Automatic, Technologic, Supersonic... Hegemonic

[Morgan Redeaux]

Location: Lianna City, Hegemonic Automaton Headquarters

Morgan Redeaux exited the taxi speeder and shielded her eyes from the bright sunlight so she could get a better look at the towering skyscrapers of Hegemonic Automation. She had arrived for a job interview as some type of secretary but for which department or specialty she didn't know. It would make sense that she was contacted about her legal knowledge but well, she could be just shuttling coffee back and forth and filing historical flimsiplast contracts. And for now that would be just fine. She wore a simple black dress with heels, her highlighted blonde hair swept back in a chignon. A small strand of pearls lay high at her throat, encapsulating her slender neck.

While her current employer Max Rumor had been generous and accommodating - his words to her specifically after he hired her were, "I need an assistant that I won't be tempted to eat" - the female droid wanted a job that was more fulfilling than paralegal to a giant feline criminal defense lawyer. The fact that she was inorganic was not the only reason Mr. Rumor hired her. The HRD was a protocol droid and was a walking encyclopedia of galaxy law from the complex regulations put in place by the Galactic Senate to the more archaic and peculiar laws on sentient planets in Wild Space. In fact she was a walking compendium of just about anything, often useless knowledge it seemed, programmed for her former master Bartho Redeaux as his translator and companion. Until the night he was executed in their compound by a business rival and she escaped in one of his private yachts.

In the two years of her existence, Mr. Redeaux had rarely let her even leave that compound. Her understanding of droids was academic rather than hands-on. Sure there were servant and worker droids in the compound and she studied them fervently, taking them apart and putting them back together, not to mention the rest of the electronics in the household. But what she longed for was more exposure to her kind.

This pursuit to find more of her equivalents took Morgan to the planet Lianna and to an immense complex of buildings which housed Hegemonic Automaton. She made her way to the lobby of the particular building where she was going to have the interview. Morgan's resume was the simple story of a Coruscant undergrad, woven together with additional half truths and lies. And though she wanted to be around droids, she didn't want Hegenmonic Automaton to know that she one. For a myriad of reasons.

As she approached security, she knew there would be a preliminary investigation to confirm her identity like a facial or retina scan. Let's see how well Mr. Redeaux had me programmed, the HRD thought. She had fooled the most high-quality scanners before so hopefully her credentials would show as "paralegal to Max Rumor, former assistant to Bartho Redeaux." She had not the time nor inclination to change it to anything else.

At the front security desk she signed in using her fingerprint and typing in her name.

"Ms. Redeaux here," the droid said to the attendant. "I have an interview with Mr. Ardik."

[member="Gerion Ardik"]

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Morgan Redeaux"]

The TA1 managing the security desk flatly directed her to the 57th floor and said nothing else. Most security in and around Hegemon Towers was handled by droids. The security personnel that weren't droids could occasionally be seen marching around, the ground tremoring slightly with each step they took. Darkwater Security's Herglics were substantially more effective in keeping the peace than any droid Hegemonic Automaton could produce. Perhaps not in terms of combat, but in terms of sheer intimidation. Nothing inspired fear in the quivering masses quite like a walking whale with a proportionate gun and a security badge.

There was nothing special about Hegemon Towers' 57th floor. It appeared to be the assorted large offices of various executives, shareholders, and numerous middle officials. Gerion's involvement in Hegemonic Automaton was kept mostly sub rosa, as was his status as the company's true owner. There was no need to openly associate the Viceroy of Hypori with a corporation, though that didn't stop him from handling numerous deals and interviews for important positions himself. This time around, however, he was only looking for a secretary. Sheila had vanished during the temporary cataclysm that shook the galaxy and did not wish to continue her work when she returned.

Hopefully this one would be a little more dedicated. Frankly he could have filled the position with a droid, probably one of his, but he generally preferred organic contact with his personal assistants.

Morgan would be greeted immediately upon exiting the elevator by a worn looking man who probably hadn't left this level in some weeks. The exhausted man led her about, eventually arriving at Gerion's office- tucked neatly into the far corner of the floor. He didn't say much, fatigue overwhelming any sense of etiquette. The poor fellow didn't open his mouth until he opened the door to Gerion's office.

"Ms. Redeaux is here."
"Good. You can leave."

The man scurried off as fast as he could muster. The office was sparsely decorated, but what few decorations there were indicated some measure of wealth. A moderately sized Asheran triptych, for instance, adorned the wall immediately behind the desk Gerion was situated at. The rest of the furniture wasn't so much expensive or lavish as it was sensible. Gerion slid whatever paperwork he had previously been working on to the right, indicating two chairs on the opposite side of the desk.

"Have a seat, please."

 

[Morgan Redeaux]

The heralgics as security guards were to be made note of, thought the HRD. A bit unusual to say the least, but since they were not a shy species, she figured they ended up on Lianna the same as any other immigrated species.

Morgan rode the elevator to the 57th floor and followed a somewhat tired man who led her through some winding hallways and to Mr. Ardik’s well-appointed office. The belabored assistant left and Morgan sat down in the chair opposite her potential employer, a gentleman that appeared to be in his fifties with long, silvery-white hair. Noticing the triptych, she wanted to comment on Gerion Ardik’s appreciation of historical art and discuss more about what art - both material and holo - was fetching a high price at the main Coruscuanti Auction House, but she decided against it. The female droid did not want to call attention to her encyclopedic programming. Better he find out about those attributes organically like the human being she was trying to portray.

She sat up straight in the chair and crossed her long, pale legs. “Good morning, Mr. Ardik,” she said in an even voice. “I notice you still have flimsiplast documents,” she continued motioning to his paperwork. “The first thing I would do as your secretary is to convert all of those flimsis into a data archive which can be accessed by me at anytime, and when given the word, sent to you via your datapad, console, ship or wherever you need them to be. Or straight to you personally if they are of a confidential nature."

She didn’t elaborate that instead of using a physical data archive, she would store them inside her own vast virtual memory. Morgan hoped he would not be suspicious of her suggestion but would rather think that she was providing an example of her resourcefulness.

[member="Gerion Ardik"]

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Morgan Redeaux"]

Gerion said nothing, opting instead to fix Morgan with a look that spoke of great annoyance. Was flimsiplast archaic? Perhaps. Could flimsiplast be remotely compromised by slicers or those whose mastery of the Force allowed them to manipulate electronics? Hardly. Gerion liked to have physical copies. It made making in-line annotations to reports submitted by subordinates much easier. Although a fair bit of his business, both as a governor and as a businessman, was conducted electronically, he always had a preference for having a pen in his hand and marking his notes that way.

After staring at her with agitation in his eyes for at least a minute, Gerion eventually spoke. "No, that won't be necessary." He paused, and then with particular distaste added, "Thank you."

The Umbaran dug around in his desk for a moment, withdrawing a few pieces of flimsiplast that had been stapled together. Her resume, plus the accompanying research Hegemonic Automaton had undertaken. He dropped this matter-of-factly right in front of them, then proceeded with the interview.

"Tell me about your formal education, Ms. Redeaux."

 

[Morgan Redeaux]

At times Morgan was extremely perceptive, her metaprogramming allowing her a deep understanding of a variety of human, near-human and even alien emotions. Emotions visible on the faces - such as a mouth pinched into a frown or the raise of a questioning eyebrow.

But at other times, like sitting across from Mr. Ardik, the feeling of supremacy - of knowing she was literally a machine capable of processing information on an exascale computing level - made MR-X97 very unprepared to detect social cues like the visible annoyance radiating from her potential employer.

When he drew out the flimsiplast resume, she thought, of course he has more flimsis. Oh the things I could do with this office to bring it up to date. But this time she kept her mouth shut.

When Mr. Ardik asked about her education, he would see the first sign of nervousness from the droid. Did she know over a million galatic languages? Yes her TranLang III communications module made that possible. Did she know what she studied her freshman year at the University of Coruscant? Not at all because that was a lie. She had committed a story to memory and now had her memory to supply those facts. Her memory was good but her programming was much, much better.

“I currently attend Coruscant University, majoring in political science. Before that I attended the Greater Fobosi Finishing School in the Fobosi District. This is my last semester at CU and well, I’m looking for an entry-level assistant job. Droids are a hobby of mine, Mr. Ardik. Collecting them, repairing them…”

Prior to this moment she had been extremely calm and collected, even after the flimsi faux pas. But now, she was hesitant and faltering. Which would have been fine if she started the interview like this but to begin on such a confident note and go downhill ... Well, hopefully Mr. Ardik would just think she was a nervous undergrad on one of her first ever interviews.

“I’m here… sitting across from you... because I just really like droids,” she said.

[member="Gerion Ardik"]

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Morgan Redeaux"]

"Do you now?" Gerion pondered aloud, flipping through her resume without looking at her.

If he hired everyone who walked into this office professing that they liked droids really much, Hegemonic Automaton would have been staffed entirely by mouth-breathers and manic pixie women. Morgan didn't give the feeling of either of those, so that was redeemable at least. Tempting as it was, that was not grounds to hire her on the spot. Hannibal would have disagreed, but that was why he was no longer making these decisions. Eventually Gerion arrived at a page he apparently felt was pertinent and looked back up at Redeaux.

"Tell me about this collection, then. Which models did you collect? Which did you make the most extensive repairs to?"

He also would have liked to know where a barely-college graduate was storing a droid collection, but he did not want to be that much more rude.

 

[Morgan Redeaux]

That Mr. Ardik was difficult to read was an understatement. He spoke in an evenly measured and slightly disdainful tone, giving nothing away easily. Therefore Morgan spoke slowly, careful to focus on the truth rather than lies to impress him, for fear of tripping over her own story: “I collected droids when I worked for my former employer, Bartho Redeaux. He was a businessman who lived in Coruscant and as it says on my resume, I was his assistant. He owned a small munitions company but he was an excellent contract negotiator, so while not well known throughout the galaxy, he was extremely wealthy just the same. Obviously dealing in weapons he had many Class Four and Class Five droids at his disposal. He let me keep the older models and practice repairing them.”

Much of this was actually true but the reason she repaired and refurbished the droids was mostly because she was bored locked inside his compound all day.

“But I have to be honest with you,” she said with a slight tilt of her head, her blonde hair catching the sunlight from the windows. “I have hands on experience with fairly rudimental models. I once was able to start a project where I took an HK-47 assassin droid and tried to turn him into a functioning 2-1B surgical droid which was quite challenging given the assassin droid's sadistic nature. You can probably imagine how long I labored over the personality programming. Parts are nothing, Mr. Ardik. Appendages, joints… the outer structure of a droid is essentially the same give or take its material covering. What I attempted to do was to turn a killer into a savior. But unfortunately I couldn’t finish…”

She didn’t go into the details of why she couldn’t finish the repair. In truth, Mr. Redeaux was furious when he found her taking apart that expensive droid and she just narrowly missed a trip to the incinerator by using familiar phrases and flattery she knew he liked to hear.

“I’m hoping by working for Hegemonic Automaton that I can continue my education on droids. Of course, not neglecting any of the core job responsibilities."

[member="Gerion Ardik"]

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Morgan Redeaux"]

For one reason or another, Gerion suddenly became a bit more attentive when the prospective secretary mentioned being honest. Honesty was such a lonely word these days, being that most everyone the Umbaran put up with tended to be varying shades of untrue. Those who sought truthfulness in this line of work may just as well have been blind for all intents and purposes. But the Umbarans were a crafty people, especially those who were endowed with the Force. Even the most delinquent of Umbarans could tell when people were lying and deception among the common races of the galaxy. The more perceptive could tell liars from species like Hutts, Givin, and Bith- those who tended to lack facial emotions.

"A rather strange project, though I am impressed." Gerion closed the resume, sliding it over to an unoccupied portion of his desk. It was no longer necessary.

"I'll veer off topic for a moment, if you'll permit me. Do you know a lot about Umbarans, Ms. Redeaux?"

 

[Morgan Redeaux]

Morgan was relieved when Gerion Ardik asked her about Umbarans, an indisputable subject that was easily retrievable from her memory. But again she didn’t want to read out facts like some kind of Universal Encyclopedia and elicit suspicion from her potential employer. She wasn’t completely sure of his reasoning for the question, but she had a hunch. And although she thought she could be stepping over the line, but her mechanized curiosity got the better of her.

“I know many things about Umbarans,” replied the HRD. “But there are two specific things that could be pertinent to our conversation. First of all, Umbarans can tell when many sentient species are lying. And second, Umbarans can sometimes, not always but sometimes, control the will of others.” Morgan stopped and looked Mr. Ardik in the eyes, knowing he may be able to tell if she was lying due to her near-human facial emotions but he assuredly would not be able to control her will because technically she had no free will of her own. Sure her metaprogramming over time could possibly change that but at this early point in her history, Morgan’s will was essentially up to her programming. It was why she was fairly compliant for the most part; she was a protocol droid and used to taking, receiving, following and occasionally giving orders as the circumstances allowed. But the female droid would have no true free will unless this was specifically encoded into her core system.

“So I will ask you, Mr. Ardik. Do you think I’m lying in this interview?" she asked softly, treading lightly since he was supposed to be the one asking the questions. And not breaking eye contact she asked, "And are you trying to control my will?”

Morgan ultimately feared her "human" cover was blown somehow, but only by Mr. Ardik's answers would she know for sure.


[member="Gerion Ardik"]

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Morgan Redeaux"]

"No, as a matter of fact, I don't think you're lying." Gerion answered, sighing that she had started asking questions instead of letting him finish. She was a chatty one. It made it harder for him to be all intimidating and control the course of the conversation.

"Nor am I attempting to control your will. That is merely a rumor."

Technically it was a rumor. Non-Force sensitive Umbarans had about as much capacity to directly dominate the will of others as any other non-Force sensitive. But a large amount of Umbarans, back in the days before the Gulag Plague, were at least slightly Force sensitive. They were able to use the Force to manipulate the wills of others, just like any Jedi or Sith could. But those days were long gone, gene pools being culled by the plague. History managed to persist, though. Gerion sat up in his chair, meshing his hands together on top of the desk.

"As a matter of fact, I can't tell if you're lying. Which is unusual, because that only happens when I'm speaking to upper-caste Umbarans or droids. Now, you'll need to be honest with me if you wish to pursue a career here, as an assistant won't be an appropriate role for you in either case. Who manufactured you?"

It wasn't beyond the realm of possibility that Archangel had sent someone to spy on him. If it were the case, it was doubtless this machine would lie to him further. It appeared to be sapient, however, and so would probably have at least some instinctual sense of self-preservation.

 

[Morgan Redeaux]

Well it was interesting that Umbarans were rumored to only control wills, Morgan thought. She furrowed her brow and decided that later she would need to add that tidbit to her internal data entry for Umbarans. But in any case her suspicions were correct. Of course what was she thinking trying to hide her identity from one of the top leaders of a technology company anyway?

"You've deduced correctly, Mr. Ardik. I'm MR-X97 and my maker is Lanax Grayson of Grayson Industries. His company is headquartered on Mayferria." Morgan stopped herself from prattling on about the corporation profile, profits and other more sensitive information that Mr. Grayson may not want her giving out. "I was a custom design for Bartho Redeaux, a CEO who did business on Corusucant. He was murdered not too long ago."

But it was true, Morgan did like to communicate as was her main function as a protocol droid. She looked beeseechingly now at Gerion Ardik and said, "I apologize for not revealing this information sooner. And so far the Umbaran appeared trustworthy so she added, "I have no protection from being sliced as far as I can tell so being a droid is not something I advertise freely."

"I do hope you'll forgive me and allow me to pursue a career at Hegemonic Automaton."

[member="Gerion Ardik"]

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Morgan Redeaux"]

Gerion had rather hoped she was an Umbaran, but it seemed obvious to some other natural senses of his that she was a droid. That was a shame for a few reasons Gerion cared not to put into thought. He would need to dispatch a few inquiries and investigate this Grayson Industries in addition to the recently-departed Bartho Redeaux. An acquaintance of Gerion had a lot of clout on that world, particularly where crime and underworld activity were concerned.

"No protection from slicers? I hope your enemies are few, then. I also hope any connections between you and Mr. Redeaux's demise are purely circumstantial. I won't ask; don't tell me."

He drummed his fingers on the desk, sizing up the human replica droid in front of him. At least he didn't have to be concerned about an Archangel-backed coup yet. Or maybe it still was. There was little reason to believe this droid was being honest with him, not unless he cracked open its head and accessed the data himself. This wasn't something he really wanted to do, however. Despite his own reservations considering droids to be objects and not people, he had always been dubious with the ones constructed to look like humans and that took on human traits. Just as he preferred to avoid murdering people, he found himself skeptical of murdering droids that fit the bill.

Rather than realize his hypocrisy, it just made him annoyed.

"There are other reasons you shouldn't advertise your status as an automaton, Ms. Redeaux." Gerion probably shouldn't call her- it that, but he had already said it. Force of habit. Oh well. "Most people consider droids to be property, and those that achieve your level of autonomy highly dangerous. In fact, those droids that do achieve sapience almost always tend to become droid abolitionists, harassing corporations like mine for manufacturing what they consider to be slaves."

"How am I to know you don't fall into that category, and that this isn't some ploy to hamper my business?"

 

[Morgan Redeaux]

“Thank you” she said gratefully when he didn’t want to hear the details concering Bartho Redeaux’s execution. She would rather not tell him for fear of delving into somewhat painful memories. Not that she missed Mr. Redeaux at all. Her recollection of her time with him was actually what bothered her more as he was not a gentle or forgiving Master.

“I’m not programmed to be malicious. Please believe me. You can get in there and have a look if you want.” Morgan suddenly stood up and came around the desk between them and then marched right up to Gerion. As she stood before him, the silver-haired Umbaran would finally be able to see her composition up close. Mr. Grayson had designed a truly remarkable prototype for a droid. Extremely realistic in so many ways. Her synth skin wouldn’t sweat and her artificial tear ducts would not produce tears, but the illusion was such that most would think she could do both of those things.

“I have three main ports for repairs and upgrades,” she said, instructing him by pointing to the areas of her body like a metropolitan shuttle attendant showing passengers were the emergency exits were.

“One is in the back of my neck. The other is behind my knee. That area tends to be quite sensitive,” she said cracking a smile. “The other port is on my torso, specifically in the hip area, but access to that would require me to disrobe.” He would almost swear that the HRD blushed at that last statement.

Was the droid a little naïve? At times yes, but she felt that Mr. Ardik was probably an expert in droids if he sat at the helm of Hegemonic Automaton and she was basically giving him a short cut to what he would eventually be able to figure out anyway. She stayed quiet for a moment, a bit of a rarity for Morgan. She hadn’t advertised that she was an automaton after all and only admitted it when pressed. She knew of the dangers out there but it wasn’t anything she could do unless… well, she wasn’t going to ask Mr. Ardik that yet. Let’s see if he wants to have a peek at my programming first, she thought and then maybe she would ask him to help her.

[member="Gerion Ardik"]

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Morgan Redeaux"]

The Umbaran found himself pressed back into his chair, looking at Morgan with no small amount of shock as she abruptly stood, walked around his desk, and started indicating access ports. There were a few ways Gerion had intended to analyze, update, and alter Morgan's programming. Getting in there to "have a look" himself was not one of them. Despite his position, Gerion only had a rudimentary idea of the inner workings of droids. He was a businessman, not an engineer. Hannibal Oryen, the chief engineer at Hegemonic Automaton, would have a much better idea. And he would probably leap at the opportunity to tamper with a HRD like Morgan's access ports. Particularly the one involving disrobing. Especially the one involving disrobing. A shame that a prodigal droid engineer could occasionally be so... Juvenile. A good thing Gerion had confiscated his company.

"Madam, now is hardly the time or the place for me to look at your programming."

He really needed to stop talking to this thing like it was a person. But its demeanor kept throwing him off. The only other Human Replica Droid he had interacted with was Moira, and she was every bit as robotic as one would expect. Morgan, however...

He looked over to the seat Morgan had just recently vacated, then back to the droid. "Please sit back down."

 

[Morgan Redeaux]

Morgan nodded and did as she was instructed, crossing back over to her side of the desk and sitting down to face Mr. Ardik. The droid clasped her hands together and sat them in her lap, and her pale knees tightly together. She remained passive and with no emotion whatsoever on her face. After all, the HRD's default state was to do as she was programmed to do which was to take orders and follow orders. If the Umbaran had caused any embarrassment or discomfort to Morgan through his words or actions, she would not show it.

She suddenly gave Mr. Ardik another wide doe-eyed look. “You say that there are those would consider me dangerous...” She gave a small snort and shook her head. “Look at me, Mr. Ardik. Do I look dangerous to you?” Rhetorical as it was, Morgan understood her place in the galaxy. Despite how advanced her programming was, the original intent of the engineer who created this droid to help sentients with etiquette, translation and cultural matters, had made sure the "protocal" part of her encoding would always override any other metaprogramming at play. At least for now.

“But you do bring up a good point,” she said, not giving him a chance to answer. She rose out of her seat again and began to pace the room. “I am interested in protection from slicers. And hackers. And blackmarket droid part sellers. And junkyard traders. And salvagers," she said, ticking the list off on her fingers. Wow, when she really thought hard about it there were a lot of threats out there to a droid. "Is that something you could help me with?” she asked.

[member="Gerion Ardik"]

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Morgan Redeaux"]

A heavy, irritated sigh escaped Gerion's lips and he put his hand against his forehead. "No, Ms. Redeaux, you do not look dangerous. But given that you are a human replica droid, you of all people should know that appearances can be deceiving."

Great, he had called it "people." Gerion was growing increasingly irritated by now, largely because less than fifteen minutes with a sapient human replica droid had challenged his conceptions on the place of droids in the universe on a fundamental level. Why was it now that his ideology need to be unavoidably challenged by a robot? It wasn't even lunch time. Far too early for this kind of mulling. The Umbaran banished these thoughts in any event. There was still some use he could get out of Morgan, regardless of her "person" status.

"Of course this is something I can help you with. But whether I actually do is dependent on whether or not you come to work for my company."

There had been a few times where he entertained the idea of putting HRDs in key locations of his company, if only to secure those positions against seditious activity and inefficiency. He would have bought some from Archangel, but he really didn't trust them to not plot to take control over his company in that manner. Here was one that was apparently unaffiliated- or would be dismantled when Gerion discovered it was lying about its origins soon enough.

 

[Morgan Redeaux]

Morgan felt relief when Mr. Ardik said he could help her. Because the CEO of Hegemonic had made her realize that her new found freedom came with the price of vigilance and system security, something she had not anticipated nor had the skills to put into place on her own. Her maker, Lanax Grayson had warned her but hadn’t done anything to change her programming so that she was more protected from threats. If her potential employer and - at least to Morgan’s knowledge - an expert on droids himself, felt she was vulnerable, she would do well to heed his advice.

“I do want to work for Hegemonic Automaton,” she said. “I would love to be surrounded by others of my own kind and to help your company. I’m quite unfulfilled right now as a legal assistant and feel my skills would be much better used here.”

The HRD smiled at the enigmatic Mr. Ardik and searched him with her large artificial eyes. Even though she gave off the illusion of being thoughtful and almost dreamy, he would know she was really processing all of this information systematically to produce a result based on the infinitely complex business rules of her programming. And what she deduced was that, even though Gerion Ardik was curt, to the point and well, let’s face it - ill-tempered, he did have quite exquisite manners and what appeared to be her best interests in mind.

“When do I start?” she asked.

[member="Gerion Ardik"]

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Morgan Redeaux"]

"After we update your programming and outfit you with the necessary skills to oversee Hegemonic Automaton's security operations." He said. "The current Director of Security Operations has been doing a rather poor job. I've wanted to replace him for quite some time now, though there's a lack of individuals I find trustworthy enough for the job and I doubt I could replace him with a droid without causing a riot."

Trust was a difficult thing to foster in organics, either naturally or using methods befitting of Zambranos. Yet droids could have it programmed into them without spending significant amounts of time, torture, or worrying about deception. The perfect employees, and it was for that reason people became agitated with companies that regularly replaced organic staff in any position with droids. Yet here was a perfect work around- a droid that looked perfectly human, and was good looking enough at that. Most people would probably be to busy speculating she had slept her way to the top and was probably too young to do anything meaningful in the position to consider whether or not she was a robot.

Gerion retrieved her resume from where she had left it and began to flip through its contents once again as he spoke.

"Your 'story' will likely need to be edited to provide you with sufficient background for the job. We'll also have to see about having you become a citizen of Lianna, as I can hardly employ a stateless individual."

 

[Morgan Redeaux]

"I look forward to it," said Morgan. "Although I'm very curious as to what this re-programming entails."

But a citizen of Lianna! That sounded very human indeed. Not every droid had the opportunity to be an actual citizen. They were normally treated like belongings as Mr. Ardik pointed out. Even on universal custom forms they were listed as "Androids, Droids, Automatons, or Mechanical Beings" and squarely in the property section.

"But either way, I'll do whatever I need to do, Mr. Ardik. You are giving me a great opportunity and I promise you I won't squander it."

Morgan wasn't really programmed for sentient nuances like personal space. So it would be to the Umbaran's avid dismay when she rose up and went back over to his side of the desk, arms outstretched wide to give him a gigantic hug.

[member="Gerion Ardik"]

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Morgan Redeaux"]

"Nothing too extensive." He clarified. "Merely implementing the protection against slicing you seek, and..." The Umbaran trailed off when he suddenly found her on the other side of his desk again, arms outstretched for a hug. Now this was getting quite ridiculous, and he sincerely wanted to berate whoever had produced a droid and neglected to program it with proper knowledge of social customs. Hugging? At the end of an interview? Gerion didn't even have the strength to be outraged, indignant, or annoyed with it. Now he just felt pity. This would have gone over much worse had it been some other venue she interviewed for. Rather than snap at the automaton again, he decided to humor it.

Morgan was, after all, going to recall this meeting. And regardless of whether or not she was a droid, she was sapient enough to be effected by things like moral. If he continued to berate it, it would not respond very well. Using as much discipline as he could to keep from rolling his eyes, Gerion stood and hugged the machine back. He ground his teeth silently, feeling far too much self-loathing for this action to imagine anything other than Ovmar, Santhe, Cavill, Starchaser, and any other combination of people mocking him. This was supposed to be a job interview. Yet here he was, hugging it out with a robot. In his office.

The hug didn't last very long in either event. If anything it would remind him to put in the social etiquette programming some other shleb had forgotten about.

"I think we're done here. Leave your contact information with the man who escorted you in, we'll contact you when ready."