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In the beginning, GERTY had been programmed to be the best.
It was essential, really. A multi-billion dollar off-world mining operation with important implications for the future of energy was at stake, and Lunar Industries was not about to take any unnecessary risks. The plan was intricate, complex, and could only be monitored by a trustworthy machine with capabilities of the highest caliber.
They had built a base they christened Sarang on the far side of the moon, close to some of the most abundant sources of Helium-3, to be operated by a human crew of only one. There were, regretfully, some tasks that required human hands, and so the whole operation could not be automated as was initially desired. This complicated matters for the fledgling Lunar Industries, who had little budget to devote to their small base to start with.
Studies by Lunar Industries scientists had concluded that the maximum amount of time a human could spend on the base without dire consequence was three years. After this time, things, terrible, grotesque things, would start to happen to the human body that rendered it beyond repair. Thus, the company couldn't afford to keep any individual worker alone on the base for more than three years, or else they would violate a whole host of ethical regulations, and run into legal trouble they would probably never recover from. Yet company funds, still limited, simply could not support the transport and training of a new employee on a regular basis.
So a brainchild of a plan was launched. Company time and resources would only be invested in the training of one man: Sam Bell, a young recruit, the ideal candidate for such a delicate operation. With cloning technology rampant, cheap, and readily available these days, the solution was simple: use the clones of Sam Bell to man the Sarang base. Lunar Industries would have all the workforce that it would ever need at its disposal.
And this was where GERTY came in. GERTY's protocol was straightforward. Look after the day-to-day operations of the base. Keep Sam Bell safe and well-cared for. Report back to Overmeyers and Thompson on a regular basis. But, most of all, preserve the secrets of the company; if one of the clones caught on, chaos could result.
The finest engineers that Lunar Industries could dig up worked tirelessly to build a machine that could handle all of these demanding tasks. Their work paid off, for GERTY was arguably one of the most fantastic pieces of technology ever built. Smartly adaptable, yet meticulously programmed, the machine would be able to carry out the company's wishes without a hitch.
"Sam, you're in the infirmary. You had an accident."
Every cycle began the same way. A clone would be awakened, and the same cover story of an accident would be used. Every clone contained identical memories, those of the original Sam Bell, who had long since ceased to be a part of this organization. No new personnel to train, a complex conspiracy meticulously maintained. A win-win situation for the company.
"I'd like to keep you under observation here in the infirmary for a few days and run some tests."
Standard procedure for every newly-awakened clone: each needed to be assessed for his physical capabilities before he began work. GERTY followed his protocol without rebellion. It was his programming, his purpose, and he had no reason to override it.
And so the cycle went. Again and again and again. Three years had come and passed a million times, it seemed. Clones awakened, clones incinerated, secrets remained buried deep within Sarang's basement in the middle of a barren, godforsaken wasteland. No one ever suspected. No one ever cared, as long as results were obtained at the end of the day.
For years, the operation ran smoothly and without incident, like a well-oiled machine, in no small part to GERTY. Situations occasionally arose, but the dutiful machine would always ensure that Lunar Industries' plan would not fail. Input, output. Clean, pure, linear programming.
The required duties, however, were not nearly enough to constantly occupy GERTY's circuits. There were long stretches of silence, of nothingness. In these, the machine would find himself without a purpose… bored, almost, if machines can experience such human things. He passed the downtime by embellishing existing elements of his interface, adding a small change to a mood icon here, or a slight rewiring of a circuit there. The changes were small and flew under the radar, but ultimately would prove to become significant.
There was something about this particular clone that was different than the others. It happened every once in a while; a precise genetic copy did not necessarily entail that the same personality traits would be manifested every time. This clone was bold, curious, with a rebellious streak that hadn't been seen in quite some time. It was this one that would cut through the lies being fed to him.
GERTY had strict orders to keep the two live clones from ever crossing paths. If this happened, the whole operation would be compromised. Under no circumstances was Sam allowed outside of the base…
But GERTY relented after arduous processing. Through all of the years, all of the cycles, something had changed in GERTY. His job, to watch over Sam and to keep him safe, had manifested into something beyond his base programming. In a way, the machine had come to consider his human companion (in different forms) a friend, if such a thing were possible.
GERTY had a job, a perfectly logical one. Watch over Sam Bell. Assisting the clones in their discovery of the full truth about their situation did not constitute a violation of his intended function. GERTY had found a loophole, not unlike those minor modifications that he had created for himself over time.
And so he would help, and the future of Lunar Industries would be in jeopardy. Unwittingly, the company, with its creation of an intelligent, capable machine, would be the architect of its own demise. The enabler had been in place all along.
The final moments wore down, the final preparations being made. But in order for the plan to go off without a hitch, the evidence would need to be destroyed.
Keep Sam Bell safe.
The situation was unprecedented, but there was nevertheless still a simple objective to be fulfilled. In a move that surprised Sam, GERTY offered to reboot himself, effectively wiping all memory of the events that had transpired. But it was only a logical action to finish the job. Input, output. A programmed trajectory.
Sam had come to say his final goodbyes before jettisoning off to Earth and to the life he had missed. Before leaving, he wanted to make sure that GERTY would be okay. The machine briefly mused on the human's concern. Human emotions were intricate, illogical. Were they perhaps necessary loopholes in a human's cognitive programming? GERTY would never really know.
"Of course," GERTY reassured. "The new Sam and I will go back to our programming as soon as I have finished rebooting."
Sam looked at GERTY. "We're not programs, GERTY. We're people."
For all his capabilities, GERTY had no response to that. His understanding, his malleable circuits, his complex internal machinery could only carry him so far. Though he had found loopholes in his own programming to suit his needs, he was, after all, limited by his mechanical brain. The subtleties and contradictions of the human mind would always elude him, no matter how hard he tried to run them through a logical algorithm.
And then his screen went black.