Girls' Next Tour (A Girls' Last Tour fan-sequel)

Chapter 8: AI

"Chii-chan, is that the same robot from the place with the fishy?" Yuuri asked after the robot emerged from behind one of the stone statues.

"Looks exactly like it," Chito spoke with equal excitement. "But how did you get up here?"

This robot had comparable features and even the same vocal modulator as the one they met on their journey in the fish factory, but there was something distinctive about it. Gradually it moved closer to the girls, stopping just a few meters close to them before it started speaking again.

"Chito - Yuuri - I am not the same robot you met at the fish factory - I am just an AI who merely possesses the collective programming of its predecessors fused with the Biodome many years ago - However I can remote control over 1642 functioning robots around the city grid through archaic connection nodes - The robot at the fish factory was malfunctioning and I wasn't able to take control of it - It's core programming was corrupted and it had a single goal of serving the needs of something deemed 'insignificant' that was bred for human consumption - However, I had control over the construction robot that you both destroyed with an explosive device."

Guilt-ridden Chito and Yuuri suddenly stared at each other. "Ummmmm..." they let out an audible confusion. Mieko standing close to them was equally baffled. Turning back to the robot both of them in unison apologized bowing their heads down

"...WE ARE SORRY!!!..."

"What on earth were you girls doing out there blowing construction robots up?" Mieko asked them. "You do realize without those construction robots the city's foundation could collapse?"

"Well... we never knew at the time... we are sorry..." Chito responded "The robot was deconstructing a facility where a fish and a robot lived, and... I guess we thought it was going to hurt the fish..."

"Yeah... I jumped on top of the construction robot, planted the bomb and it went boom!" Yuuri proudly blurted out. "It was amazing and there was fire, sparks, and metal everywhere. And the robot fell to the ground completely annihilated!"

"A fish and a robot?" Mieko asked again still perplexed. "But... Just... Why? What on earth made you do that?"

"Chito - Yuuri - I already commissioned another robot that day to fix the one you destroyed and continue work at that section of the city" the robot spoke "However - I regret to tell you when the repair robot arrived you both were gone and unfortunately the fish was already deceased - The corrupt robot had already ceased to work as well -It's core programming shut down frying its electrical components - There was no point in repairing it but its purpose would be used for scrap further on."

"Ohh..." they both gasped disappointingly. "Yuu, maybe we should have eaten the fish..." Chito spoke.

"Maybe, we should have eaten it Chii-chan, but I hope both of them had a happy life until the very end! I guess back then we would have been satisfied with a fishy, but I am happy that they got to experience life for a short bit."

"But why didn't you say anything if you knew we were there?" Chito asked the robot. "We wouldn't have done that at all and your construction robot seemed like he was about to kill them."

"Construction robots possess no vocal modulators, and at the time I miscalculated that your presence at the factory would be temporary without any interruptions - I tend not to disclose any information about the Biodome to individuals or robots that have malfunctioned or that appear a threat - Even if the construction robot was to possess vocal modulators we wouldn't have had any communication - The task at the factory was to decommission rooms near the water tank and repurpose for structural integrity with no harm done to any living being - The construction robot posses core programming that forbids it from harming any living being - The probability and cause of danger that the structural stability of that sector would collapse were minimal, but even with that kind of uncertainty repairs have to be carried out - By 'annihilating' the construction robot, I realized that your actions might be seen as a threat to our community."