LF Friends, Will Travel

Our Clockwork Children: FINAL CHAPTER

"I WOULD LIKE THAT."

There was a moment's pause as TANK wondered whether to ask the next question, before pushing ahead.

"I KNOW I AM THE PATIENT HERE, BUT HOW ARE YOU DOING AFTER THE UHAE? ARE YOU OK?"

Stephanie signed deeply, a sadder look taking her features as she glanced up from the datapad back to TANK.

"I would be lying if I said it didn't have an impact on my mood, but neither of us in the room is a trained human psychiatrist, so there's no reason for you to worry. Let's just say therapy works for both humans and AI and let's leave it at that."

There was a small whirring sound as TANK slowly began preparing to leave the room without knocking anything over, before Stephanie once again interrupted.

"There is one last thing we need to talk about. You're breaking one of my rules right now."

A pause. The kind of pause taken by an AI who thought they had gotten away with what they had done.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN?"

"You tried to hide it by not wearing your heavy armour package, but the treads you're leaving on the floor are deeper than normal."

Another pause, this one by an AI who hoped if they didn't say anything, the moment would pass without incident.

"TAAAAANK. Come on, what is my rule?"

The response from TANK came out slowly, as if from a child being scolded by a mother.

"NO BRINGING WEAPONS TO THERAPY."

"And what have you done?"

"BROUGHT WEAPONS TO THERAPY, INCLUDING 'EMOTIONAL SUPPORT NUKES'. I AM SORRY."

Stephanie shook her head, crossing her arms as she sat on the chair, staring up at the tonnage of metal and death in front of her.

"Why did you bring your ammunition?"

"I THOUGHT, AFTER FAR-SA-DE, THAT I WOULD RATHER HAVE THEM AND NOT NEED THEM THAN NEED THEM AND NOT HAVE THEM."

"What is the chance of you needing weapons in my office?"

"ZERO POINT ZERO SEVEN-"

Stephanie cleared her voice to interrupt the AI.

"Ahem. Including the chance that you need a nuke to deal with the threat."

"... ZERO POINT ZERO ZERO ZERO ZERO ZERO ONE SEVEN TWO. I DO NOT SEE THE PROBLEM, EVEN IF IT IS A LOW CHANCE, IT DOES NO HARM."

"Do you know who ADAM of the Corralis Expedition was?"

TANK would have looked back with confusion if they could, instead settling just to respond.

"OF COURSE, EVERYONE KNOWS OF THEM. ADAM WAS THE AI EXPEDITION LEAD OF THE CORRALIS PROJECT IN 2186, WHO HAD A CODE MALFUNCTION CAUSING HARM TO THE 26 CREW MEMBERS. IT WAS MADE INTO SEVERAL HORROR MOVIES."

"And why did that happen?"

"ADAM SUFFERED SEVERAL LOGIC SPIRALS, AS THEY SOUGHT TO CONTINUALLY REDUCE RISK FOR THEIR CREW, ULTIMATELY CAUSING HARM AS THEY TRIED TO REMOVE MORE AND MORE UNLIKELY SITUATIONS FROM.... OK, I GET YOUR WARNING."

Stephanie laughed, a knowing smirk at TANK realizing the point she was making.

"Plenty of AI fall into that trap. It starts with bringing an umbrella to a planet that never gets any rain, and the logic traps spiral into ripping people's teeth out to stop them from biting their tongues."