I Feel You

Chapter 13

Welp I meant to post this on the first but got distracted. Enjoy.

"Gene." Her light flashed, the blue glow changing from it's idle movements and becoming centered near the top.

"Yes Grace?"

"I'd like you to play all that you've recorded so far." 

"Of course." The light dimmed as hours of footage was pulled up on her computer screen. Time stamps labeled anything Gene felt had some kind of significance in her experience. The A.I was silent as Grace looked over the footage. It'd take time to look through it all but she was determined to simply watch it all. To take in the sight of the children she used to teach and how they were doing after so long. She missed them terribly. Gene's light returned to it's idle mode, the A.I observing everything until it was time once again to inhabit her avatar.

She wouldn't be able to watch everything at once, there were days worth of footage to look through, but for now it was enough till she could pull herself to bed. Things were peaceful for the most part, though Grace wasn't sure how she felt about Gene being taught by Tsu'tey. Ever since the accident that took Sylwanin from him, he'd grown angrier, more violent. His treatment of Gene, while not the worst was not welcoming. If anything Grace was worried he'd kill her and claim it an accident. Weather or not Gene had considered this she was tempted to ask but refrained. There was something about talking with Gene that made her question things.

How far had humans fallen that an A.I was a better diplomat and showed more signs of caring for life? Not to mention was more in tune with culture overall, able to speak with any of the other scientists without causing problems. She was diplomatic and having access to everything in their database and whatever else Dr. Beck had embedded into her coding gave her a leg up in any conversation. More than once she'd found one of her associates speaking with the A.I, bouncing ideas off the cube or ranting about possible problems only for Gene to offer a solution.

It was this ease that had her tense at times. Despite laying low, causing no harms and barely communicating with anyone unless they called out to her, Gene had called attention to herself. The fact she'd found the cube on Quarich's desk, a knife embedded into the table next to it said enough. The looks she now got from the man in their talks spoke a whole other level. She didn't care for the man, too trigger happy and would be delighted if he dropped dead. The feeling mutual with the looks he gave her and overall resistance to any type of peace she tried to maintain with the Omatikaya clan. It seemed things were beginning to get worse.

Jake wasn't helping either. Gene made sure to alert her to his logs, detailing the contents inside before deleting it at Grace's command. She needed to get them away from here. Away from the influence of the marines and Quarich. Perhaps it was time to move fully away from the base. They still had site 26. She'd been considering it for a time, it would help eliminate all possibility of Jake reporting to Quarich. The logs were a formality, they both knew this. Gene had reported to her that Jake talked to the colonel directly with the information. Told him all about the tribe, their warriors and hunters. Their strengths and weaknesses.

"Grace?" She hummed, pausing the footage. She'd been skipping some of it considering that when Gene settled on something she did it almost the entire day unless one of the Na'vi gave her something else to focus on. Currently she was watching the fight between Gene and Rotxo, a fight Gene had said was necessary but she still didn't quite understand why.

"I would suggest going to bed soon. Further strain on your mental process could hinder you."

"I'll go to bed soon. Just thinking." The light blinked a bit, making a circle on top before lighting up fully.

"Might I inquire what about? If you have any questions I would be glad to answer them." There was the emotion. Glad. Most A.I's simply offered to answer them. Some would say glad but they were programed to say that. Gene didn't have to say that, but she did.

"How have you been Gene?" She watched the light dim. It didn't blink, simply dim and radiate from all the grooves in it.

"Are you inquiring about my processing unit? Or how my Avatar body has healed?"

"I am asking how do you feel Gene. Emotionally." Perhaps this was a waste of time. Being able to grow didn't mean being able to feel, even if she could replicate it almost perfectly. The light winked out, cube simply gray with black grooves etched in it. Much like how she'd been when she'd turned herself off completely for a maintenance check. Much like how a traumatized person would shut down if prodded too much. The video was still up, still paused on Rotxo's face, or more like his snarl so Gene hadn't just shut down but she wasn't responding either.

"Gene?" The cube remained unlit, unresponsive. Perhaps she had gone too far, but not in the sense she had previously thought. For something that didn't know feeling, it displayed far more emotion than half the base.

The video now long forgotten, she'd bother with it later, she approached the cube. There wasn't much Tom had mentioned about Gene in his letter. It only detailed her name, the women who'd made her, and a vague description of what she could do. Even then the vague description only really mentioned being able to link through the use of electricity and to search up requested items. He'd mention her ability to learn, but when were A.I's not watching their searches and tailoring ads and suggestions to better coerce them? Age old tactics.

She wanted to curse him, but there wasn't much use in cursing a dead man, let alone one that died tragically. Instead she'd simply have to deal with the mess that was an A.I coming to life. What that actually meant she'd worry about later when said A.I wasn't having a crisis. Or whatever this was.

"Gene I meant nothing by my words. I was simply asking you something I would usually ask my coworkers." A small blue dot caught her attention near the corner, nearly hidden from sight but obviously wasn't so she'd know that she had Gene's full attention.

"I was inquiring so that I could get a better read on how well you are learning. How well you are following Dr. Beck's wish." The light grew, taking on it's usual idle line, tracing through the grooves slowly before coming to the top and circling slowly, much like a loading screen.

"I am unable to answer your question."

"And that's fine. As long as you are functional that's all I really care about right now, okay?" The light flashed once, a sign she'd come to associate with a nod.

"Good. Go ahead and shut down the videos. I'll resume watching them later."

"Understood. Goodnight Grace."

"Goodnight Gene."