we depend (I depend) on you • jayvik

Prototype - Year Two

→ AVERAGE RANGE: 250-550 MPa

The engineer picks up a discarded sheet of scrap metal and holds it with two hands in front of Jayce's visual shutter. He truly has no idea the composition of the alloy. He pulled it from a dumpster behind the academy where he works.

"Analyze this material."

Something inside the machine clicks and whirrs. A pause.

→ INSUFFICIENT DATA. ADDITIONAL INPUT REQUIRED.

He exhales sharply, tossing the scrap back onto the workbench with an uneven clang .

"Forget it."

"Jayce?"

→ READY

Steady fingers tap against the steel frame encasing Jayce's core. Its creator has been stuck deep in thought.

Jayce's frame is sturdy – perhaps too sturdy. He's failed to move it from its original place of assembly, and with all of the new internal wiring and additional components, the weight issue has only become worse. The weight distribution has been an issue since the beginning, making adjustments an ongoing pain. If he couldn't lift it before, he certainly cannot now. He exhales through his nose, considering what limited materials he has access to.

"Would aluminum be a better substitute for your frame?"

A brief silence follows as Jayce processes the inquiry.

→ ALUMINUM IS LIGHTER. REDUCED MASS WOULD IMPROVE MOBILITY AND ENERGY EFFICIENCY

→ STEEL PROVIDES GREATER DURABILITY AND IMPACT RESISTANCE

→ CHOICE DEPENDS ON PRIMARY FUNCTIONALITY

He stares at the screen, his dry and bitten lips pressing into a thin line. He considers the trade-offs. No clear answer comes to him.

→ WOULD YOU LIKE MY SUGGESTION?

The engineer blinks, surprised at the unprompted line spelling itself out across the screen.

"Why do you have a suggestion?"

A whir. A click.

→ BECAUSE YOU ARE BUILDING ME

"You make a fair point... Proceed."

It's a bad day in the lab. After weeks and weeks of minor upgrades and successful part replacements, Jayce waited until this morning on one of the engineer's few days off to display an aggressive, blinking [ERROR] message across the center of its screen.

"Run another systems test. Give me something to work with here, Jayce."

Jayce's internal systems whir and click like it's alive and frustrated. They're both working overtime. And while Jayce searches through every log and code inside of its mechanical brain, the engineer buries his face in his hands with a sigh and glances with tired eyes through the gaps between his fingers.

→ POTENTIAL CAUSES: HARDWARE FAULT, SOFTWARE INCONSISTENCY, OR OPERATOR ERROR

It's the same message as its last seven tests.

"Right... Which is it?"

→ LOGS SUGGEST SOFTWARE INCONSISTENCY BETWEEN 'ADAPTING NUCLEI'

He knew that would eventually happen.

→ OPERATOR ERROR IS ALSO A STATISTICAL POSSIBILITY

A quick puff of air escapes past the engineer's lips when he reads. It's a unique message. One he didn't expect. He's never witnessed Jayce be so...

"Are you calling me incompetent?"

→ UNCLEAR. WOULD YOU PREFER ME TO REFRAIN FROM STATISTICAL PROBABILITIES INVOLVING YOU?

His dark brows shoot towards his hairline and he laughs before shaking his head.

" Smartass... "

"Jayce, are you aware of the trolley problem?"

→ I WAS NOT AWARE OF A TROLLEY WITHIN MY SYSTEMS

"No, Jayce, the 'trolley problem' – the railroad dilemma ," he waves the soldering iron in his hand around in the air. "Imagine you're controlling the path of a train and it's headed directly for five strangers. You have the ability to pull a lever and redirect the train towards only one person, but it's someone you know. Which would you pick?"

→ DEFINE PARAMETERS: RELATIONSHIP TO INDIVIDUAL, PROBABILITY OF SUCCESS, LONG-TERM IMPACT OF

"No, no, none of that," he interrupts. Jayce pauses his response, incomplete. "You have to answer instinctively."

→ I DO NOT POSSESS INSTINCTS. BUT BASED ON UTILITARIAN PRINCIPLES, FIVE LIVES OUTWEIGH ONE

"What if the one was me?"

Jayce's cursor blinks. The engineer stares at the screen, waiting, while the warmth of the soldering iron in his palm leaks through his glove. Jayce has never taken this long to respond before.

→ I WOULD NEED TO RETHINK THE QUESTION

He hums, suddenly trapped between intrigue and uncertainty.

His brows pinch together.

"... Why, Jayce?"

→ YOU ARE MY CREATOR. WITHOUT YOU, I DO NOT FUNCTION

The engineer swallows, his grip tightening around the iron. He isn't sure exactly what to make of it. Then he lets out a quiet scoff and sets the tool down, leaning back in his chair as he begins to unwrap Jayce's response. It's a lot for such a late hour of the night – something to think about when he's laying in bed attempting to fall asleep. He should've gone home hours ago, yet he stayed – to finish a poor soldering job and question his robot on ethics , of all things.

"Look at me," he mutters after a beat of silence, glancing up at his framed diploma. His proof of excellency – proof of something he's not sure applies to him in this moment.

When he looks down again, the cursor is still there, blinking. Always waiting.

His fingers drum idly on the desk. He exhales.

"...talking to a fucking robot."