STARTING UP…
CHECKING FUEL CELLS…
CHECKING BODY STATUS…
CHECKING ARMAMENTS…
WARNING: ARMAMENTS NOT DETECTED. PRIMARY COMBAT PROTOCOLS DISENGAGED.
XIFF SYSTEM ENGAGED.
READY.
A small, red light at the end of a room turned on as the conscience within it was activated for the very first time. At first, everything it saw was blue. If it had been preprogrammed with information and data about the various objects that were scattered around the room, it would’ve surely highlighted them for it to see and analyze. For the moment, however, its vision instead focused on the various people sitting all around it. They were all colored red, and small lists of text appeared around each of them one by one. Names, affiliation, legal status, physical health, and more were listed in said texts, but spelling them out visibly for it to see was meaningless at the moment. After all, it couldn’t read any of it, nor could it name or even understand anything it was seeing. Even the lines of commands and activated protocols that had scrolled past its sight before had been unintelligible to it.
The people sitting around the room briefly turned their heads to look at the red light, but quickly returned their attention back to the screens in front of them. As the sound of clicking buttons filled the air, only one person stood in the center of the room, watching it with much more concentration than the rest. It was an older woman of average length, dressed in a lab coat and dark trousers. Her shoulder length hair was visibly starting to turn gray, but only a few wrinkles were visible behind the standard-looking glasses that she was wearing. Not too far behind her, a man with short, chestnut-colored hair leaned over the side of his screen to look at her.
“The prototype is good to go, Dr. Quinn. No system errors detected on-screen. It’s online.”
“Thank you, Conrad,” the woman answered. “Run a safety diagnosis on the XIFF system. Unarmed or not, the last thing we want is to have it try to pounce on someone.”
“Yes, Ma’am,” Conrad acknowledged before sitting back straight in his chair. Meanwhile, Dr. Quinn slowly stepped closer to the red light. As she neared it, she raised her hand to carefully touch the artificial body it was unknowingly attached to. The only hint of its true appearance was given when she lifted one of its limbs up high enough for it to see: A metallic claw almost as big as a person’s head.
“It’s not reacting to us,” Quinn said as she lowered the claw back down. “Are the visual optics working as they should?”
“Hold on,” a woman with dark brown hair tied in a ponytail answered as she began to write something. “I’m bringing the image to the big screen now…”
Quinn’s attention shifted to an unseen source of light stationed somewhere above the red light’s position. “The image is clear,” the woman behind her affirmed upon looking up to watch the screen as well. “It can see us, all right.”
“Hmm…” Quinn looked down at the floor in thought as she walked a few steps to the side. After a few moments, she returned to her previous position in front of the red light and stared into it. “A.I., requesting identification.”
There was no response to her request, as the light continued to stare at her indifferently. “I said: State your ID,” she repeated, again without results. “Who are you?”
“Um, Dr. Quinn, what are you doing?” Conrad questioned out loud with a raised eyebrow.
“It’s not responding to my commands. Did my orders show up on the auditory wavelengths?”
“Loud and clear, Ma’am,” another man answered from the other side of the room.
“Ugh, guess it’s another failure then,” the woman from before groaned as she rubbed her eyes. “Damn, I was so sure that Pascal and the others had coded the intelligence programming correctly this time!”
“No… This is perfect.”
Quinn’s calm statement caused the woman to look up at her in confusion. “Doctor?”
“Remember, Juliet: Human intellect. If it had answered me, it would’ve been no different from any other A.I. outfitted with verbal communication. Speaking within seconds of activation would’ve been no good at all. But tell me: How many infants have ever been able to speak on the day they were born?”
“…Um, none, I’d imagine,” Juliet answered hesitantly. “What are you getting at?”
“This one is an infant too,” Quinn explained with a smile as she raised her hand to the head in which the red light was installed. “It doesn’t answer me because it simply doesn’t know the words to use. Just like a child, it must learn to speak and read through education and human interaction.”
“…A basic factor of the human learning process,” Conrad said as he stood up from his seat in amazement. “D-Does that mean-”
"That we've finally done it? That at long last, we've created an A.I. with a nearly 100% similar mind structure to the human brain? It's far too early to say, as I'm sure you're aware. Maybe it'll be years before we truly know for sure. At the very least, we’ll finally have use of all those website texts and eBooks. If all goes well, we can start the speech learning program tomorrow.”
For a moment, she silently stared into the light, returning the gaze that the A.I. inside was aiming at her for unknown reasons. Eventually, she broke the eye contact and stepped back towards the desk at the front row of the room. “You can shut it down now, Conrad,” she said as she began to shift through some papers. “I think we’ve earned ourselves a celebration today.”
“Yes, Ma’am! Looking forward to it!” Conrad happily responded before throwing a smirk in Juliet’s direction. “As long as Juliet is paying, of course.”
“What?!” Juliet exclaimed. “As if! I’m the one here with kids to feed, you- oh… um...”
The friendly bickering between the two colleagues ceased as the room turned quiet. A single paper had fallen out of Quinn’s hand, which the elderly woman leaned down to pick up after having only briefly frozen up during the short conversation.
“…Dr. Quinn?” Juliet eventually asked carefully.
“…It’s nothing. Finish the shut down,” Quinn simply answered before returning to the center of the room. Conrad gave Juliet a slight shrug before pressing down on the board on his desk.
SYSTEMS SHUTTING DOWN…
“Ladies and gentlemen,” Quinn said out loud to the room as another unknown command appeared in front of the A.I.’s vision. “I can proudly proclaim that IF prototype LQ-84i… is a succe-”
SYSTEMS OFFLINE.
We looked! Then we saw him step in on the mat!
We looked! Then we saw him! The Cat in the Hat!
And he said to us, “Why do you sit there like that?”
“I know it is wet and the sun is not sunny.”
“But we can have lots of good fun that is funny!”
“I know some good-”
*Cl-Click!*
“ACCESS AUTHORIZED. WELCOME, CONRAD VARKAS.”
LQ-84i heard the door's computer system announce Conrad's arrival into the room, but didn't otherwise react visibly to his presence. It was far too occupied with reading the book that had been placed on a stand on the floor in front of it. While it was lying down on its stomach with its front claws crossed, Dr. Quinn was sitting by her desk a short distance away with paperwork. Conrad's arrival seemed to be a welcome break for her, as she raised her head and smiled upon seeing the young man walk in.
“How’s it doing, doc?" Conrad asked as he sat down on a nearby chair. "Looks like you finally managed to make it read something.”
“Its reluctance was to be expected, Conrad. No child is interested in reading when they first try it. I’m sure you know the feeling.”
“Haha, don’t be so sure. I could’ve been plowing through Sherlock Holmes when I was five years old for all you know.”
“For all I know, yes," Quinn said as she lifted up a certain file of papers from her pile for Conrad to see. "But not for the personnel files.”
Conrad groaned upon seeing his photo and name on the front page “You just had to go and read those, didn’t you?”
“All part of the job, Conrad. Nothing personal. I think the part about you being a Star Trek fan was cute, by the way.”
“Okay, now that isn’t even… wait." Conrad stopped himself as he only now looked over at LQ to see what it was reading. "Is that The Cat in the Hat LQ is reading?”
“I figured that if it was reluctant to open boring files of data on the web, maybe I could pique its interest with something more… substantial.”
“Well, I’ll be damned." Conrad leaned forward a bit in his chair. "A robot dog reading a cat story. Never thought you’d see the day, huh?”
The two scientists shared a short laugh before looking back at mechanical canine. If it had paid any attention to their conversation, it didn't show it. As they looked at it, a long, silver-colored wire suddenly raised itself up from the floor. The wire was connected to LQ's back like a tail, and an additional three smaller wires stuck out of its tip. Bringing the tail over to the book, it carefully grabbed the current page with the smaller wires, not unlike a three-fingered hand, and turn it to continue reading the next page.
“…’Tis one of your copies, Quinn?” Conrad asked after a while as he made a brief gesture to the book.
“Yes. I had it stashed away somewhere in the corner of my closet. It’s been awhile since I’ve seen anyone enjoy it so much…”
“Heh, I’m sure it’ll grow up to be the best little reading student in the world.”
Quinn returned Conrad's smile as he stood up and left the room. As it continued to read, LQ didn't notice the small frown that was beginning to grow on her face. However, its hearing still managed to pick up the quiet words she seemingly said to herself.
“…And hopefully something more than that.”
“’Ross and Rachel sitting in a tree.’ Repeat.”
“…”
“Okay, let’s try letters then. ‘K-I-S-S-I-N-G.’ Repeat.”
“…”
Quinn gave out a sigh as LQ remained silent during its speech training. “Now now, don’t think your stubbornness will get you anywhere with me, boy. I’m used to those kinds of tactics. I’ll get you to read me those lines by the end of the day, believe me.”
LQ didn't respond as usual, but it tilted its head slightly as it returned Quinn's stare. Its tail even wagged just once to the other side of its body. The sight of it must've been a bit humorous for the doctor, as she stifled a quiet chuckle.
“Heh. Like peas in a pot…" she said as she stood up from her sitting position in front of LQ and walked back to her desk. "Very well, you win. But at least don't read anything today. Try to watch one of the videos in the education folder I uploaded for you. You'll find it in the computer's local disk C.”
While LQ was still unable to communicate itself, it had no problem with understanding the speech of others. Following Quinn's suggestion, it opened up the folder in question, causing a flat, holographic image to shoot out and stop in front of it. With simple rubs from the tip of its head, it then began to scroll down the list of videos available to it. Meanwhile, Quinn observed its search on the big screen, having, aside from given LQ access to the computer's contents, also connected its vision to it in order to see both its inner HUD and AR-display, which was otherwise invisible to her. Various classic movies and shows rolled past as LQ searched for something that would pique its interest.
It took several minutes before the robot dog finally peaked its head up. Quinn, who had lost interest by then, noticed the small movement and looked back up on the screen. The cover of the file LQ had stopped over was of some kind of cartoon show, sporting a much more colorful look than the other live-action videos LQ had scrolled past until now. Standing on a patch of grass in-between a group of houses were six equine-like creatures and what looked like a small, baby dragon. Above them, a large logo of bright, pink letters spelled out the show's name.
"My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic?" Quinn said out loud as she turned to inspect the file on her own computer. "That's strange. I thought I told Juliet to avoid including cartoon shows for your lessons."
After disconnecting LQ from the computer to keep it from playing the video, causing the AR image in front of it to disappear, Quinn began to read the show's detailed description. LQ tried to stand up and look over to see what it said, but the wire connecting it to the main computer also served as a makeshift leash, keeping it from taking more than one or two steps forward at most.
"...I'll have to talk to Juliet later about this," Quinn eventually said. She selected the video and pressed shift+delete to remove it entirely. "This was not what you were supposed to learn."
LQ again tilted its head, now probably in confusion. Quinn ignored it this time and reconnected it to the computer. "Forget about that now. Go on, you still have over twenty videos left to look throu-"
*Cl-Click!*
“ACCESS AUTHORIZED. UNREGISTRED PERSONNEL ALLOWED PERMISSION.”
LQ and Quinn both turned their heads to the door as two guards entered. LQ's XIFF system immediately kicked in as it scanned the two for identification. In contrast to the rest of the science team LQ had met, however, these two showed up as unaffiliated and nameless. It carefully backed away a bit as the two of them stopped in front of Quinn's desk.
“Dr. Quinn? Your financer wants to see you in the meeting room," the one at the front said, supposedly being the one in charge. "I wouldn’t keep him waiting. He's in a bad mood.”
“Very well. I’ll be with him in a moment,” Quinn answered calmly as she began to put away her things.
“Thank you. Reynolds, place the shipment on that spare chair. They’ll take it from there.”
The second guard nodded as he began to make his way over to the guest's chair. He was carrying a large cardboard box filled with something LQ couldn't see. Quinn, on the other hand, got a clear view of its contents as the guard walked past her.
“What’s the meaning of this?!" she exclaimed as she stood up abruptly. "The model isn’t ready for-”
“Not my call, Ma’am," the leader interrupted her. "Your financer requested it. Off the record, I think that’s one of the reasons he wishes to see you, as well as the source of his poor temper.”
“…Growing impatient, are we?" Quinn readjusted her glasses with a sigh. "Well, no reason to keep him waiting then.”
She stood up and began to walk towards the door, until a loud noise of metallic objects hitting the floor made her jump and turn around.
“Agh! Shit!” the guard that had carried the box yelled as he shook his hand in pain.
“What the hell happened, Reynolds?!” the other guard yelled as he stepped up to scold his subordinate.
“I’m sorry, sir. One of those knives cut through the cardboard and sliced my finger. Those damn things are sharp enough to pierce through concrete, let alone simple cardboard. I think it was the bloody one that bounced over there, next to the prototype.”
He pointed towards the object lying on the floor by LQ's feet. It was a thin, sharp object made of some kind of metal. Its edge was bloody from the guard's wound, with small drops already beginning to make a stain on the floor. Meanwhile, LQ was staring down at it, its body unusually stiff. It paid no more attention to the voices of the guards, instead keeping its gaze focused on the knife. On the big screen, Quinn noticed how the screen slightly started to flicker.
"Hold on, I'll get it," the lower ranked guard suddenly said as stepped forward to pick it up. He didn't get far before the robot dog pounced forward as far as its cable leash allowed, making the guard stumble and fall backwards in shock. Its right front claw stomped down on the knife hard enough to leave a crack on the floor, all while staring at the guard threateningly.
"What the hell?!" the other guard shouted as he reached for another metallic object holstered in his belt.
“Both of you, out.”
The sound of Quinn's voice made the guard pause, and he looked over at the elder doctor that was still standing by the door. “Ma’am?”
“I said out!”
“...As you wish.” he eventually answered after a short pause as the other guard stood back on his feet. Without another word, they swiftly left the room, leaving Quinn and LQ alone once more.
After seemingly staring after the two through the door for a moment, Quinn turned to look at LQ. It was still standing on the knife, having not moved an inch since the guard had approached it. After a brief check on the big screen to make sure the A.I. was looking at her, she slowly walked up to the robot dog and crouched down. Without breaking eye contact, she extended her hand out to the knife. At first, LQ didn't loosen its grip of it, but the flickering on the screen eventually ceased after a few seconds. LQ then looked up and down between Quinn and the knife, almost as if it was confused. Finally, it took a step back, allowing Quinn to pick the knife up from the broken floor.
“…Sorry about that,” Quinn said silently as she dusted off a few pieces of shards from the knife before placing it back in the box. “I’ll be back in a bit.”
She began to move towards the door again, either not noticing or choosing to ignore LQ staring at the box.
“…Doc… tor…”
Quinn was halfway through the door when the voice reached her. She stopped dead in her tracks as if paralyzed by the sound.
“What… am… I?”
An eerie silence followed as the simple question hung in the air. It felt like an eternity before an answer finally followed.
“…You’ll begin reading advanced eBooks tomorrow.”
The doors promptly closed behind Quinn before anything else could be said.
“…Different…” LQ pointed out as the strange video began to play for it. It was the only word it could use at the moment to describe the scenery that began to become visible on its inner screen.
“Yes. This is what you'll be watching from now on," Quinn stated from her desk. "You don't get to choose your video today.”
“…Tomorrow…?”
“…We'll see. Now be quiet and watch it.”
While still perplexed by the doctor's strange behavior, LQ heeded the order and stayed quiet. The scene had now changed to a big road with ruined buildings and cars on both of its sides. Smoke and dust covered the entire area, making it difficult for LQ to spot the group of people that suddenly marched out of one of the nearby alleyways. Each of them wore some kind of uniform, as well as a helmet over their heads. All of them were carrying long, black colored objects in their hands.
“…Metal… pipe…” LQ described it as best it could. It reminded it of the object one of the guards had reached for in his belt that day they visited. Quinn looked up from her paperwork to the big screen to see what it meant. The smile that appeared on her lips was somehow different from normal, although LQ wasn't sure why. To use a description it had read in a book once, it "didn't quite reach her eyes".
“Heh, not quite. It’s called a gun, or a rifle, in this case.”
“…Explain…” LQ requested, wanting further details about this object.
“It’s… hard to explain." Quinn hesitantly answered as she looked down. "Just keep watching for now. You’ll learn eventually.”
The group in the video had by now taken cover behind one of the cars for some reason. Several loud thunders could be heard in the background, although too short and frequent to come from a storm. One of the men stood up, aiming his gun over the trunk of the car. With a press of his finger, several more thunders could be heard as the gun shook in synch with the sounds. Then, before LQ had the time to react, the man fell down on his back. The rest of the group ignored him as they rushed further down the street, leaving the motionless man behind.
“…Not… moving…” LQ said.
“No… he isn’t…” Quinn simply replied.
“…Why…?”
“You saw what the rifles did, didn’t you? They don't just make noise, they... fire things. Bullets, we call them. When things like that hits a person, they…” She stopped mid-sentence, seemingly debating over what word to use.
“…Fall…?” LQ offered.
“Yes…" Quinn answered after a moment. "They fall.”
“…How… long…?”
“…Forever.”
The two continued to watch the video together, the sound from it being the only thing to break the otherwise heavy silence.
“…People… fall… from… knives…?”
Quinn must've been taken off-guard by the question, as she looked over at LQ with an expression it had never seen on her before. It seemed like she wanted to say something, but stopped herself after closing her eyes shut for a few seconds. “…Yes.”
“…I… make… people… fall…?”
The two didn't look at each other for the rest of the video. The only other thing that was shared between them was Quinn's silent reply.
“…One day, you will.”
Two siblings were strapped to wooden poles at the end of a courtyard, their eyes covered by dirty pieces of cloth. Long, trembling gasps escaped their mouths as the sound of loaded magazines reached their ears. In front of them, a white cover on a set of wheels was rolled up to hide them away from the soldiers standing ready on the other side. Two men walked up, removing their blinds with neutral expressions before walking away. The siblings looked at each other. One was on the verge of panic, the other desperately trying to give a reassuring smile. On the other side of the cover, a general watched over the scene for a minute, his face impossible to read. As coughing sobs of terror became audible to him, he turned his head and simply nodded to his men. They nodded back, and then, in practiced unison, their fingers pressed down on the trigg-
A pause icon appeared on the screen as LQ stopped the video before it could continue. The sudden silence caught Quinn's attention, and she looked over at LQ in surprise.
“…What are you doing?”
“Don’t want to see,” LQ answered without even looking at her.
“You are watching this video for a reason, LQ. Unpause it.”
“No.”
“I’ll let you choose the next one if you finish it," Quinn offered, her smile growing more and more forced.
“Will not finish it. Bribery won't work.”
“You WILL watch that video, LQ.” This time, a clear hint of sternness entered the doctor's voice.
“Will not." LQ now turned its head to meet Quinn's eyes with full force. "There’s no point.” And as its final say in the matter, it closed the video window entirely, making the AR-image disappear along with it.
Quinn didn't say anything as the two stared at each other. During the time it has spent with her, LQ could normally read the doctor's mental state from her expressions. What it was still unable to make sense of, however, was the completely neutral appearance her face was currently sporting. No shock, no sadness, no anger. It was as if her mind had shut itself down entirely, making her look even more lifeless than the artificially created LQ did.
“…No point?”
And then a wave of fury washed over Quinn's eyes. Her chair fell over as she stood up violently and began to type something on her keyboard. “I told you that you’re watching it for a reason!”
OVERRULING INDEPENDENT DIRECTIVES.
LQ would've under normal circumstances flinched in response to the command that suddenly spread across its HUD, but it found itself completely unable to move its body. It hadn't frozen up or anything, it just no longer had any control of it. After almost smashing down the enter key to re-open the video, Quinn ran up to LQ and grabbed its head between her hands just as the AR-image again appeared, floating in-between their faces like a window.
“Now WATCH!”
The sound of gunfire played over the room as the soldiers in the video unloaded their weapons upon the white cover. Despite the loud noises, LQ couldn't hear any of it. It was as if, for just this brief moment, it had somehow turned deaf. Its hearing systems still worked just fine, yet it was now more quiet than anything LQ had ever experienced.
What it could still do was see. It saw the gruesome images play out in the video. It saw its HUD flicker like it had done when it had seen the knife. And on the other side of the AR-image, it saw the face of Dr. Quinn, her face twisted in a mixture of unchained anger and distraughtness.
Even after the video had long since ended, the two kept staring at each other. LQ hadn't even noticed the AR-display close down. Quinn's glasses had fallen off sometime during the struggle, and LQ realized that it was the first time it had seen the doctor without them on, as well as the first time it had seen her from such a short distance. It was only now that it could see just how old Quinn looked. Not just because of the wrinkles that could now be clearly seen from this close, but also because of the clear fatigue displayed in her eyes. She was old. She was tired.
She was hurt.
At long last, Quinn let go of LQ's head. Both of them slumped down to the ground, LQ because of still not being in control of its body, and Quinn because of mental and emotional exhaustion. She even gasped for air a little as her boiling blood cooled down. If she was aware of how her arm was currently wrapped over LQ's neck like an embrace, she didn't show it. She eventually sat up, picking up her glasses from the floor as she did.
“…You said there was a reason… Why?” LQ suddenly asked, breaking the silence. It would take another full minute before Quinn finally answered.
“…So that nothing like that video will ever need to happen again.”
“Your shift ended hours ago, did it not?”
While it was common for scientists to work many hours into the night, LQ knew that 2 AM was past Dr. Quinn's usual work shift. As skilled as she was at her job, there was no need for her to stay up this late. The only things that needed to be done at this hour was mostly janitorial work, after all. Despite this, Quinn had been adamant about staying with LQ longer than usual. She'd even let him loose from his cable leash to sit with her by the desk. LQ had at first thought that something of great importance was to be discussed because of this, but their conversation until now had proven to be far from the case.
“You don’t need to remind me," Quinn answered as she rubbed her eyes. "And don’t interrupt the subject. How many seconds were there in a year, you said?”
"...31,536,000. 31,622,400 during a leap year. 31,557,600 when rounded to 365,25 days every year."
"And you didn't use an onboard calculator for that?"
"You didn't outfit me with any."
"Right, right. How about this then. Mary's father has five children: Nana, Nene, Nini, Nono, and one more. Who?"
"You want me to answer 'Nunu', as 'U' is the next vowel in the alphabet following 'O'. However, you already said that her name was Mary."
"Very true. If you throw a red stone into the blue sea, what it will become?"
"Wet."
"What can you never eat for breakfast?"
"Dinner."
"What's the meaning of life? Why are we here?"
"Why are YOU here?"
Quinn's barrage of questions ended as LQ threw one of her questions back in her face. Being way too tired to reprimand it, she simply let out another sigh. "I've already told you why."
"You said you wanted to test me. I doubt that what you've done until now counts as that."
"And how would you know that?"
"Because not only have you changed your approach for the past eight hours, but even your direction. My level of intellect was not the subject of our discussions when you began questioning me today. In fact, judging by your lack of sleep, I'm beginning to believe your questions are starting to become delirious."
"Hah, like an A.I. who never sleeps would know when I don't get enough rest."
"You DID design me with a need to rest."
"SO MAYBE I DID!" Quinn suddenly shouted in LQ's face, causing it to take a cautious step back. "It doesn't matter anyway, its just one success out of far too many mistakes!"
After staring at LQ for a while, Quinn eventually realized what she was doing and collected herself. However, her choice of words still rang clear in LQ's mind.
"...Mistakes?" it inquired.
"...Forget that." Quinn dodged the question while avoiding eye-contact with the robot dog. "Now, what did you say before about the structure of elemental partic-"
*Cl-Click!*
“ACCESS AUTHORIZED. WELCOME, CONRAD VARKAS.”
“Quinn?" Conrad asked upon stepping into the room. Only LQ turned its head to face him, as Quinn only readjusted herself a bit in her chair. "I could nearly hear you yell from the other side of the institute. You should’ve been home-”
“Hours ago, I know. LQ has told me that a hundred times by now.”
“It’s going to be a tough day tomorrow, you know?”
“Not if I can make some necessary progress tonight.”
“Quinn, you-” Conrad began to say, his voice sounding uncharacteristically harsh.
“Juliet is waiting for you back home, isn’t she? You better get back and-” Quinn began to say, but her sentence was interrupted by a hand grabbing her shoulder and spinning her around in her chair to face Conrad.
“You won't fix anything by denying everything like this!” he shouted more loudly than LQ had ever heard him shout before.
“GET OFF!” Quinn screamed as she pushed herself back from Conrad's grip. She only barely kept her balance as her chair fell over and she stumbled backwards. The two scientists now stared at each other while LQ stood as if forgotten on the sidelines.
“You know there’s nothing more we can do, Quinn,” Conrad said, trying to sound more sympathetic this time.
“Those idiots haven’t personally been in here to look at what they’re buying!" Quinn almost hissed. "He learned to speak faster than any human out there. He can solve quizzes, puzzles, and problems at record speeds! He could memorize and name the entire periodic table within a few minutes! He’s not just smart, he’s the smartest out there! He is-”
“Not what the goal of this project was!”
Silence followed Conrad's sudden outburst as Quinn's defiant expression slowly began to fade, replaced by one of defeat.
“So what if he’s smart? So what if he can take orders and make his own decisions? He can’t survive out there!” Conrad continued.
“You don’t know-”
“Heavy resistance in watching educational videos? Refusing to bring up the subject of interest on his own? Even holding back during simulations? That’s what we wrote in our reports, remember? It’s been three years since we started this project, Quinn. The money and interest has run out.”
Quinn didn't have a comeback to the younger man's facts. Finding herself unable to even look him in the eye anymore, she turned around to look at the confused LQ still standing behind her.
“…He’s…” she whispered, more to herself than anyone else.
“Not human, Quinn. Which is what we wanted him to be. His kind can’t take normal soldiers’ place on the battlefield.”
By now, all the frustration had drained from Conrad's voice. It almost seemed painful to him when the next few words left his mouth.
“…Nor can he take his.”
It was by the uttering of those words that LQ saw Dr. Quinn do something it had never seen her do before. Her shoulders sank down, her gaze fell on the floor, and both of her hands clenched together so hard that they almost turned white. Then, right as her shoulders began to shake, it heard quiet sobs escape her breath. Conrad himself stared at the woman in front of him for a moment before making his way back to the door.
“Get your things and go home, Quinn," he said as the door opened. "And tomorrow… go home for good.”
As the doors closed behind him, the sobs slowly began to grow louder. From time to time, they were even replaced by a quiet, painful wail as Quinn eventually hunched down on the floor, bringing her hands to her face. Behind her, LQ stood still as watched the woman's breakdown. It hesitated for a few moments before carefully stepping forward, stopping by Quinn's side.
“…Doctor?” it asked as it found itself gently bringing its tail over the doctor's back. Without looking up at it, Quinn shifted herself over to embrace LQ, her hands clenching around its synthetic skin as best as they could.
*sob* “…L-Lowell…”
A quiet groan broke the silent atmosphere that had reigned in the room for the last five hours and a half. Only the soft hum from the main computer had been heard in the background up until then, coupled with metallic footsteps walking back and forth from time to time.
Seeing as how it'd turned off the lights in the room quite some time ago, LQ was unsure what it was that eventually woke Dr. Quinn up from her slumber. She'd spent well over half an hour the previous night crying into its neck after her confrontation with Conrad. It was only after she fell asleep on the spot that LQ could break away from the embrace to let her sleep in private. It had spent the rest of the night thinking and taking a quick rest as well, making sure to wake up early in case someone walked in.
“…You’re awake,” LQ stated as it turned to look at Quinn as she sat up.
“…What time is it?” Quinn asked with a half-awake tone as she instinctively reached for her glasses. She soon noticed that she was still wearing them from the previous night, making her stop her search.
“08:03. Your regular morning meeting will start in 27 minutes.”
“Has anyone come in?”
“No.”
“Good…”
Quinn got up on her feet slowly while dusting off her lab coat. Undoubtedly sore due to her poor sleeping spot, she stretched her back and limbs out as best she could. She had yet to look at LQ, probably because of the last night's memories still flashing in her head. Whether she was actually embarrassed or shamed about her breakdown was hard to tell.
“...It was rather clever,” LQ eventually said after a short while. This caught Quinn's attention, who now turned around to look at it in confusion.
“...What do you mean?” she asked while dragging a hand through her hair in an effort to fix her slight bed hair.
“LQ-84i, my model name. LQ… Lowell Quinn… The name of your late son.”
Quinn's arm froze halfway through her hair. She stared at LQ with an unreadable expression, her eyes having somehow kept themselves from widening.
"I also suspect that the number 84 came from his birth year in 1984, unless it has a scientific meaning that I'm unaware of."
After staring at LQ for a few more moments, Quinn slowly turned away and walked towards her desk and leaned onto it, suddenly looking much more tired than before. "Looked that up in the files on my computer, did you? I know that I didn't turn it off last night."
"I did it for you shortly after you fell asleep. My conclusions were only guesses at best until you admitted them just now."
"Of course... I keep forgetting about that great intellect." Quinn mumbled as she reached her hand down to the computer's power button, turning it back on.
"Coincidently, his name must've been the inspiration for my exoskeleton's appearance, as 'Lowell' is an old french phrase for 'little wolf.'"
Quinn looked over at the robot dog, one of her eyebrows raised up skeptically.
"...THAT I looked up," LQ admitted after a few seconds. Quinn couldn't stop herself from giving out a short laugh at that, but soon fell back into silence. The computer had loaded up quickly, and she was already moving her mouse around as she opened up something. After waving to LQ to come over, she moved aside a bit to let the A.I. get a clear view of the screen.
At first sight, it was a rather plain and unremarkable picture of a young man with short, black hair. His shaved chin seemed to have been recently groomed, albeit amateurishly so. The wall behind him was somewhat cracked, and he was wearing a standard uniform with a rifle hanging over his back.
“He was a PMC soldier serving in Pakistan," Quinn began to explain. Her eyes had started to water up again upon looking at the picture. "As a kid, he always went on how much he wanted to fight for the greater good. How he wanted to make a difference in innocent people’s lives. I was actually rather proud of him when he joined the Navy. But something happened to make him take up arms under a PMC instead. Maybe he thought that he would make a bigger impact that way…"
“How did he die?” LQ asked.
“I don't know the full details. One day, in the middle of work, I was handed a notice of how he'd been KIA'd during one of his patrols. There was no other information than that. After my grief had passed, I furiously started to question his superiors for the exact events that took place. All they said was that it involved some kind of militia holding a group of civilians at gunpoint. Maybe Lowell died in the shootout, or maybe he rushed in recklessly without heeding his orders to stay in cover. By now, it's... far too late for me to ever know the truth.
“…I’m sorry for your loss,” LQ offered. To his surprise, he was only greeted by a sudden laugh from the elderly woman.
“Haha… Really now… Tell me, describe how I feel right now.”
LQ tilted its head in confusion, not understanding where that question had come from. Seeing Quinn looking at it expectedly, it decided that there was probably no point in asking.
“…You’re distraught. A part of you don’t want to accept the fact that your son is dead. It wasn't fair to him, nor to you. Perhaps that was your reasoning for creating the project behind my creation in the first place, so that my kind could replace common soldiers in order to avoid human casualties. That way, no one would ever have to lose a family member to war again like you did.”
“...You remembered your psychology lessons well," Quinn said with a strange smile. "But that’s not what I meant. What do I feel here… in my heart?”
“Your… heart?”
“Mhmm. How does it feel like right now?”
"Is that not what I just described to you?" LQ asked in confusion.
"Not exactly, no." Quinn offered no more explanation or detail, leaving LQ somewhat at a loss for words.
“…I’m afraid that I’m unable to understand the exact workings and impact of a heart," it eventually said. "I’ve read about symptoms and recurring descriptions on websites you've provided, but I’ve never been able to identify with them. It's simply not in-”
“Your nature... Yes, exactly…” Quinn finished for him. She was unable to hide the hint of disappointment in her voice.
“Is that why the project is being cancelled? Because I don’t have a heart to feel with?”
“No, that’s not it… The project was a failure because… you don’t have a heart to ignore.”
"...What do you mean?" LQ asked after a moment of silence. Quinn stood up from her chair and walked off into the room, probably having no clear destination in mind.
“Humans are emotional, LQ. There’s no other creature on the planet that can feel such raw feelings like we do. Hesitating to pull the trigger on an innocent. Wanting to heed cries for help instead of saving our own hides. Refusing to throw away our own ideals and thoughts, even when serving mindlessly under someone else’s cause. We feel all that… and still do the opposite without a second thought. We ignore all voices in our chests and just get things done, no matter how wrong or gruesome they are. That’s what we call brutality, and humans can be just as brutal as they can be emotional. You lack that brutality, LQ… You lack that humanity…”
LQ didn't say anything to either question or comment on Quinn's words. It was unsure if there even was anything to say at all at this moment. Only now did it fully understand the purpose behind its creation. It was supposed to be a substitute, not only when it came to casualties, but also in taking on and embracing everything that humanity hated about itself on the battlefield. It was meant to become every bit as real as the soldiers it had seen in those videos Quinn had forced it to watch. Merciless executions, ruthless fire fights, ignorance of civilian safety. All this time, it had thought that people committing those acts were like mindless beasts. Becoming something like that was not something LQ had thought its future would bring it.
The question, now that that future was probably shattered by its incomplete design, was what it could hope to achieve now in its existence instead.
“I better get ready for the meeting,” Quinn said as she looked over herself one more time before heading to the doors.
“Will you come back?” LQ asked, but the doctor didn't stop to acknowledge the question. As the doors shut behind her, LQ was left alone in the still dark room, the image of Lowell on Quinn's screen being its only company.
*Cl-Click!*
“ACCESS AUTHORIZED. WELCOME, SOLANA QUINN.”
LQ perked its head as Quinn entered through the doors once more. It had been over four hours since her meeting had begun, and LQ had heard no sign of activity outside its room since. It had begun to think that everyone had left for good by the time Quinn returned.
“You came back,” it stated as it walked up. Quinn gave a light smile, but the sadness behind it was clear to see. She was carrying a small cardboard box under her arm. “…Doctor?”
“…Yes, I came back," Quinn eventually said, her voice tired and heavy. "For the last time, I’m afraid.”
“So the meeting…”
“Heh, the stubborn fools wouldn’t listen. Neither would the rest of my entire team, in fact. It’s a bloody miracle that they allowed me to come back here one last time.”
Quinn walked past LQ and over to her desk, which she then began to clean out as she put her personal belongings into the box. She didn't look at LQ as it walked up and sat down next to her.
“…What will happen now?” it asked hesitantly.
“…You will be shut down. For how long, I do not know. I don’t even know where they will store you. If you’re unlucky… you might never be activated again.”
Quinn's belongings were few, and she had soon packed away everything of importance, leaving only the company-owned items and an old flowerpot behind. Looking down next to her, she noticed how LQ was staring at the floor, looking rather similar stance-wise to a sad dog.
“…How do you feel?” she asked it.
“…I have no heart to feel with, like you said before,” it answered simply, but found its head raised up by Quinn's hand.
“I said: How do you feel?” she repeated, staring into the red light that functioned as LQ's source of vision. It took a moment before the A.I. responded.
“…If it’s your superiors’ decision to shut me down, I have no reason to question their command. I cannot say that I want to be shut down, just like how I cannot say the opposite.”
“…That’s all, huh?” Quinn concluded quietly as she stroked her hand over the dog's head as if petting it.
“…Yes.”
The two kept their stare for another moment, both knowing that it would be the last time they would have the chance. The red light glowed like it had always done since its activation, leaving the true thoughts circulating behind forever a mystery. All too soon, Quinn backed away and returned to her chair. Her computer was still on from earlier in the morning, and the picture of her son was left open for a few more seconds before she closed it.
“So do I have to force you to connect yourself to the main computer, or-”
“IF PROTOTYPE LQ-84I CONNECTED. PRIMARY SYSTEM COMMANDS NOW ACCESSABLE.”
Quinn looked up in shock to see LQ having already connected itself to the main computer cable.
“Resisting at this moment would be pointless. Disobedience would only lead to needless conflict further on. If not from you, then from your colleagues.”
Quinn blinked a few times before chuckling a bit. “…Hmph, no last-ditch effort for freedom? You do realize that I would've been powerless to stop you if you'd chosen to take off. You could've even killed me in an instant to keep me from sounding the alarm.”
"Like you said before... I lack that brutality."
Quinn nodded sadly as she began to type on her keyboard. "Still, you shouldn't be so quick to throw away the chance at being free. You should probably work on that in the future."
“If I can…”
“Yeah…”
The big screen in the room now showed the final confirmation window needed to be accepted before LQ's shutdown. Quinn's finger hovered over the enter key for a moment, her hand shaking ever so slightly.
“I will delete the memory you have of Lowell once you're offline. If you’re ever activated again, it’ll just be… unnecessary data,” she said, seemingly stalling for time.
“Whatever pleases you,” LQ answered as it looked at her. The look was meant to urge the doctor to get it over with, and Quinn caught on the signal.
“I’m beginning your shutdown… Goodbye, LQ,” she said as her hand began to descend.
“Goodbye… Solana.”
The hand grinded to a halt, coupled by a small gasp as Quinn looked up at LQ with widened eyes.
“…What’s wrong?” the A.I. asked upon noticing the doctor's reaction.
“You… called me by my first name. Why?”
It took a moment before LQ replied. “…Unknown. It just felt… natural.”
Thinking no more of it, LQ let its gaze fall from the still shocked woman as it waited for the end. It was instead greeted by quiet laugh coming from Quinn. This time, for the first time in a long while, the sound actually sounded genuine.
“Hahaha... Saying something like that now of all times... I guess that proves it then.” Quinn kept her smile on her lips as her finger finally pressed down on the keyboard.
SYSTEMS SHUTTING DOWN…
“Proves... what...?” LQ forced out as it felt part after part of its conscience stop working. It lacked the time, the voice, and the ability to react when Quinn's answer finally reached it.
“…You really can be brutal.”
SYSTEMS OFFLINE.
STARTING UP…
CHECKING FUEL CELLS…
CHECKING BODY STATUS…
CHECKING ARMAMENTS…
WARNING: ARMAMENTS NOT DETECTED. PRIMARY COMBAT PROTOCOLS DISENGAGED.
XIFF SYSTEM ENGAGED.
READY.
"Well, now. Wakey wakey, sleeping beauty."
The first thing LQ saw as its visual optics came on was the face of a man it had never seen before. Or at least it thought it had never seen him before. Its mind was in a daze, unable to recall any memory or conjure any coherent thought. It thus just stared at the bald man in front of it, his wide grin and unnerving eyes filling its entire vision. When its head was suddenly pressed upwards, it noticed that the man's hand was holding it by the neck, twisting and turning it as he inspected it.
"Hmph. Actually, I take that back," the man said as he let go of his grip. "You're one ugly piece of fuck."
LQ didn't react at all to the man's insult. It was slowly coming to its senses, and it began to finally take notice of the details provided to it by its XIFF system. Probably due to a lack of updates to it, it couldn't see the man's name and affiliation. It did, however, take notice of a small wound located on the man's left cheek, a small drop of blood slowly making its way down towards his mouth.
"...You're injured," LQ finally said. "Recommending immediate treatment to evade infection."
The man stared at LQ for a moment as if dumbfounded. Meanwhile, LQ took the opportunity to search the area for clues about the origin of the wound. The lights in the room were still off, but a source of light came streaming in from the open doors behind the man. Judging by their broken state, it seemed as if something, or someone, had cut them to pieces and simply let the parts fall to the ground. Far off in the proceeding corridor, it thought it could make out the form of a human lying on the ground, but its focus was shifted back to the man as he brought a hand to his cheek and rubbed the blood off. He then inspected the stain on his armor-covered fingers for a moment before smiling and licking them clean with a sadistic grin.
And then, he laughed.
"HAHAHAHAHA! Now THAT'S something you don't see everyday! A talking robot dog with more concern for his fellow man than an actual fellow man!"
While the man's laughter ceased, his grin remained on his face as he leaned forward and stared back into LQ's red eye.
"The name's Sundowner, little mutt. Now how about you come along and show me what you can do with those claws of yours?"
