[His answer comes slowly; these are uncomfortable hypotheticals, ones that twist up the positronic circuits of his brain and slow them down, something akin to pain, or as near as he knows it.]

If it were necessary to protect the life of an innocent, or several innocents, or an individual I was given particular instruction to keep safe, then some harm might be an acceptable trade. Ideally, I would not wish to harm anyone. I regret that in the past it has been necessary at all.