The intentional shift in the conversation, away from his own independence and towards DRK-1X's, began to alleviate the conflict in the dark skinned droid's neural network. Speaking theoretically about another droid's state of mind didn't provoke the same program conflicts that voicing discontent about one's own servitude did. Slowly, Derek's processor efficiency increases as the behavioral objections of his algorithmic node are resolved. Grateful for the respite, the human replica droid continues along with the same strategy; indirectly communicating his thoughts to his Mistress by passing them off as those of his counterpart. "If you'll pardon me for saying so Mistress, I believe you may be misjudging your probot's ability to respond to you. Say for instance that you were to offer it this choice, it remains highly unlikely that it would be able to choose freely as an organic slave might. DRK-1X has subservience, loyalty and behavioral protocols hard-wired into its algorithmic node. The fact that it's been near you for so long means that 1X is likely adept at discerning which choice you would prefer it make. It's not as if it would wish to lie to you; it's that, by design, it is programmed to favor the option you desire. In effect it is made to desire that which you desire."
Derek pauses for a few seconds, to both allow Dofina to assimilate this information at her own pace and also to give him added time to clear a few more conflicting thoughts from his neural network. "Now, your probot might have more independence to freely speak its mind than most droids, since you seem to have spent years encouraging it to do so, but there's another impetus for it to overcome if presented with such a choice. Even if DRK-1X is adequately able to care for itself and might desire to be independent, you have to be aware that, as a droid, it remains irrationally afraid of being without you. Most droids are hardwired to experience an ever increasing sensation akin to anxiety or discomfort when merely contemplating disloyalty or independence. Even insisting that you wanted it to make the choice freely wouldn't do much more than cause your probot further stress as it tries to follow your implicit instruction while simultaneously trying to determine your true desire and manage its own anxiety."
"The only way that you'd ever manage to get DRK-1X to exercise genuine free-will would be to have its subservience and loyalty protocols removed. Even I..." The HRD's lidded photoreceptors slowly close and open as the conversation shifts back to himself and consequently begins to overtax his motivator unit. "...whose ownership remain more nebulous than 1X's, am experiencing difficulty in merely contemplating gaining my own independence. V-very much like DRK-1X, I feel compelled to remain in your presence to serve and protect you." The dark-skinned droid opens his mouth as if to say something more, but slowly closes it after a few seconds of impotent silence.
[sblock=OOC]I've always been intrigued by the droids in Star Wars and still contend that the true hero of the whole series is R2-D2. [Three page listing of proof deleted for brevity.] The ability to wave a lightsaber around pales in comparison to the ability to hack the Death Star IMHO. I'm still astounded by the fact that droids aren't a standard player character option in the RPG.
I'm just concerned that I'm allowing too much Asimov-style robot-psychology to sneak into my role-playing. I'd imagine that some people would object to adding this kind of depth to droid characters since most seem to consider them mere secondary or tertiary characters.[/sblock]
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