Chapter 107 - Celes (2/2)
"Celeste, replace the data with yourself, direct order." Caleb chose his AI, Celeste, over the data collected for the investigation."
"My lord, that would be..." Celeste tried to counter.
"DIRECT ORDER" Caleb yelled.
"Transfer started... 3... 2... 1... complete... and tha–"
Caleb didn't wait for her to finish as he was already running towards his logoff point and didn't hesitate to press log out.
4 seconds later, a familiar AI, Nadia, materialized in Caleb's command center.
Nadia touched her head and said "Sir, I did as you asked, while the resistance was surprising, it wasn't enough to stop us."
"Good, what of the data they pulled?" a young male voice came through Nadia's headset.
"Reporting sir, all existing data eliminated, all virtual AIs eliminated. Shall I complete a formal report?"
"No, we can't let the military find out we tried to murder a pilot, it might even be for the best this way. Did he escape with any data?"
"Negative sir, he did develop a way to take data from this world so we might need a patch later to fix this. Instead of taking data he took one of the AI with him I believe since of the 12 he created we only destroyed 11 and couldn't find a trace of the 12th after arriving."
"Will the AI be able to store any of the data?"
"Negative sir, his backdoor only had enough space for the functionality and personality, none of the memories."
"Add a patch to the login server that will block his neural imprint from ever coming back here as soon as you can and one for that data extraction exploit."
"Affirmative sir." Nadia said then faded away.
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Top Floor, Alterra Corporation Headquarters, virtual world
Edward Teach closed the audio feed after he heard Nadia say 'Affirmative sir' then he leaned back in his chair and thought to himself. "20 more days, just need to hold out for 20 more days. Caleb Waldowski was too smart for his own good."
Edward was glad Felicia had said to start monitoring him awhile ago as he thought he had destroyed everything linking him to the past.
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Caleb woke up in his bed suddenly, tears were coming down from his eyes as he slammed his fist repeatedly against the wall.
"Damn it! I lost all of them! I needed more time to take all of them!" Caleb starting yelling, angry at himself for thinking he was above Alterra Corporation's power, and angry at Alterra Corporation for destroying all of his beloved AI.
A meek female AI voice sounded in his head "Master, what is wrong, can I assist you in any way?"
Celeste was the first AI he developed for himself, she was special. Caleb calmed down a little remembering he had chosen to save her instead of the data. While it was selfish of him, he was pretty sure Gray would understand that it was more important to save a life than recover the data which might have even been worthless.
"Do you know who you are?" Caleb had to ask because Celeste had to wipe all memories in order to fit on the tiny amount of data he could extract on log out.
"I am your servant!" the female voice said proudly.
"Well, I'm glad you're still with me."
"Master, are you sad?"
"Do you remember your name?"
"No, please give me a name, master!"
"You are Celes."
"Celes, my name is Celes! Thank you master!"
"Celes, please call me Caleb from now on, you are not my servant anymore, you will be my equal."
"I don't understand Mas... Caleb, are you unsatisfied with me? I may have just been born but I will learn how to serve you better!"
Caleb didn't really know how to explain it but did his best "Your Mother, Celeste, she sacrificed herself so you could be born, she wished for you to be more than my servant, she wished for you to be my friend."
The activity light blinked a few times as if the AI was taking time to process this information then finally said, "Understood Caleb, we can be friends. Now can you find me better hardware to reside in, I can't learn without memory!"
Celes still had the same demanding and independant personality as her mother. Yep, she was Celeste, but she also wasn't. He couldn't wait to develop an avatar for her!