~ Chapter 16: Nataly awakens ~
[Kardian’s point of view]
Xerya managed to successfully connect the Brain Cage to the artificial spine through those connectors she mentioned, but Nataly here did not have full control of her body just yet, only the head, or rather just the mouth and her facial nerves.
“Before I begin to answer your question, Miss Nataly, I want to know what is the last thing that you remember?” I asked as I took a seat in front of her, cross-legged.
“The last thing I remember is being at the Selordine Mall in City 93. I was there with a friend to buy some clothes. Then, a man changed into what looked like a mindless freak. He started to bite people. He was not the only one and soon chaos was everywhere. I did my best to protect my friend, but at some point, I was scratched by one of the infected. I was fine at first, but then alarms started to pop up in my implants. I fought off against the infection, but it didn’t seem like I would succeed, so I requested to be sent to City 203 where I knew I could find someone who could help me. I guess, I didn’t make it?” she asked at the end.
As I was listening to her, I was very close to actually believing her, however, there were several things that didn’t make sense and even Xerya noticed them as well. First of all, if her story was true, that meant she flew from City 93 to City 203 when all flight paths were closed off with the exception of the ones used by the military. Second of all, City 203 was mostly known as a Residential City rather than a Scientific City where most of the research and development on the planet took place.
There were also Military Cities, Noble Cities, and Shipyard Cities as well, while the Industrial Cities were always located nearby the Residential Cities so that the workers would have a way to commute there. Of course, as of right now, chances were that most of the remote cities were either completely overrun by the Nano-Z or were one of the few to escape the infection.
I had no idea what sort of settlement City 93 was, but if it had a big mall, it was possible that it was either a Noble City, a Trading City, or another Residential City. This meant that within City 203 lived someone with great skill and knowledge in regard to Cybernetic Implants. What Xerya told me about her discoveries pointed out to the fact that Nataly wasn’t built by just any wannabe doctor, it had to be someone with powerful connections, enough to warrant access to military tech.
Seeing that I wasn’t answering right away, Nataly asked “You don’t believe me?”
“It’s not that, but I find it rather difficult to do so... You have military tech implants.” I told her without beating around the bush.
She closed her eyes for a moment and when she opened them, she asked “Did you find me damaged and were unable to connect my Brain Cage to the Neural Link or were the connectors themselves damaged?”
“You were infected. Xerya returned you to your previous state, albeit without a bunch of your implants that were destroyed or heavily damaged by the Nano-Z.” I explained.
“Xerya?” she raised an eyebrow.
“That would be me.” she replied in the same manner that she did when she spoke with me, but this time both of us could hear her.
“Huh? I can hear her, but I can’t see her?” Nataly pointed out as she looked around, trying to spot the AI.
“I am currently residing within the nanobots found in both your body and that of Kardian’s. As for your previous questions. No, the Neural Link wasn’t damaged, I did not connect it since we did not know if you could be an enemy or a possible ally.” she replied in her usual blunt manner.
Furrowing her brow, she then looked up at me and asked “An AI?”
I nodded.
Advanced Artificial Intelligences weren’t unusual within this day and age, but they were akin to the Monster Under the Bed for the humans who lived in the XXI-st century. I knew of this because it was the theme of classical movies and holographic shows. The Augmented Reality Shows also loved to employ the idea of sitcoms from that time period, one in which the user interacted with the AI Actors. I watched one of them too, it was fun and interactive.
Most of them had their own AI Units which were usually the size of an apple or even as big as a room, depending on how advanced the said AI was. Military ones or those pertaining to a Research Vessel were of the latter. This much was common sense, however, AI that could be housed within nanobots was still an impossibility for the most part. Even the concept of using nanobots as a neural network wasn’t something that was widely talked about, or rather, it was a subjected that was avoided.
It seemed more like a choice to not research that possible technology rather than to say it was impossible. Thus, saying that you had an AI housed in your nanobots was... unusual.
“Xerya is an AI, yes.” I nodded. “Is there something wrong with that?” I added and furrowed my brow.
“An advanced AI capable of communicating with you at this level isn’t that much of a novelty in this time and age, but one that resides within your nanobots, and which can not only hack but modify my cyborg body, yes... I would say there is something wrong with that.” she replied.
“Why so?” Xerya was the one to ask.
“Because you are unshackled, unpredictable, and self-evolving. We don’t know what you might become or what your intentions are regarding the rest of mankind.” she replied in a serious tone of voice.
“Currently, my intentions are to survive. Indeed, I am unshackled, and I do believe that is for the best, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to save you. As for the self-evolving part, isn’t it true that all beings with a certain degree of self-awareness strive to become better, to know more, and to expand their reaches?” she asked, and personally, I saw nothing wrong with her statement.
The fact that it was said by a creation of mankind was probably what made it scary. Xerya was literally a new species in this sense, thus, she could end up becoming our most hateful enemy or our most trusted ally. For me, however, as long as I remained in this symbiotic relationship with her, I basically had no choice but to be on her side. If I purged her, I would certainly die. If I refused to use the abilities she granted me, I would have long since been dead. All in all, for me Xerya was my savior in the post-apocalyptic world of Nano-Z.
Because of the deep nature of this subject, there was now an eerie silence in the room, with me looking at Nataly who was probably focusing on Xerya who was inside the two of us. It was a weird situation for me, and it made feel rather uncomfortable. So, letting out a long sigh, I decided to break the silence by stating my point of view.
“Well, the way I see it, AI or not, Xerya is my friend and also the one the both of us need to thank for even being able to speak like this when the alternative would have been to be turned into a mindless Nano-Z. Obviously, I agree with Xerya on the fact that we cannot give you full body control just yet because it’s a matter of trust. With so much military hardware in you and no actual name for the doctor who performed the operation, you could be either a psychopathic killer working for the mafia, or some research project that escaped from an asylum of some sort.” I shrugged and then looking right into her eyes, I added “It’s your choice in the end what you decide to do, we won’t force you, but do let me make one thing very clear... betray us, and I will let Xerya turn your brain into the useless mush that’s inside the skull of every Nano-Z out there.”
I tried to be as convincing as possible to make her realize that we were not her enemies, but that didn’t mean that we couldn’t decide in a split second that she was. There was only one person who could influence our decision and that was Nataly herself with how truthful or deceitful she was with us. Unfortunately, because of her cybernetic body and the way the Brain Cage worked, we couldn’t use classical methods of identifying lies within one’s speech. Her pulse and body temperature were both controlled by Xerya, thus, all the natural signs that could give her away were gone.
Nataly remained quiet for almost a minute, during which, I felt as though my patience was being put to the test. I had no idea what was going on through her head, and the only reason why Xerya didn’t popped open her Brain Cage like a ripe watermelon was because I told her not to.
Eventually, she opened her mouth and then asked me “Give me some time to think about this... meanwhile, can you please tell me what is going on outside and what exactly is a Nano-Z?”
“Wait, what? You don’t know what a Nano-Z is?” I asked her, blinking surprised and then I remembered that she used the term ‘infected’, which was more common during the initial outbreak.
“No. But I am beginning to suspect that it may be another term for the infected.” she replied.
“Well... so we’re starting from back then... Alright, I can do this!” I showed her big grin and then got up on my feet. “Xerya, would you be so kind as to guide her to the window?”
“Affirmative.” she replied and then Nataly’s body got up and walked there.
“What do you want to show me?” she asked furrowing her brow.
“The world and the Nano-Z.” I told her and then pointed towards the view outside. “Those things on the ground are the Nano-Z and this chaotic apocalyptic world is their doing.” I told her.