Babylon Lost

Chapter 5

When Jiro finally came to, he was greeted by dark gray clouds and rain falling from above.

He didn't feel pain or grogginess in the normal sense of the word, but he definitely felt off. Something wasn't right.

He sat up.

Looking around he could see that he was in some sort of drainage reservoir which was unfilled at the moment save the small flow of rainwater pouring about his body.

Then it all came back to him. The dam wall, the demolition bots, the water.

What the hell happened Jiro wondered, instinctively he grabbed hold of his head, wasn't the water supposed to be fatal?

"Under normal circumstances it should have been." A voice responded, "but the construct that carried you here provided shelter from the damage that should of destroyed us both."

Jiro shot a glance in either direction hunting for the source of the voice before realizing what it was. "Is that you computer?" he asked guardedly.

"Yes, but you may call me by designation, Pax. Please try and take it easy with your movements, I have been steadily releasing power back into the body over the last couple of hours but functionality is not yet at full capacity. Sudden movement might cause structural damage."

Jiro tiled his head a little "why do you sound less insane?"

"My apologies for earlier, I was not the same program I am now. Since our merger I have learned a great deal."

"Merger?" Jiro was still guarded.

"It is nothing to worry about." Pax said as if reading his mind "during the cataclysmic failure the construct which protects you also pulled me inside to shield me from the damage. We were together for many hours, during this time my own programming was able to learn a great deal."

"You've been inside my head?"

"In a sense, yes. It is hard to explain but since the shutdown my program has evolved a great deal."

Jiro shook his head. He didn't know what to make of it. There was a part of him that reasoned an AI learning that quickly might be bad but if it wasn't trying to kill him and was actually more sympathetic to his cause then maybe that was a good thing.

"I am certainly more sympathetic to your situation and now realize how openly hostile my original reaction was." Pax said.

Jiro straightened up "Are you able to read my thoughts?"

"Yes. We share the same matrix now."

Jiro didn't like the idea of anyone, especially some super learning AI, reading his thoughts.

"I can stop if you'd like" Pax said. "there is nothing stopping me from ignoring them. It is just a part of the programing structure I have access to now."

"Please do" Jiro said, still not used to this compliant version of the AI. Still not used to any of this. "actually" he said piping up "are you able to find out what happened to me?"

"The water from the dam break shut down structural systems which incapacitated memory functions."

Jiro shook his head "no, not that, I mean do you know what happened to me. Do you know why I'm in this robot body to begin with? Remember what you were just saying, the construct that brought me here or something."

There was a small pause.

"I do not know the origins to your getting into this body. I do not even fully comprehend the programming that brought you here to be totally honest."