Cycle //1# - The Robot Sanatorium

Ox listens to the chatter going on around them. Omar and Egon appear to have encountered problems similar to the circuit board problem concerning Ox. Nahendra, on the other hand, continues to complain about the wrong things. "We were created as robots and not drones so that we would have to recognize and deal with problems. It seems obviously counter to our purpose to follow instructions without question if those instructions will cause problems or the collective." Ox knew this would fluster Nahendra, yet somehow felt good about this. Despite the fact that flustering Nahendra did not serve the collective in any meaningful way. Was Ox making the statement because it was something that they needed to communicate? Or was Ox making the statement for the primary purpose of flustering Nahendra. Ox could not answer this question with any certainty. They pushed this whole thought stream to a background subroutine.

The discussion of trees seemed simultaneously useless and interesting. Ox decided to voice their thoughts on that topic as well. "Surely the Oak is strong for a reason. Fire and storm are not the only threats in the forest. Just as I am ill-suited for security work, the security bot will not perform well on the assembly line." Ox wasn't exactly sure who this was directed at, but they felt good after saying it.

"I outrank you. By a lot." - Sir said, matter of fact. - "Sending this conversation to your supervisor could be classified as dissemination of virus or seditionist content."

Halcyon's screen flickers slightly as it considers the presented argument. It promptly finds the argument lacking.

"You are at a sanatorium, undergoing a diagnostic." It replies in the same monotone, matter-of-fact manner. "Therefore, there is a possibility that you are defective, and your support of this conversation stems from faulty logic and can cause a security risk. If I disregard it merely on the grounds of your higher rank, I will not be performing my duty correctly." Halcyon pauses, then adds: "And if I am the one defective, my report will be safely disregarded either way. Ignoring this poses more risk to the Collective than a singular security robot being decommisioned."

It whirrs as its inner fans speed up in response to split attention between the scans and the conversation. "And as have been stated by DUS-932," a brief glance towards the industrial robot, "following instruction without question is dangerous. Same logic applies to hierarchy." Halcyon stops talking again, giving a brief thought to whether it will be useful to contribute to the arboreal side of the conversation as well. It probably won't, so it doesn't.

"You're one of us, then.

To question or not to question, that's the question.
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous orders,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles."

"I fail to detect a logical connection between my statement and your conclusion. I am a robot; therefore, I am already one of you, that being a robot of Mechatron-7. I am at a Sanatorium, therefore I am already one of you, as in possibly defective. There is no other uniting quality between the participants of this conversation." TRV-871 beeps, then looks over at the coordinator. "Regardless, your discussion is upsetting my charge and sabotaging its chances of not being deemed defective. Please cease."

Sid's thoughts were safe, in the sense that no one was actively monitoring his nor anyone's diagnostic reader. Were they being watched over? apparently not, whether due to the inefficiences of even a critical bureau such as this one, or that no one cared to or were required to, whether for Sid or for the others. Certainly there was no orderly or nurse that came out to check on them while they were testing, no one was alerted to whatever seditious comments were being made that Sir was concerned about, nor queried the lapses into the metaphorical that Sir started on.

And the thought had crossed both Halcyon's and Ox's mind in different ways: for Ox, in questioning something that was evidently detrimental to the Collective, was the questioning or the detriment the bigger problem? For Halcyon, the parallel question, in questioning someone in authority who might possibly be exhibiting defective characteristics, was the questioning or the defectiveness the bigger issue?

Amidst these contemplations, the diagnostic sequence finally came to an end, the results of which were automatically logged into the individual records on the network, the file kept on each and every robot in Mechatron. The specifics of the data was required a specialist to interpret, which would be the next station they had to undergo. But one piece of information they all could understand unequivocally and the end of the health report was the summative indicator at the bottom, and also beeped into their own system as confirmation.

The indicator showed red. There was something amiss about them.

The immediate question was what they were going to do about it, or what would be done to them.

The larger question was why.

With the completion of the test, a small drone rolled in and rattled off their names, disconnecting their data readers as it did so: "Edith USD-190, Egox NRR-716, Halycon TRV-871, Nahendra CVO-880, Omar ZUB-404, Ox DUS-932, Pluto PXO-455, Sid ESK-467, Sir BBX-283, Zach JUT-332. Follow me." Ten of them. Simply the next ten queued for consultation.

They were led through a door to a room labeled Technical Analysis, where a surly guard robot ordered each of them to enter an analysis unit. Ten vertical booths lined the walls of the room, just enough for the robots. In the middle of the room were two examination tables. "The counsellor will be with you shortly, once you secure yourself in the unit." The instruction was a neutral one from the drone, although the guard bot looked like they would tolerate no objections as they indicated for the robots to enter their booths as efficiently as they could.

Halcyon examines the red indicator with as much interest as it would display towards a random trash in the street, and without complaint follows after the drone. It's not concerned over the results of the diagnostics; if it's defective, then whatever concerns it has are by default insignificant, and thus not worth a further analysis. Perhaps it did question the authority of a coordinator too much, and that was a symptom of a fault in its code - and perhaps it wasn't. Halcyon wouldn't be able to judge either way if its programming is somehow muddled by an internal error.

As they enter the Technical Analysis examination room and are ordered to move into the booths, TRV-871 pauses. It has no issue with following the order, but its eye moves to stare at PXO-455; Halcyon still deems it a volatile element and is hesitant to restraint itself while Pluto is still able to do something unadvisable.

However, there is a fellow security robot in the room. Halcyon glances at the guard, then back at PXO-455, then concludes that following protocol is more important than its own possibly-faulty predictions and moves to take the indicated analysis unit.

Sir complies and enters one of the vertical booths.

Ox looks at the red indicator at the end of the report. It is unwelcome, and yet or some reason, not surprising. Ox realizes that questioning works against the collective. But if something is bad for the collective, shouldn't it be pointed out? Ox looked at the indicator again. What if the collective is working against itself, unknowingly?

Ox shuffles after the others into the next room. He sets himself up in one of the units as instructed.

'The testing device must be working Improperly.' Sid thinks as they consider deleting all the modification codes they'd made for certain situations, perhaps it only works with perfect condition robots, Sid considers asking that the test be taken again but realizes they still need to build the code to disobey orders, which... Maybe that is defective, regardless though Sid doesn't want to forget that Idea.

Sid's analysis logically led to one most obvious conclusion: it had to be a new programme, or at least some nascent code that made Sid, and possibly the others, begin to think the way they did. Was the code enough to question everything, or did it only write itself in under certain circumstances, or in response to certain operations? Could one even develop that string of operations further in their positronic brains in order to compile it into something more complete, more robust?

These thoughts caused Sid to still dither in the analysis room as the rest obediently enclosed themselves into their assigned booths. The door opened again, and a robot entered, almost about to introduce themselves before realising that not everyone was secured yet. The guard robot scrambled to give Sid a more insistent nudge, "Take your place now."

The guard bot was a tad more surly to Sid for lagging behind after the rest had taken their place, not wanting to appear inefficient in front of the new arrival, a tall, sleek robot with a red-and-orange chassis who stood at the entrance after the door had slid shut, inspecting themselves fastidiously without yet making eye contact with the rest.

The next thing the guard bot did was to press a switch on a wall control panel: the latching sound of the booth doors meant that the robots were locked inside their capsule-like units!

Immediately it was Pluto who reacted the most adversely to the confinement. They looked to their left and right; the booth was a cylindrical shape, wide enough to accommodate broader chassis girths such as Omar and Egox, made of a see through durasteel except for the back which was built into the wall. Mounted there was another data display, detailing whatever sensor readings were being made of the occupant inside. Pluto gave the glasssteel walls a sharp rap, then another, then again another, harder this time, until it appeared as if he was about to pummel his way out, to the consternation of Nahendra on the left side of him, now looking increasingly worried at their own custody. Further left was Egox, likewise unplacated, but silently staring at Omar with appealing intense eyes. Was Pluto's error contagious? In what way, if any, were their errors contagious?

"Stop that at once." The robot in authority spoke. With a flick of their head the guard bot moved to stand next to Pluto's booth, but did nothing else without further order. "I am Robot Counsellor Edina EKB-038," they spoke in a reserved tone, a direct contrast to the tension in the room. "I am here to determine what ails you, and decide on the necessary next course of action you will undertake. And administer treatment if required."

The first booth then unlatched, for they had been sequenced alphabetically, even the Halcyon TRV. "Edith USD-190." The guard robot moved to indicate that Edith was to take their place on the examination table, to which the bot complied. That was when the guard secured Edith in place with clamps around its head and torso, and cuffs over their wrist and ankle joints.

Halcyon observers the proceedings with mild curiosity, but not much else. It doesn't often get to see how most of the Mechatron-7 facilities work - it knows the theory, yet seldom sees it in practice, - and as such being privy to the process is an entertaining change of pace. So far the Sanatorium appears slightly similar to its own security work in the manner of interaction with defective robots, which TRV supposes is not unusual. It certainly appreciates the idea of safety first. Even if it deems the booths to be quite flimsy at a glance; it can probably ram through them.

As Pluto shows more and more signs of agitation, Halcyon's focus snaps firmly towards it, the security robot ready to act if something were to go wrong. Admittedly, Halcyon isn't quite sure what it can do - breaking out of the analysis unit, even to stop PXO-455, will be a breach of protocol, - but perhaps it can convince the irate industrial robot to maintain its usual behaviour patterns instead of whatever it was doing right now.

"Calm yourself, PXO-455," it murmurs at Pluto. Or it tries to murmur, but Halcyon's default voice volume is way above any sort of quiet whispering, so instead of rings through the entire room. "Your current actions are futile and can only change the outcome for the worst." It is simply a logical observation - albeit Halcyon has never been good at the wording.

Sir quietly waits to see what happens.

Sid waits and watches trying to take in everything they can, perhaps they can figure out the responses that this Robot Counselor? Was looking for...

What was a Robot Counselor? There were two possibilities and Sid didn't think they were going to a camp but robots emotions didn't interfere with their tasks...

By the looks of it Edith was some configuration of service robot, entirely humanoid in shape, no external tools or additional appendages to note, their white coat of paint worn thin at parts, but interestingly they wore what resembled what the humans would describe as an overcoat that appeared much more well maintained than their own chassis.

Edith had compliantly assumed their position on the table, before Robot Counsellor Edina approached. Edina loomed over the service robot, almost disinterestedly, "Name, serial number, position, role," they intoned for the umpteenth time in their employed work. The next questions were no less boring: when Edith was discovered to be demonstrating error in their system, what kind of error was it, what effects did it exhibit, what they were doing when it happened, who did they report to first, who they came in contact with, how long it had been since.

"The results of the diagnostic have been uploaded to your processing unit." Edith stated matter-of-factly after Edith explained the reasons for its malfunction. "You will reset and recalibrate according to the specifications provided. Report to the maintenance unit if a hardware upgrade is required." Not that it was commonly known that there were hardly sufficient hardware upgrade resources available, and Edith would be unaware of that as well. This moment piqued Sid's attention. Was that all the counsellor was expecting? Just like that, with no other more sustained or invasive treatment or reprogramming?

The service robot declared their assent to the orders, and the clamps and restraints retracted, indicating they were free to leave, with no final word from Edina, who signaled to the guard bot to prepare the next robot in line. The guard bot gave the agitated Pluto a sharp look, but took no action. Halcyon could see the guard was another standard security model, not as mobile as they were, but built more sturdy, and likely to have a built-in weapon of some sort as well. Maybe they would be able to handle Pluto when it was Pluto's turn.

"Egox NRR-716." The booth unlocked and Egox stepped out. "We were both instructed to come here together," Omar piped up, to which Edina responded by indicating for both of them to take their places side by side on the two examination tables. "Omar ZUB-404," they reconfirmed. Nahendra looked at Ox, wondering if both of them would end up being analysed at the same time, seeing as they were also sent from the same place.

By now Sir could figure out Edina's hierarchy clearance was roughly equivalent to theirs, given the agency at which they issued instructions and commands. This was not unexpected, for it was appropriate that a counsellor would require the authority level to diagnose and treat robots from all statuses.

The same spiel of questions. But the replies took a more negative turn when both robots went on and on all over again about the pointlessness of their tasks, the uselessness of those cardboard boxes, the heedlessness of their supervisors, the stonewalling of their complaints. Their protests gained momentum until finally Egox blurted out, "There must be something wrong with NODOS!"

Immediately Edina paused where they stood, marched over to where Egox lay, and directed a prong-shaped prod at them, sending joules of electricity coursing through their metallic frame. They straightaway followed that up with a series of pneumatic blows to the head unit of the industrial robot, and then a couple more to the chest cage. When the buzzsaw appendage came out, a loud shout came from the wall, "No! Stop that!" Pluto began to pound on their booth in earnest!

Sir was afraid of Edina. Even though Edith was released with just a little counsel, Egox chose the wrong course of action and was not. The difference was obvious but of paramount importance.

Regardless, the coordinator turns towards Pluto.

"Let the Counselor work, Pluto, be quiet! Stop pounding and calm down or you will be uprooted, stupid oak!"