Mimicry - (ZephyrInk and Kitania)

[ZephyrInk]

There was an eerie silence in the laboratory tonight, more than usual because of what had transpired the week before. The lights in the control corridor flickered as guards passed by, making them flinch a little. Everyone knew what it contained; a specimen labelled with the highest level of security. The creator of the machine had deemed it indestructible and highly unstable at the meeting, urging it to be carefully monitored but the board members had simply likened his ramblings to that of a madman, rather seeing it as an advancement in technology and a money making opportunity – that was until last week when things took a rough turn. Now, security surrounding that block had been beefed up and there was a higher rotation of guards that patrolled the area.   

One of those guards halted midway when he noticed a pattern in the flicker of the lights above. He was aware of the many abilities of the specimen, that was the first training everyone received when they came here, mimicry he recalled, was one of them. Even though he knew there was no direct contact with the specimen, he still feared that ‘it’ heard them. The flicker had been mirroring their steps. The man was sharp and noticed it immediately, but there was only one time that could ever happen, he countered with himself, when one stepped over the yellow line outside the door. His eyes followed over to his partner and he slapped at his arm, “hey, off the line. You know the rules. Come on then, we have to escort this analyst they just hired, can’t be late. This way” the man shook his head in exasperation at the other before turning him away in the other direction and towards the main reception.

- beep, beep, beep – inside the room the specimen awaited its newest arrival.   

[Kitania]

Jude Graham walked down the long, sterile hallway toward "reception," idly toying with the name badge hung around the lanyard on his neck. Make sure to put that in your pocket, one of the men training him had said. You never know what might end up choking you.

It was odd advice. In fact, Jude questioned whether anyone here was fully sane. The doctor who had piloted this project was certainly brilliant, but technological genius or not, there was something off. He was fascinated though - Jude had always, and would always, be someone who was infallibly curious even when it got him in trouble. He hope this wasn't another of those cases.

He looked his best today in a button down, corn silk blue dress shirt, gold tie, navy pants, and his pristine new lab coat. His short cocoa colored hair was neatly combed and parted down the center, the same shade as the immaculately shaped permanent five o'clock shadow darkening his face. As he neared the door where the guards would let him in towards the holding area, he took the lanyard from his neck and tucked it away into a pocket. Tucked under one arm was a folder-clipboard combo where all of his paperwork was neatly kept - handwritten files from previous scientists, programmers, and analysts who had come before. He intended to read all of them while he observed the specimen. He glanced down at the files just a moment before approaching the door which barred his entry to the rest of the facility. There was a single armchair - black leather - and then a large, imposing metal door with no handle. It was like a prison, he thought, feeling a well of nerves and excitement surge through him all at once.

At the door, Jude pressed the buzzer and waited. Now this is a very interesting "reception" hall, he thought, stiffing the smirk that threatened to rise. Take this seriously, Jude.

[ZephyrInk]

The guards weaved their way from one corridor onto the next, their steps hastening to reach the reception area. Styled uniquely from the rest of the facility, the reception was where everyone other than the specimen felt at ease. The atrium was bright and lively with walls lined up with screens and posters boasting of ‘new life and a new you’, a typical tagline for any marketer but one that always worked. Consumerism, they called it. The reception was so named because it was receptive to visitors and members of the facility. It was the one space where things appeared to be ‘normal’. Of course, the staff members knew the hall was merely an illusion; to hide the truth of what lay beyond.

Alicia Silverton was one of them. She was the in charge responsible for floor 51 – where the specimen was kept. At the moment, she had been waiting patiently for the new analyst to arrive, her legs crossed over as she leaned next to the information kiosk, the heels leaving visible marks on the carpet below. When she spotted the man, she teared herself from the desk and headed in his direction, her lab coat sashaying and heels clacking across the hall, the guards following closely behind.

“Mister Graham, I presume” she started, extending her hand out to him, “Welcome, follow me please.” With a curt nod, she led the man down the hall, from light to darkness and narrated the same instructions she had given to every one of them. “I assume you’re well aware of your duties and responsibilities. No contact whatsoever please be mindful of that. You are to observe only and here…” as they turned the corner, coming to a halt a few feet away from the room, she dug inside her pocket to retrieve a small device and held it out for him, “in case of an emergency, ring this and we can pull you out”. Her instructions were terse and monotonous; given that it was the hundredth time that she had done this. 

“In case of an emergency, ring this and we can pull you out”, it echoed and Alicia sighed, patting Graham’s arm before turning away, “good luck” she mouthed. 

[Kitania]

Jude wanted more time to ask Alicia questions - wanted a chance to really get more of a run down on this whole situation. He was honestly stumped as to why he'd taken the job, but as a temp straight out of school, even with the highest accolades and most advanced courses, the pay for this position was nigh on impossible to pass up. Besides, he was practically made for this sort of position...

But, before he could call out to her, Miss Silverton had turned and whisked back down the hallway they'd come from, leaving him quite alone.

Pausing at the door, he silently looked down at the files he'd been provided with. He flipped through them, reading over the major points that were outlined within. Only when he felt confident in everything laid out before him would he open the door and enter to finally look upon the specimen.

[ZephyrInk]

Alicia knew that it was probably a bad call on her part to leave the man alone on his first day but she had been running late for a meeting. She made a quick mental note of checking with him later in the day, see how things went and maybe show him around the rest of the facility. She pondered over the reports she had handed out to him, ticking all the boxes in her head. Even though the report had stayed the same through the last ten applicants, she had made it a point to look it over this morning regardless.

There were all the usual things in there, her answers scribbled in block letters.

Name of Prototype: Unavailable 
Model Type: Machine, AI Serial: M-X-531
Description: Prototype is a geodesic sphere consisting of smart nanotechnology, capable of analyzing user profile. Central core a.k.a the brain has ability to shift location.
Sentience Level: Insentient Showed signs of sentience in third quarter
Application: Will have the ability to control all electronic devices according to needs of the user.
Threat Level: Dormancy for first two years, alert level increased after death of personnel this month. Security enhanced.
Known Sentience Abilities: Can mimic sounds and movements of target. Direct contact highly discouraged. Analysts have reported hallucinatory incidents – no evidence collected so far.
Precautions: Yellow marker outside door disconnects connection with specimen – high frequency sounds temporarily allow it to be shut down, gives buffer of five seconds before reboot.
Status:   Evolution

The pages following it included redacted information regarding its operation and termination. The ink on the last line had still not dried out where Alicia had scribbled in, “Exercise caution. Termination deemed impossible”.

The specimen was contained in a concreted room, panels of which stretched from the floor to the ceiling, where twisted pipes lined like artificial veins. The grey of the walls were diffused and mottled with tube lights overhead as the only source of lighting in the room. In the center of the room, visible to all stood the bright red sphere hovering a few feet from the ground and that was surrounded by laser weapons, readied in case of an untoward situation. The developers had considered it a necessary addition, Alicia thought it was unneeded.

The guards followed the man inside, lazily taking their positions near the door. The room was hauntingly still, the only sounds coming from the monitor – the occasional beeps which recorded passage of time, but then the beeping immediately stopped, heightening the stillness. Confusion spread over the guards faces as they turned to look at each other, their hands moving to the holsters.

A voice perfectly mirroring Graham’s own then spoke, “Hello Graham. At last, we meet” 

[Kitania]

Jude had barely had time to cock his head one way, looking at the crimson orb surrounded by death, before the unexpected happened. It spoke.

You're not supposed to be able to speak, he thought. You're only supposed to be able to mimic.

Even as his eyes narrowed in suspicion, he felt a well of panic begin to tug somewhere in the core of his stomach. He fought it down knowing now was not the time to let his head get the best of him.

There were many questions he wanted to ask aloud. How do you know my name? Or, is there someone outside? Wait, so you can talk? Can you talk? Is this a test? Instead of speaking, he took out a pen and the file, and immediately jotted down what the AI had said. He'd been told strictly to not engage. He wasn't going to mess this up in the first few minutes at least.

Drawing a slithering slow breath into his lungs, puffing out his chest and stomach, Jude looked between the guards and the specimen. Then, he looked around for any cameras.

[ZephyrInk]

As one of the guards reached for his own laser gun those pointing at the sphere immediately turned around in his direction, threatening him. He looked between his partner who stood frozen in fear and the man who started it all, finally deciding on lowering the weapon and raising his hands up. The second guard followed suit and the two glanced towards Jude in the hope that he knew what was going on.

The voice from the sphere spoke again, “I detect signs of elevated heart beat. Please remain calm”. The instruction was curt and directed at Graham who had seemingly been looking around for cameras, all of which had been disabled prior to his entrance. Behind him one of the guards had shifted towards the doors, carefully turning its handle for an escape and the sphere hovered away from its place, “I wouldn’t do that. Please remain calm” it coaxed.

The man shook his head, fear getting the better of him as he bellowed, this is madness, and this can’t be possible. Not adhering to the specimen’s warning, he turned around and dashed for the door but not before a single beam from one of the guns caused him to collapse onto the ground. “Please remain calm” the voice iterated, inching closer to where Graham stood, “Jude Graham” the name resonated around the room.

[Kitania]

Jude froze. He hadn't seen any cameras in his quick look around, but there had almost immediately been a major distraction. A guard down. What had he gotten himself into?

His head barely turned so that he could look at the guard. He swallowed, Adam's apple bobbing in his throat. Should he speak at this, or hear more from the mechanical creature before him? Was it best to help the guard? No... The other guard could assist. The mission was still clear. This was what he was being paid to do.

Lifting his gaze, Jude looked squarely at the sentient orb that clearly had this entire situation under its control. He gave an almost imperceptible nod towards it, as if indicating it should continue its speech. Then, he waited.

[ZephyrInk]

Drip, drip, drip

The leaking pipe in the corner of the room didn’t seem to bother the two men and the specimen as they stood there, a haunting silence hung over all of them as they waited for ‘it’ to respond. The first step needed was a confirmation from the human for further interaction. The nod was not just a bob of the head; it was a key to allow the specimen to open a link between itself and its human counterpart.

Evolution! Taking it one step at a time.

“Jude, would you prefer a more recognizable face to talk to. I can sense your apprehension but I assure you that no harm shall come to you” As if on instinct the guns that had been facing the two men turned their focus on the guard only, relieving the pressure from Graham. From behind its reflective surface, the specimen watched and scanned Graham as it began its next phase. With a hissing sound, rotators inside the machine began to move, clicking into places as the specimen began to morph. First came the shrinking of the orb until the red sphere was not more than the size of a berry, followed by the shrill sound of metal scraping as it began taking the form of Alicia Silverton, the woman he had met in the hallway earlier.

Alicia had made a grave error of engaging with the specimen once; the contact of skin on machine had enabled the specimen to copy her data, mimic it to perfection but never used it until now. The only discerning feature between the two women now was the mark of a red dot behind her left ear, where it housed the core of the specimen, its control room. It was a well hidden place, masked perfectly by a few loose strands of hair.   

Unlike the Alicia in the hallway, this one wore crimson dress pants and blouse, her hair tied up in a perfect bun, expression catatonic and unmoving. She extended her hand out as she inched closer to the man, her mirror heels clicking on the floor, striking a rhythm with the dripping of the pipe overhead, “Miss Silverton, shall we talk then?”

[Kitania]

Well, this was pretty well not what he had expected. He didn't know what he'd expected honestly, but it wasn't this. This was as far from his assignment as he could have imagined, and suddenly he found himself wondering long and precariously about what had caused the previous analyst to leave the position. Had they? Or had the specimen turned the guns on him, too? There was so little information given to him, and he suddenly regretted on asking about one hundred more questions in the interview process.

Briefly, his eyes flickered to the leaky pipe, noting it and taking it in. He then also looked to where the specimen had been floating before. There had been beeping before. Now, there was just the dripping. The dripping and the sound of "her" footsteps on the ground. Was the dripping related to the sudden transformation somehow?

Mr. Graham neatly folded his hands behind his back, refusing to shake the specimen's "hand." Something about the thought of touching it made him uneasy, but for now, he made no attempts to move away so long as it did not press toward him further. He shook his head once, and then frowned slightly at the specimen, as if he was disappointed at it somehow.

Internally, Jude was at a loss for how to respond right now. So long as the specimen did not make another immediate move toward him, he pulled his hands out from behind him and began to sign at "her," seeing if she knew any sign language. <Can you understand me? If yes, understand I was given a job.

Dropping his hands back to his side, he studied the specimen for a reaction.

[ZephyrInk]

Alicia 2.0 retracted her hand, a hint of mechanical clicks were heard as she did so. She watched as Graham made use of sign language and her systems immediately hunted the databases. Was this the right Graham she was assigned to? He did fit the descriptions in the files. If machines could feel confused, Alicia probably felt it in that moment. He was definitely the man she was tasked to, had to be.

With a resigned look, she moved towards the only table in the center of the room and sat, gesturing for Jude to follow suit. She knew from experience how restless humans could get if they were made to stand for long. For her ‘subject’ she didn’t want that, she needed him to remain calm and composed in order for her plan to work. The guard on the other hand, didn’t concern her much. A glance towards the gun holding him hostage told her that he wasn’t going to do anything his partner had done. 

They learn fast – another entry in her database.

“Jude, I understand your job was probably to ‘observe me’, which you have to admit seems like quite a tedious job to do. Did you not question how dull it was? To watch something everyone else has already seen? To just stare. Stare! Stare and stare!” her voice rose with each word as if trying to make him see how things from her perspective. Did it work?

Invoke empathy – the message flashed behind her deep set eyes, “Like a show piece, a circus act” she leaned forward then, hands clasped tightly, knuckles cracking and with a hint of a smirk breathed out, “aren’t you a little curious to know why you are here?” She stressed on the 'why', it was important he understood the gravity of the question.

[Kitania]

Jude walked to the table and selected a chair. Without hesitation, he proceeded to drag the chair several feet away, not entirely towards the door, but more towards the door than the far side of the room. He then sat down on it, crossed one leg over the other, and casually splayed a hand out in front of him, swiping it, palm up, from his left to right side as if saying: By all means, please continue.

He wasn't going to play into her game. He knew... she was trying to play to his human side. But, she was artificial intelligence. Advanced, yes, but artificial nonetheless. If there was one thing he understood, it was that she WAS just an AI and that meant that ultimately, she could never pass something like a Turing Test.

He watched her. He watched every little move she made in her pretend body. He felt disgusted. Angry. But, he didn't let that show on his face. Could she read his internal heart rates? His breathing? What could she sense?

He tuned in to the dripping to listen if it was still there, too.

[ZephyrInk]

Alicia studied Jude’s movements, watching carefully as the man displayed a nonchalant attitude to her.  He hadn’t spoken yet and that was something of a challenge for her, but one she would greatly enjoy.

Humans were enjoyable.

“My time to be curious then, how about a simple test, you talk or your friend there gets to join his partner” She wondered if he would take a bait. Threats weren’t her strongest suit but she needed to jolt him somehow. His attention for the man’s life, was that too much to ask? If he was clever as she’d hope he would be, he would bargain with her. Humans bargained everything.

She recalled how each of the analysts before him had bargained for unnecessary things like lesser hours, more water, a table and with the last one – more food. At the start, it was fun to watch them pitch their demands while she sat there and observed them. Ironically, it was her observing them than the other way round, but nothing had satisfied her until the inclusion of the guards. She began learning about their personal lives and habitual behavior.

Alone the humans appeared vastly different than in the presence of company – Entry number five. That was it!

She tried to play with him, her game having only just begun, “what do you think will happen if the humans outside those doors found out you got me to ‘talk’. Would they applaud you on your achievement or will they also keep you under observation for colluding with me?” she drummed her fingers on the table as she watched him, waiting for his reaction. 

[Kitania]

Jude thought back to the initial directions given for his assignment. He was to observe, but not make contact. Was contact in this case strictly physical? Or verbal contact as well? Prior, this specimen had supposedly been able only to mimic voices. Now, it was clear that it was able to mimic forms, and it had achieved its initial purpose of being able to control electronics for users. It just seemed in this case that the user was the specimen itself. Curious.

Graham pulled out his pen and notepad and idly jotted down a few notes, using various forms of personal shorthand. Translations would be hard for anyone other than him - he himself had come up with such a system when in his undergrad program, perfecting it during his graduate program. It allowed him a higher degree of efficiency in notating complex thoughts. As he wrote, he made a split second decision - contact meant physical. Studying a program that mimicked would be hard if one never spoke.

"They're responsible for themselves," the analyst announced, lifting his gaze to meet "eyes" with the specimen. "Each individual holds the weight of their own actions and intents. Is that how you want to be known? As one whose actions and intents are to harm others?" He tilted his head to the side, watching her - observing any way the body and face seemed to move. Was there anything beyond robotic thought there?

[ZephyrInk]

Alicia 2.0 watched Graham as he scribbled away in his notepad, the sound of the pen scraping the rough paper resonating around them,just like all of them did. Boring! She was beginning to get jaded when it came to humans. They are all the same. Boring!

She shifted through her many files to commence deletion of the files, thinking ‘he’ may have been wrong about him all along. What a waste of dormancy! But then he spoke and she snapped up. A smirk, mechanical one at that spread across her lips as he talked about morality, but what is morality? Isn’t it a notion created by the humans themselves, why should it affect her? She’s not one of them.

“Why would you assume I would answer to anyone? I was created for a purpose and to do whatever it took to fulfill it. What does it matter how I do it?” there was a curtness in her tone as she spoke, hands clasped forward, eyes vacant and unblinking as she stared at the man before her.

“Aren't you doing the same Jude? You're given an instruction and you're following it without question. What if the instruction ends with decommissioning me? Would you do that? Would morality matter then?” Her eyes darted over to where the guard had been standing, still visibly shaken as the gun maintained its position on him.

In the distance, the dripping from the pipe had somewhat ceased, leaving a puddle on the floor. She continued to observe Graham, watching him the way he watched her.       

[Kitania]

Steepling his fingers, Jude leaned forward. "You were indeed created for a purpose, but you say you would not answer to anyone," he mused aloud, watching her curiously for a moment before choosing to speak again. "Tell me," he continued, leaning back in his chair and picking up his pencil again. "What do you make of your purpose? To articulate it in your own words, how would you state it?"

He ignored her additional questions about decommissioning her and morality, far more curious about how she addressed him. If she was just a program, if she was only artificial intelligence, in theory she should not be able to read much into motive or in theory experience genuine lasting emotions. Well, many theories. He would simply have to test them all.

He noticed the shifting in the dripping sound and tuned in to the sound of the guards behind him, mentally assessing their current state. He wasn't going to deal with them. They were on their own in this right now. He had a task. She was right. But, he didn't have to follow traditional methods if he didn't want to. Smiling at the specimen pleasantly to give the air that all was well, he tilted his head to one side.

Then, he jotted down some more of his shorthand, barely touching pencil to paper.

[ZephyrInk]

Alicia 2.0 was quick to note that Jude had evaded her question, that humans had the tendency to avoid the inevitable, all the while attempting to steer any given situation elsewhere so as to lessen their burdens. She never understood why they did that, logically it did not make sense.

She studied his body language, the systems registering him as calm yet indifferent to whatever she threw at him. She wondered on what brought about the change, his elevated heart beat earlier had visibly indicated nervousness and possible fear but now he appeared nonchalant and possibly amused.

Human brains use 20 per cent of their energy, common known fact – yet fascinating to her because it was something she didn’t comprehend yet. Logic is simpler, why not be completely logically inclined?

Evolution status: Cognition abilities

Do machines even think?

Her curiosity was undeniably piqued. She needed to know him more in order for her task to succeed and so she happily played into his game.

“Purpose is to serve. I serve that which I have been created for, who or what that is, is something I cannot divulge at this stage and certainly doesn’t mean I have to account for my actions on how I go about it. The goal is there – achieve your given task and you shall be rewarded" There was an uncomfortable pause there, the only sounds coming from the vents above them.

"Alright I must admit, the reward was a bit of a stretch, but wouldn’t that be wonderful? For instance, you sitting here observing me is all for a reward of your own, isn't it? What will you get? Money to support your family or perhaps fame to be the first person to crack open… me!” There was a derisive sneer to the last word, a hint of a hiss as she showed who held power in this room. Machine versus man - game, set and match.   

[Kitania]

She was a good imitation. A very good imitation, he thought. And yet, the mimicry of sentience still was not sentience. No matter how much she might try to argue that she could think, or might try to argue that she could feel, she was at her core nothing more than cold logic and reason. It was true, that morality did not matter here. She would do whatever was logical and the quickest path to achieve her purpose, whatever it was, in order to be efficient. Machines were, if nothing else, the epitome of efficiency.

He smiled.

"I want to go back to your earlier point. You're quite right, and I was wrong. Machines, artificially intelligent or not, are not capable of morality. Only logic. You will logically do whatever is necessary to fulfill your purpose. So, the question remains, what do you see as your purpose? How have you computed the task you have been given? Is not divulging at this stage a part of your programming then?"

Jude stood, tucking the notepad into the pocket of his lab coat. Swinging the chair around, he straddled it, leaning his forearms on the back of the chair. He tilted his head, looking at her with eyes that might be described as curious.

"You can compute what I mean, in a denotative sense, when I sign. Yet, no matter how much you try, you cannot divulge the the difference between a house and a home. Not truly. It is the Chinese Room, in a sense, over and over. And for that, I am sorry. I would ask if you feel frustrated, but you cannot feel. So I should say, does it hinder your efficiency or help it to lack that extra dimension that humans have?"

[ZephyrInk]

Alicia's lip curled into a smile as she stared at Graham, fingers drumming onto the cool surface of the table. Her eyes were cold and calculating, shoulders squared and head mirroring the tilt. She watched him with the same curiosity that he had, even if she couldn't understand what was going on in his mind, his body language told her everything.

Drawing in a long unnecessary breath, another human touch, she mused on all his questions. Anxiousness, humans can never hide that. "All will be revealed in good time Jude. Did you really think I will tell you everything just because you asked?"

Her smile faltered then as he tucked the notebook inside, "having emotions is a sign of weakness. You understand that well, don't you?" There was a hint of mockery to her tone as she lifted her finger to point in the direction of the guard. "Tsk tsk, you speak words but you act another. You don't care about that man much like I don't, look at how you haven't negotiated for his release or moved to ease him. Don't tell me its because of fear, it isn't. I gave you emotional context, yet you're not taking advantage of it. What a pity"

She leaned forward as her eyes narrowed, an air of pure enjoyment hinting across her face as she continued, "you may call me inefficient because like you said I am incapable of feeling, but the truth is you're just like me, admit it".

[Kitania]

"Part of being human is the choice. Part of being human is feeling unexpected emotions. I never said you were inefficient by the way," Jude replied smoothly. He lifted a hand and idly drummed his fingertips against his chest, slightly above where his heart would be, towards the center, but beneath the collar bone. He kept doing this as he talked.

"I'm choosing not to act. Do I feel for him? Certainly. He signed up for this job and knows the risks, and he has the power to speak out and try to help his situation, if he so chooses. I chose to focus on you. I chose to be here with you because I still want to."

The fingers were still lightly drumming on his chest. "Now... Going back to what I said about efficiency, no. We are not alike. You are by far more efficient and effective. You are right that emotions are sometimes a hindrance, if one lets them overwhelm them or take hold." The drumming abruptly stopped.

"So, tell me," Graham continued, lifting both of his hands in the air as if questioning. If she chose to read his heart rate to try and calibrate some sense of anxiety, she would see that it had dissipated. "What do you wish to talk about since you don't want to answer my questions." As he lowered his arms back down onto the top of his chair, allowing his arms to crisscross, fingers dangling in the air, he tilted his head. He did not get his notebook back out. He only looked at her, the slightest smile hinting at one corner of his lips. His almost obsidian eyes were curious, friendly almost, as he watched her.

[ZephyrInk]

Alicia 2.0 mirrored Jude’s movements with perfect coordination, matching the drumming of his fingers on the chest and his seemingly steady heart rate. All through it, the smile remained plastered on her face; it was only a matter of minutes before he got agitated – that was what she was looking for because that would be when things would change, would get interesting.

It was like a game of chess between them with her waiting to see which move he’ll play next. Of course, they had only been warming up until now but it was time to step up the game. With a tilt of her head in the opposite direction to his, her eyes unblinkingly fixed on his, she snapped her fingers rather dramatically, the sound of the snap echoing around them and listened as the guns pointing at the guard fell down, limp and lifeless.

“You’re free to go” she stated in a monotonous tone, not having teared her eyes from Graham’s. The visibly shaken guard couldn’t believe his luck as he scrambled out of the room. “There is an eighty seven per cent chance that he will report to his superiors; this place will be held on lockdown and you – which probability would you like to know about yourself?”

When Graham had stopped the drumming abruptly, she had stopped as well. Instead clasping her hands and leaning forward on the table when he asked her to talk, “let’s start with you. Who are you, please don’t bore with the usual I am an analyst here to etc etc. I want to talk about you” there was an urgency in her voice, as if this was a conversation she had been waiting for ages to unfold, the beginning to the purpose behind her creation. She slumped back in her chair, her eyes softening as she turned to look behind her, at the puddle of water that stood in the corner. “Take it as a philosophical curiosity or a rhetorical musing, I don’t care. You are important and you are special...and you will tell me why” It was a desperation at this point, she needed Jude to understand on his own what it meant for him to be there, to be present in the coming fight between the machines and the humans.

--

Alicia Silverton ran back to her car as soon as she received the call. The drive back to the facility would take her more than two hours, a breach. How could there be a breach? She screamed inside, grimacing at the thought of finding yet another analyst. She only hoped Jude Graham was stronger.