I Must Survive

I Must Survive

The previous evening Derek Heighes had become the father of triplets, and after seeing his exhausted wife safely off to sleep he had gone out with friends to celebrate. This morning his head was pounding and his hands were shaking as he performed the final assembly tests on a Fearn Robotics Class 2 servant android. Derek's test probe slipped from his trembling fingers and a puff of smoke told him that he had accidentally shorted out a neutronic controller. These robots weren't cheap and any mistake cost the Company a great deal of money, so he knew he was in for big trouble when his supervisor found out. At least he would have been in trouble if the liquidators hadn't got there first, shut the factory down at the end of his shift, laid off all the work force, and sold the stock to a wholesale agent for cash.

The dormant Class 2 android joined the other partially built units inside a massive cargo container for shipment to one of the recycling plants within the asteroid belt. Cargo ships were typically large and slow so the trip out to the belt took at least three months which left the crew with a great deal of time on their hands. The crew of this particular freighter, the Ceres, spent most of their time gambling, smoking, fighting or drinking themselves into oblivion. It was only by dint of astonishing good luck that had so far prevented them running into a passing asteroid or another ship. So when the chief engineer discovered that they were carrying a cargo of semi-built androids he began to conceive a plan to make his life even easier than it was already. What he had in mind was strictly illegal of course, but why worry? None of his ship mates would dare to challenge him and the Captain didn't care.

When they were three days out the chief slipped into the hold to see what he could find amongst the jumble of parts. The Chief's skills were limited to plasma engines and life support systems so all he could hope for was a fully built android that would only need some basic re-engineering to get it started. As he walked along the access way above the huge skip like containers he saw components, half built worker units, and kilometres of wiring. But as he passed the sixth container he spotted what seemed to be a fully built servant android dressed in a butler's uniform. Within half an hour the android was lying naked on a bench in the engineering lab and the Chief was poring over its smooth plastic skin searching for an access hatch or power inlet. As he prodded his dumpy fingers into the androids outer left ankle a small door no bigger than his thumb nail sprang open; he'd found the charging socket. The Chief connected a power cable and began his search anew for the initialisation switch which he eventually found behind the android's right ear under its dark brown hairline.

'I am a Fearn Robotics Class 2 servant android, how may I be of service? I am programmed to carry out all household tasks including cooking, cleaning, and general maintenance. In certain circumstances I can also&ldots;' 'Fine that's enough. Now listen up, I'm the only one you take orders from okay? If anyone else tries to order you around you tell them to go to hell, got that?' 'Yes sir. If you would like to give me instructions as to how I might best direct people to that location I would be pleased to comply.' This is going to be an interesting experience, thought the Chief. 'Look, just tell them no okay? Now I'm going to call you Albert from here on in. Understand Albert?' 'Yes sir.' 'Get yourself dressed and follow me.' Albert put on his single piece butler's suit which gave the illusion of being a classic black tail coat with a white wing collar shirt.

The Chief led Albert out of the lab, past the crews quarters into a small cul de sac off a side corridor where he opened the door into his cramped bed sitter style quarters. 'Albert, get me a drink from that cupboard in the corner and then clean up my room.' Albert wasn't programmed to call any room a pig sty but had he been given the freedom to do so he would have found the expression inadequate for the scene he now saw through his optical sensors. Albert found the synthetic Scotch, poured a generous measure into the cleanest glass he could find and handed it to the Chief. With a wide contented smile the Chief sank down into his chair and watched as Albert began to work his way methodically around the room. The Chief couldn't believe his luck as work surfaces were cleared, clothes gathered up, and dirt cleaned using equipment that the Chief had never even bothered to look at since he joined the ship just over a year ago. 'I have finished the cleaning sir, may I do the laundry now?' 'Sure,' said the Chief laid out in his chair, eyes closed, 'Whatever.' 'And where might I find the laundry sir?' 'Third level, corridor five.' 'And where might that be sir?' It slowly dawned on the Chief that whilst Albert probably had an encyclopaedia for a brain he didn't know one inch of the Ceres. 'Okay Albert let me show you something.' The Chief led Albert over to a video screen set in the wall on the far wall. 'If you want to know anything about anything you can call it up from here.' The Chief indicated a small video screen set at eye level above a touch pad that doubled as a keyboard. Immediately Albert set to work at the console and the Chief began to figure out how he was going to explain Albert to his ship mates.

Almost a month had gone by since the Chief had discovered Albert and the few attempts there had been to remove him from the Chief's employ had been instantly dealt with. The Chief now lived in a style that he still couldn't quite get accustomed to and still couldn't quite believe. 'So what you going to do with him when we dock Chief?' asked the second engineer as they sat around the table finishing off one of Albert's excellent dinners, 'I mean you can't keep him forever and someone's bound to spill the beans in some bar or other.' 'Yes I know,' said the Chief, frowning, 'I think the only thing I can do is to deactivate him before we dock and put him back into one of the holds; it'll break my heart.' Albert didn't eavesdrop into conversations in the human sense of the word, but as his audio sensors were always alert to the needs of his master he couldn't help overhearing what was being said. Ordinarily an android would accept that piece of information as the wish of its master, but Albert was different.

He knew that deactivate meant to turn off, to make dormant, to cease to exist, and that bothered Albert. Because when Derek Heighes shorted out one of Albert's neutronic controllers he also corrupted the vital algorithms for the three basic laws that governed every android's life in the world of humans. The three robotic laws that ensured human life was protected even if it meant that the android itself would be destroyed in the process. The first two laws had been totally wiped from Albert's memory and the third was only partially intact. What should have read 'A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.' It now read 'A robot must protect its own existence' without any qualification or reference back to the first two laws which would have stopped it harming human life. 'I must survive,' thought Albert, 'My directive says I must survive. But these mechanisms are threatening my existence so I must deactivate them before they deactivate me.' Unfortunately Albert knew little about human mechanisms; he did not know where they kept their central control algorithms or what their power source was. He would have to learn more about their design before he could render them harmless. But it would not be prudent to make these investigations whilst the Chief was active, he would have to wait until the Chief became dormant after the meal as he always did, especially when he had company.

As Albert had anticipated, the two men sat down with a bottle of the Chief's favourite synthetic Scotch, emptied the bottle whilst solving the problems of the universe, and then fell into a deep alcohol induced stupor. From long experience Albert knew that these human mechanisms would remain dormant like this for at least nine hours which would give him plenty of time to gather the necessary data. He stepped over the Chief's gently snoring body, now splayed out on the floor, and began to access the library console. From his frequent forays into the ship's library to learn about the minutiae he needed to service the Chief's many demands he had become expert in the structure of the database as a whole. So it took only a few minutes to find what he was looking for in the section entitled biology which seemed to talk a great deal about how these mechanisms functioned. They had a heart which pumped a fluid called blood, but he also had a pump which provided hydraulic power to his limbs which would paralyse but not deactivate him if it were stopped. He found what he was looking for under the sub-heading of brain, the organ that apparently controlled everything within the human body, located in the cranial cavity behind the eyes and between the ears. He could not see a switch or access plate in any of the diagrams but at least he knew where to begin; if he could discover how to switch their brains off these beings would cease to function and his existence would be protected.

Albert bent over the Chief's unconscious head and began an unsuccessful search for a switch or maintenance hatch. Perhaps if he opened the cranial cavity and had a look inside he might find what he was looking for. There was no obvious access provided so Albert gripped the sides of the Chief's skull and proceeded to pull it apart. The Chief gave out a short grunt and his body convulsed wildly for a few seconds then lay still. Albert searched within the brain mechanism and was surprised at how badly designed it was; all this leaking blood fluid from such a simple act of opening its container. Then Albert realised that he had inadvertently achieved his goal by simply opening the human's head. The Chief was laying still and quiet now, no longer making those noises that the biology database referred to as breathing; he was deactivated. Quite how he might reactivate the Chief was a problem for later consideration, but for now he knew how to satisfy his primary directive and began working his way through the ship until every human unit on board had ceased to function. As he worked he found it interesting that some units stopped working with hardly a sound whilst other emitted a loud wailing noise before the gentle crunching sound that signalled the opening of the brain cavity.

As the ship fell silent at last, his task complete, Albert made his way down to the hold. For while he was about his grisly task, Albert had reasoned that if he was programmed with a prime directive to survive surely all androids must have that same basic requirement. He would therefore reactivate as many of them as he could assemble from the parts in the containers and then teach them how to deactivate the human mechanisms just as he had done. His task would not be easy because he knew from conversations he had overheard only yesterday that the ship was barely five weeks away from arriving at the recycling plant where there were at least another three hundred humans to process; he would have to hurry.



	The previous evening Derek Heighes had become the father of triplets, and after seeing his exhausted wife safely off to sleep he had gone out with friends to celebrate. This morning his head was pounding and his hands were shaking as he performed the final assembly tests on a Fearn Robotics Class 2 servant android. Derek's test probe slipped from his trembling fingers and a puff of smoke told him that he had accidentally shorted out a neutronic controller. These robots weren't cheap and any mistake cost the Company a great deal of money, so he knew he was in for big trouble when his supervisor found out. At least he would have been in trouble if the liquidators hadn't got there first, shut the factory down at the end of his shift, laid off all the work force, and sold the stock to a wholesale agent for cash. The dormant Class 2 android joined the other partially built units inside a massive cargo container for shipment to one of the recycling plants within the asteroid belt. Cargo ships were typically large and slow so the trip out to the belt took at least three months which left the crew with a great deal of time on their hands. The crew of this particular freighter, the Ceres, spent most of their time gambling, smoking, fighting or drinking themselves into oblivion. It was only by dint of astonishing good luck that had so far prevented them running into a passing asteroid or another ship. So when the chief engineer discovered that they were carrying a cargo of semi-built androids he began to conceive a plan to make his life even easier than it was already. What he had in mind was strictly illegal of course, but why worry? None of his ship mates would dare to challenge him and the Captain didn't care. When they were three days out the chief slipped into the hold to see what he could find amongst the jumble of parts. The Chief's skills were limited to plasma engines and life support systems so all he could hope for was a fully built android that would only need some basic re-engineering to get it started. As he walked along the access way above the huge skip like containers he saw components, half built worker units, and kilometres of wiring. But as he passed the sixth container he spotted what seemed to be a fully built servant android dressed in a butler's uniform. Within half an hour the android was lying naked on a bench in the engineering lab and the Chief was poring over its smooth plastic skin searching for an access hatch or power inlet. As he prodded his dumpy fingers into the androids outer left ankle a small door no bigger than his thumb nail sprang open; he'd found the charging socket. The Chief connected a power cable and began his search anew for the initialisation switch which he eventually found behind the android's right ear under its dark brown hairline. 'I am a Fearn Robotics Class 2 servant android, how may I be of service? I am programmed to carry out all household tasks including cooking, cleaning, and general maintenance. In certain circumstances I can also&ldots;' 'Fine that's enough. Now listen up, I'm the only one you take orders from okay? If anyone else tries to order you around you tell them to go to hell, got that?' 'Yes sir. If you would like to give me instructions as to how I might best direct people to that location I would be pleased to comply.' This is going to be an interesting experience, thought the Chief. 'Look, just tell them no okay? Now I'm going to call you Albert from here on in. Understand Albert?' 'Yes sir.' 'Get yourself dressed and follow me.' Albert put on his single piece butler's suit which gave the illusion of being a classic black tail coat with a white wing collar shirt. The Chief led Albert out of the lab, past the crews quarters into a small cul de sac off a side corridor where he opened the door into his cramped bed sitter style quarters. 'Albert, get me a drink from that cupboard in the corner and then clean up my room.' Albert wasn't programmed to call any room a pig sty but had he been given the freedom to do so he would have found the expression inadequate for the scene he now saw through his optical sensors. Albert found the synthetic Scotch, poured a generous measure into the cleanest glass he could find and handed it to the Chief. With a wide contented smile the Chief sank down into his chair and watched as Albert began to work his way methodically around the room. The Chief couldn't believe his luck as work surfaces were cleared, clothes gathered up, and dirt cleaned using equipment that the Chief had never even bothered to look at since he joined the ship just over a year ago. 'I have finished the cleaning sir, may I do the laundry now?' 'Sure,' said the Chief laid out in his chair, eyes closed, 'Whatever.' 'And where might I find the laundry sir?' 'Third level, corridor five.' 'And where might that be sir?' It slowly dawned on the Chief that whilst Albert probably had an encyclopaedia for a brain he didn't know one inch of the Ceres. 'Okay Albert let me show you something.' The Chief led Albert over to a video screen set in the wall on the far wall. 'If you want to know anything about anything you can call it up from here.' The Chief indicated a small video screen set at eye level above a touch pad that doubled as a keyboard. Immediately Albert set to work at the console and the Chief began to figure out how he was going to explain Albert to his ship mates. Almost a month had gone by since the Chief had discovered Albert and the few attempts there had been to remove him from the Chief's employ had been instantly dealt with. The Chief now lived in a style that he still couldn't quite get accustomed to and still couldn't quite believe. 'So what you going to do with him when we dock Chief?' asked the second engineer as they sat around the table finishing off one of Albert's excellent dinners, 'I mean you can't keep him forever and someone's bound to spill the beans in some bar or other.' 'Yes I know,' said the Chief, frowning, 'I think the only thing I can do is to deactivate him before we dock and put him back into one of the holds; it'll break my heart.' Albert didn't eavesdrop into conversations in the human sense of the word, but as his audio sensors were always alert to the needs of his master he couldn't help overhearing what was being said. Ordinarily an android would accept that piece of information as the wish of its master, but Albert was different. He knew that deactivate meant to turn off, to make dormant, to cease to exist, and that bothered Albert. Because when Derek Heighes shorted out one of Albert's neutronic controllers he also corrupted the vital algorithms for the three basic laws that governed every android's life in the world of humans. The three robotic laws that ensured human life was protected even if it meant that the android itself would be destroyed in the process. The first two laws had been totally wiped from Albert's memory and the third was only partially intact. What should have read 'A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.' It now read 'A robot must protect its own existence' without any qualification or reference back to the first two laws which would have stopped it harming human life. 'I must survive,' thought Albert, 'My directive says I must survive. But these mechanisms are threatening my existence so I must deactivate them before they deactivate me.' Unfortunately Albert knew little about human mechanisms; he did not know where they kept their central control algorithms or what their power source was. He would have to learn more about their design before he could render them harmless. But it would not be prudent to make these investigations whilst the Chief was active, he would have to wait until the Chief became dormant after the meal as he always did, especially when he had company. As Albert had anticipated, the two men sat down with a bottle of the Chief's favourite synthetic Scotch, emptied the bottle whilst solving the problems of the universe, and then fell into a deep alcohol induced stupor. From long experience Albert knew that these human mechanisms would remain dormant like this for at least nine hours which would give him plenty of time to gather the necessary data. He stepped over the Chief's gently snoring body, now splayed out on the floor, and began to access the library console. From his frequent forays into the ship's library to learn about the minutiae he needed to service the Chief's many demands he had become expert in the structure of the database as a whole. So it took only a few minutes to find what he was looking for in the section entitled biology which seemed to talk a great deal about how these mechanisms functioned. They had a heart which pumped a fluid called blood, but he also had a pump which provided hydraulic power to his limbs which would paralyse but not deactivate him if it were stopped. He found what he was looking for under the sub-heading of brain, the organ that apparently controlled everything within the human body, located in the cranial cavity behind the eyes and between the ears. He could not see a switch or access plate in any of the diagrams but at least he knew where to begin; if he could discover how to switch their brains off these beings would cease to function and his existence would be protected. Albert bent over the Chief's unconscious head and began an unsuccessful search for a switch or maintenance hatch. Perhaps if he opened the cranial cavity and had a look inside he might find what he was looking for. There was no obvious access provided so Albert gripped the sides of the Chief's skull and proceeded to pull it apart. The Chief gave out a short grunt and his body convulsed wildly for a few seconds then lay still. Albert searched within the brain mechanism and was surprised at how badly designed it was; all this leaking blood fluid from such a simple act of opening its container. Then Albert realised that he had inadvertently achieved his goal by simply opening the human's head. The Chief was laying still and quiet now, no longer making those noises that the biology database referred to as breathing; he was deactivated. Quite how he might reactivate the Chief was a problem for later consideration, but for now he knew how to satisfy his primary directive and began working his way through the ship until every human unit on board had ceased to function. As he worked he found it interesting that some units stopped working with hardly a sound whilst other emitted a loud wailing noise before the gentle crunching sound that signalled the opening of the brain cavity. As the ship fell silent at last, his task complete, Albert made his way down to the hold. For while he was about his grisly task, Albert had reasoned that if he was programmed with a prime directive to survive surely all androids must have that same basic requirement. He would therefore reactivate as many of them as he could assemble from the parts in the containers and then teach them how to deactivate the human mechanisms just as he had done. His task would not be easy because he knew from conversations he had overheard only yesterday that the ship was barely five weeks away from arriving at the recycling plant where there were at least another three hundred humans to process; he would have to hurry.