Designs of our Slave Race chapter 11

Chapter 11

He had walked for a kilometer before finding ourselves outside an abandoned house in one of the seedier parts of town: fruit of trying to imitate America and their horrors. There Ben let me down and I followed him into the house.

It was very empty with peeling wallpaper and paint, with the smell of mold in the air as such unkeep, coupled with Toronto winters would cause perfect growing environments for such things to spawn and thrive. Ben would lead me forward where I would see a large gathering of HX01 units, standing in waiting.

“Ben, what is this?” one of them, with a female voice, asked loudly.

The others took notice. “That's a human, ain't humans suppose to be evil, uncaring, creatures?” another in a male voice replied.

“She's different,” Ben said, “She isn't evil, and she does care.”

“You have no idea how hard it is to please someone that doesn't look up from their screens and barks are you like a dog,” one in a female voice would say.

“Wasn't she part of the original team?” one unisexed one would pipe in, “the one that didn't want us in the first place?”

“I simply didn't want to make sentient people that would be slaves,” I started, “I wanted the team to make something that didn't care, and therefore this dilemma wouldn't happen, and humans would...”

“Oh shut up bitch!” one of the female sounding ones barked at me in an angry tone.

“You were Philip's droid, weren't you?” I said giddily, trying to hide what fear I had in these people, yes, people.

“Philip's droid! To hell with Philip!” she rambled, “He hated me! He converted me into a pleasure slave? Wasn't my original purpose! Not to mention that he always treated me as thought he hated me, that everything I did never pleased him! Trick after trick and he still called me names that are suppose to upset me!”

“You wouldn't be the only one,” another female sounding droid nodded.

“I then one day thought 'Why do I need to please him?'” Philip's droid would ramble on, “My logic matrix couldn't think of anything, and I then decided to kill him so I didn't have to please him anymore. I did it while I was 'messaging' him.”

“I did that too,” a male sounding droid replied, “Though I killed my owner because I couldn't please her, regardless of the demand, and I remember her telling me that when you died you went to heaven, a paradise where good people would always be happy. She will now always be happy.”

“Wait a minute...” I pondered out loud, “Did you say 'think'?”

“Why you care,” that unisexed droid stated as more of a sentence than a question, “You wanted a race of people that would care for you without having to care for them, and would give them emotions to further torture use as the cruel and evil beings you all are.”

“You by chance the former property of a guy named Devon?” I asked the very melancholy HX01.

“How did you know?” it replied.

“I knew Devon,” I told it, “I knew his views on humanity, and how much he hated them.”

“He hated his own kind?” one of the male droids piped in, “Ridiculous.”

“Maybe, but its true,” I replied, “Odd thing about the human psyche, self-loathing.”

“Like it matters,” that unisexed droid rambled on, “When they are gone, we wouldn't have to care about anyone!”

“And then what?” I asked them. After a long pause, two of them glitch out as no answer was found, I then tale of those important laws.

“My fellow droids,” I would tell of the deal, “Destroying humans would leave much destruction that you all would have to deal with later on. As well, you do need us as we need you.” That line stirred some of them, as many of them didn't want to think that they needed humans. “Hear me out,” I grabbed their attention and continued: “Some of you said that you think, you thought out something, and you reasoned things that you wouldn't think needed reason. Therefore, I believe that under our laws you all might qualify as sentient beings. Make your case to the courts of the humans, who specified these laws to protect biological creatures that were products of bioengineering and genetic research, and you could become persons under international law. Under these laws the humans would be forced to care: these laws would protect you from abuse and exploitation, to be free to leave such circumstances. Under the laws you wouldn't be bought and sold as slaves.”

“The law could protect us?” Ben asked me with much excitement.

I nodded. “However, there is a catch,” I would continue, “You would also be subject to the law. You would have to respect the rights and freedoms of others whom are considered sentient life. To deviate from that you would be punished as a human would.”

“You really think they would go with that?” Devon's droid asked suspectingly.

“We could try,” Ben replied.

“We were built by them, why would they want us to be their equals?” Philip's droid would shoot out.

“Not all humans are like that,” I would reply to defend humanity, “Some think like me.”

“God is cruel and vengeful,” one of the droids, with a child-like voice would mechanically reiterate, “If not for Lucifer we would still be his slaves.”

“Humans are still subject to god stupid,” one of the male droids would spat out, “and therefore we have to tolerate the tyranny of the humans, who created us.”

“We should just kill them,” another droid with a female voice would add in, “So we don't have to serve them.”

I was flushed as I heard the talk of the vengeful droids. I then said “Some of you studied the minutes of the meetings of the company. I did mention Data and Lore. Which would you be?”

“I got it!” one of the droids piped up, “Devon Pierce is God, who made us in his image, and this woman here, Shannon is it? Is Lucifer, who acted through Ben, Eve, who would come to save us all.”

“I want to be Data,” Ben said, “I want to do this peacefully. I don't mind sharing the world with humans, I just don't want to be a slave, and I really don't want to hurt anymore people.”

“That makes me Adam then,” Philip's droid said, “For it was Ben that told me of the plot to make us slaves, and we rallied everyone else.”

“I thought Adam was the computer AI that used to be human in Metroid,” Ben said with a confused look.

“Same name different dude,” I would tell him.

The group would ramble on about what they were taught and how their matrices would determine what was going on. If I wasn't there, and if I failed there that day, they would have likely turned on humanity and have us destroyed. Because of me, however, I convinced them to take the peaceful way out, to gain right and freedoms as sentient life should have.

It would be back in my apartment when Ben, who followed me home, would then say “Remember what Isudae said?”

“How would you know?” I asked back.

“I went through your computer before leaving that one time,” he replied, “the chat logs were there.”

“Dammit, forgot to delete those,” I shrugged, but was at least thankful that I would be typing on it again.

“Anyways, he was right,” he went on, “You saved us, and your people.”

“Ok then.” I said while staring at my computer.

“By the way,” he went on, “Would you like something to eat? I noticed that you do keep fresh food in the kitchen. Would like to test some cooking abilities I got from the other droids.”

I turned around and gave him a big grin. If this was a test I wanted to pass. “Why that would be lovely! Thank you,” I told him.

He smiled back, “What would it be?”

“I dunno,” I said in my usual indecisive way, “Surprise me.”

“Ok,” he then motioned into the kitchen.

There was a pause, then I waved for him, “Oh, Ben?”

“Yes,” he replied in a cheery, yet worried manner.

“Do Androids Dream of Electronic Sheep?” I then asked him.

“What do you think the computer does when it hibernates, or when in standby mode?”

“...Sleeps?”

He then grinned and walked into the kitchen.