Cheater

Audio Logs - Dr. Victor Pluton

Log date: 31/12/2052

They're back… my daughters are back.

We are celebrating the New Year again. It is delightful… I have missed them very much. We are laughing, retelling old stories, and above all else, making new memories. Every time they return to me, it reminds me of the old times…the good times. I hope that this may last forever. 

Persephone, my sweetest, is as loving as ever. She brings with her such an aura of peace and wellbeing that it… well, it makes me proud of my own hard work! She tells stories about her fiancé, Herman…never liked that young man too much. Persephone always did tell me that I could be too scientific, and rightfully so… I always felt like that young man's neurons could benefit from a slight increase in firing speed. I suppose my work can cause me to be a bit hyper-critical of the brain's traditional, organic wiring. Regardless, as long as my little sunflower is content, then I shall be as well. 

Sisy, on the other hand, proves to carry with her the same difficulties that she had the last time that we were together. She engages in banter, and her sense of humor most often bests Persephone's, it's true… yet, she tends to enter these spells, so to speak… she snaps in and out of the moment. She is very defiant, always has been, but I fear that she is beginning to lose a grip on her reality. Too self-aware for her own good, that one… nothing that can't be fixed in good time. I have perfected Persephone, and soon I will crack Sisy's code. For the time being, however, I will merely enjoy my daughters’ presence… it has been far, far too long. 

Additionally, Sisy can't seem to help cheating in Monopoly… I must have a serious chat with her about integrity. 

Log date: 3/2/2053

The girls are adapting beautifully to their new environments… I really have outdone myself this time. 

Persephone is exceeding all expectations. When prompted with inquiries about her daily life, her response time is immediate and cheery. Answers about her wedding, online art classes, or cats seem to spark particularly positive responses… I suppose they were all core memories of hers. She rests in the upstairs bedroom, completing her simulated classwork competently. The online adjustment is a stark contrast to how she used to do her classwork, yet she has adapted beautifully. 

Sisy continues to resist the new environment. Her behavioral patterns have worsened in the last month… She actively defies her new surroundings, letting me hear about it for every waking second of my day. Even in the solitude of my laboratory, she manages to find a reason to complain. Her resistance towards satisfaction confuses me… haven't I given her enough? Shouldn't the gift I have given her suffice, disregarding the luxuries that I attempt to satisfy her with? One would think, even after all of this time, I would have perfected Sisy's temperament, yet still, she fails to pass any of the trials hitherto. I have my doubts about any change in results henceforth. However, I will pursue the search for the root of her anomalies… I have gone too far to quit now. As her father, I owe it to her. 

I owe it to both of them.

Log date: 11/2/2053

Small infraction with Persephone today… most likely insignificant… yet worth noting.

Found her in the living area with a photo in her hand… shown on it were her and Herman. She started inquiring about the time of his return and where he had been… I had to quickly diffuse the situation. I have not had enough time to prepare for such a conversation… I felt that it would be best for Persephone to spend some time with me in my study… hopefully, through my work, she will realize how insignificant her worries truly are. 

Log date: 17/4/2053

It has been some time since my last report. Much of my time in the last few months have been dedicated to my work… many nights void of rest, many weeks without the warm embrace of sunlight. Despite such hardships, however, I have had many breakthroughs…breakthroughs worth twice the privation that I have endured. My obsession drives me onwards…but my time spent outside my laboratory gives me the most joy. 

I relieved Persephone of her time in my study a month ago. She has since experienced no blips… she is grounded back in reality once again. My time spent with her was not well received by Sisy… she berated me for weeks, asking where her sister was. I decided to leave her in her current state… however, I would be a liar to claim I did not consider the alternative. She is so blindly unaware of the life that I have returned to her after all of these years.

Nonetheless…

I cannot help but wonder what role I may play in her eternal defiance. 

Log date: 10/8/2053

Sisy is officially fully malfunctioning. Even after I attempted to modify them to appeal to her specific quirks, she is entirely defiant to her surroundings. I instructed Persephone to spend more time in Sisy’s living courters. However, I fear that it has caused her to become suspicious of her sister. I was forced to make Persephone completely compliant, and I did not anticipate how poorly Sisy would take it. The situation worsened two nights ago when Sisy entered Persephone's room against protocol and managed to catch a glimpse of her sister during her rest cycle. I fear that she is beginning to think that I have malintent towards the two of them… against all of the barriers I have implanted, she is begging to learn… to remember… the old times. I have tried to prompt some of the protocols that I had specifically embedded in her through audio prompt… yet she has broken through all firewalls so far. It appears that it is impossible, no matter through how many attempts, to preserve Sisy's original personality inside a controlled learning environment. As much as it will pain me to do so, I will be forced to recircuit tomorrow to avoid future malfunctions.

I hope that one day, in some form or another, she will grow to forgive me.

For everything.

Log date: 12/8/2053

This audio file will be the last for the foreseeable future. Any and all recordings will be wiped… all except this one. My deterioration is too painful to listen to… my humanity, lost, somewhere in these tapes. Let it act not as my confession but rather my explanation. 

The procedure was progressing perfectly. Lure and Capture Protocol was successful… I had little doubt in my mind that when prompted by her sister, she would refuse an opportunity to explore my conveniently abandoned and unlocked office. Once consciousness modules were shut off, I carried out my usual process without any impediments. I made it as far as removing several layers of cognitive functioning software, exposing the primary neural interface for directing appropriate emotional responses… the area which required the most… adjusting.

It was at this point that a scientific anomaly occurred. 

Sisy regained consciousness during the procedure… understanding how or why may take the remainder of my career. I had already removed the interface, which was meant to keep her strength at a level normal for her age… my automatons are often much more powerful than I program them to believe… causing the situation to become quite dangerous for me. She gripped my arm, removing my shoulder from my socket, which I relocated at a later time. I tried, with all of my might, to convince her to calm herself… but I was much too far into the procedure to successfully reason with her.

In short, I was forced to terminate the procedure and Trial 134- C on the 12th of August, 2053… seven months and a week after Mark CL- A and CL- B first activated. 

It never gets any easier to abort… yet the failure of this trial has caused a rift in my soul larger than I knew possible. It was the longest I have had them back since I lost them.

As I stand amidst my creations, I begin to understand their horrific nature. In a way, I am recreating their suffering, as well as my grief.

In my mission to give life, I have become the harbinger of death.

End of Logs.

***

"Sisy, if you think I didn’t notice you stash those bills under your leg twenty minutes ago, I will be genuinely insulted."

Sisy sheepishly removed the fake cash from under her leg and returned it to the plastic "bank." Persephone watched this with a face of mock disgust; she had never cheated at anything in her life. This was in contrast to her little sister, who seemed to cut corners almost as fast as they were presented to her. However, Victor liked to think that it caused her to be quite sharp at catching others in the act, a valuable skill in the modern age. Trust was something that came scarcely in an age ruled by technology. This mentality fueled his work; machines can be taught to lie, but a machine that can learn can be taught a moral compass, and theoretically, integrity. Add this to embedded instructional programming, and you have robots that can't be controlled… merely prompted to achieve goals for the greater good.

"Dad, it's your turn to roll."

Victor snapped back into reality. Sisy rolled her eyes; her dad tended to get lost in his own mind. To be fair, it was a pretty powerful mind.

As Victor took the die and rolled them, a thundering knock came at the front door.

Victor furrowed his brow. It was strange to receive visitors this late, or at all for that matter. He told the girls to hold on and made his way to the front door.

“Ouch, dad,” Victor heard Sisy tease as he left the room. “Snake eyes.”

Victor yanked open the heavy wooden door and was left facing a man in a black jacket.

He was quite an ugly man, with multiple divots and scars covering his face and a protruding lower jaw, causing him to slightly resemble a bulldog.

 The man stuck out a meaty hand in Victor’s direction. "Good evening Dr. Pluton. Pleased to make your acquaintance. I would like to extend a warm greeting on behalf of my employers."

Victor disregarded the man's attempted handshake.

"Who might your employers be?"

The man's false smile weakened as he sensed Victor’s annoyance.

"Individuals who are very interested in your area of expertise."

The man stuck out his other hand, which was holding a thin, black leather book. Victor took it, flipping through it absentmindedly. However, his attention quickly peaked as he made his way farther into the book. The man watched Victor intently as he inspected the pages, searching for any slight facial expression. Suddenly, Victor slammed the book shut and looked up to meet the man's gaze.

"These are weapons," Victor stated, bluntly.

The man rolled his eyes and flashed Victor a cheesy smile. "My employers prefer the term 'soldiers.' It's received better by the public."

Victor remained stony-faced. "You intend to implement my work into your… death machines?"

The man leaned in, putting a hand on Victor's shoulder, allowing him to smell the man's cheap cologne and terrible breath.

"Imagine what we could achieve between the two of us, Doctor. We provide the resources, and you provide the genius." The man whimsically waved his hand through the air as he spoke, like a magician would to a child. "We are on the cusp of unlocking the future here, Victor, and you are the key to it all."

The man stepped back and reached out once more. "What do you say, Doc?”

Victor took a good look at the book and then back up at the man. In one forceful motion, he drove the book into the man’s chest and shoved him back, causing him to lose his balance and fall down on the concrete front porch.

"I say that if you, or any of the rest of your clown posse, ever approach me with such a barbaric request again, I will not hesitate to run you down in the street with my car." Victor spat as he spoke. "You are a disgrace to the integrity of modern science and an intruder on my property. Go back to your employers and tell them that they won't ever be hearing from Dr. Victor Pluton for the rest of their sorry lives."

The man stood, his eyes burning with malice, the friendly exterior melting to reveal an even uglier layer to him.

"I assure you, Doctor," the man drawled menacingly, "that they will not have to worry about hearing from you anytime soon."

With that, he turned and walked back into the night, leaving Victor breathing heavily on his front porch. For a moment, he began to worry about who, or what, he had just threatened. However, he was quickly interrupted by the girls peeking around the corner of the living room.

Sisy took her father's hand. "Dad, is everything okay? We heard yelling."

Victor turned, leaving the excitement of the altercation on the front porch behind him. "Everything is alright," he said as he took a knee to look Sisy in the eyes. "Sometimes, annoying people come to the door trying to sell you things, and sometimes you have to tell them to go away."

Sisy gave her father a toothy grin. "Well, they're lucky I didn't come to the door because I'm amazing at being rude!"

Persephone laughed. "Yeah, your teacher tells us all the time."

Victor chuckled, the stress of the night briefly leaving him. "What do you girls say we get some late-night ice cream. I could use a bit of fresh air."

Sisy didn't have to be told twice, as she ran manically around the house throwing on her jacket and shoes. As Persephone went to go calm her sister, Victor noticed a sheet of paper on the floor. He bent down to pick it up, and as he did so, he paused, recognizing the image; it was a page from the leather book. He retrieved it from the floor, studying it in greater detail. The design was simple, for his standards: it was an automaton with human-like features, equipped with advanced weaponry and a protective metal outer layer. It was by no means as advanced as any of his own automatons, which resembled humans much more than any of the police or military androids that were already in effect.

Persephone and Sisy entered the room, fully dressed in their winter wear.  

"Can we go now, dad?" Sisy nagged her father." You're taking forever."

Victor kept his eyes on the paper, distracted. "Sure, girls, just give me one moment. Go wait in the car, and I'll be right out."

The girls rushed outside, leaving Victor with his thoughts. Whoever designed the blueprints had accounted for the implication of artificial intelligence, but the proportions were all off. He himself was not the only expert in the world, but it seemed that this entity did not have any expertise of their own. They lacked the ability to invent, not manufacture.

Victor could not recall any legitimate company that had attempted to combine military robotics with artificial intelligence. He began to become increasingly worried about his choice of words with the man at the door. What were the implications of threatening illegal weapons manufacturers? At what lengths would they go to keep their identity a secret?

Victor was barely able to begin to process his thoughts before an ear-splitting eruption of noise emitted from the front driveway, throwing Victor back violently. His house's front side was blown off, causing his ceiling to begin to cave in on top of him. Ears ringing and bloodied, Victor clutched his broken ribs and made a beeline for the front entrance as parts of his house rained down on him. He threw himself out of the flaming hole in the front of his house and landed heavily on his back on the front lawn, causing him to yelp in pain. He lay there, writhing in agony until a horrible chill ran down his spine, freezing him as still as a corpse.

The girls.

Victor dragged himself to his feet, ignoring his broken body. He screamed for what seemed like hours until his throat grew dry, and his voice became hoarse. As his vision began to blur, he lay down in the driveway and stared up into the infinite cosmos as sirens wailed in the distance. The infinite, uncontrollable void became his reality, seemingly staring back at him with equal interest. It began to envelop him into itself, accepting him into eternity. Victor refused. He stared back at it, defiant, repeating words in his head over and over until he finally passed out.

We do not belong to the universe. Not yet. 

I will bring you back.

I promise.