fandomhigh | Constant Vigilance 2, Session 6. Friday the 13th, A Classroom.

The Doctor dims the lights of the classroom once everyone has gathered.

"Robots. The ethical arguments as to whether or not they count as living things isn't the question I'm posing, but something you might think about bringing up in your discussions. Today, I'll show you three examples, talk about them, and then we'll have a bit of an activity for you all." The Doctor switched on the projector, and the image of a woman appeared.

"That is Sarah Jane Smith, a wonderful woman and a former travelling companion of mine. Fantastic old girl, she is. But in this case, we go to where all is not all as it appears."

As if on cue, Sarah's face fell off, to reveal the mechanical innards.

"An android replica, created by the Kraals as part of a plot to invade and take over the earth. This should strike a similar chord to the aliens from the past two weeks. In this instance, only thanks to someone particularly dashing and clever, was the whole plot put to a stop. You'll find more information on that whole incident in these."

The Doctor passed out a small packet of information. He then hit a button on the projector and it shimmered into something in white, with bizzare white dreadlocks.

"Now this is a Movellan. Sworn enemy to the Daleks, but sadly too similar to them for you to actually want to give them a pat on the back for it. Those who know who the daleks are, you know what I mean. Those who don't, you're in for an interesting class in the near future. The Movellans sadly work on a principle of pure logic. I got them deadlocked, once, getting them to play each other at stone, paper, scissors. They always ended at stalemate, much like their war with the Daleks. They do not believe in morals, but thankfully, they have a ridiculously exploitable weakness."

The Doctor pointed at a small rod on the Movellan projection's belt.

"Their external power source. Pull that off, and they'll start running low on battery, they will. Slow down until they shut down. It's really just a matter of playing 'keep away' with the bloody thing, at that point. There's a lot more about them, of course, which is why you get these."

The Doctor passed out some more packets of notes. Then, another button press, and the Movellan projection shimmered away, replaced with the bizzare form of what looked to be a a man made of candy.

"That is The Kandyman," the Doctor said. "Ruthless robotic killer. Sadistic, twisted, and evil. It was a lord high executioner for a future Earth colony, run by an even more cruel dictator woman who merely wanted everyone to be happy, and therefore killed anyone who acted sad."

The Doctor chuckled.

"Imagine her around here, the amount of 'emo' we get." He did, in fact, air quote when he said 'emo'. "But that's a digression, that is. The Kandyman was a bit of a strange one, of course, being actually bits of confection around a robotic skeleton. But the thing was, he was built to be evil, and he did it perfectly. He drowned people in fondant, fed people sweets that would kill them, vicious, horrible things. And the scariest part is that someone, a human, built him to do so."

The Doctor passed out one last packet, this time with notes on the Kandyman, Yeti, Quarks, K-9, Kamelion, the old assistant to the former Dean, and Replicants.

"Your assignment is much like what we did in this case over the summer. I want you to pair up, and discuss what you'd do in the case you had to deal with some of these robots. I imagine, in the case of one of them, some of you actually did have dealings, and those are good to discuss, too. Remember, not all robots are evil, and not all evil is robots, either. Bring up hard questions, make yourselves thinks. Have a good time, that sort of thing."

The Doctor smiled. "That's all for this week. Next week, it'll be Argolins, folks with funny little bunches of berries on their heads, and Alpha Centaurians, which rather look like walking green... oh, well, you'll see for yourself."

The Doctor sat down at his desk. "Go on! Discuss!"

[ooc: Ripping and ready to go!]

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"Melting it would work," Kaylee agreed. "Though it'd probably get messy."

Stark shrugged. "True. But as long as it gets melted somewhere you don't have to worry about a mess. Maybe outside."

"Outside works," Kaylee said. "Personally, I ain't afraid of messes. It can't be any worse than engine grease."

"Stickier than grease, I think. Much stickier." Stark nodded, mostly to himself. "What do you think about the other robots? Did you have any, where you were before? Robots, I mean."

"I don't think I ever met a robot before," Kaylee said. "But I wouldn't mind havin' a cute robotic dog."

"Really? No robots? We had DRDs, on Moya and Talyn too, for repairs and maintenance and things. Not like any of these robots. They were yellow. Looked like this, sort of," Stark sketched what looked like an overturned bowl with eyestalks coming out of it. Then he paused. "I like the robot dog too."

"DRDs?" Kaylee repeated, glancing at the sketch. "Probably coulda used those on Serenity. She always needed some sorta maintenance."

"Building robots that could be used as pets seems better than buildin' one for evil," she continued.

"They're very useful," Stark said. Especially when you're on a ship full of people with a tendency to blow things up or get shot at. "I'd much rather meet a pet robot than an evil one. Unless it was an evil pet robot."

Kaylee frowned. "Makin' an evil candy robot is one thing, but evil pet robots? That's just disturbing."

"Well, people seem to make every other kind of evil robot. Why not an evil pet robot? But you're right. Very disturbing. But most of these are, I think."

((heading out for an hour or two. back later!))

Kaylee nodded. "Yeah, most of these definitely are. I think people should spend more time buildin' useful robots like DRDs."

"Useful robots are much better than the alternative," Stark agreed. "The old Dean had one that was sort of useful. I think. I never met him."

((ride is 20 minutes late. oy. so I shall sneak in another comment or two))

"I think I'd like a robot to do chores or somethin' for when I'm feeling lazy," Kaylee said. "Maybe one that can build engines."

"Maybe you can get one. To take back with you, when you go back," Stark suggested. "If you're going back."

"Maybe I will," Kaylee said, nodding.

Constant Vigilance 2, Session 6. Friday the 13th, A Classroom.

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