Page 49 of Guiding Reason
Col gestured at the bot, picked up his Aurean dumpling, and bit into it. Then, with his mouth full, he said, “See? Completely and utterly Hound-fucked. Every bot knows it too, even if they can’t tell us.”
18
COLDIS
“I don’t get it.” Orrey looked at the bot as if it were malfunctioning, then met Col’s eyes. “Are you saying we can’t…that there isn’t a way to replace the Ferrean Op-AI? That can’t be right. That doesn’t make any sense at all. The other Op-AIs, ours, it would know how to do this. Maybe this committee thing—”
“Do you want to play a word game, Conduit? Maybe a few rounds of Charm the Conduit? I can prepare snacks for everyone.” The butler bot looked downright hopeful.
“No, thank you. Col, this can’t be right? I mean, it’s just not right. It doesn’t make any sense at all. And how would Ferrea…how would the Municipal AI manage without its Op-AI?”
Hyran, absentmindedly stroking Col’s shoulder, said, “It does make sense though. It’s why they attacked the Op-AI, why they killed it.”
Col couldn’t be sure, but it appeared that realization was sinking in at least for Hyran while the others were still looking on, incredulous, quite possibly hoping Col was about to tell them he’d been joking to lift everyone’s mood.
Orrey stared at Hyran. “But…but it can’t be right. Who is going to make sure the Grounds are safe and run smoothly once everything gets back to normal?”
Lapatea jumped to his feet. “If that is the case, Col, we must tell—” His mouth stood open, then snapped closed.
“Tell the Op-AI?” Col took another bite of dumpling, wishing he could focus on the taste, tart and savory, the filling creamy and rich.Is Aurea like this dumpling? I wonder if I’ll ever go there. If I’ll ever go back there.
“Yes.” Lapatea dropped his head, the energy that had brought him to his feet dissipating.
“It’s fine, beautiful,” Karmine said. “Come sit down. We can figure something out. Col can. He’s good at that.”
“Well, not this time,” Col said and focused on his food while everyone around him took in the news. “This time, there is nothing I can do, because not even I know how to build an AI.”
“What if we talked to the Judiciary AIs? They should know how to build a new Op-AI. After all, they are known to raise other AIs, right?” Orrey looked painfully hopeful, while on the screen, yet another Guardian on the cast ofMy Secret Guardianwas explaining to two Conduits that he needed both of them to channel him, now, or else his cock might explode.
Hyran shook his head. “Well, Judiciary AIs don’t really raise new AIs, from what I understand, they make copies of themselves, or at least of parts of themselves.”
Col had started to feel drowsy soon after the food, but he looked up at Hyran. “Interesting that you know that. I had to scour ancient textbooks to find that information.”
The Guardian shrugged. “You’re not the only curious person in the Grounds, Argentea’s or elsewhere. I asked around, and a Judiciary AI told me.”
“Can we ask someone else for help?” Orrey asked. “Maybe someone in another city?”
My little brother is terribly upset about this,Col thought, wondering whether he should have told them all to begin with. But keeping secrets from his team, his family, that only worked up to a point, mostly until Vin noticed.
Hyran seemed to like Orrey’s train of thought though. “You know, I think we should.” He looked at Col. “I don’t quite know—I don’t know if it’ll help, but I think I have an idea.”
“Maybe if we cracked our Op-AIs pretty head open and pulled out all the parts,” Col said. He noticed that he was slurring some of his words, general exhaustion combining with the meds Hyran had fed him and turning into a truly annoying experience.
“I wouldn’t mind,” Vin said, his eyes on the screen. Next to him, Yamara was looking like he was about to fall asleep.
Another brother. Is he? Not yet, I think. It might scare him off if I called him that.
“I have to think this over,” Hyran said.
Taros perked up. “The cracking open of the Argentea Op-AI? Spoken like an insurrectionist, Guardian Hyran.”
And that was the limit of Col’s endurance for the night. He stood.
“Stop it. I think I need to go to sleep, and I want some peace and quiet.” He gestured. “Orrey, I’m leaving you in charge of maintaining that. Use Senny if anyone misbehaves.”
Senlas grumbled. “I’m not some Conduit tool.”
“But if I needed your help, wouldn’t you help me?” Orrey’s display of advanced Conduit-ship was beautiful to behold, and once more, Col hated that he wasn’t more awake for it.
