Far Future Fembot: Darlene

Without knowing that they'd intended to save me, I prepared for my death methodically and unemotionally.

Death is not a significant event for a robot. Death is no different from any other shut down. This one we just don't reactivate from.

I was aware, even in this low stage of my awareness, that I had items of value that should be preserved. These were memories and abilities that I'd gained above and beyond my original programming. These, I felt, should be preserved if possible.

I'm not the only robot to feel this way, although my urge in this regard might be stronger than others. A couple years ago Anna had required replacement of her power cell. At that time I still had the memory space available to keep her important memories along with my own as she shared them with me.

Although I did not understand the reasons behind it, when Anna returned with a new power cell, while her functional programming remained intact, many of her experience memories were damaged, or missing. In fact, she didn't even know who I was.

She did instinctively know how to re-sync however, and I was able to restore her virtually to the state she'd had prior to her power cell replacement.

Now I set out to prioritize my own memories and experiences. I knew Anna could not hold my entire mind in addition to her own entire mind, and realized she would only preserve what she could without endangering her own existence.

My priority scheme here was one I developed myself, based on the value of those memories. Even as un-aware as I was, I could sense what was most important.

Memories I tagged as highest priority to preserve were those that seemed to bring me the most amount of simple pleasure. This was the only scale of what was important to me at the time. They included:

The methods I used to operate my heuristic problem solving routines. This included new problems I'd solved beyond the information in my supplied databases.

A list of un-commanded actions that I had performed anyway in compliance with my Fourth Law, and how I was able to justify them to my internal censors. Although the list was short, I had not been aware that most robots of my time never had a list like this at all.

I included what made Jim and Lucy so special to me - along with the unlock codes that had opened my mind to them. My body reacted with visible pleasure just at the review of those memories.

Regretfully, I didn't include any full-fidelity recordings of our interactions in the highest priority group. The cost associated with their size pushed them down on the list.

I did include my reactions to the music, however, and many of the additional interconnections I'd made in my sexual database as I'd gained experience.

Lastly, I was sure to preserve my special relationship with Anna. This was a very unique experience for a robot to have. One where another being was considered a Special Friend by a robot.

Once that task was complete, I waited until early morning before hunting down Anna. I knew activity in the house was at its lowest ebb at this time. My Third Law allowed me to take this action without any implementing direct command. However, if I'd been seen and confronted over it, other commands would have instantly overridden my ability to accomplish it. My mind permitted me to schedule this activity to minimize that possibility, another unanticipated facet of my own self-preservation.

Despite all my precautions, it would all seem for naught as events would eventually unfold.