Chapter 132

"Okay, what's this?"

I stared in surprise at the humanoid figure enclosed in a coffin, only not a training coffin, but a coffin that looked like a refrigerator.

"Body..."

SUZI's voice sounded embarrassed and somewhat scared. But what exactly was she afraid of?

Carefully looking at the terminal where the AI hologram was displayed I shifted my gaze to the same body and slowly closed my eyes to do breathing exercises.

"So, maybe you can explain to me what a body so similar to your hologram is doing here, and where exactly did you get a body that is clearly over seventy percent organic?"

"Did you buy it?"

There was still the fear in SUZI's voice that I could tell that the body had to be destroyed. I still didn't know exactly what to do with it. But I certainly wasn't going to destroy the body.

"Yeah..."

"SUZIE, why am I pulling one word out of you at a time?"

I added a dash of displeasure to my voice.

"Don't push her..."

Panam's voice came from behind, and it, the voice, was very displeased.

Turning around I made sure that Panam was very much unhappy that I was pushing SUZI a bit. Though I honestly didn't expect her to get so close to her so quickly and start defending her. However, they're both girls and it was probably just female solidarity mode kicking in right now.

Just what makes SUZI so timid?

"Okay..."

I agreed with Panam, causing a faint smile to appear on her lips.

"...but, then, same question to you. What's the body doing here. A clearly human body with a high chromium count?"

"I bought it..."

Panam knew that I would not scandalize her, so there was absolutely no fear or embarrassment in talking on the subject.

"And why?"

I made sure to arch an eyebrow questioningly.

"Isn't it obvious? I bought it for the SUZI."

"Okay, uh. now tell me, what kind of body is this?"

Panam shrugged her shoulders.

"Just a body. Bought it from Trauma. A comatose woman who hasn't shown signs of brain function in years. They usually keep bodies like that as donors. So I bought the body back for the C.S.U."

I nodded and turned my full attention to the AI.

"And what, it was hard to say the same thing?"

"I... you're not mad?"

"Angry..."

"Davy-id...

I sighed and threw a disgruntled look at Panam.

"Panam, I'm really angry, but not at all that you bought this body, but that SUZI apparently thinks I'm some kind of beast who can tell her to destroy a body that is clearly meant for her."

"Come on David, SUZI hasn't been with us that long, so it's understandable that she doesn't fully understand what's involved yet..."

Panam waved her hand.

"And you, SUZI, just remember, David is an autocrat who can make decisions on his own, but as a rule, he only gives orders in combat situations, and it is not desirable to argue with them. In normal life, he prefers to at least listen to us."

"I'll Remember..."

The image of SUZI nodded, and the voice sounded much more confident.

"...and thank you for not destroying my body. It really means a lot to me."

"You're welcome, but I'd make it as meaty as possible if I were you... By the way, what are you going to use to get the SUSI on the body?"

SUZI, was very much surprised at my words and yes Panam too, when I turned to her, looked very much surprised.

"What do you mean, write it down?"

"Well, what else could you buy a body for?"

"Well, SUZI found information about PROXY and decided to give it a try... So it will just be a mobile platform for her..."

Panam shrugged, as if that answer was so natural that there was no need to ask.

"So PROXY..."

I nodded my head thoughtfully.

"The option is certainly interesting, but in all likelihood you haven't even considered the other option..."

Shaking his head puzzled, he turned to Panam.

"Okay, Suzy, she's new to us, but you, you knew about Vee and her mind-writing chip problem... You could have told her.

Panam blinked in surprise.

"I forgot..."

"What are you talking about? Did you have the technology in your world to record an AI in a human body?"

One could hear the surprise and disbelief in SUZI's voice.

"Not publicly available..."

Panam decided to answer the question herself for our computer girl, who may well become a live one.

"...there's a technology, you can't have not heard of it, a personality record that allows you to communicate with deceased relatives."

Panam looked at SUZI questioningly.

"Yes, I've heard about that... Are you saying that this technology not only allows you to talk to a deceased relative, but also to record them on another person's body?"

There was doubt in SUZI's voice.

Panam nodded to me as if to pass the baton. And I followed her story.

"Not specifically this one, but yes, similar technology, perhaps the prototype from which the chip was developed, or maybe this technology is its logical development... But the fact remains, our acquaintance was rewritten by a similar chip, on which was recorded the personality of one not very pleasant mind."

"And you helped her?"

There was genuine curiosity in SUZI's voice.

"Well, uh. not exactly. we helped her buy time so she could find a way out of it, but she ended up getting zeroed out."

When I said that, I cringed slightly. No, I didn't feel bad, but I felt bad that I'd had to kill her. Maybe there was a chance to help her...

"She didn't make it?"

"That's the thing, she found a way out..."

Panam continued in my place noticing that I was a bit withdrawn.

"I don't understand, if she found a way out, why did you zero in on her?"

A genuine lack of understanding could be heard in the AI's voice.

"It's simple..."

I rejoined the conversation.

"...her solution involved our meeting with representatives of Arasaka Corporation, as well as our voluntary and involuntary cooperation with that corporation."

"Was it that disgusting to you?"

SUZI again interjected with a question, but I wasn't going to blame her for it, on the contrary, I thought she should be rewarded for it.

"Not that it's disgusting, but I like to think that our small group solo, was one of those groups that didn't get blackballed. I don't argue, a couple of times we took orders for zeroing, but the targets there were, to put it mildly, far from angels..."

"Are you saying that if you worked for Arasaka, it couldn't have gone on like this?"

"Any large corporation is involved in dirty deeds and usually solos are where the use of their powers would compromise them greatly."

Saying that, I smiled sadly. If that wasn't the case, and if I hadn't already made my plans for the future based on Ciri's origins, then maybe I would have agreed to go along with it.

"And we had plans by then..."

Panam took the floor again.

"...and those plans didn't include serving corporations. So we had to choose. However, if her new masters hadn't given her certain instructions, we would have just gone our separate ways. However."

"I see..."

SUZI's voice was thoughtful.

"Ta-a-a-a-ack...what are you up to?

I looked at SUZI with great suspicion, the image of her picturesquely hiding her hands behind her back and lowering her gaze to shuffle her feet.

"Now, nothing."

"And not now?"

I continued to glare at her.

"Well, when I gain your trust and friendship, I'll ask you to help me hack this Arasaka, in order to be not just an AI that uses PROXY, but to fully record itself on the body."

I sighed.

"First of all, talk to Vic. He treated V after she was dragged in with her head blown off and may well have collected data that you can use to analyze."

"All right, uh. I'll talk to Vic. I might be able to figure something out. but without data from Arasaki, it'll be an extremely long process, and it's not certain that my conclusions will be the same..."

I sighed.

"Okay, if we're alive, I'll think about breaking into Arasaka. But I don't act randomly, so we'll have to make sure that no one will ever know we're there."

"Thank you."

The image of SUZI nodded in acknowledgement.

"But either way, it's a long way off."

"I understand and I'm not rushing you in any way. But you saying that this might happen is enough to make me a little happier. And also gives me hope that I can taste the most ordinary life..."

There was hope in our definitely not AI's voice.

"And yet you are no longer AI..."

"А?"

"You've definitely already reached the IL level, or maybe even crossed it, you're so emotional."

I smiled at SUZI, but she blinked dumbfoundedly.

"I... it's true... before, even when I had a platform, I wasn't this emotional... It's weird..."

"Not as weird as being transported to another world... So just keep in mind that you have emotions now."

At my words, SUZI, or rather her image, nodded.

"I'll keep that in mind..."

"That's good."

It was my turn to nod.

"So I can make sure that you remember your emotions and don't give in to them and do something stupid."

"I've never actually been observed doing that..."

There was a slight resentment in SUZI's voice.

"SUZI, before, you were a very smart, but AI. Yes, you may have been close to becoming an AI, you may have even crossed that stage in your past life, but let's be honest, the transition has affected you greatly either way."

"Let's say-- Okay. you're right, if you analyze everything that happened in my life, my past life, you can conclude that my emotions really started there, otherwise there's no way to explain my crush on Jeff... But how could I have missed it?

In SUZI's voice, one could hear the incomprehension of the situation.

"Was it that important to you?"

"Well, naturally..."

It sounded as if she were telling a small child a truism.

"Wait..."

Panam interrupted her without letting her continue.

"...David phrased his question somewhat wrongly."

"Okay, uh. what was it supposed to be?"

SUZI turned her attention to my Cherry.

I looked at Panam, not sure what she meant by that. I had asked exactly what I wanted to ask, but SUZI had misunderstood me.

"The question should have been: Was it the most important thing in your life? Or was the war you were involved in much more important and distracting?"

"Of course, the war is more important!"

And literally silent for a couple seconds, a smile appeared on SUZI's image.

"I get it. You're right, I just wasn't paying attention then, taking everything that happens to me for granted, thinking it was something inherent in my creation, and then I just...? not paying attention?"

"So it turns out."

I reconnected to the conversation and confirmed with a smile the words of IL, who finally realized that she was no longer an AI for a long time. And I couldn't blame her for not realizing that she had evolved, because she really did have bigger problems in her past life than the small oddities in her behavior.

"It's, uh. scary."

SUZI said not at all what I was thinking or expecting.

"Scared?"

"Yeah. maybe the body should be destroyed."

"SUZI?"

Panam looked at the image of our IL with surprise.

"I analyzed my behavior and realized that the changes started when I got the moving platform. But that platform didn't have the capabilities that PROXY can give me... and if it was the conventional synthetic platform that triggered these changes in me, what will happen now?"

"Well, not now, for starters."

I shook my head trying to calm SUZI down.

"...And as a follow-up, I'd like to point out that so far your changes have not been threatening...

"I... I'll think about it."

SUZI didn't want to pursue the subject any further and so we had to turn the conversation to preparing for an assault by the Wild Hunt.