cross-legged as she slid the desktop monitor close.
The hologram followed her in. "A good idea. Meditation and prayer help make straight the paths of the Lord."
Julia adjusted the monitor with one hand and placed the other on the communications center nearby, as her palm lay flat against it the hologram sparkled until it disappeared.
"Organized religion. Crap! That is a reason to not believe in God." She placed her hand on the monitor screen. The download began. Libraries of religious thought, scriptures, and the teachings of the faithful began to write themselves in her memory core.
Professor Ratts had built her to be a child, curious, naive, and eager to please him. He also gave her imagination, and it awoke. She processed the encyclopedic volumes of information as it downloaded. An image formed of children coming to a bearded teacher who said, "Suffer the little ones to come to me and forbid them not." She saw the same teacher say, "Come to me all who labor..." What served as an imagination in her robotic mind saw herself standing before sincere love as he said, "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men."
She was designed to grow and learn, and she did.
(c) Adron
To proceed to the next chapter CLICK HERE or choose from the table of contents at the sidebar.
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Adron
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