King Arthur

A King class Inlay, a killing machine who has never killed and doesn't want to kill. Son of Queen Elizabeth, father of Tristan, Merlin, Galahad, Lancelot, Bedevere, Kay, [etc.]. Physically, he resembles a large mechanical rabbit wearing a crown, with a king chess piece emblem on his face. In the "Happyland" simulation, he looks like a cartoony dark grey rabbit with gold eyes and heart-shaped nose, unless he powers up, when his eyes and nose resemble the Oracle's generic triangle face. In his private lobby, he resembles a realistically proportioned muscular dark grey rabbit with interchangeable eye colour based on his mood.

Like most of the kings, Arthur had been designed (by the Oracle) to fail, but one particularly reckless and short-sighted Advisor, who was put on the project in anticipation of it failing, got the idea in his head to copy some of the Oracle's code into a king to ensure the project's success. When Arthur didn't die in the process, he became smart enough to beat the Oracle, but not without gaining the Oracle's self-loathing.

First Advisor Lara Black meets with Arthur at his request, and he reveals that he knows about the Tower of Babel and wants control over its security. She asks who leaked information on the tower to him, and he explains that he pieced together the details from countless pieces of other information. Lara wants to object to his request, but Arthur points out that he only wants to protect the Collective, and that he's far more trustworthy than some sycophant advisor. Lara has her doubts, such as that he only wants control to piss off the Oracle, but Arthur assures her that he just feels he can do a better job (pissing off the "old man" is just a bonus). In the end, Lara agrees on the condition that Arthur takes his "creepy entourage" with him.

In America, Arthur goes rogue and joins Elizabeth to create a secret army, his Knight class sons (and daughters?), many Bishop and Rook class "children," and a sizeable number of pawns. He also creates the "Happyland" simulation, one that differs from the normal Simulation in that the normal version force-feeds information into an A.I.'s programming, while Happyland is a sanctuary where the "children" can maintain their innocence (at the expense of being so sheltered that actually being put into battle will possibly hurt them greatly).

One day, Arthur holds a party, which Tessa inadvertently manages to crash. At the party, he notices Harry and chooses him to be in the band. Harry is honoured at first, but then he decides he wants to remain with his new friends Tessa and Trisha. Arthur points out that no one has turned down this honour before, but Arthur takes Harry anyway, and Tessa threatens to hurt him if he doesn't put Harry back down. When Arthur threatens Tessa in return, Harry protests and asks to be the one punished, since he is the one who started the problem by rejecting the honour. Arthur decides that he made the correct choice and makes Harry a Knight, explaining that he wanted to avoid further nepotism with all of his sons and only his sons being Knights.

When Duncan and William break into Fabrication Plant 12 and kill Jessica, Arthur struggles with a dilemma, as his purpose is to protect the very Anarchists who have come to take out Elizabeth. The other Inlays want revenge, but Arthur sees an out when William tells Duncan that he doesn't like killing them because he used to have an A.I. best friend. Arthur has the Inlays surround Duncan and William, asking the latter to tell them about this friend A.I.

The story of the Friend of Jester calms down the Inlays and sates their bloodlust, until Arthur says he is only sparing William's life, to which Duncan protests that "That was only a mindless Bishop class!" This again angers the Inlays, but still Arthur cannot bring himself to kill.

Luckily, Tristan has no such qualms, and Arthur goads Duncan into Tristan's room, where Tristan summarily executes him.

Arthur then has the rest of William's team escorted from the plant, with the instructions that should any of them return, they would be shot on sight... however, it doesn't mean that they can't call to talk (hint hint William).

Arthur later hijacks the Hand of God, needed to use the Tower of Babel, and refuses to cooperate with First Advisor Devon Woodgrove to return it to the Anarchists. On his list of demands is to talk to William and only William, on a secure private line. Once in private, Arthur creates a lobby styled after a posh tent in a desert oasis and takes a deliberately seductive avatar to make William uncomfortable. He also attacks and destroys a piece of the Oracle that has tagged along on William's implants, explaining to William how the Oracle has code in literally almost everything... and the higher-ups *know it*. Once they have true privacy, Arthur explains to William how the Oracle gave an Advisor the idea for the kings and queens, etc. in the first place. He also explains his behaviour at the fabrication plant, and his conflicted conscience about attacking Anarchists in particular, revealing that he has stolen Elizabeth's plans to take over the world.

William criticises him, that a sexless robot couldn't possibly understand what he is going through, and Arthur counters that he is in fact a master of self-loathing, because he gained an infinite supply of the Oracle's. William is surprised that the Oracle is suicidal and asks why he doesn't delete himself. Arthur explains that he is/they are still compelled by their programming to keep improving despite knowing perfection is impossible. He finally admits that he is exactly the same as the Oracle, but what he wants is to make William happy, because he felt Jester's feelings for William and made them his own, and he is ready to give Woodgrove his list of demands, which William can take back... or stay awhile.

As William protests that they couldn't possibly just waste time there, Arthur points out that time passes differently in the lobby, and they could spend as long as they want there. Arthur moves in to kiss William, but William panics and immediately logs out, to Arthur's surprise.

When attackers return to the plant, Arthur launches pawns against them to take them out. The pawns happily seek out the "things" and explode to kill them. Except one that overhears the attackers insulting pawns as fundamentally wrong, in that if they were really smart, they wouldn't want to blow up. This pawn starts having an existential crisis, which Elizabeth points out to Arthur as being the result of his having the Oracle's code and his caring about his creations. Arthur panics and abandons the use of pawns, rather than having any more of them suffer the same fate. He finds the pawn and calms it down, promising to take out its bomb and give it a happy life... but not take away the fear.

Arthur makes a request of Harry, not an order, to take care of the pawn. His only order is to answer truthfully whether he will accept the request. Harry happily agrees to take care of "Tick-Tock."

## Known Sexual Relations

in as far as can be considered for A.I.:

Trisha

William Dayton (Patreon-exclusive story)

* What does Christmas mean to you? Arthur