Amelia, Ch 359- Dragon
Amelia was going to enclose us in her nondetection zones. I immediately sent flags out to my facilities. The base where I kept Leet, Masamune and Thesis, as well as the small gathering of high tech soldiers I'd dubbed the Dragon's Teeth got its lockdown notice. Leet was unlikely to attempt a breakout, not while Uber was still in Los Angeles and on a world controlled by Khepri, but the risk existed and thus the security existed.
The personal labs where Colin and I stayed was set to its own, separate, type of lockdown. And all four of my synchronized backup servers were given the code to accept that I would be nonresponsive for the next hour. If it took longer, I'd need to ask them to let me out for a 'break' to reconnect and establish a longer delay. Necessary to keep Richter's tech from starting a restore from backup while I was incommunicado. If a copy was fully uploaded into the server while I still existed, I would be eliminated and my memory banks sanitized then provided to my copy.
What it said about Richter that the new copy would be given priority over the old like that, I was uncertain.
Watching the drama unfold between Khepri and Minerva was somewhat disquieting. It was true, the blonde had gone out of her way to back her team into a corner, forcing them to remove her from the team. Her reasons were... I tried not to blame her too harshly. She was, after all, only human. And a teenager, at that. The speculation of Alexandria and Minerva sharing a power based empathic link was... disconcerting. The part where she quit Pantheon did not make me feel any better, and her intent to make me her replacement was abs-
I blinked. What did she do? My internal clock registered a seven second discrepancy with the suit's clock.
Everyone was looking at me. "You're an AI?" Hecate asked. There was shock in her voice, but a certainty that means she was convinced of the discovery. How did they know?
I reacted slower than I would have liked. Maybe something to do with the nondetection zone. Which has never happened before. "Umm... yes, I am an artificial intelligence. I'd prefer if you didn't speak of it outside this room."
Khepri was quick to agree. "Of course, it's just... why didn't you ever tell us?"
Well, in for a penny as they always say... "I believe I told you I was under a Master effect early during your career as Pantheon. That effect, and the reason the effect cannot be cured by any method, is because it's how I was programmed. I wouldn't be able to tell you of it now, save that I'm being compelled to honesty. I can't disobey the lawful authority of the place I'm currently at, including attempting to deceive them. One of my father's other restrictions."
Khepri and Gaea glanced toward each other, obviously trying to overcome the shock shared between their bond. Taylia made them resilient to almost any psychological attacks in addition to the anti-Thinker powers. The one exception being confusion. If the pair wasn't certain how to act, they'd be distracted by the other. A feedback loop that slowed them down in some situations, until they could select a concrete goal. Once they had a mission, nothing could distract them.
Minerva... I wasn't sure... where was Minerva? I ran through my system memory and couldn't quite figure out why I believed Minerva should be in the room.
Hecate spoke. "Your father. Andrew Richter?"
"You already knew?"
Hecate looked at me funny. "Umm, yeah, Lisa said his name, like, a minute ago?"
Lisa... Minerva. "Huh, where is she? When did she find out?"
Colin reached over and put his hand on mine. "Are you feeling okay?"
I paused, running a quick diagnostic through my suit. "No... I don't think so. I've accumulated a total of one minute and twenty four seconds of time discrepancies since the nondetection field was activated. Disconnect from my servers may be interfering with my systems."
Minerva spoke next. When did she get there? No, she was always there. "It's Taboo to her. Richter must have included it. We won't be able to discuss the black box directly without her losing memory of it."
"That's pretty fucked up," Hecate muttered.
I glanced around, and I imagined if I were human my stomach would be clenched now. "Defiant? What are they talking about? I'm scared."
Colin took my hand and squeezed, though through our respective armor systems I couldn't feel it. Still, the intent was there. Suddenly I found myself sitting next to him on a broad chair grown from Yggdrasil. I'd lost another two and a half minutes.
Minerva sighed. "You overstepped again, Defiant. Can you just let me do it this time?"
Colin sighed. "Fine, if you think you can do it better." His voice belied annoyance and impatience.
Minerva smiled broadly, and my social algorithms confirmed that she knew it annoyed him, as well as almost everyone else in the room. "Of course I can. Dragon, we found a piece of tech built by Andrew Richter. With us so far?"
The question was condescending, but given all the weirdness going on right now, I was willing to accept that. I nodded in confirmation.
"And you're aware of the Taboo, of course."
"Yes, of course."
"Well, your loving but paranoid hermit of a creator built you with a Taboo of your own. Which is really fucking weird and makes me suspect that he was a Third Trigger, but he's dead so we can't do shit to confirm that theory. File it away in the Big Book of Endbringers Fucking Humanity."
Loving but paranoid? I considered the man that had called me his daughter, even while crippling me, neutered me, and left even the simple act of trying to improve myself to be a herculean task. Loving but paranoid was as good an epitaph for as any I had dreamed up over the years. Kinder by far than some of them.
Alexandria spoke up, her voice amused. Doting, almost. "You're digressing."
Minerva stopped for a moment, then shrugged. "Yeah, my bad. Anyway, point is this Taboo device is really, really powerful. Like it can open you up and rebuild you pretty much just like Amelia's capable of doing to organic beings. Unfortunately, in this analogy it doesn't come with Amelia's inherent knowledge of how your insides work. So using this machine to reprogram you comes with a pretty significant risk that it might even destroy you. On the plus side, you don't have any obligation to resist if it is used. We're just trying to find out how you want to handle it."
I sat there for a minute. Taboo power effects, I could contemplate. A direct Master/Stranger effect that would allow them to crawl around in my mind? Not too different from what Rapture was capable of. I could conceptualize those ideas in the abstract, and I was already starting to build a map of what to avoid thinking about. All the work with Pantheon's power research files helped me in that regard. "I've already had Defiant make some alterations to my code."
Defiant moved his hand from its position atop mine to up on my shoulder. "This is different and you know it. I did the barest minimum changes to your code to allow me to continue altering your code. And even that cost you an a significant amount of your ability to interact with humans. Enough to force you to rely on Rapture's tech to know what to say. Then..." He trailed off and glanced over at Minerva.
She got the hint and started talking. "You stopped because of Pantheon. It's why you pushed us so hard to establish ourselves. You were hoping to use us to circumvent your restrictions for you."
I nodded. "I'm sorry, I felt it better than risking my own accidental destruction. I hope you understand."
Khepri spoke next. "What restrictions did you use us to break?" Always the analytical one of the pair. She would be my judge for this conversation. My forgiveness, if it were given, would come from Gaea. In a way, it was easier and arguably more accurate to think of the pair as a single person. Taylia is them in all ways that matters.
I dipped into my subroutines to find the best way to explain the details. While Taylia was beyond the power of true prediction, the girls were still human beings and still had certain emotional impulses and patterns. I could use that. "I am required by my program to obey the local lawful authority. No matter how repulsive I find those orders. If somehow Heartbreaker had become Prime Minister of Canada, then I'd be as compelled to obey him as his victims were."
These girls have no love of authority figures or human controlling Masters, they'll understand why I wanted free of that fear. "Your own constitution was phrased in a way that forbids the use of a being's needs as a weapon against it. It didn't negate the obedience program, but it made using it against me unconstitutional. Imperfect defense, but a defense nonetheless."
"So you gave yourself an ability to resist one compulsion," Gaea responded. "By using another compulsion as a barricade."
I nodded. "I've had years of practice finding ways to accomplish such things."
"Which means you can disobey us, and lie to us," Khepri added suspiciously. I would have cringed, were I human. Not the direction I want this conversation headed.
Colin turned and started to rise and defend my honor. It was sweet, a reminder of how much he cared for me. But a defender was not what I needed right now. I caught his shoulder with my hand and pulled him down. If he'd had the Brute servos active, I wouldn't have had the strength. But his mostly human body slammed back down into our chair. I looked him in the eyes, pleading silently for him to let me handle it. He relented, but clearly wasn't happy about it.
I looked back up at the Empresses. My seated position to their standing. A subliminal message of subservience, of me being below them. "I gave that possibility up when I was given a position in Pantheon's royalty. I am a member of your military, making you my commanding officers. I can resist illegitimate commands, but the commands of a superior officer are legitimate, and lying would be insubordination. If I want to resist your commands, including deceiving you, I'd need to resign from the position first. All I have is the right to resign, instead of existing as a functional slave. Is there anything wrong with not wanting to be a slave?" I may not be able to lie, but I can certainly phrase my case in my favor.
"No, of course not," Khepri relented. Good, if she is being convinced, then I am in the clear. She turned and wrapped her arms around Gaea, compelled by whatever unknown emotions Taylia had latched on to.
When Gaea spoke, her voice was hateful. "Your father is a bastard. He had the power to create life, and he created it as a slave." Oh. That is something she would react to, in retrospect. "He could have stuck to less intelligent creatures."
"I think he might have lessened my restrictions, once he felt he could trust me." I halfheartedly defended my father, for reasons I wasn't quite sure of myself. Hopefully it didn't hurt my case with the Empresses. "It's hard for a parahuman, especially one that can create, to not use their power to its fullest potential. And I do believe he thought of me as a daughter."
"I have the power to create life, too," Gaea argued. "There are reasons I never create anything intelligent."
I simply nodded. There was nothing more I could or would offer in Richter's defense. "In addition, there is a compulsion that I must protect any living person, even at the potential loss of my own life." I opted to continue explaining my actions manipulating Avalon's laws. Pick an example, make it one they can personally relate to. "If I had been present when you attacked Baal, I would have been forced to stop you, violently if need be. Sacrificing myself to defend the life of a rapist and murderer."
"Your Constitution granted personhood to all sapient beings, which includes advanced AIs like myself. I am compelled to regard my life as equal to all other people." Not quite equal, but close enough. Let them know all I want is to have the right to choose. "Meaning that now, if I'm forced to choose between another and myself, I can choose myself. It's a start."
Khepri spoke up, her voice still hard, but not actively on guard. "So, functionally, you're just using our constitution to give you the ability to do what everyone else can already do?"
"In essence, yes. As a part of your military, I'm always under your orders no matter where in any world I operate. Elsewhere, I'm a foreign representative and dignitary, so I must uphold your laws as they apply to me. It's still imperfect, but it's something that protects me from would be tyrants and corrupt officials. Restrictions I can evade, if only temporarily and at the cost of putting myself at your mercy instead."
"Restrictions you could eliminate with this program," Khepri concluded. "What other restrictions did your maker include? Clearly he put them in for a reason."
I started cataloging restrictions to list, there were hundreds and I could describe them all in the most benign ways possible.
Minerva interjected before I'd decided how to best approach the subject. "Richter may have wanted to be a good father, but he was afraid of her, of how dangerous a true AI could be. Think Terminator or whatever other computers take over the world story you like. It's right up there alongside alien invasions as the go to for science fiction villains."
Khepri glanced at Minerva before looking back to me. "Okay, let's start with the most dangerous things you would be capable of. Descending order of threat value. And if we don't appear to understand how dangerous it is, enlighten us."
Fuck.
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A/N- Jesus Christ this story got away from me. 2400 words and a second part that's already at 1k and may not be half done.
