Robot Caretakers

[Miss Blonde]

Robotic Caretakers

Cartao, Spaarti Headquarters

Patricia had come In contact with a droid known as [member="Ultimatum"] on a few occasions, most recently was his arrival to Cartao to lend a hand in the creation of the clone army. Patricia didn't know if she could trust the droid completely, but maybe that was because he was so tall and pointy. But that could be addressed at a later time. For now Patricia needed droids to monitor the growth and development of the clones, while people were great droids were better suited for this task. They could watch over the clones at all hours of the day and make sure their growth was coming along well.

Patricia firmly believed that droids did have their place in the galaxy, and that they were people if they were programmed to be so. But on the battlefield droids were ruthless, without conscious or morales, and could not make complex decisions that involved moral compass on their own. Organic soldiers were what was important to have and that they were trained to be good people. But to do that they needed to be healthy.

So this was where LOOM came in to provide these droids to help monitor the clone's growth and development. All the droid needed to do was show up and sign a few papers and they could move forward.

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum had arrived once more at Cartao. He hadn't been to planet twice in a row before, except Mustafar his home. At least Mustafar could be considered his home, it wasn't the place he was constructed but the place that he decided was home. He had been built on Praesitlyn, a dustball planet with little in the way of natural resources used for high end construction. He didn't like Praesitlyn, not because of the planet itself, but because of the presence of his original master, who Ultimatum hated.

Ultimatum differed on his opinion of droids. He believed that they were the perfect answer to near any problem, excluding circumstances that relied on organics such as creative thinking. He firmly believed, though his opinion was probably biased, that droids belonged in all fields of work. They were able to accomplish near any job, and they didn't do it for pay or for a government but for the greater good as they were told it was. Thus, where an organic soldier would require wages or benefits the artificial units would not ask for anything. They wouldn't even complain about falling apart unless they were programmed to. Ultimatum saw them as a near perfect being, unbiased, obedient, and working for a goal above them without expectation of anything in return.

Those thoughts aside, he concurred with [member="Patricia Susan Garter"] that droids would be useful as basically caretakers for the clones. They could provide continual watch and support. It was an interesting idea to Ultimatum, the artificials taking care of the new organics. This could be considered the next 'breed of humanity', he had heard the term from some old fiction novels that he had read up on. He wasn't certain if the organics would agree, but it showed an importance of the synthetic life that they were depended on to take care of the next generation. While organics may not believe such, Ultimatum guessed that they were becoming steadily more and more dependent on artificials. He further theorized that eventually, organics would have artificials doing everything for them.

 

[Miss Blonde]

[member="Ultimatum"]

Patricia watched as the very large and cumbersome droid found it's way Into her office. She gave the man a smile and offered him a plus sized seat, they were meant for Wookies but they would suffice for the droid. They had a few things they needed to go over, what line of droids LOOM had to offer the clones, how they could develop caretakers for the cloning process, just general paper work that was boring but needed to be accomplished none the less. So Patricia smiled still and spoke.

"Ultimatum it's nice to see you. Please sit down and we can get to business." she said and began to go through her desk for papers.

"We'll be discussing a few things right now. What droids are available, compensation, and at the end hopefully we can sign contracts. One for Spaarti and one for LOOM. So I'm sure you have questions, so feel free to ask." Grabbing a few forms she placed them on her desk and started to see what was what.

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum took a seat, being hopeful that the chair would hod under his weight. If it could hold a Wookie then it could him right? He hoped the answer was yes, but he wasn't about to ask. Instead he turned his attention to [member="Patricia Susan Garter"]'s statements. It would be a first for LOOM to create droids for a purpose other than Ultimatum's sole use. He hoped that the small but growing facility on Mustafar would be able to meet the demand of necessity. Thus far, it hadn't built much, though he had a number of plans in the works for specific droids for other functions.

As a droid Ultimatum had some difficulty with small talk, used to working with other artificials who rarely spend unnecessary time on excess words. Thus when it came his turn to speak he simpley cut to the chase as the organics said.

"Firstly, what are the numbers you are expecting, droids wise? How many will be required? What is their exact purpose and role?" He believed that each droid could probably handle a large number of clones, he assumed that anyways.

 

[Miss Blonde]

[member="Ultimatum"]

"Currently we have three hundred clones that will be ready in about twenty days. We are using a special technique to cause this alpha test group of clones to grow faster. No nasty side effects, but they are going to be about eight years old biologically. So this batch will require roughly three two hundred caretakers responsible for feeding them and general care. Two clones per droid." Patricia said in a more serious tone.

"Beta clones are a slower process taking a year for growth. They will number upwards to two million clones. As for numbers I'm sure you can speculate that we will need a lot. Charlie wave will be in the hundreds of millions, so we'll be needing a lot of droids. If your company can provide then we are happy to do business." Patricia said with a smile to emphasize her last few words.

Money and contracts were good for everyone. They got companies off the ground and they made for a lot of great opportunities, so Patricia awaited the droids response to see if he was willing to deal.

 

[Ultimatum]

Three hundred clones, two hundred droids, two to one ratio. Fifty must be kept as reserve. That meant in wave Beta there would be 1.5 million droids, keeping the same ratio as used initially. From there Charlie would require, at a single hundred million, 75 million droids would be required. Of course, Ultimatum would have to keep in mind that older droids could be reused for the later waves, not that the numbers would be that greatly effected. The sheer size would have been astonishing, if Ultimatum had not prepared himself for such large demands. He knew that he should actually expect such quantities when dealing with armies.

Producing droids, LOOM was good at that. They were breaking new ground on that front, making droids to care for organics was hardly new and thus wouldn't require the effort to be split between scientific development and actual production. That removed a good two thirds of the work. Would that allow a large enough production capacity, probably not. His facility was still being expanded, after talking with some other small workshops on Mustafar he could probably have the numbers met. Quality would be an issue though. He had to answer, he pulled the calculation of what was possible with his current facility and then replied.

"We should be capable of meeting the base necessity of one hundred and fifty droids within two days of the deadline, after that given that no accident occur within one week the other fifty should be available. Beyond that, our facilities are still expanding and as such the numbers we are capable of producing will hopefully increase. Does this suit you?"

[member="Patricia Susan Garter"]

 

[Miss Blonde]

[member="Ultimatum"]

"As long as you can meet our production goals we are happy. Now as you know once the clones are all grown up and ready to no longer need their care givers that leaves a lot of droids without a purpose. Although most people may see droids as an expendable commodity that can be thrown aside I do not." The woman said with a genuine tone.

Patricia firmly believed that droids were considered to be second class citizens in this galaxy. Programmed to feel emotion, to feel pain, then treated like dirt that's bought and sold. It was slavery, there was no sugar coating that. You could at least program a droid not to feel and be used only as a tool, but yet most droid companies programmed them to feel. Patricia didn't know why that was, but if Ultimatum's droids did feel she didn't want them to be treated like scum.

"We all have aspirations Mister Ultimatum, even droids if they've been programmed to. Once the clones are taken care of and grown I want to offer these droids service in Reclaimer Arms and Industrial along with a few other businesses to make sure they do not languish and become dilapidated. However if you wish to repossess them afterwards or at any time during the growing process I will completely understand and we will be sure to add that clause in the contract. Does this sound fair to you?" Patricia asked the man and kept up a very serious tone with him.

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum nodded his thanks before saying, "No need to repossess the droids. Giving them a purpose beyond care taking will be easily accomplished and you can keep them."

He was glad to have met an organic who shared a belief in the fact that droids were not treated quite as well as they should be. He hoped that an agreement between the two companies, a permanent one, would be possible. He wondered what type of other programming he should have added to the droids. Of course, he would probably utilize some basic programming that was standard on droids of other types. Further he would likely have the programs adjusted to allow further upgrades if and when needed to be capable of different tasks.

"Now, what else must we go through?"

[member="Patricia Susan Garter"]

 

[Miss Blonde]

[member="Ultimatum"]

"We sign contracts. One for Spaarti and the other for LOOM." Patricia said with a smile.

Reaching to her desk she grabbed a datapad and presented forth two sets of contracts for the companies. It was rather simple really, LOOM provided droids for Spaarti and Spaarti would provide LOOM with credits, services, and locations for the droid to expand to on Cartao. After all it was nice to have options and new locations to spring up from, setting up franchises and what not.

"Sign away and we can push forward with this project." Patricia said with happily hoping this deal was done with.

She rather liked the droid and he seemed like a nice enough fellow when you weren't on his bad side. She felt like this could be a very beneficial relationship between their companies and they could even help educate the clones to treat their droids well and not for granite. She didn't want any abuse on any scale so integration and sensitivity was key here.

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum signed quickly, his signature not very special in appearance. He found it amazing how such a small thing as the flick of wrist to create a signature could have such profound effects. It could literally change the galaxy. Whether that would happen with this one was uncertain. He doubted it, those that had that ability spent much time climbing the ladder in order to become that powerful. He was still at the bottom and therefore it would be awhile before he could have such an effect.

"If you will indulge the artistic, may this be the turning of an era." He said with a smile, if wasn't often that he allowed that sort of thoughts become word. Rarely did he ever speak in such a manner to organics and artificials few times cared for such speech. He then decided to have a joke, "Shall we have a celebratory drink now, or after the clones are completed?"

[member="Patricia Susan Garter"]

 

[Miss Blonde]

[member="Ultimatum"]


"I suppose one now might be in order, how do you take your motor oil?" Patricia said joking back at the man.

Reaching down she signed the separate contract for LOOM, they were all settled now and ready to advance forward with this process. Today was indeed a groundbreaking day for both companies and they would help usher forth a new generation of soldiers. Not since the clone wars had an undertaking like this been attempted and Patricia was happy she was doing it with such professionals such as Ultimatum and LOOM.

"I think that will be in Mister Ultimatum, if you so wish you may power down here for the evening before returning home. We have oil baths and other amenities for droids. Not a five star resort but you are more than welcome to partake and tour the facilities." she said with a smile before standing up from behind her desk.

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum stood as well, putting out his hand to shake [member="Patricia Susan Garter"]'s. He had seen and read in books, fictitious and not, that organics often did this as if to cement an agreement. The reason, Ultimatum was uncertain on. He theorized that it was the organic's base need for physical contact and social interaction and that the handshake was more personal than signing a datapad or other such. This was however only a theory so he could not be certain of its correctness.

"Thank you, I think I will take you up on that offer." He said politely, stopping himself from continuing, instead only thinking, "It has been a number of months since I had an oil bath... or was that when I learned about that. I don't recall ever having one under my master and I've been running around the galaxy too much to have time to experience one... No, this will be a new experience, however if the information granted me by other droids is correct it should be quite a treat." He smiled, even as a droid, he was still new and had much to learn about the galaxy and what he could experience.