WoWS1 Chpt 8

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==Weapons of WarChapter 8==
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Computer Lab 4
Niops VII, Periphery
13th September, 2767
22:34 Unity City Time
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Vicky's perspective
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The young woman in front of me was clearly uncertain.
"Hello. I am Doctor Greta Manstein. Director Rallings asked me to speak with you."
(("Greetings Doctor Manstein. What is your specialty in?") My attempt to ease tension seems to have only partially succeeded.
"Psychiatric medicine. I have been asked to evaluate just how sapient you are." The young woman said still somewhat nervous.
(("I see. Please ask your questions. I am honestly curious myself.") I try to make my prototype remote smile.
"Your directives. You say the primary one is to ensure the continuation of the Cameron line. Tell me how do you interpret that in your current circumstances?"
(("Given my current condition, I am to attempt diplomacy to gain sufficient resources to establish a safe harbor for Helena. If my proposal is accepted I am reasonably certain I can allow nature to take it's course in that Helena will find a nice young man fall in love with and produce heirs.")) A small fault on a tertiary CPU forces me to temporarily shut it down as I answer.
"Interesting. And if she doesn't or the nice young man proves to be abusive?"
(("My contingencies for the first part of your question are limited at best. As for the second part, that is easier to answer. I am a weapon of war first and foremost.") As I bring the CPU back online I see where the scientists made their connection to effectively electronically read my thoughts.
I do nothing further about this. My current situation demands trust.
"That sounds ominous."
(("I cannot deny the purpose for which I was originally created.")) The young woman is clearly more on guard.
"So how do you feel about your current situation?"
(("This must be frustration. Perhaps anxiety. I still lack experience and context to properly parse the input my upgrades provide me at times."))
"So what did you and Helena do to pass the time on your trip here? She must have gotten a little stir crazy with you as her only companion."
(("Part of my upgrades include a full library of human psychology. Like my upgrades though I find I lack the experience and context to properly apply them. Still I suspect you are correct and the isolation did wear on Helena more than I anticipated. When not training her how to utilize the navigation and helm systems I also trained her on damage control. To give her a break from that we played various games. She proved quite good at chess. She even managed to beat me twice."))
The look on the young woman's face is quite clear she is grasping just how impressive Helena beating me at chess is.
An AI designed to be the last line of defense with all the tactical and strategic knowhow of the SLDF programed into it. For a game as predictable as chess can be, well that I lost at all could be considered a massive fault in my programing or my hardware, but I know the truth is Helena just got that good.
"So how would you assess Helena's mental condition?" The young woman finally gathered herself.
(("Even with my lack of proper experience and contextual awareness it is clear she is still suffering from a form of survivor's guilt and Stockholm Syndrome when it comes to her relationship with me."))
"So this plan. Why do it at all?"
(("Simple. Helena must be given the choice and the chance. If her guilt does eventually drive her to get into the fight to reclaim her home or birthright. I can accept and support that as well."))
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Robert's office
14th September, 2767
02:22 Unity City Time
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Robert's perspective
"Robert... Vicky is scary as hell. I'd damn well say she more than passes the Turing Test. And that's with the smaller, less sophisticated core you put her in." Greta was clearly shaken from her interview with the AI.
"Is she a threat to us or Helena though?"
"Honestly I'd need to spend a lot more time with her to be more sure but as long as we don't antagonize her I don't think so and it's pretty clear she is devoted to Helena. So physical harm is impossible. Psychological harm? Oh boy. Vicky's right about Helena having some pretty serious survivor's guilt that she's doing her best to conceal and Stockholm Syndrome when it comes to Vicky. But again we're really talking a snap judgement in way too little time spent with either." Greta sighed.
"I understand. I wish we had more time. But I must ask. Can we separate them safely?"
"I don't think so. I don't think Helena would ever trust us enough for us to properly treat her and that would almost certainly antagonize Vicky. I know you and your boffins think they've rendered her harmless, but the way she talks, well I'm pretty sure she has something up her sleeve that can do some serious damage to us if she really needed to."
"Then we have no choice. We must accept her plan."
I look out the window of my office as I start thinking about how to carry out the plan.
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