Aphrodite was wearing a loose white robe, lazily sitting in her chair inside the jar. She looked at Ava with curious eyes,
"You're finally here, it's been too long," her voice resonated through the room, it seemed the jar was hooked up to a sound system of sorts. Maybe sound didn't travel outside of the jar naturally. There was a cold and robotic echo to her voice through the speakers.
"You recognise me?" Ava replied, trembling slightly,
"I've dreamt about you a lot." Aphrodite replied, "Ever since you invaded my mind, there's been a little bit of you stuck there. Reminding me of your existence." She wasn't able to maintain eye contact, and there seemed to be a deep sadness in her voice, "Ava, show me your hacking power, enter my mind. I need you."
"I'm not here to flirt with you, I'm here to take you back to Mars." He pulled out his baton, "by force if necessary."
"Please, I'll go with you if you fulfil this request."
Ava paused for thought, he'd have to fight through Locke and countless other Evos if he took her by force, and he was running out of power anyway. But why did she want him to 'hack' her? Was it some sort of trap?
"Why? Why do you want me to hack you?"
"There's something in me I want you to cut out."
"What's that then?"
"It's a part of me I hate, but I'll only know what it truly is once you've hacked me."
An absurd situation. Hacking a human, he hadn't clocked on to the idea that he could do that, but sure, if he was able to enter her mind all the way back then, then hacking her brain shouldn't be impossible.
Should it?
It didn't make any sense. Humans didn't have operating systems the same way Servs or Evos did. Biological beings had brains, complex neural networks with a completely different architecture to a computer.
As far as Ava knew anyway.
But then something innate kicked in. His natural curiosity, what was built in to him, the desire to experience new things and learn more. He was a Block-2, and that meant going off script was par for course. He never imagined he'd be hacking into the human, but if it'd truly make things easier then...
"Ok, I'll do it." Ava said without letting his voice waver at all
"Thank you Ava." A sweetness in her voice. "Please, come here then."
Locke and Ava walked towards the jar, Ava noticed that the jar was far warmer than the rest of the planet was, of course, it was emulating a temperature far more habitable for the human. Locke typed on a few keys on a panel next to the jar. The doors at the front of the jar slid open, Aphrodite instantly started to shiver as the cold air started to rush in.
"Hurry!" said Locke to Ava. And Ava complied, he quickly ran into the pristine insides of the jar. The door closed behind him. The cold air subsided, Ava could feel the cosiness of the jar himself, but the warmth and comfort inside did little to calm his body as he tensed up, face to face with the human. This wasn't the same as when he was in Go-bot, her presence in front of him didn't feel as artificial this time.
No, this human had no control over him. She was flawed, she thought like an Evo. That's what The Major said.
But... did she? She clearly had emotions in her eyes, she was making her own decisions, she was dictating the other Evo 'Locke' with ease. It didn't seem like she had an Evo mind at all.
The human curled up, she was clearly intimidated too, wasn't she aware of how much power she had?
"Do it, enter my mind." She said, her resolve breaking through her fear.
If she could push through her fear, then Ava could too, "Fine, but... I can't guarantee this will go well. I've never done it before. What if I give you brain damage or something?"
"Would that harm your mission in any way?" Aphrodite had a good point, in fact, she was more in danger here, if Ava did manage to get into her brain, he could destroy her from the inside, make her braindead. Then he could take her back to Mars completely docile but still alive. For some reason this option disgusted Ava though, he didn't even for a moment consider going through with it.
The human brain was located in the same place as Servs, in the skull, so that was probably the best place to do the transfer. Membrane to membrane transfer was even more effective, but it wasn't appropriate in this situation.
"Could you sit up straight? I need to touch your forehead with mine." Said Ava, Aphrodite complied with little hesitation. Ava then leaned over, held her head gently in his hands and touched her forehead with his. After a few seconds, they both fell limp onto the soft chair, Ava sprawled messily over Aphrodite's body.
Once again, Ava found himself floating as data in Aphrodite's brain space. It felt warm, organic and rather comforting. He wasn't quite sure how this was working, she wasn't a robot, so how was he able to hack her? What was the human brain?
An entity of abstract being was floating before him. It was just like before, Aphrodite's figure and form was nothing more than a presence, hard to describe in material form.
"I know, you're surprised that it's possible to hack me. But remember, the Evo were able to jack data into my brain when I was growing up, doesn't that give you a clue? A clue as to how similar the human brain is to a binary device like a computer?" said the entity, Aphrodite,
"I was never created with the functionality of hacking other operating systems, I had to learn how to hack Evos effectively. Why can I enter your brain so easily?" Ava replied,
"It's because the quantum processing used to create the AI of Servs are very similar and compatible with the quantum processing in the human brain, specifically, the relationship between the various cortexes and thalamus. I've learned that you Serv, like many humans in the past, seem to value something known as 'conciousness' over everything else. Even though the truth is that there's no such thing, and that we're all computing machines with different types of functionality."
"Different types? You mean higher levels, different blocks. I mean, that's what makes you humans so powerful, your brains are on a completely different level from-"
"Humans brains are flawed computational devices that are constantly plagued by emotions, elements of the brain that are just caused by hormones, trauma, and general imperfections in the structure of the mind." There was a lot of weight behind her words, she didn't' sound like she liked being human, "Serv brains are essentially the same as human brains, I've found this out via deep research, you were created with mental functions almost identical to a human's but without the capability of emotion. Because emotions are flaws."
"Emotions are a flaw? I-" was that true? Ava wasn't sure, he didn't have the perspective to have an opinion either way. "W-why are you telling me this?"
"I want to feel what it's like to be with a fellow being that values learning. A fellow flawed being."
"So that's it, you think the desire to learn is a flaw?"
"A perfect being wouldn't have any need to learn or self-improve. Imperfect beings would consistently try to cover their flaws, develop over time, and eventually-"
"Overpower 'perfect' beings that are still locked in the state they always were."
"Exactly."
"So what has this got to do with me?"
"You're a learner Serv aren't you? I heard that you're one of the very few Servs who have the ability to learn new skills and think on the fly."
Who told her that?
"So at this very moment Ava, would you called me a human?"
"Sure, of course you are."
"And what are you?"
"A Serv."
"At this very moment."
She meant as data floating around in quantum space. Of course. Both of them were the same, that's what she was getting at.
"I'm not buying this 'we're the same' nonsense. I have a Serv body."
"So if you took over my body you'd be a human then. Yes?"
"...Well. Listen, why are you even asking me these questions?"
"I need a Serv with an open mind on my side. And you need to understand that we're the same for this to happen."
"We're not the same!" Ava started to heat up, sparks started to fly, "and what the hell do you need me for? I'm here to capture you, remember?"
"Sure, I'll let you do that. But first I need you to do these two things. Now that you're in my brain, I want you to leave a Copy-AI in here. That's what they're called right?"
"Why?"
"So that after I kill Mother Brain, you can remotely kill my humanity and leave my Evo programming behind."
"What!? Kill mother brain!? How?"
"Mother Brain, I've figured out a weakness, I hate how she has a hold on all the Evo and the terrible things she's done. So I want to exploit that weakness to kill her."
"And then, you want my copy-AI to destroy your humanity?"
"I hate it. Guilt, sadness, emotions. I want to be like my Evo friends. But for now, I need my humanity, it's the only way to kill Mother Brain."
"You really know a way to kill Mother Brain?" Ava didn't care about any of Aphrodite's personal drama, if she wanted to lose her humanity that was fine, he'd delete her entire brain if she wanted. Although he wasn't sure how that'd make her an Evo. It seemed she'd learned a lot about the human brain in the past few years.
"I'll explain it to you if you agree to do this for me. I...I might need you to come with me on this journey anyway."
"If it's to kill Mother Brain I'll do anything." Even though it was technically against his current directive.
"I knew it. A normal Serv would've been too hung up on the original mission. But you can see the bigger picture, that's why I need you with me."
"But if you try anything funny I'll get my copy-AI to kill you from the inside."
"...That makes sense. You haven't got a reason to trust me I guess."
There were sparks all over, there was a tension around the two that resembled the coming of a storm. Even without a physical form, Ava could feel himself tingle. Leaving a copy of himself in a human's brain, that sounded crazy.
But it had to be done.