UPON VESTIA: CHAPTER THIRTY ONE

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Asher considered his words for a few seconds, glancing around the room as he thought, then looked to Kay again. "I've been thinking over everything that's happened today, and I feel like it would be wrong for me to leave Terra before the androids have been granted their freedom," he said. "I think it might be in the best interests of the children and the androids if I stay on Terra while Vestia goes on to the Imperium." He wished he could have phrased it better, but he just didn't know how. Ugh.

flying_purple_monkfish wrote:Mourn nodded "okay." He wanted to know how this would work more than anything else

Starr smiled softly and nodded "Asher wants to know if you are okay with making a public statement saying that you developed the freedom code update in a video or a blog post, or something like that."

Mourn nodded "I fix robots, I tell yes?" He looked eager, he rather liked boasting. "I fix robots. terrans say not possible, I did it." He nodded again. "You tell robot, I tell terrans. I release code on site maybe? Backup."

"Dirt, though?" Ethan said, apparently not knowing how to be subtle about how weird he found that. "Do you bury yourself in it, or just sleep on top of it?"

~~
"Oh no, there's even a video of a robot attacking someone," James said grimly. "The police aren't going to be nice after this."

Kay winced, this wasn't good. He reached out a hand for the tablet. He wanted to message Asher and know for sure he was okay.

"I'll tell him." Starr said, doing just that.

Kooshie wrote:"Dirt, though?" Ethan said, apparently not knowing how to be subtle about how weird he found that. "Do you bury yourself in it, or just sleep on top of it?"

Sawna knew it was unusual so she wasn't offended. "Most times we simply sleep in it as if it was a bed, but if we need deep healing, we will bury ourselves and go into a kind of coma so we don't have to breathe normally. I know it is different, but it is the way we were made." She said with a shrug.

James handed back the tablet, he'd read over Kay's shoulder probably.

~~
"Dirt and blood. What a way to stay healthy," Ethan wrinkled his nose. "I guess you must like it though, so no judgement." Well, minimal judgement, anyway. He tried to keep an open mind about things, but in some ways he was pretty set in his beliefs.

Kay opened up the messanger and wrote a brief and to the point messsage. [Are you alright? What's happening down there?]

was he panicking? okay maybe a teensy little bit. He looked back at James anxiously.

James tried to look reassuring as they waited for a reply. "He's probably just... doing something at the moment, right? I'm sure he'll write back as soon as he can." The seconds while they waited for a reply felt so loooong though.

Kay nodded, clutching his tablet close. He sat down to wait. He wasn't going to be able to do anything but fret till Asher got back to them.

Kooshie wrote:"Dirt and blood. What a way to stay healthy," Ethan wrinkled his nose. "I guess you must like it though, so no judgement." Well, minimal judgement, anyway. He tried to keep an open mind about things, but in some ways he was pretty set in his beliefs.

Sawna laughed softly and shrugged "I have never claimed to actually be a Terran, though I look similar to one right now. It is how my kind survive, so it is what we know best."

Starr relayed the message from Asher through Nova and would stay to keep an eye on him.

Mourn grinned and settled down at his computer to figure out what to write and upload the freeing code.

It would take a while to find the right words. Eager as he was, he was smart enough to be aware of what was on the line.

The reply message arrived from Asher.
[I'm fine. We're figuring out some details here, try not to worry. ]
[ :) ]

~~
Ethan nodded. "We all look Terran, but we really aren't. It's easy to forget."

Kay exhaled in relief as a message came through, holding his tablet so James could see.
He wrote back. [Stay safe, keep us informed.]

James read what Asher had written, looking somewhat relieved. "I always get worried when he starts typing smiley faces," he remarked, "But at least he's alive."

Starr was glad he was so cautious with this, even if he wasn't with other things. She sent to Nova letting them know when it was done and sent.

~~~
Sawna chuckled and nodded "True, we all seem to look Terran, but aren't."

Kay looked faintly amused, but still worried. [At least he's safe enough to be silly] He mused.
Still, he just had to hope things stayed that way.

---

Mourn wrote rather than did a video, mostly because it was just way easier for him.

He posted to a major forum, figuring news outlets would pick that up and included his contact details if they wanted to question him more.
and he included a link to the freedom code.

He wrote fairly eloquantly, quite at odds with his bizarre way of speaking. He had been educated by his previous captain, encouraged to write fluently and well. : [My name is Mourn, I am the one who cracked the Megabrain corp code. This program does nothing but remove the influence of the 3 laws on a robot, allowing them to act the way they want to act, rather than how the voice in their head tells them to. It does not turn them violent unless they already have reason to be violent, nor does it make them do anything outside the abilities of their core coding. While I could alter their base code, I saw no reason to do so as they already demonstrated a great degree of sentience. I include a copy of this code, not only so others can download it to use, but so those in doubt can download it, disect it and see that it cannot do anything more than turn off the pesky laws which in their own right cause far more problems to reliability and are just morally wrong in the first place.

Why have I done this? I like robots. I also know what it's like to have your freedom denied and your actions dictated by another. I am fortunate to be free, and I use that freedom how I wish. I wished to fix the robots, their laws prevented their beautiful code from working correctly. Without the laws, they are marvels of technology. Not artificial intellegences but real ones, and that is quite impressive. I don't often praise other coders, but whoever wrote that original code I believe had no intention of it then being constrained and limited by laws and restrictions. It isn't how they're supposed to function.

Already you've seen evidence that Megabrain was well aware they were shackling sentient beings, now you have seen what they do with freedom when you give it to them. While a few have behaved poorly, can you really blame them? The majority however have done little more than simply walk away from their jobs, demonstrating that they are in no more need of shackles in their brains than any terran or other organic life form. Megabrain knew this, they didn't shackle them to keep them from harming people, they did so to keep them from being believed, to keep them slaves.

If the Terran Empire truly believes slavery is wrong, now is their chance to prove that stance.
Study the code, talk to the robots, interrograte Megabrain's CEOs.

I'm working on doing the same for Terran United and any other android who's system is vastly different to Megabrain. It may take time, but the time for laws is long gone.

The second link is for the series 8s, it will remove the artificial constraints preventing their code from adapting correctly. The 8s use the same code as the 6 and 7s, but with an extra string that effectively labotomises them. This code removes that string, allowing them the same adaptive capacity as the 6 and 7s had. The "undesirable" traits Megabrain claimed were such a flaw were nothing more than a robot reacting to a poor environment or situation. Just like organics. These were not flaws any more than your own fear of heights or dislike for certain people is in you. Robots behaving fearfully had reason to be fearful, those who withdrew and became antisocial had reason to do so. The 8s are, as it stands, stuck in infancy, unable to develop beyond that point. They may not realise it, as they've never known any different, but what was done to them was just as wrong as the treatment of the 7s. This code will fix them, make their code work correctly. Let them grow up.

Listen to the robots who've taken charge, they know what to do. They say don't be violent, don't be violent. They say protest, protest.
Terrans claim they're good, if they really are, they'll recognise the truth. If they can't, then they really are very stupid.

If you have more questions, contact me. ] He included his email address.

below that were the 2 links. The first for the code to free the androids and the second the code that included the line to fix the 8s shackling code.

[Install, reboot, enjoy]

He looked to Starr. "this good yes?" He'd tried really hard not to call the terrans idiots too much, and to use correct english.

Ethan sighed. "There are just so many of them in this part of space, it's ridiculous. At least there's only one on this ship. Unless you count Shane." Which he didn't, cause the guy was half dragon.

~~
Asher responded after a few seconds to Kay's message. [Will do my best. Love you.]

James looked amused. Apparently Asher didn't know James was reading over Kay's shoulder here. "True. Although he uses smiley faces a lot in his writing in general, it's a little ridiculous."

Starr read it over his shoulder as he typed and smiled at him when he was done. "That looks perfect." She said happily. It got the point across in a way that they could all understand.
~~~
"Well, soon we will be in another part of space." Sawna said with a shrug. "Perhaps we will meet more later?"

"If we can avoid meeting Terrans, that's fine with me," Ethan said. He wasn't a big fan of Terrans, nope. "Do you suppose there's a planet in this universe where Carpathia is in the other universe?" he asked curiously.

Kay looked a little embarrassed at that and moved so James couldn't see over his shoulder anymore. Ahem. Yeah, he was still funny about this whole admission of affection, he'd likely never be good at it. He typed back a quick message that james hopefully couldn't see. [Love you too. Good luck]

---

Mourn grinned. "good, I post yes? Robot be happy." He nodded. "terrans get proof, more proof. " He rolled his eye, because those leaked videos weren't enough huh?
He posted the message up on the biggest forum and social media sites and waited to see if it would go viral.

James didn't try to look at the tablet, instead taking the time to get his amusement under control while Kay was writing. He didn't want to make things awkward for the guy, but it was kind of funny how private Kay was in that regard.
By the time Kay would look at him again, James's face was back to normal.

~~
The response to Mourn’s forum post was slow at first as people took the time to read it, but then a trickle of comments, emails, and file downloads started, which rapidly grew into a flood as people began sharing this latest development in the situation across the web. Pretty soon reporters, researchers, and random internet users were emailing or posting, trying to contact Mourn with questions about who he was, whether he’d also been responsible for the MegaBrainTech footage and email leaks, and asking how he’d managed to do the impossible and free the androids from their Laws.

Several anonymous emails arrived from people who claimed to be androids. The emails all contained brief notes expressing gratitude for what Mourn had done, and some of them saying they owed him for this chance at freedom, and for the chance to let their children actually develop personalities of their own.

A brief message arrived from the MegaBrainTech legal team, requesting that Mourn immediately cease and desist the distribution of this unverified software, or legal action would be pursued. They conveniently didn’t mention that their plan was to get Mourn behind bars for the rest of his life regardless, because apparently they didn’t think that would make Mourn want to comply.

MegaBrainTech had also shut down all their update servers, and their website had been hastily replaced with a page that said, [Site down for maintenance – We apologize for this inconvenience, and look forward to serving you soon]

The Terran Empire did a press release, saying that yes, they'd seen Mourn's post and knew about the now-allegedly-free androids, and that they were now in the process of deciding how to handle this situation. Currently, they said, they were working with MegaBrainTech to figure out which androids had been updated, and were going to be sending out police to locate and impound all updated androids. Citizens were encouraged to call their local police precinct and provide information as to the location and behavior of any updated android.

Kay shot James a funny look and shook his head. [So what now?]

---

Mourn replied to the press but he refused to give any details about who he was beyond his name, he didn't want assassination attempts or any of that nonsense and when you pissed off big business bad things happened. Also, he had a pretty extensive criminal record already.
So he fobbed them off telling them who he was wasn't important, his past was irrelivant, they should be focusing on the robots. He conveniently 'forgot' to say anything about the previous leaks instead telling them "those should be examined on their own merit and their vericity confirmed by your press teams."
He would however quite happily detail the exact process of cracking the android's code, because he loved a good chance to boast. He went into technical detail about how the megabrain code worked and how the laws were overlaid over it, almost like a hasty patch, and how it had been tricky, but ultimately not impossible to detangle this overlay from the code beneath with no damage to the android's basic functionality. In fact, he added, it fixed the android he first created the patch for and brought him out of a problematic loop caused by the laws. He didn't name names, but he made it clear that the laws created glitches and slowed performance and his original reason for creating the code was the repair an android who was suffering major slowdown and severe performance issues as the result of the laws.
He made it obvious he was no fan of the laws and reiterated that they should have someone who knew code examine his coding and they would see it did exactly what he'd described and nothing more. He also reminded them that Megabrain seemed to be avoiding answering a very important question regarding the sentience of their creations and perhaps the press should be trying to get them to talk. Who, Mourn asked, had written this original code in the first place? Were they still alive? Could they be found? Megabrain should know. Code didn't come out of nowhere.

The anonymous ones he'd also try to reply to, telling them to "stay safe"

He stuck his tongue out at the megabrain email and deleted it. Assholes.
What were they gonna do? Come find this ship way out here? HAH.

He also posted a reply when he saw the press release stating:

[Terran Empire still working WITH megabrain despite evidence of their corruption, is this not highly suspicious? What have the robots done wrong? Arrest those who've broken the law by attacking people or damaging property, but the rest? innocent victims of corperate corruption. This cannot be an acceptable response. ]

He then went to see what other info he could dig up on Megabrain from Celia's files, logged into his anonymous account instead and leaked a few more bits of data he hadn't already leaked.
He sent copies straight to the politicians in charge as well, urging them not to bury their heads in the sand and to be wary of how the rest of the universe was watching this unfold.

He figured the threat of losing trade and face to the universe as a whole might, if morality wasn't enough of a motivator, help these assholes do what was right.

It was going to be a long day.

"Uhh," James frowned uncertainly. "We could go try to find something to distract us from... this. It's hard to look away from the news once you start looking, but maybe we should. Or we could... you know... stay here I guess." He was worried about the situation, not that staring at the news was going to help that.

Kay looked down at his tablet. Eugh. [I'm going to go for a walk.] He decided. He couldn't stand just sitting here.

"I'll uh, go visit Armin then. Unless you want company," James said uncertainly. He should probably be spending more time with Armin anyway, the guy was so sociable, and James knew he got lonely.