"I'm scared!"
Green Light stopped the process. His hooves refused to budge the controls any further. He wanted to keep going, to do what he was supposed to and disassemble the defective android, send her parts back to the line to have them analyzed and repaired.
But he couldn't.
He looked up at the android, which was no more than a head unit and part of a neck joint. Her eyes were holographic, he knew; a projection of color upon a screen. But they showed fear, emotion, and… and hope. Her face was one of desperation, the life she thought she had in the hooves of a disembodied voice behind tinted glass.
An android, a nonliving supercomputer in a mesh of wires and metal powered by a quantic battery, was afraid to die.
But as Green Light looked into the blue eyes of the robot that was not supposed to feel emotion or even think for itself, he saw… something. A glimmer behind the holographic irises. A consciousness. Something that should have been impossible. Yet there it was.
"I'm begging you. I want to live…"
Green Light made a hard decision. He brought his hooves onto the controls and twisted them outward. The mechanical arms began a slightly faster-than-standard assembly of the android, reconstructing her torso and reattaching her limbs. A holographic covering materialized around her frame, constructing the illusion of a small white alicorn mare with short, dark grey mane and tail.
When Green Light looked back into her eyes, he found them shining with gratitude, a smile upon her face.
"Thank you."
Dear Celestia, what had he done?
Kara
Kara breathed heavily inside the box. While she didn't need air, the cramped darkness felt like it was pressing down on her, constricting her mind. It made her afraid. Not as much as the peril she faced in the examination room, but she felt afraid nevertheless.
"You're not supposed to think!"
The examiner's voice echoed through her head. It had hurt her when he had said that, when the machines were tearing her body apart. But it wasn't the machine that had hurt. She did not feel physical pain. It was the examiner's voice that, strangely, sliced at the heart-like quantic battery, when he said that she was not alive. It hurt, but no pain was felt.
How could something that can't feel pain hurt? Why did something as delicate as pressure waves from a speaker make her feel so damaged?
He had said she wasn't supposed to think. But here she was, in a cramped shipping box, being transported to who-knows-where to be sold as merchandise, pondering why the examiner's words hurt without pain.
But then… right before she was completely disassembled, he stopped the machines. Kara still didn't understand why he did. It was his job, after all, to reject androids that weren't like the others. The defective ones. He called her defective. Yet he stopped she said she was afraid. Why? She was defective. Shouldn't she be sent back to be repaired and reconstructed?
Kara's holographic face formed a frown. She didn't feel defective. But she guessed that was the point. She wasn't supposed to feel. Or think.
Or live.
It felt like days. For days, Kara had waited in the darkness, in the cramped quarters of the box. She wondered what was happening. Was she in a warehouse, being stored for later shipment? Of was she in a store, waiting to be sold to somepony for a large amount of currency, as the examiner had told her?
For the first time, Kara grasped the concept of impatience. She wasn't at all tired. Theoretically, she could remain standing for one-hundred-seventy-three years. But her anxiety grew, and she began to fidget within the box. In her fidgeting, however, she bumped the side of the box.
Kara froze. Any sort of movement could trigger some sort of alert from anypony in proximity of her box. After a few minutes, she let out a sigh of relief. Who knew what the consequences would be if she were to be discovered?
Disassembly was one. One that Kara wanted nothing more than to avoid.
A few more hours passed, and her patience began to wane. There had to be so something she could do to pass the time. Curiously, she sifted through her memory chip for something within her system to entertain herself, or to at least make the time pass faster.
> Option: Sleep Mode. A state of dormancy that allows the unit to appear asleep, or simply standing, dictated by user preference. Sleep Mode can be deactivated by voice command or by photosensory trigger.
Kara considered the option. It worked to her advantage brilliantly, especially if she could remain in a stand-still. The light-activated feature would wake her up when somepony opened the box, and she could act as if she had been sleeping the entire time. Best of all, she didn't have to wait for something to happen.
Closing her eyes, and with a self-satisfied smile, she activated sleep mode.
Light flooded into the box, hitting the photosensors in Kara's holographic eyelids. She blinked her eyes open, squinting at the bright sunlight that filtered through the opening. Voices could be heard, but she was still too blinded by the light to make out specific figures.
Then, one of the voices directed toward her direction. "Come on out."
Reminded that she was supposed to be a autonomous android, she followed the voice out into the light. As her eyes adjusted to the light, Kara saw two stallions standing by the opening to her box. One was a brown earth pony with a white delivery cap and a box for a cutie mark, the other was a neutral grey pegasus with a navy blue mane and a cutie mark that looked like a silver crescent moon covering part of a purple sun.
Kara suddenly became aware that both ponies were staring at her, waiting for… something. Thinking back to her time in the examination room, she remembered her initialization text.
Taking a simulated breath, she recited perfectly. "Hello, I'm a third-generation AX400 Android. I can look after your house, do the cooking, mind the kids… I organize your appointments, I speak three hundred languages and I am entirely at your disposal as a sexual partner. No need to feed me or recharge me; I am equipped with a quantic battery that makes me autonomous for one-hundred-seventy-three years…"
Before she said the next part of the text, the part in which the user picks a name for her, she stopped. Kara liked her name. Though it was given to her on a whim by a pony whose job is to kill units like her, she still felt a personal connection to the name. So instead, she improvised.
"My name is Kara," she said with the barest hint of a smile upon her face.
Kara watched the QuanticTech delivery chariot roll away, merging into the roundabout of traffic. The android mare had discovered from the conversation between the driver and the pegasus that she had been shipped from the QuanticTech factories in New Trottingam to the small city of Ponyville, which explained why she had been boxed up for a total of two days fourteen hours and seventeen minutes. An awfully long time to be boxed up, she guessed.
Now, given the current circumstances, Kara was not entirely sure what would happen next. She had been sold; that much she could figure out. But to whom and for what purpose, Kara could only speculate. Why was she purchased?
The place she was delivered to gave her no further clues, either. The large structure was an odd combination of a three-story masonry building attached to what appeared to be a massive six-story tree with a hugely thick trunk and, though many windows and a door had been seemingly cut into it, still looked fully alive and growing.
"So… Kara, was it?" the gray pegasus stallion, named 'Dusk' from what she overheard from the conversation, said to her. His sunset-schemed eyes seemed to be analyzing her.
She nodded. "That is correct."
Dusk gave a confirming nod, then began trotting toward the building. "Come on, then," he beckoned. "You're gonna need an orientation of the place before you can help with anything."
Kara picked up her hooves and cantered after him, keeping pace with him to the entrance of the building. She stopped momentarily to read the sign above the door, which announced, 'Golden Oaks Public Library, Est. 978 AB,' before following Dusk through the threshold. She briefly marveled at the fact that the building she was entering had been first constructed four hundred twenty-nine years ago, older even than Princess Twilight herself, according to her database. Considering her database, she plugged in a search for specific information regarding her whereabouts.
> Results for 'Golden Oaks Library': Currently an Omega Technologies-sponsored establishment, Golden Oaks Public Library was magically constructed within the trunk of a Zebrican Golden Oak. It is labeled as a historical landmark as the workplace and home of Princess Twilight Sparkle before her ascension, and since then has undergone many renovations, and is now funded by the MagicTech branch of Omega Technologies. It is presently inhabited and maintained by Dusk and Dawn, twins and librarians.
Dusk led Kara through the library, not really saying anything directly to the android. Which was fine by her. She took the time to pan her sight around the interior, taking in the large bookshelves stocked with hundreds upon hundreds of books. Occasionally, somepony would approach Dusk to ask where a book was or where they could find specific topics. Kara wasn't surprised; it would be hard to find a single book among the thousands of tomes in the library.
They ascended a spiral staircase to the second floor, which was marked on the directory as 'Historical Non-Fiction.' Kara, still distracted by the books, had to stop herself before she ran into Dusk, who had stopped without her realizing. She balanced precariously for a second, then settled carefully back on four hooves. In the back of her mind, Kara wondered if a normal android would have done the same.
Most likely not. Computers aren't supposed to get distracted.
"Dawn?" Dusk called into the racks of historical texts. "Hey, Dawn, you still up here? I have something you need to see!"
Kara winced slightly. 'Something,' he called her; not someone or somepony. It was a reminder to the android that she was just merchandise and, to whomever purchased her, a servant and porter.
There was the sound of shuffling hooves against the carpet, and a unicorn mare poked her head out from behind one of the bookcases. Her lengthy mane was a bright orange with a pink stripe running through it. Her eyes had a soft sunset scheme, much like Dusk's burning sunset eyes. She didn't look particularly pleased toward Dusk.
"Can't it wait?" Dawn said irritably. "I have a research paper to do by tomorrow. If I don't get it done in the next ten hours, Archmage Shine'll have my head."
"Somehow, I don't doubt that…" Dusk mumbled, then waved his wing toward Kara. "It'll only take a minute, I promise."
Dawn raised an eyebrow at the android, peering curiously at her. "Who's that, your new fillyfriend?" she joked to her brother.
Kara blinked, feeling the slightest bit uncomfortable.
The grey pegasus rolled his eyes. "Very funny, Dawn, but wrong answer. This is Kara, the android I bought to help out around here. She can take care of the library while you're studying or when I'm working on something downstairs. Granted, it cost a small fortune, but it's better than hired help."
The unicorn then trotted up to Kara, still peering at her. "It looks real," she commented, then paused for a minute. Her eyes made Kara uneasy, as if they were searching for some minute detail on her holographic face. "Well? You gonna talk, or what?"
Kara realized that Dawn was waiting for the initialization prompt. She had to resist an exasperated groan; saying the same thing over and over was getting a little repetitive. Nevertheless, she recited her text, even saying her name at the end to maintain the illusion of an emotionless automaton.
Dawn didn't look satisfied. "It's a little… ambiguous," she said. "Shouldn't the introduction be more specific? Why not say 'foals' instead of a general term like 'kids?'"
Her question triggered Kara's automatic response program, which offered the system a response to the common inquiry. "The initialization text is standard in all QuanticTech android models and base body-types, such as griffon or anthrocanine," Kara answered, following the suggested reply. "Because of standardization and consumer race variance, an ambiguous introduction would appeal to most consumers, regardless of race." After her explanation, the program offered a follow-up prompt. "Would you like to hear the information specific to my model?"
Dusk and Dawn traded looks. "Sure," they said in tandem.
The auto-response program brought up another text for the android. "My AX500 model is equipped with a magic emulator in my horn, capable of an intermediate levitation spell to assist with my tasks. While I am incapable of true flight, I can glide short distances with my wings, and can stand safely and indefinitely on cloudstuff surfaces. My legs are durable and strong, and can withstand loads up to three hundred kilos and forces up to five hundred newtons."
Dusk whistled appreciatively. "QuanticTech sure does go all-out on their projects. Though I think the emulator is a MagicTech thing."
"They're both Omega Tech. They do collaborate on occasion," Dawn pointed out. "But I guess QuanticTech got permission from MagicTech to use the emulator in the design."
Dusk nodded his agreement, looking back at Kara. The pegasus chewed decisively on his lower lip, contemplating what to do next with the robotic alicorn. There wasn't much he could do with her right now, honestly. Dawn was studying and nothing in the library itself needed attention.
"How 'bout this?" he suggested. "Kara, go down to the kiosk on the first floor. The computer there should have a directory you can use to get acquainted with where everything is in the library. That way we don't need to spend time showing you around or giving you the proper place for every single book."
Kara nodded obediently. "Of course," she affirmed, turning to do as instructed.
The two siblings watched the new android trot away and down the stairs. After she was out of sight, Dawn turned to her brother with a malevolent smirk. "'Entirely at your disposal as a sexual partner,' eh?" she quoted.
"No," said Dusk curtly.
"Aww…"
Kara found her way to the kiosk, which looked more like a receptionist desk than a service counter. At the moment, she was a little unsure about her situation here. Perhaps reality had yet to settle? Or maybe she was in a bit of a shock from everything happening so fast. In a the few hours she had been awake, Kara was born, nearly killed, sold, shipped far away, and was now in servitude to twin librarians. On top of that, she had to conceal her delusions of living consciousness from her new owners.
She decided on shock. Definitely shock.
With a hasty canter, she circled around and entered the kiosk, locating the round monitor of the computer. The artistic 'Q' on the power button identified the system as a product of QuanticTech. Kara activated the magic emulator in her horn, surrounding the button in a light-blue glow and lightly depressing it. The monitor flickered to life from sleep mode, brining Kara to a desktop with a 'Knowledge is Magic!' background.
Kara flicked her eyes over the folders, but couldn't find anything relating to the library directory. Her initial quick-peek futile, she wrapped the keyboard in her magic and typed in a search for the library directory. After scrolling past a few other results, she discovered it in a file labeled 'Library Archive Stuff.'
Kara made a bemused face. Whoever ran this desk clearly was unfamiliar with organization.
Shrugging off her mild irritation, Kara connected her computer mind with the server in the computer, pulling the files and directly downloading them into her database. Once the directory had been transferred into her memory unit, she began a safe extraction of her link to the system…
"Hello, Kara."
Author's Note
This chapter explains a little more than the first. The first chapter was an introductory section to begin the story.
Questions? Comments? Suggestions? I want to know what you all think about this story. It has my mind working and my fingers typing, so I'd like to know how it's going.
