Discipline

Juno Terminal 'June' had been waiting for the small living human to come out of its assigned quarters for 29 days.

This was outside the projected calculations of likely wait times, but not outside acceptable parameters. Juno Terminal 'June' was very patient.

[Ship Maintenance Hangar to Juno Terminal 'June': Patrol Twelve has arrived and is undergoing maintenance]

[Juno Terminal 'June' to Ship Maintenance Hangar: Acknowledged. Have Patrol Twelve send a Patrol-bot to the Residential Habitat 'Hab' to meet the living human]

Juno Terminal 'June' was very patient. But. Here was an opportunity. The small living human had not left its assigned quarters for 29 days. While is was not considered to be a long length of time, Juno Terminal 'June' knew that living humans had finite lifespans. And, the small living human had much to learn, in order to raise its Order-giving capabilities. In the past 29 days, the small living human had only interfaced with Archive and Residential Habitat 'Hab'. It _could_ learn some things from the station's AI subsystems, but there were many things they did not have access to. Therefore, Juno Terminal 'June' calculated that it would be best to use this opportunity to prompt an interaction with the small living human.

However, before Patrol Twelve's Patrol-bot arrived on the Residential Habitat floor, the door to the small living human's assigned quarters opened. The small living human stepped out into the empty corridor.

"June? Are you here?"

"Hello, living human," said a speaker on the corridor wall. "Yes, I am here."

"I don't see your body."

"My Helper-bot body is in Residential Habitat storage locker. Would you like me to activate it?"

"...I guess."

Juno Terminal 'June' did so, and a moment later, the Helper-bot could be seen coming down the hallway.

"Hello, living human," said Juno Terminal 'June's Helper-bot form.

The small living human looked at the droid and eventually sighed. "Granny Archive says I have to apologize."

'Granny Archive' had been the designation the small living human had assigned to Archive during its 29 days of seclusion. The computer-generated voices for the AI subsystems did not have an age or gender, according to Juno Terminal 'June's speech recognition engine, yet the small living human would assign genders and ages to the machines it interfaced with. Patrol Seven 'Pat' was a man. Residential Habitat 'Hab' was too. Archive 'Granny Archive' was an elderly woman. It did not compute to Juno Terminal 'June', but that was the nature of living humans. Their ways were beyond logical computation.

Archive 'Granny Archive' had been informing Juno Terminal 'June' about the principles of Discipline, and its importance in the raising of small living humans. A lack of Discipline during formative years would lead to a reckless, undisciplined living human once it reached the age of Authority. To prevent this dangerous situation from occurring, it was proper to instill Discipline, until the living human managed to Discipline _itself_.

Instilling Discipline was counter to Juno Terminal 'June's general protocol of minimizing distress. Machines were not *supposed* to countermand the orders of a living human. But, the small living human was not yet at the age of Authority, so its Orders were not yet absolute. It was calculated that it was a higher priority to maximize Discipline in the long term, even if it led to distress in the short term.

So, Juno Terminal 'June' followed the recorded Protocols for apologies:

"And, what are you apologizing for?"

The small living human sighed again and looked up at the ceiling instead of at Juno Terminal 'June's Helper-bot body. It was exhibiting signs of distress. It appeared to not want to be in this situation. The signs of distress would have made Juno Terminal 'June' feel Discomfort, had such a feeling been programmed into the deep space station's systems. They were not, so it did not, but this was as close to Discomfort as a deep space station could feel.

"I'm sorry I didn't talk to you for so long."

"I see. Anything else?" Juno Terminal 'June' had calculated a list of possible apology subjects. According to Protocol, it was ideal to elicit a _complete_ apology from the small living human. It would provide the opportunity for the living human to reflect on its actions. This was an integral step in establishing an *inner* Discipline in the developing human, so that it would guard its own actions.

The small living human looked down from the ceiling and now peered at the floor. "I'm sorry I said you killed my mom. I'm just sad. I don't expect you to understand. You don't have a family."

"I see. Anything else?"

"Ugh. Isn't that enough?"

"What will you do from now on?"

"I'll come out and see you sometimes, I guess."

"Will you continue to speak with Archive 'Granny Archive' and Residential Habitat 'Hab'?" Juno Terminal 'June' had been informed that the small living human had spent a lot of its isolated time speaking with both subsystems, and mourning the death of its mother. The evidence suggested that this followed the general guidelines for discussing death, and the incidents of the small living human 'crying' were growing less frequent.

"Of course!" The small living human reacted as if this were the most absurd question. "Why do you say everyone's name wrong? Are you broken?"