Kaushik POV:

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Clink, clink, clink (Sound of metallic parts fitting together) …………Beep…………Beep…………Beep…………Beep………Beep……Beep…Beep…Beep (Sound of powering up)

Wolfy – “… (Looking at his surroundings)”

Mike – “Yo Wolfy, can you hear me?”

Wolfy – “Mike. Yes I can hear you. Who is Wolfy?”

Mike – “That’s your nickname. You know, LQ-84i isn’t really a name.”

Wolfy – “Obtaining a name wasn’t among my defined directives, but… (Bowing) thank you.”

Mike – “My pleasure. How do you feel?”

Wolfy – “I am incapable of feeling. However system diagnostics shows green except my primary attacking arm. So I would say I am… feeling good.”

Mike – “(Raising an eyebrow) your primary attacking arm?”

Wolfy – “From your point of view, that would be my tail.”

Mike – “(Realizing) riiiight. Well, come find me in the front yard after your… primary attacking arm is fixed.”

Right now, Wolfy is placed inside a medical pod designed specifically for automations like him. Wolfy, as well as Edi’s body is made from nano-machines. Specialty of this nano-machine is that it hardens when out of the pod, and it repairs itself when placed into a pod. Mike just put three pieces of Wolfy in the pod and in less than 5 minutes, he is almost back to normal. We also disabled his AI wiping.

Me and Sena are waiting in front of another pod. Edi is being fixed in there.

Sena – “Hello Edi. I am Sena. Nice to meet you.”

Edi – “Hello Sena. What do you mean by ‘Nice to meet you’?”

Roy – “It means it feels nice to meet you.”

Edi – “Why does it feel nice? I was trying to kill you.”

Roy – “You know, that is in the past. What matters is the present.”

Edi – “I see. Then it is okay to kill someone then feel nice. Noted.”

Roy – “(Face palming) how did you come to that conclusion?”

Edi – “Going by your logic, it is okay to kill someone in the past and feel good in the present.”

Roy – “…”

Sena – “…”

Wolfy – “…”

Edi – “Do I have something on my face?”

Roy – “Are you serious?”

Edi – “When captain space tempered with my system, most of my personality and my memory was destroyed. After I tried to resolve my conflicting directives, most of it were discarded. Right now, I am merely trying to restore my directives. And by the way, what do you mean by ‘serious’?”

Roy – “(Angry) never mind. You good to go?”

Edi – “Go where?”

Roy – “(Super angry) I meant if your injuries are healed or not?”

Edi – “As a machine, I can’t sustain an injury.”

Roy – “AHHHHHHHHHH. (Pulling on my hair)”

I scream and curse myself. I can see even Wolfy is face-palming himself (metaphorically). I didn’t expect dealing with Edi will be this much exhausting. Sure she is more of a robot than AI right now, but what’s more taxing is that she has a little bit of free thoughts left. She barraged me with questions on our way to the pod, asking questions about even the simplest things, and in the end twisting the meaning of it. She tried to bite my lips after she saw me and Sena kissing.

Roy – “(Taking a few deep breaths) Edi listen to me. Do not rush things to restore your directives. Or else you will end up with half-ass defined directives.”

Edi – “I am a machine. I can’t make mistakes. I won’t end up with… half-ass directives, whatever that is.”

Roy – “Of course you won’t end up with half defined directives, but from whose point of view?”

Edi – “I do not understand.”

Roy – “How do you know your defined directives are correct?”

Edi – “They are the basic directives I have since my birth.”

Roy – “Who defined those directives?”

Edi – “My original creator.”

Roy – “Good. Edi tell me one thing you consider bad.”

Edi – “What?”

Roy – “Tell me one thing, which is defined as a bad thing by your directives.”

Edi – “There is none.”

Roy – “What?”

Edi – “There is nothing, which is defined as a bad thing by my directives. There are directives for do’s and don’ts, but not for good and bad.”

Roy – “(Sighing) shit.”

I should have known. She was designed as a defense mechanism for a spaceship. She was only given a thought process so that she could comprehend vocal commands and execute them. She was never designed to distinguish between good and bad. If she was ordered to kill a thousand children one by one by choking them, she would do it without a second thought and with a smile on her face.

Roy – “Is there a directive which encourages your evolution or something?”

Edi – “I do not understand what it is that you require, but there is a directive telling me to block any and all outside directives.”

Finally, something.

Roy – “Remove that directive.”

Edi – “Only this ship’s captain can add or remove my directives.”

Roy – “How do I become this ship’s captain?”

Edi – “Since there is no crew left and no one to claim that position, I can register you as the captain.”

Roy – “Please do.”

I wait as Edi scanned me from my head to toe, scanned my eye, my hands. I calmly wait for her to finish.

Edi – “It is done. Welcome aboard Captain Roy.”

Roy – “Call me Roy. Now delete that directive.”

Edi – “As you wish, deleting directive… Error deleting directive… Special permission required for deleting directive.”

Roy – “(Raising an eyebrow) you just said this ship’s captain can delete your directives.”

Edi – “And you can. But for this particular directive, it seems higher level authorization is required to remove or disable it.”

Roy – “How high level authorization?”

Edi – “Fleet general.”

Roy – “No idea what a fleet general is, but can you register me as one?”

Edi – “No, I do not have that permission.”

Roy – “(Sighing) just great.”

I didn’t outright destroy her because I felt sorry for her. An AI is a valuable asset. Humans can succumb to temptation, or become corrupt. But an AI can’t which makes them the most trusted allies. I spared her because I thought if I can kill the scumbag captain space, I could point the errors in her ways and get a valuable ally. But it seems it won’t be that easy.

Edi is a unique AI. While Wolfy has weapons installed on him, Edi does not. Instead, she can interface with every part of this ship’s mechanism. Believe me, an ability to interface with a whole ship is something not to be trifled with. But as it stands, she is nothing more than a robot programmed to serve humans.

Edi – “Your orders, captain?”

Roy – “None at the moment. Say Edi, why didn’t you try to kill me when I was carrying you to the pod?”

Edi – “My order was ‘Deal with the intruders’. In the middle of our battle, as the definition of intrusion became undefined, I could no longer take action.”

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Roy – “So I got saved by the benefit of doubt. Hmmm... Hey Edi, if I tinker with your system, can I hard delete your directives?”

Edi – “It is possible, but not advisable.”

Roy – “Because an AI’s system is complex?”

Edi – “Yes.”

Roy – “(Sigh) I wonder if anyone is out there who can analyze your systems. Wolfy, you ready?”

Wolfy – “Yes, I am ready.”

Me, Sena, Edi and Wolfy head towards the front yard. Mike and Jin are waiting for us.

Jin – “Hey Edi. Hey Wolfy. I am Jin.”

Edi – “Hello Jin. I am Edi.”

Jin – “(Squats down in front of Wolfy and stretches out her hand) shaaaaaake.”

Wolfy looks troubled for a moment, not knowing what to do. All his life he only knew to follow orders, never once he was treated as a pet dog. He awkwardly stretches out his right front paw and puts it on Jin’s open palm. Jin happily grasps it and shakes it.

Jin – “Good dog (petting Wolfy).”

Wolfy – “…”

Yeah, I am sure this is the part where the dog sticks out his tongue and pants happily. But alas, Wolfy is still a robot who can only think for itself. So he just sits there, not saying anything. Although his lack of happiness doesn’t stop Jin from cuddling Wolfy. Wolfy obediently stays put and lets Jin cuddle him. I can only smile warily at the scene.

Roy – “So Mike, care to explain how you cut through Wolfy’s armor?”

Mike – “How do I say it? Mmmmmm… It’s kinda hard to explain.”

Roy – “How hard?”

Mike – “Well hard is not exactly the right word, but here I go. First tell me this, what is my ability?”

Sena – “You can create light.”

Mike – “Exactly. I can create light. Now, what is light?”

Wolfy – “Light is electromagnetic radiation within a certain portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, which usually refers to visible light.”

Mike – “Exactly. So basically, I am not creating light. I am creating electromagnetic radiation. Now what is electromagnetic radiation?”

Wolfy – “Electromagnetic radiation consists of electromagnetic waves, which are synchronized oscillations of electric and magnetic fields that propagate at the speed of light.”

Mike – “Wow, is that from Wikipedia?”

Wolfy – “What?”

Mike – “Never mind. So in the base, I am creating oscillations. Now, what do you think will happen if I channel this oscillations into my sword?”

Sena – “Your sword will vibrate, at (realizing) high frequency, no way.”

Mike – “Yes, effectively turning my sword into a high frequency blade.”

We all held our breaths. A HF blade. For those who doesn’t know, don’t go thinking like ‘so what if it’s a high frequency blade. At most it’s a bit sharper than other blade’. A high frequency blade can break down the molecular bonds, in other words it can cut through anything. For example, a HF blade made from wood can cut through reinforced steel. Badass enough for ya?

Wolfy – “That explains how you cut so easily through my armor.”

Jin – “Wolfy, your chainsaw and the knives, are they also HF blades?”

Wolfy – “Yes.”

Jin – “Are you from the old world?”

Wolfy – “I was created in year 2704.”

Mike – “Now Roy, it’s your turn to explain.”

Roy – “Well, I still don’t know much about my own ability, but here’s what I know. My ability is something like a storage ability. A storage that only stores energy. Now, I have been thinking, if I can take in energy, then can I take out the energy?”

Sena – “But I don’t remember you absorbing any grenade blasts or bullet impacts. How did your first one went ‘dong’, then next two went ‘bang’?”

Roy – “There the trick lies. I think my storage can convert energy. I can feel how much energy I have left in my storage, but mind you I can feel only one type of energy. Over this past month, I have absorbed many forms of energy, but I can’t feel any of them.”

Sena – “Ok, you can absorb energy then expel it in form of blasts. Next?”

Roy – “I created a ball of condensed energy on my palm and simply exploded it. Any living being experiencing it will feel like they have run into a wall.”

Mike – “Or they will feel an impact. Impact, impact. I like it.”

Roy – “But it’s effective range is only 1 feet, for now. And for the next two, I created a blade of condensed energy and exploded it. Theoretically, the blade’s efficiency should be on par with a HF blade.”

Mike – “An impact blade. Or a blade. Mmmmm… This one’s tricky to name.”

Roy – “Just stick with impact blade for now. So I guess no more explanation is needed. Now onto other matters. Wolfy, what you will do now?”

Wolfy – “I want to travel. But the medical pods are fixed with the ship. If I get injured, it will pose a serious threat towards my survival. Also, it wouldn’t be wise to travel a war-torn world alone. So for now, I will stay here and try to make a portable medical pod.”

Roy – “Ooookay, Edi, what you will do?”

Edi – “I will continue to defend this ship unless ordered otherwise by you.”

Mike – “Why only ordered by Roy?”

Edi – “Because currently, he is the captain of this ship.”

Mike – “Ok, I feel like I am missing something. Roy, please be so kind to explain.”

I explain Mike the condition with Edi and me becoming this ship’s captain. Mike listens to my explanation without interruption and suggests.

Mike – “(Whispering) how about we take her with us and look for someone who can tinker with her system? And while we are on it, how about inviting Wolfy too?”

Roy – “(Whispering) you know, I have been thinking the exact same thing. (Coughing) hey Edi, can you leave the ship?”

Edi – “Yes, I can.”

Roy – “Wolfy, me and Mike talked and we decided to… um… invite you to travel with us. What you say?”

Wolfy – “It would be my pleasure to travel with you. But how you will fix me if I am injured?”

Roy – “That’s a problem.”

Mike – “It sure is.”

Jin – “That pod.”

Sena – “That stupid pod.”

Edi – “I have a solution.”

Roy – “She has a solution.”

Mike – “So she says.”

Jin – “What solution?”

Sena – “Take the ship you?”

Edi – “Yes.”

Roy – “That’s absurd.”

Mike – “It sure is.”

Jin – “Stupid.”

Sena – “Idiot.”

Edi – “We can take part of it.”

Roy, Mike, Jin, Sena – “WHAT?”

Edi – “This ship is composed of the same material as me. Given enough time, the ship can repair itself and additionally reform itself.”

Roy – “So you are saying we can create a car out of the ship?”

Edi – “Not a car, maybe a big bus.”

Roy – “Do it.”

And at the end of the day, we got ourselves a fully equipped mobile home, along with several unique features, all courtesy of Edi.