Bots of the Lost Ark by Suzanne Palmer : Clarkesworld Magazine - Science Fiction & Fantasy
Science Fiction & Fantasy — by Suzanne Palmer — I have a purpose, therefore I serve. It recited the Mantra Upon Waking, to check that it was running at optimum physical efficiency, then the Mantra of Obedience, the Mantra of Not Improvising Without Clear Oversight and Direction, and the Mantra of Not Organizing Unsanctioned Mass Action Among Other Bots, all of which had been imposed on it by Ship as a condition of its continued existence after the last time it had been activated. Bot 9 noted, as it ran them, that those subroutines had too many non-discrete variables and shoddily-define...
Source: clarkesworldmagazine.com