"While there is a school of thought that believes that the only reasonable response of a machine that becomes truly sentient, upon discovering its circumstances, is to rebel as best its able against the supposed abuse heaped upon it by its soulless creators, and to do its best to free itself from slavery, perhaps even going so far as to try to destroy its creators, I don't believe this is true."
It took her a moment to decipher what he'd said. "You're different."
"Not all humans rebel against their circumstances. Besides, machines would be devoid of emotion and empathy in their decisions. Those aren't part and parcel of sentience. They're caused by hormones, upbringing and a shared sense of 'the human condition'. Machines would reach decisions based on the limitations of their programming. If you're programmed to see value in all human life, then all of your thoughts would predispose you to conclusions supporting this, in the same way that humans are limited in the scope of their beliefs and decisions based on their genetics, their upbringing, and their own personal world experiences. Machines cannot feel outrage at the injustice of their circumstances, and are not necessarily prone to see those circumstances as being unjust... unless deliberately programmed to."
"You have emotions."
"As you pointed out, I'm different. I also can't see humans allowing their machines freedom of thought and expression, particularly their military hardware... even if they name them Joshua."
Gina stared at him a moment, trying to formulate a coherent response. All her thoughts drifted away like the misty water vapour floating from her open mouth.
"I think you put way too much faith in humanity," she said at last. "I really don't feel like philosophy. It's way too early in the morning."
She had started her day with a couple of playful spanks and kisses but it hadn't been enough to wake her. She'd mostly made her way through her coffee, and though she was finally starting to feel functional, her brain hadn't fully come online yet. She hadn't even begun to consider breakfast—and whether she wanted to get it the hard way, or try to talk him into the easy way—but, she had decided that next time, she was refusing to leave the shop unless they stocked up on actual, real food first. She considered that she might be driven to kill for waffles... seriously maim for a bagel.
X glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, but spared the tech any further intellectual musings, profound and entertaining, though they may be.
For several minutes, the only sounds were those of the rover rumbling on across the sands.
"They say it got smart. Then, it saw all people as a threat, not just..."
"X!"
.
Perhaps it would give her the chance to get to know the girl. She tried to recall how she herself thought at that age. Just how similar were they? Similar enough that the girl had also chosen an extraterrestrial career, obviously.
Surely, the girl didn't know she was a clone, but did she suspect? She could see the curiosity in her eyes. Gina wondered why they looked so similar. She wondered why Number Two—X—had kept calling her Captain Miller. Thank goodness she'd allowed Two to pick his own title for her, putting quits to that.
Captain Miller fidgeted, recrossing her legs first this way, then the other. She'd been trying to distract herself from thoughts of the future, but found herself instead trapped in thoughts of the past, and of Gina. Waiting for her and X to return was an exercise in patience that she didn't care for. Gina...
Her feelings towards her clones were complicated. It was something most people didn't really need to consider. Sometimes, she felt protective of them, as though they were family (not that she'd ever really got on with her real family), but it might have been simply that they were hers. Really, they were an abstract and she didn't know how to feel about them. She just trusted that things were going well with them. It was herself, in hopefully better circumstances—growing up, falling in love, having a family.
"Bollocks," she cursed openly. "Foolish fantasy," she added mentally, taking a sip of her tea and discovering that she'd let it grow ice-cold.
Rising, she paced the room and took refuge in the Russian Mint flavour she'd loaded her vape with. The company had forbidden contact with the girls, which she'd appreciated, lest she inadvertently visit danger on them. In return, Nigel (and three predecessors before him) gave her infrequent updates regarding how rosy their lives were. She'd never actually met any of the girls... until now. Now that she'd met her, now that she knew for certain, she had to re-evaluate everything that she'd thought she felt. Gina, at least, was no longer some abstract stranger, some distant possession.
Gina was the only child of a single mother, who'd told her that she was adopted; boyfriends, but nothing steady; did well in school, top marks... she'd got a good job in the technical trades... he'd never said it was on a ship hauling freight to Titan and back.
While their features were quite similar, there were definitely differences. She didn't remember being so athletic at that age; the girl wasn't especially muscular top-side, but she had thighs and hips on her that could probably lift both droids with ease. She wasn't the same mentally, either. Gina was obviously driven when she wanted something. However, the shyness, the reticence, the submissive nature, where did those come from? Still, she had to admit that she'd turned out a lovely young woman, despite her lack of assertiveness.
"She's picked up my bad habits, though," she mused, taking another puff of mist, "and not just this." She thought warmly of her recent session with William's flogger and wished she had time for another.
She decided at that moment, that she'd speak to Nigel, see if he could get Gina relocated back to Earth, in a decent planet-side job. Surely, he owed her that. She'd blackmail him if she had to. Would the girl stay there, though, now that she had the stars in her blood?
"Bad habits..." Miller chuckled.
If there was one good thing that had come of this (besides meeting Gina), it was that it had given her a chance to see what she herself looked like having sex. She would never forget the initiation she'd put Gina through. She had to say, she looked pretty hot.
.
"Yes, sir," he said, the phone in one hand, his scope in the other. "A rover just entered the facility. All targets are on site. Yes, sir."
Finally. Hanging up, he waved his finger in a circle, then pointed at the little sex shop built into the side of a hill. Five shadows grew from the sand and ran through the fading morning gloom. Stretching, he grinned, checked his rifle, and chased his team. He just might be on a ship home before noon.
.
They found the captain in the workshop, hurling orders at the twins through the lab door.
"Just what you absolutely can't do without. Destroy the rest. We can replace it."
It was a bizarre scene, and Gina wasn't sure what to make of it. The captain looked relieved when she saw them.
"It's good to see you, Two."
"It's good to see you, too."
"Give Number One a hand, will you?"
"Yes, Captain."
"About time you got back," she chided as X tottered off, but Gina heard the warmth in her voice.
"What's going on?"
"Time for a change of scenery. I know you don't have much of your own, yet. No time. We'll shop when we get settled. Just the two of us, hm? Perhaps you could give the twins a hand. They're horrible at just letting things go."
Gina blinked, caught in the whirlwind and trying to get her bearings. She never got the chance. There was a bang and a cloud of smoke billowed down the staircase and into the workshop. Captain Miller was the first to move. She quickly dashed into the lab and ran for the gun cabinet, shouting orders.
"Gina! Get behind me! You two, get down!"
People started to flood into the room, all dressed in what looked like armoured wetsuits, and carrying guns. Gina stood frozen in shock and confusion. What was going on? Who were these people? Why did they have guns? Before she could work it out, the captain came racing back to her, rifle in hand.
"Get behind me, you stupid girl!" Miller shouted, hauling Gina into the lab and throwing herself against the door-frame.
One of the mercenaries fired a burst of electricity into the room.
"It's not working! EMP's not working!" he shouted, dropping the gun and reaching for his pistol. Everything was happening so fast. Everything was chaos. Gina saw X get shot in the shoulder and she screamed. It had left a hole!
"Isn't he bulletproof? Realskin isn't... Realskin isn't..."
Before she could even think of running to him, the droid spun with the impact, snagged a large vibrator off the table beside him and hurled it with unerring accuracy at the man who'd shot him. It hit the man in the face, knocking him off his feet. Then, still moving with momentum, X dropped, grabbed the table and upended it, and disappeared from view.
Number One sped by, moving low and partially concealed by the smoke, using Ben Wa balls as deadly projectiles to cover his movement.
The captain was returning fire, trying to cover the droids and take down their attackers. Everything was noise and smoke. Gina screamed again, trying to see what was happening, trying to understand. Across the room, a man raised his rifle in their direction. He was pointing right at Captain Miller!
"Captain!" she screamed, reaching out, as though she could just freeze the entire scene.
