Bubblegum Crisis Post 2040 File 1: Dominant Species
Part 3: Casualties
Chapter 31: Perspective
by P. Kristen Enos (bgcpost2040@aol.com)
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A Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040 English Dub Version Fanfic. All rights belong to AIC, ADV Films and the other creative powers that be. I just want credit for writing the story. Contains spoilers! Rated PG13. Yuri warning! Nothing in here should be a shock if you've watched the episodes and paid attention. All I'm doing is filling in the gaps with my own interpretation of events! Special thanks to egret for betaing!
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At first Sylia thought it was her imagination. But then she noticed enough instances that there was no doubt about the fact that Sylvie was watching her, or more precisely staring at her.
When Sylia came back into the pit to check on the boomer's download status, she first glanced at Sylvie and then noticed how the boomer stared back, and didn't look away. The pattern repeated itself a couple of times, causing Sylia to realize she couldn't just dismiss it as being coincidence. Being the scientist that she was in her heart and soul, to test out her theory, she called everyone into the pit, even Henderson, to watch Sylvie's reaction to them. And every time the boomer would acknowledge them with a glance, but then revert to watching Sylia's every move, even turning and lifting her head when she was able to.
To be fair to Sylvie though, there really wasn't anything else the boomer could do since she was still firmly bound to the heavy vertical examination table.
Still, the behavior turned some mental wheels for Sylia. Did Sylvie recognize Sylia's hostility and therefore label her as a threatening entity? Once combat boomers are on alert, they were programmed to not ignore or "forget" the trigger until they've received an override command or the source has been identified and neutralized.
Reika's words of a similar reaction echoed in Sylia's mind. Yet, something just didn't feel quite right. Reika might be able to project the aura of a cool Clan Leader, but that would hardly trigger noteworthy alert status from a combat boomer.
Sylia herself wasn't unnerved by the behavior as much as annoyed by it, and perhaps a little curious at a scientific level.
Realizing that her thoughts were straying again, Sylia focused on the algorithms displayed on the monitor, showing just a sliver of Sylvie's sophisticated programming. Upon a surface examination of the data, Sylia had to admit she was impressed. The encryption was top-notched, an unbreakable code by even the most advanced hacking programming Nene had available. Sylvie was designed to be completely classified, even in her brain.
Having not recovered all of her sleep from the frantic activity of the night and morning before, Sylia felt a yawn creep up on her and started to indulge in it as well as a stretch, much to her regret.
"Damn!" she muttered as she felt the stab of pain at her ribs.
With Linna completely out of commission, and Sylia not up to full physical capacity, Nene was left as the sole active Knight Saber in the event that Sylvie's boomer sisters should resurface for some reason. Sylia had to admit she wasn't sure how Nene would fare in a fight with just one of them, never mind three others. Even if the three Sabers were able to don hardsuits, they were also out of practice, herself included. And every bit counts when dealing with boomers programmed to fight, as opposed to out of control, raging creatures.
Sylia mused that there had to be some way to give the Knight Sabers better odds than this...
Sylia then glanced up over the monitor and once again found that Sylvie had been staring at her, not at all moving or blinking as she did so.
Finally completely annoyed with this, and taking advantage of the fact they were alone in the pit, Sylia promptly walked over to Sylvie and stopped before her.
"Do you consider me a hostile entity?" Sylia asked bluntly in full confrontational stance with her hands on her hips.
The boomer didn't react immediately, showing she was processing the question. After a few seconds, she answered, "I realize you are unhappy with my presence. But I am unable to conclude why."
Sylia blinked. The answer was a lot more... aware than what she had expected.
Her scientific curiosity getting the better of her, Sylia narrowed her eyes and asked, "Why are you watching me?"
She didn't pause this time as she stated, "You are beautiful."
It was a good thing that they were alone; otherwise, someone would have seen the completely surprised and bewildered statement appear on Sylia's face.
Regaining some composure back, Sylia cleared her throat and then asked, "Is that why you stared at Reika Chang?"
"She is beautiful."
The woman and the boomer stared at each other for a silent few minutes.
Sylia then let out a sigh and rubbed her temples. She walked out of the pit and muttered to herself, "I can not believe I am contemplating this..."
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"I thought you would turned in to catch up on your sleep," Nigel commented as he took off his jacket and tossed it on the nearby chair in her living room.
Sylia carefully pressed herself against him for a hug and said, "I don't feel quite like sleeping while I have a guest like Sylvie downstairs."
"Don't blame you," he said as he wrapped his arms around her.
Sylia immediately flinched at the uncomfortable pressure on her wound, causing Nigel to immediately drop his arms to his side.
"Should I even touch you?" he asked softly. "I know you didn't call me over for anything really 'physical.'"
She giggled and said, "You're quite right. I have something important I want to discuss with you in person."
"About your new boomer?"
"Another right guess. You're doing very well."
He smiled gently and said, "Well, Sylvie's the only important variable that would impact me. Unless there's a lot more that happened between you and Reika this morning than what you told me. And if I recall correctly, alcohol wasn't a factor this time."
"Almost sounds like jealousy, Mr. Kirkland."
"Hmph. What is it about Sylvie you want to talk about?" he asked, steering away from a potentially prickly subject.
Sylia pulled back to look at him in the eye and asked seriously, "You said that with the proper tweaks and connections, Sylvie is 80 to 85 percent at Mackey capacity. What would it take to bring her up to the full 100 percent?"
Nigel studied her face for a long time before answering, "Do you have your father's files on Mackey?"
"Of course I do, though I've never really looked at them."
Nigel mulled it over and said, "I'd have to study the schematics and see what wiring and components she's missing, and then acquire or make those parts. Then there's the matter of figuring out which algorithms she's missing and adding them to her base program."
"I can take care of that with Nene's help."
"It could take as little as a week, as long as a couple of months, depending on what needs to be done. Of course, we could also do it in stages...." Nigel then sighed and said, "Sylia, you do realize that she'd be as sentient as Mackey is but with the capabilities of a top line combat boomer. And we wouldn't be able to justify keeping her bound the way she is. Sentience means freedom, and trust. And that's not even touching on the whole issue of why we have her in the first place."
"I know," she answered softly, pressing her cheek against his chest. "I realize I'll have to develop special safety precautions in her case, at least until we figure out how to get the Linna assassination command wiped out of her, as well as her return to Genom default. I'll also figure out how to deal with Daley over this. I think he only cares about getting evidence. He agreed to my condition that I would destroy her after we were done.... And I am wondering if I'm doing this just to prove to Mackey that I can view a boomer to be as individual as a person."
"The fact that you don't even consider Mackey to be a boomer most of the time speaks volumes in and of itself. If you're going to make the decision to do this to Sylvie, do it because you truly believe she already has the essence of sentience within her. You don't have to prove anything to anyone by forcing her to become something she's not. If we do this, there's no turning back."
After a few minutes of silence, Sylia let out a sigh of her own and said, "Can we start tonight?"
"You need your rest first," he said as he kissed her forehead. "We'll start in the morning."
"Will you be my pillow?"
"Of course."
-- End Chapter 31 --
