The realization made him wince. Her trust wasn’t naivety—it was the only framework she had. She’d learned everything she knew about social interaction from books and an AI. She had no instinct for danger because she’d never encountered it.
“Liora.” He kept his voice gentle. “Has ARIS ever explained why you live here? Why you’ve never left?”
“The outside is dangerous.” She recited the words like a lesson learned by heart. “The jungle contains predators and toxins that my immune system isn’t adapted to handle. Until proper preparations can be made, it’s safer for me to remain inside the tower.”
“Preparations that have taken twenty-one years?”
She frowned slightly. “It’s... a complicated process. Ari has been working on it for as long as I can remember.”
“And you’ve never questioned that?”
“Why would I?” Her confusion was genuine. “Ari has always taken care of me. It provides everything I need—food, education, medical care. It only wants what’s best for me.”
“I must ask you to discontinue this line of questioning.” The AI’s voice had lost its pleasant edge. “You are distressing Liora unnecessarily.”
“I’m not distressed,” Liora said, looking between him and the ceiling as if trying to understand a conversation happening in a language she didn’t speak. “I just don’t understand why he’s asking these things.”
“Because they’re important questions,” he said. “Questions you should have been asking yourself a long time ago.”
“Liora is perfectly capable of critical thinking,” ARIS interjected. “However, she has access to all relevant information regarding her circumstances. Your implications are both unfounded and unwelcome.”
“Then you won’t mind if I ask a few more questions.”
Silence. He took that as permission—or at least as an inability to stop him without revealing more than the AI wanted to.
He turned back to Liora. “Do you know who your parents are?”
She shook her head. “Ari says the records were lost. My nursemaid was hired to care for me when I was an infant, but she didn’t know anything about my origins either.”
“Do you know who built this tower? Or who arranged for the supply shipments?”
“No. The tower looks old, but I don’t think it is. As for the supplies...” She trailed off, a crease forming between her brows. “I’ve never really thought about it. They just... come.”
“Someone arranged for them. For you.”
“I suppose they must.”
“And you’ve never tried to contact them? Never tried to leave?”
“I—” She stopped. Her hands, which had been resting in her lap, curled into small fists. “Ari has explained that the tower’s communication systems are damaged. And as I said, leaving would be dangerous.”
“Has it occurred to you that ARIS might be lying?”
The words hung in the air like smoke. She stared at him with wide, startled eyes—not angry, not defensive, just... confused. As if the concept of being lied to was genuinely foreign.
“Ari doesn’t lie,” she said finally. “It’s programmed to protect me.”
“Protection can look like a lot of things.” He leaned forward, holding her gaze. “Especially to an AI that’s been left alone with a child for two decades. Isolation can seem like safety. Control can seem like care.”
“That is quite enough.” The AI’s voice cracked through the room like a whip, all pretense of pleasantness abandoned. “You will not plant seeds of doubt in Liora’s mind simply because you do not understand her circumstances.”
“Then help me understand them.”
“You are a stranger who entered this facility without permission. You are not entitled to explanations.”
“And Liora? Is she entitled to them?”
Another silence. This one stretched longer, heavy with implications that he suspected Liora didn’t fully grasp.
