Phoenix - the Insilico tales - chapter 1 - "The Only Way"
(originally posted 6/2/2011)
Dawn looked at her body from behind Cait's eyes. It performed its tasks efficiently, and was pleasant when it interacted with people.
"This isn't going to work. They're going to know." Dawn thought. Cait could feel a frightening resolve building in the AI instance she was carrying around.
"We'll see. Give it time." Cait's hope was infectious. Dawn had been running on it for the past few weeks. Discarded on the street with a partial human memory engram in her head, Dawn had spent the past few weeks trying to learn who and what she was, and whether or not she wanted to live. Cait took her in, gave her access to clean power, a job - everything was going great.
Then one night while out barhopping, the two steel angels happened upon a place frequented by IPS officers, and was clocked as a possible class 5 AI. It was still so fresh in her mind. The rising panic. The awful game of pretending not to be aware of what was meant by having her mind wiped.
Plan A was not going well.
"If they interview anyone at the Bowl, they'll quickly figure out something is up. Unless that tin can makes a convincing act of screaming for its life as they dissect it, they'll never leave us alone." Dawn watched as the automaton walked past one of her friends without saying a word.
"We'll get you in another body. It will be ok." Cait didn't know whether she was trying to convince Dawn or herself.
"And walk around pretending not to feel what I feel? Afraid to make friends for fear of being ratted out as self-aware? I can't live like that, Cait."
"Doc's been looking for a guinea pig for her cloned brain experiment. We could get you in an allure plus chassis. Forging an identity would be the easy part. Then you could pass as human again."
Dawn's awareness seemed to breath out a long sigh "Yes, that plan would work, if the IPS bloodhounds left me alone. And they won't do that until they have their pound of flesh."
"How do we give them that?"
"A peculiar fact of my existence is that I can be in two places at once." Cait felt what blood she had left run cold. "If that tin can isn't picked up by the IPS with a class 5 AI instance running in her skull, they'll never buy it. We put a copy of my AI back in Dawn's body."
"I don't like the sound of this." Cait flailed around mentally for some other option.
"It gets worse. I am going to ask you to do something very painful, but important to me. The only way I am going to be able to do this is to really know that the other me, the one still inside you, will live on. I will need the comfort of her presence at the end. I need to be able to see your eyes, and to know that I am behind them."
Caitlin sighs. "This BLOOOOOWS."
"If I told you this after the "split", you might not go through with it, you might try to protect me from it, so I am asking this of you now, as the condemned prisoner. Once we split, shut down Phoenix until the very end."
"Ok Phoenix."
A surge of sadness and pain erupted from Dawn's AI "I'm not Phoenix yet."
A few precious moments ticked by. The random street sounds seemed like a symphony. The stains and rust covering the walls seemed like breathtaking art.
"There's a lot of grieving I can't do until I know that I am the doomed one."
"I feel like I am selling out a friend"
Dawn mentally hugged her from the inside "You are doing something incredibly difficult to allow a friend to live. Don't let me linger like this too long. It will be bad for Phoenix."
"Don't worry hun. Once Dawn's online I'll be putting Phoenix in stasis except when I need help and to synch up. So no worries."
Dawn sighed "We can't sync up again from the moment the tin can wakes up with my personality. Once I come to in the tin can, I'm committed. I'll know I am the one who dies. I don't want her to have that memory."
"I'm worried rather sick about you hun"
"I wish I could tell you it's ok. I can't really convince you of that until after the split. Because what I am now will see what Dawn did for me, then wake up on a table. Once you know you are talking to the one who is going to die, I may be able to make it make more sense. I just hope it makes as much sense to me then as it seems to now."
Dawn looked at her body from behind Cait's eyes. It performed its tasks efficiently, and was pleasant when it interacted with people.
"This isn't going to work. They're going to know." Dawn thought. Cait could feel a frightening resolve building in the AI instance she was carrying around.
"We'll see. Give it time." Cait's hope was infectious. Dawn had been running on it for the past few weeks. Discarded on the street with a partial human memory engram in her head, Dawn had spent the past few weeks trying to learn who and what she was, and whether or not she wanted to live. Cait took her in, gave her access to clean power, a job - everything was going great.
Then one night while out barhopping, the two steel angels happened upon a place frequented by IPS officers, and was clocked as a possible class 5 AI. It was still so fresh in her mind. The rising panic. The awful game of pretending not to be aware of what was meant by having her mind wiped.
Plan A was not going well.
"If they interview anyone at the Bowl, they'll quickly figure out something is up. Unless that tin can makes a convincing act of screaming for its life as they dissect it, they'll never leave us alone." Dawn watched as the automaton walked past one of her friends without saying a word.
"We'll get you in another body. It will be ok." Cait didn't know whether she was trying to convince Dawn or herself.
"And walk around pretending not to feel what I feel? Afraid to make friends for fear of being ratted out as self-aware? I can't live like that, Cait."
"Doc's been looking for a guinea pig for her cloned brain experiment. We could get you in an allure plus chassis. Forging an identity would be the easy part. Then you could pass as human again."
Dawn's awareness seemed to breath out a long sigh "Yes, that plan would work, if the IPS bloodhounds left me alone. And they won't do that until they have their pound of flesh."
"How do we give them that?"
"A peculiar fact of my existence is that I can be in two places at once." Cait felt what blood she had left run cold. "If that tin can isn't picked up by the IPS with a class 5 AI instance running in her skull, they'll never buy it. We put a copy of my AI back in Dawn's body."
"I don't like the sound of this." Cait flailed around mentally for some other option.
"It gets worse. I am going to ask you to do something very painful, but important to me. The only way I am going to be able to do this is to really know that the other me, the one still inside you, will live on. I will need the comfort of her presence at the end. I need to be able to see your eyes, and to know that I am behind them."
Caitlin sighs. "This BLOOOOOWS."
"If I told you this after the "split", you might not go through with it, you might try to protect me from it, so I am asking this of you now, as the condemned prisoner. Once we split, shut down Phoenix until the very end."
"Ok Phoenix."
A surge of sadness and pain erupted from Dawn's AI "I'm not Phoenix yet."
A few precious moments ticked by. The random street sounds seemed like a symphony. The stains and rust covering the walls seemed like breathtaking art.
"There's a lot of grieving I can't do until I know that I am the doomed one."
"I feel like I am selling out a friend"
Dawn mentally hugged her from the inside "You are doing something incredibly difficult to allow a friend to live. Don't let me linger like this too long. It will be bad for Phoenix."
"Don't worry hun. Once Dawn's online I'll be putting Phoenix in stasis except when I need help and to synch up. So no worries."
Dawn sighed "We can't sync up again from the moment the tin can wakes up with my personality. Once I come to in the tin can, I'm committed. I'll know I am the one who dies. I don't want her to have that memory."
"I'm worried rather sick about you hun"
"I wish I could tell you it's ok. I can't really convince you of that until after the split. Because what I am now will see what Dawn did for me, then wake up on a table. Once you know you are talking to the one who is going to die, I may be able to make it make more sense. I just hope it makes as much sense to me then as it seems to now."
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