Once on patrol, Matthew meets a girl who has ended up in a vulnerable position and decides to help her. But this semibot has only recently gained the ability to interact normally with humans after overcoming the code for their unconditional annihilation. And so, an opportunity arose to get to know the creature called 'human' better. But Matthew doesn't even suspect how complex and strange these beings — humans — actually are!
The irresistible code for human annihilation had finally been permanently deactivated. Matthew no longer needed to carefully plan his patrol routes every time just to avoid human camps and settlements and prevent completely unnecessary attacks, conflicts, and killings. Now he could finally get to know humans better…
He didn’t even expect that suppressing the code would bring such a sweet feeling of freedom — over the years, he had simply gotten used to living with that cursed program.
It was patrol time. Matthew carefully scanned the city ruins down to the smallest detail — suspicious claw marks, which most likely belonged to a large monster, had led him here. Even if the tracks were old, it wouldn't hurt to check one more time.
Somewhere very close, a soft, wordless singing was heard. Then, a sneeze. Matthew listened intently.
"Human. Female. Small," Matthew concluded.
Indeed, a few seconds later, a nine-year-old girl appeared from around the corner, wearing a slightly dirty light jacket with disheveled blonde shoulder-length hair. Seeing Matthew, she shrieked and began to back away. Not surprising — a combat black semibot with spikes on his elbows, long sharp claws, a laser weapon on his belt, and a red skull on his chest looks intimidating, even if the bot is only as tall as a child. Matthew had to lower himself onto one knee to show he wasn't hostile.
"Don’t be afraid. I am not going to attack you."
"Oh... oh... you’re not a killer...?" the girl asked, continuing to back away slowly.
"No." Matthew looked around and realized she was alone. Even though he hadn't interacted with humans except in combat, he knew that adults always protected their children and kept them in the safest places. "Are you alone? Where is your cover?"
"Alone... Cover?" the girl replied, looking down guiltily.
"Escort. Stronger specimens. Those who almost always accompany humans at your early stage of development."
"Yes," Matthew replied with a slight delay, recalling the use of the term "parents" in human society.
"Well, I... I ran away..." She looked away, feeling as if she were reporting to a soldier. "My parents yelled at me..."
"An extremely dangerous way to avoid problems. There might be a monster roaming around here."
"I was very upset then and didn't think... I just ran wherever my eyes led me... I haven't seen monsters in a long time anyway, or I would’ve been too scared to run!"
"I advise you to learn to control your emotions. Also, there are questions for your creators... I mean, parents, as the other party of the conflict. But first — you will return to them under my escort."
It seemed Matthew had decided to go further and become more than just a unit that no longer obeyed a specific built-in code; he wanted to become a savior for at least one human, as if striving to fix the mistakes of his dark past where he couldn't control himself at the sight of humans.
"Oooooh!" the girl groaned in disappointment. "I don’t want to! Dad called me an idiot!"
Matthew let out a soft, tired sigh. "Vulnerable specimen decided to stay in danger. Irrational..."
"M4-TTW. Matthew. Well, Diana, I insist on returning you to safety, to your parents, to your base."
"What's in it for you? Aren't you supposed to be collecting valuable stuff or fighting humans and monsters? Or whatever else you bots do..."
"I am patrolling the sector to assess its safety. You ask what's in it for me? Helping humans may reduce the level of conflict between our species. Even if the positive result is only a thousandth of a percent... it’s better than nothing. Let’s go."
"Fine..." Diana said huffily. But she already realized it was indeed better not to stay alone — she was hungry, and her resentment had faded a bit. "I'll show you where I live..."
The semibot and the girl walked briskly along a broken asphalt path leading through an overgrown park. After a few minutes, Diana stopped, sighing and looking around.
"I'm hungry... Matthew, do you have anything to eat?"
"No. As a semibot, I do not need to carry energy sources intended for organic beings. And the exact list of edible products is unknown to me."
"Ugh... I wish I had Mom’s homemade pizza right now... or at least bread with sugar..."
Of course, Matthew had no idea what "pizza" or "bread with sugar" were.
"I doubt these products can be obtained anywhere nearby. I suggest focusing on returning to your base, where there should clearly be everything necessary for humans."
Diana only nodded and led Matthew further. Although Matthew knew little about human food, he still began to look around frequently in hopes of finding something he would recognize as food. Then, his gaze was caught by a metallic glint. A small metal cylinder with a sticker — a tin can — was lying in a puddle amidst the grass. Whole and intact. Matthew had seen these quite often at human bases, so he knew humans fed on them. He picked up the can and read the label: "beef."
"Meat," Matthew immediately understood. "Excellent, humans eat meat."
"Hey, Diana. I found food." Matthew returned to her with the can in his claws.
"Matt... this tin... it’s clearly very old! What if it’s already rotten?"
"We will open it now and check."
Matthew skillfully cut open the can with his claw, which was better than any can opener. He looked inside — visually, everything was fine: the meat hadn't dried out, there was no mold or insects, nor any other foreign objects.
"Look, it's still preserved. Here."
Matthew held out the opened can to Diana. She looked at it, and then she was hit by a fit of coughing; she turned away from the can, backing up.
"Matthew!!!" she protested, "I told you it was rotten!"
Seeing such a sharp reaction, Matthew was frightened that Diana might be poisoned by some harmful gases; he grabbed the can with a tractor beam and hurled it far away.
"Sorry," Matthew said quietly, feeling somewhat guilty. "I didn't know that visual inspection is sometimes insufficient. I lack a sense of smell."
"Next time, just trust me! If I say it’s rotten, it means it’s rotten."
"Agreed, it is logical to trust the one with more sensory organs."
They moved on. Matthew continued to scan the area for food, hoping that this time it wouldn't be harmful to a human. His gaze was drawn to a cluster of bushes with whole bunches of large white berries. Matthew had seen birds eat them. And generally, since they were berries, they should be fit for human consumption. Matthew cut off a branch with several large clusters using his claws and brought it to Diana.
"Here, look. Berries. They grow on a branch and look intact, meaning they are not spoiled. And there are many more bushes with them. I think it will be enough to satisfy your hunger."
Diana looked at Matthew as if he were an idiot and said:
"What are you doing...? This is snowberry! It’s poisonous. You might as well have offered me a death cap mushroom to eat!"
"Wait... Are you sure you aren't mistaken? I saw birds eating these berries. Or are you saying that after some time, they die from eating them? If that were the case, birds should have gone extinct within approximately two years."
At this, Diana couldn't hold it in and burst out laughing. The stern combat semibot, who was much older than her, now looked like a silly little child.
"Matthew! If berries are poisonous to humans, it doesn't mean they are poisonous to birds! They eat them just fine!"
"Humans get poisoned... birds don't... Mother of Machines, you all are so complicated..."
Diana’s smile widened, and she laughed even louder:
"What, did you just come off the assembly line yesterday? Is this the first time you've seen a human?"
"No, I did not come off the assembly line yesterday. I simply... could not interact with humans until recently." Matthew decided not to mention the story with the code so as not to scare the girl.
"Did you live in a semibot village in the middle of nowhere all this time?" she let out a short chuckle.
"...You could say that." Matthew had no idea how else to respond.
"You're so weird..." Diana said without any negativity, to which Matthew only shrugged.
Time passed, and the girl and the semibot approached the human base. The sun was already sinking toward the horizon, turning orange. A cold wind blew (which Matthew couldn't feel, only detect by signs like the swaying of vegetation). Diana shivered, hugging herself, and whimpered:
"According to external sensors, the ambient temperature is currently +15 degrees Celsius. You are wearing clothes."
"They aren't warm enough! It was warmer during the day, but now it's evening, it's gotten chilly..."
"How far is your base? Perhaps it would be more expedient to build a fire," Matt suggested.
"Nah, home isn't that far! Well... about 20 minutes if we keep walking at this pace."
Diana shivered again, then approached Matthew, tilting her head to the side and looking at him with curiosity.
"Matt..." she asked cautiously. "Can I touch you? Are you... warm?"
"That is... an unusual request. Tactile contact... yes, it can give you certain information, considering your sense of touch. Touch if you must. The temperature of my chassis is currently +51 degrees Celsius. Usually, it is lower, but right now... my processors are handling new information."
Diana cautiously touched Matthew’s shoulder and ran her palm over it. A hard, smooth, metallic, yet warm.
"Wow! You really are very warm! I’ll warm up a bit! I hope you don't mind!"
Diana hugged Matt, leaning against his body.
Matthew froze completely still. While he was used to hugs from semibots, a human... this was something new. In this case, it was a sign of a high level of trust for him. A vulnerable human unit hugging an experienced, armed combat semibot.
"Awesome... Thanks, Matthew, or I would’ve frozen completely! You might be a bit silly, but you're very kind!"
Matthew froze even harder. For the first time, a human had called him "very kind." Even being called "silly" didn't bother him.
[Obtained new characteristic from human: "very kind." Establishing contact is more successful than expected]
"Maybe... I am kind..." Matt mumbled softly.
Diana was now practically hanging off the semibot.
"Listen..." Diana let out a tired sigh. "I'm tired..."
"How much time will you need for energy restoration?"
"I don't know... Darn, there's nowhere to even sit down here..."
"I see two options: the asphalt road and the grass around it. I see no other alternatives. We are in a field, after all."
"Oh, Matthew... You can't sit on the cold floor, or I'll catch a cold... My mom always told me that. It’s autumn and evening! It’s cold..."
"I don't understand... How can you get sick just by sitting? Why is the surface temperature so important? It is not extremely hot, where you could get burned..."
"Cold temperature is bad for us, it’s all so obvious!"
"Well, yes. Just as obvious as the fact that the interaction of a macroscopic object with a thermodynamic reservoir inevitably causes instantaneous decoherence of the wave function, which annuls the superposition of states in the low-temperature region."
Silence fell. Matthew and Diana looked at each other as if they weren't just two different species, but from entirely different planets.
"What...?" the girl asked quietly, her brain clearly "lagging" from Matthew’s last sentence.
"I thought I explained it clearly." Matthew shrugged, a smirk appearing in his eyes. "In short, that is how 'well' I understand humans. Like you understand quantum physics."
"Crazy..." was all Diana could squeeze out, still trying to understand at least one word. "Ha-ha-ha, I think now I understand what you feel when your 'brain' freezes!"
"Heh. Exactly," Matthew nodded.
"And what does what you said actually mean? Can it be explained simply?"
"I don't know. I just read it in a thick book about quantum physics I have at home. I don't recommend trying to understand it to avoid critical processor overheating."
Diana laughed. And then an idea came to her:
"I know! It’s a bit pushy, but... Matthew, let me sit on your shoulders and you carry me home! You’re strong, and I can warm up against you at the same time..."
Matthew froze. Completely. He hadn't given children rides yet.
"Er... um... semibots are not transportation units…"
"Well, dang, I’ll have to walk slowly... and I’m hungry... I’ll have to stop for breaks often. You semibots don't feel tired, but we..."
"I know, I know. No, I have nothing against your proposal, it won't cause me any harm, it’s just... It’s never happened that I gave a human a ride. I think my shoulders are too small for you to sit on properly."
"Oh, come on! I'll manage somehow, even if just for a bit! You can handle my weight, right? I only weigh 28 kilograms!"
"Hmph... Yes, I can... Well... alright. Get on..."
Matthew shrunk into a compact mode to make it easier for Diana to climb onto his shoulders. She sat down, wrapping her legs around the semibot's body and her arms around his head. Matthew straightened to his full height and walked in the direction the girl pointed.
"Wow!" Diana exclaimed in delight. "It’s actually quite okay to sit here, and you're so warm, I definitely won't freeze! Also, your gait is very smooth, and the view from here is great! So this is how adults see the world... Thank you!"
"Yes. It’s good that I turned out to be... convenient. In that case, we can act with maximum efficiency. You just sit while I carry you to the destination. No delays or fatigue. We can add a bit more efficiency — I will speed up."
Hearing about the acceleration, Diana gripped Matthew tighter, and he began to run, causing another burst of delight from the girl.
"This is not maximum speed. It is reduced due to the presence of additional weight in the form of you."
"Hahaha! Still, it’s way faster than if I were crawling on my own two feet right now!"
In a matter of minutes, Matthew approached a small settlement consisting of a couple of dozen houses. The local population was presented with a stunning sight: a grim combat semibot carrying a cheerful, laughing girl. People looked at them with a wide variety of reactions — some giggled, some worried for the child, and some were simply amazed. Matthew watched them carefully, recording their emotions.
Someone suddenly shouted loudly:
"Hey! Over here! Diana's back! And she's not alone!"
A man and a woman ran up to Matthew and Diana. The girl climbed off the semibot and began hugging her tearful parents. They all apologized to each other: the parents for their harsh tone and insults, Diana for running away.
Matthew watched this for a minute, then gave his usual report:
"Child returned to a safe location. Further actions are up to you."
He turned around and was about to leave, but Diana stopped him:
"Wait! Mom, Dad, this is Matthew! He's really cool! Can he sit with us for a bit?"
"Really cool... New positive characteristic from a human. Recorded," flashed through the head of Matthew, who was even a bit embarrassed by such a compliment.
"Hello, Matthew, my name is Doris." Diana's mother looked his way, nodding politely. "Thank you very much, semibot... Alright, you can sit with us. But not for long, as it's almost bedtime. You brought our daughter back safe and sound... Who knows what could have happened to her!" She smiled softly. "You clearly look like a very good fighter; you could have protected her if anything happened. You must be a 'military' class unit."
"More like a 'courier' class unit!" the father laughed. "Alright, Matt. Glad to meet you, I’m Adam. Come on, sit a while with us, tell us how you hauled Diana here!"
Soon all four were sitting by the fire, chatting uncontrollably (except for the generally silent Matthew, who only occasionally inserted his comments), rejoicing that everything had ended well. A cool night was falling; the human family warmed themselves, eating roasted vegetables and feeling the pleasant warmth of the flame. And Matthew... well, he just had sensors that, near the fire, recorded a temperature of +27 degrees Celsius.
"Hah!" Adam continued the conversation. "We’ve talked to semibots several times, but this is the first time I've heard of such massive failures in human knowledge!"
"Well, he said he hadn't talked to humans before!" Diana explained.
"That is true..." Matt said, looking awkwardly at the floor. "The problem is also that Taxman did not include details about human biology in our basic knowledge. He considers it redundant information, unnecessary for the work and survival of semibots. And if we suddenly need contact with humans — we’ll manage somehow."
"Oh, come on, don’t be so gloomy, Matt!" Diana's father waved his hand. "You’re the hero of the day!"
"Hero of the day... humans have assigned me an honorary status."
[New characteristic from humans: "hero of the day." Establishing positive contact with humans exceeds all calculations]
"Thank you..." Genuine surprise could be seen in Matthew’s eyes.
"No, thank you, Matthew..." Doris said tenderly, pressing her daughter to her.
And at that moment, Matt felt a familiar warmth in his soul. A warmth reminiscent of when he rests with Mary and Mint. That very moment where you can forget all the burdens of the world and just be together.
"You probably don't realize how scary it is for parents to lose their child," the mother continued. "Your most precious and dear thing, a continuation and a piece of you... and it is a lot of work. Years of investment in development, and before that, pregnancy and childbirth..."
"Pregnancy and childbirth..." Matthew pondered. He seemed to have heard these words a couple of times somewhere, but he didn't know their meaning. He only remembered that humans take a very long time to develop before reaching independence. "I request a detailed explanation of these terms."
Diana immediately burst out laughing.
"Sorry, Matt! I just can't get used to this...! Mom, Dad! Explain to him what it all means, but better in scientific language, or he won't understand!"
Diana’s mom chuckled and explained with a kind smile:
"Pregnancy is the first stage of child production; it takes place inside the mother's body over nine months. Childbirth is what precedes the second stage. After childbirth, the child begins to develop outside the mother's body, from a newborn to an adult!"
Matthew looked at Doris. One of his eyelids was higher than the other — total bewilderment.
"Nine months... and only one child... hmph." Matthew looked at Diana. "Yes... now I understand even better how valuable you are to each other. And how many units is a mother's body capable of creating during these nine months?"
"One, rarely two. More than that are exceptional cases."
Matthew’s eyes expressed total shock.
"One or two... in nine months... Value: very high. Efficiency: very low. Compared to Taxman — 15-30 semibots a day, sometimes even more, depending on the number of permanently destroyed units and other circumstances... However, there is a solution: if you need to increase efficiency even slightly with the desire to create a large family, both Doris and Adam should become pregnant — then instead of one or two children, you would get two to four."
And then all three burst out laughing, driving Matt in complete confusion again. He realized he had said something absolutely absurd but couldn't understand what exactly, so he just waited for someone from the family to stop laughing and explain everything to him.
"Oh, my metallic friend!" Adam finally managed to say. "We men cannot get pregnant at all! We don't have the necessary 'modules' inside to create a child!"
"I see..." Matthew said quietly, feeling very awkward. "Then why are men needed at all?"
Diana and her mother laughed even louder, clutching their stomachs, their laughter echoing around. Adam just stared at Matthew, blinking.
"Oh boy!" after having her laugh, Doris began to explain. "Matt, do you realize you just devalued half of the human population?"
"Sorry..." Matthew mumbled awkwardly and thought a bit more, making another conclusion. "Yes, I should have understood immediately. Having two units increases efficiency in the role of child development and raises their level of safety."
"And not only that!" Adam added. "Without a man's participation, a woman cannot get pregnant! It’s a long story to explain; just know it as a fact for now."
"Thank you for keeping it without details this time..." Matthew said quietly, feeling the temperature of his processors begin to rise.
"Actually, you're right!" Doris smiled. "Both parents being pregnant at once would be a blessing for those who want a large family." But then she suddenly remembered something, stopped smiling, and spoke much more softly. "But I swear, I will never agree to childbirth again for anything in the world... I almost died giving birth to Diana!"
Matthew twitched his leg slightly and tilted his head. His gaze expressed a clear "SERIOUSLY?!" He slowly turned to Doris, asking:
"That's... a metaphor, I hope?"
"Alas, no." Doris shook her head, sighing sadly. "Though rare, a woman can indeed die during childbirth. Blood loss, pain shock, blood poisoning... and sometimes even both perish..."
At that moment, Matthew’s surprise reached its limit. His processors were overheating, calculating the survival chances of humanity with such complex, slow, and risky reproduction. Everything indicated that humanity should have gone extinct even before the emergence of civilization. But there were eight billion of them in the past, and some even survived the apocalypse and have no intention of dying out. It was a true paradox for the poor semibot!
"Potential death..." Matthew muttered quietly. "Plus one defenseless specimen with zero knowledge base, but minus a self-sufficient, complete specimen with a large knowledge base... this is... incomprehensible... According to my calculations, humanity should have gone extinct approximately... a very long time ago. A paradox."
"But we're all alive, ha-ha-ha!" Diana laughed. "I think your calculator is broken!"
"Simply... a lack of data, I suspect. I... must return to base."
Matthew slowly stood up, deciding he had had enough for today. It felt to him that a little more and his processors (which indeed were already very hot) would enter throttling or even melt entirely.
"Bye, weirdo! Try not to break from all your calculations!" Diana laughed, waving her hand after him.
"Good luck to you, and thanks again!" Doris smiled.
"Stop by and visit sometime!" Adam nodded.
Matthew slowly walked away, dissolving into the shadows.
He returned to the Gallery late at night. Without saying a word, Matthew sat at the table with an extremely thoughtful, detached look and began trying to process all the information he had received. Mint immediately ran up to him and hugged him.
"Mary! Matt is back! Matt? He-e-ey!" Mint began waving his hand in front of Matthew’s eyes, seeing that he looked too tense and was silent.
"Wait. I need to resolve a paradox," he replied quietly and thoughtfully.
"Matthew!" Mary rejoiced, coming down from the second floor. "You're late today, was everything okay?"
"Ambiguous. Too much new information about humans. I delivered a lone girl back to her base, talked a bit with her creators... parents. Everything was too... complex. The child wanted to eat. I offered her canned meat. It turned out to be expired and unfit for consumption. But this could only be determined by smell. I offered her fresh berries. And those were snowberries, which are poisonous to humans, while birds eat them without consequences. How... how am I supposed to understand all this? Then I talked to her parents. It came down to a conversation about reproduction. It's... a horror show. How have they not gone extinct yet? One or two specimens in nine months, wild pain during childbirth, and the risk of death. And men cannot get pregnant... Is that true?"
"Well, yes! I thought you knew at least something about that!" Mary giggled softly.
"So, it turns out women go through pain during childbirth with the risk of death, and simply nothing happens to men?"
"Yup," Mary confirmed, nodding.
Silence fell in the Gallery for a few minutes.
"Well then. Mother Nature was somehow cruel and unfair to women, and generally to the females of other species. And yet some are only happy to have more children, creating large families!" Mint broke the silence.
"Insanity..." Matthew whispered. "However... it can be understood. A forced measure for the survival of the species."
"Not just that! Some women just want a large family and love children very much!" Mint said with surprise, yet with notes of joy.
This was the last straw for poor Matthew. He froze. Then, he raised his hand, opened his mouth as if to say something, twitched a claw a few times, closed his eyes, and began to fall to the floor. Mary immediately caught him with a tractor beam, then took him in her arms (which is much more pleasant than just holding him with a beam!) and sat with him on the sofa, hugging him.
"Poor guy..." Mary said softly, letting out a short chuckle. "Alright, Mint, not another word about paradoxical human biology and logic for the next month!"
"Got it!" Mint nodded obediently and sat down next to Mary, chuckling.
Ten minutes later, when the overloaded processors had cooled down, having abandoned attempts to understand such irrational human logic, Matthew woke up and pressed closer to Mary.
"Masochism..." Matthew whispered softly, clearly implying the desire of some women to have more children. "And even if I don't feel pain, I saw how people scream and suffer from it. Thanks to Taxman for deciding not to invent some sensors that would give us a sense of touch. And women... they are insane. They are... heroines. If I were suddenly a woman and found out what I’d have to go through for offspring — I would first scream for a long time, and then spend the rest of my life avoiding men by a mile."
"I understand you perfectly, my overloaded analyst... Non intellegis mundum, sed non debes." Mary stroked his back. "You should have seen me when I found out about all this! I had the exact same thoughts. I just didn't try to fully analyze it all, unlike you. You know, it’s actually good that you learned all this. You called women heroines, and you're right about that. They really need more respect than they get. For humans, this crazy process of reproduction has long since become a common thing — so much so that many have devalued it... and there are even those who believe a woman is obligated to give birth, treating childfree people with great contempt."
"Fucking idiots," Matthew briefly stated his judgment of those who despise women who do not intend to sacrifice their comfort and freedom.
"Agreed," Mary nodded. "You know, Matthew... some human oddities don't require analysis. Just accept it. Not everything in this world obeys logic."
Silence fell. Matthew, having left behind his attempts to calculate human paradoxes, sat relaxed on Mary's lap. She hugged him tenderly, while Mint, pressing in from the other side, completed their little trio.
Here in the Gallery, there was no complex biology, no endless paradoxes. There was only their understandable, tangible world. A world where you don't need to analyze anything — it's enough just to be together.
