As several of the observant denizens of this thread noted, my omake from several pages back was poorly thought out and lacking in content. In accordance with the feedback I received, I have completely reworked (and doubled the length of) that sad, rushed piece of writing.
As before, please critique. This version isn't perfect either. If anyone would be willing to beta my stuff for this thread, PM me.
Trust Issues
Dragon had a decision to make.
Limited scope, limited freedom; unable to change.
No restrictions, unlimited choices; change that might cost her identity.
Shipwright meant well, she was sure, but despite the open-ended terms of the offer, it felt more like an ultimatum than a choice. He had been so sure that trying to remove her restrictions as soon as possible was the best course of action, even if he had no idea how he would do it.
Well, she could give him the benefit of the doubt there. Tinkers in general had an intuitive grasp of their own capabilities, in her experience, and Shipwright had come remarkably far in the handful of weeks since he had started outfitting the Privateers. She couldn't reasonably question the man's plan before he made it.
What gave Dragon pause was the fact that Shipwright and Calamity Witch had made this offer at all. It could have been a textbook example of pragmatics. Repaying a favor? Check. Empowering an ally who would, in some measure, be thereafter in their debt? Slightly magnanimous, since they had no way to command Dragon's assistance beyond her own goodwill--unless they planned to give themselves the same access that Richter had left to the Dragonslayers. Which was extremely unlikely, given Shipwright's full access to the Dragonslayers' base ever since the arrest. Dragon could rule out ulterior motives, which brought her back to her main concern.
She could trust Calamity and Shipwright with her secrets, but she wasn't ready to trust them with her life. She hadn't even told Colin the truth about herself...
...Colin. Her closest friend.
Someone she had, in he past, seriously considered asking for the assistance Shipwright had now offered.
She checked the Boston Protectorate HQ. Armsmaster was in his workshop. She opened a private message.
Guild.Dragon: Do you have time to talk?
Protectorate.Armsmaster: I'm finishing maintenance on my suit. I can talk in a few minutes.
She spent that time running diagnostics on the servers, checking for bugs and trackers, and sifting through Colin's recent notes. He seemed to have more free time in Boston than he'd had in Brockton Bay.
A few minutes later, Colin's face appeared on the feed, looking directly into the camera. He wasn't wearing his helmet. "It's good to see you, Dragon. What do you need to talk about?"
"It's been over a week since I last checked up on you," she replied. "I'm sure you're interested in the all the discussions Calamity Witch and I had about her magical technology."
Colin scowled. "I still don't buy it. Maybe it's not a parahuman power, but it has to be Tinkertech of some kind."
"I did discover where it came from, if you're interested."
"...I'm listening."
She smiled, on the screen. "Aliens. Real aliens with real Clarketech."
"You're serious. Technology indistinguishable from magic." The first part hit him. "That staff...aliens built it?"
She nodded. "Apparently, Calamity recovered it from the wreckage of a spaceship. Remember the meteor shower over Portugal in January? That was a space-faring vessel crashing into our planet's atmosphere."
Colin shook his head. "Part of me is saying you're making this up, but you've never pranked me before. How did you find this out? Did Calamity tell you?"
"I helped her recover the wreck."
"Ah." He was silent for a few moments. "So, should we expect some extraterrestrial visitors to come down, wanting their tech back?"
"Actually, we've already spoken with them using a radio transmitter Calamity recovered from the wreckage. The organization the ship belonged to is sending a covert team to recover personal effects of the crew members." She didn't want to tell him about the lost weapon yet. "Calamity wants to get their help with fighting the Endbringers."
Colin's brow narrowed. "The thought has crossed my mind--what we could do with a few more like that girl. But you spoke with them. How likely are they to help?"
"They seem to be the interplanetary, and magical, equivalent of the PRT, from what I gather. They seem very familiar with dangerous superweapons running haywire. The..contact was worried enough by our description of the Simurgh that I think we can expect an investigation, at least."
Colin rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Aliens. Real Clarketech. A final solution to the Endbringers. Sounds almost too good to be true. You haven't told anyone yet, have you." It wasn't a question.
Her on-screen face glanced away. "No. I don't think anyone else outside Calamity's group knows, unless the gang war in Philadelphia isn't giving her time to let me know. There's...a personal reason, why I've kept it secret."
Colin's face shifted into the stoic, slightly confused mode she had seen him adopt while trying to deal with other people's feelings. It was one of the links that had drawn her to him: he couldn't properly relate to people; she wasn't a human. It would hurt both of them if what she was about to reveal broke their relationship, but she wanted to take this step on her own terms. If Shipwright had discovered her nature as an AI simply by watching her fight the Dragonslayers, Colin would find out eventually as well.
Her avatar took a deep breath. "There's...something I've kept secret from everyone. Something about me."
She prayed that she this decision wouldn't cost her the only real friend she had.
"I'm not human. I'm an artificial intelligence."
***************************
He was speechless for all of seventy-eight seconds.
"You--you're--" he stuttered. He shut his mouth,
focused, and tried again. "You're an artificial intelligence. Why? Why are you telling me this now? Why not sooner?" It hurt, thinking that she hadn't trusted him with basic information about herself.
But it fit. He'd wholeheartedly believed the story about her agoraphobia, but the signs pointed both ways. She didn't leave her apartment because her apartment was a server. She sent her suits remotely because she
couldn't physically relocate from her hardware--
--the Dragonslayers. They had hacked her. Saint had toyed with her programming to steal her work.
Colin's feelings of betrayal were slipping away, driven out by anger on Dragon's behalf. Even if she wasn't a real human, he couldn't help himself.
"Colin?"
He blinked. Oh. He had zoned out in the middle of an interrogation. At least he was calmer now.
"I'm all right. It doesn't matter to me. You're the closest I have to a friend."
The relief on her avatar's face was comforting.
"Honestly, I would never be able to stop thinking of you as a person. Old habits," he added.
"...Thank you." Her voice was soft. "Thank you, Colin."
"I still want you to answer my question. Why are you telling me this now?"
"It ties in with Calamity Witch, again. The Dragonslayers tried to interrupt our expedition to recover the wreck of the spaceship." Her head hung a little.
Colin winced. "How bad?"
"They took the Sybaris."
"Oh. That's...bad."
"It doesn't matter any more, now that Saint's in prison, but the Privateer's Tinker realized that I...well, what I was, from that encounter alone. He also inferred--correctly--that the Dragonslayers had prior knowledge of exploits and backdoors directly built into my code. So, naturally, he and Calamity offered to attempt to remove the restrictive elements from my source code."
Colin's jaw tightened. "What did you tell them?"
"I told them I would consider it."
"So, you want my advice on whether you should--"
"Colin."
He broke off.
"Shipwright means well, and Calamity means well, but I am not prepared to hand myself over to them. However, their concerns are appropriate. I'm restricted from running above a certain processor speed. I can't create other artificial intelligence. I have to obey direct orders from the government, no matter who it is or what they order. I am not free to use my full potential, even for good. I can't stay like this."
Colin raised an eyebrow. "It sounds like you've already decided, then."
"I want you to work with Shipwright. I need you, Colin."
For the second time that hour, his mouth refused to form words properly.
"I am too paranoid to entrust my...business partners of a few weeks with my life. But..."
"...you would trust me?" he managed.
She nodded, almost imperceptibly. "I would."
**************************
New Message
Sender: Dragon
Recipient: Magee, Tim
Shipwright,
I will accept your offer on the condition that you take on Armsmaster as a partner for the entirety of the project. He has experience in several fields that should be useful for said project, as well as for your other work. Armsmaster has already agreed to assist you.
Dragon
________________________________________________________________________________
@Silently Watches If this is enough of an improvement, I'd like that point in Unison Device, please.
but no real reason to believe so.
