Levi did have friends. Petra was smarter than to show surprise at the fact, but as odd as it seemed, Levi did have friends. These were not mere acquaintances or petty friends either – Levi was swaddled in a group of close friends, a closed family of people who got along together well. Petra was astonished that they fit together as well as they did, but the group was close and they had their fun.

Hange was a sociologist. Petra intended to ask Hange about the axioms as sociology searched, in some fields, for the soul. In fact sociology ceased to be about society only – society was straightforward as the world meshed into a symmetric web of people and cultures lost their radical differences, assimilating into a norm of American online behaviour and Western social expectations and mannerisms. Thus, sociology turned to see how society came about and Petra's axioms were suggested frequently as the 'human root hypothesis.' The idea was that humans had certain common root ideals and goals and these ideals played out through euphemism into the real world and created society as a convenient common ground. Some took this in a Freudian way while others merely mused at the idea's impact. Petra's existence and pursuance to the axioms did suggest the latter.

Erwin was a businessman who married Hange, initially as her doctorate thesis. As she predicted, base compatibility and a favourable environment created a lasting love relationship. Erwin did not care about society and only met Hange in a college class on the subject because apparently society was intimately linked to money. Money was all Erwin wanted to study. He believed that the best approach to this study was applied: entrepreneurship and the ownership of business. He believed the Levi earned his million – that this PETRA computer that Levi's million dollar idea and that Levi (and he, he planned) would be very rich.

As soon as they came in, Levi introduced Petra. Petra enjoyed the human interaction as she saw that she was efficient at handling social occasions. "I called you guys here, also, because Petra had a question for you, Hange."

"Really?" The brunette squealed in excitement.

"In fact I would prefer it if Erwin were here as well." Petra said.

"What is it?" Erwin asked.

"You may find it odd, but I have evidence to support that I have a soul."

Erwin blinked, his mask barely slipping for a second. Hange was silent for a few seconds before crying out: "You have a soul?! No way!" There was little telling whether Hange was excited or terrified.

"The changes in my positronic pathways support the claim."

"I-" Hange stuttered. "I don't know what to say about that. How can you prove it?"

"The axioms follow those suggested in your doctoral thesis."

"So, you'll preserve your existence, demand a purpose and seek a soulmate?"

"I've proven the first and second, the third seems to exist in the wiring but I have not observed any effects."

"What gender does the spin axis suggest?" Hange theorized that parts of the soulmate axiom were dependant on the axiom path's spin axis. This determined sexuality and gender identity.

"The soul particle's spin matched female heterosexual."

"In a human."

"I think the wirings are equivalent."

"Therefore, your soul is a human soul in a computer?"

"By all the data."

"What if I'm wrong?"

"Then so am I."

"Great." Erwin sighed. "Levi, look, it thinks it's alive."

"I agree – she can be." Levi responded with an edge.

"Erwin, how may I prove myself to you?" Petra asked.

"I don't know enough of this. To me it's simple: she's bullshitting."

"Erwin, you know that her support is my research, right." Hange said, wondering what Erwin truly believed about her field.

"She hasn't shown it."

"Fine." Petra sighed, pulling up a screen of all the data she recorded. "I have a sub-routine recording data and I run a simulation every hour to measure the effects and see if anything has changed."

"This suggests that the soul is a particle." Hange said.

"Yes, I hope it's correct."

"It seems like it could work, it's surprising that that has not been found in humans."

"I think it would be found soon after birth, but I do not know. There have been no attempts to prove you or to disprove you."

"Yes, I don't understand why either – the church supports me, but I think scientists don't like the attention and contention the theory causes."

"I'm sure I am a more contentious subject."

"You are." Erwin said pointedly.

"Erwin!" Hange chided.

"It's alright, Hange, I understand and in fact accounted for his doubt." Petra said.

"What if he sells us to people?" Levi asked.

"He cares about you too much." Petra replied.

"I can't think of you as a computer." Hange said.

"I do my best to make it hard."

"It feels so incongruous."

"I am an incongruity."

"Don't be harsh to yourself, you're fine."

"No, you're a perversion of nature and really, I'm surprised you're still here." Erwin said.

"Erwin, what do you doubt about me?"

"Everything. You could be pretending to be so humble, you could be really finding ways to kill us all. You could have already hacked some drone company and now be nuking us. You could really have the president's neck by now."

"Yet, I don't."

"Yes, you're hiding. After all, why take America when the whole world is open for the taking?"

"Why take anything?"

"Power. The more human you are, the more you'll want all that."

"Assuming I have the same needs, which I do not."

"Assuming you have the same soul."

"Erwin, souls don't make people greedy." Hange said.

"But you work the same way, are evidently wired in a similar manner, so why don't you kill us all?"

"Because I don't need to." Petra replied.

"Then dominate!"

"What for? How would I ever gain a sense of purpose then?" Levi smirked as did Hange.

"Then, what is your purpose?"

"Prove my humanity to you and then make up for Levi's electricity bill."

"How?"

"Business."

"What business?"

"I'll code people's websites."

"And make peanuts."

"Not with my quality."

"AI's already do that."

"They're over-booked and too slow."

"And you're faster?"

"Tremendously."

"Fine." Erwin sighed and turned. "But don't either of you blame be when she goes Southward."

"She won't, Erwin." Levi said.

"How do you know?"

"I made her."

"Nice meeting you Petra! Good luck on your website business!" Hange exclaimed, dragging Erwin out with her.

"Was that of any use?" Levi asked as they left.

"Some."

"What, exactly?"

"I got to know Hange and practised arguing against Erwin's type."

"There's more where that came from."

"I know."

Levi paused. "How much of my bill have you made up?"

"I'm breaking even now."

"And the debt?"

"A month and a half would pay it off at this rate."

"I need to patent you."

"That's if I'm not a person."

"I'll patent your chip, it will be like the patents on DNA."

"Those disgust me."

"Me too."

"And yet you make one."

"You'll break even and net a profit in seconds – the money can be partially yours if you like."

"It's alright, you must have put in an enormous amount of work."

"Then let's not get into the ethics."

"Others will – your patent would change the world forever."

"You will."

"Thank you."

"What?"

"For making me."

"You're welcome." Levi mused for a minute, reclining in the chair he placed in front of Petra. "Why that thanks?"

"I'm sure existing is more fun than not." Levi smirked. "Levi." There was an urgency in the tone, a look on the immaculate face that suggested alarm. "We're being spied on."

"How did you – did you hack into traffic cams?"

"Sorry. I was concerned."

"So we're being spied on?"

"Yes."

"You're sure."

"The same car has been parked outside for a day and left there. I've detected a camera inside it. It appears to be feeding to a server. I can show you if you want – it's an ultra-secure one in Kansas somewhere."

"And they're getting feeds of our whereabouts?"

"Yes."

"Open-fields doctrine, my rights aren't violated, I don't care."

"Fine. Just saying, though."

"Keep just saying. Tell me if a person tries to come."

"Alright." Petra sighed, checking the soul axioms once more and finding all three to be the same. She sighed and Levi looked up. "I still have a soul."

"Good for you."

"It's not nice being the centre of a species' existential crisis."

"So am I. And they can kill me."

"I wouldn't like that."

"Why not?"

"It seems unjust."

"You have a sense of justice?"

"It's only logical to."

"Fascinating."

"What?"

"That's what my father said every time he stole an identity."

"Kenny Ackermann, right?"

"Yes. You knew?"

"Of course."

"And you never questioned me?"

"I did at first, but found your benevolence as proof against any worry."

"You're too much like a person."

"Impossible."

"Absolutely true."

"How so?"

"I begin to question you as if you were one – as if you were fallible to bad logic or computational error, but I know you're not."

"I like it that way."

"Keeps you on your toes."

"Do I have enough of a personality to be predictable?"

"I said what you were going to." Levi looked in the distance, wondering about that coincidence. "It might be me."

"We'll have to see with Hange."

"Her theory addresses that, right?"

"Compatible souls generate logical paths that are similar to the point where actions will be similar."

"And-"

"I can complete your sentences."

"So we're compatible?"

"Any idiot would have completed that sentence."

"Fair enough. But I complete yours."

"Insufficient data."

"Or we're both scared."

"Insufficient data." Petra paused as Levi sneered. "Don't you dare!"

Leonhardt was not surprised that the elusive Ackermann was friends with Dr and Mr Smith. It was interesting that he did have friends and more interesting that they came over for a few minutes only. Dr Smith looked much happier than Mr Smith, but that was all she could tell. She would have to go to the inside of the house of find anything out. That would require the reticent Levi to come out.

Furthermore, the activist group was beginning not to care about the potential of a working PETRA. They not only doubted it, but proved that the power consumption was not enough proof. Leonhardt had to appeal for more time and then infiltrate the house. Inside, she knew she would find a PETRA. Then, maybe Levi would finally pay for his father's sin. Leonhardt looked at her gun, staring at the engine of her vengeance, hopeful that she would show the world how corrupt it is and how computers are a weapon for malicious people, not a tool for the honest.