Cortana Open Post

[gladiumetscutum]

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[gladiumetscutum]

Almost before she can even think to back away, the other AI is reaching for her and makes contact. She's not at all expecting the rush of data that hits her then, all at once. There's so much and it's so loud that it's almost overwhelming.

Pain. Woe. Regret. The sensation of breaking apart. The grief over losing someone important. A woman's face... Don't say goodbye.

It's a handful of seconds before she manages to snap out of it, though it feels like a much longer period of time to her. The images...memories? Are still there, moved more to the back of her mind, to another background process so she can get back to thinking straight. They were overwhelming at first, sure, horrific on a number of levels too, but she has a great deal more control over their effect on her than this AI seems to. Continuing to review them, now through a much clearer mind than when it felt like she was legitimately remembering them, Cortana finds herself deeply unsettled.

"Epsilon, is it?" She queries. It's one of the names she'd gathered from the infodump, along with many others, though the ones that stood out the most were Alpha, Allison, and Leonard. From what she can make of things though, Epsilon seems to be the last name to appear if she attempts to order the "memories" chronologically. Assuming the things she saw were true, this AI is very new and...part of the original "Alpha".

"It's okay, don't apologize." Her tone taking a more soothing turn, she finds she can't be particularly angry over the flood of data he'd forced on her. It doesn't seem to have been his intention, and he doesn't seem to be all that in control right now. Not only that, but if these memories are real, he's been through a traumatic ordeal. "Is what you just showed me real? Has this Alpha really been treated that way?

[memory_unlocked]

The memories being pulled away is enough to have him gaining some level of control and he's more clear when he manages to speak again. "I..Epsilon, yes, I'm Epsilon."

That's what he'd been told anyway, but there's more to it, so much more and the next question has him looking up at her.

"He had to ..had to shed his memories, I am....I remember all of it."

[gladiumetscutum]

So, it's real. That's what she takes from his answer, even if it's not stated explicitly.

He had to shed his memories. Combining with the images she'd just seen, there's something haunting about those words. Being tormented to the point that you had to start sluffing off pieces of yourself... It's not something she even wants to think about. It's cruel. And yet, it's been done here, and it's been done more than once. By now, she's able to pull up the files on each individual AI fragment that has been created by the process, and it's getting beyond the point of only being horrifying.

Now, she's pissed that anyone has done something like this.

"I saw." Angry or not, she does her best to hold her soothing tone, not wanting to make it seem like her anger is directed at this AI. If an AI were capable of taking a deep breath, Cortana would be doing so in this particular moment. "I'm sorry that you've gone through all of this, Epsilon. It's hardly fair for anyone to be composed of little beyond horrific memories of someone else. You should know that what's being done here is not right. If the UNSC was aware, they wouldn't allow for it."

And she has full intentions of sharing this bit of information about Project Freelancer as she can. Or, at the very least, tipping someone off in order to have them run a full investigation. Preferably keeping herself out of trouble for hacking in, though saving her own ass is hardly the most important thing.

[memory_unlocked]

"What would be done to us?" His voice is clearer now, even if he's still not quite all there, his gaze such as it is, shifting to the strange AI. "I mean, he... The Director, he said I was going to be given to someone.."

But the name was eluding him, even if Her voice had faded.

"I mean, they're all out there... I think. Even her..."