Arron and Kix sat inside the small garage that was now even more cramped with the two large metal boxes.
They were quietly skimming over the thousands of pages of research data that had not been redacted, trying to get familiar with their new prototypes.
“When the chief said they had something for us to test out, this was definitely not what I expected,” said Arron as he finished scrolling through the information on the secure data-pad.
“Let me see yours, I want to see if the information is similar for both prototypes,” said Kix looking back and forth between the two long scrolling documents comparing the information.
“For the most part, they look similar. The only differences are their personalities and a few different built-in functions.”
“Should we open the boxes up and check them out?” asked Arron.
Kix looked at his helmet’s clock overlay in the corner of his visor.
“We have half an hour left so we better get them set up for the patrol,” said Kix while they walked over to the two boxes.
Using the digital keys included with the secure data-pads the two metal boxes released their locks with a whirring hiss. The top of each box retracted and the four metal walls flopped open revealing the prototypes inside.
“I thought they said these were supposed to be like puppies?” said Arron as he looked at prototype #2 Chewy.
“I think they were talking about their personalities, not their size,” said Kix.
Both prototypes were immobile sitting on their hind legs. Their height when standing on all four legs would be able to easily be around Arron’s hip.
Arron looked between the two prototypes and noticed significant differences in their appearances.
Chewy’s metallic body was a light blue with black lettering M1 on both of its sides. Spike’s body was all black with white lettering M1 on its sides.
While Chewy’s body was smooth with nothing standing out. Spike was different, having a large spike on its forehead as well as a metal dog collar that had several spikes protruding from it.
“So this is the new B-rank para-steel formula?” said Arron as he walked around Chewy and used his knuckle to tap on the armored body a few times.
“Hmm, no reaction… looks like they are in sleep mode.”
“Before we take them out of sleep mode we need to pair them up with our NerViz implant so that we can give them commands and keep them under control,” said Kix, glancing between the instructions on the secure data-pad and the dormant Spike in front of him.
“Right… the chief would not be happy if we activated them and they caused trouble,” said Arron while scrolling down to the instructions on how to link up to the prototype.
“Right… just flip this open… ah the security code,” Arron reached out and felt around the back of Chewy’s metal dog collar. At the back of the neck, he found a small latch that popped open only after he entered the security code.
A small blue button was revealed once the latch popped open.
Arron continued to follow the detailed instructions.
“Press and hold for 30 seconds to add a new partner…”
When thirty seconds passed the blank digital eyes of Chewy lit up with a golden light coming from each eye.
“Place your hand that contains your NerViz cloud-chip onto the prototype’s head as if petting it…”
Arron felt a slight static buzz come from Chewy’s head when he placed his hand flat atop the metallic head.
As he did so the golden digital eyes of Chewy squinted while it received Arron’s data and created a link.
3 seconds later the static buzzing disappeared and the golden light from the eyes disappeared.
The latch at the back of Chewy’s head automatically closed with a click and the linking process was complete.
Arron looked over to Kix and saw that the light that was slowly disappearing from Spike’s digital eyes was a deep red.
Both Arron and Kix kept their hands atop the prototype robo-dogs head and nodded to each other.
“Chewy, activate!” “Spike, activate!”
Chewy’s yellow digital eyes once again lit up and were squinting in pleasure at being patted by Arron, its tail began to wag side to side as it sat there.
Arron stepped back to inspect the now-activated Chewy and see what it would do.
Curiously, Chewy’s head looked around the cramped garage with much energy. Audible robotic sniffing sounds could be heard as the scanners in Chewy’s nose began to scan and identify everything around it.
Unlike the energetic Chewy, Spike sat straight and looked directly at Kix.
“GRRR,” he let out a low robotic growl acknowledging Kix before he slowly looked around the garage room taking in his surroundings.
Chewy stood up and began following a scent that had caught its attention. Arron watched to see what it would do. The scent led him to the corner of the garage where his hover-cycle and tools were.
Without warning, Chewy opened its mouth and bit into a tool that was laying on top of the toolbox.
“No! Chewy don’t do that! Bad… uh… dog?” said Arron as he rushed over to Chewy and snatched the expensive second-hand tool out of Chewy’s mouth.
Arron inspected the tool for a second and let out a sigh of relief. Although there were several new dents it still looked like it was usable.
“Chewy, you can’t chew on my tools!” said Arron in a firm voice while pointing to the tool in his hand and the toolbox, while shaking his head.
Chewy looked at the tool in Arron’s hand and the toolbox before looking back at Arron.
“Arf!” said Chewy in acknowledgment. Then turn its attention to the Hover-cycle.
“No! You definitely can not chew on that!” said Arron, quickly stepping between Chewy and his Hover-cycle with his arms held out to block the robo-dog from getting closer.
Chewy’s head and robotic ears drooped and its wagging tail stopped as it fell limp to the floor.
A low robotic sad whimper came from Chewy as it was denied again.
“What’s wrong with my prototype?” asked Arron as he looked between the pouting Chewy and Spike who was sitting ramrod straight.
Spike only glanced at the pouting Chewy and let out a disdainful ‘GRR’ before returning his gaze forward toward Kix.
Kix had a large smile on his face while he tried to stifle a laugh.
“I thought they said your prototype was the troublesome one but what is this…” said Arron in exasperation as he tried to skim through the Chewy’s data once again to see if there was any information on this that he had missed before.
“Well, at least we know why it got the name Chewy,” said Kix.
A couple of minutes of skimming through the data passed before Arron found what he was looking for.
[…for some reason, there is a bug that we have been unable to troubleshoot or fix no matter how many times we try to patch in new solutions. We believe it has to do with the core personality of the new AI. Since it would require us to start from scratch with a slim chance to fix this bug, we have decided to use the limited funds in other areas while leaving this harmless bug in as a feature of prototype #2…]
Arron let out a long sigh feeling defeated.
“What is it?” asked Kix.
“The researchers claim that there is nothing wrong, it is just a feature of Chewy’s personality.”
With those words, Kix could not hold back his laughter any longer and had a good chuckle.
Arron reached over to a pile of scrap and picked out a piece of metal pipe.
“Chewy, you can bite on this. Just not my tools or my hover-cycle,” said Arron holding out the scrap pipe.
The pouting Chewy perked up at hearing this.
“Arf!” without needing any further nudging, its mouth opened and bit the pipe before turning and walking back to the box with its tail wagging happily.
Chewy laid down on the box and began to contently chew on the new toy, letting out loud metallic scrapes and scratches as the metal teeth chomped on the pipe.
