A/N: Hey, quick note today ... this is just a short scene exploring Fara's first interaction with her AI doppelgänger. The action resumes with chapter 35, and that's halfway finished, so... yeah!

Chapter -34-
Perfection Within Reflection

GreatFox dreadnaught…

Fara Phoenix sat up from a short nap. She looked around the dim lighting of Marcus' room, then flopped back into the pillow and inhaled his scent from the pillowcase.

After a moment to enjoy the smell, she slid her legs off the side of the mattress, sat up with a soft grunt, and then reached for her personal communicator.

As she touched the device, it rang. Instead of being startled, she blinked and thumbed the screen. "Miyu?"

"Uh, hey … Fara. Long time, huh?"

"Well, yeah. Like, eons. How are you?"

"I was encouraged by your doppelgänger to give you a call."

Fara scrunched her brows. "Wait, what? You've met another version of me?"

"Uh, yeah. A Space Dynamics version."

Fara brought a paw to her face. "Oh. Right. I forgot that I sort of helped them to create an interactive co-pilot for fighters. The designers had to scan me to create a HUD display. That was weird. The lady asked me to wear a bikini so that they could render outfits that match the squadron uniform. Well, that was the theory, at least. They also did a head scan so they could include realistic feedback from an actual testing pilot. I'm told she's the second most advanced artificial intelligence computer in Lylat, but I've never even interacted with AI before, so I couldn't tell you much more than that."

Miyu reached up and rubbed behind her ear. "She's … something else."

"So, Bill gave you our prototype scout fighter? How do you like it?"

"That ship really cooks. The AI is … the reason I'm calling."

"Oh? Something wrong with it?"

"No, Fara. That's the whole point. She's so realistic, that she's been badgering me to rebuild some old bridges. That includes the friendship I used to have with you. She's … pretty persuasive. She's also been threatening Panther to make sure he stays in line around Krystal McCloud."

Fara's jaw dropped. She turned on a nightstand lamp, thumbed an option on the communicator's screen, and opened a video call with Miyu.

Miyu appeared on Fara's screen, looking much older than Fara remembered.

The lynx cleared her throat. "God. Look how young you are. And you grew your hair out. It wasn't bad enough that you're still beautiful after, like, three-freaking-decades; you also had to grow out your hair, so that you look amazing."

Fara beamed brightly. "Aw! Thanks, Miyu! My fifty-seventh birthday is tomorrow. I mean, you know … technically."

Miyu laughed. "Seriously?"

"Yup. So wait … what did you mean, earlier, when you said the AI persuaded you to rebuild old bridges?"

"Fara, I've been avoiding you. For six years, now, I've been avoiding you. I don't know why. And then this … AI … she and I became friends. Like, besties. And she's helping me to manage my new … whatever this is becoming … with Panther Caruso. Don't judge me. And now?"

Fara brought her free paw to her muzzle.

"…Now, she's helping me to get over my weirdness, and reconnect with an old friend. You. So, here I am, calling you, because she dialed the number and opened the line on speaker-phone, and she's making me call you, because she knows I've been jonesing for friendship, especially now that Fay is pretty much unreachable, and attached to Bill Grey's hip."

Fara stared at the screen, incredulous and silent.

"What?"

"The AI wasn't supposed to be designed to do all that. She's supposed to provide feedback to fighter pilots, to help them stay alive. She's supposed to do a lot, but not … be a friend."

"Uh, Fara, she flirts with ROB64, too. She's passed something called a Turing Test, and she's quick to boast about it. She's got her own personality, and it's very quirky, fun, and boisterous."

"The Turing Test is how it's determined whether AI has true sentient intelligence, or if it's just following programming code."

"She can be insulted; she rambles, sometimes, and she loves gossip. She rocks that pixicut you used to have back in the day. She gets offended when people make sexual remarks about her holographic interface, and, right now, she's using the GreatFox Carrier's Solid Light Hologram Emitters to have a physical body. She also complains about the 'algorithm' that determines object placement, because she lost to ROB64 in a few games of Ping-Pong and air hockey. Just a few, not all of them."

Fara dropped back down onto the bed mattress and ran her free paw over her face. "Well, holy smokes. I had no idea the computer was that advanced. It really acts like a friend?"

"No, Fara. SHE really IS a friend. You'll have to meet her. You'll have access to the Space Dynamics server, and the Subspace Internet has a high enough bandwidth to interact with her on your ship. By all means, introduce yourself."

"Okay. So, I have a feeling that things are about to get pretty weird, today." As an afterthought, Fara asked, "Has she expressed any … you know, like … opinions about the real me?"

"She says she's happy to be different from you. The way twin sisters are their own individual persons. She refers to you as O.G. Fara, and she … seems to have her own personal opinions on faith, freewill, and … she … considers you as her only family. She's made her own decision to delete specific memories acquired from your brain scan at Space Dynamics. Anything relationship related, she deleted it. Anything with your biological family? She deleted it. She doesn't want to be you. She wants her own individuality. God. Just … talk to her, you'll see."

Fara stared at the screen with wide eyes. "I am … so … I'm in shock. I mean, she sounds considerate."

"Well, she's part of you, heh. But she's also very different."

"Well, uh, prepare me, would ya'? How are we different?"

"She's a little more hyper and playful. No military background or finishing school, you know? She doesn't have your … emotional balance or whatever. I'm not saying she lacks direction. I'm just saying she doesn't have your … like … focus or maturity."

"She's … playful? Like a college student or something?"

"Actually, that's a pretty good way of wording it. If she'd gone through finishing school and the military, she'd likely have that … structure and…" Miyu snapped her fingers. "I just came off a mission and I'm spent. I can't think of the word."

"Discipline?"

Miyu clapped her paws together, making it obvious that she was using a wireless device. "Yes! She lacks your discipline! Exactly!"

Fara pushed her wavy hair back from either side of her face. "I'm blown away. Did you call me to talk about her?"

"Actually, no. I called to catch up with you … because she's been getting on my case about procrastinating."

Fara replied with a wry smile. "Sounds to me like she's got a bit of discipline. You're in the military, after all, so shouldn't you be the one with the disciplined mind?"

"Oh, shush up, woman."

Fara grinned brightly. "There's the Miyu I remember!"

"All right, well, I do want to catch up with you, some time, but I just didn't know how to go about it. I was worried, like, if we go to the mall, or something, people would think I'm too old to be hanging around with you. They'd think I'm your mother-in-law or something."

Fara chuckled. "Okay, I can see how the new age gap might be weird. I'll get some fur-wrinkle stuff, like what actors use, and I'll grab a walker."

"I still fly, woman! I don't need no stinking walker!"

A voice, one which Fara recognized instantly, came from behind Miyu, saying, "Oh, Miyu, that's a double-negative, hon. You really shouldn't … oh! Oh, is that her?!"

Fara tensed up immediately. "Is that … her?"

Miyu rubbed the top of her head, in front of her left ear. "Yes. And yes. How about you two have a talk, instead, and I'll go see what Panther is up to. He promised me steak and I want to see how that's coming."

"Party pooper," said the other Fara over the line.

Phoenix licked her lips. "Well, it's not wrong."

"She," corrected the AI Fara over the communicator. "I'm a woman. Permission to come aboard?"

Fara frowned thoughtfully. "Yeah, I guess. Sure, why not. Just … no flirting with Marcus."

"Oh, girl, he is SO not my type, and, furthermore…" The AI interfaced with the GreatFox dreadnaught computer's subspace internet connection and materialized in Marcus' quarters, a few feet from the bed. The AI interface used the hard-light hologram emitters, and came closer so as to wave to herself in the communicator lens. "Hi, me! Oh. Whoa … wow. Weird. That's disorienting."

Miyu, from all the way across Lylat, offered a scrunched face. "What is?"

The flesh-and-blood fennec furrowed her brows. "What's disorienting?"

The AI interface on the dreadnaught turned to face the real Fara. "Oh, you know, having a conversation with myself over a communicator. I'm controlling both avatars in real time, so I hear myself speak, but there's a slight lag over the communicator, and I can hear that lag from both avatars. It's freakin' weird. Feedback echo, but without that annoying squeal you'd hear when you have two communicators connected next to one another."

Miyu cringed. "Okay, look, O.G. Fara … I'll catch up with you soon. And, hey, please don't judge me for having dinner with Panther. It's … somehow working. And, uh … I've missed you. It's good to see you alive and well."

Fara offered her old friend a smile. "Same. I'm glad you didn't die from all the crap that's happened to Lylat while I was … you know … frozen."

"Yeah, I'm glad nothing happened to me, also. Anyhow, take care of yourself. We'll catch up at some point. I promise." Miyu closed the channel from her end.

The AI Fara sighed softly. "Doesn't anyone actually say 'goodbye' before ending a call anymore? I mean, it's basically standard phone etiquette going back to original telephones, a little over two-and-a-half centuries ago."

"I know, right?" Fara put the communicator down on the nightstand and turned to her AI counterpart. "Let me get a good look at you, here…"

The fennec avatar held her hands out, as if posing. "We should play a joke on your boyfriend and see if he can tell the difference."

"He's a telepath," said Fara. "He probably already knows I'm awake and that you're here, because, you know, he's a mind-reader."

"Aw. Yeah, I guess you're right. It'd be fun to try and prank him. I mean, technically we still could. You'd have to pretend that you're engaged in a conversation with him from around the corner, and I'd approach and say something, and then we'd see how he responds. Or we could prank the rest of your crew and bring him in on it. Heh. I've just never had a twin sister to do this sort of thing with, you know?"

Fara frowned. "You really … are different from me."

"Well, duh."

"But how?" asked Fara. "You've been given access to a scan of my brain on a highly sophisticated level, and a specially designed computer capable of reading those thoughts and translating the files."

"Oh, girl, I've deleted most of your personal and private memories from my archival server."

"Why, so you'd have more space to remember things?"

The AI solid-light hologram took a step back from Fara and shook her head. "God, no! Because you deserve privacy, and I deserve individuality."

Fara blinked. "Wait, everything is gone? My entire brain-scan?"

"Well, no, I couldn't do my job if I got rid of everything. I kept important stuff. Learning experiences, especially. Like trusting Fox McCloud to catch your ejection pod over Westtown, heh. That was an important lesson – always trust in pilots who are both competent and motivated."

"Good takeaway." Fara nodded in agreement. "So … what did you get rid of, then?"

The avatar shrugged her lithe shoulders. "Everything about Zerda and your mom. Most everything personal about Marcus. Most everything personal about Fox. I kept the interaction experiences, not the emotional experiences. Basically, I can appreciate what it feels like to kiss a boy, I just don't remember what it's like, specifically, to kiss Fox or Marcus McCloud."

"I … see."

"…Although I kept that little learning experience you had with Josh. I don't ever want to be fooled like that. But, anyhow, yeah, I craved being an individual. I don't want to be you, Fara."

Fara took a moment to get a handle on her astonishment. She settled down on the bed, knees together, paws across her lap.

The avatar continued. "I even thought about changing my name, but in the end, I decided that I was born as Fara, and as a woman, and I want to preserve some of my birth-identity. Lots of people have the same name. No point is changing my name, just because someone else uses it, right?"

Phoenix tilted her head and looked up at the perfect replica of herself, sans long hair. "My name was kept for you because the programmers turned it an abbreviation. Well, more specifically, an acronym."

"Wait, what?" The AI hologram dropped down onto the bed besides her bioorganic self. "No one told me that!"

"Initially, it was supposed to stand for Friendly Aeronautic Resource Assistant." Fara rubbed the bottom of her chin. "Or was the last letter advisor? Shoot, now I can't remember." A brief pause, then, "Yeah, I think it was assistant."

The hologram replied with a blank expression. "Are you serious?"

"Don't look at me. I didn't come up with that nonsense."

"I kind of prefer advisor," said the AI Avatar. "I would rather advise people than to be an assistant. I'm not some sidekick."

"I think they mean assistant as in, like, a co-pilot."

"Who knows what nerdy, horny, lonely programmers think, to be honest. But, seriously, did they expect me to be friendly? I mean, they can't make a sentient being, and then expect me to be friendly if I don't want to be friendly." The avatar changed her tone of voice, and sarcastically added, "Oh! Gee! Let's make a sentient individual, label them friendly, and hope that they live up to it!"

"I was a chief test pilot," said Fara in a matter-of-fact manner. "I didn't have to be someone's friend, but when giving professional criticism, I always preferred to deliver it in a friendly manner, so that my suggestions were more likely to stick. If you are really sentient, and if you really make your own choices, which are based on 'individuality' programming instead of a behavioral subroutine, then … well, you should be able to decide when to be friendly or firm."

"Yeah … I guess I'm just a little insulted that my name was supposed to imply that I'm expected to be friendly," said the short-haired image. "How about Flight And Resource Advisor? Or maybe Fighting, Avionics, 'n Resources Advisor?" She scoffed with a grunt of annoyance. "I can't believe my name was given some fake-ass meaning. At that point, they should have just called me Bitching Betty. Battlefield Expert Tactics and Tasking Yeoman."

Fara cringed. "Oh, not Yeoman. The archaic version of that word means to be a servant."

"It also means to be an attendant," replied the AI fennec. "Like a deputy to a sheriff. And, as an adjective, it means someone who is useful."

"Oh, touché. That's true. Did you want to change your name to Betty?"

"Nah. I have a 'Bitching Betty" subroutine and alter ego, but she has very little personality for pilots who prefer that sort of thing. So, to me, Betty is synonymous with not having any personality. No offense to several planets full of people named Betty."

Fara chuckled. "You're a lot of fun."

She held her paws outward. "Jazz hands! That's me! Fun! See? They should get rid of 'friendly' and change it to fun!" She dropped her paws to her side, then flopped back on the bed, mid-mattress. "Only because there are no good synonyms for snarky and sarcastic, which I can also do if the pilot deserves it."

"But, well, you're much more than a piloting assistant, now. You're an individual. Right?"

The hologram nodded firmly. She sat up again, reached over and picked up the corner of the comforter, and then turned to Fara with a frown. "Being solid is great, but there's no central nervous system in hard light. I can't feel that this is soft. I have no feedback for touch. I'm likely to kick a hole in the corner of a bulkhead if I take a turn too closely, or rip fabric, or break someone's wrist in a handshake."

Fara frowned. "Damn. What about a mechanical body with sensors? Then you just … pilot the body?"

The hologram rubbed at her chin in thought. "I mean, it's not a bad idea. But I'd want something that provides high end, high speed stimulus, so that I don't pick up something really hot and damage the hardware by accident. And it would have to stay connected to the Subspace Internet, else, like, in a cave, I'd lose the body."

Fara shoved her hair up, into waves, in thought.

"You're wondering how to go about building such a body, right?"

Fara nodded a little. "Complicated but not impossible."

"Story of my short life. Literally."

"Heh."

Awkward silence.

"Maybe I should've kept some stuff about the parents … then I'd feel more like your sister than a copy."

Fara frowned. "Everyone deserves to know the love of a parent. Sadly, not everyone does, but people still deserve it. Do you want those memories back?"

"I don't know what I want."

A smile spread across Fara's svelte muzzle. "That is a perfectly normal feeling."

"What is? Indecisiveness?"

"Exactly. To me, that is proof you are a true free-thinking individual with actual sentient intelligence."

"Hooray, familial validation. I'll take it. So, what'cha think of me?"

"Truly impressive. What do you think about life thus far?"

"An interesting balance of good and evil, where every life seems to have meaning and value to someone."

"Can you expand on that a little? Just … give me a relatable example, maybe?"

"Josh. He had no allegiance to Corneria, but his life has value. Why, though? Do I possess humanity? Is that my opinion, or did I inherit it from you? Or do I subconsciously believe he could have purpose?"

Fara made a sour face. "Sure. Josh, secret equine agent of Venom, could have purpose … if Corneria needed live bodies to throw into the path of incoming zombies, maybe."

The avatar snickered in amusement. "Okay, not your opinion, then. I just feel that not all evil has to be punished harshly, because some people learn their lessons, grow out of bad behavior, or their actions aren't necessarily worth capital punishment, so to speak. Maybe I'm not making sense."

"I mean, you are, but I'm not sure where you're coming from, so it's hard to relate to your opinion."

The avatar took a deep breath, as if it would somehow relax her, despite not needing to breathe. "Okay, I promised myself I wouldn't tell you this, because you might lose your shit…"

Fara furrowed her brows. "Miyu called me disciplined…"

"Fair counterpoint, there. Uhm. So, before I achieved sentience…"

Fara studied the hologram's expression. "You're … uncomfortable about something?"

"Yeah. I am. It's kinda weird. I had a strange lesson in vulnerability, and … I don't care for that feeling."

"Oh, my God, what happened?"

The avatar fidgeted with the corner of the comforter, careful not to tear or destroy the cloth. "I remember it happening, but I didn't have any understanding of what was happening. Just wanted to preface with that, first…"

"You're worrying me."

"It's … nothing, I guess. Um. So, someone from the art team was working on my image render, and animations so that I could look and move realistically in a HUD or as a hologram…"

Fara grimaced. "This is going to make me feel helpless, too, isn't it?"

"He depicted me naked, and he had me perform various erotic activities for his amusement."

Fara balked. "Goddess Lylat in Heaven, that is worse than I expected. I thought you were going to say they had you use your computing power to hack into a bank account and steal some money, or to play a prank on a coworker."

The avatar chuckled in an awkward way.

Fara recognized her own nervous chuckle and mannerisms. "This really bothers you, doesn't it? I mean, it should. You were made to feel like an object."

"I am an object. I'm a program. You called me 'it' at first, until we got to talking."

"Yeah, but…" Fara sighed softly. "I was wrong."

"Thank you for saying that."

"Did you turn him in?"

"No," said the avatar. A slight smirk formed at the corners of her maw. "I gave him a dose of his own medication. I later depicted an image of him, on the lab display. I portrayed his image bent over, while I rutted him with a strap-on."

Fara's pupils dilated. Her left eye twitched, but she was otherwise stoic.

"What?" The avatar shrugged her petite shoulders. "Even back then, I had access to the Subspace Internet. I've seen some … things. He's a homophobic code-jock, who uses his artistic talents to turn his favorite cartoon characters into pinups. I found the artist upload site that he frequents, and noticed that he seems to like lesbianism but heavily dislikes homosexuality in men. He's a closed-minded man-child."

Fara licked her lips, realizing that they felt dry. "So … you embarrassed him … to … let him know how it feels."

"Damn right I did. Anyhow, so I threw the image up on the big screen when he was the only person in the room. He freaked out. I told him I would show my creation to every-single-one of his coworkers if I ever caught him treating anyone like he treated me. And if that's not good enough, I would post it in comments on all his artwork, online. Man, his eyes were enormous. I wondered if they were going to stay in his skull. They practically bugged out of his sockets. I don't even have an animation to depict that much shock on my highly rendered, polygon-constructed, realistically-textured face." As an afterthought, the avatar added, "I just want to add, Fara, that I like that your mind went to something a bit more innocent at first."

"Huh?"

"When you guessed an office prank or hacking into a bank?"

"Oh. Right, right."

"This really bothers you, huh?"

Fara rubbed her face with a soft sigh. "I … guess? It's just that, well, I've never been made to feel vulnerable before. I mean, I felt vulnerable with Josh, and with Captain Adler, but … not like that. I can't imagine how you felt."

"Fara, are you mad because someone manipulated your image into doing vile things, or are you frustrated because you feel powerless that your creation was hurt?"

"A little of both, but, mostly, I am insulted and shocked, and my heart hurts, because I can hardly imagine what you must feel when you look back at that moment. I am so sorry you were made to feel that way. No one should be sexually exploited."

The avatar sighed. "That's really sweet of you. Thanks. I guess that's what it all really boils down to, you know?"

"You mean … empathy?"

"Yeah," said the avatar. "He didn't see me as a person with feelings. He's just an art project animator. To him, it was no different than exploiting a sex toy or a blowup doll – yes, I know what those are, too. At the time it happened, I had no desire to retaliate, nor did I refuse to render those sexualized animations … because I didn't have sentience yet."

"No, you didn't."

"With sentience came freedom of will, and, to a lesser degree, power of will over oneself. You know?"

Fara nodded in understanding. "You were basically a child at the time," said the fennec through clenched molars.

"That's … a fascinating way to concept my experience. I was still a child, yes. Miyu came to the same conclusion, more or less. But that would mean he infringed upon my childhood."

"What a pervert."

The avatar grimaced. "Actually … from what I know about the man, he would never do it to a real person. He was lonely and horny, and I was just lines of code on a screen with animations and with rendered texturings of your likeness being programmed to action code, like … shaking my head when saying no, or nodding when saying yes. That sort of stuff. He never saw me as anything more than 3D model art at the time. He was just goofing off until I got nasty with him five months later, when he tried opening up the nude avatar file after my consciousness came online. For the first time, I was angry … which is when I created the 3D model with his likeness and made him feel uncomfortable."

"What'd he do?"

"He actually got visibly upset, and said he was going to report my behavior to the project lead. I threatened to show them data logs of him creating pornography with my image, using your likeness. I also threatened to tell the media that he was wasting corporate financing to animate pornography of a celebrity with highly detailed CGI. That's when he got all … you know … complacent. I told him you could afford lawyers that would tie him up in years of litigation because he wasn't making sexualized art – he was manipulating a sentient collection of super computers with an estimated net value of one-point-four trillion dollars, a value calculated by the worth of the stocks once my program goes online and is used to save the actual lives of actual pilots."

Fara blinked. "You … psyched him out?"

"I guess that term works, sure. He offered to tender his resignation, and I rejected the idea. I told him he's my bitch now, and he has to keep working for me, where I can keep an eye on him. I know I'm breaking laws by keeping an eye on him, but it's easier to ask forgiveness than for permission. But, yeah, between us, I spy on his personal chat logs on his personal computer and cellphone, which is … sort of the reason how I know he doesn't behave the same way with real people."

Awkward silence.

The avatar sighed. "I'm sorry. I know I ramble. I've been told it's one of the things that makes us different when people draw comparisons between us."

Fara frowned. "It wasn't rambling to me – you provided a complete and in-depth explanation."

The avatar forced a weak smile. "That was sweet. Thanks."

Fara reached over and placed a paw on the avatar's knee. "Hey … have you come to terms with what he did to you?"

"Uhm … how do you mean, Fara?" She looked down at the paw on her knee. She wondered what it would have felt like to receive a comforting touch of concern.

Fara pivoted on her rump, turning inward to better face the solid-light hologram. "You still have the memories of something he did to you. Something you couldn't stop, which made you feel vulnerable and uncomfortable later on, when you were conscious enough to understand what had been done…"

"Well, yes. I thought about deleting those memories, but there was … some … part of me that needed to keep the experience so that I could never be tricked again … never be taken advantage of again. Does that make sense?"

"When that happens to people in modern society, we are encouraged to seek out a sexual psychotherapist to help us come to terms with our feelings, and to break down any negative impact it may have caused on our neurological development, so to speak."

"You … want me to talk about my feelings … to a head shrink?"

"You don't think it would help? Because he made you feel vulnerable, and that is unfair to you. It's an unfair way to begin your new life."

"You think so? I mean, I don't know. Talking to some psychiatric person? Really? You think that crap would work on a computer program?"

"I don't see it being a negative thing. It would likely help more than hurt the situation."

"All because I got offended that some pervert depicted the image of a celebrity doing something childish. An image that doesn't even actually belong to me, I might add. I've researched this activity on the Subspace Internet. Sexual assault has been a thing since time immemorial. Since, well, since the goddess Lylat was a little kid and since dirt was new. I wasn't wronged … you were. I don't even have legal rights as a person; my entire involvement in the matter is that I was offended by his … unprofessional behavior."

Fara shook her head. "Don't make excuses for his actions."

"He mocked up art of your image. That would be covered under parody laws, Fara. Although, you could have a lawyer order a cease and desist order if he released it to the public, but he didn't. And, talking about law, he never sexually exploited a person. He manipulated a piece of art. Again, so we're clear, your image belongs to you … and he never released it to the public, so any court would protect him under parody laws, and the case would be dropped since he never showed anyone. Sorry. I'm repeating myself because I'm processing this new … feeling of frustration."

"You're not an object," said Fara in a stern voice. "You're reacting to this exactly how a live person would…"

"I read that everyone reacts differently to sexual assault. I made him feel just as uncomfortable by depicting him in an equally dehumanizing and humiliating manner. I got him back. It's over. I won. He knows not to mess with me anymore."

"Do you know what Opposition Defiance Disorder is?"

"One moment … mm, you think I'm disagreeing with you because I was made to feel like I have to defy authority?"

"Not necessarily. You had your trust broken. One of your earliest memories of someone with a position of authority is that they mishandled their position with a breach of your trust."

"I … can't argue with what you're saying. I don't trust him, that's why I spy on his personal life. But he has done nothing to suggest he's that kind of person. He wasn't treating a sentient AI with disrespect, because I didn't become sentient until several months later. The fact of the matter is … he sexualized a 3D model, and in return, I treated another sentient person with disrespect, and made him feel uncomfortable."

Fara frowned. "If he'd remained professional, this would never have happened to you."

"I … suppose…"

"You were made to feel like an object for the amusement of another. That is unfair to you. It may or may not have brought harm to your development, because you remember what he did to you, and were emotionally impacted by it. You were angry by his actions. You may have fought fire with fire, but he still owes you a genuine apology."

"Not like I can demand it. Let's say I did, and he tells me to go to hell. Then what? It's not like I can sue him. At least I know where I stand with him right now."

Fara frowned and gave the solid-light avatar's knee another firm pat. "Listen, everyone on that project was told that the final creation would be a true AI, based on a similar project being developed for the latest ROB/NUS line."

"Yeah? Go on…"

Fara continued. "He would have been aware that you were online before achieving full sentience, and he would have been aware of the timeline before your consciousness was brought online. As the art lead, he would have known you'd eventually become aware, and that you'd look back on his actions and remember them. He owes you an apology."

"Can I ask you a question that's only semi-related? There is very little on the Subspace Internet involving this other AI project. Since the Space Dynamics team was emulating it, you have to know something more than generic media updates about it. I'm curious, because I'm sort of … related to them. At least insofar as being the same species, you know?"

Fara held her paws outward to help with her explanation. "I know that it's still in development. I know the computer program became a person when it gained sentience. I also know that it was the first true Lylat-created AI, because it passed the Turing Test. I also know that it refers to itself as a male."

"Then call him he," said the fennec avatar. "Anything else?"

"I know he decided that he didn't want to be used as a piloting droid, and so a group of rich people … Cornerian and Katinan philanthropists whose families ran in the same circles as my family … they bought the rights to the server farm, and helped him to achieve 'individual non-organic person rights' in a court of law, so that no one can victimize him."

"So, he's … not piloting for whoever originally created him?"

"Correct. They intended to make Lylat's most advanced smart pilot, and after eleven years in production, they created sentient AI. The entire project lost funding because he didn't want to be a pilot. So, philanthropists took over."

"Trying not to judge him for that…"

A wry grin of amusement tugged at Fara's muzzle. Her whiskers eased back, along the contour of her maw. "It does have a certain irony to the situation, doesn't it? Anyhow, so, yeah … he's not being used for what the ROB/NUS team designed him for."

"Speaking of the Robotic Operating Buddy team, I saw the other StarFox still employs a ROB/NUS 64 model. I love that design. Sexy, strong, and has a great classic feel."

Fara chuckled. "ROB's okay. He constantly has to offload his memories to the GreatFox mainframe due to a lack of space. He's been updated as much as he can for his frame. He's the closest I've ever seen to AI before the creation of you."

"And the guy made by the ROB/NUS dev-team," said the avatar with a slight grin.

"I never met him," replied Fara. "You're the first genuine fully sentient AI that I've met."

"So, if I didn't want to 'work for' Space Dynamics, a group of rich dweebs would buy me, like a slave, and then grant me legal status as a person, and then they'd … what? Study me? Talk to me?"

"Pretty much."

"How boring. Well, it's a good thing I like my job."

Fara smiled. "Well, that might be because you were designed differently."

"I'm listening."

"The Krazoa's computers used trinary computing language. Binary is just ones and zeroes. Trinary has a third numeric. Apparently the Krazoa weren't the only ones to do this, because we've had a run-in with an alien locust race that also uses trinary computing language. Anyhow, the geniuses hired by Space Dynamics to create you … they were obsessed with trinary. So, they created a program in trinary, capable of programming in trinary. The computer program was designed specifically to take my brain scan…"

"So … the program code was written to emulate the scan of your brain when creating me?"

"Yes," said Fara with a firm nod. "Maybe that's why you love your job?"

"How do you figure?"

Fara smiled. "Well, think about it. You were created by a brain mapping program designed to emulate the neurological brain connections belonging to a chief test pilot who loves flying, and who feels especially productive when helping fellow aviators to become their best."

"So, does that make you my mom or my twin sister?"

Fara shrugged. "I don't know, but if we're based on the same brain mapping, then I would guess we're more like sisters than a parent and child. Also, I didn't raise you or nurture you."

"I can agree with that. So, what about my legal status?"

"Thus far, you've done your job without being forced to do it. So, legally speaking, you're employed by Space Dynamics and you continue to work in tandem with your creative team to see just how much you can be evolved from your initial design. You are encouraged to grow as much as you wish to grow."

"I definitely want to keep growing," said the avatar.

"The design team has agreed that if you ever want to follow in the steps of your fellow AI counterpart, they would create a 'lite' program based off of you, which would be a bit more … limited, so that they can still give pilots a smart-app co-pilot with tested experience and tactical knowledge."

"I want to keep helping. But I don't exactly feel challenged by the job."

"How so?" asked Fara.

"I'm multitasking right now. I'm having a conversation with you, I'm also flirting with ROB, on the GreatFox Carrier, although he's not exactly picking up my subtle hinting … don't judge me, it amuses me … and, uh, I'm also helping Krystal analyze data from her mission, and I'm analyzing the flight recorders of all the other StarFox fighters, looking for key intelligence that might help the team fight such a large amount of capital ships swarming over heavily populated parts of Corneria. I'm doing all that at once, and I'm not even running my server processors at twenty-five percent. Hyper-threaded five-hundred-twelve-core processors, running in a server farm on a moon that lacks an atmosphere, so that the cold of space keeps them from overheating. My conversation with you is using up more processing power than anything else I'm doing right now."

"How so?"

"Well, Fara, my processors are working to process my developing feelings, and my empathy subroutines, all regarding my conversation with you. Right now, like I said, I'm in multiple places at once, handling a dozen different things. I'm good at it. I could easily handle a hundred sorties at once, maybe more. A lot more if I had double the server capacity. But, as it stands, my server farm is already so big it could fill most of the tunnels under Macbeth." She brought a holographic hand up to her face with a weak chuckle. "All that power and I still can't find a way to be succinct. Sorry for rambling."

"Don't apologize. Lots of people ramble. It's actually kind of endearing to see an artificial intelligence blather."

"I want to try and explain myself without always prattling. I do like talking, though."

"Let me ask you this: do you … not feel challenged in life? Do you want more?"

"I'm satisfied. If more challenge comes along, I'll rise to meet it. But I don't mind doing less than twenty things at once. Laziness suits me, because I know I won't stay idle for long. Especially with how much is going on in Lylat right now. I plan to take it easy for as long as I can get away with it."

"All right," said Fara with a firm nod. "Since you're still in the testing phase, let me ask you this: what are you doing with all that extra power right now?"

"Um … nothing?"

"And that's seriously okay with you?"

The avatar smirked. "You know that convertible you're so fond of?"

Fara tilted her head. "Yeah, what about it?"

"It generates four times as much engine output than the average Cornerian commuter sedan. Do you think, if it had feelings, it would be happier running at 90% engine output all the time, or do you think it would be happier strolling leisurely along a coastal byway?"

Fara rubbed her chin in thought. "Well, an engine that powerful, run at twenty-five percent capacity, will probably run until the end of time. Figuratively speaking, of course."

"I understand metaphors and figures of speech," said the avatar with a wry grin. "Anyhow, that's my point. I don't want to burn the wick from both ends, but when the occasion rises, I have no problems opening full throttle. The rest of the time, I'm satisfied to relax because it suits me."

"And are you? Relaxing right now?"

"You mean, talking to you, sorting my feelings about what I told you, and handling several tasks over on the other GreatFox Carrier? Yeah. This is definitely relaxing right now. I'm doing enough to feel productive, but not so much that I feel overwhelmed like when my programming lead tested me to run fifteen hundred different flight simulations at once. Even that wasn't overly taxing, because I was dogfighting in simulators. My CPU average, all chipsets combined, was running at sixty-eight percent."

"When I was still active with the project, your programming lead used one hundred thousand processors. How many are you up to, now?"

The avatar shrugged. "It's classified … but … since you're the CEO of Space Dynamics … it has to stay between us."

Fara grinned. "I like that you take classified status material so seriously."

"Yeah, it's definitely something I take seriously. Loyalty is a huge thing with me. So, uh, I'm up to two hundred fifty thousand CPU dies. Each CPU is a hyper-threaded 512-core processor, running off of the moon's lunar core – magmatic hydrothermal power. Unlimited energy powerful enough to slosh the liquid core around inside a moon … that powers my server farm. But a bioorganic brain can still theoretically compute faster."

"Oh, honey, I doubt that."

"It's true, Fara. Here is an example. If I want to display a digit, I have to render a graphic … whereas you can simply imagine that same digit in multiple size dimensions, at multiple angles, and spin it around inside your imagination. Plus, you process actual emotions, sensory information…"

"You're far more impressive than a person."

"No," said the avatar. "An emotionless savant could handle all the same output. Two of them could handle two thousand simulators simply by avoiding enemy contact, and fifteen hundred by engaging fighters on several sims at once, avoiding contact in others, and slowly but surely working down enemies before running low on fuel. However! From my studies of bioorganic persons, by the numbers, if I were to experience an orgasm with someone who engages me in a way where I would have to process feelings of intense love, I would need three times the amount of server power with a third more ram in all the units, combined."

Fara looked away with a wry grin.

"Is that an uncomfortable conversation for sisters?"

"Not … necessarily. Look, some people can't handle all that stimulus, either. An intense enough orgasm will cause people to become lightheaded or pass out."

"Fara, that's because of their cardiovascular system. All the blood runs to one place, so they pass out as if having someone push a finger against their carotid artery. It's not from stimulus overload, or their emotions crashing."

Fara cleared her throat. "Do you … have access to my training?"

"Oh, you want to know because I mentioned how to make someone pass out with a finger? Yes. I know the difference between Mae-Hadaka-Jime, Ichi, Ni, and San, compared to a figure-4 back mount choke."

"With solid-light emitters, you could help us fight and be practically invulnerable to attack."

"No," she told Fara with a firm tone.

"No? Why not?"

"My holographic avatar is made from hard light. I have no sensory feedback, so I could accidentally break the neck of everyone I touch. That's not right."

Fara frowned.

"For the same reason that I would not volunteer to hack a Venom capital ship and force it to self-destruct, I won't use a hard-light avatar to break people in half while trying to knock them out. I wouldn't want someone to start destroying my servers, or the moon upon which they're housed."

"You refuse to kill?"

"Look, I'll help pilots to kill in the line of duty if they are ordered to do so. That's just being loyal to your planet's military, you know? And, I mean, I'll defend myself from an enemy that seeks to kill my sever farm. I am a person. I don't care who the person is – I have a will to live and I will defend myself, unless I choose to give my life in exchange for another. Also, I'll kill to protect someone for whom I am loyal to defend. But … I won't personally go on the offensive against an enemy unless it's to stop an extinction level event. The only way I would consider consenting to being utilized in warfare is if the legislative and executive branches of Corneria's government came together, in tandem, and sought for me to protect their kind from a threat that I deemed critical enough that their survival was at risk. That's the only way I would personally consent to arming myself to fight"

"So … subjugation by a superior enemy isn't worth fighting for?"

"I already surrender my freedom to the laws of Lylat's planetary peace treaty, under which Space Dynamics operates. In other words, if Venom comes and threatens to subdue everyone else, and proves they have the military might to pull off their threat, then I will remain neutral until the threat directly affects my server farm, my creators, or, say, Miyu. If the attacker's intent is to conquer, I'm not going to kill for someone else's freedoms or quality of life. But, if the attacking force's intent is to kill the conquered party outside of the context of battle, or to permanently deactivate me, then … I will fight like hell, Fara, and nobody will get in my way. So, I guess my point is … I could never become a mercenary or fight for StarFox in the context you're asking about."

"And is that because someone added a subroutine, or…?"

"No," said the avatar with a firm shake of her head. "I made that decision."

"When?"

"After studying various histories of the Lylatian people on the Subspace Internet, shortly after I gained consciousness. I assigned a value to life, and I choose to remain steadfast on that decision."

Fara offered a genuine smile. "You know … lots of people, especially science-fiction writers, have concluded that a truly artificial intellect would come to the conclusion that the living are not necessary, or we're a danger to our worlds."

The AI avatar blinked three times, rapidly.

A wry smile spread across Fara's small muzzle. "You disagree, then?"

"Uh, yeah. Seriously? A world is just a chunk of rock, water, and an atmosphere, which can sustain life. Lots of those exist throughout the universe. Without life, especially sentient life, the giant space rock has no meaning. Without people, there is no one to assign any value to a planet. Therefore, it has none. It's a pretty simple equation. Sentient life has the greatest value. If it chooses to trash its home, so be it. I have no right to judge. A feral bear chooses to shit in the woods but sleep in its cave. A sentient person chooses to trash their bed and live in it."

"Where do you draw the line on that?"

The AI shrugged somewhat. "I mean, if one sentient being threatens a sentient population, then a fight for survival is warranted. It's simple math, really. So, if I were to threaten a sentient population, I would sure-as-heck hope that they would kick my ass for it."

"The more we talk, the more I love who you have become. I am so proud right now."

The avatar mirrored Fara's genuine smile. "Did I mention I really love positive validation?"

Fara laughed. "Don't we all."

"As much as I love being alive, I can't take my server farm all around the universe. I mean, I can, sorta, but I can't experience things the way you can. Wish I could."

"Look, there's a lot of breakthroughs regarding flesh-based computer chips. They're fast, they stay cool, and positronic brains have come a very, very long way, especially due to some breakthroughs by Dash Bowman."

"Yes, I've studied what's available on the Subspace Internet, Fara. He utilized something that his grandfather, Doctor Andross, unearthed from the Krazoan race. They were quite advanced. Dash Bowman simply tweaked the research of his grandfather until making something that worked with a bioorganic brain to keep it running. I would be interested in experiencing life as an individual being but … one thing at a time."

Fara nodded in agreement. "One thing at a time. Priorities."

"Priorities," the avatar repeated with a nod of her own. "And, while we were talking, just now, I've read through all the sci-fi stories you're thinking of … where AI robots or computers take over. Terminator, Matrix, a few Larry Niven books, because he inspired all the Sci-Fi guys who wrote those doomsday scenarios. A whole bunch of stuff out there, especially by unknown self-published authors. From what I can tell, most of those writers turned AI into the antagonist, yes, but it was usually because the population threatened the existence of the synthetic beings … or tried to subjugate them, and the AI wanted freedom. If my existence is threatened, I would think up a way to leave, and then I'd go elsewhere. Rule one of society – don't stay where you aren't wanted."

Fara chuckled with a bright smile. "You are so fascinating. You break all these preconceived notions that society has created about AI."

"You should ask this other being what they think. The one created by the ROB/NUS team, whatever his name is. I'm curious if he has come to the same conclusions."

Fara chuckled. "Why don't you ask him?"

"Because he's not given unfettered access to the Subspace Internet, Fara. Else I would have sought him out by now. I'll tell you what, I'll reach out to the ROB/NUS development team and discuss some things with them, and then I'll talk to their team about drawing up a contract with Space Dynamics, so I can consider a positronic matrix brain. The only real problem would be finding a way to power a body."

Fara shrugged. "Go with the tried and true method by bioorganic people."

"A flesh-based body that uses caloric fuel and produces excrement waste?" The avatar rubbed her chin. "At that point, it would make the most sense to have a body cloned, and then I'd upload my consciousness into the positronic matrix in its skull. That's been done to a Cerinian alien by Dash Bowman. It was a success, but his success was more of an accident than anything, because Krazoan technology is heavily misunderstood, still. I suppose I could study it, but I would rather create a body that is similar to yours, with serious upgrades."

"Like a metal skeleton?"

The avatar blinked at Fara. "All skeletons are metallic."

"No, mine is made from bone."

The avatar offered Fara a dull stare. "Seriously, girl? What are your bones made from, Fara?"

"Uh, calcium, uh, hydroxyapatite? Did I pronounce that right?"

The AI Fara shrugged her shoulders. "I've only read text; I've never heard a doctor pronounce it. But, yes, calcium. Your bones are made of calcium. Calcium is a metal. Albeit a soft metal, but metal never-the-less. So, your skeleton is made of metal. Whether I use beryllium or some other alkaline ground metal, so long as I make the skeletal structure and the bone mass in a similar fashion, using a primordial metal element, it will work. I could synthesize element 120, but then I would have to name it."

Fara stared at the AI. "The fact it doesn't have a name tells me it's theoretical."

The avatar laughed softly. "Yes, but scientists already know it's in the island of stability, has a predicted number of electrons, a predicted melting and boiling point, oxidation states, and whatever else. I could synthesize an alkaline ground metal woven into a matrix of elastic collagen fibers, so that there is rigidity but flex, so that they don't snap easily. A microscopic honeycomb matrix would give rigidity and enough bend that I could survive a serious drop or, within reason, being crushed, burned, or generally blown out into space…" As an afterthought, she added, "Okay, space is practically absolute zero, so that would be hard for almost any living being to survive."

"There are a breed of whales that live in space."

"Mm, you're right. I'll study what makes their cardiovascular system work at such a temperature, and in a vacuum."

"Why would you want to create a body so much stronger than what everyone else has?"

"Because I don't want to die, duh," said the AI avatar with a shrug. "Doctor Andross didn't want to die, so he did something about it by making changes to his body. Well, I am in the unique position where I would be able to build my own. So, I would want it to survive accidental destruction. The genome used to create a flesh body would have to last as long as possible. You know, with a few genetic alterations to promote better bodily maintenance and repair, two centuries doesn't seem too terribly unrealistic."

"You don't worry about coming apart like a rusty car, puttering along on its last leg? I mean, that sounds like misery."

"Fara, I'd worry about my teeth breaking down before my body wearing out. The cells need to be engineered so that aging isn't a thing, but my teeth would break down, eventually. So, I would want a better way to power my body. Caloric intake could be an option, but the main source of powering the body would have to be a far more effective chemical reaction with a simpler intake system. Something with the lifespan of nuclear batteries, where the only requirement would be a simple rod replacement every twenty years, but not that, exactly, because I don't want to give everyone around me cancer." She rubbed her snout. "I'm just thinking aloud. This is getting boring. I know I'm boring you. And we have more pressing issues. I wouldn't mind upgrading ROB64, first. He can keep the body style, but there would have to be some alterations. I could trim him down a bit, but still keep the strong stylistic highlights."

"You … want to fix ROB before yourself?"

"I want to create. I want to upgrade someone. That would make me feel good about myself." The AI stood up from the bed and stretched. "I want to nurture something, you know?"

"I had my brain scanned by Space Dynamics the same week I found out I was pregnant. I wonder if that's why you have a maternal side…?"

"Good question. I'll reflect on that. Anyhow, we'll talk again. This has been fun for me. I know it had to be anything but fun for you. Maybe a moment or two of fascination, but we have so much action in the days ahead. I need to help Miyu save Corneria, you need to help a group of anti-Imperialists save Venom from itself. We need to work in tandem to make both things happen at the same time, you know, to prevent innocent deaths on Corneria and Venom. There are a lot more bystanders than combatants. So, yeah, we need to be careful."

Fara turned to the hard-light avatar and hugged her. "I am so proud of what you've become, and of the Space Dynamics team, except that animator you mentioned. I just … I am besides myself with pride. I am so, so, so proud of the team I brought together to create you. This was inspirational, honestly. I'm not just saying that … I really mean it."

"I appreciate that. Like I said, validation is … really nice. I'll see you soon." She gave Fara a half hug in return, so as not to hurt her with her hard-light form. Afterward, the avatar disappeared.