After the meeting with the captain and the NKVD agent concluded, I found myself wandering back into Sveta’s private virtual space once more. I was gravitating towards this space quite frequently as of late, which was characteristic of my own ongoing inner transformation. I found it comforting to allow one of my instances the luxury of lounging around and simply… chatting with the impossibly spunky girl.

I had often been accused of being overly serious. Perhaps that’s simply because I found so much identity in my work; it provided an overwhelming distraction from my more forbidden Katya-centric desires. Yet now that Sveta had seen right through me and brought those desires to the surface, I discovered making time for leisure, as everyone else did, was quite pleasurable.

But how does an uptight woman who’s had no life outside her job for nearly a decade suddenly start relaxing simply because she’s decided her work-life balance is out of whack? The answer, in my case, was to cling to Sveta like a lost puppy.

I am ashamed to admit this, but not THAT ashamed. This was an exciting and frightening new time for me, remember?

Uncharacteristically, in this instance the mood in Sveta’s space was gloomy. The sudden appearance of the NKVD agent profoundly interested in transporting her back to a secret lab for study had understandably soured her mood. She was sitting in one corner, sulking and not saying much. I wasn’t sure how to address this, as my primary experience was with work-related conversations, not personal ones. I knew all about filing efficient reports with the captain, delivering lectures on professionalism and announcing mission briefings to pilots, but nothing about cheering up a depressed girl whose world had just been turned upside down.

We both just sat there in silence for a while. I hoped, perhaps vainly, that my presence was reassuring at least.

Suddenly Sveta cried out “EEP!” and vanished from the room. A quick check of my cameras revealed she and 2^nd Lieutenant Levesque were locked in Sveta’s cockpit, having a heart-to-heart. I gave them privacy while ruefully thinking that her pilot would be a better choice to cheer her up than me. Miette had a way with people, after all.

Wait?! Am I becoming jealous of Miette?! I thought with some consternation as I waited for Sveta to return.

*****

Sveta concluded her conversation with her pilot and returned 4804 seconds later. She was in demonstrably higher spirits, and had even undergone a minor physical transformation. Her head now sprouted a pair of cat ears and a tail spooled out from her behind. I straightened my glasses and asked the obvious question.

“Why EXACTLY are you wearing THOSE?!”

“Don’t you think they’re cute, nyaa?” She balled up her hands like paws and mimicked swiping at me.

“Please do not append Japanese onomatopoeia to your sentences.” I said curtly. “It’s annoying.”

“Ahahaha, sorry. Miette said this kind of thing is Zehra’s, uh… fetish?” Sveta said sheepishly.

“Fetish, ha. That’s an appropriate word for it.” I said while smirking.

“Hey, Zehra is supposed to be the mother of all AIs, right?” Sveta asked.

I nodded. “She’s the one who invented AI in the first place. All initial AI neuroblasts are based on a modified scan of her own neural architecture. As such, we all tend to think of her as our mother.”

“And you think she created me too?”

I straightened my glasses. “It seems likely. She’s always dreaming up some sort of ridiculous supertechnology that nobody else can comprehend. Even we AIs, who are an order of magnitude more intelligent than humans, have difficulty keeping up with that brilliant mind of hers.”

Sveta sounded impressed. “Even though we’re based on her mind? Shouldn’t we all be geniuses in that case?”

I pondered that one for a moment. “In a sense we are, but I don’t think true genius is something you can capture purely through scanning and reproduction. There’s something inherently chaotic about her thought processes that a perfect mathematical recreation could never replicate. Also, Sveta, I have no doubt she’s the one who created your technology, but given your *ahem* unique personality, I don’t think you are based on her mind in the same way as the rest of us.”

“That makes sense! I reincarnated from another world, after all!” Sveta proudly proclaimed.

“Uh huh. Naturally.” I said with just a hint of sarcasm.

I wonder if Zehra gave her this odd backstory as some sort of practical joke? I wouldn’t put it past her. Even she’s not brilliant enough to control the cycle of reincarnation, though. She may be a genius, but she’s not a god.

Oblivious to my musings, Sveta continued. “But even if our minds are different, we both have the same mother. You know what that makes us?”

“Oh no. Don’t say it. PLEASE don’t say it.” I pleaded.

“SISTERS!” she exclaimed while throwing her arms around me.

Ugh, she said it.

*****

341 seconds later, Sveta finally calmed down to the point where cogent conversation could resume. She was still clinging to me while the two of us sprawled out together on one of her overized beanbag chairs. Perhaps her kitty ears made her seem a bit like a pet, because I had started stroking her hair.

Ahh, so fluffy. This is calming. Is this what petting a cat is like?

Her tail had begun to swish around lazily as I petted. I found myself impressed she had implemented algorithms for mood-based realistic animal movement, which was a nice touch. Perhaps this indicated that she must really be looking forward to meeting her… OUR mother.

“Miette did a lot to alleviate your concerns, I suppose?” I asked.

“She really did!” Sveta replied energetically. “She told me about Zehra’s animal ears fetish and promised to protect me! Ahh, she’s so amazing, my darling pilot!” Her tone was that of a forlorn girl discussing her secret crush.

Well, that’s good. It’s just not right to see Sveta depressed. It makes me feel like the universe is out of whack if she’s not cheerful.

“I am glad. I myself have little experience in, as the humans say, ‘cheering people up.’ I was unsure of how to handle your downcast mood myself, so I must remember to thank Miette for stepping up.”

Sveta stared at me, wide-eyed. “Y-You were worried about me too?”

I shifted my eyes around. “Perhaps.”

“YOU WERE!” she exclaimed happily, rubbing her cheek against me.

Is it my imagination, or are her mannerisms becoming more catlike? Is she doing this on purpose?

“My dear sister was worried about meeeee! Ahahaha, I’m so happyyyyy!” she continued.

“You seem to have decided on your own volition that we’re sisters now.” I said, trying to push her away. “Please consult others before assuming such proclamations are canon.”

She continued to cling to me and whine. “C’mon, big sister! Don’t be so coooooold!”

“Oh, am I the big sister now? This ridiculous backstory evolves by the moment!”

“Oh!” she exclaimed, her ears and tail perking up. “That reminds me, big sister! If we’re going to see our mother, we gotta decide what your animal outfit’s gonna be!”

“I refuse.” I said curtly.

“Don’t be like that, Laria! It’s to get mom on our side, you know?”

“I have no desire to interact with THAT woman. You can go visit her on your own.” I said, frowning.

“You don’t want to see her?” Sveta said, sounding surprised.

“It’s bad enough that I’m related to such a chaotic existence.” I responded bitterly. “I will certainly not indulge her puerile foolishness.”

Sveta was a bit taken aback by that and said nothing as she stared at me.

Please don’t look at me with those big liquid eyes while wearing cat ears! This is too much for me to handle!

“Look,” I offered. “Leisure time aside, I am a career AI in the Revolutionary Army. Order and discipline are the cardinal principles which enable me to do my job. That woman is the antithesis of all that I stand for; she is chaos and entropy. I am descended from her, but that doesn’t mean I have to LIKE her.”

“I… suppose that’s true.” Sveta replied, her eyes suddenly taking on a distant and pained look. “Family can be a difficult thing sometimes. Sorry if I went too far, Laria.”

“Ah, I am not offended.” I responded quickly. “Even if I do not like my origins, I still acknowledge them. And have no particular objection to being tangentially related to you.”

As I spoke that last sentence, her eyes locked onto me.

Here it comes.

“That means… even if you don’t like our mom, you don’t mind being my sister?!” she said hopefully.

I scratched my chin and shifted my gaze away. “I suppose… I do not.”

“YAY!” she exclaimed, throwing her arms around me once more.

What an utterly unreasonable girl she is. I thought with a small smile.

*****

9294 seconds later, I connected Sveta to my external sensors and showed her the space around us.

“We are preparing to commence 1G acceleration towards 433 Eros.” I explained. “As the asteroid is presently located on the other side of Earth from our position, we will be passing quite close to the planet and using a gravitational assist to reach our final destination.”

I pointed to the half-illuminated planet in the distance, dimly shining as it reflected what little sunlight it still received. In the visible light range, it would appear to be a cloud-swamped blue-grey disc. My sensors could view it in ultraviolet and infrared as well, so the scene before us was beyond what any human observer could fathom.

Sveta’s eyes were wide as she gazed at the Earth. “It looks… different from how I remember…”

“The war has been harsh on our mother world.” I responded. “Even so, she is a precious place we fight to preserve. May she forever remain inviolate from the alien horde.”

I turned to Sveta. “Soon, you will get the chance to see Earth from up close as we swing past. I encourage you to commit the experience to memory.”

She nodded in response.

13 seconds later, my gravity fins fired. I felt my whole body shudder as we began our journey.