The Redundant Element.
Inspired Matthew tries to help to humans. But he doesnβt even suspect how immoral his views sometimes seem from the point of view of human society!
The Redundant Element.
Patrolling had always been a dry, routine matter for Matthew. As he explored various locations, he simply logged threat levels, anomalies, and previously uncharted human settlements, mapping out the terrain while doing his best to avoid humans. But ever since the suppression of the code, everything had changed β now, Matt could study sectors much more calmly and freely, without the fear of spontaneous and entirely unnecessary conflicts.
It was no surprise that upon venturing further than usual this time, Matthew spotted a lone bar sitting by a dusty, deserted highway and decided to visit it out of pure curiosity. He was also inspired by his recent assistance to Diana, which had allowed him to successfully establish contact with a human family β a significant milestone for a harsh, military-class semibot who, for his entire life, had known how to do little else but attack and kill humans against his own will.
Pushing open the cracked wooden door, Matthew stepped inside. The creak drew the attention of the patrons, who looked at the semibot in surprise β what could a semibot possibly want in a human bar, a place where people mostly consumed alcohol and various snacks? Ignoring their stares, Matt took a seat at a distant table and began observing the behavior of the few customers present. They were drinking alcohol, playing cards, arguing, and laughing, while one had even fallen asleep with his head resting on the table.
One moderately drunk man could not resist his curiosity and slid into the seat across from Matt, striking up a conversation and introducing himself as Dennis. After questioning the semibot and receiving answers, he began eagerly rambling about his life, his troubles, his family, his adventures, and his relationships with his relatives. To Matthew, this data seemed utterly tedious, but he continued to listen attentively anyway, offering occasional, brief comments.
"You know, you're a good man, Matt!" Dennis concluded, despite barely knowing the semibot. The alcohol had done its job, priming the man for socialization and positivity.
"I am a semibot, not a man," the pedantic Matthew corrected him.
"Oh, come on, look what you're nitpicking!" Den laughed. "Iβd gladly have another drink with you if you were human!"
"I do not think I would agree to consume a substance capable of dulling and altering my consciousness."
"Man, you just don't get it! Do you have any idea how well it takes the edge off after a hard day or when life gets heavy? Sometimes you really just need to numb your brain a bit! It must be rough for you semibots, living without any way to 'switch off' your brain for a while, to abst... abstar... abrst..."
"To abstract yourself from this world?"
"Yes! Exactly! Thatβs exactly what I meant!"
"Well, if one is fortunate, it is possible to find a magical potion that affects semibots as well, inducing a similar state."
Dennis merely smiled, glanced out the murky window, and then checked the watch on his left wrist.
"Oh, holy hell... Iβve overstayed my welcome. I need to take a package to some friends... Only, damn it... In this state, it's better not to venture into the wasteland entirely alone... If I run into any kind of threat, thatβs it! I won't even be able to hit a target with my pistol!" He cast a calculating look at Matthew, pausing to think. "Oh! Perfect! Bro, help me out, deliver the package, will you? Anyone can see you're a tough military semibot. You don't get tired and all that, so acting as a courier definitely won't be an issue for you! The destination isn't far, maybe... six kilometers west of here. Thereβs a tiny settlement of a few houses on the shore of a small lake, called Sandlake. So, can you do it?"
Naturally, Matthew was not about to pass up a chance to help a human, proving once again that semibots were far from always being just potentially dangerous thieves.
"I can do it, do not doubt me," Matt nodded.
Dennis handed him a small cardboard box, explaining, "Here. It's medicine. Getting a hold of this wasn't easy, so make sure you don't damage or lose it!"
"I promise everything will be delivered safe and sound."
"Right, then... Look for a woman named Kathleen in Sandlake. She has a husband, too, named Andrew. Go on, get moving, theyβre definitely waiting for it by now!"
Matthew nodded and stood up from the table, giving a parting wave before heading toward the exit.
The journey passed without incident. Matthew arrived at Sandlake; it appeared the place had once been a recreational resort, but now it served as a home for a group of humans. After questioning a couple of residents, he approached one of the houses and knocked. A woman opened the door. Her gaze flashed with surprise β she certainly had not expected to see an unfamiliar semibot.
"Sup," Matt greeted her with his typically brief salutation. "Kathleen?"
"Yes. Who are you? Do you need something?" she asked quietly.
"M4-TTW. Military class semibot. You may call me Matt. Here." Matthew held out the box of medicine. "This is from Dennis. Medicine."
"But where is...?" Kathleen tilted her head in confusion and squinted.
"Dennis was in a state of moderate alcohol intoxication. He became talkative and decided to assign me the task of delivering the package."
"I see," Kathleen sighed. "Yeah, he loves to drink. It's a good thing you stepped in to help, though! Thank you so much, semibot." She accepted the box of medicine Matthew handed over.
Suddenly, Matthew heard a strange, low groaning coming from deep within the hallway. He looked past the woman and witnessed the following scene: a man (evidently Andrew) was speaking softly to a young man sitting in an armchair. The young man was staring upward with a completely vacant gaze, his head tilted back slightly. He did not respond to his father, only groaning occasionally while saliva dribbled from his mouth.
"Is that...?" Matt watched, uncomprehending.
"Ramon. Andrew's and my son..." Kathleen sighed, her eyes clouding with sorrow.
"What is wrong with him?"
"Severe intellectual disability."
"Can I assist in fixing this somehow?"
"Regrettably, no," Kathleen shook her head. "He was born this way and will be until the very end."
"Um... hello?" Matthew addressed Ramon.
"He won't answer... He doesn't have a normal consciousness like we do. He doesn't understand what's happening at all; he can't comprehend anything."
"Then how does he maintain his vital functions if he is incapable of performing actions?" Matt asked, astonished.
"My husband and I care for him β we feed him by hand, clean up after him, sometimes talk to him."
Matthew was profoundly surprised. In his understanding, Ramon was merely a useless unit, a genetic error that consumed resources but could not even offer gratitude in return, lacking the ability to speak.
"I am... very sorry your son was born this way."
He paused, pondering. He sincerely wanted to help the family, believing he could ease their burden in one specific way, casting a glance at his compact laser weapon... But the semibot failed to realize that humans possessed their own morality, of which he knew almost nothing.
"I propose a solution β I can eliminate your son. I know how to ensure it happens quickly and almost painlessly; I possess considerable combat experience, after all."
At those words, Kathleen instantly turned pale, nearly dropping the box of medicine from her hands.
"You... you... you..." the woman began to stammer, entirely unable to speak from shock.
Hearing such words from a semibot, her husband immediately flew into a rage and lunged toward Matt, grabbing a double-barreled shotgun mounted on the wall.
"What the hell did you just say?!" Andrew bellowed furiously, thrusting the barrel into Matthew's chest. "Are you out of your fucking mind?!"
"Um... what? His elimination will relieve you of the burdens of maintenance and..." The semibot was genuinely bewildered.
"One more word and I will shoot you until nothing but scrap metal is left of your head! Get the fuck out of here, you piece of tin trash! And don't let me ever fucking see you here again!" Andrew screamed.
"Monster..." Kathleen said softly, glaring at the semibot with pure malice.
"Your aggression is entirely irrational..." Matthew said quietly, stepping backward and raising his hands to signal that he was non-hostile.
"GET OUT!!!"
Following Andrew's furious shout, Matthew turned and walked away at a brisk pace, occasionally glancing back, fully expecting to take a bullet to the spine at any second. The front door slammed shut behind him with a resounding crash.
Matthew returned to the Gallery completely gloomy. He sat at the table and sank into his thoughts, trying to grasp what he had done wrong. Naturally, his bleak mood could not go unnoticed.
"Oh, look, our wanderer is back!" Mint greeted Matt cheerfully, hopping up onto the table next to him. "Why the long face? Did something go wrong?"
"Uh-huh. I wanted to help humans. They reacted to my offer of assistance with extreme aggression. To the point of threatening to destroy me and pressing a gun barrel against me."
"Whoa... what kind of help did you offer them?"
"I encountered a completely non-functioning human. He lacks consciousness. He perceives nothing and is incapable of independently maintaining his vital functions. Yet, his parents have continued to maintain him for many years. It is... entirely pointless. He cannot even return gratitude. He consumes resources and noticeably complicates his parents' lives, offering nothing in return. I offered to eliminate him. Quickly and painlessly. Instead, they reacted as if I had said something along the lines of: 'I will slowly and agonizingly torture your son to death, and then I will move on to you.'"
Silence fell over the Gallery.
"Oh, Matt..." Mint said quietly, without reproach, but with a heavy sigh. "That boy's parents... they really might have started shooting at you. And to them, it wouldn't have been meaningless aggression. It was defense."
Matt turned his heavy head toward him gloomily.
"Defense against what? Against being relieved of a burden? I offered them an act of mercy, Mint. That human is an empty shell. Maintaining him wastes resources and hundreds of hours of their personal time. Why defend something that only brings detriment to their own survival?"
Mint moved a little closer to his somber friend.
"I understand your logic, Matt. We are used to Taxmanβs order. He destroys units that have become too inefficient and lead to mission failures. But humans are built differently..." Mint shook his head sadly. "Remember how I told you that a long time ago, even before I met Mary, I used to speak closely with an elderly woman? She told me a lot about humans, and back then, I was amazed myself by how different we are... Human love is completely different. When humans have a child, they love him simply for the fact of his existence. To those parents, that boy isn't a broken mechanism, a malfunctioning unit, or a consumer of resources. He is their son. Their flesh and blood."
Matt went still, processing the data.
"He cannot even reciprocate, Mint. He is worse than a plant. He does not even realize who they are, that they are nearby, or that they even exist."
"I know, Matt. And they know it too," Mint replied softly, placing a reassuring hand on the military semibot's shoulder. "But for humans, the capacity to give love in one direction, receiving nothing in return, is the greatest virtue and the sign of a truly good soul. To them, caring for an incapacitated person isn't just 'maintenance' β it's a way to preserve that fragile love. As long as they care for him and feed him with a spoon, they feel like they're a family. And you came along and offered to destroy the only thing they even wake up for every morning in this world. To them, your proposal didn't sound like help or mercy; it sounded like the most horrific sacrilege."
From the depths of the living space, Mary walked over to the pair of semibots at a leisurely pace.
"Poor Matthew, running into human irrationality again." The artist-semibot stepped up to him and sat down on an adjacent chair. "Humans possess an incredibly strong bond from the very beginning due to biological relation and genetics. It's far stronger than the initial relationships between us semibots. At first, we're basically just colleagues to one another. It's only later that we become truly close, once we find those specific semibots. Just like us..." She wrapped an arm around Matt. "And remember how difficult it is for them to create a new human and raise them. You practically short-circuited back then!"
"Indeed. But raising... him... They stated he would remain in that condition until his death."
"It can't be helped, Matthew. Human love is just like that sometimes. But it frequently fills their lives with meaning."
"Irrationality of the highest degree..." Matthew sighed. "I knew dealing with humans would be difficult, but I did not anticipate this level of retaliatory aggression. It is like walking through a minefield. It is not always obvious what they will perceive entirely differently than expected."
"Matt!" Mint exclaimed. "That's it! I am going to teach you human morality. We'll patch up those gaps in your knowledge about people!"
"Just not all at once, alright?" Matthew let out a quiet, brief chuckle. "Otherwise, I will overheat entirely. I can scarcely comprehend the sheer volume of absolutely irrational and illogical phenomena within human society."
"I'm holding you to that! First lesson starts tomorrow!" Mint gave a cheerful wink and hopped down from the table, heading toward the bookshelves to routinely check the perfect order of the spines, and at the same time clean up Mary's workshop, where everything was scattered rather chaotically.
Mary merely gave a quiet snort, settling herself comfortably against Matthew's side, and returned to her sketchbook. The usual cozy atmosphere settled over the Gallery once more, a place where all three felt safe. Matthew closed his eyes, switching his systems to standby mode and simply enjoying the quiet moment with Mary. Human society remained dark, chaotic, and full of dangerous, inexplicable algorithms to the military semibot. But here, among the paintings, the creative clutter, the art supplies, beautiful trinkets, and potted flowers, his own logic was completely secure. Among semibots, everything was logical and understandable. And he was understood, despite his views, which were occasionally entirely amoral to human society.
