The Major noticed her lance on the floor and quickly picked it up, instantly pointing it at Sylvie.
The air was tense, just a moment ago everyone was stood in the ship, watching over the Major as she recovered from the virus. But now, complete fear, the Major had turned her sword against the group again. She'd called Sylvie an imposter, but why?
Sylvie stepped back, her face was distraught and terrified, having the weapon pointed at you by someone like the Major was something worth crying about.
"Major, what do you mean an imposter?!" Ava exclaimed, "Sh-she's been with us for all this time and she hasn't seemed-"
"You don't know Ava. You don't know the full story. Your Sylvie is on Mars right now." said the Major, straight faced.
"My Sylvie?"
"I-I'm not an imposter!" exclaimed Sylvie, her eyes were scrunched up, she was trembling.
"Does that look like a Serv soldier to you?" she looks like she's about to collapse.
"She's got memory loss... She's lost a lot of her training, probably." Ava muttered,
"No." The Major glared at Sylvie, "open your eyes. Look at me straight in the face."
Sylvie didn't move.
"I said look at me." the Major continued, "don't make me say it again."
Sylvie reluctantly opened her eyes
"Which one are you?" asked the Major, "Which model?"
"Which model?" asked Sylvie,
"Model-9, right? You're the only one not confirmed dead."
"I don't know what you're talking about." Sylvie whimpered,
"The other 8 were destroyed, but you escaped Europa when you failed your mission. We lost track of you."
"I-" Sylvie paused, "what?"
"Wait." Ava interrupted, "What are you saying? That there are multiple Sylvies?" of course there were, there were multiple Ava models, so why wouldn't there be multiple Sylvie models? They did that with Block-2s, they made duplicates for long range missions.
Why didn't he realise? Sylvie was a Block-2 so of course she'd have other versions! He automatically assumed that she was suffering memory loss but-
"She's just been knocked out for the past few years." said the Major, "looks like she's confused. But-" she kept her lance pointed at Sylvie, "Sylvie-9, what are you doing here? How are you still alive?"
"I-I-" Sylvie stammered,
"It was Mother wasn't it? Mother kept you alive!" the Major grit her teeth,
"Hey!" Aphrodite jumped into the fray, she ran in and stood between the Major and Slvie, her arms held open, she shielded Sylvie from the lance. "Who the hell do you think you are!? If it weren't for Sylvie you wouldn't be here! She risked her life to save you!"
The Major looked Aphrodite dead in the eyes. Time stopped.
She lowered her lance,
"You're Aphrodite. The human." she said,
"Yeah, that's right. I am." Aphrodite replied, "Sylvie's my friend, I'm not gonna let you hurt her."
Ava watched the two as they had their standstill.
Did the Major lower her lance because Aphrodite was a human?
"Honestly Major, I-I didn't know. I didn't consider that the Sylvie you all were talking about was different from me." Sylvie cried, "I thought I lost my memory when I crash landed on the scrapyard. But it looks like I didn't have any memories to begin with..."
The Major dropped the lance and crossed her arms in a huff.
"It's the three month time limit isn't it Major? That's what made you thought she was being helped by Mother." said Ava.
The Major flinched,
"How did you find out about that?" she asked,
"I... I'll brief you on that later Major. It's a long story. But we can explain how Sylve survived the three month time limit." Ava muttered. The Major sat back down on her bed and crossed her legs,
"Tell me." she said.
"I hacked myself." Sylvie replied, Aphrodite put her arms down and relaxed, she got out of the way so the two could see face to face. "Stopped the core from eating up my body. It was a perpetual hack though, I've had to hold it at bay constantly."
"B-But we gave her a new body so-" Ava started,
"No. My body is different by the core is still there. I still have to keep hacking myself Ava. Or I'll die." she slouched, "I don't even know if I'll be able to keep it up."
"The core inside Block-2s are the same as those inside other Serv units. They're called Infinity Engines. They last forever. As long as you're around, that thing will keep eating you up." said the Major, "Don't ask me what Infinity Engines are though. I have no idea."
Hearing those words seemed to perk Sylvie's ears up though. It seemed like she'd heard of them before.
"We'll keep repairing your body Sylvie, every time it shows any sign of deterioration we'll do it." Ava frowned, "So don't talk like you're gonna die any time soon. You're not gonna."
"Thanks." Sylvie smiled, "Thank you Ava."
The Major looked at the two. She looked at the two smile at each other.
"I've missed a lot, it seems." she said, "Prepare a report for me Ava. I'm gonna go outside and get a lay of the land. Rethink what I'm going to do from hereon." back to being a soldier, as expected of the Major. She got up and walked towards the door, "I promised Mother I'd kill her. It looks like I'm a little late, but I still intend on keeping that promise, and you guys are going to help me." she opened the door and walked out.
When she walked out, the tension in the room finally subsided, it was as if they had been holding their breath the whole time and had finally been given the chance to breathe.
Aphrodite crossed her arms,
"So that's your boss huh? She's pretty intense." she said, her eyebrow raised,
"She's a very powerful woman." Ava replied, "Notice how she wasn't phased by your presence at all. I was absolutely floored when I first met you. Meeting a real human for the first time."
"Yeah. Well, I dunno, I got the feeling she didn't like me. Just from the way she looked at me." she shrugged. Sylvie sighed and slumped onto a nearby chair, "You ok Sylvie?"
"I don't remember much of the Major, I guess before I only ever talked to her during my first mission on Europa. I didn't know she was so scary." Sylvie replied,
"She's not so bad once you get to know her." said Ava, "She's always got her comrades' best interests at heart. Heh."
"Right."
A moment of awkward silence, there was an elephant in the room that needed to be addressed.
"I didn't lie to you guys." said Sylvie, "I didn't know I wasn't... who you thought I was. I honestly thought I lost my memory."
"It's my fault. I pushed that narrative on to you. Was too dumb to figure out you could've been another model." said Ava,
"You're not upset are you?" Aphrodite added.
"No, no. Not at all actually. I'm glad." Sylvie smiled. "I was upset before, sad that I'd lost so many good memories that Ava said I had with him. I treasured the new memories I made with you guys, and I kind of always felt that the part of me I forgot was making me... incomplete to you guys. But, that's not the case anymore, right?" she looked at them longingly, "You can know me for who I am. Instead of, who that other Sylvie was."
"That was really worrying you?" asked Aphrodite, she kicked Sylvie's chair, "you idiot, I didn't even know the other Sylvie. You were always a whiny crybaby to me."
"Th-thanks. I think."
"I guess it's kinda weird." said Ava, "It'll be hard to get used to." he had to tell the truth. What she had said was true, all this time he'd been seeing Sylvie-9 as a fractured version of his Sylvie. Now, finding out they were two different people. It... "it makes sense though. I think it makes things neater. I kinda feel like I know who you are better now."
Sylvie smiled, "Thanks guys." she sniffed, "(thanks)" yeah, she was nothing like the dopey Sylvie Ava knew on Mars, and it really did make sense now.
"So isn't it going to be difficult though? What'll you do when you meet the other Sylvie? They both have the same name!"
Sylvie looked at the ceiling, a smile still on her face.
"I think I want a new name." she said, "I want to be a new person. Not a shadow of Sylvie."
Ava and Aphrodite looked at each other
"What name are you thinking of?"
"I'm thinking maybe..."
Authors note: Sorry for the delay guys! I'll put another chapter up on Saturday to make up.
By the way, I'm having trouble coming up with Sylvie's new name. Any ideas?