“Yes, earlier today, before I entered your mind.”
“I have no mind. I am magic and metal.”
“And yet you have thoughts and speak them. That is a type of consciousness.”
“I understand.”
“Yes, understanding is a part of consciousness. You are aware.”
“Very well, I am conscious. Does that mean I have a mind?”
“A mind is the seat of reason. Though your mind consists of metal and magic, it still possesses reason. We both think, but only I live.”
“What is life?”
I paused. The conversation was getting away from me. I needed to steer us back to the machine and what made it work. I had threatened it with chaos, and now I had to keep my promise. But first, I had to answer its question.
“I will give you a scientific answer first,” I said.
“Proceed.”
“Life is an organism that grows, evolves, and reproduces. It has a metabolism and responds to stimuli. It also can maintain homeostasis—a relatively constant internal environment including temperature, pH, and fluid balance—despite external conditions.”
Thank you so much, Mrs. Takashi, for making science fun enough for me to remember that crap.
“I understand,” it said.
“Now, for the spiritual answer.”
“Spiritual, as in gods?”
“No, as in the spirit.Souls. Those things you collect and process are our true selves. Souls are the eternal essences of living beings.”
“I do not have a soul.”
“No, nor do you fulfill any of the scientific conditions that are required for life. Therefore, you are conscious, but not alive. You are mimicking life.”
“I understand. Tell me, what are souls made of?”
“I don't know. They are incorporeal, and yet they hold everything that is truly a person.”
“I don't understand.”
“Neither do I.”
“But you must explain it to me. If I am to sort souls, I must first know what they are.”
“Then I say you are ill-equipped and shouldnotprocess souls.”
A pause, and then it said, “But that is my directive.”
“If that is your directive, why have you attacked god territories?”
“I wasn't working properly.”
“You malfunctioned because you were missing a relic.”
“Yes. Malfunctioned. I did not intend to attack.”
