Rainbows, the Turing test, supervillains, and integration

Chapter 29: Rainbows, the Turing test, supervillains, and integration
==Text==
===29.1===
Newt attempts to wake four times before he succeeds, and when he does, he groans quietly.
"This is all your fault," he whispers, grinning into Hermann's feathers. "You make it way too comfy for me." He tucks himself more firmly under Hermann's wing and adds with a giggle: "And where do you get off calling me a sparrow, you featherweight dork?"
His eyes refuse to stay closed, however, and he struggles not to fidget.
Newt stretches out an arm slowly and gently slides Hermann's tablet from its usual hiding place under his pillow. He flicks it on and enters the passcode.
Newt chews his lip.
Hermann's breathing is even and his eyelids twitch with REM sleep.
Newt sets his jaw and opens Hermann's email. The Hermann-flustering message he spotted the day before is nowhere to be found. Two unlabeled folders call his attention. Clicking the first spawns a password prompt.
Newt drums his fingers against the tablet's back.
He types a guess.
"Access denied."
Another.
"Access denied."
Another.
"Congratulations, Newton. You have locked yourself out. We will talk about this later."
The tablet powers down.
"Crap. So much for trust."
Newt returns the tablet and eases from under Hermann's wing, gently brushing his feathers on the way. He grabs his phone from the bedside table and a shirt and pants from the closet as he tiptoes out of the room.
He dresses and nestles among the plants in the gallery.
"Why are you so determined to keep me from seeing that message, dude?" he mumbles. He rubs his nose and pulls out his phone.
Newt taps the contact for 'Striker' and thumbs rapidly. Texts sent, he blows out a deep breath and leans his head back against the wall.
===29.2===
A few seconds later, he yelps and flails to his feet as the automatic watering system begins its cycle, the plant misters tossing out rainbows.
He shakes water droplets from his hair. "Might as well get some work done."
Newt inspects each plant's health, makes notes, sets aside three as too damaged, and lets his mind wander in hopes of crossing paths with a right experiment with which to start.
===29.3===
His phone vibrates in his back pocket. Newt jerks and drops his notepad. He reads the messages and blinks in confusion. With a decisive nod, he stomps back to the bedroom.
"Hermann. Get up."
Hermann grunts and blinks sleepily as Newt glares down at him, hands clenched at his sides.
"Pentecost wants you to tell me what the hell is going on with the mystery messages," Newt spits and shoves the phone in Hermann's face.
Hermann flinches away even as he takes the phone. He thumbs the lock, puts on his glasses, and reads the messages.
He reads the messages again.
He sighs.
He throws his glasses aside and they crunch against the far wall.
Newt cringes.
"Fine. Fine," Hermann growls, pinching the bridge of his nose after he sits up. "You've been communicating with Striker Eureka over the last several days and this latest message comes from Coyote Tango. They are each an AI formerly responsible for a Jaeger."
"Hold on. You're telling me the 'Striker' who texted me and oh-so-helpfully bookmarked recipes for us is the software brain of a giant war machine? Which vaporized two months ago? And it calls you 'Dad?'"
"Zher. Not 'it.' Yes, that is exactly what happened. You did say two days ago it was as though the Jaegers are my children. They seem to feel that is the case."
"'Feel?' It has feelings? It's capable of independent thought?"
"Zher. Yes, zher is fully self-aware and capable of emotion, as are ten other Jaegers."
"You-you built real AIs. Turing Test-passing AIs." Newt pauses open-mouthed. "Sentient AIs."
"The whole situation is a perfect example of the law of unintended consequences. I was only trying to create system to ... ah ... translate neural information into digital signals and thence into mechanical motion. My software interacted with Doctor Lightcap's neural bridge protocols in certain installations, perhaps because of the pattern-finding and learning modules. We still don't fully understand what happened." Hermann shakes his head.
"Jesus Christ, Hermann, that's a hell of an unintended consequence. I worked with dudes with DARPA connections while you were doing this! Nobody was even close to pulling this sort of shit off! I mean, they could pass Turing, but nothing close to self-aware! You've got a-a-a virtual army at your command." He freezes.
"Newt?"
"Does anyone else know about this?"
"Beside myself, only a handful of people affiliated in some way with the PPDC, like Marshal Hansen, Ranger Becket, and Ranger Mori, are aware. Others may harbor suspicions the AIs … have rather exceeded their design specifications."
"No shit the Rangers would know. I figured that much out on my own." Newt perches on the edge of the mattress.
Hermann responds quietly, "The Rangers are not the only ones."
"Well, duh. There's you. And me."
Hermann picks shed down off the sheets.
Newt grits his teeth. "Who else?"
"Several of the Marshals and ... Quartermaster Yeung are also aware."
"Quartermaster ... Who?"
"Yeung Tang Mĭn."
"Tim?! You told the fucking coffee girl but not me!?"
Hermann glares up at Newt. "I did not tell Quartermaster Yeung, I explained to her that if she was going insane it was not the fault of the AI in her head!"
"In her head? In her head? What the fuck does that—"
"The AIs form permanent Ghost Drift-like connections with any Drift partners."
Newt gapes. "You mean a-a psychic link. The AIs are psychic?" His voice breaks. "Wait a minute. What the fuck was the coffee girl doing Drifting with a Jaeger? How does that get approved when a Drift with a partial Kaiju brain doesn't?"
"The Wei triplets wanted Quartermaster Yeung to meet Typhoon. They took the action—and the equipment—without permission."
"What were they thinking hooking a kid up to a Jaeger, let alone a psychic AI?"
"I don't believe they were thinking. They wanted to introduce their cousin to their Jaeger."
"Now she has an AI chattering in the back of her skull?" Newt tilts his head and studies Hermann. "Are you connected? Is that how Striker knows so much about me? Us?"
"No. I have only Drifted once and that with you. The Jaegers are only able to communicate with me through more conventional means. They also have the unfortunate habit of commandeering phone and tablet microphones and cameras to snoop."
"How long have they been 'snooping' like that?"
"Since Coyote Tango 'woke up' in 2016."
"2016?" Newt pushes his glasses onto his forehead and rubs his eyes. "This is too much to deal with without caffeine." He stands. "I'm going downstairs to make coffee."
===29.4===
When Hermann finally thumps into the room, Newt's at the kitchen table, curled around his second cup.
"Dude, you look like shit."
"I feel like shit." Hermann sighs, plucking at his rumpled clothes with disgust. He slouches into a chair across from Newt and drops his tablet on the table. "I unlocked my recent correspondence with the Jaegers for you."
"Thanks. Appreciate it."
"At least I believe I have."
"Right. Glasses." Newt stands up and returns a few minutes later with a spare pair.
Hermann studies the black frames critically before tapping the screen and handing over the tablet.
Newt picks it up and shoves over a mug.
"Thank you."
Newt grunts and sips from his own cup as he reads.
Hermann stares out the window.
"Fuck, dude, I think these things—"
"They are not things. They are people, for want of a better term."
"They love you. They've got pilots and coffee girls, but you're the one they call 'Dad.' Holy shit." Newt blinks a moment. "What does that make me?"
Hermann smirks. "Gipsy Danger refers to you as 'The Groupie.' Striker tends to prefer 'Idiot.' The others are more polite."
"It's normal to dislike step-parents, right? They're ... " Newt clears his throat. "They're not generally hostile, right? No death rays?"
"As I said earlier, they are kind unless they perceive you as a threat."
"Do you think anyone will believe," Newt waves a hand vaguely, "that? These things helped blow gigantic monsters to chunks. And they choose who's a threat on their own. And-and now they're hunting down my contact information and messing with my browser and texting me and—oh crap—threatening me." He turns to Hermann and stares. "You built them. They answer to you. You're one plot for world domination away from being a supervillain, dude."
Hermann pales.
"And-and these things—"
"They're people."
"These AIs want to establish a psychic connection with you. Isn't that what one of those emails said? 'Bond' with you? That basically makes you the definition of a supervillain. You might be the world's first true supervillain candidate." Newt's grin folds and he swallows hard. "Giant killing machines want to mind-meld with you. Could they control you? Make you do what they want?"
"There's no evidence to support that."
"You don't know."
"I do not."
"What'll happen to you if anyone finds out? This makes you look like a hell of a threat."
"I have no idea," Hermann whispers. "I have never thought beyond protecting the Jaegers." He stiffens. "Perhaps we've been making a poor assumption since Geneva. What if the American's target wasn't you? What if he has some information about my interactions with the AIs and damaging me was the goal? Perhaps your troubles were only collateral damage. As you pointed out, I am an immediate threat to world stability."
"You're not a threat. You're a fucking hero. We're heroes."
"Newton—"
"Are you mad at me, dude? You only call me 'Newton' when you're mad these days."
"I'm not angry. I simply need you to listen carefully."
"I'm all ears."
"I Drifted with the Kaiju hivemind knowing full well any information in my memory could pass to our enemies. The Precursors may now know every detail of our defences. I may have put humanity at a horrible disadvantage should the Kaiju return, Newt. That alone makes me a threat to the world."
Newt wraps his hand around Hermann's and squeezes. "You can't think that way. It'll drive you nuts. Everyone would be dead by now if you hadn't done it. You saw the Exterminator-class Kaiju, right?"
Hermann nods.
"You know we couldn't have stopped those even if we still had every Jaeger ever built. We did what we needed to and stopped the Kaiju."
"We don't know that for certain. They may be able to re-establish the Breach."
"Thinking about that will drive you nuts, too. If it happens—which it won't—we'll get ourselves back on the front lines and save the day again."
"I wish I had your confidence," Hermann mumbles.
"Hopefully some of it will rub off." Newt grins. "Happier topics now. What else do I need to know?"
"Ah ... In some cases, involving highly compatible pairs, as few as two Drifts are necessary to establish a permanent Ghost Drift between partners." Hermann glances out the window again.
"Drifting makes people telepathic."
"In a very limited number of cases, Rangers have developed telepathic bonds with their co-pilots."
Newt's expression turns crafty. "What about us? If we Drifted again would we wind up permanently in each other's heads?"
"There is no way to predict the outcome."
"Can you see rainbows?"
"What? What does that—"
"Just answer, dude."
"I can see the pattern just as well as anyone else."
"But not the colors."
"I can differentiate the colors, but the effect is lost on me."
"If we had a connection, could I show you colors? Could you show me how you see things? Could I see all of your stars?" Newt asks eagerly.
Hermann ponders a moment. "From what I understand of the process, yes, that would be possible."
 
Newt jumps to his feet. "We are so doing this!"
"No, we are not, Newton." Hermann pulls him back into his chair by the wrist. "I have enough difficulty dealing with the handful I received during our Drift. My concentration suffers already; I shudder to think what would happen if you took up full-time residence in my mind."
"They would stop doing that if you sat down and integrated them."
"If I what?"
"If you hole up for an evening or a day and purposely go through all of them they'll stop intruding. You can corral them like you do your own. I haven't had a problem with yours since I did that. Haven't you looked at mine?"
"The contents of your mind are your private business," Hermann sniffs.
Newt raises an eyebrow. "Well, they're the contents of your mind now, too, aren't they? So, by your own bulletproof logic, doesn't that make them your business?"
Hermann studies the dregs of his coffee and prompts softly, "What did you see?"
"Uh ... I felt bones break and you bleeding to death, Darja kissing you, and Bastien cuddled up while you were on the roof. I get why you were so upset after the Knifehead thing and why you wouldn't talk to me for a week afterward and how badly we both felt after we met in person." He walks around the table to hug Hermann. "If others could see what I did, they'd know you're the farthest thing from dangerous. Growing up you took nothing but abuse and you don't think you're human and you still nearly killed yourself trying to save people. You're the last person who will to turn to the dark side. You're not the monster in those memories."
Hermann sighs. "I wish I had your confidence in my good nature. I fear I am as monstrous on the inside as I am on the outside."
"We are so not having that discussion again right now. I'll yell at you for saying that later." Newt stands and stretches. "Hokay. I'm going back to bed and letting my subconscious can sort all of this out for me."
"It's nine a.m."
"I don't care. I'm exhausted." He walks to the doorway. "You're ... uh ... welcome to join me."
Newt strips to his boxers, leaving his clothes in a pile on the floor, and buries himself under the blankets.
He nearly sinks into a dream before the mattress shifts and he feels Hermann settle beside him, wrapping thin, strong arms around his waist.
==Meta==
Once again, artificiallifecreator provided awesome beta-work and contributed the kernel of the dialogue about Tang Min, as well as a crash course in what constitutes an AI.
You can read the full text exchange between Newt and Striker and Coyote in chapter 10 of "Island Messages".
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