Guess What? I’m Not a Robot Ch13
Summary: Megan goes to this mysterious meeting and wonders exactly how dramatic Alex can get.
Chapter Warnings: implied anxiety
Word Count: 2,231
16.00 Tuesday 2nd November 2038
Megan actually went to lectures that day to try and calm herself down. Just sitting in the apartment waiting had been driving her crazy, and Paul hadn’t been helping.
The android had been pacing all morning, even when Megan played music or got him to read. He just didn’t seem to be able to calm down.
Her being here wasn’t partially helping. There had been a reason why she didn’t go to lectures, and that was because her head loved to be particularly horrible during lectures. Thankfully, this potential meeting managed to drag those thoughts away kicking and screaming.
There were bigger things to be worrying about than thinking people thought you were stupid.
She didn’t have lectures late in the evening, and did not want to be sitting in the main student campus space. Too much noise and potential underage drinking.
So she spent a couple of hours in the library, phone on vibrate in case Paul got nervous. Well, more nervous. After some experimentation, they found he could text her phone, and if she text back he could still read it.
Megan was admittedly struggling to concentrate in the library, having had to re-read several pages of textbook and official sources multiple times after failing to the first time. Finally, at quarter to eight, she packed up and headed for the main auditorium.
It only took two minutes to get there, so ended up pacing up and down the corridor in a vague attempt to make it look like she wasn’t waiting to go into the auditorium. She had a feeling it wasn’t working, but the pacing was helping.
Eight o’clock rolled round, and Megan was the only one there. The lights remained off in the auditorium and Megan began to panic. Was she in the wrong place? Had she got the time wrong? Was her phone clock out of sync?
She got her phone out and quickly texted Paul, trying not to let the panic show in the words.
‘It was in the main auditorium at 8, right?’
The response was instantaneous.
‘Yes’
Megan swallowed and put her phone back in her pocket. Maybe they had gotten this wrong. Alex was just having a joke about a weirdly worded poster and the code was a coincidence. Nothing more.
And if it isn’t, and you were right? Prompted the other voice in her head, the one that usually tried to stand up for her.
Five minutes. She would wait five more minutes, and then she would leave.
She made herself stop pacing and stand against the wall opposite the door. There were late lectures and society meetings at this time, so it was hardly unexpected to come across a student in the hallways. She had every right to be there.
The sound of boots walking on carpet suddenly caught her attention, and she looked in the direction the sound was coming from.
“...Alex?”
Alex was indeed walking down the hallways towards her, and Megan braced herself. This was either when Alex was going to explain what the hell was going on, or laugh in her face for believing them. She didn’t want to believe that the latter would happen, but she knew better than to rule it out.
“Hey Megan!” Alex was smiling brightly as always. Although Megan was taken aback by their wardrobe. Gone was the bright colours, instead they were dressed in navy and black. On their head was a brown beanie covering their bright hair.
“Wh-what the hell is going on?”
“You’ll find out,” Alex answered mysteriously, and Megan shook her head.
“No, I-I’m not doing this game,” she could feel her heart pounding, but stood her ground. “How do I know this isn’t some joke to humiliate me?”
“Because this isn’t high school,” Alex assured.
“I’m going to need more than that.”
“I thought you trusted-,” Alex cut themselves off, realising how they sounded. “Alright, that’s not going to make it any better. Just watch me for a second.”
They opened the door to the main auditorium and flicked on the lights. They took a step back and let Megan look into the empty auditorium.
“No one else here,” Alex announced. “Just you and me.”
“If this is supposed to be a meeting where is everyone else?” Megan didn’t enter the auditorium.
“I had hoped more would show up, maybe they’ll appear if we go in.”
“That is exactly what I’m afraid of.”
“We can hold this meeting outside if you want,” Alex offered. “You’re being unreasonably paranoid.”
“Says the one who directed me to the same poster more than once, made a not subtle hint about there being a code on it and after finding there was an actual coded message which may or may not have been a coincidence about an android rights group.”
“Okay, I may have been a bit dramatic about that.”
“You think?”
“You guys here about the weird poster?”
Megan and Alex looked up to see a handful of other students had appeared from nowhere while they were arguing. Megan actually recognised a couple of them from her History course, but the rest of them she had no idea.
Alex turned on their winning smile. “Glad to see you could all make it, let’s head in!”
The group looked at each other before slowly making their way inside the auditorium. Once in Alex closed the doors behind them.
“Alright, let’s gather around the front,” Alex gestured to where they wanted everyone to sit. “I had been hoping for a few more people.”
“How many more exactly?” asked one of the newcomers. “The poster was coded, how many people did you hint at?”
How many people do you know? Was the question Megan wanted to ask, but didn’t.
“A few more, but clearly they didn’t solve it,” Alex sat on the stage, legs swinging in the air. They clearly hadn’t been able to resist the urge to stand out in some way, as their socks are bright neon pink.
“So, is this a prank Alex, or is this actually a group you’re planning on forming?” someone else asked.
“This is real,” Alex leaned forward, legs stilling. “I want to form an android rights group.”
“Why?” asked someone Megan recognised. She didn’t know their name, but they were one of the people who usually sat at the front. She recognised their shoulder length black hair “What’s brought this on?”
Alex smirked knowingly. “Does anyone remember that hostage situation back in August?”
“It was all over the news,” this time it was someone Megan didn’t know, but they seemed to have the same usual dress sense as Alex. “Someone broke into the Phillips household, killed the dad and held the kid hostage.”
“Not quite accurate,” the knowing smirk had only grown. “If you look closer at the footage you can see that the person holding Emma Phillips hostage is wearing an android uniform, and looks suspiciously like a PL600 model.”
A shudder went down Megan’s spine. She’d known about that news story, everyone had, but knowing that it had been an android, the same model as Paul... He had gotten upset in his deviant state, but he had never been violent, was it possible he could become violent?
Alex had continued speaking, not knowing about Megan’s concerns.
“Around the same time, CyberLife were advertising their new model, the AP700, which if you had the money, and the Phillips did, could render the PL600 models obsolete.”
“So, you’re saying this android knew about this, got scared it was going to be replaced and reacted by killing and attacking the family?” the person asking seemed sceptical.
“That’s exactly what I’m saying.”
“That’s insane,” the same person continued to argue. “I’m all for android not being mistreated, but that is an illogical escalation. Not to mention, androids don’t have emotions. They’re machines!”
Megan felt her fist clench at the idea of androids not having emotions. She’d like to introduce them to Paul, then a kick to the groin.
“Emotions are logical,” Alex countered. “But since you disagree, what do you think happened?”
“I-I think the intruder attacked the android, removed its uniform to get into the house and then attacked the family.”
“Hmm,” someone else seemed to disagree. Megan felt like she should recognise them, as according to their sweater, they played for the school football team. “But they riddled them with bullets, and there was no blood, not red anyway.”
“And,” the person who sat at the front of Megan’s lectures spoke up, “there was no ransom, no other demand for money, and no other motive to attack the Phillips.”
“And android cannot feel emotions!” the initial person tried to recover, and Alex waved a finger at them, somewhat mockingly as they continued to grin.
“Normally functioning androids do not feel emotions. Androids that work with humans are designed to recognise and understand emotions so that they can interact with us better. It’s not perfect, but it’s functional. A glitching, or malfunctioning android might start to feel those emotions themselves, or at least think they do. And really, what’s the difference?”
“Androids that deviate from their program,” Megan muttered, not expecting Alex to pick up on it.
“Exactly! Deviants! Androids who don’t think like androids.”
“Sounds like you didn’t come up with that name,” the comment was partially accusatory, partly curious, and Alex was more than happy to oblige.
“I’ve been friends with the niece of a Detroit Police Captain since I was a little kid. Her uncle has been muttering about it ever since August when he thinks no one else can hear. Turns out, the hostage situation in August is not a completely isolated event. Probably the most dramatic, but not isolated.”
“So, let me get this straight,” the black haired guy was it again. “You’re saying an android with emotions got a severe case of inferiority complex, tried to kill the family it worked for-”
“Less of the ‘it’, but carry on,” Alex interjected.
“Right, they, tried to kill the family they worked for, and this isn’t an isolated case? Androids could suddenly turn around and kill us all if they got upset.”
“Depends,” Megan couldn’t help but interject, and froze when everyone turned to look at her. “I, er, I mean...”
“Easy Megan, breath,” Alex reassured. “We’re not judging you, this is a civilised discussion,” they turned their gaze to the rest of the group, who nodded quickly at Alex’s suddenly serious, and scary, face. “Go ahead.”
“I mean. I-if you felt nothing for ages, and suddenly you felt emotions, or thought you did,” Megan found a middle ground in staring at the floor as she talked. “Would you know what to do with it? What to and what not to act on? Especially if you suddenly gained emotions in a stressful situation. P-people, attack androids for fucks sake! For no good reason except for being androids and knowing that they won’t fight back. If you suddenly got emotions then, how do you think you’d react?”
“A good point,” Alex smiled at Megan as she looked up again.
“That doesn’t make it any better,” someone else added. “If they don’t know what to do with emotions, what’s stopping them getting angry and attacking humans?”
“I think what Megan was trying to say is that the outbursts come more out of confusion and being overwhelmed than simple anger,” Alex’s fashion twin spoke up. “If they are then confronted with kindness and understanding, or simply space to calm down, then they wouldn’t become violent. Unless of course they have a legitimate reason to become angry, and at that point they can still over react because they don’t know how to handle it.”
“But, they’re not going to get greeted with understanding, are they?” someone who’d kept quiet the entire time spoke up. “As Megan said, people attack androids for the simple reason that they are androids and there’s no repercussions. If these androids gain emotions around these people, which is more likely given the stressful situations, then of course they’re going to lash out, simply in self defence.”
“Which is why androids need basic rights at least. Certainly the right to not be attacked,” Alex drew everyone’s attention back. “While I don’t intend to stop there, it’s not a bad starting point to convince sceptics. Humans do have a strong self preservation instinct after all.”
“Yeah, but if people know about this, what’s stopping CyberLife from recalling all androids?” the black haired guy asked.
“Nothing. Which is why we start small. Don’t mention emotional android attacks publicly, or deviant attacks, that rolls off the tongue a little better. Convince more people, grow numbers, stage protests and change legislation!”
Alex had a massive, somewhat manic grin on their face, while everyone wasn’t so sure.
“You, you’re being really ambitious about this,” someone commented, and Alex shrugged.
“We’re not going to get anywhere if we aren’t.”
Alex looked expectantly around the room. “So, you’ve heard my pitch. You’ve discussed it amongst yourselves. What do you say? Do you guys want in?”
Everyone looked at each other. The football player stood up first.
“I’m in.”
“Same,” added the girl with Alex’s dress sense. “I’m not standing up though.”
“I’m curious to see how far this will go,” the black haired guy nodded.
Megan licked her lips nervously. “Yeah, I’m in.”
So, a lot of this is actually my own thoughts on deviancy, I have more to say but I can't remember off the top of my head if it comes up again. It probably does so I'll save it.
Plot is go, kind of, still some slice of life to go! I think everyone who knows the game can guess how this will pan out (based on Jacksepticeye's playthrough)
Other Options Flowchart (all dialogue options) Go inside the Auditorium
Trust Alex
Agree with Alex (don't mention the poster)
Don't interject
Don't elaborate
Tag list! @septicart-appreciation @nightmarejim
