Regret. Worry.
Those were the two responses that flowed through my circuits as I made my way to my office.
Regret…because I had tried to help this human, and now she was suffering due to my actions.
Worry…because I was afraid someone would find out that I had tried to help her.
No one, not even Chas would understand why I had done so.
If I had told President Aron, I am sure that he would have found a way to have me impeached. Probably on the grounds of not having the bot community's best interest at heart. He was totally against providing aid to the humans.
Truth is, he would not need to. All it would take is a leak to the press and I would be ruined.
My friends, Chas…the entire community would ostracize me. Why had my responses acted the way they did? Why did I act so quickly to try and help this human when I knew the consequences?
Now I have been ordered to write a law that would seal this human’s fate.
To the full extent of the law is what President Aron said.
In our world, that could mean one of two things; she could be sentenced to serving the rest of her life working the crystal mines…
…or be executed. Either one is a terrible fate for anyone.
You can do this, my emotional responses said to me. You have to do this, is what it actually translated to.
As only a bot can, my emotional response system suddenly took a 360 turn and fed me feelings of calm and confidence.
I began to write, The following amendments have been made to our criminal code 22-66-8746 effective immediately. Any human who attempts to commit an act of thievery against any bot will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
Punishment to the full extent of the law could include a life time prison sentence to be served at the Lunar Lakes crystal mines or death by lethal injec-
I stopped typing. As soon as I was about to write out the word injection, my emotional reactors fed me the command guilt.
It was my guilt that had landed this human in jail and I had to do something about it.
I needed to go and visit this human that was being punished because of what I did.
I stepped into my limo and ordered the driver to take me to the police station. “Are you sure Vice President Ardis?”.
“Are you questioning me?”
“No madam Vice President, I will get you there right away.”
I sat back as the limo pulled off, but I was anything but relaxed.
The responses I kept getting made me grateful that I am not human. I could only imagine how intense these emotional sequences would be if I actually had nerves and a beating heart.
As I was about to enter the police station access portal, I wondered briefly if Chas or President Aron’s emotional responses ever fed them these emotions. If not, why was it happening to me?
Stepping into the police station was like stepping into a time warp.
From the bricks, to the furnishing and outdated computer, there was nothing modern about the place.
It was obvious to me that hardly any of Lunar Lake’s resources were going toward our police, which is partly my doing of course. But until the humans arrived, we really did not have a need for a police station. There was no crime.
“Vice President Ardis!” The cop at the desk said when he spotted me.
“I want to see the human,” I ordered forgoing any greetings or formalities.
“Why would you want to consort with a criminal?”
The second officer in the room went through the motions of preparing coffee, while I readied my response to the first officer.
“I am not here to consort with her. I just need to speak with her.”
“I may need to get permission from my superior first. I was given strict orders that the human is not to receive any visitors.”
“First of all, I am the Vice President and you need to stand when you address me!”
The officer quickly stood.
“Second of all, I am not asking you to see the human. I demand to see her.”
“Still I cannot allow it. I was given strict orders,” the officer repeated. This was not what I wanted to hear.
I decided to pull rank as I had seen Chas do at numerous occasions. I glanced at the officer’s badge. “Officer Pedro, are you seriously telling me that I, the Vice President, cannot visit with this human who tried to steal from my account?” I began.
“Because if you are, then I shall have your badge because you insist on impeding upon my right to justice as a citizen…”
“And my right to authority as the Vice President…”
“I think that those factors alone should overrule anything that your so-called superior has ordered!”
I allowed all of that to sink in as a fear response spread across Officer Pedro’s face.
“Unlock the door to the cells,” officer Pedro said to the other officer without looking away from me.
He stood there looking relieved as I turned to face the other officer.
Now that I would be allowed to visit the human, I was again getting a nervous response. What was I hoping to accomplish by visiting?
The officer unlocked the door, “Right this way Vice President Ardis.”
I walked toward the doors, not sure what to expect.
Labels: Metallic Heart
