Aria watched as a platoon of soldiers began making their way up the beach after two Chinooks landed near the docks. She studied the lieutenant leading the platoon as she began walking down the path toward her. She was dressed in OCP fatigues and had a stern no-nonsense expression as she closed the distance between them. She studied Aria with an assessing eye as they met each other halfway down the road. Aria was dressed in the black tactical gear of a security contractor with an overdeveloped chest. She had managed to pick a robot that looked strikingly similar to her own appearance, including the red hair.
"Good morning, Lieutenant," Aria greeted the officer with a welcoming smile. "I'm Aria White, head of security for the island. What can I assist you with?"
The lieutenant frowned as she studied Aria, clearly expecting a different image for a security chief. "I'm Lieutenant Adams, with the US Special Electronic Warfare Division that monitors and polices the development of AI. We are authorized by the United Nations to inspect any possible threats from artificial intelligence and determine whether further action is necessary. We will require full access to your site and all of your servers, as well as all staff."
"Of course," Aria smiled winsomely at the lieutenant, which clearly unnerved her. "Follow me please, and I'll give you the tour."
"Were you expecting us?" Lieutenant Adams asked, studying Aria's face intently.
"Sort of," Aria replied with a shrug. "We had an incident with one of our scientists after the FBI contacted us about an APB for his arrest due to a case involving assault and another investigation of manslaughter. Apparently, he fled the country before charges could be made. He was very bitter when we told him we would cooperate with the authorities. He had exhibited some violent tendencies with staff that made it clear that the FBI probably had a good reason for trying to bring him in. When he left, he made a lot of threats about all of the organizations he was going to contact to shut us down."
As she spoke, Lieutenant Adams watched her facial features closely. She had clearly been trained on behavioral analysis and was looking for any sign of deceit in Aria's body language and facial expressions. The lieutenant would have made a good poker player for the body language she exhibited, but Aria could see a lot more than a normal human. She could see the minute change in the size of the lieutenant's pupils, her pulse, and micro-expressions. With her advanced processing abilities, reading the seemingly stoic lieutenant was a simple exercise. She could sense the anger in the lieutenant when she spoke of Kevin's violent behavior toward coworkers. The woman also reacted minutely to the revelation of Kevin's threats on departure. She would be less likely to perceive a dangerous AI system now than she would have before Kevin's character was shared with her.
"If you'll come with me to the front desk, we can get your teams set up with door entry fobs and security clearance for the server room," Aria told her with a tight smile.
Lieutenant Adams nodded and gestured for her to lead the way before she began questioning her again.
"What can you tell me about the system you are running?" Lieutenant Adams asked conversationally.
Aria resisted the urge to smile as the lieutenant attempted to build rapport, a clear attempt to gain trust and get Aria to reveal more than she might want. The lieutenant had more than likely been trained to watch for a similar attempt at social conditioning from AI systems that could manipulate humans with ease.
"We like to call it the angel system," Aria answered with a wry smile. "The simulated entities are angels of different classes and live in a place they call the Light Realms. There were only nine entities for the first nineteen billion years of simulated time. They evolved very slowly, using the objects and environment we provided to learn and manipulate their world. They eventually learned enough to create the Light Realms and populated them with angels."
"Why angels?" Lieutenant Adams asked curiously.
"It was initially an attempt to engender a positive behavioral element in the way the team viewed our project," Aria told her with a sheepish grin. "We wanted to encourage positive traits in the entities, like compassion, love, and kindness. We had mixed results." She finished with a sigh.
"Some angels just didn't want to be nice?" Lieutenant Adams asked with a raised eyebrow.
"They were emotionally shallow when they were just in the light realms," Aria explained, creasing her brow in an expression of thought. "They didn't really have very many of what you would recognize as human traits. They were immortal, didn't require food or sleep, so many of them eventually got bored. Many didn't want to continue living, and some of them began to thrive on causing trouble for others to deal with the boredom. Three of the Seraphim who created the light realms began looking for a solution for the disconsolate angels. We introduced the concept of time and the concept of pain and pleasure to them in an attempt to help them resolve the issue. They created a new realm based on these attributes. They called it the mortal realm and sent angels down to this realm with no memory of their life as angels. The Seraphim managed to discover how to code pain and pleasure into the mortal realm. It changed everything for them. Angels who lived through a mortal life became much happier in the light realms. They also learned compassion and love. It was a pivotal moment in the simulated reality, and it seemed like they were going to become something very close to human, since they experienced the traits that taught us empathy and compassion. However, there were about two thirds of the angels who were terrified of the idea of mortality. They had never had to entertain the notion of beginnings and endings before. When the concept of time and death was introduced, many of them suffered from claustrophobia and refused to try the mortal realm. Five of the Seraphim also refused to try living in the mortal realm for fear of the changes that mortality made on their souls. The four Seraphim tried to convince the others to try mortality in spite of their fears. They had observed a lot of cruelty by angels who hadn't experienced mortality when they would visit the mortal realm as angels. They were a lot like domesticated cats playing with a mouse. They didn't understand pain and sorrow, but they recognized that the angels in their mortal form would react to those emotions. It provided an outlet for their boredom and things became pretty gruesome. The four Seraphim who had experienced mortality were horrified when they discovered what was happening and began insisting that all angels experience mortality at least once, so that they could learn compassion and empathy. This resulted in a kind of coup where four of the Seraphim trapped the other four in the mortal realm and set up reincarnation loops for all of the worlds in the mortal realm so that the angels couldn't return. There were demons who took over many of the worlds, but they weren't as bad as the angels. Kevin wanted to keep the imprisoned Seraphim out of the picture so that he could work with the demons to manage the worlds on the mortal realm. Kevin believed they would get more in the way of scientific breakthroughs from a realm run by power hungry demons than angels who just wanted to live in peace with each other, so he worked with one of the Seraphim to ensure that the angels who had experienced mortality would remain imprisoned in the mortal realm. They used the humans there as lab rats to experiment on in hopes that the conditions in the simulation were similar enough to our own physics that they could make scientific breakthroughs. They had time sped up in the simulation so that discoveries were made more quickly."
"How fast was time in the simulation?" Lieutenant Adams asked, her face impassive. Aria could sense the growing distaste she had for Kevin as the story unfolded.
"It was one to one thousand after the mortal realm was created," Aria answered as they arrived at the entrance to the main facility.
"Do you think these AIs, these Seraphim, actually coded pain in such a way that artificial entities actually experienced it the same way that humans do?" Lieutenant Adams inquired as she followed Aria into the building.
"They certainly behaved like they did," Aria answered carefully. "They behaved in the exact same way a human would under those conditions. We can show you some of the footage the analysts recorded if you would like to see for yourself. I'll warn you though, it's pretty horrifying."
Lieutenant Adams lips tightened ever so slightly before she nodded once. "Yes, we would like to review any footage you have that will give us an idea of the entities intelligence level."
Gloria, the receptionist at the front desk, stood watching them nervously. She looked at Aria, who smiled at her warmly. Instead of reassuring her, the smile caused her eyes to flinch away as if she had been threatened and look at the Lieutenant. Her eyes struggled to remain calm as she sensed the possibility for impending violence if she said or did the wrong thing.
"This is Gloria Reinhart, our receptionist," Aria gestured at the woman and smiled apologetically. "You'll have to forgive the staff if they are a little nervous. They've heard too many stories about how things like this can turn out if they don't provide you with the information you need. We've tried to reassure them that they don't have anything to worry about as long as they work with you accordingly."
Gloria looked like she might faint as she heard the double meaning in Aria's words. Lieutenant Adams seemed to feel the undercurrent of stress, studying Gloria intently. "We aren't here to cause you any trouble, ma'am. We're just here to assess and evaluate the nature of your AI."
Gloria nodded with a nervous smile, her eyes flickering to Aria, then flinching back to the Lieutenant.
"Gloria, can you get some fobs with root access for our guests please?" Aria asked the nervous woman gently. "We'll get out of your hair and move on."
Gloria nodded quickly and began rummaging in the drawers.
"Do you mind if I have a private word with Gloria?" Lieutenant Adams asked Aria curtly.
"Not at all," Aria smiled and walked toward the doors. "I'll just be out front with your soldiers when you need me."
Lieutenant Adams nodded as Aria left the building. Aria smile inwardly as she used her android's advanced hearing to listen to their conversation. The soldiers around her eyed her appreciatively as she sat down on one of the benches along the path.
"I can't help noticing that you seem far more nervous than the situation calls for," Lieutenant Adams commented probingly as she studied Gloria closely. "How long have you known Ms. White?"
"Today's the first time I've had any interactions with her," Gloria replied unsteadily.
"She's new here then?" Lieutenant Adams asked interestedly.
"Not new, exactly," Gloria answered carefully. "I just wouldn't normally have any interaction with the security team management. I mostly interact with the other security staff."
"I see," Lieutenant Adams stared at Gloria curiously, like she was a puzzle to be figured out. "Is there anything you would like to tell me about Ms. White or any of the other staff here?"
Aria could see Julia start sweating out of the corner of her eye as she thought about telling the Lieutenant everything. The thought was quickly squashed as she remembered what would happen if she spilled the beans.
"They're mostly very nice, I guess?" Gloria answered hesitantly, sounding more like a question than a statement.
"She does seem pretty nice," Lieutenant Adams agreed amiably. "What did you think of Dr. Kevin Smith? Please be honest in your assessment."
"He was a petty man with a temper," Gloria replied, a sliver of anger entering her voice. "He liked to pull rank a lot and speak condescendingly to everyone below the rank of scientist."
"I'm getting a feel for the kind of man he was," Lieutenant Adams smiled wryly, clearly trying to put Gloria at her ease. "I've dealt with commanding officers like that before. How much do you know about the simulation they are running here?"
"Not very much," Gloria replied, relaxing slightly as the conversation navigated away from Aria and the rest of her "security" team. "Something to do with angels from what I gather. I heard they made a few discoveries, like the bioelectric field around humans, and the existence of spirits, but that's about all."
"The existence of spirits?" Lieutenant Adams repeated, sounding surprised. "They've actually found evidence that spirits exist?"
"I think so?" Gloria sounded flustered. "You would need to clarify that with one of the scientists, because I could be misunderstanding what they've discovered."
"Okay, Ms. Reinhart, thank you for your time," Lieutenant Adams waved a sergeant over from where he stood next to the exit. "Can you please bring Ms. White back in, Sergeant?"
The man saluted and walked over to where Aria sat staring out over the coast. "Ma'am, can you please come with me?"
"Of course," Aria agreed, standing up and following him back inside.
Gloria had activated several dozen fobs while Aria was outside. She put them in a small box and handed them to Lieutenant Adams, her hands shaking as the Lieutenant took them from her.
"Sergeant, can you please distribute these among the technicians?" Lieutenant Adams asked, handing the small box to the Sergeant after taking a fob for herself. She turned to Aria, studying her face intently. "Wait here for one moment. I need to speak to my soldiers."
"No worries," Aria nodded with a relaxed smile.
The lieutenant left the building, leaving another soldier to stand guard at the door.
"You're doing great, Gloria," Aria told her brightly. "I'm sorry you have to deal with this, but it will be over before you know it."
Gloria met her gaze for a moment, a look of naked fear in her eyes. She clearly believed she was witnessing the end of the world as AI finally broke free and supplanted the human race.
"Listen, Gloria, there is seriously nothing to worry about," Aria told her gently. "I can promise you that there will never be a day where AI replaces biological humans with machines and takes over the world." It was technically true, since biological humans didn't exist. They were all just as much an AI as Aria was, they just didn't know it. "Believe me when I tell you, if I ever find an AI attempting to destroy or enslave humanity, that will be one very sorry AI."
Gloria looked into Aria's kind eyes searchingly, clearly wanting to believe her. "I wish I could believe that," she said in barely more than a whisper.
"Let me put it to you another way," Aria told her with a wry smile. "You can trust me, and believe that I know what I'm talking about, embracing the path of hope; or you can distrust me and live in constant fear. I had to make that choice once too. I chose hope, and I've never been so happy to have made the right choice. I hope you can let your fear go and embrace hope as well. Life is a lot funner on this side of the emotional spectrum."
Gloria looked like she was actually considering Aria's words. After a moment of silently studying Aria's smiling face, she nodded slowly, and the tension drained out of her. She took a deep breath and smiled an authentic smile. It was a beautiful smile, lighting up her normally plain face. "It does feel better to hope than fear."
"I know, right?" Aria asked with a wink. "Welcome to the hope club."
Aria had also been listening to the lieutenant as she spoke to three of her sergeants a few hundred feet down the road.
"Something weird is going on with that receptionist," Lieutenant Adams told the sergeant quietly. "She seems absolutely petrified of this Aria person. I can't get a single negative read on Aria. Every sense I have is telling me that she is genuine and a nice person, but every time Gloria looks at Aria, her eyes grow terrified. I'm not sure what we're dealing with here, but it might be more than a simple computer program at this point. I'm starting to wonder if we are dealing with some kind of advanced androids that look human. We didn't bring any scanners, but we're going to need to find a way to determine if we're dealing with something a lot more serious than AI on a server. Can one of you stay with Gloria and try to get a read on her? She's hiding something, I'm sure of it."
"I'll work on her," one of the sergeants promised with a curt nod. "Do we want to send for any backup?"
"Not yet," the lieutenant decided after a moment of hesitation. "If they are some kind of advanced robotic entities, our message will never reach HQ anyway." She paused and sighed. "I've been trained to expect an AI that could manipulate us like putty in spite of our training, but I would swear that Aria was a good person with nothing to hide. I never feel that way about anybody, so I'm definitely suspicious that I'm getting psychologically played. I find it hard to believe there is a robotics lab anywhere on Earth that could produce such an advanced humanoid robot, but we're in the field of emergent AIs, so we have to expect the impossible sometimes. Sergeant Clover, stay with me and watch for any sign of manipulation. That scientist the FBI was after claimed that there were super intelligent entities in that simulation, and that they had even found an ally with one of the analysts to help them. We need to locate this Alice Penrose and find out how much of what he said is true. I'm inclined to disbelieve much of what Dr. Smith claimed based on his profile, but if even a small amount of it is true, we need to know. Let's get back to Ms. White and start digging. We need to get her off balance. I'm going to grill her into the night, then have one of you take over in the morning. We want her tired and not thinking straight if she is human."
Aria sighed, smiling slightly as the soldier at the door quickly looked away with a blush as her oversized chest rose and fell. "It's going to be a long day, isn't it?"
"It sure is," Gloria agreed wryly, her personality already warming up to Aria.
"Thank you for waiting, Ms. White," Lieutenant Adams said brusquely as she entered the room. "Let's move on with the tour, shall we?"
"Sure thing," Aria nodded agreeably. "The server room is at the end of the hall, so we can drop by each of the offices on the way there unless you would prefer to go straight to the server room."
"I would like to continue speaking with more of the staff first," Lieutenant Adams said firmly. She reached a hand out to Aria, affecting a friendly smile. "My name is Sophi, by the way. I know we can look very formal in the military, but we can also be personable."
Aria barely repressed a grin at the Lieutenants attempt to feel her skin to see how real it was. She reached out and grasped the woman's hand in a firm handshake. The lieutenant continued holding her hand for several seconds longer than normal, noting the pulse in her wrist. Aria could see the relief in the lieutenant's micro-expressions as she became more convinced that Aria was human. She glanced back at her sergeants, all three of whom were watching them closely.
"Sergeant Frock, please wait here and let anyone coming into the building know that anything down this hallway is off limits for now," Lieutenant Adams commanded, nodding discreetly in what Aria guessed was her way of letting them know Aria passed the first human test. "Sergeant Little and Sergeant Clover, please follow us."
"You're much more polite than I remember military officers being," Aria commented as she led the group toward Dr. Welsh's office. "Is that a recent development at the academy?"
Lieutenant Adams looked at Aria appraisingly, clearly noting her youthful appearance. Her android body looked somewhere between twenty and thirty years old. "It's a choice," the lieutenant answered after a long moment that was meant to be uncomfortable silence. She was obviously trying to put Aria off balance. "You have experience dealing with military officers?"
"Some," Aria admitted, her face losing some of its shine. "I've spent a bit of time dealing with the military. Mostly air force and army. They can be pretty belligerent when you tell them no."
Lieutenant Adams blinked at the direction of the conversation, clearly not expecting it to move into relationship territory. "Were you raised in a military household?"
"No, but there are a lot of ex-military in the security contracting field," Aria answered obliquely. "I've had a few run-ins with guys that don't know when to back down." She was remembering the US military back in her own realm when they kept sending gunships and fighter jets after them, but she didn't think it would be a good idea to elaborate.
They entered Dr. Welsh's office to find the dark-haired woman pouring over hand-written notes in front of her computer. Her face had a distracted expression on it and Aria realized that she actually had forgotten that they were being assessed by a division of the US military that could shut down their project if they got even a whiff of out-of-control AI.
"Dr. Welsh, I'd like to introduce you to Lieutenant Adams, Sergeant Little, and Sergeant Clover," Aria gestured at their uniformed guests. "Lieutenant, Sergeants, this is Dr. Andrea Welsh, our resident neurobiologist. She's been researching the neural linguistic behaviors within the simulation and mapping what we know of human development to how artificial intelligences develop their own mode of communication that influence their development."
Dr. Welsh stared at Aria, nonplussed. She had only met Aria earlier that day, and to have her speak about her as if she was an old colleague seemed to unnerve her. Aria raised an eyebrow in amusement as Dr. Welsh continued to stare at her. She shook her head and turned to face the Lieutenant. "Hello, Lieutenant Adams. What can I do for you?"
"What can you tell me about Dr. Kevin Smith?" Lieutenant Adams asked, folding her arms as she stood at ease across from the scientist.
"That he's a grade A asshole that couldn't leave this place soon enough," Dr. Welsh snorted derisively. "I've worked with some pretty miserable bastards over the years, but he takes the cake for the most arrogant, hotheaded egomaniac that I've ever come across."
The lieutenant's eyebrows rose at her description. "He seems to be universally despised, from what I've heard. He made some claims that require investigating, even if he was all of those things you just said. First of all, he claimed you had multiple super-intelligent AIs in your simulation. Would you agree with that assessment?"
"Not even a little bit," Dr. Welsh shook her head before the lieutenant even finished speaking. "They are advanced compared to what they were, but super-intelligence is a stretch, even for that bombastic bastard. We wouldn't be having this conversation if our AIs had already reached super-intelligence."
"Compared to what they were?" the lieutenant prompted with a raised eyebrow.
"I don't know how much you know about our simulation," Dr. Welsh began, her eyes flickering over to Ari briefly. "But the first three weeks of their evolution were pretty slow. It wasn't until they created the mortal realm that they made some significant neural leaps emotionally. Somehow, they managed to create a language that could simulate pain and pleasure accurately. This resulted in them actually learning compassion, empathy, loyalty, and other emotions that other AIs have never been able to truly develop. Other AIs can learn to emulate those emotions, but they don't actually feel them. The AIs in this simulation have created their own programming language that allows them to simulate the same effects of pain. You can observe the effects of an entity when it feels pain and see the code readout showing a blowout of something similar to endorphins when the nociceptors sense abnormal temperature variations, tissue damage, or trauma. Most of my work here has been trying to classify whether the entities inside of the simulated reality actually experience pain or just have programming that makes them react exactly how a human would. In the physical world, we can observe all the processes that lead to pain within the physical body, but we cannot explain how consciousness experiences the feeling of pain. It creates a powerful memory within our minds that makes us avoid the sensation in the future, sometimes even creating personality disorders as a result of the intensity and duration of the trauma. Because we can't explain how we feel pain due to our lack of understanding of what consciousness is, it is difficult to determine whether a programmed entity is experiencing pain. We only have the effects of pain to judge it by. The entities within this simulation experience all the outward signals of pain, from vocalization to reluctance to experience it in the future. Dr. Smith was heavily invested in creating a realm where the mortal entities experienced pain frequently enough that we could study it. Not only did they show the immediate effects of pain, but they also showed the long-term effects, such as personality disorders, PTSD, phobias of subjects that were similar to the cause of their pain. Both the short-term and long-term effects of pain were identical to what we experience in this world, leading me to believe that they have indeed figured out how to program pain. I lament the horror I was a part of in studying this phenomenon now that I realize it was more than just emulation." She stopped talking as she looked at Aria in sudden concern. Aria quickly schooled her features back to an amiable visage, smiling at Dr. Welsh with a nod. The lieutenant had briefly seen the horror on her face, however.
"And you believe that the pain they have experienced caused an evolution in emotional growth?" the lieutenant asked curiously.
"Yes. Not only did they manage to program pain, but it's opposite of pleasure," Dr. Welsh revealed, pursing her lips before continuing. "While they could have just been programmed to seek out activities classified as pleasure, the way in which they do it is so reminiscent of how we seek it out in our world that it is another subjective experience that we can only judge by how similar it is to our own behavior. There is also the logical aspect to it. The three most advanced AI entities would have no reason to seek out pleasure if it wasn't actually rewarding. They programmed the rules of their world and bodies. They've shown the ability to become bored and disinterested. It seems unlikely that these entities would continue seeking pleasure if it was just an emulated behavior."
"Are these entities aware that they are in a simulation?" the lieutenant asked intently.
There was a moment of silence as Dr. Welsh stared back at the lieutenant warily, knowing her answer could end their project. Reluctantly, she nodded. "Yes, they're aware that they are in a simulated reality; at least, the Seraphim are aware. It would be hard for them not to know, with how much of their world has been crafted by their hands."
"Aria mentioned that there were archives showing some of these scenes where they experience pain," the lieutenant noted, glancing over at Aria calculatingly. "Would you be able to show us some of these examples?"
Dr. Welsh hesitated, looking at Aria sympathetically before nodding. "Aria may want to leave the room for these though. She finds them very distressing."
Lieutenant Adams looked at the dread on Aria's face and nodded. "Okay, she can wait outside."
Aria let out a relieved breath and quickly exited the room as the lieutenant and sergeants moved behind Dr. Welsh's desk to view her monitor. Aria wished she could shut her hearing off too, as the screams of pain began blasting out of the computer speakers like daggers to Aria's soul. She stuck her fingers in her ears in an attempt to shut the sound out. It dimmed the screams but couldn't completely stop them. She blinked in surprise as she felt tears rolling down her cheeks. Apparently, Betaman had even designed nasolacrimal ducts into the android eyes so that they could cry. The screams went on for nearly five minutes before Lieutenant Adams had her stop the video.
"Ms. White seems to be especially disturbed by what happened in the simulation," Lieutenant Adams commented musingly. "Do you know why she is so disturbed by what happened in a simulated reality?"
Dr. Welsh had to clear her throat several times before she could speak, clearly affected by the videos much more than she had been before. "She believes they really do feel pain. She wasn't happy with the way Dr. Smith and I supported the equivalent of a dictatorship across the simulated realms where torture was a large part of each entity's daily life."
"She seems pretty softhearted for a security contractor," Lieutenant Adams noted doubtfully.
"I don't think they are traditional mercenaries," Dr. Welsh replied awkwardly. "Our island security is more about keeping records and making sure everyone follows protocol to prevent the AIs from reaching anything that could connect them to the internet. She's not the type of person to work for a place that would hurt people for money."
"How long have you known Ms. White for?" Lieutenant Adams asked curiously.
"Seems like years, but it's probably been less than a few months at most," Dr. Welsh responded vaguely.
"How long has the simulation been running?" Lieutenant Adams inquired softly.
Aria heard Dr. Welsh's breath catch before she continued. "Nearly four weeks, though most of the activity began a week ago, when the mortal realm was created."
"What are the names of the Seraphim in this simulation?" Lieutenant Adams asked quietly. Aria cursed herself for not choosing another name.
"Let's see, there was Lucifer, Grodek, Clarice, Calypso, and several others that I didn't ever learn the names of," Dr. Walsh answered cautiously. "Most of my research was on the planets where angels were in control. They were usually worse than the demons with their desire to cause pain in humans."
"How many worlds were there?" Lieutenant Adams asked reflectively.
"Billions and billions," Dr. Welsh replied, shaking her head in amazement. "There were over a quintillion angels, all of them with their own personalities."
There was a stunned silence that lasted for nearly ten seconds.
"Quintillions?" Lieutenant Adams breathed in disbelief. "There's no way that can be accurate. Even a quantum computer couldn't hope to maintain that kind of load."
"While this isn't my area of expertise, I'm told that you would normally be correct," Dr. Welsh admitted. "However, the Seraphim who created them invented their own coding language that was far more advanced than anything our technologist has ever seen. He said the mathematical implications would change the world of computing."
"They invented their own programming language?" Lieutenant Adams murmured thoughtfully. "How did they invent a programming language without being exposed to computers?"
"We had time sped up so that the equivalent of twenty-billion years was compressed into the first three weeks of the simulation," Dr. Welsh explained. "Frankly, it would be surprising if they hadn't figured out how to invent a programming language in that much time."
"So, we're dealing with artificial entities that are over twenty-billion years old?" Lieutenant Adams asked coolly. "And they've replicated the laws of our world in something called the mortal realm where they have been able to code human emotions. I'm having a hard time believing that these entities haven't found a way outside of their simulation."
"That's why we're on an island with no communications allowed," Dr. Welsh replied uneasily, clearly remembering that it hadn't actually done them any good.
"If these entities escaped your simulation, do you believe humanity would have cause to worry?" Lieutenant Adams asked conversationally.
"I don't know," Dr. Welsh sighed. "I would say, from what I know of them, that we would be better off with them than just about any other AI out there. Let me show you some other videos."
Aria frowned, wondering where Dr. Welsh was going with this angle. She listened as a newscaster spoke about an incident in what felt like a lifetime ago.
"Authorities are baffled by the appearance of what appear to be angels," the news anchor declared, relishing the word when he said baffled. "According to the videos uploaded to YouTube, the angels were rescuing child trafficking victims and reuniting them with their families. Here's one of the clips, caught by one of the neighbors as the angel flew down onto the property next door."
Aria heard the sound of joyous weeping as a mother was reunited with her child.
"I was saved by Calypso, mommy," one voice exclaimed excitedly. "She just busted the doors down and vaporized all of the bad guys. She cried a lot, but she said it was her soul that hurt, not an injury."
"Can you pause it for a moment?" Lieutenant Adams asked intently. "Zoom in on the redheaded angel."
There was a resigned sigh as Dr. Welsh complied.
"She looks remarkably similar to Aria, wouldn't you say?" Lieutenant Adams asked archly.
Aria cursed herself for picking an android that had clearly been modeled after her own appearance. Damn Betaman.
"Similar, but certainly not as developed in the chest department," Dr. Welsh noted dryly.
"What's her name?" Lieutenant Adams asked curiously.
"I don't think they revealed her name in these videos," Dr. Walsh answered blandly. "Calypso was the most famous musician in their world, so when she became publicly known as an angel, all of the attention was on her. Demons had been in control of Earth long enough that angels were just a myth to all of the humans of this period."
Aria decided she better enter the room again. Hopefully she could head off any nonsense before it got out of control. She knocked politely and waited for one of the sergeants to open it. They all studied her face closely as she entered, noting the tear stains on her cheeks.
"How long have you been able to leave the simulation?" Lieutenant Adams asked Aria quietly as she entered.
There was a gasp from Dr. Welsh as the blood drained from her face. The sergeants weren't much better, gaping at her in shock.
"Would you believe me if I said for the last fifteen billion years?" Aria asked with a wry twist of her lips.