"And what do you think, Cyan?" Raleigh asked, quickly adding her nickname, which made her look at him in slight but positive surprise.
"Honestly, if I were you telling me that it wouldn't be interesting I'd be there even more", she answered and made him smirk. "I would wonder why there is the need to tell me that. On the other hand I am here offering information all of you wouldn't get watching the update."
Carefully her glance moved to Mako, who looked calm and neutral, but also worn - Cyan knew about her relationship with Stacker Pentecost, who had sacrificed his life so that hers could go on. And even though she was older than the Gipsy Danger pilot, showing sympathy and respect was somehow important to her, even more earning the exact same from her.
"Also I am the last person who is able to tell you what happens", she continued. "I am in the drift space the whole time, the only thing you can probably monitor are my brain waves connecting with his… I mean Horizon's digital waves and synchronizing them", quickly she moved on, yet they all had heard how she addressed her Jaeger - usually they were regarded as female and not male; "The only thing I can tell you is that the IA learns how I react to situations."
"What situations?" Mako interrogated and titled her head which was a huge sign of interest.
Cyan was startled, but she had promised that she would answer any question.
"Usual ones, like everyday life, my memories and pictures I get to see, also fighting simulations", she spoke more slowly now, like she was trying to avoid says specific things. "You know what the drift is. I couldn't give you an example even if I tried."
"So these updates", Raleigh jumped in and put a fork full or scrambled egg into his mouth, creating a more relaxed situation, like they were just talking about something random. "Are there to adjust you with the AI? It's not a copy of you or something?"
"No, that wouldn't be helpful. Malone and I aren't compatible", Cyan answered and threw a quick glance at her fork that was lying as Herc's tray, but decided to eat her bread instead.
"Is that why the AI is male? Because of him?" Raleigh asked, making her cheeks flush, like she had been caught with stealing.
"Yeah", she nodded, avoiding to look at anyone and chewed on her bread.
"How does that work?" it was Herc who asked now and for a short moment the girl next to him looked like he had poked her with an electric current.
Reluctantly she looked at him and somehow Raleigh and Mako felt like sitting behind a window.
"What do you mean?" Cyan needed to know.
"I mean you're teaching an AI that needs to be male but you're female. I mean if gender is so important how does that work?" the Marshal explained and made her frown and his face strangely turned into stone.
Her answer was not instant, but at least honest, though her glance slid back to her plate again: "I don't know. I guess that's just the proof that Malone is syncing with him as well."
Still there was something about her tone that sounded like she knew more than she said. Breathing in deeply she moved her head towards the big clock, and Raleigh noticed that she had clenched her hands into fists.
"I need to prepare myself. If you want to join", she got up and taking her tray with the food she barely touched with both her hands. "You should be there in ten minutes."
"You don't call him Horizon, do you", again surprisingly it was Herc who spoke and forced her to look at him.
Again Raleigh could not help but notice that her demeanor was slightly different, when it came to the Marshal, not exactly like Mako had acted around her surrogate father Stacker Pentecost, but something in that direction. Also Herc was asking like he already knew the question.
"I…", Cyan stammered."No."
There, right there, it was: the difference between a Jaeger pilot and those who were not jockeying a giant robot through connecting ones mind with its AI. It was a different perspective that only was possible through experience. Raleigh suddenly asked himself if Cyan Horizon really moved when she was dreaming of it.
"How do you call him?" Herc seemed to be slightly annoyed that he had to ask.
"No one has ever asked me that", she looked like a deer in a headlight.
"I'm asking now."
All three of them were wondering why she was fighting so hard to keep the simplest and seemingly most unrevealing question unanswered.
Cyan dropped her gaze again and swallowed hard.
"He said it stands for Cyan Horizon Unification and Collaboration Kit, Sir." And she quickly turned away to get moving.
"C. H. U. C. K", Mako spelled out and the stared at the woman's back as none of them did speak out the name that those five letters formed.
It had to be a coincidence, but then again in Raleigh's eyes Cyan's behavior did not match to this being just a contingency, especially when she knew the dog's name. When he looked at Mako he could read the exact same thought in her expression and carefully he moved his glance to Herc, who stared emptily at his plate. It did not exactly fit to the assumption that hung in the air like a thick fog. Had he known it? Had he read information that he did not share.
"See you in ten minutes", the Marshal got up with his tray; just like Cyan he had barely touched his food.
If things had been strange, now they had become even stranger.