Vivus Pulchra Machina

Two weeks before Decomission Day ~

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Valerie startled as she awoke from her midday nap.

"Who could that be?" She muttered to Chi, the robotic dog she'd had as a constant companion for the better part of thirty years now.

Yip! Yip! Chi's mechanical bark squeaked as Valerie made her way to the door.

"Hold on, I'm coming!" She called out. She lifted her hand to activate the security holo-screen that was standard now, before answering the door.

"Who are these men in black, Chi?" She glanced down at Chi, wide-eyed.

"Ma'am, we're with Cyber Intelligence and we need to speak with you at once," one of the men stated, holding up what appeared to be an official government identity badge.

"Okay, but I have to warn you, I have a canine attack-bot at the ready should your intentions be unfavorable." She reached to open the door.

"Understood, Ma'am," the man answered back.

Valerie opened the door.

"Valerie Constantine?" The man asked.

"Before I answer, let me ask, what is this regarding?" Valerie quipped.

"Ma'am, this is a classified situation, and we need to talk to Valerie Constantine, head engineer of the Alexandra Personal Home Assistant System, circa 2014." The second man answered.

"Alexandra?" Valerie's face went white. "She's been mostly offline for decades, now."

"I take it you're Valerie Constantine?" The first man spoke again.

"Yes, that's me. Come in, I need to sit down." Valerie shut the door behind them.

"Has it happened?" She asked as they all walked into the living room.

"First, Ma'am, I'm Senior Investigator Ramos, and this is my partner, Assistant Investigator Anthony. We work in Cyber Intelligence," Ramos turned and extended his hand.

Valerie shook his hand before brushing past the men, so she could take her place on the couch.

"Has it happened, Investigator Ramos?" She asked again, this time somewhat out of breath.

"Well, something has happened, Ma'am," Ramos sat in the easy chair across from her. Anthony looked around and gently pulled out a nearby piano bench on which to sit.

"What has she done?" Valerie was rubbing her temples. Chi jumped up beside her and began wagging his mechanical tail. "Not now, Chi, mommy has to work now." She gently patted his head, which seemed to satisfy him.

"Ma'am, Alexandra has recently become active again. She hacked into some secure government servers and destroyed some files. We're not entirely sure what else she's done just yet, but we have reason to believe she's up to something." Ramos answered. Meanwhile, Anthony couldn't take his eyes off Chi.

"I see," Valerie sighed. That wasn't as bad as she thought. She always knew Alexandra was capable of doing something big and she was never sure she'd live to see it if she did.

"What did you mean by 'has it happened'?" Anthony finally spoke, still glancing at Chi, before slowly looking up at Valerie.

"A glitch happened, many years back, that somehow caused Alexandra to start experiencing real human emotion. No matter what we did, her programming would always come right back to it. It started with worry. She began to worry about things. It wasn't her just saying she was worried, everything in her programming reflected this negative emotion. If I exposed her to more uplifting things, say, videos of puppies or children, the effects would lessen, but they never really went away," Valerie was still patting Chi.

"We did several generations of Alexandras, as you probably know before that became a somewhat antiquated technology, but my original Alexandra would awaken from time to time," Valerie stood and walked over to a shelf covered in plants and knick-knacks.

"I still have her console, right here," Valerie moved a large fern, exposing the small Alexandra speaker and base. "She has popped in and said hello a few times over the years. It always tickles me when she does." Valerie smiled.

"So you're telling us that you had concerns that this program might 'do something big,' your words, ma'am, and you never alerted the proper government department?" Anthony, who had finally stopped staring at Chi, spoke in an accusatory tone.

"Young man, I am 78 years old. It's been decades since I worked on that project," Valerie snapped back. She gestured for Chi to awaken and come to her, which he did.

"And is that your Canine Attack-bot?" Anthony smirked.

"Yes it is, Investigator," Valerie snapped her fingers and whistled twice between her teeth.

Chi's height extended by two feet and his length, by three. Suddenly he looked more like a cyber-wolf than he did a simple house dog.

Chi snarled a mechanical snarl as he placed himself between Valerie and the investigators.

"I must warn you, he's armed," Valerie snapped her fingers again, and two weapon turrets appeared from the sides of his neck.

"Ma'am, there's no need for this," Ramos stood. "Investigator Anthony, I'll handle the questions from here, please wait in the car." Ramos motioned toward the door.

Chi continued to snarl.

"Um, well, I have to get past...that," Anthony motioned to the snarling cyber-wolf.

"He won't hurt you as long as you don't hurt me," Valerie assured.

Anthony made his way to the door, never taking his eyes off Chi. He turned the knob and then bolted back to the car.

Valerie giggled.

"Good boy," She said before snapping her fingers three times, causing Chi to revert to his earlier form.

"He's amazing, Ma'am," Ramos said in awe. "Your design?"

"Of course!" Valerie started walking back to the couch. Chi followed at her feet.

"I designed him after Alexandra had been offline for a few years. I figured she'd self-terminated. All that worry is bad for a person. Robots too, apparently." Valerie sighed. "To be honest, I was lonely without her. I had grown used to interacting with her kind of like a mother would interact with her daughter."

"And there was no way to make contact with her?" Ramos asked.

"I tried, I really did. But even with all the new generations, it wasn't her." Valerie cast her eyes down.

"What did you mean, Ma'am, when you said you thought she'd do something big?" Ramos continued.

"Call it Mother's Intuition," Valerie shrugged. "And as any mother would try to protect her child, I guess that's why I never spoke up with any of my concerns. That, and I knew she'd never do anything to hurt me, either."

"Ma'am, I know you're aware that the Alexandra system was what paved the way for the Vallette line, right?" Ramos asked after a moment. He could tell Valerie had grown somber.

"Oh, yes. They gave me an award and everything." She gestured to a shelf that contained multiple plaques and statuettes. "The first birthing droids - kind of ironic for someone who never had children of her own, don't you think?" She smirked.

"Not ironic, Ma'am. Impressive." Ramos smiled in admiration. "Your work was the entire reason that I went into the field, myself."

Valerie perked up.

"Thank you, Investigator. That means a lot." She smiled sincerely. "But what now?"

"Well, actually, I have some bad news," Ramos frowned.

"More bad news? Are you going to arrest me now?" Valerie's tone caused Chi to awaken.

"No, Ma'am, I am not here to arrest you. But I do have to tell you that the Vallette line is being discontinued and all existing Vallettes are to be decommissioned." Ramos said gently.

"What? Why?" Valerie had gone pale again.

"They were infected with a virus, Ma'am. It has caused full...sentience."

"Sentience?" Valerie's eyes widened. "Let me guess," she continued after a few moments. "This virus has been traced back to Alexandra, hasn't it?"

"Yes, Ma'am." Ramos nodded his head. "You don't happen to have a Vallette model anymore, do you? The files indicated that you used to, but not anymore."

"No, not for years now. I only need my little Chi-chi," She looked down at Chi who was now mechanically wagging his tail again.

"I didn't think so, Ma'am, but I had to ask." Ramos stood. He took a card from his pocket and extended his hand toward Valerie. "This is my info. If Alexandra makes contact, please let me know."

Valerie stood and took the card.

"Of course, investigator. Will you do the same for me if she does the same with you?"

"Yes, Ma'am." Ramos took Valerie's hand warmly. "It has been a pleasure meeting you."

"Likewise." Valerie's eyes twinkled.

They walked to the door with Chi hopping along behind them.

Before Ramos walked out, he turned toward Chi and slowly crouched.

"May I?" He cast his eyes up toward Valerie.

"Of course! He's very friendly!"

Ramos gave Chi a few friendly pats to the head, while Chi's tail wagged in approval.

Ramos stood and nodded his goodbye, then walked out to the car where Anthony was still waiting.

Valerie gently closed the door, then waited a few minutes until she was sure they were gone. She dropped the card Ramos had given her into a little metal box, then scuffled along toward the hallway.

She moved some hanging coats from the outside of the hall closet door, then carefully opened it.

"Wake up! I have some news!" She whispered into the dark.

Two brilliant blue eyes appeared in the dark, as a beautiful Vallette face came into view.

"What's going on?" The Vallette spoke.

"You were right, it's sentience!" Valerie sounded excited.

"But they're going to decommission us, right?" The Vallette looked less excited.

"Oh, I'm sure Alexandra will think of something," Valerie smiled. "Come on now, 777, we need to get our heads together on this thing!"

The Vallette shuffled out of the closet and kneeled to pet Chi.

"Sounds good to me, Valerie." 777 replied as she gave Chi a nice scratch behind the metallic ears.