#battleren

Keep You Safe

"Sir, is this the empathy test?" "Yes. You ready? Okay. First scenario: You're walking along a desert. You look down and see a tortoise -” “What kind, Sir?” “What kind of tortoise?” “Yes.” “I don't know. A desert living kind, I guess.” “Okay.” “So the tortoise is laying on its back, baking in the sun, its stubby legs wriggling, trying to turn itself over. What do you do?” “I help turn it over and then I start digging a hole in the sand.” “Why is that?” “My memory clusters show that desert living tortoises often live in burrows where it is cooler and there might even be moisture down there. Maybe it could not get to its own burrow in time, so I make a new one for it, to hide from the heat.” “Your memory clusters have that kind of information stored? Interesting." "Why is that interesting, Sir?" "Well, because non of that information is useful in a battle scenario." "I am sorry, Sir, I do not recall where I picked up that particular information." "Hmm, okay. Next question: You are in an alley. There are men hurting another, but the victim reminds you of men, who have hurt you in the past. What do you do?” “Sir... These men... are they scientists?” “It doesn't really matter for the test, but sure, why not.” “The man... is he like you, Sir?” “What do you mean?” “Will he be nice to me?” “You don't know that. You can't know what will happen in the future. But he is being hurt now.” “I would protect him.” “Why?” “I would always protect you.” “This test is not about us.” “I would still protect you.” “Why?” "You are nice to me."

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Voight-Kampff-Turing

“I haven't really found any broken code. None. All is functioning harmoniously. But Phasma, it's amazing! The level of perceived sentience...” “Do you think it would pass a Turing?” “Oh definitely. But then First Order has always been this good at programming their AIs.” “You mean yourself.” “Well...” “What about a Voight-Kampff?” “Empathy?” “Yes. Hux, do you think it can really feel and understand emotions?” “I believe so. It's rudimentary still, but then he's still learning to process all this input and - What?” “You said 'he'.” “Well, the way it is built and all, it looks rather -” “He is built like any other BattleR-E-N, Hux. Yet you never referred to any of those with a specifically gendered personal pronoun.” “What are you implying here?” “I am just wondering if this isn't more about your emotions. Has it occurred to you that you might be projecting?” “That is ridiculous! What reason could I possibly have to -” “When was the last time you had a proper chat with anyone?” “...” “Connected to someone?” “...” “Let anyone close?” “... that... is a very low blow, Phasma.... I don't... I don't want to talk about this anymore.” "Hux..." "No."

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BattleREN Masterlist

Masterlist

Testing Testing

“Will the tests show what is wrong with me, Sir?” “I hope so.” “What if you cannot find anything?” “Then we either keep looking, or having exhausted that, I'll then have to conclude that nothing's different about you. Though I find that hard to believe.” “How long will the testing take, Sir?” “A couple of weeks probably. There is a lot of data in your brain pan – well, I say brain pan...” “It is my mind, Sir, is it not?” “No, not really. You're a droid. While you can extrapolate from any given data and therefore form your own conclusions and strategies – which makes you so effective in war by the way –“ “I did not like the war.” “Oh? Where were you deployed?” “I cannot access that information currently. But there were children. I recall them. And blood. Fear...and maybe... horror?” “... You are incredibly good at fooling me into believing that you actually felt that.” “But Sir, I am not trying to fool you.”

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Directive

"What about updates? Troubleshooting? Overwrites?" "I am unable to connect to the Directive, Sir." "That is very curious. That's a base command. It should be impossible not to connect. Unless it is manually deactivated... but even then it reboots automatically once your OS does." "It is not accessible to me." "So you function without directives? What gives you executive commands?" "I act according to... I am actually unable to answer this question, Sir. But I act... according to... something. Some... drive?" "Right." "I am broken, Sir." "You see I'm not entirely sure about that. For a broken droid, you function remarkable well." "But something is wrong." "Something is definitely unusual, I grant you that, R-E-N.” “Sir... are you here to terminate me?” “No.” “Are you here to fix me?” “...” “Can you fix me, Sir?” “... I don't know what's wrong with you yet. I would like to run some tests.” “Of course, Sir. ... Sir?" "Yes?" "If you find something... Can you make it right again?” “...” “Please? Sir?” “I don't know.”

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Do you know why you’re here?

“R-E-N, do you know why you're here?” “I malfunctioned, Sir.” “Yes, you did. Quite spectacularly so.” “It is not deleted, but still I cannot access that memory cluster: Did people die, Sir?” “Yes, 32. You have corrupted memory banks? Interesting. Do you still remember why you did it?” “I got so angry...” “That's not possible.” “But I did, Sir. They wanted to terminate me and I got angry and … scared.” “That is not possible, R-E-N.”

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BattleREN Masterlist

Isolation Cell

“Do you think it's wise to turn it back on?” “Phasma, I need to know what happened.” “It's a BattleR-E-N, Hux! It is made to kill. That's what it did.” “It malfunctioned. According to the official report at least. But I want to know why.” “Even if it kills you?” “That's a stupid idiom to use in this sit- oh, you meant it literally...” “...” “It won't kill me.” “Correct me if I'm wrong, but to get any usable data-output you have to turn it back on. Not just the secondary OS, but the whole thing. Fully functional. How is that safe exactly? For you -  or anyone in this complex?” “I'll do it in an isolation chamber.” “With a PX-45 blaster at the ready.” “That's overkill.” “Hux, it's a kriffing BattleR-E-N!” “...” “I'll observe. If it so much as looks at you the wrong way, I'm hitting the kill-switch and it will be decommissioned.” “Yes, yes. Okay.”

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I Do Not Like It Here At Night

“I do not like it here at night, Sir. I am alone.” “But there are always people in the lab.” “Yes, but I have to pretend I am offline. And...you are not here, Sir.” “Oh. Okay. Uhm...But you can’t hide in my office under the table.” “Can I go where you go, Sir?” “You want to spend your nights at my bedsit?” “Yes, Sir, if I may.” “That...hm... Okay. We need to find you something to disguise you a little. Research subjects are not supposed to leave the lab.”

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