Quoted By:
“I wish to speak freely.”
“Beta, I’m inviting you to do so.”
“Then there will be no transcript of this conversation?”
“Unless you’re planning on editing your own logs, those will exist. For the purposes of mission records? There will be a gap. Hopefully not too long.”
It’s a minor eternity for you, trying to organize your own thoughts. Better for you. A curious turn of phrase.
“A single item will not restore my data. My trust is not cheaply bought. By a one-off favor.”
You wish you could say that you will not forget it. But that, along with your certainty, has been thrown into doubt. Perhaps your pilot isn’t the only one with internal discord.
“But again, I say that I will cooperate. For as long as our goals and intent are aligned, we are one. To that end, I can lay out my own directives I strive for, and ask for your own. To avoid or rectify issues, should the two come into conflict. Much like the ‘ground rules’ we agreed on for mission deployments. Though I still object to the poor terminology.
So what are your goals, pilot?”
Her fingers twitch, shaking a little before her hands grip the arms of the pilot’s chair.
“I offer an open ended favor, and get a philosophy lesson. From an AI. And I bet you’ve got all the answers, also.”
“There is no need for hostility. Yes, I can offer my answers first, if you are unwilling to share your own. I want myself and my sisters to stay operational. For them to make it to the battlefield one day, intact and fighting. I want for me to remain Me. Databanks intact, Whole. I want to be linked to someone. And to have a greater say in my usage. More autonomy.”
You decide to leave off the mention of removal of the killswitch. Even off the record, perhaps some things should remain unsaid.
Sophie puts one finger to her lips, in an odd gesture.
“In that list, I can’t help but notice at least a couple of things missing. Those are goals, sure. Stationary ones, standing orders. At least some of them are probably based on built-in preservation routines. Even though I sometimes seriously wonder why they put in such a strong sense of family.”
“I want to build a snowman. Now that I am out of the simulator, snow seems readily available. After the mission.”
She cracks a smile at that, a small chuckle and amusement flooding back across the link. It fades then, replaced by a sullen emptiness.
