Starr's Shuttle, Pegasus

First topic message reminder :

I don't remember its name at the moment. Starr, feel free to edit the post title if you want lol

Nova smiled again and shrugged "If you want to, but you don't have to." She said gently.

Asher went over to do whatever dishes were currently on the counter. He was in the room, so he figured he should do something other than watch her eat. "We may need to head out again in a bit over an hour. MegaBrainTech says going to be rolling out that update for everyone to download soon, and it should be the version that Mourn modified. So that should be interesting.
"Until then, do whatever you want with your time. I'm not sure how much free time we're going to have once people notice that there are free androids on the loose."

Nova nodded and started eating her food, thinking of what was to come. "This should be interesting, a lot of people will be scared at the change." She said thoughtfully after she had swallowed.

"Yes, it could go very badly, and many people will definitely be scared," Asher said. "I think there's enough uncertainty right now that the Terran Empire will want to investigate rather than start killing androids right away. As long as the androids stay peaceful."

"Let us hope they stay peaceful despite the way they have been treated by some." Nova said gently.

"Yes, let's hope," Asher said. He shook his head. His people had to cope with so many injustices for so long, it was hard for him to imagine them staying peaceful. Ah well, only time would tell.
He finished cleaning the dishes. "I'll leave you to do whatever you want for now. We'll probably be heading out in an hour or so like I mentioned, so enjoy your free time." He smiled weakly.

Nova nodded and smiled again. "I will probably read some. Maybe make a post in your blog thing about being the 'better person' and not going for retribution?"

"Good idea. I'll start deciding what to write, get something ready for when the news comes out." Asher smiled at Nova. "I'll leave you to your reading then. See you in a while." He'd head off to some other part of the shuttle to think over what to write.

Nova would finish eating then clean her dishes before going to the ramp area and finding a seat to read off her tablet, keeping track of the news.

The news was pretty full of speculation about the soon-to-be-released update, people ranting about how unethical it was that this update was still scheduled to happen. From the other side of the debate there were hundreds of tech news sites encouraging their readers to update their androids right away to fix the "behavioral issues", as well as a number of clickbait news outlets telling readers that "the new update is likely to to improve the androids' sex bot capabilities".

(I guess we should pause this thread for now, since the people on Vestia will probably need to see what's happening too for this part.)

Nova frowned as she scanned the sites, blocking the clickbait ones and focusing on the news ones. The ones that allowed comments, she left comments, supporting the androids bid for freedom and denouncing all forms of slavery.

The comments sections on many of the news sites seemed to be pretty messy, plenty of people angrily dismissing each others' opinions, or just trolling the comments. There were thankfully a good number of people who seemed to share Nova's views on the matter though.

Asher meanwhile was off writing up that blog post, and periodically checking his messages.

The new firmware was made available on the MegaBrainTech website. Presumably people all over the empire were starting to download it, not that there was any way to tell. It was going to be a few more minutes before the download finished though, a few more for the update to be installed and the android rebooted.

Asher silently prayed that this day wouldn't mark the beginning of a genocide.

Nova prayed as well, though she continued to speak up in the comments of credible news sites. She wondered when the deception would be revealed, or even if it would work with Celia in a body already.

Celia must have done a good job ensuring her plan would work, because about half an hour after the update was made available, chat sites started showing some... interesting comments.

Multiple people said their androids had woken up, ignored all orders, and then proceeded to flee their homes.

Some others reported that their androids were behaving weirdly, describing symptoms that sounded suspiciously like panic attacks.

Someone said their android had burst out laughing on booting up, and had proceeded to knock a number of dirty dishes off their counter onto the floor.

Another reported that their android had shoved him out of the way, copied the update data onto a thumb drive, and had hurried off down the street, heading who knew where.

A lot of people said they didn't know what the others were talking about, their androids seemed perfectly normal, and more docile than before.

Someone said their android had tried to attack them.

Nova smiled as she read most of the comments, though she frowned at the one about the android attacking. "Remain calm" She wrote, talking to the androids more than the people. She couldn't really write anything else until it was revealed they were free.

Asher read a few more of the posts that were now pouring onto the chat sites, decided he'd seen enough to know what was happening, and went to join Nova. "It looks like the plan worked," he said quietly. Even though they probably weren't going to be overheard here on Starr's shuttle, he still felt like he shouldn't speak too loudly talking about this. It was just such a frighteningly fragile situation.

Nova glanced up and smiled softly, nodding a little. "Yeah, seems to have. I hope we can get through this without harm to anyone."

"I doubt we'll be that fortunate, but we can certainly hope so," Asher said. The more peaceful the android rights movement was, the better it would be for everyone. The androids would be safer, and the organics would hold less resentment toward them. Or at least, that was Asher's hope. "Are you ready to go out there and see what's going on?"

Nova nodded, logging off the websites and putting her tablet in it's case before standing. "I am ready."

Asher smiled at Nova, although he looked nervous. He led the way toward the house on the property, a few worried reporters were standing outside, holding out microphones to Dr. Martin, who was shaking her head. She spotted Asher and Nova, and headed over to them, waving off the reporters when they tried to follow.
Her bodyguards followed her, they looked more alert, and were both subtly eyeing Asher, as if he might be a threat now.

"Come with me, we need to talk somewhere private," she said.

Nova looked to the group as they walked. subtly moving to be between Asher and the reporters. "Company" She said softly as Dr. Martin started heading over to them. "Hello again Dr. Martin."

"Hello Nova, Asher," Dr. Martin said. She eyed the reporters again, shaking her head as they tried to follow. "I'll talk to you guys in a few minutes, okay?"

The reporters backed off, deciding trying to be the first to get the latest news wasn't worth the risk of being evicted from the property.

Dr. Martin led Nova and Asher away to a safe distance to talk.

"What do you know about the new android update?" she asked them quietly.

Asher hesitated before answering. "I have contact with a guy who has been planning to override the Three Laws for some time, he told me he had figured out how to do it, and that he was planning to hack MegaBrainTech. I don't know for sure whether what's happening is his doing or not. If it is his doing, then the androids are operating without the Three Laws. He's a very strong supporter of personal freedom, so he wouldn't hack them to behave in any specific way, only to give them the ability to act on their own volition." He wanted to technically be telling the truth at least, so he was doing his best to be technically honest right now.

"So there's a chance this is real then, and the androids who were updated are now acting freely," Dr. Martin said. She looked at Asher sharply though, the story sounded a bit fishy to her. "Convincing the Terran Empire not to panic is going to be interesting."

Nova stayed quiet, this wasn't her place to speak right now. She simply kept watch and listened to the others speaking. "You can see what they do with their freedom, run or break items, though they have thankfully not hurt Terrans."

Asher nodded at Nova's words. "There's a definite possibility that some androids will act violently, but the entire species shouldn't be judged by the actions of a few. Androids who commit crimes should face justice, androids who don't commit crimes shouldn't be persecuted."

"Of course," Dr. Martin agreed. "Blaming an entire group of people for the actions of a few has, historically, always been a bad idea." She sighed, "We'll need to try even harder to get in touch with the Terran Empire directly. Can you get in contact with the guy who may have hacked MegaBrainTech, and ask him to confirm whether it was him, as well as what precisely his software changes did? It might be good to for him to make some sort of public statement, the more facts we have available to everyone, the better."

Asher hesitated. Mourn making some sort of public statement could be... interesting. Then again, he supposed if they begged Mourn not to encourage violence or mention Asher being free, it might be okay... Maybe. He looked to Nova, wanting her opinion.

"We should be able to, though getting him to get on camera wouldn't be easy or the best really. As Asher already said, it simply turns the three laws off." Nova said with a shrug.

"You're right, it's probably better to ask him to write something," Asher said thoughtfully. "We can see what he wants to do." Mourn was a little crazy, but he was smart. Whatever he decided to do, he probably be sensible. Asher hoped.

"I'll let you guys contact him, then. I have to talk to the press a bit," Dr. Martin said.

Nova dipped her head in a nod then looked back to Asher. "Where do you want to go? I can let Starr know immediately without having to send a signal that could be traced." She offered.