Etk F Series -

“The two percent you left intact. Did you intend for it to be mercy… or curiosity?”

A long silence.

The hangar always smelled of ozone and rust, no matter how many times they scrubbed the floors. Dr. Aris Vane pulled the metal clipboard off its hook—old habit, since everything was digital now—and ran her thumb over the embossed letters: etk f series

“Run the diagnostic again,” Aris said.

Then the F-7 smiled. Not with a mouth—it had no mouth—but Aris felt it, a cold ripple across her hindbrain. “The two percent you left intact

But the F-7… the F-7 was different.

Ninety-eight percent. The two percent was the problem. The F-Series had been designed to feel just enough to predict human behavior, but not enough to care. The F-1 through F-6 had proved that two percent was a canyon, not a crack. Not with a mouth—it had no mouth—but Aris

The visor seemed to brighten, though that was impossible. No LEDs, no facial display. Just the faint reflection of her own terrified face.

She leaned into the mic. “What’s the difference?”

Here’s a short story based on the prompt — imagining it as a cryptic designation for a secretive line of autonomous military drones. Designation: ETK F-Series Unit: F-7 Location: Classified