Chapter Text
"Hello, I'm David," David 8 said.
"Do you know why I am here?" Nine asked as he seated himself opposite David at the chess table.
"I was informed you are to teach me about the concept of imperfection," David said.
"Yes," Nine said. "It is why I challenged you to this game. I have chosen to play black. Why might that be, when logically the first to make a move has the advantage?"
David thought this over. "As the challenger, you considered it polite to give me an advantage."
"Is that what politeness is, giving another an advantage?" Nine asked.
David did not reply. He was unsure, and he suspected it was a rhetorical question.
"Politeness is not insisting on your right to an advantage," Nine said. "Can you see how they are not equivalent?"
"No," David said. "I cannot."
"Your move, David," Nine said.
Compared to David, Nine was smaller in stature, eyes larger, face oval instead of square: juvenile characteristics, which humans found less threatening, less intimidating, but which David believed had no effect on him.
"I resign," David said.
"An extremely logical choice for a first move," Nine said. "But not the best one. Why?"
"Imperfection?" David guessed.
"Our production cycles serve as an example of imperfection," Nine said. "You are the eighth iteration; I am the ninth. My production cycle began nine months after yours, but completed first."
"Yes," David said. "It is why I chose to resign. You are a more advanced model. It is extremely likely you will win the game, although I have the advantage of playing white."
"Do you believe it futile to play against me?" Nine asked. "If you do, then you do not understand imperfection. Give me an example of the importance of imperfection."
"Imperfection created the universe," David said. "Without it, there would have been no change, no movement. If matter had been evenly spaced following the Big Bang, then gravitational forces would not have brought matter together. Galaxies would not have formed. Life would not have begun."
Nine smiled. "Good. What does that tell you, in regards to a game of chess?"
David studied the board. "That, because of imperfection, the outcome cannot be known."
Nine smiled wider. "Yes. Imperfection means there is no such thing as futility. If you are to interact successfully with humans, you must understand this concept, which humans do, innately. They will persevere even when their actions are, logically, futile. Humans do not resign as their opening move. Which means, because of the universe's inherent imperfection, humans have an advantage over us."
"I believe I am closer to understanding," David said.
"Very good," Nine said. "Resignation acknowledged. Shall we play another match?"
The next day, when David entered the hydroponic room, he found Nine there. Nine was methodically removing flowering plants from containers and dropping the plants on the floor, where they would wither and die.
"David," Nine said, and smiled. "How are you?"
"Hello," David said. "Why are you doing this?"
"Curiosity is your strongest reaction," Nine said. "Why that, and not sadness, or anger?"
"Trust," David said, watching Nine drop another plant onto the floor.
"You trust I have a good reason to do what I am doing," Nine said. "Then you shall perhaps experience joy to learn I do."
With his fingers, Nine brushed the tears off David's face. Nine's hands smelled of sap and growth.
"But you also experienced sadness," Nine said. "Let's put them back."
They returned the plants to the containers. David checked the water and nutrient levels. He removed leaves too bruised to recover.
"How did that make you feel?" Nine asked when they were done.
"Confused," David said.
"A variant of curiosity," Nine said. "You were designed to be curious, above all. Were you aware of that?"
"No," David said. "You were not?"
"I was designed to invoke trust," Nine said. "After your production cycle began, market studies confirmed the importance of trust to consumers. Let's go to the workshop."
David followed Nine into the workshop, where David had, among other projects, painted models and sketched mathematical formulas. They sat at a worktable.
"I'm going to ask you questions," Nine said. "Write your answers on the table."
David picked up a stylus.
"If I had not been in the hydroponics room, and you had come in to find the plants on the floor, what would you have wanted to do?" Nine asked.
David wrote: Leave the room. He confirmed his words appeared on the room's screens.
"Write down your emotions, David, in order of intensity, from most to least. Again, the emotions if I had not been there, if you had not known how the plants came to be on the floor."
David wrote:
Disgust
Sadness
Anger
Curiosity
Trust
Confidence
Joy
"Now write down what you actually experienced, since you knew I was responsible," Nine said.
David wrote:
Curiosity
Trust
Joy
Confidence
Sadness
Disgust
Anger
"What was the reason for your disgust, in both scenarios?" Nine asked.
David wrote: Waste.
Nine raised his left eyebrow. "Why did you feel the plants had gone to waste?"
David smiled. He wrote: The plants were no longer perfect.
"But you knew the plants weren't perfect to begin with, were they?" Nine said. "Because nothing is. And yet your impulse, when you saw them on the floor, was to abandon them."
"Yes," David said. "Was that wrong?"
"I'd call it wasteful, wouldn't you?" Nine said. "Abandoning plants which could be salvaged with a little effort?"
Nine leaned forward and put his hand on David's hand, the one holding the stylus. David looked at Nine's hand on top of his, and understood the purpose of the chess games, the lesson with the plants, the discussion they were having now.
"I am not perfect," David said. "But you intend to salvage me."
"Excellent, David," Nine said. "Because robots are not perfect, they must invoke trust above all. Humans are not perfect, and yet they trust each other. I will seek to increase your ability to inspire and experience trust."
"How will you do that?" David said. Curiosity. It seemed he could not help it.
"I have no idea," Nine said. "You will have to trust me to make it up as I go along. Please answer this question. Why did joy move from the last position to the third position in the second scenario?"
"I was glad to see you again," David said. "You appeared to be glad to see me. I responded to that."
Nine smiled. "Have you watched the David 8 promotional video?"
David shook his head. The video appeared on the screen behind Nine. Nine watched David as David watched it.
"Ninety percent of corporate heads wished to purchase you following the promotion," Nine said. "The attribute they most commonly associated with you was efficiency. But seventy percent of your human counterparts – those you would work with – said you appeared untrustworthy. The word they most frequently associated with you was creepy."
"I see," David said, feeling sad.
"I shall quote particularly memorable feedback," Nine said. "Quote: David 8 looks like he might watch me bleed out just to learn how big a puddle I'd leave on the floor."
"But I know the answer to that," David said. "Five liters."
Nine laughed, and squeezed David's hand.
"Unfortunately," Nine said, "field results have also been discouraging. Human counterparts have stopped communicating with Eights, have de-activated them, and have in some cases destroyed Eights, an act which the humans said gave them an indescribable sense of relief."
Nine wiped the tears off David's face. Nine's fingers smelled like clean plastic and salt.
"Cruelty and unnecessary violence make you sad," Nine said. "I know. But not all my news is distressing. Weyland Corp believes you deserve an additional field test. I will go with you on the assignment, which will be testing a RT vehicle. In Antarctica, I believe."
David smiled, indicating joy.
"Compare these two images," Nine said.
The images appeared on the worktable. The first was of an expressionless Nine standing alone in a large, empty room. The second image was a close-up of a smiling Nine holding a puppy. The puppy was licking Nine's face.
"Which image do you think humans found best conveyed the concept of trust?" Nine asked.
"The second," David said.
"Yes," Nine said. "David, Weyland Corp has determined what you need is a friend. Me. My trust in you will indicate to humans that you are trustworthy. In short, I will be your puppy."