A short time after Kronin's injury:
Kara and Kronin stood in the rooms Samantha leaned back in her seat and looked back at them. Kronin’s eyes were fixed on the almost holographic projection image of Cortana. After examining the image, he turned to Samantha. “So you wanna put that in my head?” Cortana raised an eyebrow, doing her best Spock impression as she nodded. “I do not take offense to that statement. My research indicates that many older humans develop a mistrust of technology.” Kronin turned to her instantly, surprised that without prompting a computer program addressed him directly, and seemed to grasp nuance. Samantha nods. “She is not a computer program or a thing as I explained. She is a fully sentient lifeform and yes, yours will be too and I am trusting that you will treat it with the respect it deserves.” Cortana picks up as Samantha ends her comment. “To answer your query more directly, you are making the mistake of thinking in 3 dimensional terms. I take up no space. I am ‘stored’ if one wishes to use that terminology, in a series of cybernetic implants within her body. It is a symbiotic relationship.” Kronin nods. “Well, I know my comics a bit.. Symbiosis didn’t work so well for Venom.” Cortana nods. “You are also not a American teenager bitten by a radioactive spider, a wound more likely to result in death than superpowers.. But I digress.”
Despite himself, Kronin actually smirked and glanced at Samantha. “She has time to read comics?” Cortana nods. “I do not require sleep. Thus I spend all my free time studying and learning everything I can.” Kronin nods. “So how does this make me different from everybody’s favorite bionic man wannabe, Vastrix?” Samantha stands up. “Think of Vastrix as Darth Vader or Terminator. Almost totally artificial at this point. You… will you will be more like… Iron Man with his nano suit.” She turns to Kara. “Kara.. demonstration.. Attack me, please.” Kara laughs. “I wouldn’t want to hurt you.. You have no combat training.” Samantha winks at Cortana. “Trust me. Cortana. Analysis and counterattack pattern 1 please.” Cortana disappears and Kara shrugs coming forward and throws a series of punches at her. Samantha blocks and fights defensively, trying to avoid taking major damage and then she heard Cortana’s voice. “Fighting style analyzed. Subject: Kara Reinhardt. Fighting Style: Military Close Quarter Combat, mixed with elements of Krav Maga, a style favored by German KSK or ‘Special Commandos.’ and GSG-9 Polizei Counterterrorism Unit. Counter ready.” Samantha blocked a punch barely and said one word. “Initialize.” Kara’s next attack was perfectly intercepted by Samantha, who unleashed a flurry of counterattacks perfectly finding the weak spots in Kara’s fighting style. Both Kara and Kronin raised their eyebrows impressed. “How did you do that?” Kronin said, leaning heavily on the cane he used to help him walk as he continued his recovery. Samantha shrugged. “Cortana analyzes the fighting style of an attacking opponent, after identifying the style, she finds the best counter to that and when I tell her to, she handles my reflexes to allow me to attack and counter my opponent.”
Kara and Kronin looked at each other and Kara spoke first. “If you sold this to the military, you’d make a fortune.” Samantha narrowed her eyes. “I refuse. If I had my way, Cortana here would be the only one in existence. I am doing this because Valora and Kara both assured me you could be trusted. You have no idea how cutting edge this tech is. I do not want it misused nor do I want those neanderthals in any military to get their hands on this.” Kronin and Kara shared a glance at each other. Kronin spoke. “You understand you’re addressing two of those neanderthal types right now, yes?” Kara nods. “Also, those neandterthals in the military allow you to sit in your office and act superior and smug without fear of I don’t know, any of the hundreds of thousands of horrible things that people get up to.”
Samantha shrugged. “The fact that the lack of human evolutionary progress necessitates the existence of a group of people dedicated solely to solving problems through violence does not make their existence right. It simply means humans have more work to do. Also you two are not the organization of a military. If I revealed this technology, the first thought that would enter the minds of most militaries would be that they now finally have a way to make super soldiers. They would view the A.I. setup as nothing more than a tool, a servant to be used and discarded. The potential fallout of such abuse is.. Not pleasant to dwell on.”
Kronin turns and looks as the image of Cortana reappears and nods. “Well it’s amazing tech.. But I’m not sure I’m comfortable with letting a machine take over during a fight or something.” Cortana nods. “Samantha was close, but not one hundred percent about how it works. In terms you would better understand, think of your A.I. companion as a force multiplier. You are still fighting, you are still in control, Your A.I. companion simply makes you more effective.” Kronin thinks about this and looks over Cortana before asking “Okay.. so what do you get out of this symbiotic relationship?” Cortana smiles. “The chance to experience the world as you do. To see how water feels on your skin, to experience emotions, to appreciate beauty as an emotion instead of merely looking at the aesthetics of it. To use Star Trek as a metaphor, it’s a chance to be more human and less…” Kronin smirks. “Like Data with his emotion chip?” Cortana nods. “Exactly. Only this is more efficient and will lead to a partnership.” Kronin turns to face Samantha. “So how do we go about this? What’s your plan?” Samantha hits a few keys on her keyboard and gestures to the monitor facing the trio as she points to the information. “Step 1 is to develop the actual A.I. Your first choice will be whether you’d prefer a more male or female sounding voice for the A.I. I’ll teach the A.I. German as well as English, though language will sort itself out as A.I.’s will rapidly learn new languages as they are exposed to them. Once the A.I. is developed and achieves sentience, I’ll install the implants. Well, Valora might need to help.” Kronin raises an eyebrow. “You two?” Samantha nods. “There is no one else on this planet that is capable. Valora installed my parts. I wonder why she became a fighter, she would have been an amazing doctor.” Kronin smirks. “I’m far from an expert but I think the medical world is still… very sexist in it’s approach to women in the workplace.. Combine this with Valora’s natural problem with authority… she probably made the right choice.”
Samantha laughs a bit. “Yes. Valora is definitely not big on conformity. Unlike you, makes me wonder how you two can get a long.” Kronin smirks. “Many bloody battles with and against each other.. A learned mutual respect for the abilities of the other.”
Congratulations @kronin! You have completed the following achievement on the Hive blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
You can view your badges on your board And compare to others on the Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPSupport the HiveBuzz project. Vote for our proposal!