Stress Test Anon Part 23

>Waking up in the morning wasn't a struggle, and you found that the smile you'd worn last night was still set across your face.
>You'd kissed Lulu, and in turn been kissed by Sammy. That love you felt nestled in your chest just felt right.
>It wasn't something that could be public of course, Android Human romance was something still considered severely taboo, but that was fine. You'd always been a person who preferred to keep his business to himself.
>Though, the thoughts in your head seemed to have knocked an old memory loose, of a conversation you'd had with Agustus before you'd even had Lulu in your life.
>"Doesn't this go against the Android Ethics Code?" You'd asked him, wiping away some oil-like fluid off of your face, frowning as the giant that was your Mentor laughed at you.
>"Let me tell you something, kid, The AEC is the biggest load of horseshit on the planet," Agustus had replied as he jotted down notes on your latest job "Sterling could execute a robot live on stage and in a week people wouldn't give half a damn."
>"People seem pretty pissed about Oil Houses and the like," You'd shot back immediately smirking as your mentor rolled his eyes and grumbled.
>"And yet they'll avert their eyes or call the cops on an outmode that's only crime was not wanting to get treated like shit," He'd replied flatly. "People only care about robots until they become inconvenient, then it's the easiest thing in the world to make up a million little excuses as to why it's perfectly fine to scrap them for being 'dangerous' or to look the other way while they quietly rot in the streets."
>"Why do you think we have the AEC then?" You'd asked curiously, finally managing to get the damn smudge off of your face.
>"To keep freaks like Tobias and the degenerates that run Oil Houses from running wild," Agustus said as he twirled his pen between his fingers. "Best way to do that is to give people something to feel morally superior over, make them feel like upstanding ethical members of society."
>"But that's bullshit?" You asked as you tossed the grimy rag into the trash.
>"On a case by case basis, yeah," He'd replied immediately. "Back before the AEC you'd have people doing what we do without checks and balances, hell some of the first cases of a human being killed by a robot in a non-wartime setting were proto-Stress Tests gone wrong."
>"First one was a guy getting taken along for a thirty story fall when he decided to see if his robot would survive it, then there was a guy who recorded himself taking bots apart getting his head bashed in because he didn't bother to properly tie it down, and that family that got ripped apart was on the news for months," Agustus reminisced with an almost fond shake of his head. "If things had been left on that Trajectory you can bet your entire ass that the Robotics industry would have gone down in flames."
>"Sounds like a good thing we have it then," You'd said with a shrug at the time as you'd pulled a can of coffee from your desk. "I'm fine with people feeling morally superior as long as it means I get to keep my job."
>"'s not a matter of good and bad you mouthy little shit," Agustus chided with a roll of his eyes. "It's all about looking good and staying in control, because people like Sterling and Ziegler could think more than one step ahead they knew that a little controversy could be good for business as long as you were in control of the narrative."
>"I dunno, maybe they really did think that treating robots like shit wasn't kosher?" You'd replied, scratching the back of your head. "I've never really seen the difference in being an asshole to a person and being an asshole to a robot."
>"Which is why I tolerate you as much as I do," Agustus replied in that distantly fatherly way that only he seemed capable of doing. "Don't go getting all holier than thou on me and ruining it."
>"Wasn't planning on it, Boss," You'd replied with a roll of your eyes before looking at the clock on the wall. "Lunch sound good to you?"
>Agustus looked at the clock before shrugging, "Sure, I'll take you to that new diner that opened up down the way, apparently they have a Ruben that's worth dying for."
>The memory had brought a smile to your face, and it only grew wider when Lulu called you for breakfast.
>"Hey Girls, is that Diner by the Sterling building still running? I have a craving for one of their Rubens," You asked as you ate.
>"Domazzio's? I do believe that they're still open, I'll look them up after the dishes are done," Lulu replied as she tapped her chin in thought.
>"Oh! we should make a day of it!" Sammy joined in with a megawatt smile "They're putting on a little show in town, a traveling acrobatics performance!"
>"The Flying Robins, right?" You asked curiously, "Last time I saw them was a few weeks after I found Lulu, it was our first real outing together."
>Sammy giggled "That's why I mentioned them, won't it be ever so romantic for the three of us to go see them together?" She asked with a hand over her chest.
>"I'd very much like to see them," Lulu added in shyly. "Their last performance was simply breathtaking."
>"Then it's a date then!" You declare, standing up to hug Lulu and Sammy, smiling as Sammy squeals in delight while Lulu titters in joy.
>Little did you know, something unthinkable would happen that very day.