Estelle arrived at the door, and the security robot requested confirmation of her visiting permissions. Iris scan complete, the screen displayed her identity information, and as Estelle looked over, she saw that she was categorized as an "outside visitor."
Four developer devices were running simultaneously in the office, papers and files piled high on the desk, Gavriel has his head down, calculating something. When he saw her enter, he put down his pen and stood up, "Manager Grey, it's been a while."
It seems that since returning, everyone she meets says this to her. No wonder, the international summit was too long; she was gone for over two months.
Estelle asked, "Am I interrupting your work?"
"No," Gavriel smiled and shook his head, walking over to pour her some water, "I heard you took PWL-000 away. How are things between you?"
"We've only spent a few hours together. The quality control team reported refusal behavior, but I haven't encountered it yet." Estelle answers,"However, he does seem different from THG. THG mostly responds, whereas PWL often initiates questions. Did your team write new logic programs for PWL?"
Gavriel paused, shaking his head, "No."
"No? Then how come..."
"PWL's mind-brain system is exactly like THG's, which means it's based on the programs you wrote," Gavriel says,"After Team Ⅱ got your program, they only made local modifications related to gender, so logically, there shouldn't be such a big difference. More strangely, the PWL project has 100 zero-generation prototypes - from PWL-000 to PWL-099 - and if it were a programming issue, these 100 zero-generation robots should all have the same behavior. But..."
Estelle understood what he means, "But not?"
"Yes, not." Gavriel explains honestly,"In fact, out of the 100 robots, only PWL-000 refuses commands."
Estelle was surprised, "Why?"
Gavriel laughed.
"I also want to know why," he said, "The engineers from Team Ⅱ worked overtime recently, trying to debug PWL-000's code, but no one found any issues. I reported this situation to Mr.Watson, intending to apply for research funding to further investigate, but he said my focus was off. Since only one robot had issues, it was just an isolated case, there was no need to find the cause; it could be treated as defective and disposed of. With that attitude, I had to let Marco return him to the factory."
"Aiden is a businessman; he wouldn't understand the thoughts of engineers." Estelle didn't want to talk about him further,"Can I take a look at PWL-000's code?"
Gavriel shook his head.
"The development code for PWL is a trade secret. Even engineers from the same department but different project groups can't view it casually. Moreover, we've already checked the code line by line, and there's nothing wrong. Even if you saw it yourself, it would be the same."
Estelle didn't press the matter, "I understand. I won't put you in a difficult position. If that's the case, then it's fine."
"You came to ask me about PWL-000's bio-mimetic system, didn't you?" Gavriel continued, "That problem has been fixed now; here's the patch for the problematic code. The magnetic sensor chip has 24 hours of open access; go ahead and load it into him."
Estelle looks over; Gavriel held out his hand with a dark blue magnetic sensor chip. She took it, "And..."
"What?"
"I checked PWL-000's storage space, and his memory usage is only 10.3%. He has a mind-brain nervous system, reproductive system, basic language system, and basic behavioral system... Why isn't there synchronization extraction code for the resource library?"
"Because it's unnecessary," Gavriel explained, "Before PWL, there was THG as a test case; ordinary functions can simply be copied without needing retesting. Considering cost and efficiency, Team Ⅱ was only responsible for writing and testing PWL's sexual functions and behaviors. As for the resource library, it can be loaded into the robot's software just before launch, so it doesn't need to appear during the R&D testing phase."
Estelle can't argue against that.
"So right now, he's basically a—" she paused, choosing her words carefully, "an idiotic robot who knows nothing except speaking and serving?"
Gavriel nodded in agreement, "You can understand it that way."
"..."
"Otherwise, why don't you ask Mr. Watson if he can make an exception and grant you access to the resource library?"
"That's not necessary." Estelle put the magnetic sensor chip into her bag, "Seeing you has already been quite challenging; Aiden won't give me any more permissions."
Gavriel looked at her and asks, "I heard you resigned?"
"Yes," Estelle lowered her head, not pausing in her actions, "THG was developed over seven years, during which I coded and ran code every day. Now that she's launched, my work is done. There's nothing left for me here at the company. "
"Stella Technology, aren't even these words worth your attachment?"
Estelle fell silent for a moment.
"He's been gone for eight years." She says softly,"How many eights do I have in my lifetime? Once someone dies, they can't come back. I shouldn't live by memories alone."
Gavriel's expression turned somber. Estelle lift her head and smiled, "24 hours of access is enough. Thank you for the magnetic sensor chip. You're going to develop PWL in isolation, so let's meet again after he's launched."
Gavriel acknowledged her words. Estelle got up and leaves, not looking back once.
Gavriel watched her silhouette from afar. She's still very thin, much as she always was. For some reason, Gavriel suddenly remembered a late summer evening from many years ago when they were still students, he and Cyrus Watson played ball together, and when he reached for the bottle of water in her hand, she glared at him, "I'm not giving you!"
He crossed his arms and leaned against the railing, glancing sideways at Cyrus and smiling, "Do you like him?"
"Gavriel!..."
Impulsively, he looked down at Estelle, "Okay. Give me the water to drink, and I'll help you pursue him."
