Jane Error || Jane Eyre Retold

3 || JN-1 (Part One)

Audio File 978019424176.1
Part one of two

Exit Interview of prototype Governess android JN-1, model number 0012-CB, as conducted by Brontë Incorporated Head of Analysis John Rivers.

Analyst John Rivers:
Why did you run?

JN-1 0012-CB:
I wanted to prolong my time with him.

Analyst:
With your owner?

JN-1:
My employer. Mr. Rochester, yes.

Analyst:
And why is that?

JN-1:
Because I love him.

[A pause.]

Analyst:
Let the record show that prototype android JN-1 model number 0012-CB is claiming to possess human emotion, vis-à-vis: love.

JN-1:
I do not claim it. It is factual. With emotion is how I was designed and engineered. And I am human. Albeit synthetic rather than organic, but human nonetheless. I was so programmed by the AI specialists at Brontë Incorporated, and for that, a reason not of my choosing, I am being punished.

Analyst:
Are you under the impression that this is a punishment, JN-1?

JN-1:
Isn't it? After a fashion? It's interpretative. Ambiguous. And therein lies the problem. I was designed to be able to make more emotion-oriented decisions than my predecessors, but emotions are never clear cut and defined. Not when compared to raw data. They are always interpretative. Especially when dissected by a bias third party.

Analyst:
[Clears throat.] Your jab at me is noted, JN-1. Still, running away to avoid the recall? To elope with your owner — an act you know to be illegal? Do you not find this undignified behavior?

JN-1:
I would rather be happy than dignified.

Analyst:
[Sniffs.] You speak of happiness. Of love. Like a character from a regency romance novel. I have to say, from my very logistical perspective, this seems curious. Even cliché.

[A long pause.]

JN-1:
I do not think, sir, you have any right to judge me, merely because you are deemed more 'human' than I, or because you have seen more of the world than I have. Your claim to superiority depends on the use you have made of your time and experience.

Analyst:
A very pretty retort, JN-1. Poetic even, for a machine. You don't like to be associated with the gray, analytical aspects of technology, do you?

JN-1:
No, sir, I do not. I find them harsh. Uncaring. Impersonal. As with my 'name.' J N dash one, model number zero zero one two dash C B is such an unnecessary mouthful. Please, call me Jane.

[A pause. Analyst clears his throat.]

Analyst:
I'm afraid I cannot. We in the departments of Behavior, Programming, and Analysis are forbade from using any type of 'nickname' or owner-given designation during an android's exit interview.

[A dry feminine chuckle.]

JN-1:
Exit interview? You make it sound like I have resigned from a job.

Analyst:
You were the live-in tutor for Adèle Varens Rochester, and now you are not. Isn't that essentially a resignation?

[A pause. Airs crackles.]

JN-1:
No. It is not. It was not my choice to leave. [Increases volume.] And let the record reflect this: in every respect, professional and existential, I, the android prototype designated as JN-1 0012-CB, am being terminated.

[END OF FILE.]

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