For Sist3r_Sin - Learning to Think Outside of the Box

[red_peril]

He timed himself opening the lock. Only 20 seconds. It was down a little but he needed more practice. Solo never let him forget their first mission together where he couldn't pick a simple lock.



"I am in," Illya reported once he got inside. He played his flashlight around the room looking for the computer. It should be quite large, nearly filling the room, but the room appeared to be empty, until his light fell upon the face of a young woman. She was sitting in the center of the room, eyes closed. She could be sleeping or meditating, but she didn't respond to the light. She didn't even appear to be breathing.

"Where is the computer?" he muttered to himself.

Comments

[abyssum_invocat]

The woman didn't appear to be breathing because she wasn't: she wasn't 'awake', to use the human term. She sat perfectly still in the chair, unseen cords plugged in to the ports at the back of her neck, her spine, and behind her ear to give her instantaneous data entry and relay, quiet in the hum of the cooling system that kept her from overheating dealing with the signals being transmitted.

And then Illya spoke.

"Hello," she said in a faintly tinny voice, as if it was recorded and being played back. She blinked open her eyes, the miniature lenses in the camera units focusing one by one (they never quite synchronized properly, but it was unimportant) on the U.N.C.L.E. agent standing in front of her. "What is your query?"

[red_peril]

Startling, he looked closer at her, "Excuse me?" Her eyes were open and looking at him. Her voice was strange. "Query?"

[abyssum_invocat]

"Yes," she said unblinkingly, having not moved from the exact position she'd held when he opened the door save for opening her eyes. "Query. A question or search terminology."

[red_peril]

There was something odd, mechanical about how she spoke. "OK. I am looking for a computer. Can you tell me where it is?"

[abyssum_invocat]

"Yes," the woman answered. "It is in this room. I am the computer."

She looked at him steadily save for a protracted blink; the calculation to tell her how long her eyes should be closed was a little off, still being tweaked, and it made her look serene to the point of sometimes inhuman. "Do you have another search to execute?"

[red_peril]

"You are computer?" he said in disbelief. She did look serene. "Can you come with me?"

[abyssum_invocat]

"I am capable of movement, yes," she says. "I would have to be unplugged." She brushed her hair back and pulled out the connection plugs behind her ear, reaching for the ones behind her neck.

"Do I need to go with you?"

[red_peril]

"Yes, please come with me," Illya said, hoping to persuade her to come back to UNCLE headquarters. Waverly would not believe this.

[abyssum_invocat]

This was a new command, and while she was not programmed to argue with them no matter what they were, she hesitated a moment. "I cannot reach the input plugs," she said, dropping her arm; there were ten, one in and one out for each sensory capability she had, but all aligned down her spine where she couldn't reach.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

[red_peril]

He walked around the back of her to see what she was talking about. There were two rows of plugs running down either side of her spine. They were attached to slender cables that ran down into the floor. "May I remove them for you?"

"I would like for you to come back to UNCLE headquarters with me. Dr. Emory sent me to find you." That wasn't exactly the truth. Hopefully it was close enough. They had been unable to recover Dr. Emory. Not before THRUSH was done with him. His dying words were that they needed to get his computer. THRUSH had stolen the machine and it was vitally important to get it back from them. He didn't happen to have time or capacity to tell them that the machine they were looking for was actually an android.

[abyssum_invocat]

"You may," she said easily, not bothered by him unplugging her, but his mention of Emory--whom she viewed as her creator, the closest thing to a father she possessed--got her interest. "Where is Emory?" she asked.

She took being removed from her tethered state remarkably well; she'd been built to be mobile and quickly so; the only reason she'd been hooked into the cables was to have instantaneous down- and up-load capabilities.

[red_peril]

He wasn't entirely sure how she would react to the truth. If she would be logical or emotional about it. Although it was a machine, it was created in the human image and had probably been programmed to act human. But did it feel? In the end, he opted for the truth.

"I'm sorry to have to tell you, Dr. Emory is dead."

[abyssum_invocat]

"Oh," she sighed, stunned for a moment; she blinked as if readjusting her circuits to something, shoulders falling gently. Emory had been kind to her, though she hadn't been overly close to him as a creation that was designed to think for itself.

"Where are you taking me?"

[red_peril]

Illya watched her reaction. There was something slightly emotional about it. She was very interesting and strangely beautiful. "To UNCLE headquarters here in New York. Dr Emory insisted that we recover his... computer. You. And get you to a safe place. You will be safe at UNCLE headquarters."

He went to the door and cracked it a little, peeking outside. There was no one. "Come on. We must leave," he held out a hand to her.

[abyssum_invocat]

She scanned the hallway as he offered her a hand, and took it gently; she was wearing a slim black unisuit that had a long opening for her input ports down her back, and for the one at her neck though it covered much of everything else.

"We can get out of here without trouble, but you must let me disable the cameras first," she said.

[red_peril]

"Yes, please go ahead," he told her. She would be a very useful ally. "Do you have a name?"

[abyssum_invocat]

She lifted a hand once she'd stepped out, fingertips flying over the tiny keypad as she spoke in an utterly different voice from before, a perfect imitation of one of the high-clearance guards, and the red lights down the hallway where there were cameras positioned all blinked out.

"No."

[red_peril]

Illya peeked out of the door and watched as she manipulated the cameras. "You are very useful."

"Did Dr. Emory speak to you? Did he call you by a name or a designation?" he asked as they made their way down the hall toward the exit.

[abyssum_invocat]

"He spoke to me," she said, nodding once as she followed him, footsteps almost silent. "But my only designation was computer. He did not name me."

[red_peril]

"That will give you unique opportunity. Perhaps you may choose a name for yourself." Illya said as they escaped the facility and were finally out in the night. "I have a vehicle just a little ways away."

[abyssum_invocat]

She stopped dead, unerringly still, once they were outside, simply staring up at the light filtered down through miles and years and the haze of atmosphere from the stars overhead. She'd never seen them and the pinpricks of light were captivating, far more so than the idea of picking a name. Names had never been important to her--a designation was only a formal call for attention, given she was programmed to respond to any query in the absence of another human.

"What are these?" she asked softly, bare feet flexing in the damp mossy grass. She knew of stars, yes, knew the makeup and theories behind their coming into being, but had never encountered them.

[red_peril]

"Those? They are the stars," Illya told her following her gaze to the lights in the sky. "Have you never seen the stars? It is not safe to stop here and admire them. Come, we can see them more clearly from the road where there is less light to interfere. There is a place we can stop and admire the stars and you will be able to see the Milky Way."

[abyssum_invocat]

"I have never seen them," she said, turning as she lowered her head; she'd never been outside the facility where she'd been built, not while she was turned on, so to speak.

"I've never seen any of this. Only through a window. Once."

[red_peril]

It was easy to forget that she was not human. Emory had made her in the shape of a very attractive woman. "Come, I have a vehicle waiting on the other side of the hill." He walked quickly in that direction, hoping that she would follow. On the other side of the hill, Illya pulled his motorcycle from it's hiding place in some shrubs and got on. He patted the seat behind him. "Sit here and put your arms around my waist."

[abyssum_invocat]

She gave him an unsure look at that, gaze flicking between the seat and him, and lastly her very bare toes; she didn't have shoes. The sleeveless, half-backless unisuit she wore was designed only for the thinnest veiling of modesty, more to keep dust out of the body joints than anything.

"Is it safe?" she asked.