AU09 repairs one of the Gamiloids, the only salvageable one. AU09 names it Alter and tries teaching it. Lieutenant Commander Sanada and Lieutenant Kaoru are interested to see what progress AU09 can make with Alter. Things don't go exactly as the humans hoped it would. The Gamiloid learns enough when it is not being observed and escapes. It contacts an operating system within the ship that it refers to as the goddess of the ship. Alter interferes with docking operations when Shinohara and Yamamoto are returning from a scouting mission. AU09 is ordered to cut off all contact with Alter, but it is too late.
Running in parallel with the story of AU09 and Alter is a story read by Yuria over the ship's radio, The Heart of Agent #9 by Herbert Quain. It is about a lonely robot that meets but loses another robot.
The episode is broken up into four chapters:
- A Clockwork Parable
- Do Automata Dream of Electric Sheep?
- I, Robot
- Flow My Tears, the Automata Said
I recognize the second and third titles but not the other two.
Thoughts
I can appreciate what was attempted here but it didn't connect with me as fully as I would like it to have. There is a consideration of the nature of sentience in this episode. The way it was handled felt clumsy. AU09 makes a connection, something more than just an exchange of information with Alter. AU09 is clearly excited by the opportunity to work with and teach Alter. AU09 is also clearly saddened by what happens to Alter in the end. Maybe if AU09 had been a more prominent character in this series up to this point then I would have been moved by the path this episode followed.
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