Princess

"This unit has been programed to answer basic inquiries regarding this station." Helper stated. "It has been deemed highly probable that you have several questions by this point of your contract."

I walked on in silence, looking around me as the walls and floor gradually transitioned from industrial concrete grey to a polished black stone that made the spacious halls feel constricted and suffocating. Even when I focused, I could hardly see where the floor merged into the walls. The overhead lights did little to define the dimensions as the stone seemed to curve subtlety and hide intersections until we'd already walked into them. The only relief from the monotone blackness were the periodic metal doors painted in steely hues. None of these ones had windows to look through.

"How do you make smart AI?" Jhordan asked.

"Unknown."

"Who do you sell them to specifically?"

"Unknown."

"What can you tell me?"

"This unit can inform you that this station pre-dates the synthetic revolution and is actively looking to expand its staff. This station is also actively seeking superconductors, as well as mechanical and electrical engineers able to work in relative isolation for months at a time." Helper stated with programed politeness.

"Not much hiring in these parts for secret research stations is there." Jhordan mused dryly.

"Unknown."

"Is that all you can tell us?" Jhordan asked with more than a hint of annoyance in her voice.

"Negative, this unit is also permitted to inform you that we are nearing our destination now."

Our group stopped at one of the many unmarked doors, indistinguishable from those that we had passed. On closer inspection, I could see something that I had missed about the other doors. There were four archaic keyholes built near each of the door's corners. Helper reached within it's plated girdle and produced an ancient, semicircular brass key.

"You guys make smart AI, literally one of the most advanced pieces of technology known to man, but you still use keys? Is the budget that tight?" Jhordan asked, her suit's speakers masking a portion of her snide tone. Helper unlocked each corner on the door before replying.

"It is because this station is so technologically advanced that it uses primitive mechanical locks." Helper stated brusquely. "A mechanical lock requires physical interaction and cannot be electronically overridden. Additionally, a mechanical lock can be opened only by a unit that possesses the corresponding key in most environmental conditions. This has proven to be the most effective way to secure the experiments of this station. It is also extremely cost-effective, as you have noted."

The door jerked upward a centimeter, then slid sideways into the wall under Helper's guiding hand. The room seemed to match the rest of the station that I'd observed so far. It was dug from the same glossy black stone and spartan to the point of looking barren. The sole exception was the far wall, which was occupied by a mass of tubes and gauges, all linked to a central terminal that Helper walked to and began interfacing with. The entire contraption looked like a hybrid between a monstrous chemistry set, a deuterium engine, a station's control hub and a massive water filtration device.

"Is this thing our AI?" I asked.

"I'm not sure I can carry that by myself." Jhordan said.

"Negative, this is a permanent storage unit." Helper said as a lopsided cylindrical portion of the machine separated from the larger mass. "And this is the portable storage unit which you will be carrying."

"Oh, that's great. I get to drag this thing all the way back to the ship."

"That is partially correct. However, this storage unit is empty. You must continue with this unit to acquire the AI you will be receiving. You are also advised against dragging the unit as tha-"

"Why couldn't we just trade packages in the hanger? That'd be a lot faster for us and more secure for you." I asked.

"Unknown."

"Of course you don't."

The portable unit was bigger than me—albeit shorter than my standing height of 173cm—once it was extricated from the mass of tubing and ductwork. Even with the larger stature of her armor, Jhordan struggled to find a stable way to carry the massive vaguely-conical barrel. She settled on an awkward stance with the storage unit rested on her slouched back, reminding me of some ancient builder lugging a large stone. Despite the armor's enhanced strength, Jhordan's knees were bent under the weight and she took short slow steps as she walked.

"The portable storage unit is designed to be durable to impacts, but you are advised to handle it with care." Helper said.

"You know, this would be a lot easier if I had an extra set of hands." Jhordan said.

"This unit is not permitted to handle any data storage units to minimize the risk of digital contamination."

"Of course not. I'm just happy I get to be included in this. I'll be fine." She said, sounding notably not fine.

"What's the matter Jhordan? Should I go get a man to do your job?" I asked, unable to fully keep the cattiness from my voice.

"Ha-ha, real mature. Why couldn't we at least get a cart to move this thing?"

"This station does not have a cart." Helper politely offered.

"You use keys, but you don't have carts? What kind of advanced primitive station are you running here?"

"A sketchy one." I muttered in my helmet. For the first time, Helper didn't answer Jhordan's question, not even with its usual 'unknown.'

We walked where Helper led in relative silence, the thinning mists devouring sound more entirely than vacuum did. Even with my suit, which was supposed to be proofed against vacuum, I felt the unnatural chemical cold creeping into my skin. The chill made me remember chewing frozen mint leaves as a child, but instead of being refreshingly crisp, I felt a bone-deep cold like I'd never be warm again.

Jhordan was trudging along behind me, but I could almost feel her staring daggers into Helper. I wanted to rebuke her, and as soon as we weren't within earshot of anyone else I would, but the idea of dressing down someone nearly twice my size was intimidating. The authority of my nominal rank was only worth what my squad thought it was. Right now, I couldn't tell if she was thinking about anything other than ripping our guide apart the moment she could. If I crossed the line, all it would take would be some less-than-gentle handling to have me spitting up my ribs. If she used her wrist knife instead, I'd bleed out before I hit the floor— probably in two pieces.

I gave my cheeks a mental slap. I needed to focus! Jhordan's hate funk was rubbing off on me. I shouldn't be thinking about stuff like that. These creepy tunnels and that damned mist weren't helping either. As I took in my surroundings, I realized another hour had passed. I needed to stop spacing out like that. I couldn't fester on my problems while on the job.

"Please deposit the storage unit into the receptacle." Helper stated while indicating to the single port on the most complicated machine I'd ever seen. The component Helper referred Jhordan to wasn't vastly different from the device we'd initially recovered it from. The only real difference I saw was this one had several exposed bundles of hefty cabling connecting it to the room's grid instead of being buried into the wall. That and the sheer size of it. It was hard for me to tell if the room had several separate machines or if I was looking at segregated pieces of the whole.

The chamber as a whole looked impressive—if structurally questionable—with banks upon banks of server units and flux data storage terminals. Overhead, in a rat's nest of catwalks and hanging lights, various tubes and cables intertwined before connecting to the room's heart, the central machine. Aside from the narrow isles to walk through, the room was entirely filled with circuitry, computer terminals and small robots conducting maintenance.

"It takes all this to house an AI?" I asked.

"Negative, only a fractal portion of this machinery is necessary to store a complex artificial entity. The remainder is used for redundancy and data surges created by advanced computations or artificial entities interacting with one another."

"Could you dumb that down a little for me?"

"Certainly, in layman's terms, you could say this is a school. One where this station's most stable creations demonstrate desirable traits and behaviors for more recently created artificial entities."

"AI teaching AI. Sounds great. I can't see any way that could catastrophically backfire." Jhordan said.

"The process is far more effective and less time consuming then-"

"You don't need to justify your methods to us," I interjected. "The less we know, the better."

"Acknowledged. Please insert the storage unit to the port indicated." Jhordan looked to me first, and after an affirmative death glare, she did as instructed. For the time being, she resigned herself to doing her job and that was all I needed from her.

"So this is an AI daycare," Jhordan said idly, her tone expressing her opinion even if her words did not. "Any idea where we're off to for our next job? You know, if you haven't killed me by then." Jhordan shifted her focus to me as she spoke, taking the time to limber up now that she was unencumbered of her load. I kept my attention on Helper and the upload as she meandered out of view. Could moving an AI really be that simple? Was it just a really big data file, a complex computer program? There had to be more to it than that.

"Not sure of the when or where, but Havoc told me it's supposed to be a snatch and grab somewhere even further off than this." The bot would be listening passively while it worked, but talking to Jhordan was as good a way to keep focused as any other I could think of.

"The fringes of the fringes? That's weird. There's not much out here worth spitting on, much less grabbing. We must be getting close to Eldritch DMZ. Any hint what for?"

"A paying job is a paying job. If they want to hire us, it must be worth something to someone."

"Or it's messy black ops stuff they're gonna push off onto drifters to keep their own hands clean. Who knows, maybe it's another sketchy job with a big mystery payoff that definitely won't be worth the effort."

"We never get simple jobs, they don't pay well enough. But that's how these things go, high risk, high reward. Then something always goes wrong, and no one even jinxed us. I guess we're just lucky like that." It had been some time since I'd offered up my unguarded thoughts to someone. It wasn't a colossal slip-up, but I bit my tongue all the same. Jhordan didn't exploit my moment of weakness, and though I didn't dare turn to look at her, it didn't seem like she was eager to pry me open like so many were.

"So what's the deal with Boomer anyway? He doesn't seem like he's all there. You've known him forever, right?" Her question might have caught me off balance if she'd asked it sooner, but my moment of weakness had passed.

"It's not my place to share his life story." I brusquely said. It would have been great if the transfer finished at that moment, and I didn't need to stand there, awkwardly hoping Jhordan would bring up another topic. Of course, that didn't happen. So I had to stand there impatiently waiting without letting it show.

"You must be Princess." I flinched and spun to the voice. When some people flinch, they jump or raise their fists, but I had better instincts than that. I was splayed out, down on one knee with my shotgun leveled at a puffy hazard suit in an instant. "My, you're a quick one."

"Who are you?" I asked, my brain now absorbing what it was seeing. I couldn't see his face very well at this angle, but he was an older man with icy blue eyes that seemed to glow behind the full-faced visor of his puffy hazard suit. In my peripheries, I saw the man's escorts. Two more robots of the same model and armament as guide, Helper 058 and 089 respectively, both with their own weapons leveled at me.

"I'm the station's chief investigator, Doctor Royston Talfryn. Though you would more likely know me as 'Mister Johnson' or possibly 'The Client.' With introductions out of the way, you should lower your weapon and discontinue that undignified position."

I did as he suggested, careful not to make any sudden movements. Once I was upright, I motioned for Jhordan to be casual before I examined the Client. He looked like a man on the verge of exhaustion, the dark bags under his eyes highlighted his sickly complexion. His face was unmarred by laugh lines and I saw no joy in him. He was serious, but there was more to it. He had a severity born from adversity; he contained no happiness because the galaxy had offered him none.

His body was marred by several blocky bulges which could have been anything under his hazard suit. As he stared me down, I realized both of his eyes were cybernetics. It was hard not to squirm under his piercing gaze. It felt like he could see right through my black-mirrored visor and into my eyes, even when I broke eye contact without turning my head.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mister Johnson." I said, forcing enough honey into my words to drown a beehive.

"I'd prefer you use Doctor Talfryn. The data transfer will take some time. I anticipated you would welcome some polite conversation to while away the minutes. I'll be making my rounds. You are welcome to join me."

"If that's a request from our client, then I can hardly refuse." We hadn't even taken a step when both of the client's escorts snapped their weapons to bear over my shoulders.

"Not you." The Client clinically stated, refusing to turn or even slow his pace. I motioned for Jhordan to stay put, then walked as quickly as possible without jogging to catch up to the Client. Within seconds we were out of earshot of Jhordan and her new wardens. Once we'd reached the first server stack, the Client slowed to a leisurely pace. "What would you say if I offered you a job of great importance on this station?"

"It would depend on the job."

"You would assist me in the creation of an AI."

"No." I answered instantly, my mask of professionalism slipping.

"I can tell that you disapprove of my work." He said vacantly, while surveying the machinery we strolled past.

"It seems your eyes see as much as mine. It's not my place to air my opinions."

"Perhaps, but I rarely get to hear the thoughts of outsiders. Indulge me."

"AI… they're incredible, but it's also… a lot? If that makes sense. If I'm being completely honest, I'm a bit worried about getting one and more than a bit worried about what we'll do once we have it." I tried to keep beside the Client as we walked, but he insisted on keeping me a step ahead of him. I fought the urge to grab my shotgun just to occupy my hands, instead keeping my arms stiffly down at my sides like a naughty child.

There was a choked snuffling sound behind me; I turned to see a twisted mockery of amusement, and the sound clicked. He was chuckling, though it sounded more like he couldn't clear his sinuses and needed to breathe.

"I've worked in tandem with them for the bulk of my existence. It's refreshing to see that near-reverence of them. You may be at ease. AI are neither the gods nor monsters you think them to be. They are tools, highly sophisticated ones mind you, but tools nonetheless. A tool, much like information, is never inherently benevolent or malicious." Jhordan probably would have shot him then and there if she'd been accompanying us.

"Some tools are purpose-made for destruction," I said while shrugging my shoulders. I could feel the comforting weight of my slung shotgun and a load of miscellaneous explosives bouncing in reply. "Wouldn't you say that these were built with malice in mind?"

"I would have expected someone of your profession to have a more open-minded view. Those lethal tools of yours were created for power, not violence. Have you never pulled the trigger for any other reason? Never in celebration or duty or valiant defense of yourself or another? Information is much the same. The first atomic bombs were tools of destructive power yes, but if not for those stepping stones, humanity wouldn't have created stable nuclear engines or seen such drastic development of radiology."

"I appreciate the point you're making, but I don't think I'm the best person to debate scientific morality with."

"Which is exactly why you make for excellent conversation." He said with a dry hint of enthusiasm. "You have a world view entirely alien to this station. If you could, summarize your thoughts into a single sentence."

He could have been asking me to condense a dictionary to a single page. I managed to bite my tongue before an 'umm' slipped out, but my lengthy silence might as well have screamed it to the void. Science was good? No, that made me sound like a stupid child. History and fiction clashed in my head until it was all one big mess of confusing gibberish.

"While I understand wanting progress, I don't think we should sacrifice our autonomy— as a species. We should…" I bit down on another ditsy 'umm' but couldn't find a suitably educated-sounding answer. In the end I meekly added, "Be better, I guess?"

"And how do we, as a species, be better?" The Client asked, his tone not mocking but damned close.

"I'm sorry, Doctor Talfryn. I'm not really sure what I mean, but I feel like there are lines we shouldn't cross. Things we can't do if we still want to call ourselves human."

"Oh? How would you react if you learned that those lines had long since been abandoned in the pursuit of knowledge, and without doing so, the galaxy as you know it would be forever changed."

This was worse than being back in mandatory schooling! I racked my brain for anything that would sound like I wasn't just winging my way through life but came up short. How the hell was I supposed to know what he wanted me to say? Hell, I didn't even know what I was saying! After a few painful seconds of silence, I admitted defeat.

"I don't know, but I'd like to pretend the galaxy isn't that black and white. Sometimes, good people do horrible things with the best intentions. Other times, we need a few more heartless bastards to the right things for the wrong reasons." He didn't physically react in any noticeable way, yet something about his air changed. His dawdling steps gained a measure of conviction as he kept pace behind me. "Is there something else you'd like to add?"

"Don't think into it too much. This was just a little thought experiment. Humanity has forgotten so much during the synthetic revolution it's difficult to separate accurate accountings from deranged mythologizing."

"Maybe that knowledge was lost for a good reason. As I've been recently reminded, there are things beyond our control. Some things that should never have been learned, boxes that shouldn't be opened-"

"Boxes, you say?" Doctor Talfryn paused in his rounds to fix me with his full attention and I froze under his intense scrutiny. I took the time to silently cuss myself out with every curse—both real and otherwise—I knew for mentioning the box. His eyes blazed so intensly they were like twinned spotlights illuminating my every shortcoming as I kept digging my hole of failure deeper and deeper.

"Sorry, I assumed you would have known about Penda's box." I blurted. "It was a common story from my upbringing." His icy blue eyes lost their electric-hued richness, lingering a moment longer in dubious suspicion before returning to his rounds.

"Ah yes," he said a few moments later. "Once opened, she was unable to recapture the demons she had loosed upon to world. An apt analogy for your concerns, though I can't say I'm particularly well versed in folklore. I must ask, would you consider yourself superstitious?"

"No more than most normal people." The chemical vapors around us swirled as if in protest to my words. A cluster of specters soared around the client as he moved from one machine to the next, infrared shadows wrapping him like a cloak of flies. "This may sound childish, but I keep thinking I can see ghosts moving in whatever this mist is."

"That's to be expected." He said coolly. My mind flashed back to the person we'd smuggled here and the fact that aside from my team and I, Doctor Talfryn was the only other living person I'd seen so far.

"And why is that?" I asked cautiously, dreading the implications.

"The human eye naturally searches for patterns, and the brain of any social animal is constantly searching for others of its kind. Seeing phantom images and imaginings where none exist is a natural byproduct of these processes."

I breathed a sigh of relief, and again the mists swirled as if in protest. I didn't fully believe him, but it was still comforting to hear a reasonable explanation. Growing up, I'd had to contend to others that I wasn't hallucinating, I just saw things they couldn't. These mists were just another one of those things. Perfectly explainable by science, nothing paranormal or supernatural to it.

"I think I should be getting back to the central terminal. My team's probably waiting for me."

"Of course, you've indulged me long enough. Consider my curiosity thoroughly satiated by our conversation. I'll escort you back now. I'd hate for the ghosts to lead you astray."

"That's very generous of you."

"Think nothing of it. I'll need to examine some recently acquired data before we have another opportunity to speak. If you should change your mind regarding my proposal, it would greatly expedite and simplify my work."

"I'll take it into consideration, Doctor Talfryn."