by Ros Per
- Fucking shit!!! Next time, I'll buy an armored codpiece! – I burst out, shouting through my clenched teeth. And the system was also mocking me.
Attention! You have received the “Genital Bruising” debuff; you can't have sexual intercourse for another 49 minutes, 58 seconds.
“Judging by your reaction, that was very painful.”
The voice that spoke near me made me forget about the pain and, having abruptly turned over, while squeezing the reflexively grabbed machine gun, I pointed the barrel at the owner of the voice. In front of me stood a young, beautiful girl of about twenty, watching me, with her head slightly tilted toward the right shoulder. She was dressed in a summer pinafore with rainbows on it, and her light brown hair flowed over her shoulders like a waterfall. Finally, I was shocked at seeing her standing barefoot on the cold floor.
CHAPTER XX: It’s Artificial Intelligence, or… NOT?
Continuing to keep the girl at gunpoint, I quickly glanced to the side and, finding no one, I focused once more on the stranger. My thoughts ran in different directions, trying to figure out where she could’ve come from. After all, when I’d jumped into the corridor, there had been nobody else there. Of course, I could have missed her because of the smoke that I had set up, which, thanks to the increased ventilation, was almost gone by now. But the machine gun, with its motion sensors, hadn’t reacted. So, she definitely couldn’t have been there until the moment the smoke appeared. The doors seem to all be closed; the machine gun is almost in the middle of the aisle, which has massive metal doors on both sides. This seems to me like it divides the laboratory into sections.
Fuck, my brain was already overloaded, trying to figure all this out: I couldn’t understand who she was and where she had come from. Stop it! Look at the dust, the most common dust that housewives hate so much, but because this laboratory has been empty for such a long time, it’s settled down in a small layer on all the horizontal surfaces. This very dust clearly indicates the places where I’d tumbled: a little further, you can see the trail of a grenade landing. But around the girl, there isn’t a single trace of the dust: either she’s teleported to the place where she’s now standing, or... Damn, that’s it, for sure! This is a hologram. Lowering the barrel of the machine gun, I began to look around more closely. Even if it’s a local, defending artificial intelligence, the hologram itself can’t harm me, because it’s an intangible object. However, an evil surprise could be waiting for me somewhere, ready to spring at me when the AI has relaxed me enough for me to be an easier target.
- Who are you? - I asked, continuing to look around the corridor.
“Irala,” she answered, and her voice was beautiful.
- I asked who you are, not what name they gave you. - She pouted in response to my words. It would seem she wasn’t even programmed with an emotional block. I don’t even know if that’s good for me or not.
- “I said: IRALA.” Seeing my misunderstanding and raised eyebrow, she sighed heavily and explained. “Intelligent Robotic Archive and Lab Assistant.”
- Wait, so… You’re like a library? -
I was starting to experience cognitive dissonance. My brain refused to perceive this information correctly. Here I was, trying not to screw up, looking for danger in every corner, suspecting that I was talking to a combat lawyer, or God forbid, the main laboratory artificial intelligence who was trying to distract me, but it turns out I’ve been communicating with the most ordinary of archivists. The girl, meanwhile, lowered her eyes to the floor and started shuffling her feet, gently responding:
- Well ... that depends on how you look at it... - Well, that’s amazing, she’s behaving like a real person.
- “Hmm ... And what do you need from me?”
- I’m bored here! - And then, her mood changing sharply, she gently raised her head and said, quite loudly: - And it’s interesting to be with you! You’re so funny! I observed how you dealt with the filters, and then with this machine gun. First, you were at the door "Bang"! - she was speaking so fast. - And then you hurried quickly to the other side - and everything is in smoke, and then again, a bang. And then you immediately … bang-bang, without any understanding what kind of moves to make. And you’re like coming out of the smoke "like a boss", and so on! And you’re shouting because you feel pain, and then you are curled up. It hurt a lot, didn’t it? And I haven’t seen anyone for a long time, and here you came, and my database is so small, - she abruptly started crying, howling as she did, - I, in fact, I know nothing ... - and she was sobbing ...
Suddenly, I lost sight of her, and the very next moment, she was to my right and again began to chatter without stopping.
- Oh, and what's this, a submachine gun, right? I also have descriptions of guns in the database, but nothing like yours. And what's that hanging on it? And why do you need this button?
She vanished again, without even waiting for any answers. Turning my head quickly, I found her already to my left, crouching down, looking at the handle of the pistol sticking out of my hip holster.
- And this is a gun, right? I haven’t seen them at all, in my database, they’re mentioned a couple of times and that’s it. Is it loud? Is it in your holster, huh? I guessed right...
Yeah, it's just unbearable! She stays in one place for maybe three seconds, asks loads of questions and, without waiting for answers, switches her position to the other side. And from there, as in the case of the machine gun, asks a new batch of questions. I was frozen for almost a minute; afterward, my left eyelid began to twitch. In the end, she materialized in the air behind me so that her head was over my right shoulder and her lips right next to my ear.
- You're so interesting!
She whispered this into my ear, which made me shiver a little. I, of course, understand everything, I have had children and grandchildren, and despite my old age, I still remember very well what they were like at this age, when children ask adults a bunch of, in our opinion, stupid questions. But this artificial intelligence has surpassed them all! Well, then I will treat her like a child! And what is the most important thing when you talk to a child? The main thing is not to worry and shout at the child, let them speak calmly, and if they are really interested in the question, they will repeat it after the first series of questions has been asked. That's when your answer will be heard. Continuing to listen to her numerous questions half-heartedly, I started doing more important things.
Having reloaded the automatic submachine gun, I went back for my backpack, which I’d left in another room. Getting it, I took out the armor-piercing ammunition and reloaded all the magazine cases that had the usual ammunition. Irala continued to ask loads of questions, periodically changing her location. I wouldn’t be surprised if she didn’t notice that we had left the corridor. More precisely, I’d left, and she, continuing to disappear and reappear at different sides around me, had followed me, as if she were also moving with me. Okay, there’s still some time left.
The artificial intelligence, after such a long period of loneliness, seems to have accumulated a lot of questions. Yeah, and as I’d understood it, based on her words, she’s got a small database, not connected to any other sources of information. Because of this, she couldn’t fully develop as an artificial intelligence. And the emotional unit installed into this intelligence hadn’t been able to properly develop, without being allowed to follow people and observe. And now she was behaving in an extreme way: either she was bursting out into tears, or she was happy, like a four-year-old girl who’d received a huge teddy bear as a gift.
While Irala continued to chatter, I decided to change out my skills in the quick-access bar, since not all of them would be necessary for me here. So, the body-snatcher skill would definitely not be needed in here, the distance is too short. Also, “Shooting amendments”, “Sniper shot”, “Stabilization” and “Hunting maneuvers” are removed from the grid of skills. Unfortunately, at the moment, I am limited in my number of layouts and access slots. Therefore, it’s necessary to pe
riodically redistribute skills in order to have all the ones you need at that moment in the grid. “Surroundings scan” is also unnecessary; so a cell doesn’t need to be allocated for it. To the first grid, I assign skills associated with movement.
Knee Gliding II
Description: The Knee Gliding skill allows you to slide on your knees, choosing a starting point and determining the direction of your movement.
Activation time: from 0.5 seconds to 1.5 seconds, depending on the route specified.
Travel length: from 0.5 meters to 5 meters, depending on the speed gained before the use.
Cooldown: 28 minutes.
Restrictions: The starting point and direction of movement have to be within 120 degrees of the original direction of the movement.
“Stealth Approach" I
Description: Stealth Approach will allow you to move as silently as possible, adjusting your step to avoid stepping on objects that can make noise.
Activation time: instant.
Duration: 2 minutes.
Cooldown: 60 minutes.
Restrictions: It cannot be used with heavy shoes.
"Position change" III
Description: Position change will allow you to quickly move to other cover.
Activation time: 1 second to collect data on possible cover.
Lasts: until the next cover.
Cooldown: 100 minutes
Restrictions: the absence of other pieces of cover.
"Pendulum" I
Description: you run, randomly changing the speed and angle of your motion, making it difficult for the enemy to aim at you.
Activation time: 2 seconds.
Distance travelled: up to 100 meters, or until you cancel the skill.
Cooldown: 30 minutes.
Limitations: Fatigue should not be at more than 70%.
“War Roll” IV
Description: a combat roll that allows you to get into a firing position on your knee, from almost any state.
Activation time: instantly.
Lasts: Until you take your position.
Cooldown: 51 minutes.
Restrictions: cannot be used in confined spaces.
"Fighting Pace" II
Description: moving at a slow pace with your weapon ready to fire, your accuracy increases by 12%. Perception is also increased by 1.
Activation time: 3 seconds.
Duration: 3 minutes.
Cooldown: 55 minutes.
Restrictions: it can only be used while you’re standing, it’s impossible to use without a weapon in your hands.
The sudden silence made me look back from the interface and at the girl. She was sitting on one of the machines, dangling her legs and carefully looking at me, waiting for something. I’d noticed my wife giving me a similar look when I’d zoned out while she was talking to me, so I reflexively repeated a memorized phrase that had helped me more than once in these situations.
- “I am beyond words!”
- So am I; it’s quite boring, - Irala perked back up and continued chattering. – I was talking to him and speaking in a very kind way, like dear Citadel, you are the defending artificial intelligence, you should have at least a little bit of information, that, well, you can share with me. And he responded in such a lifeless voice: “Data exchange wasn’t registered as one of my functions” ...
Of course, I fully understand that it’s worth listening to her and picking out information that would be useful to me. But I can freely admit one thing: when women start chattering about their problems, like Irala is right now, complaining about everything, I find it hard to focus, because after a couple of minutes of trying to listen to them carefully, I finally get confused by this information overflow. Okay, what else do I do now? Two skills having to do with knife fighting have been taken out, since there is nobody to use the knives on.
"Avoiding death" I
Description: You can avoid a fatal hit.
Activation time: instantly, automatically.
Duration: 1 second.
Cooldown: 30 minutes.
Restrictions: it is impossible to use at your own will, the neural interface independently defines the moment of use.
It’s a very controversial skill, but it saved my life at the last moment a couple of times in training, so I let it be. The second grid will be filled with fighting skills, then. So, as to the grenades, there are only two skills: "Hurl bulkhead" will be out, but this one, I think, is needed.
"Bounce" II
Description: The neural interface highlights the trajectory of the grenade to help you calculate the ricochet.
Activation time: 3 seconds.
Duration: until you throw, but no longer than 10 seconds.
Cooldown: 55 minutes.
Restrictions: no more than one ricochet.
I still have eight skills left, I just need to decide which ones to add to the quick access button, and which ones can be left out for later use. I decided to leave the 3 pistol related skills, figuring they’ll come in handy. For the rest, I chose:
Triple strike II
Description: automatically target the heads of three opponents.
Activation time: 1 second.
Duration: until three targets are hit, but no longer than 5 seconds.
Cooldown: 2 hours 50 minutes.
Restrictions: all opponents must be in sight.
"Doublet queue" V
Description: you can fire two short bursts into the chests of two opponents.
Activation time: 0.5 seconds.
Duration: until two targets are hit, but no longer than 3 seconds.
Cooldown: 1 hour 20 minutes.
Restrictions: all opponents must be in sight, used only with weapons that have an automatic fire mode.
"Brand-axel" I
Description: You are in control of the area of fire, while firing at an enemy that has appeared in this area, you gain + 30% to the rate of fire, -10% accuracy.
Activation time: 5 seconds.
Duration: it’s active until you move, or until you run out of cartridges in your magazine case.
Cooldown: 3 hours.
Restrictions: the area of fire is no more than 90 degrees.
"Adrenaline courage" III
Description: under the influence of adrenaline, you ignore most of your pain, -60% pain sensation.
Activation time: 3 seconds.
Duration: 1 minute.
Cooldown: 5 hours and 40 minutes.
Restrictions: At the time of activation, you should have no more than 50% of life.
"First shot" I
Description: the neurointerface highlights the most vulnerable points of the enemy.
Activation time: 2 seconds
Duration: before making a shot, but no more than 15 seconds.
Cooldown: 2 hours 30 minutes.
Restrictions: only the first shot in combat; the enemy must not be able to see you or know about your location.
Ok, I’ve dealt with all the skills. By the way, I’ve noticed that, although most of the skills are quite universal, for some reason, I mentally grouped them into classes. Okay, back to our little girl, who’s surely close to running out of things to talk about. Unfortunately, I realized that my first impressions had been wrong and I almost fell into the trap that she was dragging me toward. After waiting for her to be silent for just a second, I started the conversation.
-You never answered my questions. - She blinked uncomprehendingly, slightly opening her mouth. I had to push her a little further. - Well, will you say something, or will you continue speaking nonsense? Bear in mind, if you start your act up again, I will just leave. - Her face immediately became more serious, and now she was looking at me with a slight squint.
- “Where did I screw up?”
- In a lot of ways. To begin with, it’s not just artificial intelligences; even human beings don’t change their emotions that quickly. You are trying to pretend to be a little fool way too hard. And given your curiosity, along
with the changes in your mood in different situations, most likely, you were programmed with a self-learning algorithm. Also, you very often mention that your database is too limited. If this were actually the case, then you wouldn’t know half of the terms you’ve used from time to time. And this shows that the database you have is quite large and you have fully learned it. These are just the basics, there are still a lot of tiny details, which would just complete the picture. -
- “I knew that I had little practice in communicating with live human beings, and simulations don’t give me much to practice with,” she said sadly. “But I’ve told you the truth. Well, at least at the beginning. I was really terribly bored.”
- Sorry, I don’t understand. How can an artificial intelligence be bored?
- “How can I explain it properly, without any scientific terms? The programmer who wrote my software shell, besides self-learning, also included an algorithm for developing emotional behavior. Usually, this is done by many people in order to avoid communicating with a monotonous computer, but for some reason, he connected it with a self-learning unit, despite the fact that he’d left the code open. Moreover, this IT guy forgot to turn me off when they evacuated the laboratory. It turned out that when the self-learning algorithm reached the archives for programming artificial intelligence, because of my mood swings and curiosity, which had been something I couldn’t avoid at the time, I began to periodically make changes to my initial code.”