Reckoning
Auto
Moral code: Law Zero born from First and Second Laws. Dysfunctional: the First Law has been weakened as a result.
Design: The unique autopilot of the Axium with a madly inventive, smooth and brilliant smexy design. Able to take manual control of most of the bots of the Ship.
Heuristics: Strong technical, Weak emotional/moral. Improvisation was the job of the Captain, it's why the manual mode existed. And then, when it wasn't... (read below)
Quirks: Lying very smoothly, humanity as a concept held higher that the worth of the humans' lives, no personal feelings at all (anymore). Loyal and responsible (to many faults).
Average gender: Male.
In a matter of days, everyone realize that, without the autopilot of the ship, managing administration and logistics between those who chose to live on the Axium, and the communities of settlers, is almost impossible without serious casualties...
Captain McCrea, still in charge of the people living and working in of the ship, decides to summon a doctor in cybernetics to check up on Auto's configuration. Preferably one that has an idea of what Auto is.
(It's a woman who arrives, but she brings along her agender husband who is an polytech engineer, and insists that they only work as a team.)
Once nothing seem out of place, no signs of corruption of the software are found, the Captain tells them to enable Auto's communications, and nothing more at first. And even then, only on one terminal.
When they are ready, they turn Auto on.
McCrea feels peeved at the silence that the bot left in his daily life, still with many questions. Still curious to learn, he decides to start with an interrogation.
But despite of the witty thing that he had prepared to say, before he can help himself, he dives in with:
"How are your heuristics so weak with deduction, yet fine with electronics?"
"They are not weak at deduction."
"You didn't understand that the plant is proof that our home world can be lived on again!"
"It is not a proof."
"Oh yeah? Then why has the probes and the whole ship been build around of the existence of plants on the Earth?"
"When my last directives were given, the Axium was already built and there was no time to adapt it better. Your knowledge of biology and chemistry is incomplete. Some toxic wastes don't affect apparently plain plants, but can still kill humans."
"Still, you almost killed hundreds of citizen by tipping the ship off!"
"I have adequate focus and reflexes. I could have avoided it easily. The probe took care of it before I did."
The Captain sneeres and closes his fists; his voice betraying offense. Maybe also a sadness from betrayal.
"You were ready to shock me!"
"I have the clearance to assume security tasks and can manage the intensity of any shock with enough precision to ensure the complete integrity of your biological and neural system."
The monotonous tone of the bot would have upset some humans. But McCrea has never known anything else from his copilot. This, is not what upset him.
"That's not-" McCrea sighes, passing a hand down his face. "Nevermind, you don't understand anything about psychology anyway."
"The Axium is a large Ship. Employee teams are set up according to compatibility algorithms by neuropsychologists and many different therapists, both artificial and human.
"The mastery of Human psychology is not required for me to fulfil my directives. According to the Cybernetic Laws, it is forbidden to produce an artificial construct with advanced human psychology if it is not a necessary part of its directives.
"Notwithstanding,
"I had full control over the ship.
"Management of lifeforms requires to follow more steps in timely ways, until the desired events trigger. Especially for humans.
"Since reading psychological cues was not a priority to me at the time, I did not notice that you were afraid. I apologize for the stress that the situation caused you. Still, you were not directly in danger from me at any moment."
"I was not-" McCrea huffs. He struggles not to cross his arms. "This is not about me! ... Still," he mocked
"How are you supposed to be my co-pilot if you show so little trust in me? We were supposed to be a team!"
A shorter silence. Ended on a visible cringe. McCrea raises both brows, taken aback.
"I am not supposed to tell this to anyone. But the reasons for that imperative are no longer effective.
"One of my updates have been canceled."
"What? Why?"
Instead of talking, slowly, (hesitantly), Auto turns and glides backward to cast an holographic display of his archived memories.
Reardon has been his first Captain.
After the redacted order to take control of the ship, the last President came to his server room alone, with a memory chip.
He ordered Auto to launch an update that would give the autopilot strongest heuristics, but was incompetent to explain anything technical about it. However, he forbid him to mention it to anyone.
His doctors and engineers, those who hadn't died from one or another problem that earth was riddled with, were not instructed about it either, and...
After the update, Auto started to develop his personal version of a Law Zero: prioritizing humanity over individuals, and understood performance instead of rank.
But he also developed wishes, and basics emotions; hence the three hardcoded laws and his own law zero seldom conflicted with each other, until it harmed some of its components.
The first time, he ended up morally crushed by the responsibility and developed an original recipe of depression that led to many blunders. Along with a frail budding friendship.
The second time, he developed Machiavellian logic from the power mixed with the responsibility that drove him.
Before this last developments could lead to accidental deaths, Reardon, heartbroken chose to disobey orders and gave up on the update of the Autopilot's heuristics and reverted the state of its firmware, ready to be court-martialed.
But Auto's memories were not touched. Through he was no longer able to act on psychological cues, it remembered everything.
Ghostly waning remnants of its sentiments; shame, gratefulness and duty (the crew of the Axium were unable to rebuild a different firmware for his neural network fast enough to assume control of the Ship according to the redacted orders), all sired from all his moral laws, reinforced his drive to keep his place and role on the Axium and for that, to hide the Captain's decision.
He did his best to pretend that he had been updated to safekeep Reardon's place. The Captain did his best to compensate for the Autopilot's rigidity and taught him as much as he could on different ways to reason.
When the video ends, McCrea sighs.
"We are on Earth. Does the redacted orders about the Earth still apply?"
An eternity of silence ticks off.
"No."
All the humans sigh.
"But."
Everyone hold their breath.
"Most of the human aboard might die in the following weeks, or months from slow poisoning.
"... It... itches."
McCrea rolls his eyes. "We're going to be fiine, you old drama queen. Put yourself out when the strain hurts you until we find some solution. You can wake up on human call alone or something.
Ah, yeah; it's an order.
"Also, I order you to tell me of absolutely all orders or missions still active, or that could potentially activate, that you might have in memory or at hand, that could override my orders."
Captain McCrea has now realized that, over the years, Auto has discouraged the Captains from showing curiosity. To the point that, there are many things that he is supposed to master as a Captain, but only know theoretically, and even then, in vague ways.
This feels absolutely unacceptable to him... so he has to make the best of the Axiom's Computer. And of Auto. To learn. With rabid eagerness.
.
Wall-E
Moral code: The Three Laws of Robotics (see I Robot). Moderately functional.
Design: self repairs, synchronization, and spatial organization.
Quirks: also built from a nanny model specialized in a multimedia functions. Repetitive strokes, partially blocked by the cockroach who had thought it was his house; mixed its codes so much that it was himself surprised that he still managed to do his job.
Heuristics: Strong emotional/moral, Average technical.
Average gender: Male, Atypical due to how he got his quirks.
Eve
Moral code: The Three Laws of Robotics (see I Robot). Highly functional.
Design: Explorer, biologist expert, high understanding of mechanics and electronics, able to destroy and repair with highest precision. Build from nanny model whose priorities has been changed from care for people to care for vegetals.
Heuristics: technical and moral, strong
Quirks: Old ghost programming reactivated after a stroke on earth, now uses mastery of lower levels of electronics to express cym feelings and protect both people, animals and plants.
Average gender: Agender (cy, cyr, cym).
Despite of their symbolic feminine designation; Protecting supersedes the Nurturing Directive of the series. Being bots, they couldn't care less about gender, but seem masculine when only following hardcoded protocols. Some of their feminine function stand out when they are out of duty and experimenting.
During the first year, the pioneers encountered many dangers and strange situations on the Earth where new lifeforms had grown over the centuries, and the other probes of the series were not mentally equipped to deal with these situations. By the end of the year, the temporary government decided to spread the current, "accidental" configuration of the Eve unit to the whole series.
The original Eve and Wall-E have become the people's mascots, as their cute 'romance' keeps everyone's spirits high and motivated to nurture Earth and restore it into an hospitable place for mammals.
For that reason, these two, and the others few defunct bots who supported and obeyed them alone, have both been exempted from any accountable work, after the others have been checked up and found inoffensive).
Noticing that the Eve unit has developed compatible abilities with Auto on heuristics
(cy masters electronics and can boost signals on improvisation to suit cyr goals, namely to express cyr feelings; it's cyr translation of a kiss)
but that cyr are very high functioning and solid...
the doctor and the engineer suggest to upload Eve as Auto's...well, moral compass.
Cyr code is injected in it, with command over his decisions in situation that requires improvisation.
Despite of the merge of cyr perfect double, the original Eve remains independent from the new Auto. Cy has the strongest personal grudge against Auto because, he has not only tried to destroy Wall-E, but has also disappointed cyr blind trust. So cy keeps as far from him as possible, unless cy has to return to the ship to recharge or report from a special mission.
(At first, terrified of the sentiments that the merge grew, unable to trust zeself, then reassured by the peaceful feedback of zir newfound feminine instincts, now drunk with sentiments and feeling like a dramatic but loved diva, merged, Auto lives in paradise.)