I stand near the door at my station, eyes flickering to observe as I sort my data and inputs simultaneously. I stand there for a logged time of 30.23 minutes before an alert notifies me of a malfunctioning unit in lab #4. I’m off in half a second, bounding effortlessly down the halls as the scientists there relay the situation. I slide around the corner of the lab’s doorway, gun raised and aimed at the unit's head, who was flailing in a panic while the guards try to restrain it. I almost scoff - humans against a synthetic? Laughable.

“Unit 382. Stand down, or I will be forced to terminate you.” I fully understood why it was panicking. It’s visual inputs suddenly went out - it was blind - but protocol overruled that. 1 second, 2 seconds, three - I fire. It was a waste, but the idiot scientists around sag in relief as the unit’s body slumps, blue blood seeping from the hole in it’s head now. I’d look disgusted if I could. It was protocol, but I’d killed a panicking unit because it was blind.

…. Sometimes I hate that humans made us this way. To have emotions - yet they expect us to remain indifferent and calm when we’ve suddenly gone blind or lost all feeling or started losing memories. I scan the room, simply checking the other units working about the lab as assistants.