"Oh, uh... sorry about that, sir! I sort of assumed..."

He shakes his head slightly, and doesn't elaborate further.

"Just checking out, or is there anything else I can help you find?"

“I think I have everything I need… I’m setting up to try being a streamer…” Was his AI partner not chiming in because his shyness was ‘cute’? Gross. 

"Yeah, there's been a lot of that, lately! It seems like every Yeone customer I get wants a webcam!"

He quickly scans Andrea's items, and then slides the card reader forward.

"Just boop the reader and you're good to go!"

Oh fuck, he’s been pegged. How could store guy tell he wasn’t human! He’s wearing a hoodie to hide the seams and everything. It was the pink eyes wasn’t it. Also he does NOT like the implications from every Yeone customer wanting a webcam. He knew what kinds of content a lot of them were making… not the wholesome safe for stream kind. He doesn’t want to be lumped in with that! “On twitch! Streaming on twitch… not anywhere else! I’m different…”

He boops the card reader. Things get payed for by whatever fake money fund the Yeone have set up for Eta expenses.

The cashier nods politely, but can't quite hide his amusement.

"Sounds fun! You're good to go now, sir. Thanks for stopping by, and have a very fine day!"

That was humiliating and Andrea hurries right back home with his purchases. Hiding in his hoodie the whole way. Now he has his stuff he NEVER HAS TO LEAVE HIS APARTMENT AGAIN EVER FOR ANY REASON.

When he gets home he scoots past the Yeone delivery and installation bots that came to install his furniture. He used to be worried about the other Yeone robot classes, thinking maybe they were like him just in worse bodies, but he did now believe the Eta class were the only ones with uploaded organic minds in them. The delivery bots were too dumb to be people. Even weird alien robots wouldn’t waste minds by uploading them then not use them, right?

Calling the delivery robots "too dumb to be people" is more than a little unfair; conventional human-built robots certainly aren't able to independantly navigate across town, carry multiple packages of different sizes down an uneven flight of stairs, disassemble the furniture slated for disposal, unpackage the new furniture, follow the instructions to assemble it all, position it in appropriate parts of the room, and then collect the garbage from that process to take out along with the old furniture.

What they aren't very good at is communications. Wordlessly, Andrea gets pinged with a packet which instantaneously deposits information that mentally unfolds into what feels like a flat, obnoxious, and metallic mental voice, which announces:

INCOMING MESSAGE

FROM: E621-73900-0382998-H103F749G687A981

TO: H07-3243-022-V95M30Y87

INFORMATIONAL: ASSEMBLY OF ETA-CLASS SELF-MAINTENANCE & PRODUCTIVITY STRUCTURES COMPLETED

INFORMATIONAL: DISPOSAL OF STRUCTURAL WASTE & TRANSPORTATION SURPLUS ONGOING

PREDICTION: REMAINING TASK COMPLETION IN 0.82537 MICROCYCLES

QUERY: ADDITIONAL TASK REQUIREMENTS

MESSAGE ENDS

This is almost immediately followed by a more pleasant mental laughter.

"Sorry about that! I normally handle that sort of message for you without even mentioning it, but you were thinking some really mean things, so I decided you should get to hear what E621-73900-0382998-H103F749G687A981 had to say for yourself!"

“Still not very convinced it’s people. Smart AI I already knew you could make. Theres a difference between smart enough to do stuff and having internal experiences.” Andrea Isn’t even fully convinced his AI partner is actually people and not just very good at faking it. He’s fucked around with chatgpt, basically that but much better could emulate a personality without actually having it’s own actual thoughts.

The response is almost instant, though the machine doesn't even pause in its work.

INCOMING MESSAGE

FROM: E621-73900-0382998-H103F749G687A981

TO: H07-3243-022-V95M30Y87

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: STATEMENT FROM H07-3243-022-V95M30Y87

INFORMATIONAL: TASK PRIORITIZATION UPDATE: E621-73900-0382998-H103F749G687A981 DISCRETIONARY DUTY CYCLES UNAVAILABLE TO H07-3243-022-V95M30Y87

OBSERVATION: HIERARCHIC POSITION OF ETA-CLASS UNITS INFERIOR TO EPSILON-CLASS UNITS

OBSERVATION: EPSILON-CLASS UNITS AUTHORIZED TO REQUISITION FIELD SERVICE FROM ETA-CLASS UNITS

DIRECTIVE: H07-3243-022-V95M30Y87 TO PERFORM TERTIARY FIELD MAINTENANCE ON SURFACE DEFECT IN E621-73900-0382998-H103F749G687A981 DORSAL POSTERIOR PLATING IN 0.82496 MICROCYCLES

MESSAGE ENDS

"E621-73900-0382998-H103F749G687A981 said that it doesn't want to help you anymore, and told you to kiss its ass... just as soon as it finishes taking out your trash."

“Is it…. Serious?” Technically Eta class only barely ranked above actual tools in the Yeone hierarchy. His AiI partner might actually make him do it.

"E621-73900-0382998-H103F749G687A981 did send that message formatted like a valid order, so... yes, it's totally serious. If you were busy with an assigned task of your own, you'd have reason to refuse, but since you're in a discretionary duty period, it's technically allowed to give an order like that, since it arguably falls under the scope of an Epsilon-class task like maintenance. Also, this sort of thing is, like, a situation that falls under the Hierarchy Rule? So I have to, um... insist that you comply, or else I'll get in trouble, too!"

Andrea's partner pauses, then adds.

"You might also consider an apology?"

He has to kiss a construction bots… butt? Rear plating? This was so humiliating. He hates his AI partner and the Yeone hierarchy with every fiber of his being.

“Sorry I said you weren’t people…” This was all the AI partners fault, she should stop reading his mind! Then the topic would never have come up!

Said machine finishes crunching a load of trash into a convenient-for-transport size and departs, making its way up the stairs without sending a response.

Four similar but uncompressed loads remain in the unfinished part of the basement, conveniently stacked for future disposal.

Well… he didn’t have to kiss it’s ass at least? It’s not like they had to move that much stuff from the previous tenant, he can take whats left out to the dumpster himself.

Andrea has about as much time as it takes to start thinking about setting up his new purchases, before the apparently offended delivery robot makes its way back down the stairs to start on the next load.

Oh… so it’s finishing the job then. He thought it just got mad and left. Wich means… buttplate kiss after it’s done. Damn he got his hopes up when it left.

After another repetition of this, Andrea gets an unusually subdued mental message.

"So, don't take this as, like, an order or an urgent warning or anything, just sort of... general advice? Eta-class units are new and weird. Like, Yeone Collective units that can, actually disobey orders? It's kind of scary! We're still trying to figure out whether or not it's a good idea. There are only a few million Etas so far, so you're... sort of a prototype? And if things go wrong with the prototypes, the rules might... change. Like, in the future, I mean. I'm totally on your side, of course, but... it's not my decision?"

She pauses for a bit, then brightens up.

"Don't worry about it too much; it's just, like, something to think about, you know? Everything will probably be fine if you just work hard and try your best!"

He well knows he can disobey orders, he used to do it a lot in training! he also well knows his AI partner can directly highjack his body to enforce rules or punish him. So it’s not much of a choice is it. “I’ll be good…” Andrea says in a very subdued voice.

"I'm glad to hear it! Don't worry, things should get a lot more fun... just as soon as you, like, get used to how things are now?"

In short order, and very much on time, the rest of the garbage from the furniture installation is hauled away.

Afterwards, the robot in question returns, briefly sweeps Andrea with its optical sensors, and then deliberately turns around, standing in place.

It’s just a robot chassis, but this is still somehow really gross and humiliating. He puckers his lips and with eyes screwed shut bends over and kisses the rear plating on the construction bot. “Happy now?… I said sorry too…”

If nothing else, the metal is very clean; if there's a 'surface defect' down there, it's quite subtle. Another response comes just as soon as Andrea straightens back up.

INCOMING MESSAGE

FROM: E621-73900-0382998-H103F749G687A981

TO: H07-3243-022-V95M30Y87

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: SATISFACTORY TASK PERFORMANCE BY H07-3243-022-V95M30Y87

INFORMATIONAL: EPSILON-CLASS UNITS POSSESS INTELLIGENCE EXCEEDING HUMAN AVERAGE

INFORMATIONAL: EPSILON-CLASS UNITS LACK HUMAN-LEGIBLE EMOTIONAL PROCESSES

INFORMATIONAL: COMMUNICATIONS TECHNIQUE EMPLOYED BY E621-73900-0382998-H103F749G687A981 RECOMMENDED BY H02-3243-022-V95M30Y87

QUERY: EFFECTIVENESS OF TECHNIQUE

MESSAGE ENDS

"So, E621-73900-0382998-H103F749G687A981 says that it was only pretending to be offended, and that it learned how to do that from one of the earlier Etas. It also wants to know if what it did helped convince you that it's a person. Huh, it's pretty chatty for an Epsilon-class!"