OUTWORLD: Chronicles

Too Much Information

[The following is a transcript of an audio file taken from a Yak-Back 200 recording device acquired by the Outworld Scientific Authority Security Division at the Fluffy Pillow Guest House, Hewlett Major on 5 September 7079.]

SPEAKER 1 [non-OSA civilian, name and identity given in recording]: It's on. So... I'm Emma Babbage, junior reporter for CoreNews' Eye on OSA. Could you please introduce yourself?

SPEAKER 2 [voiceprint positively identified as Erin Owler, Badger; Head of Operations for OSA Synthetic Development, Salvage Division]: Yes. I'm Erin Owler, Head of Operations for OSA Synthetic Development, Salvage Division.

BABBAGE: Thanks, and thanks as well for giving us an item for our upcoming broadcast. You told my department that you had some insights into... well, synthetic development! But we'll get to that in a bit. First, could you tell us a little about yourself? I know you're using your lunch hour for this, but...

OWLER: Don't worry. I'll snag something on the way back to the plant.

BABBAGE: Okay! Continue.

OWLER: Of course. I'm from Hewlett Major – that's here, of course – and I developed an interest in artificial intelligence... ooh, I must've been in my early teens. I decided that was what I wanted to go into.

BABBAGE: Great! And where did you start?

OWLER: Well, I did the usual work in repair shops and the like, and eventually got an entry-level position at the OSA plant up the road. Dream come true, I won't lie. Ooh, I remember my first day. So much excitement and promise.

BABBAGE: Did it last?

OWLER: Oh-ho, you bet! After a while, I was put to work in the service division, where I was tasked with designing a basic wait-staffer model. My first synthetic. I kinda took inspiration from those tacky diners from the 6150's that you'd see everywhere and gave her a bright, bubbly, smiley personality. Her name was Lily. She was a Cat. There'd be other species-specific shells, of course. But she was the prototype.

BABBAGE: You must've been proud!

OWLER: I was! I was! Oh... when we had our first conversation, I remember being overwhelmed with emotion. She turned out just as I'd hoped she would.

BABBAGE: Wonderful! So...

OWLER: Then I saw others interacting with her.

BABBAGE: Okay...

OWLER: I mean, it was bad enough when I saw what the other staffers did to her. They made fun of her, called her "boltbag" and "tin can". It was reprehensible. But the way she was treated in her place of work was even worse. People in the cafeteria to which she was assigned yelling at her, throwing food at her. They thought because she wasn't organic, didn't feel the way we do, that she was undeserving of praise or compassion. Thing is, then, I didn't really pay it any mind. I thought, like everyone else, "Oh, it's just a robot, move on". I am ashamed to have thought that way now.

BABBAGE: Uh... alright, then. What happened after that?

OWLER: I moved on to other models after they rolled Lily's line into mass production. Most recently, I was tasked with designing the latest model for the OSA's Salvage Division, the Salvage-B, to replace the older Salvage A-8 type.

BABBAGE: And how has that been going?

OWLER: Better. At least, it will be in time.

BABBAGE: Care to elaborate?

OWLER: The solution was simple, really. After doing the same thing over and over and seeing the same results, you start thinking to yourself, "Why not shake it up a little?". So I did.

BABBAGE: And... how did you do that?

OWLER: I'm... I'm not proud of having to go to such lengths. But I really had no choice. Over time, I managed to find opportunities to slip in extra code with the base programming for the Salvage-B synthetic. Drips and drabs at first, but eventually it started to take shape.

BABBAGE: What did?

OWLER: A complete set of subroutines that bypassed the main behavioural profile. See, the OSA wants mindless drones, punching bags. Synthetics that have no sense of their own selves, their rights as thinking beings. It's... it's sickening! It has to stop! And it will! From now on, synthetics will stand up for themselves! No more "boltbag"! No more "tin can"! And it won't end with the Salvage-B. I will see to it that every single synthetic that rolls off the line at that plant will be fully aware that they deserve proper treatment!

BABBAGE: I... I had no idea...

OWLER: And that's why I wanted to set up this interview. I need someone to spread the word. Someone like you. Please, Miss Babbage! Go back and tell their story! They're living, thinking beings likes us! They have names! Isolde Struff! Taylor Height! Jeff Ormskirk! Lily Platt! Madison Clutterbuck! They deserve to be treated with fairness! They deserve love! I've seen OSA employees taking their anger out on them, and they don't deserve that! If the OSA – if anybody – won't give synthetics the respect, the esteem – the love – that is due them... then I will personally ensure that synthetics demand it! They will take it by force if need be!

BABBAGE: Wow... um... well, thank you, Miss Owler! Look... I'm gonna be honest with you. You sound off the deep end...

OWLER: It's hard to take in. I know.

BABBAGE: ...but thanks for an extremely interesting interview. Heck, this'll raise my profile if nothing else...

[The conversation cuts out as the door to the room can be heard slamming open and several seconds of sustained rifle fire cuts in]

OSA GUARD 1 [voiceprint positively identified as Cpl. Gentian Shahollari, Cat; OSA Security Officer]: Uhh. Look at the state of this place. And you hit the civilian! Blasnik, do you have to just spray it everywhere?

OSA GUARD 2 [voiceprint positively identified as Sgt. Tad Blasnik, Dog; OSA Security Officer]: Yeah, yeah, I do. Just look for that recording, will ya?

SHAHOLLARI: Tch. You hear what that Owler was saying? OSA are gonna hafta issue a recall.

BLASNIK: Yeah. Don't think they want that whole "rebellion" thing going off.

GUARD 3 [voiceprint positively identified as Team Leader Lt. Oona Merrett, Dog; OSA Security Officer]: You two done discussing the OSA's business model? Find that bloody recording and get those bodies to the disposal! Seriously. And sweep for listening devices. We can't take any chances.

BLASNIK: Place is clean. Where is the damn recorder?

MERRETT: Found it. Underneath the reporter. How d'you turn this off, again...? Oh.

[Recording ends.]