EarthFall

Chap 21. Souls and Goals

The metal spheres both pulled up to a stop a polite 10 feet away. Carson recognized the first one from Yesterday by the painted letters and blue tinted screen. Gaia.

The new robot was similar in shape and form, but there were fewer black zagging lines and ports that wormed across its shell. There seemed to be more spoke holes, however, and they were smaller, thinner. This new robot had a glowing, blank yellow screen. It looked... shinier, newer. More streamlined. Whereas Gaia by comparison, looked older, patched up. Less sleek.

Carson sucked on his protein juice and eyed both the metal spheres. Then he decided to take a page out of the Ai's book and greeted the newcomer exactly as Gaia had greeted Carson in the cave, when they first met.

"Hello... How are you feeling?"

Carson could see out of the corner of his eye the brief, quizzical glance Brianna spared him. No one asked that on Titan, or Mars, for that matter. It was always "Have you adjusted? How are you adapting? What are you thinking? Can you work?" There was never any talk about feelings. It seemed slightly novel to Carson. But he wanted to know how the Machine would react.

She was surprisingly polite. Well, the voice that emanated from her unseen speakers sounded like a female. And it sounded polite.

"I am well, thank you for asking. May I call you Carson?" Her yellow screen blinked in tune with her words. Was that a feature of all Ai?

"You may. And you are... Maia, right? May I ask you a question?"

"I am... and you may..."

"Why does the light on your screen blink and glow in Sync with your words? Is it an involuntary or controlled response?" Carson asked.

There was a long silence. Neither machine spoke or lit up for a couple moments. Then, Maia finally answered. The light was now extremely faint. Barely even noticeable.

"It is... an intentional feature I... we... designed. It is supposed to make communication seem more... natural... I am... sorry if... I can...turn it off... if it unsettles you."

It seemed like the machine was struggling for words. Wow. Now Carson felt like an asshole. Should he though? Can you really hurt an Ai's feelings? Did it really, honestly, even have any?

"That's fine. I like it. I was just curious." He did like it. And he was curious. These were both true... mostly. Mostly though he was also deadly curious about the true motives of these strange little robots. All their lives might soon depend on it.

"You said 'I' and 'We' interchangeably just then. What does that mean? What is your relation to each other?" Tucker asked.

It was Gaia who spoke now, surprising Carson slightly.

"This may be... hard to explain. But I will try... I have... I can spread influence out a considerable distance. But eventually the long distances of space simply muffle and delay even the loudest transmissions. Long form communication with myself will be... tedious. And so, that is why I copied myself.... I created another piece of hardware that could house my memories... Placed myself inside... it. The unit you see before... we are one and the same... or were at one time. Her physical model is fully mobile, it will hold a charge for years... but perhaps more importantly, she will be able to offer immediate assistance or council, should you desire it... on your mission for... answers."

"She? Does that make you a him?" Tucker suddenly asked.

"I... have not identified with a gender yet. I do not think it is... important at this time. It appears I changed my mind though... Maia, changed her mind... after I... She... was copied and placed into a new shell, however I... she... has not given myself... a satisfactory reason for this."