Arani Jakal was not ready to be stranded on an unfamiliar planet, causing her whole life to change. But in the chaos, a friend or two popped up - seemingly from nowhere - wishing to help. Ari gladly accepted and quickly became part of a small town...
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THE SECURITY MONITORS GLOWED a harsh blue in the dim room. The far wall was decorated by a collection of large screens showcasing public places in the city. The bright screens momentarily blinded Ari, irritating her gaze, but they quickly got used to the harshness.
"These droids were all reprogrammed to serve the community from the stockpile of captured Imperial robotics scheduled to be scrapped at Karthon," explained the head of security. The older man pulled up a recording of a nurse droid pushing a pram. "The droid's reprogramming was a complete success, until one day, an isolated event . . ."
The main screen switched to a droid collecting trash. It picked up a bin and suddenly short-circuited, shaking back and forth violently, spilling the rubbish bin's contents on the street.
"Then others," said the man.
He now showed them a woman coming home from shopping, a droid behind her carrying a stack of boxes. As she went to punch in the code to her flat, it malfunctioned, and started to throw the clothes from the boxes. Scarred the woman ran away screaming. The next video was the worst yet. A chef droid was cooking for its patrons when it spun out of control, the knives it held narrowly missing the civilians.
"This is just a small collection of malfunctions that our security cameras caught."
"Turn them off," said Bo-Katan.
The man glanced at her from over his shoulder. "What?"
"Why not turn them all off? Who's in charge of that?"
"I am," he smirked. "There's a failsafe cutoff switch built into the system." He pointed to a very obvious red button on his controls. "However . . ."
"What?" Din huffed, getting annoyed by all the excuses.
"The citizens voted against any interruption in droid services. They can't live with it," he laughed, mirthlessly.
"And why's that?"
"The citizens are no longer required to work and can spend their days engaging in recreation, the arts, and participating in our direct democracy. If we shut down the droids, our citizens wouldn't know how to survive," he said sarcastically. "Our society would collapse."
Ari felt a twinge of guilt. She used to be like the people of Plazir-15. She was handed everything and did not work for an ounce of it, even when she became a diplomat.
