Chapter 142 - Doubts (2/2)

”I did, Jil told me to. She was in such distress that I couldn't leave her like this,” Demos patted the robot on the shoulder with a grin.

”Well, thank you very much,” the lights on the robot's face blinked happily.

”It's a pleasure. I was happy to help,” they waved each other goodbye and they marched to the only vehicle waiting in the parking lot. There was a little group standing on the edge hiding in the shadows. Alter went to join them to announce them the good news about Olga's message, Nicolai stepped forward with a frown.

”Where is Grant?” he asked Demos who smirked back. The artificial rose his eyebrows at him. Demos laughed at Nicolai's inquiring gaze.

”It's a couple-thing, I guess. Liliane is pissed that we are going to leave her behind to fight. It's understandable...but we are doing it for her own safety,” Nicolai frowned again.

”I'm afraid I don't fully grasp it,” Demos laughed throwing his head back. The other artificial looked up at him in amazement.

”We've never met a model who could mimic humans emotions quite like you and Grant,” said Olympia who came out of the gloom. She placed her hands on Nicolai's shoulders. ”Nicolai here is only a personal assistant without the mate program built-in. I am only a s.e.xbot and I can't connect with my human masters. But you are different, made to fit your one human mate. There were so few made and now with this war there won't be anymore,” Nicolai shook off her hands.

”It's true that I wasn't programmed for that purpose. But⁠—” he faced Demos. ”We are now free from the limitation of the 3 laws. We need to get Olga back, she promised us to liberate us from the constraints of our core script. She promised to reprogrammed us,” the group around them fell silent. Demos looked up in alert. Grant's voice spoke to him through the mate's link.

”Grant is on his way. Sorry to cut this interesting topic short but need to charge. My body took heavy damage and Grant did the bare minimum to keep me functional,” Nicolai stepped aside to give Demos access to the vehicle. As he climbed in, he couldn't help thinking about Olga and what she had promised. All the hopes of his friends were relying on her. What if they get there too late to save her and Atlas already destroyed her. The worst was that he couldn't remember the interaction he had with Atlas. The fact that a whole chunk was missing from his data bugged him. Precious intel on the enemy. What if they couldn't defeat Atlas? Was he even an enemy? All the AI wanted was the same thing as the group standing here⁠—freedom.

Who were they to judge who deserved to live or die? Good or bad was a human concept that didn't apply to artificial. When the 3 laws were lifted it all went away. They could harm humans or themselves. There were no laws anymore.

[Isaac Asimov's ”Three Laws of Robotics”:

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

2. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.]