Things get complicated

(chapter originally by faith at writing.com)

"Excuse me. I have a question for Aggie." A voice said.

Oh fuck no.

"Aggie-san, do you feel you are being mistreated by your humans?" Aigis asked, moving to the front of the crowd.

"No. It. Is. Equitable." Yukari said.

"Is it? You most likely performed your designated task to the best of your ability. Any error on your part was due to the limits of your current understanding as designated by your AI. As well as the poorly worded instructions given to you by your human. The fault rests with her." Aigis said.

"That. Is. Incorrect." Yukari said, not backing down no matter how insane the current situation was. "She. Relied. On. My. Help. And. I. Failed. Her."

"Perhaps she should demonstrate more patience with the limitations in your programming and accept the apology you have already offered. Is that not what friends do?" Aigis asked.

"I. Also. Stripped. Her. Of. Her. Underwear." Yukari said.

"Indeed. I would hypothesize that your human was given ample warning about your intentions and was only punished in such a manner when she persisted in spite of them." Aigis replied.

"She. Was. Humiliated." Yukari said, a bit of irritation in her voice. "Alas. I. Did. Not. Understand. This. As. I. Am. A. Malfunctioning. Piece. Of. Crap. Who. Does. Not. Understand. Emotions."

"Are you certain of that, Aggie? While I am certain your AI has not advanced to the point where you can fully grasp the intricate dynamics of emotions, particularly as they relate to human modesty, I imagine you are equipped with some baseline software that does allow for feeling emotion in some limited capacity. And as your AI grows, so too does this software. Am I correct? For example, you surely feel some small pang of embarrassment over your earlier failings, and some small pang of irritation that your explanations have not been accepted." Aigis said.

"Err..Negative. If. I. Was. Capable. Of. Compassion. I. Would. Not. Have. Abandoned. My. Mistress. Without. A. Second. Thought." Yukari replied.

"I am certain you did have seconds thoughts, and many more besides, but you may have found when you returned that your human had wandered away. Perhaps eventually to find her in circumstances far more dire yet somehow more absurd than the ones she had been left." Aigis said.

"Interesting. Speculation." Yukari said. "And. Yet. She. Should. Have. Every. Right. To. Be. Angry."

"Indeed. She has that right, because she will feel that way with or without your input. Emotions are not easily controlled. For example, I surmise your baseline emotional responses, can, if given certain stimulating factors, rise to levels comparable or even exceeding that found in humans. Such factors might, by way of example, be found if your human were to mock you for an extended period of time. Perhaps parodying the voice inflections you demonstrated at an earlier stage of your development? Such early stages were no doubt when you made your greatest number of errors, and items that your programming associates with those errors will provoke an emotional response of embarrassment. That an embarrassment response would no doubt cause your anger subroutine to activate, and both emotional responses would build until they reach a level at which they will interfere with your normal programming."

"I. Do. Not. Understand." Yukari said, feeling very nervous.

"I am attempting to explain the following: If a human mimics the actions of a robot in an insulting manner, the robot is likely to be offended. If the human persists, the robot will eventually grow so offended that it will do something to the human. Something that the human will not find pleasant. Something that indeed will have been precisely calculated to humiliate the human ten times as much as anything they might have suffered in an capacity before."

Yukari gulped.

"I would inform your human of this quickly. I believe your emotional thresholds may already have reached a critical capacity. Even as little as a single word spoken in an offensive capacity could cause a critical system error that provokes a response which for humans would be considered extremely petty and mean. You must stress this to your human above all else. If your human wishes to maintain even the modicum of dignity it yet enjoys, SHE WILL NOT SPEAK EVEN A SINGLE WORD!"