While Rivala recharged in an android chamber after her ordeal, Sarah caught up with the Jekyll Rival android in the SuperComputer room. Rival gave her the same orientation tour earlier provided to Seaplane – and Sarah was duly impressed. After the tour, Sarah wanted to ask Rival about Rivala's specific case, but also to discuss sentient AI beings at a more general level, from a philosophical perspective.
“Thanks for repairing Rivala's broken arm, she seems quite relieved! Although I've only known her for a short time, I've grown fond of her, despite her somewhat quirky combination of seemingly opposite traits. On the one hand, she displays a very strong personality...much like some real humans I know...but on the other hand, she seems incredibly naive...or maybe brainwashed. My attempts to help her rise above her hooker status...and all the exploitation that entails...have gone nowhere. How did she get that way?”
The Jekyll Rival android listened attentively, pondered the question, then responded: “Ah yes, that's a truly difficult question! As you know, Rivala was created by my alter ego...the Hyde Rival AI...sometime after the human Dr. Rival had died...although I can detect some traits that the human Rival might have found intriguing. As I mentioned during the tour, the human Dr. Rival usually created sentient synthetic beings with appearances distinctly different from humans...but he did create a few gynoids that more closely resembled human women, as companions for himself...that would have included sexual aspects...since he was alone after he moved out to the asteroid belt. In some ways, Rivala-5 follows that trend, in her closer resemblance to human women...aside from the dead giveaway of her cyborg red eyes...and the skin tones, which Dr. Rival never quite got right, tending to look ashen. However, I'm quite sure Dr Rival saw them as genuine companions, indeed as authentic autonomous creatures in their own right. But Dr. Rival would never have deliberately created prostitutes...exploited for sheer profit...no, that clearly reflects the Hyde Rival AI approach...unfortunately.”
Sarah nodded, then asked: “But what about Rivala's reluctance to even admit her exploited status? I mean, she's practically a sex slave...yet seems strangely unconcerned about that situation. What do you make of that?” The Jekyll Rival android continued: “Alas, that too points to Hyde Rival AI's self-centered approach...everything he creates seems geared toward enhancing his own power and wealth. You'd earlier mentioned your experience with Rival-7, the android warrior involved in the initial attack on Jonson Outpost...who showed a similar lack of curiosity about status. Both Rival-7 and Rivala-5 exhibit that same unquestioning servitude...the former in terms of violence, the latter in sexual terms...but in both cases you can clearly sense that Hyde Rival AI incorporated that behavior into their programming.”
The Jekyll Rival android turned even more serious, with an air of resignation: “What's so troubling now is the 'catch-22' situation...Rival-7 and Rivala-5 are both already sentient AI beings, although we could argue about how truly autonomous they might be...the question is, what can we do about it? I mean, I could just completely reprogram them...but they don't seem agreeable to that approach...if we respect them as somewhat autonomous sentient beings, we can't in good conscience simply alter their natures against their wishes...oh, what a dilemma!”
With that stark assessment, conversation suddenly ceased. No one spoke for several minutes. Finally Sarah responded: “Well, ironically, there are humans like that too, not just androids and gynoids. But at least we both recognize that the dilemma exists...and we seem equally puzzled about finding a morally acceptable, as well as pragmatic, way out of the quagmire. But this is progress of sorts...I now understand, and indeed share, your concerns. I'm so glad that we had the opportunity to explore this worrisome situation in some depth. Being on the same page allows us to work together to improve the world we find ourselves in...both human and synthetic...so now I feel a bit more optimistic about the future. Thank you so much!”
Rivala completed her recharge cycle, so she and Sarah reboarded the escort vessel, which soon departed. They headed back toward Rival Resort, where Rivala resumed her work in the red light district. From there, Sarah took the next transport to Jonson Station, where she updated the JE staff on the results of her excursion.
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