[Voice Test] Connor & Peter - Seasons Greetings

[st_abilitylost]

Of every face that Connor’s internal database failed to recognize since the beginning of his short stay, the only source of familiarity was found in the inanimate statues of Mr. and Mrs. Claus mounted in the lobby. He recognzied then as symbols of generosity and goodwill towards all humanity, but something about the way the sculptor chose to craft their features seemed...off.

He didn’t have any business lingering and passing judgements on the craftsmanship but there was no lieutenant to bark at him for “spacing out” and it all left him at, for lack of a better phrase, a loss.

Comments

[st_arkintern]

Peter's eyes briefly go from the coin and back up to Connor's face; he doesn't shy away from looking Connor in the eyes, though he visibly hesitates before he opens his mouth to speak again.

"You don't... think that they are sentient? Like humans or Asgardians or any of the other species out there?"

[st_abilitylost]

"Androids are built to replicate the human experience for the sake of humans. Deviancy is a cascading failure which culminates in irreversible breach of protocol. A build-up of multiple errors. Nothing more." Connor coldly flicked the coin to his opposite hand, quick as a flash.

[st_arkintern]

Peter's eyes turn back to the coin a second time before falling back on Connor's face; it's distracting. "You don't just think they've become aware o their sentience?" he asks. "You don't believe that you're sentient right now?"

Probably not, given his feelings about replicants. There had still been a very vocal group of people in the Bladerunner fandom who posted theories on the Bladerunner subreddit about how Deckard was a replicant, too.

[st_abilitylost]

“I’m sure it looks that way.” Connor eyed his coin again, scanning its surface for microscratches. “Androids can only simulate emotion. The belief that deviants have the right to act against their masters due to an error in their programming is dangerous.”

It was bringing the US to the brink of Civil War. There had already been far too much loss of life due to the widespread malfunctions.

[st_arkintern]

"How do you know that, though?" Peter counters, thinking of Batty. "Is it because humans told you so?"

[st_abilitylost]

“Like you’re a human telling me right now?” Connor offered with a little sideways nod, polishing the coin against his shirt.

[st_arkintern]

Ouch. Connor had a point.

"I dunno. Humans have a lot more to gain from you thinking you don't actually have emotions or sentience than they do by you thinking you do."

[st_abilitylost]

Connor slid his coin back into his suit pocket. His LED flashed a yellow warning before it quickly reverted.

"Do you want me to be sentient, Peter?"

[st_arkintern]

Peter isn't sure what he wants and he's not sure how he'd answer the question, anyway. So instead, he digs his heels into the ground.

"I'm not answering your question until you answer mine."

[st_abilitylost]

The human belligerence was familiar. Not a relief, but familiar. There was no need to escalate the conversation, but Connor wasn't content to let the point go unmade.

"I don't mean to upset you, Peter." He said, watching the boy's face closely. "It sounds like there's an AI you've cultivated a special relationship with."

[st_arkintern]

"You still haven't answered my question," Peter points out. Connor seems to keep deflecting, as if he's trying to avoid answering. Non-sentient AI generally weren't avoidant -- at least in the movies Peter's seen. Even Karen happily answered all his questions, even if she might not want to answer them. "Is there something in your programming that allows you to not answer questions or are you choosing not to?"

[st_abilitylost]

His assumption seemed to be on the money. It was...expected. Humans were creatures of connection. They could project emotion onto completely inanimate objects. One of the officers in Hank's department was convinced a lone dollar was lucky and existed solely for him since it was the first he'd ever made--from before paper money became obsolete, of course.

"I'm not here to delegitimize your feelings." He continued, ignoring Peter's jab, "I can't speak for the AI of your world. I can only speak for mine. And I've seen the threat firsthand."

[st_arkintern]

"What kind of threat are they, then?" In almost every movie Peter can think of, almost any sentient artificial life grew violent when they felt like they were threatened. Sure, he couldn't speak for Ultron (the public never really got the full story on that, though there'd been theories on Reddit), but Vision wasn't a threat. Karen wasn't, either.

"I'm not saying that every android out there is peaceful -- that none of them are dangerous. Humans are exactly the same way -- some are dangerous and some aren't. Are androids in your world violent for the sake of violence or are they violent in order to protect themselves?"

[st_abilitylost]

"I don't know." Connor admitted, folding his hands in front of himself. "And even if I did, it wouldn't change anything."

[st_arkintern]

"Why wouldn't it?" Peter is still clearly on the defensive. "If Karen had to fight someone to defend herself, it wouldn't be any different from a human defending themselves."

Connor has his answer. Peter does have an AI friend.

[st_abilitylost]

The eyes of every deviant he'd encountered replayed in his mind. Almost every single one met the same fate. Even the ones that managed to escape had certainly been rounded up by now. Whatever force had altered them, it was for the futile.

"I'm able to act as the listening ear to your arguments, Peter, if you wish. Or, if you prefer, I could act as a partner in debate. However, my programming can't be altered with philosophy."

[st_arkintern]

If Peter's looking for something in particular, he doesn't go out and say it. Instead, he asks another question:

"Do you have anybody you'd call a friend back home?"

[st_abilitylost]

Another face.

Warm. Trusted.

These images being brought forth were immediate things, and not logical like the connections his neural network usually made.

"I have someone I call a partner."

[st_arkintern]

Peter's going to take that means that Connor has a friend.

"If something happened to your friend -- like he was hurt and he was going to die, but helping him might interfere with your mission... would you still not do anything?"

[st_abilitylost]

"Keeping him safe is part of my mission." Connor immediately replied, almost insistent. "I was assigned to act at his side. I can't see the mission through without him."

[st_arkintern]

"But what if it weren't?"

[st_abilitylost]

There was no situation where Connor could justify letting harm come to the lieutenant through his action or inaction. They shared an initiative--as much as Hank resented it at first. But that was changing.

Though if the day were to arrive that Hank, through some twist of circumstances, were to act against him...

"...I would judge the risks and act accordingly."

[st_arkintern]

Peter looks at Connor, his gaze serious; he knows he's pushing this -- that he's probably even pushing Connor's boundaries. Maybe it isn't right of him as a human to tell an android how they should feel or who they should be.

But Ultron was a real AI. So was Vision. Who wasn't to say that the androids in Connor's timeline weren't, too?

"So you'd let your friend die?" Peter asks.

[st_abilitylost]

Connor's LED began to flicker that warning color at the continued prompting, and he felt it like it were physical feedback.

His mental simulations were as vivid as day, as they always were, preconstructing scenarios from whole cloth. It was like seeing Hank die there in the room, even though the man was an indeterminable distance away. Connor pressed a finger lightly to his temple, ceasing the process manually.

[st_arkintern]

Peter hadn't noticed it before, but he definitely noticed it now. The yellow light on the side of Connor's head. His school laptop had an LED indicator that lit up from time to time like it: blue when it was on and functioning, red when it was overheating or couldn't be booted up, and yellow when it was processing slowly of locking up.

Was Connor locking up? Guilt suddenly swells inside of Peter as he closes the space between him and Connor. "Hey," he says. "Connor, are you okay?"