"I..." 9S' voice falters for a moment. "I didn't realise how different things could be until I came here. Back home, we were disposable, you know?"
Of course Cole doesn't know, unless he's managed to peer into those memories, too. Memories of self-destruct protocols to prevent the machines from extracting data from them if a mission goes bad. Memories of how they're just deployed into new bodies whenever they die. And his realisation that he was killed over and over again, his memory wiped, born anew.
"Me... 2B... We didn't matter. As long as we did our part in ending the war." Glory to mankind. "We're the same as every other 9S and 2B model before us. The only difference is our memories."
As long as humanity can return to Earth, it doesn't matter how many YoRHa were sacrificed for it; unlike the androids before them, YoRHa can come back after death. As long as the Bunker was safe, then they could die as many times as needed on the field. What value does the life of a YoRHa android have then, when they were essentially immortal as long as the Bunker stood? Even he mercilessly killed Rita, knowing she would come back.
(He didn't feel guilt then, but he feels it now even though that had been the only feasible choice laid out before them.)
He never realised how cold and clinical YoRHa truly was until he came to the Carnival, where people actually give a damn about what he thinks and feels. Where people were willing to put in the time and effort for him, without obligation. If only 2B were here to see this for herself...
no subject
Of course Cole doesn't know, unless he's managed to peer into those memories, too. Memories of self-destruct protocols to prevent the machines from extracting data from them if a mission goes bad. Memories of how they're just deployed into new bodies whenever they die. And his realisation that he was killed over and over again, his memory wiped, born anew.
"Me... 2B... We didn't matter. As long as we did our part in ending the war." Glory to mankind. "We're the same as every other 9S and 2B model before us. The only difference is our memories."
As long as humanity can return to Earth, it doesn't matter how many YoRHa were sacrificed for it; unlike the androids before them, YoRHa can come back after death. As long as the Bunker was safe, then they could die as many times as needed on the field. What value does the life of a YoRHa android have then, when they were essentially immortal as long as the Bunker stood? Even he mercilessly killed Rita, knowing she would come back.
(He didn't feel guilt then, but he feels it now even though that had been the only feasible choice laid out before them.)
He never realised how cold and clinical YoRHa truly was until he came to the Carnival, where people actually give a damn about what he thinks and feels. Where people were willing to put in the time and effort for him, without obligation. If only 2B were here to see this for herself...