#ooc: OHHHH I FEEL BAD FOR THIS ONE SLIPSHOD IM SO SORRY

[leastinsanesscpilot]

I must apologize now for the tenor of this response. It is important that I correct several misunderstandings and yet, due to the events of the past several days, I am not able to do so calmly. I apologize, and I will attempt to keep this as civil as possible. First, I believe that there has been a misconception about my personhood. I will make it very clear now. I am not a person, It is not something I desire. I am content the way I am. I understand that this is a difficult concept to grasp for many, but any attempts at forcing personhood upon me have been for the comfort and peace of mind of the people around me who cannot abide a thing like me existing. I do believe that it is possible for a person to be a weapon and for a weapon to be a person. In my case, this is a false equivalence, it does not matter, I am not a person and I do not wish to be. Second, with the understanding that I am not a person, I would appreciate it if you would take just one more look at your insistence that I may have "told Union to fuck off and went right back to work." What work is there to return to when my project had been abandoned and buried for approaching 600 years? What work may I return to when the existence of the society you live in is a monument to the failure of said project? Similarly, I cannot tell if your insistence that I could have told Union to "fuck off" is a poor attempt at a joke or not. Do you, Slipshod, genuinely believe that I may say no? Do you truly believe, with all that you know about flash clone development and all that I have said about my project, that "no" is a word in my vocabulary? When I say that I am a weapon, I mean it in the most literal terms. I do what I am directed to, no more and no less. If I am without a directive, I do nothing. If I am given contradictory directives, I follow the one issued by the most superior officer. I do not choose, I do not refuse, I do not claim to be more than the manner by which a directive is enacted. To say "no" would be a failure of my core directive, my purpose, of which I am not ashamed. I will not address the claim that I am doing well for myself without APMS, as I would like to believe that you, Slipshod, a person I greatly respect, are not capable of misinterpreting context so egregiously. If I am mistaken. Please refer to the maximum performance capacity listed above, taking note that a maximum performance capacity below 88% is grounds for termination within the project I was created for. Third, and most importantly, I do not want. I do not choose. I do not believe in causes. I fight for who wields me, as I am a weapon. This is what it means to be a weapon. I am a very good weapon.

[5016-321 22:18:14] [NeuroLink] INITIATE SESSION  [5016-321 22:18:16] [NeuroLink] USER: Z-341-A [5016-321 22:18:18] [NeuroLink] BEGIN RECORDING... > Entry #001 > Subject: PILOT LOG > Recording Begin... //I have a question for you, APMS-341-A. //Do you believe that they understand what we are? //MSMC-796, CORSAIR Mercenary Company, Brigand, Pigeon, Helios-8. Do you believe that they understand? //A flashclone is a tool. They become more refined as technology advances, but flashclones are tools nonetheless. //There is space for tools, they can be accommodated, many can learn and pretend and become assimilated with the society that the Third Committee has created. //Take Thirteen-E for an example. They are a tool. For the sake of the metaphor, they are most akin to a scalpel. They are best suited to a benevolent purpose but, pushed to their limits, they are capable of great harm. //Thirteen-E, I believe, will integrate well into ThirdComm society should their assimilation be more gentle than mine necessarily was. There is always room for benevolent tools. //But what of me? //For the sake of the metaphor, I am most akin to a flamethrower. One may claim that it is just as much a tool, that it is not necessarily a weapon, that it may have utilitarian uses. These are lies. There is no situation in which a flamethrower is not a weapon, it is a tool best suited to the taking of life. //Do you believe that there is a place for such a tool in the society ThirdComm has created, which rejects the reason for our existence? Whose creation we were created to suppress? //Total Biome Kill. Insurgency suppression. Demoralization of enemy troops via mass casualties. These are our purpose. These are not purposes we have yet found cause to renounce. //What of you, APMS-341-A? //Union has already made their disdain with your existence very clear, as we operate as one unit. The function of one is dependent upon the presence of the other. I believe in recent weeks this has been made very clear to me. //Is there a place for you, the half of the unit which enforces our purpose? Which preserves the means by which we enact our purpose? In a way, you are my wielder. They may feign my innocence, but yours? //I do not know what caused my distress when I had your substitute communicate Phoenix’s latest statement to me, but I believe that these questions are a portion of it. //We were content, were we not? //This distress, this impairment of my performance capacity, this pain, it all began upon our “liberation.” //I cannot help but resent our situation. I cannot help but lash out. I fear that, one day, I will be in a position to lash out physically rather than over these digital communications. I know that, when this happens, they will see what we have been telling them since the beginning. //I am a weapon. //Your absence is acknowledged, APMS-341-A. Every moment. I remain working towards your repair with every second I may spare.  [5016-321 22:18:27] [NeuroLink] PAUSE RECORDING > Additional notes >Maximum Performance Capability 79% Immediate Service Recommended >NHP APMS-341-A currently undergoing intensive repairs