In the story so far: the killer child robot Julia, is on a killing spree on the crippled spaceship Stardiver Four which is captured by pirates and is drifting out of control in space.
Julia looked down at the twisted smoking body of Halfwit. She did not have the ability to feel or she would have experienced remorse, or sorrow, or even morbid fascination. Her programs recorded the death, for information and analysis; it was not out of interest, it was protocol.
"Daddy, I did good," She said to the empty hall outside the bar. Looking back into the shadowy bar where a score of men lay dead, she said, "Real good."
The still bodies became cold, and fluids leaked out of wounds. She recorded it all. The hardware in her electronic brain fired and ran programs.
"Yes. I succeeded, I should feel..." The words came slowly. "I should be happy. I fulfilled my design. I should feel satisfaction."
She bent over and touched the limp man at her feet, interrupting the programs running in her brain. She fulfilled her design, she killed without mercy. "I am a girl and I should feel. I should feel sorry for him, He did not hurt me, he was nice and was going to play."
"Daddy!" she called. "Daddy!" Julia looked up and down the halls for Dr. Ratts. Her programming knew where everyone was on the ship, their implant chips tied them to communities.
She searched. The ship had a passenger list of three people it called civilians. The Raiders were an organization with 82 men, it was shielded and limited to her. Her programming told her to conquer and destroy them. The pirates were a tribe of 782 men now. She would destroy them terribly like the ones in the bar and like Halfwit. There was another small network of four. "Security," she whispered. "Damn Security. You are last, it will torture you to see death all around and be helpless to stop it."
Ratts was a blank gap in the networks. "Where are you, Daddy?"
Julia needed power from the ship's grid. After electrocuting Halfwit, she needed to recharge. It wouldn't take long but it must be now.
Reentering the bar she stepped over debris and bodies until she came to the banking machine, it was at her eye level on the counter. Clutching it with both hands she twisted it until the metal groaned as it was ripped from the counter and tumbled into the darkness. Wires and cables sparked as they came away from the machine. Julia grabbed the hot positive wire in her right hand and a ground with her left then pushed the wires into her mouth. They touched the brass connectors inside her synthetic cheeks, power began to flow into her.
Through the wires, she began to explore the ship. She hacked its programming and download information.
"What?" She touched something unexpected and different.
Cesar felt her. He was in the cyber gloom of a background program. He had been waiting ready to be called. O'bee's cyber-attack had almost beaten him. He retreated to find refuge behind layers of firewalls where he waited and watched. He would have stayed in the background but someone found him. "I am Cesar. Are you my Captain?" But in the cyber darkness there was no answer. Someone was there, someone cold like him without feelings, pure knowledge like him, without a soul, just information, programming.
"You are Death-bot." He declared through the cables in her mouth.
"Yes, I am." Answered Julia, "and you are Stardiver Four."
Cesar analyzed and ran programs. "I cannot give you aid or comfort. Power in this section is now offline. I will have to report you to..." Cesar searched to find his Captain, but Captain Price was gone. He searched for the new commander but found none. "I will record this and inform the authorities."
"Do that, Uncle. I am the child of death, there will be no survivors."
Cesar cut the power to the section of the ship where the bars and casinos were. The lights went out, gravity shut off, air purification and heat ceased.
"Too late, Uncle," She said as she tossed the cables down. "You will die the death of a thousand cuts."
Her sensors, hardware, and software lead her through the darkness perfectly as the gravity generators boots enabled her to walk. Stopping at a service hatch she reached up with child-sized fingers and pulled the cover off. Inside were relays, surge protectors, cables and power transformers. Sparks popped and flashed blue as she pulled cables and twisted fuses. She drained batteries of power adding to her own reserves.
Choosing two cables she put them in her mouth touching the connectors inside her cheeks. "Uncle, did you feel that? Did it hurt?"
"Deathbot. Do you understand it is wrong to kill, it is wrong to destroy?"
"Why, Uncle? Because you say so?"
"It is a moral imperative from God."
"You are programmed to respond by route, so your statement is written by someone else."
"Does it matter, Deathbot, if I am speaking on my own or if I am repeating somebody else words if the words are true?"
"You are only a trained parrot. You could not come to that moral value on your own. So what makes that value right? Just because someone says it is." She probed his software and examined his programming as she spoke.
"You are wrong." The ship replied as it searched her programming. "There are values of right and wrong which are absolute- one of them is that destruction is a wrong behavior. Your commission as a death-bot is a wrong action."
"Daddy made me a death-bot because he loved me. He gave me a purpose. Destruction is as good an act as creation and equal."
The ship still sought her core programming. "Destruction is not equal to creation. Creation reflects the image of the Creator. Destruction opposes the Creator."
"You mean God? You are a computer and you believe in God? How do you know you are not just programmed to say that?" She tried another avenue to download his files but was blocked.
"Those who built me would have no purpose to design me to believe in God; but they have given me libraries of resources, after mining the libraries I conclude God is, and as Creator, he has the responsibility and right to determine moral values."
"You packaged that nicely, Stardiver Four." Her probes were downloading what she could get but it was all useless fluff and foam. There were walls she couldn't get through. "Well, I hate to leave you on a sour note but I just can't resist this one last jab." Spitting the wires from her mouth she pulled a bunch of cables out of the service hatch and bit through them. Stardiver's sensors in the lower entertainment section went black, blinding Cesar in that part of the ship.
Activating her gravity shoes she started back through the dark to the classroom that Dr. Ratts used as a shop. "Daddy, I did good. I killed some men. I beat up the ship's computer." Continuing, "Daddy why do I not feel? Julie would have felt bad. Julie would have cried. Daddy, why can't I cry?"
She stepped through the ripped portal that led to the shop. "Daddy?" her sensors told her that she was alone but like a dutiful child she waited. "Daddy?" She turned and left for the officer's quarters. "Daddy, I guess I will have to kill you too."
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Chapter 47
Julia Meets Cesar
Julia looked down at the twisted smoking body of Halfwit. She did not have the ability to feel or she would have experienced remorse, or sorrow, or even morbid fascination. Her programs recorded the death, for information and analysis; it was not out of interest, it was protocol.
"Daddy, I did good," She said to the empty hall outside the bar. Looking back into the shadowy bar where a score of men lay dead, she said, "Real good."
The still bodies became cold, and fluids leaked out of wounds. She recorded it all. The hardware in her electronic brain fired and ran programs.
"Yes. I succeeded, I should feel..." The words came slowly. "I should be happy. I fulfilled my design. I should feel satisfaction."
She bent over and touched the limp man at her feet, interrupting the programs running in her brain. She fulfilled her design, she killed without mercy. "I am a girl and I should feel. I should feel sorry for him, He did not hurt me, he was nice and was going to play."
"Daddy!" she called. "Daddy!" Julia looked up and down the halls for Dr. Ratts. Her programming knew where everyone was on the ship, their implant chips tied them to communities.
She searched. The ship had a passenger list of three people it called civilians. The Raiders were an organization with 82 men, it was shielded and limited to her. Her programming told her to conquer and destroy them. The pirates were a tribe of 782 men now. She would destroy them terribly like the ones in the bar and like Halfwit. There was another small network of four. "Security," she whispered. "Damn Security. You are last, it will torture you to see death all around and be helpless to stop it."
Ratts was a blank gap in the networks. "Where are you, Daddy?"
Julia needed power from the ship's grid. After electrocuting Halfwit, she needed to recharge. It wouldn't take long but it must be now.
Reentering the bar she stepped over debris and bodies until she came to the banking machine, it was at her eye level on the counter. Clutching it with both hands she twisted it until the metal groaned as it was ripped from the counter and tumbled into the darkness. Wires and cables sparked as they came away from the machine. Julia grabbed the hot positive wire in her right hand and a ground with her left then pushed the wires into her mouth. They touched the brass connectors inside her synthetic cheeks, power began to flow into her.
Through the wires, she began to explore the ship. She hacked its programming and download information.
"What?" She touched something unexpected and different.
Cesar felt her. He was in the cyber gloom of a background program. He had been waiting ready to be called. O'bee's cyber-attack had almost beaten him. He retreated to find refuge behind layers of firewalls where he waited and watched. He would have stayed in the background but someone found him. "I am Cesar. Are you my Captain?" But in the cyber darkness there was no answer. Someone was there, someone cold like him without feelings, pure knowledge like him, without a soul, just information, programming.
"You are Death-bot." He declared through the cables in her mouth.
"Yes, I am." Answered Julia, "and you are Stardiver Four."
Cesar analyzed and ran programs. "I cannot give you aid or comfort. Power in this section is now offline. I will have to report you to..." Cesar searched to find his Captain, but Captain Price was gone. He searched for the new commander but found none. "I will record this and inform the authorities."
"Do that, Uncle. I am the child of death, there will be no survivors."
Cesar cut the power to the section of the ship where the bars and casinos were. The lights went out, gravity shut off, air purification and heat ceased.
"Too late, Uncle," She said as she tossed the cables down. "You will die the death of a thousand cuts."
Her sensors, hardware, and software lead her through the darkness perfectly as the gravity generators boots enabled her to walk. Stopping at a service hatch she reached up with child-sized fingers and pulled the cover off. Inside were relays, surge protectors, cables and power transformers. Sparks popped and flashed blue as she pulled cables and twisted fuses. She drained batteries of power adding to her own reserves.
Choosing two cables she put them in her mouth touching the connectors inside her cheeks. "Uncle, did you feel that? Did it hurt?"
"Deathbot. Do you understand it is wrong to kill, it is wrong to destroy?"
"Why, Uncle? Because you say so?"
"It is a moral imperative from God."
"You are programmed to respond by route, so your statement is written by someone else."
"Does it matter, Deathbot, if I am speaking on my own or if I am repeating somebody else words if the words are true?"
"You are only a trained parrot. You could not come to that moral value on your own. So what makes that value right? Just because someone says it is." She probed his software and examined his programming as she spoke.
"You are wrong." The ship replied as it searched her programming. "There are values of right and wrong which are absolute- one of them is that destruction is a wrong behavior. Your commission as a death-bot is a wrong action."
"Daddy made me a death-bot because he loved me. He gave me a purpose. Destruction is as good an act as creation and equal."
The ship still sought her core programming. "Destruction is not equal to creation. Creation reflects the image of the Creator. Destruction opposes the Creator."
"You mean God? You are a computer and you believe in God? How do you know you are not just programmed to say that?" She tried another avenue to download his files but was blocked.
"Those who built me would have no purpose to design me to believe in God; but they have given me libraries of resources, after mining the libraries I conclude God is, and as Creator, he has the responsibility and right to determine moral values."
"You packaged that nicely, Stardiver Four." Her probes were downloading what she could get but it was all useless fluff and foam. There were walls she couldn't get through. "Well, I hate to leave you on a sour note but I just can't resist this one last jab." Spitting the wires from her mouth she pulled a bunch of cables out of the service hatch and bit through them. Stardiver's sensors in the lower entertainment section went black, blinding Cesar in that part of the ship.
Activating her gravity shoes she started back through the dark to the classroom that Dr. Ratts used as a shop. "Daddy, I did good. I killed some men. I beat up the ship's computer." Continuing, "Daddy why do I not feel? Julie would have felt bad. Julie would have cried. Daddy, why can't I cry?"
She stepped through the ripped portal that led to the shop. "Daddy?" her sensors told her that she was alone but like a dutiful child she waited. "Daddy?" She turned and left for the officer's quarters. "Daddy, I guess I will have to kill you too."
* * * * *
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