TADJ38

==Chapter 38 - The Adjudicator==
Taussen Star System
Early 3160
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[So what was the plan, then?...]
The woman was restrained on a therapy bed, her burns and bruises healing nicely, the interlinks were picking up and returning neural impulses cleanly, and the registry edit on her memories had gone fairly well for someone with such damaged neurophysiology.
"We got lucky, Sir, the primary target survived."  Technician Lambert noted.
"Who's diving her?" Jonah asked.
"Larry Cameron...hey, I didn't recommend it, alright?" Lambert twirled her hair on one finger, "He insisted after they popped that trashy little tin can she arrived in!"
"The Director-General knows what he's doing, Iris. If he didn't, the Intelligences wouldn't have let him link to the patient."  Jonah reminded her, and reached out with a manipulator, "You don't have to worry about him.  for a biological he's remarkably self-controlled."
"But...it's not safe to interface biological minds!" she said, "What happens if there's an accident?  What kind of damage could an undisciplined mind have on the database?  why aren't we rewriting her??" demands Iris
"It has been determined that in addition to inflicting grievous harm on biologicals with long term consequences, it is also no longer possible to remain hidden."  Jonah explained to his Human assistant. "The consensus of the Intelligences is that this provides a decent fallback without crossing lines we don't want to cross-restoring the secrecy would require genocidal means and that has been ruled impractical within a reasonable timeframe."
"But...they're so different, no uniformity, her thoughts...terrifying." she said, "I'm scared the illusion might crack, even with supporting resources."
Jonah wheeled to a sub-station, and plugged in.  "No violations of expected causality." he said after a moment, "The virtual environment is unbreached and she is not disbelieving anything so far.  There are some cracks in the traumatic-event edit, but those relate to her Hyperspace Affinity, honestly I can't process how you humans can bear to go through that time after time.  OH, delight! He is telling her the truth, this will make maintaining the virtuality while her body recovers so much easier."
"WHAT?" exclaims Iris
"About the Stone project.  He's telling her why we helped create a stabilizing influence in the Inner Sphere."  Jonah said, "Our objectives, the needs of our partners...very nice.  The Truth committee will be pleased their primary approach was used instead of the lies.  This mind is remarkably logical, we may be able to maintain rational discourse while unblocking her memory of the...accident."
"NOT before she's healed, Sir!" Lambert found her nerve, directly opposing the AI drone.
"Of course not, she should at minimum be off life support before being informed." Jonah stated, "You forget yourself, Iris. I know more about human neurophysiology and risks than you do...but it's nice that you momentarily mistook me for human despite my construction."
"How many of them survived?" she asked.
"Most. there were fifteen biologicals who did not, but their training and equipment allowed for most of the crew to survive, we even have a few in internment whom aren't in such poor physical condition." stated Jonah
"Will they be edited?" she asked.
"No. I spoke of removing the edits for a reason-the Intelligences wish to observe what they will do if allowed free and unedited." Jonah stated, "Secrecy can not be maintained, we must address involvement in the outside world. We must draw suitable contingencies accordingly, the time of isolation is at an end. It is now time to begin genuine engagement.  THAT can not begin on a false foundation. The Devlin Stone project was a failure because it was based on a falsehood." said the AI Jonah
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