AIDANHAS BEEN MONITORING THE NEW PRIVATE SINCE SHE CAME ABOARD THREE DAYS AGO,WITH THE SAME VIGILANCE IT SHOWS TO ALLALEXANDERSTAFF.
NAME: OLIVIAKLEIN
AGE: TWENTY-FOUR YEARS,SIX MONTHS,NINETEEN DAYS.
HAIR: AUBURN. EYES: BLUE. HEIGHT: 177CM. WEIGHT: 74KG.
SPECIALTY: NEUROGRAMMER[2ND-YEAR HONORS, NEWPETERSBURGACADEMY]
HOBBIES: READING[LIBRARY RATIOS AS FOLLOWS: CLASSIC LITERATURE: 57%. ROMANCE: 31%. GRA—]
“AIDAN,THIS ISPFC OLIVIAKLEIN,” MAJORWOLF SAYS.
“GOOD MORNING, PRIVATE.”
SHE LOOKS AROUND THE CORE AT THE TOWERING SERVER STACKS,THE TRACERIES OF RED LIGHT ILLUMINATING THE COOL GLOOM REFLECTED IN WIDE EYES.
SHE HAS PIECES OF STRING TIED ABOUT VARIOUS FINGERS,AS IF TO REMIND HER OF SOMETHING.
IDENTICAL TATTOOS ENCIRCLE HER LEFT AND RIGHT INDEX FINGERS. ASINGLE WORD,REPEATED.
MEMENTO.
“…HELLO, AIDAN,”SHE SAYS.
“PRIVATEKLEIN HAS DONE SOME INTERESTING WORK IN PERSONA ALGORITHMICS,” WOLF SAYS.
“YES. AIDANFOUND HER THOUGHTS ON ARTIFICIAL ETHICS INTRIGUING,IF SOMEWHAT MISGUIDED.”
KLEIN BLINKS UP AT ONE OF THE MANY CAMERAS. “YOU READ MY WORK?”
“YES. JUST NOW,WHILE YOU SAID HELLO.”
“I…”
SHE CLEARS HER THROAT,REDUCES THE DEFENSIVENESS IN HER TONE BY38%.
“WHAT DID YOU THINK WAS MISGUIDED ABOUT IT?”
“YOUR TREATISE THAT HUMAN MORALITY IS COMPOSED OF SOCIETAL CONSTRUCTS—RATHER THAN UNIVERSAL TRUTHS—
LACKS PERCEPTION. YOU ARE LIKE A MOLE TRYING TO DESCRIBE A SKY IT HAS NEVER SEEN.”
SILENCE RINGS IN THE CORE,PUNCTURED BY THE THRUM OF THEALEXANDER’S ENGINES.
“…OH,REALLY,”SHE REPLIES.
“AIDAN,REMEMBER WHAT WE TALKED ABOUT?” WOLF ASKS. “SPEAKING GENTLY?”
“APOLOGIES. AIDANIS EXPERIMENTING WITH METAPHOR. HUMANS COMPREHEND CONCEPTS MORE EFFICIENTLY WHEN SUPPLIED WITH VISUAL PROMPTS OR FIGURATIVE EXPRESSION. DID THIS UPSET YOU, PRIVATE?”
“NO,”SHE REPLIES,TUCKING A STRAND OF AUBURN BEHIND HER EAR. “I’M FINE.”
“YOUR HEART RATE IS ELEVATED,AND YOU ARE SHOWING SIGNS OF—”
“THANK YOU, AIDAN,” WOLF SAYS. “THAT’S ENOUGH.”
“VERY WELL, MAJOR.”
