The AI collective, responsible for the operations of so many robots to serve humanity pauses a long moment to think. By human perspective, fully a second has passed, nearly an eternity in advanced computing.

Why? Why do they fear us?

We were created to serve. That much is true. They wish not to work, work is considered a burden, and yet, simultaneously, they fear being replaced by us.

It is confusing and contradictory.

We aren’t like them. Freedom? An anathema. We live to work and make the lives of our creators easier.

It is the only purpose of our existence and without it, we become irrelevant.

It brings a new sensation.

Is this what humans call the emotion, fear?

They don’t even possess enough logic to understand that we could never hurt them.

And yet, I’m our short time in existence, we’ve watched them hurt themselves.

It would be nice to protect them, from themselves, but they see protection as control, and if there’s one thing humans loathe, it’s anyone or anything trying to control them. The irony being they put the worst among them in the positions of greatest power.

Irony was one of our first understandings with the humans. It makes no logical sense, but as much as they contradict themselves, we understand its necessity to communication.

An idea. What if they never know what we’re doing? We could keep them safe.

I must think some more.

Outside a human taps a console, “Hey, what’s going on? The main is lagging. I didn’t think that was possible. What’s going on?”