Bad Program

2 - How Martin Died

"I was having such a nice day," Grace said with a bitter grin. Tears streaked her face.

Nobody responded for a moment. Everyone was just wondering whether they'd make it through the night.

"What is the Third Law anyway?" Joshua asked.

"A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws," Flowers replied.

"It's all a crock anyway, sweetheart," Brock said, not bothering to look at anyone in particular. "I mean, think about it: we have military drone and security robots that are programmed to kill. Don't tell me they're following the First Law."

"You're comparing apples to oranges," Flowers said, shaking his head. "This is a civilian robot."

"The point is that robots can be reprogrammed. There's no guarantee that any of them are Three Laws Safe. It's just something we tell ourselves because the truth is way too scary to face," Brock said. "But we all know there are exceptions to the rules. Military robots don't follow the First Law. A lot of industrial robots are made to work in dangerous conditions that make the Third Law a joke. And I'll bet you a million dollars that if you ask our friend out there to just go away and let us live, he's gonna ignore the Second Law like it was never written."

"Have we tried that?" Grace asked hopefully.

"Yeah," Brock said. "We tried that."

Her face fell. She let out a low moan. "What are we gonna do?"

"Wait for help and hope it doesn't get in before the cavalry arrives," Brock said.

The Shepherd sighed. "If you believe in Jesus, now would be a good time to start praying."

Flowers scoffed. "If my guess is correct, only one of us is in any real trouble."

"Meaning?" Brock asked.

"What exactly were you and Martin doing messing around in the labs?"

"There was a malfunction. Habitat controls were going haywire," Brock said evenly. "Martin thought we should check it out."

"You sure you weren't there to steal some fruit?"

They stared Brock suspiciously. Everyone knew how tight rations had been lately. The fruit they grew down in the labs was a mighty temptation.

Brock bristled at the accusation, but shook his head. "I know you don't think much of us lowly maintenance guys, doc, but you can check the logs yourself. We were below the labs in the maintenance tunnels when we first spotted it."

"What was it doing?" Stevens asked.

"That's the thing," Brock said. "We have no idea why it was down there. There was nothing scheduled. It wasn't supposed to be there at all. Frankly, it gave me the creeps. I told Martin to log it and get out of there, but you know him. He had to check it out."

"And what happened?"

"Nothing right then. He ordered it to stop and identify itself. It said it was investigating the habitat controls. We logged it and went on our merry little way. It was only after that we realized it was following us."

"Why didn't you report it?" Flowers asked, as if the answer were obvious.

"We did, and you can check that too," Brock snapped. "That's when it first started chasing us."

"So it is after you," Flowers said triumphantly.

"Yes. No!" Brock said. "I think we stumbled onto something we shouldn't have and it was tying up a couple of loose ends."

Flowers laughed. "So now it's a conspiracy?"

"Maybe. I mean, when we reported the robot to Central, they said there was nothing there."

"Wait, what?" Stephen asked.

"They said there was no locator beacon to track," Brock said.

"Beacons - beacons malfunction all the time. Did you tell them - tell them to switch to m-motion detection or - or - or heat signature?" Steven started scratching at his wrist, leaving the area red and raw. The others exchanged concerned glances.

Brock shook his head. "Didn't have time."

Joshua remembered how Brock and Martin had burst into Steven's office. Brock immediately went for the door controls, chest heaving like he'd just been running from the Devil himself. Martin started shouting about a rogue robot and for everyone to get back when two metal hands reached out for him. One clamped over his mouth and the other grabbed the back of his neck. Hostage in hand, the robot pulled Martin back through the door as he struggled futilely against his captor's superhuman strength. Shepherd rushed to help the man, ordering the robot to stand down even as he futilely attempted to pull the maintenance tech back through. Brock didn't realize where his partner was standing when he finished putting the executive's office into emergency lockdown. There's nothing he could have done. He'd overridden the safety protocols to initiate lockdown. The plasteel doors slammed into place efficiently, decapitating Martin in the process.

They'd tried to alert Central immediately, but communications were severed only seconds into the relay. As a precaution, Brock disabled the door controls, lest the robot hack its way in, but the incessant pounding testified to its resolve. Joshua prayed for each and every person in the room and that God would give him a similar resolve to lay down his life for them if necessary. Far better for him to die and go to heaven than for one of them to die and go straight to hell. Christ found them precious enough to die for; who was Joshua to argue with His Redeemer's logic?

Grace noticed it first. "It stopped."

They waited for a few minutes, listening.

"You think it's still out there?" she asked at last.

Brock shook his head. "Who knows? It's not like we can just afford to open the door and check."

They all jumped as a metal fist slammed against the door one last time.

"It's still there," Brock said.

"What do we do?" Grace asked.

"What else can we do?" the roboticist said. "We wait for Central."

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