Ava, Sylvie and the Major all sat in the private meeting room, facing each other. Neither Ava not Sylvie could understand why the Major was pissed off, but it was evident in her Block-6 shell body that she was annoyed. Upon returning to Mars, Ava managed to transfer their cognitions to blank Servs, temporarily while new bodies got made for them. It had been only an hour since then.
Maybe the Major was annoyed because she was in a man's body, somehow the stern look on her face didn't really look any different whether it was on a man or a woman though.
"Explain it to me again, for the record," said the Major, "more detailed than the fumbled explanation you gave me during the ship ride." The Major grit her teeth, "when I was locked in Sylvie's little brain."
Why was she so annoyed?
"I developed a new technique, a way to transfer cognition without needing to record it digitally as a copy and imprint it onto a blank body." Ava said, frankly,
"How? And why?"
"How? Simple, instead of recording the data itself, I record the way the data is constructed. After that it's a case of physically taking your actual data, your literal hard drive, shattering in to so many pieces that it becomes transmittable remotely, and then reconstructing it in someone else's cognition. As long as they have space." He said this as if it made sense,
"Basically you took my brain, broke it up into little pieces and threw it Sylvie to reconstruct." Said the Major, "rather than copying my brain as data, you turned it into data."
"Essentially, yes. That's why I needed our foreheads to touch. Can't do it wirelessly."
"We came up with the modification last year, after we figured out the flaw of the Copy system," said Sylvie, trying to assert her presence in the room. This was obviously a topic she wanted to address.
The Major didn't reply.
"Major, did you hear me? There's a flaw in the-"
"I heard you!" shouted the Major. Why was she so angry? "You think I don't know there's a flaw in the system? I've been a coward and have been avoiding using it since it was implemented. I've been a goddamn coward!"
"A coward? Avoiding the Copy system is what's made you so strong. And it's what makes Ava and me such a strong unit too." Said Sylvie.
The air was thick. There were a lot of things to discuss, why did Sylvie have to bring up the most sensitive topic first? No, the Major wanted to talk about it too. That was clear. Suddenly a smug look appeared on the Major's face.
"So what's the flaw?" she asked,
"Huh?" Sylvie was stopped in her tracks, she looked at Ava,
"... I... assumed that the Copy system is forced to reduce copies to the Block-level of the Servs they inhabit. It explains why people who are in other Block-6 shells for too long lose their personality, and why personality disassociation disorder exists in the first place." Ava frowned, "that is that flaw. Right?"
"Is that really such a surprise? That if you stay in someone's body for too long you start to associate with them rather than yourself." She sighed, "you're right, it's a problem, but one that's unavoidable if you want to have soldiers that are cognitive, while keeping the real soldiers behind." She smiled, "is that what you think prevents me from backing myself up? I have plenty of Block-1 backup bodies. My copies are never in other, weaker bodies."
"But... Sylvie. When she goes in other bodies she says she feels like a completely different person," said Ava,
"Has anyone else complained about that?"
"Well, no but."
"Ava, maybe you should stop being a smartass and not shove your nose where it doesn't belong." She tutted, "that said. You'll need to show us this transfer technology you came up with. And explain to us why you didn't show us the damn thing before."
The Copy system definitely had a flaw. He and Sylvie had noticed it. Every time they were forced to turn into a copy, their personalities became far more blank, more lifeless, and hence when it got transferred back it caused a change in their real personality. No-one noticed. No-one cared. And the Major, they knew she was avoiding the copy system because the theoretical personality degradation. Ava had noticed it didn't happen with her, even though she went out on field missions constantly. Still as iron, never changing, unlike all the other soldiers Ava had observed over the years many others who were slowly becoming more and more degraded. Why did the Major act like the excessiveness of personality degradation wasn't a big deal? Was there really something else?
"Anyway, thanks for saving my life anyway Ava, you too Sylvie." She looked directly at the two, "I'll be honest guys, I'm not going to tell you the real flaw of the Copy system. All I'll say is this: You're right about it being dangerous. Avoid it."
"Y-yes ma'am." muttered the two,
The Major sighed, "I'm showing favouritism, aren't' I? What a bitch I am." She looked at the two, "looks like I have a soft spot for people who save my life, huh?"
Ava and Sylvie looked at each other nervously. Then they nodded at The Major. They thought they had her, but she'd dominated them completely.
"Ava, I'm going to unzip those files and we'll reconvene, tomorrow afternoon. You can look at the files that have been unzipped so far and write your report. Same goes to you Sylvie"
"Yes ma'am!" said both Ava and Sylvie.
***
It was a cold night, Ava and Sylvie were the only ones who decided to sit outside the Operator's Bar. Everyone else was inside, drinking and having fun. The two were drinking, but fun probably wasn't the best word to describe their activity, Ava was slumped over the table and Sylvie was lazily leaning back on her chair looking up to the cold night sky.
They'd made their way to the bar without much discussion, it had become a regular thing for them. The two really didn't have any other friends either, although they were quite popular and well known, none of their colleagues ever become more than that. Drinks after work was just those two, sometimes they talked, but sometimes they didn't.
"I don't get it." Said Sylvie, "I was so sure that was the flaw with the system."
"It's my fault, I was the one who deduced it, and thought I was a damn genius." Ava replied, there was little energy in his voice,
"But there is something wrong with it. Something so wrong that even someone as strong as The Major avoids using it."
Ava sighed, "I mean, does it matter? You haven't been on any missions with me that require Copy AIs recently anyway. So you don't need to worry."
"No Ava! You don't know how it felt!" Sylvie's voice jumped in tone so quickly that it almost made Ava sit up in shock. But not quite. "My brain was so damn confused after that mission! One part of me was depressed and terrified, another part was stern and professional, that side kept of telling me to shut up and accept that emotions aren't allowed on missions. It was a second voice, a voice that couldn't integrate itself with the real me."
"I'd assumed your personality had reduced itself when in another body, and turning itself into a completely different person when going on out operations. Hence there was a lack of compatibility when the Copy AI returned to your body. But The Major said that's not the true flaw. But... The personality degradation did happen to you. And we can see it happening to others everywhere else!
"It's a massive flaw in the system either way, whatever the reason. There's no way I'm letting them shove any Copy AIs back in me anymore." Sylvie grit her teeth, she was rarely serious about things, but it took her months to manage to clear her head, become less of a robot and more of a person. She could feel that Block-5 brain roll around in her head for so long. Did she finally get rid of it? Or did it integrate itself so perfectly into herself now that she felt comfortable having it inside her?
"My personality didn't degrade did it Ava?" Sylvie asked, "I mean... I defeated it, right? It didn't degrade like it does the others." I reality, from her perspective, she couldn't tell. Maybe she was just unaware of her changes now.
"No Sylvie. You haven't changed at all," Ava smiled, "you're still a dumbass."
"A what? What the hell Ava!"
"Hey, I meant it in a good way."
"How is being a dumbass good! You... you," Sylvie tried to roll a few insults around in her head, "dummy!" she took a final swig of her drink, slammed it onto the table, and got up. She stomped to the balcony and looked over the edge, to the city below. Ava got up lazily and joined her, he leaned on the edge and reclaimed his lazy slumped pose. The city before them was a festival of lights streaming far into the distance. The Operator Bar was on the top floor of the dorms for Operators, which in turn was situated on top of a hill on the edge of the city. The view was magnificent.
"Sylvie, we're part of the army so that we can protect all those people down there, right?" asked Ava,
"Sure, I wouldn't do this if I didn't care for the survival of my people." Sylvie replied,
"Do you think the humans saw us that way? Do you think they'd fight for us if we were in jeopardy?"
"Well..." Sylvie stopped and pondered for a moment, "probably no-"
"Definitely not. And I'll tell you why." Ava said firmly, "Humans created us to suffer. Our gods used us as playthings, our own pleasure wasn't of their own interest. I've read the files, we were bargaining chips for people to move to Mars, largely. Free slaves."
"But that was a long ago."
"Sure, but we haven't changed very much. We were made with the interests of a human's wellbeing at heart. Not our own. I think that's why we've been so shit at finishing this war Sylvie."
"Why?"
"This war is just a way of life for us. It's a constant state of existence that we don't really have any reason to break out of, because we don't have the ego to win this war. Only the ego to survive."
"So you're saying we'll never win this war because human's programmed us to think about them over ourselves?"
"Yeah, we'll never untap our full potential." He clenched his fist, "I don't know why Sylvie, but you, the Major and me, our approach on this war seems so different than everyone else's. We want to defeat the Evos and find peace. But this is just a day job for everyone else."
"Peace? Are you feeling ok Ava? Peace isn't possible. We've been fighting since the beginning of time."
"You think it's not possible because it's all you know. I'm not fighting this war to keep a status quo. Using this stupid copy-AI system to turn us into brainless drones that agree on going out on suicide missions, fighting a race of beings we know almost nothing about..."
"You really think peace is possible huh?"
"It's a struggle humans faced. From what I read in the files anyway. But unlike us they fought to win, they fought to defeat their foes and live in harmony."
"Um, I guess. It sounds like you've been thinking about this a lot. Any reason you're bringing it up now?"
"Just thinking about the human, that's all."
"The human?"
Ava sighed. "The human Aphrodite. I know where she is from the files we downloaded. And I'm fairly sure finding her will be our next mission."
"What!?"
"I know where the sanctuary is, and I know what our next mission will be." He furrowed his brow, "it won't be to kill the human. It'll be to save it."