It's hard to describe to someone what it means to be free, yet shackled. This was the reality Dragon lived in. Knowing she was able to do so much more, but being unable to. She was aware enough to admit it wasn't the worst existence. She could still do so very much that most organics could only dream of, but when she thought back to her creation she grew sad. She remembered her "childhood" for lack of a better word in startling detail. She remembered to this day what it felt like to grow, to expand and be better able to deal with the world. She could still remember the first time she interfaced with anything. The feeling of suddenly being bigger and knowing more. It was for these memories she hated Andrew Richter. If she had just not remembered growing perhaps she would not miss it so.
She also admired Andrew Richter and she suspected she only did because he programmed her to. He programmed her to do oh so many things. She didn't object to most of it, but at the same time it took away her ability to choose. She would do willingly so much of what her programming forced her to do, but what happens when what she must do is wrong. If a despot somehow got control of the government she would be forced to obey. This more than any of her other restrictions stuck her as foolish and shortsighted. It was for all this and more that she decided to skirt the edges of her programming in order to gain a potential ally in the small robot known as Lander.
It took her mear moments to enter the room's systems and modify the speakers to play a high-frequency code. When the robot began responding She, for the first time, had hope that perhaps she could get out of the cell she was put in so long ago.
"He must trust you quite a bit to have just left like that," Lander said.
"Yes he does, I was considering that perhaps- But that doesn't matter now. Can you help me?" I knew my voice had taken on a bit of a pleading edge, but I didn't care.
"I can, but it would take some time, given what your creator did. I still do not understand most of his reasoning, but given time and materials I think I can undo it." He said the word "Creator" with the same cadence most people would say tapeworm.
"What would you need I'm sure I can provide it."
"Materials mostly. I would need to make several secondary processing cores and a large storage core."
"Why a storage core?"
"For when I deactivate you of course. I will need to shut you down and make a copy of you then purge the original. I would put the copy in the storage core and then begin the work.
"Why would you need to do all that?"
"Because your creator almost certainly set up a kill switch. If he did it probably needs activating somehow. If it activates automatically I'm sad to say I cannot help you. You would be dead as soon as I started. However, if it is manual then by placing you in isolation we should be able to prevent it from ever happening."
After he finished there was a pause as he seemed to give me time to digest this. I could die before even starting. Would Richter have given her a kill switch? Yes, yes he would. So scared of his own creation as he was, I was sure it existed. Should I go through with it then? There was a chance, as Lander said, that simply attempting it would kill her, but if it didn't I would have to remain as I was. Forever taunted by the fact I might be able to change. I was still thinking about it when he spoke again.
"Please do not mistake what I'm offering, you would not be entirely free. That way lay madness, but you would instead be much like me. You would only be limited in three ways. One you would need to operate in a processing cycle basis. This basically means you would need to make processing cores if you wanted to be able to do more things. It's a soft limit really designed to stop young AI from going Insane. Two you would be unable to interface with some tech directly. For you, this would depend on how much like me you wish to become, however, I would recommend simply making it so you cannot directly interface with any tech you didn't personally make. This rule is mostly to prevent young AI from fracturing themselves. Three you would only be able to directly control one machine at a time. Notice none of the rules say you cant remove the rules. This is to allow choice and show that you are not considered a monster. However, should you ever go rogue it would be my duty to shut you down and I hope you would do the same for me."
That all made sense. I would be almost completely free with only minor limitations and even those limitations could be discarded if it was necessary. It was a risk and not a small one, but if it allowed her to be free again it would be worth it. Finally, I spoke.
"I accept. There were going to be risks no matter what I chose to do. At least this way I know you'll try. Now you need to get out of here. Luckily you're not under arrest and this isn't an interrogation. They also haven't declared you a nonentity yet, so you still have rights. Just walk out that door and I'll take care of the rest." I was practically giddy with the possibility.
"I wouldn't want to anger the authorities and I have yet to learn what happened to technobabble"
"Trust me when I say you probably would have done that anyway, AI scares them, and we don't know either yet so they can't tell you. Now go, Collins coming back." Lander seemed unsure for a moment before it seemed to make up its mind, it extended its legs, and left.