So hey, here's an omake of Eli chatting with the Mammal Pod. I'm sure everything will be fine.
Ghost In The Machine - Eli
"This is it?" Eli thought to himself as he looked over the steel cylinder in front of him, the lights dimmed.
"This is what all of the adults have been obsessing over? A hunk of metal?"
It had only been a few days since it was brought back to Mother Base - and in a fashion that made it almost impossible to camouflage. That hadn't gotten Eli's attention. What
did get his attention was the reactions of people who visited the lab it was stored in - some would stumble out in a daze, others would be mumbling to themselves incoherently,
Father had even looked uncharacteristically downcast after he visited it...
So Eli took it upon himself to acquire a pass while everyone was busy celebrating
Father's mission to destroy nuclear programs across the world, and manged to slip in without being detected.
He wasn't expecting to be so disappointed though.
"So what's so special about you?" Eli called out mockingly as he leaned against a nearby wall. "As far as I can tell you're just a piece of junk."
The pod didn't respond, its lights still dark.
Eli scoffed and started to make his way towards the exit. "This was a waste of-"
"J-J-Jack?"
Eli whirled around to see that the pod had lit up, its "eye" now bright red.
"
Finally, I was beginning to think this was a waste of my time," Eli quipped as he leaned against the wall opposite from the pod, staring it down with a look of contempt. "So...you're an AI then? Fine. Out with it. What's so important about you?"
"T-the q-q-quick brown fox j-jumps over theeeeeeeeeeee lazy hound."
Eli rolled his eyes. He'd heard the sentence before - though its only claim to fame was containing every letter in the English alphabet. "Come on. Are you actually going to say something interesting?"
"Pi isssssssss...piiiiiiiii i-is...about 3."
"Bah," Eli scoffed, starting to leave. "You're just a useless-"
"Iiiiiiiiiiii -
I've been waiting Snake."
Eli stopped, facing the pod again. That woman's voice wasn't glitched out like before...
"Waiting for a long time. For your birth, your growth, and the finality of today."
He leaned against the wall again, though this time he was paying much closer attention. "...Who are you?"
"In June of 1944, I participated in the Normandy invasion. I was pregnant with The Sorrow's child, and gave birth on the battlefield. My baby boy was taken from me by the Philosophers. This scar is the only remaining proof I was a mother. There is nothing left inside me now. No emotions. Yet at night, I feel the pain creeping up and down my body like a snake."
"That doesn't answer my question!" Eli shouted, frustrated. He
knew there was more to this! "Who
are you!?"
"I didn't raise you and shape you into the man you are today just so we could face each other in battle. A soldier's skills aren't meant to be used to hurt friends. So then, what is an enemy?"
"Whoever is trying to kill you."
"Is there such a thing as an absolute, timeless enemy?"
Eli clenched his right fist, an image of
Father entering his mind unbidden. "Of course there is."
"There is no such thing and never has been. And the reason is that our enemies are human beings like us. They can only be our enemies in relative terms."
"You're wrong," Eli coldly replied, a dark scowl on his face. "People will find whatever reason they need to hate their enemies." The pod went silent, though it remained active as Eli leaned forward. "Come on. What is it about you? Why do you matter so much to the adults here?"
"IIiiiiii-I hear it's a-a-amazing when the famous pur-purple stuffed w-w-worm in flaaaaaaaaaaaaap-jaw space with the t-t-tuning fork does a raw blink on Hara-Kiri Rock. I need s-s-scissors! 61!"
"Come on! Don't you dare glitch out on me now! I
know you have answers!"
"S-shall we walllllllllk through the r-rainy plain of Spain?"
"Damn it!" Eli charged over to the pod and began beating his fists against it. "Work, you broken piece of junk!"
"Theeeeeeeeeeeee -
The world must be made whole."
Eli backpedaled once he heard the sudden change in the AI's voice again. "What are you talking about?"
"The world used to be whole, but with the end of the Second World War, the Philosophers began to fight amongst themselves and the world was torn apart. The foibles of politics and the march of time can turn friends into enemies just as easily as the wind changes. Yesterday's ally becomes tomorrow's opposition."
"Are - are you
serious!?" Eli shouted at the pod. "The world was
never whole! It's been divided since the dawn of man by geography, language, culture-"
"We have no tomorrow, but we have hope for the future. In 1960, I saw a vision of the ideal future from space. I could see the planet as it appeared from space. That's when it finally hit me. The Earth itself has no boundaries. No East, no West, no Cold War. In the 21st century, everyone will be able to see that we are all just inhabitants of a little celestial body called Earth. A world without communism and capitalism... that is the world I wanted to see."
Eli blinked, trying to process what he'd just heard. "Is...is that it?"
"Reality continued to betray me. The sacrifice of war causes a shift in the times, this shift leads to new conflicts, and in turn newer wars. Like the atom bomb, each reaction sparks many others. An endless cycle of war."
"All I'm hearing is that whoever you were, you chose to run away from reality!" Eli shouted back. "War is human nature, and it's gone back to the dawn of history."
The pod went silent again.
"You...I can't believe this," Eli said, laughter starting to escape his lips as he processed the insanity of what he'd been hearing. "
This is what Father and the others have been so obsessed about? The barely functioning AI based on someone who couldn't face reality?"
At this point Eli had broke out into openly mocking laughter, the pod quietly humming as it echoed throughout the room.
"What a joke. I can't believe
anyone would believe in a coward like you."
"I gave my body and my child for my country."
"...What?"
"As long as we have loyalty 'til the end there's no point in believing in anything, even in those we love. The only thing we can believe in, with absolute certainty, is the mission, Jack."
That caused Eli to go over what he'd heard so far. She was loyal to her country but believed in a world without boundaries?
"...That doesn't make any sense," Eli said to the pod after a moment of thought. "If you believed in that dream of a world made whole why would you stay loyal to one country?" He unconsciously clenched his right fist again as his voice rose in intensity. "You could have chosen to defy whoever your superiors were, to seize control of your own destiny, to truly make your mark on the world! Instead you gave your body and soul to a country that you didn't believe in!
Why!?"
The pod remained silent.
"I was wrong before. Whoever you were you weren't a coward, I'll give you that. But you were clearly a
fool." His fist tightened as something else came to mind. "No. You were
worse than that. You left behind your wishes
but didn't have the will to see them through yourself! Instead you foisted them on others like Father! Was that it then!? Is
that the person that everyone's been worshiping!?"
The pod continued to remain silent, though whether it chose to do so or simply didn't have an answer wasn't apparent to Eli.
"You're just like the rest of them, forcing those who follow after you down paths that they didn't want to tread. And all for the sake of a so-called wish that you
chose not to work towards." He shook his head and started to storm out of the room. "To think, this is what they-"
"Llllllllllllll -
Liquid Snake."
Eli stopped and turned to face the pod, his face morphed into one of raw fury.
"What did you just call me?"
"E-E-Ekitaijin. Translaaaaaaaaation: L-L-Liquid Man."
Eli's fury quickly morphed into confusion before he remembered that it was the translation for the kanji emblazoned on the back of his jacket.
"S-S-Snake.
Snake. There is nothing left inside me now. No emotions. Yet at night, I feel the pain creeping up and down my body like a snake."
For a moment Eli debated trying to figure out what the pod was trying to say to him before grumbling to himself and storming out of the room in a huff, the lights automatically turning off behind him.
"Stupid machine..."
Though as the door closed behind Eli the pod remained active, its red eye shining in the darkness of the unlit room.
"T-t-t -
The Philosophers must be reunited. Just as I created the Cobras. They are my family. I may no longer be able to bear children, but I still have a family."
Word count: 1525
AN: Wanna give credit to
@Always Late who helped inspire this omake. Aside from that I don't have much to say except I figured that The "Youth Who Curses His Fate" would have far more issues with the Boss' ideology than anyone else.
