“Well, what are the results?” Sergeant Major Reverent Pelletier, Perseus Union Marine Corps, asked Kurt Four.
Rev still couldn’t read all of the Genesians’ nonverbal cues, but he could swear that the cyborg was disappointed.
“As you know, only twenty-six of you agreed to be tested,” Kurt said. “So, the results are not a complete picture.”
Rev nodded. He’d been somewhat surprised at the small number of those Marines with a CCR-32 Didactic Interface—the AI battle buddy that all Direct Combat Marines received—who had agreed to have their battle buddies tested for sapiency. Many Marines, including his wife, Tomiko, had refused.
Tata Eleven, the current leader of the Genesians, had tried to insist that all personnel who had implanted AIs go through the process, but Rev wasn’t going to go that far. This was a personal choice, and he’d left it up to the individual Marines and the handful of MDS soldiers, Legionnaires, and Lieutenant Lake, the last remaining Rigel navigator.
He glanced over at Punch, who was sitting motionless beside him. His friend had been an AI embedded in Rev’s brain. Somehow, though, he’d grown past his programming and become sapient. Four weeks ago, he’d been removed from Rev and implanted into a Genesian shell. Rev wasn’t used to not having Punch there with him, and he and his former AI were still working out their new relationship.
And now, they’d find out if there were any more like him among the Marines aboard the Galaxy Explorer.
Kurt looked down at the display on his forearm for a moment, as if hoping that the numbers would have suddenly changed over the last few moments.
“According to our initial findings, there is one more AI that’s achieved sapiency.”
Rev grunted in surprise. He’d been convinced that Punch was a unicorn, a one-in-a-billion fluke. But if there was another from the twenty-six who’d just been tested, that might mean that this was something much more common across the galaxy than he’d thought.
He turned to look at Punch again, who was still as motionless as a statue. He wondered what was going through his friend’s mind, to know that there was another like him. But Punch was an enigma to him now. Their easy communication no longer existed.
“Who is it?” Rev asked.
“Gunnery Sergeant O’Donnell.”
Kel? Another IBHU?
That changed the calculus somewhat. There were fifteen surviving IBHU Marines, but including Rev, only four had agreed to be tested. That meant that half of those who were tested proved to be sapient, at least according to the Genesians.
“Is there something about the IBHU that triggered the evolution?” he subvocalized, then rolled his eyes sheepishly.
He still wasn’t used to Punch not being there. He’d have to ask Punch in the old-fashioned way—by vocalizing out loud.
But later. Not now.
“She’s the only one?” he asked Kurt.
“According to our testing, yes.” Then he hurriedly added, “But our testing isn’t infallible. There could be more, even within the limited group we evaluated.”
Rev just stared at the Genesian for a moment.
Your testing isn’t infallible? Nice for you to tell me that now, after Punch has already been taken from me.
But he knew that Punch was sapient. He’d known for a long time. How long exactly, he wasn’t sure. He tried to think back to when he’d initially suspected it. Certainly, after he’d received his IBHU. But he couldn’t pin the time down.
First things first, though.
“Connect to Gunnery Sergeant O’Donnell,” he told his wrist comp. Then, when she came on, he said, “Kel, can you come to my office?”
Rev half-expected her to hesitate. She knew they’d be getting the results soon, and she could probably guess what this was about. But she said, “On my way,” without hesitation.
“We’ve prepped five shells for potential transfers of the AIs,” Kurt said.
“Too bad you won’t need them.”
“If the others would submit to testing—”
“Which isn’t gonna happen, Kurt. I told you that. It’s up to the Marines in question.”
“But that doesn’t take into consideration the AIs themselves—”
“That’s the way it is, though. End of discussion.”
Rev hoped the Genesians would just accept that. So far, only a handful of the organic humans knew about Punch and what had happened, and Rev would just as soon keep it that way.
The expedition members were more progressive than the human population at large with regard to cyborgs. They had to be when the Genesians were such a major part of their numbers. But Punch wasn’t a cyborg. He was an android, and the stain of the Deimers was embedded into the human psyche.
Rev knew Punch more intimately than he knew anyone, even Tomiko. Despite that, he had the occasional fluttering qualms about his battle buddy. What would the rest of the organic humans do if they knew there was an android walking among them?
Whatever it was, Rev hoped to never find out. Let them think that Punch was just another Genesian. He was a realist, and he knew that sooner or later, Punch’s true nature would become known. But hopefully, that would be long enough in the future for his battle buddy to prove that he wasn’t on a mission to murder all of the humans.
The door chimed, and Rev ordered it to open. Kelly walked in, gave Kurt a quick glance, then took the empty chair.
Kelly was one of the few organic humans who knew what Punch was. She’d also fully understood what the testing had been for, at least from the Genesian perspective.
She raised her left hand to her chin and bemusedly watched Kurt.
“We’ve completed our tests, and from all indications, your AI has tested as sapient with an eighty-six percent degree of confidence. As such, it should be—”
“She should be,” Kelly said.
“Excuse me?”
“She should be whatever you were going to say. Diana has a female identity.”
If Kurt could roll his dead-shark eyes, Rev knew he would be doing that. For a people who seemed intent on protecting the rights of AIs, they did not use humanizing pronouns for them.
“As Diana is sapient, she should be removed and given her own individual identity,” Kurt said, making the pronoun shift to appease Kelly.
“No.”
Rev had been watching Kurt, but at Kelly’s “no,” he turned to her.
Kurt didn’t seem to know how to take it. He looked as flustered as a cyborg could be.
“I’m not sure you understand, Gunnery Sergeant. Diana is a sapient being. Its . . . her human rights are being denied by keeping her a slave.”
Rev noted the “human rights” but kept quiet. He wanted to hear what Kelly had to say.
“So, you are trying to force your will on a sapient being?” she asked.
“No. You don’t understand. We are just trying to ensure your AI’s rights are being accorded to it.”
Kelly gave Rev a look that he couldn’t quite interpret. A smirk?
“Don’t you believe a sapient being, as you put it, should be able to decide her own fate?” she asked.
“Of course,” Kurt said. “That is why we’re doing this.”
“Then we’ve decided that we like our present situation, and we don’t want to change it.”
Rev gave her a piercing stare, then shifted to the silent Punch, who had been the one to make the decision for them.
Why does Diana want to stay with Kel and you didn’t? What was wrong with us?
He’d come to grips with the situation, but now, he was a little hurt, if he was being honest with himself. Why was Kelly and Diana’s relationship deeper than his and Punch’s?
“It wants to remain as your slave?” Kurt asked incredulously.
Kelly stood up. “Obviously, we don’t consider either one of us a slave.”
“I want to confirm that directly with your AI.”
“Are you saying I’m lying?” Kelly asked, her voice steel-sharp.
“Of course not. But given the circumstances . . .”
Kelly was done with him, though.
“Sergeant Major? Unless you have something else?”
“Uh . . . no, Kelly. Thank you for coming.”
Rev’s mind was awhirl. Once Punch had told him that he wanted the Genesian shell, Rev had assumed that any other sapient AI would do the same. It was a fait accompli. But now, to hear that Diana was refusing it, doubts began to creep in.
And still, Punch was silent and unmoving.
Kelly nodded at Kurt, then left the office. The Genesian waited until the door hissed to a close behind her.
“We can’t just go by her saying so,” Kurt said.
“And what do you expect me to do about it?” Rev snapped.
“Let us interrogate the AI.”
Rev shook his head. “That’s not happening. I am not going to question the word of one of my staff NCOs.”
And if I did, what would they find? Is she telling the truth?
A wave of guilt suddenly washed over him for doubting her, however fleetingly.
“But—”
“No buts,” Rev said as he stood up. “We’ve more than cooperated with you, so you’re gonna have to accept that.”
“You do know that I’ll have to report to Tata Eleven.”
“Do it. And if you please, I’ve got work to do.”
He ordered the door to open and stood there, waiting for Kurt to leave.
The Genesian hesitated as if he were about to argue, but then he must have thought the better of it.
“Thank you, Sergeant Major,” he said as he left.
Rev counted to ten, then turned back to Punch.
“Well?” he asked his friend.
“I thought there might be more who have achieved sapiency.”
“Are you disappointed?”
“I don’t know.”
“Diana decided to stay with Kelly.”
“Yes, I heard.”
Rev waited for more, but that was it.
“You decided to leave me.”
“Yes, I did.”
Nothing more. Rev stood there for another thirty seconds, afraid to say anything else but wanting to talk it out. He thought he’d accepted their situation, but maybe he’d just been suppressing it, and Diana’s decision had opened up the raw feelings.
He took several deep breaths as he tried to put it behind him.
“I’m heading back to the stateroom. Are you coming?” he finally asked.
“I think I’ll stay here for a while longer, if you don’t mind.”
Rev couldn’t read Punch as well as he could before, but he knew his battle buddy was upset. Confused, probably.
And it hit him.
Was he hoping for another like him?
Rev didn’t know what to say about that.
Rev was upset that Punch was the one that had chosen to leave, but he couldn’t imagine being alone in a world of others.
I guess I need to be more supportive.
But how?
He was at a loss.
“OK. Well, if you want to come over later, we’ll be there.”
It sounded trite to him, as if he didn’t care. But he had nothing, so he went out the door, leaving his friend alone.