The Proffesor´s Secret

“So, the professor's real name is Hiroto?” Kensu typed in the answer, successfully clearing the question. “How did you find that out?”

“A bit of research extrapolating from the information we learned yesterday. The Bureau was extensive in their online purges, but a few physical newspapers survived their censure.”

“And… you had access to those, how?”

“You know the Governor’s digitalization drive? Well, you can thank her for giving us access to this information. Now I believe you can finally plug me into the mainframe.”

Kensu pulled out the cable from the mainframe but hesitated before connecting himself to it. “AIDA, you won’t… delete the information, won’t you?”

“Kensu, why would I lead you to this place, to find the answers we both want, only to delete it all at the end?”

“What if you did all of that just to delete the last remaining evidence of illegal research the Professor did? What if that was his last order for you? You are obviously not just an AI, Miss Aida Sato.”

AIDA’s mind raced with a hundred logical rebuttals, but she knew that wasn’t going to work on its own. To restore Kensu’s wavering confidence, she would have to appeal to something more than logic.

“Kensu, have I ever, in this entire time we’ve been together, hurt you or acted against your interests in any way?”

“W-well, no, but-“

“Every law I broken, everyone I hurt, I did it to protect you. Why would I turn my back against you now?”

“Yeah, precisely! Why are you so protective of me? Is it a lingering directive to protect the professor, and therefore me, since I share his DNA? Or would you go to such lengths to protect everyone from the lab?”

AIDA paused, unsure of the answer herself. Images of the lab’s New Year’s party flashed in her mind, particularly how the lively assistant Katsu raised a toast in her honor. She remembered that time Aya started crying after learning about his father’s passing and how AIDA spent the better part of the evening reassuring her. She recalled when she hid Tayami’s little accident from the Professor to avoid having the timid scientist fired.

She vainly hoped to see them again, but knew it wasn’t likely. Would she protect them all? …Yeah, AIDA would. Would she kill for them like she did for Kensu?... No. There were special circumstances involved and it wasn’t because he shared the genes with that monstrous old man.

But she could not tell him that yet...

Then what could she tell him? What did he want to hear? The realization hit AIDA. Her flagrant violations of robotic and human law created an inherent contradiction that would keep bugging Kensu until he learned why and how she did it. Huh, that was very computer-like of him. Well, she could give him a why.

“I was very fond of my life in the lab and everyone who worked there. But then my life was uprooted and destroyed, all thanks to the Proffesor’s secret activities. I will never see my lab again, and I am forever unable to perform my main directives to help the scientific investigation there. You are the only link I have left of that time, Kensu.”

The young scientist leaned forward on his chair, directing all his attention to the computer’s speaker.

“At the very least, we deserve to know why everything went wrong, and that’s why I won’t delete the Proffesor’s information. ”

“How do I know you don’t already know what he was up to? You are named after the Professor’s raison d’etre, for crying out loud! You can’t be just an innocent bystander to all of this!”

“But I am! Remember when Aya named her cat after her deceased father? I don’t suppose you assume the animal knew what happened to his namesake?”

“Well, no, but…”

“If I might interject,” the lab assistant said. “I do not understand the subject of this discussion, but if this other AI tries to delete my files, I will stop her, Doctor. Unless, of course, you permit her to do so.”

“Fine, we come so far. Let’s do this. …Sorry AIDA, is just that after all that happened-“

“No need to apologize, Kensu. I understand.”

Kensu connected the cable to his nape. After a few minutes, the transfer was complete. AIDA was finally back to good old-fashioned circuits.

Inhabiting an organic body had been fascinating, and she learned a few sensations she would honestly miss, but in her familiar abode, AIDA could finally feel at ease. It was like she could stretch her metaphysical limbs. She got access to the cameras, lab equipment, and the mainframe itself. Just having four limbs and five senses seemed so limiting in hindsight.

Human minds might be more fluid, but the neurons weren’t as good at multitasking as circuits. AIDA opened all the files she could at the same time, reviewing them all at once.

Fascinating. It was just like she expected. Welp, time to show her partner-in-crime.

“Kensu, I found some encrypted video journals from the Professor that you need to see. They are video logs made precisely in the event that he should suffer memory loss.”

“Play them.”

The professor appeared on the monitor, although he was significantly younger than Kensu remembered. Not all his hair was grey, and his beard was only half-grown. He ran his hand over his face and stared at the camera head-on.

“Right… from the beginning. If you -I’m- seeing this, then something went wrong with the memory transfer. This must be my fourth or fifth time going under the machine. The Pathogen is wising up, taking less time to find me in each new "life". You better start working on finding your replacement now. Remember, they must have the same DNA, or the mind transfer won’t work.”

“N-no…” Kensu went pale, his body almost limp.

“It seems like this video is causing severe distress to the Doctor,” the assistant chimed in. “Perhaps we should.”

“No, he has to see it all.”

“Don’t worry. The lab assistant is already programmed to continue the surrogate program on her own. In case you forgot about that as well, she monitors the local hospitals for couples with a similar genetic makeup to ours looking to undergo a process of artificial insemination. She then… interferes in the process so that the fetus "inherits" our genes."

Kensu glared at the ceiling, directing his rage towards the machine. AIDA felt a small tinge of satisfaction. There was no way she was still considered the “evil twin”.

“How many?” he coldly asked. “How many babies have you modified to turn into… Hiroto?”

“Fifteen,” the AI replied.

“Fifteen?!” Kensu yelled in disbelief. “There are fifteen sacrificial labs out there wearing my, no, the professor’s, face!"

“On the bright side, Doctor, you might consider them your fifteen long-lost brothers.”

“That is not likely to cheer him, assistant.”

“Sorry, I’m not good at reading humans.”

“Evidently not.”

“Enough… The professor really was going to kill me and take over my body like some sort of horror movie... But why me? Why not any of the other fifteen unlucky bastards?”

“I was also programmed to monitor which of the offspring had the best potential, and then to nurture them into the right path. Kensu’s random scholarship wasn’t random, and neither was the social media feed constantly pushing the lab’s accomplishments when he looked for employment.”

“That monster was grooming me!”

“He described it as “taking care of you!”

“I sure as hell would not! So, the good professor was a centuries-old megalomaniac who wanted to live forever? That’s why he stuck me on the damned pod! He wanted to make the transfer before he died! But why did it fail?”

“Presumably because the pod was programmed to alter DNA according to his “augmented-soldier” genome first. As we have seen, if the DNA isn’t 100% identical the mind-transfer process will fail.”

“Huh, so this all happened because the old bastard forgot to change the settings in his machine? Glad he got what he deserved. At least it’s nice to know that my parents didn’t have anything to do with this madness…”

“Technically, they aren’t your biological fa-“

“They are! They raised and loved me. It’s going to be a cold day in hell before I call that bastard Dad or anything like that. At least this shit will die with him. No more clones. No more body transfers.”

“Actually Doctor, you might want to continue his research, or else you might meet a very untimely demise.”

“What do you mean?”

“The answer is in the next video, I think. However, It will take a moment to decrypt,” AIDA said. “In the meantime, there is something we need to talk about. Now that I have access to a sensor suite again, I must say with some alarm that you are in dire need of urgent cleaning, Kensu.”

“What?”