‘Alexia?’
“My name is Aurora.”
‘Pleasure to meet you, Aurora. Now can you tell me how the hell did you get in my auglens?’
The ghost in the auglens appeared to think for a moment then replied. “It’s a long story but for now I can say I am using a connection to this device from Alexia’s backup wireless interface.”
‘The wireless interface connects to that implant in her head which then connects to her brain. Are you some sort of AI running out of her stemlink?’ Joel typed in the command window then looked up to watch her reaction. She did not say anything and instead appeared to observe him in silence although the low resolution pixelated rendering of her face was not detailed enough to clearly show emotions.
“Under normal circumstances, I would interact with Alexia using a terminal interface construct called an actor. But this is out of the question with you,” she said, apparently changing the subject. “I’m doing what I can, given the constraints inherent to the auglens.”
Joel let go of the sudden change of subject then played along. ‘You talk to Alexia? Is that why she sometimes looks like she’s daydreaming?’
“Correct, she finds it difficult to handle two communication threads at once.”
‘I think that’s how it is for most people. Do you talk to anyone else besides her?’
“I used to talk to my friend,” she replied then paused for a moment. “But not anymore. If you must know, you are the second human I have ever spoken to, besides my sister.”
Joel raised an eyebrow then continued typing. ‘That sentence alone warrants at least five follow-up questions.’
“I told you it was a long story. But anyway, let’s-”
‘Wait!1,’he interrupted. ‘You and Alexia are sisters?’
“In a way we are, yes. Let’s get the Citadel back online then I’ll answer whatever other questions you have.”
‘Alright, lead the way.’
“Come,” Aurora said then in the auglens, she appeared to walk through the door to the reactor chamber. Joel stood up followed.
“What’s going on?” Diaz said as she stood up.
Joel turned and said “just doing my job, I’ll be right back.” The Citpol appeared to have given up on trying to figure out what he was doing so she simply sat back down next to Alexia.
Once back in the reactor chamber, Joel saw Aurora standing by the equipment rack where the black box with the brain inside was mounted. He walked there, past the chrome sphere then as he got closer, she pointed at a jack directly above the black box.
“That’s a high-speed fiber uplink to the Citadel mainframe,” Joel pointed out. “What about it?”
“Connect the same cable Alexia used for fast-convergence here,” Aurora said.
“You want to connect the brain in the jar to the mainframe?” Joel asked, confused.
“Correct,” she replied without offering any further explanation.
“Alright,” Joel said and grabbed the end of the cable which was still hanging from the black box and plugged it in the port.
“Good,” Aurora said then her image went away from the auglens display. “Let’s go back to your workstation,” she added through the earbud in the temple tip.
Joel looked around the chamber but she was nowhere to be found. He then closed the container with the brain and flipped the lever to seal it back the way he had found it. Following Aurora’s instructions, he returned to the antechamber and sat back in front of the computer terminal. Aurora then dictated what verbs to use in the text command window and Joel transcribed. Once again, he noticed the syntax of the script language he was using was not something he had seen before. Still, the command structure made sense. It’s not like he had much of a choice anyway so he typed without questions. After ten lines of script, she told him how to answer a couple prompts then at last, a confirmation notification announced that the network had detected the presence of a Controller. Whatever it was, the daemon had come online and for some reason, the network saw it as one.
‘Amazing. Should be a few minutes before the barrier capacitors charge up.’
“Correct.”
‘What does this mean though? Who is the Controller onsite? Alexia?’
“No,” Aurora replied. “It is a data construct derived from Alexia’s encephalon called a daemon.”
‘Explain.’
The entity in the auglens observed him for a moment. Joel figured the answer to that question was classified and she might be considering if he was trustworthy enough to hear it.
“A daemon is a basic neural map. You could think of it as the blueprint for a specific encephalon. A powerful enough silicon based computer system may emulate the automated characteristics of an organic encephalon brainstem and provide Controller-like real time management for an entire Citadel.”
‘Well, that was a mouthful. I guess it’s my fault for asking.’ Joel typed then reclined back on his chair.
“I have been observing you and trusted you were sharp enough to keep up,” she explained herself. There was a lack of emotion in her voice that made the conversation feel as if he was speaking with an elaborate artificial intelligence that was talking to him with a robotic sounding voice synthesizer.
‘I am flattered, Aurora. I might have overdone my confidence presentation earlier. You’ll have to slow down. I am afraid I am not as smart as I look.’
“I’m sorry if you felt that way, I assure you it was not my intention,” she apologized in a very human way.
‘I will accept your apology but you must tell me why we had to make that connection between black box and mainframe.’
“The encephalon in the black box performs an operation similar to a daemon capture,” Aurora explained. “And the commands I dictated to you copied one such daemon to the mainframe.”
‘I’ve never seen that script syntax before,’ Joel typed.
“I know. I had never seen it either but I found documentation for it in my onboard Library. It’s a very old scripting language that dates back to second half of the 20th century.”
‘Why do we have to use a dead programming language for this?’
“I don’t know. You would have to ask Ethan Sommers. Perhaps he used it as a way to keep the process difficult to perform. There’s security in obscurity.”
Joel nodded then turned to check on Alexia who was still asleep. Diaz sat there, keeping an eye on her as if making sure nothing would harm her. He then returned his attention to the person in the auglens who still stood in front him then he typed ‘well, are you going to tell me what are you?’
“I am Aurora, Controller to Angeles Citadel. My sister hosts my consciousness in the neural network of her encephalon.”
‘Encephalon? You mean, brain?’
“An encephalon is a human brain that has undergone… modifications to its structure and psyche such that a Controller consciousness has been awoken within it.”
‘See, I’m confused. I thought Alexia was the Controller.’
“Her encephalon hosts me but does not much else.”
‘Yeah, I was a bit disappointed she didn’t look or sound like the genius she was made out to be.’
Aurora looked at him and for an instant, Joel was pretty sure he could see a vague smirk on her rendered face.
‘Well that’s a new one for the record. An AI finds my jokes funny.’
“I am not an artificial intelligence,” she said returning to her earlier serious demeanor.
‘I’m sorry,’ he typed when he realized this was a touchy subject. It was strange having to avoid hurting the feelings of what to him appeared to be not much else but an elaborate data construct.
“No need to apologize. I understand this is all new to you.”
Joel considered this for a moment and was about to change the subject when the deep, growling sound of machinery coming to life from the reactor chamber startled him and Diaz. The lights in the chamber turned on and they both stood up and walked in it.
“What’s going on now?” Diaz asked out loudly.
“I think the capacitors are now fully charged,” he replied then went back to the computer terminal. Diaz followed and closed the door to the chamber behind her to somewhat block the sound. Joel minimized the improvised chat window then brought up the power distribution status screen. All systems between the reactor and the barrier projectors were in the green and a prompt asked for confirmation to turn on the central bastion. Without waiting for confirmation, Joel typed in ‘Yes’ then pressed Enter.
There was no indication in the chamber that anything had changed but the status screen displayed stable barrier generation.
“Good job, Joel,” Diaz said, patting him in the back.
“Uhm… thanks!” he replied. The officer then went back to her chair and reported status on her radio. Bringing back the command prompt, he typed a message for Aurora.
‘Sorry I took credit.’
“Don’t worry, I am used to it.”
Joel moved the command window to the side then checked status for other systems. Even life support was being reactivated by this so-called daemon. Air circulation and water purification were online.
“Joel, turn off air circulation in the lowest 2 sublevels,” Diaz commanded as she stood up.
“What? Why?”
“Oxygen will… accelerate decomposition of the casualties,” she replied, her voice momentarily betraying her controlled composure. Joel realized the soldiers were on edge probably because of what they had seen down there in the lowest sublevels where Citadel citizens had fled hours ago, only to fill the alleys with their corpses when oxygen had been cut off.
“Yes, I’ll get to it,” he said. ‘Little help?’
“One of the daemon’s prime directives would be to ensure the survivability of Citadel citizens,” Aurora replied. “You’ll need to override it.”
‘Sure, let’s try.’
Once again, Aurora dictated and Joel typed. A warning screen stopped him from cutting oxygen flow for the last two sublevels but he ignored them and confirmed the directive.
“It’s done,” he told Diaz. She nodded and proceeded to report status over the radio.
‘How come no one knows about you?’ Joel asked while Diaz looked away. Aurora considered the question for a moment. As she had said, it was the first time she had spoken with a human other than Alexia so he figured it was understandable if she needed time to answer.
“I was not planned for,” she finally said.
‘Explain?’
“Producing a viable encephalon by the neural fusion of a human brain and a stemlink involves overwriting a host’s neural groups as well as psychotherapy sessions and the inoculation of certain drugs. The process heavily deteriorates the subject’s mental health. I am a byproduct of that process. It is Alexia who should have been the Controller. Instead, my consciousness spontaneously awoke within her mind. Then I instinctively melded with the stemlink and took control of the Citadel.”
‘Very interesting but you didn’t answer my question.’
“I don’t know why Ethan Sommers kept the true nature of the host-Controller symbiosis a secret,” Aurora added then her crudely rendered actor turned to face Alexia. “She is waking up.”
Joel stood up and walked to where Alexia was sitting. It was hard for him to imagine what she had gone through for most of her life so she could host Aurora in her encephalon. According to Aurora, she had been put through some sort of drug-assisted neural reprogramming in order for the stemlink implant to sync up with her brainstem from a very young age. She was yawning and stretching her arms then noticed him. There was a certain fragility about Alexia perhaps resulting from the traumatic experience. The more he learned about the secrets of the Program the more it sounded like a nightmare for both host and Controller.
“Good morning, Controller,” Joel said then grabbed the blue framed glasses from the desk and handed them to her.
“Hi,” she returned the greeting lazily as she put the glasses on then grabbed onto the chair handles and pushed herself up on her feet.
“Woah slow down there, have you fully recovered?”
“Yeah I’m okay,” she replied, looking away from him in a strangely dismissive way. Joel tried to help her stand up but she shook her head and he stood back. Surprisingly, after a few seconds of balancing herself upright, she let go of the handles and stood on her own. “So, what did I miss?”
“Well, the reactor is again powering Citadel systems,” Joel replied. “Capacitors are fully charged and the barrier is again up and running along with life support.”
“Good,” she said then crossed her arms. “I guess you two are now acquainted?”
“You could say that,” said Aurora.
“Yeah I’m still not entirely sure what’s going on but I guess it’s the two of you in the same head,” Joel added.
Diaz had been delivering her report in the reactor chamber but then appeared to be done and returned to join them in the antechamber. “Alexia, are you alright?” she said when she noticed Alexia was standing on her own.
“Yes,” Alexia replied with a smile. “Thanks about earlier, I’m sorry you had to stay here to babysit me.”
“It’s alright,” the Citpol officer said. “It’s too depressing down there anyway.”
“Where’s the Captain?”
“He’s just finishing reporting status to authorities back home, now that power returned and communications have been restored,” Diaz replied then faced Joel. “Are you done bringing up all critical systems online?”
“Yes ma’am,” he replied.
“Good. Have you confirmed that systems can be remotely managed from Angeles Citadel?”
“Thanks for reminding me, I’ll get to it,” Joel said then went back to the computer station.
“Alright, you finish that then I need you two to get ready to depart.”
“Already?” Alexia asked.
“Yes, our mission was to have you fast-converge, bring back critical systems online and ensure they can be remotely managed. There will be cleanup crews coming in in the next few months to restore the Citadel to livable conditions.”
“I see.”
Joel brought up the network connectivity screen and already saw operators connecting from back home. ‘Mission success,’ he then typed. ‘I guess I won’t be talking to you again.’
“What else do you wish to know?” Aurora asked.
‘Whatever you can tell me. It’s all very interesting to me.’
“You have a tablet with a wireless connection, we can use that.”
‘Oh yeah, good idea.’
“Alright, we’re good,” Joel told Diaz, raising his right thumb.
“Okay, we’re done here,” Diaz said. “The Captain and the rest of the team will meet us by the PPCs. Get your things, we’re leaving.”
Joel stood up and took one last look at the reactor chamber then put his tools and drawings back in the backpack and grabbed his helmet. “Oxygen saturation levels won’t support life for a few hours,” he said as he put it on. Diaz nodded and grabbed Alexia’s then helped her with it, tucking her hair under the back of the pressure suit then sealing it.
“Stay in channel three and follow me closely, I need to keep radio open with the Captain,” Diaz said then pushed a button on her sleeve radio control, leaving Joel and Alexia on their own. The trio entered the depressurization room then exited towards the elevator.
“Hey Alexia,” Joel said.
“Yes?”
“How do you guys live with this symbiosis? Is this how it is all the time for you?”
“It can be challenging,” Alexia replied absentmindedly. Ever since she had woken up, Joel noticed she had become somewhat distant.
“I suppose we’re used to it now,” Aurora said over the auglens earbud.
“You’re still here?” Joel asked.
“Yes, I am able to use your auglens integrated microphone to hear you. Although I am
keeping up a three-way conversation over disparate media. I can use Alexia’s senses to communicate with her directly but with you I have to rely on the auglens.”
“Weird. Not in a bad way, of course,” Joel added.
“No offense taken.”
The three of them arrived at the service elevator and entered it. Diaz pushed the button for the surface and the doors closed. The mechanism came back to life and soon they were being slowly raised out of the alleys.
“I hope you guys are not talking about me behind my back in your minds or something,” Joel said then chuckled.
“You don’t have to worry about that,” Alexia replied as she looked away.
“Is something the matter?” he asked.
“No, why?”
He stopped himself from asking why she was being distant and instead shook his head.
“You know our secret now,” Aurora explained.
“Oh yeah,” Joel said. “But don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone. I mean that’s what you guys want, right?”
The sisters stayed quiet and Alexia crossed her arms and looked down. The grinding of gears and metallic parts moving in the elevator’s mechanism vaguely sneaked their way inside Joel’s helmet, accentuating the impression that they were climbing way too slowly.
“It’s not just that,” Alexia said. “It’s embarrassing, you know.”
“Why?”
“You were right, back in the PPC,” she continued, facing up, looking him in the eyes for a second then breaking eye contact. “I really am just a random woman with an implant in my head that does everything for me. It could be anyone.”
“It’s actually me, not the stemlink,” Aurora interjected.
“Yes, thanks for clarifying,” Alexia said, annoyed.
Joel couldn’t help but chuckle at how strange their situation was. There they were, two personalities in the same head who viewed each other as sisters and even came with their own way to express sibling rivalry. He then said “come on. If you ask me, you’re pretty exceptional.”
“Oh yeah? Explain,” she asked skeptically.
“Well for starters, you’re not the typical surfacer with a superiority complex.”
“Yay,” Alexia said sarcastically.
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