that essay about service model may not be coming but I will probably. write disjointed paragraphs that could count as one essay if put together so im jjdut gonna put this here (spoilers under cut again)
I don’t know if this was intentional on Tchaikovsky’s part, but I do love how the order of the roles of “past, present and future” are given to characters in the reverse order of what we’d expect typically (the past being humans, the present being simple technology made to work for us and the future being highly advanced tech that can function independently).
The Head Librarian in the Archive, a robot chock full of knowledge and information that both humans and mere service models could only dream of having, engineered to work with maximum efficiency, is stuck in what is basically a glorified box to preserve ancient information for the future. It devotes itself to the past, tirelessly updating its database to translate records for another more advanced civilisation to see. Thus, it cannot use datalinks or mutual “handshakes” like other bots to communicate—it’s stuck with a more primitive method of communication (at least by bot standards, speaking aloud is considered rather uncourteous). The most advanced of humanity’s creations trapped in the past.
Uncharles the Valet Unit remains in the present. He experiences everything in the moment, as he has never been out of his manor. He’s seen things that are considered good, bad, and things that just are. He’s technically going through the turmoils of the present day he is in for the first time, and therefore represents it. He is the only robot that maintains awareness. He is basically all that the present holds, as most of the rest is buried in piles of rubble and has been long dead.
The Wonk (yes that is her name. I love her dearly) is human. So, so, painfully human. She wears a cardboard box over her head, pretending to be one of the many robots that have overrun the world. She tries to fit herself into a world that is no longer made for her, as all other humans are either snobbish rich bastards who do nothing but torture survivors day in and day out for their own gain, or well and truly dead, killed by the robots that once served them (not without reason, she believes, they must have died for a reason!) And so she finds reason within Uncharles, as she had so dutifully named him. He’s self aware, at least more than the other robots are. He makes choices. He must be the way to the future, one of the many robots that would lead the way in building a utopia without humans. That’s why they all had to die, wasn’t it? She isn’t dead, though. She survives with what little resources she has. She’s good at many things, and bad at many more. Now, she is all there is for humanity to be. Hence, she is the future.
edit: ive been made aware that the wonk is actually wearing a mandalorian cosplay helmet, not a cardboard box,,,,,,my apolocheese the wonk I didn’t know you knew ball
