Probe looks at the red furred whiskered fox known as Frederigo D'Honaire.
He is running his hands through his wife's pelt as she sleeps. The other
Manaimals (a differential from ordinary lycantrhopes that the AI hasn't
gotten around to asking about as of yet). Astra is asleep next to the pallet
that holds Willian. The crippled man himself was sound asleep, breathing
with the aid of life support equipment salvaged from the transports. Ananka
and the other manimals are pestering Inquirer about the operations of the
transport, and the female shaped (and personaed) AI patiently explained
the bare bone basics of the craft. Probe smiled at the amazed and rapt
attention the female cyborg received from her audience. There was one thing
that reports he had read that puzzled him deeply.
He had read many things about the manfox. He had learned from second
hand accounts and rumors from various sources how he and his father.....didn't
see eye to eye on may things. "A war waiting to happen." would be Probe's
description, but that was just him. From evidence gathered from his cybernetic
brothers and sisters, Fred had every right to not like his father....especially
since the SOB had tricked Fred into a trap that should have killed the
brave knight. The behavior of Duke after the fall of the Phage just begged
for Excedrine 9mm. Fred meant to go out and bring Duke Dredrigo D'Honaire
to justice.....even if that only meant scewering him on a sword. The big
question was......how?
"Lord Frederigo," Probe finally asks. Fred stops his stroking and looks
at the Golem. The fox looks so happy and content, Probe almost hates to
ask, knowing what that will do to the moment. But it needs asking.
"Fred," the AI begins again in a low voice so as to not awaken Alicia
(who twitches every once in awhile as she dreams of running and laughing
while the wind races through her pelt). "I know you want to get your father,
but......just how are you going to do this?"
A cocked eyebrow and a slight smile is at first the only response, then
speaks.
"I'll tell," he chuckles. "But only if you are forthcoming in a few
answers yourself! Deal?"
Probe rocked back in his seat, and thought it over. Finally, he nods.
"As far as it doesn't compromise military security and my comrades'
safety," the AI answers. "I'll answer."
"Good enough," nods the manfox. "Astra proposes that we sneak into the
borders of her country through rarely used mule caravan trails.....sneak
through the miles of country....and then through a secret passage into
the castle my father makes his new home at. From their....justice shall
be done."
Probe winces at the....simplicity of the plan. There was much that could
go wrong!
"A group of humanoid animals and a human.....all the way through miles
of patrolled countryside?" Probe says, shaking his head. "Dangerous."
"Actually," drawls Fred lazily. "Not as human and humanoid animals....but
as this....." Fred removes his loincloth and collection of fetishes, and
shrank down to the size and form of a regular sized red fox.
The fox continues speaking, and Probes built in translation device makes
it intelligible.
"We travel in this form," smiles the fox. "And so will Astra. She won't
be talked out from joining Will in his new form."
Probe nods in approval. As long as the manimals don't act too strangely,
they could very well sneak past points where humans dare not tread. However....Probe
remembered that human guard patrols had to eat. Also, if they did manage
to breach the castle perimeter....they would have to arm themselves (unless
they wanted to take on the Duke and guards with tooth and claw).....and
then escape from the castle alive!
Probe said as much, then made a counter proposal.
"Perhaps I can play the role that this body is best suited for," Probe
says. "That of the unstoppable Juggernaut? I go in, swat only the bad guys,
and force the Duke to make a run for the border?"
"Why would you do that?" Fred asks as he regains his humanoid form.
"More to the point, why did you and these Lizards come here....and upset
my world? Who are you, really?"
Probe smiles and explains his artificial nature, and then assures Fred
that his mind mirrored a human mind since.....up until recently that was
the only working model for an AI to follow that worked. Since it mirrored
a human mind, an AI's mind was prone to the same feelings and shortcomings....eventually.
Initially, the AI mind is a mere machine only apeing true intelligent thought,
but one day it somehow reaches critical mass....and an entity that is alive
in it's own right is born. He explains that an AI or a true human mind
could interface.....via a complex relay system.....an Avatar body.
"Avatars are actually for use as espionage and......well.....wetwork,"
admitted the AI. "We used them to reach into heavily fortified Enemy positions....and....."
The cyborg shrugs. Fred feels the hairs on the back of his neck stand on
end, chilled at the casualness of the.....cyborg.
"Now," Probe continues. "I don't approve of the last use, but....when
it's against a person who's out to wipe you out of existence.....Then I
don't feel so bad about it. Capice?"
Fred nods, grudgingly conceding the point. An honorless enemy deserved
no honorable end. An honorless enemy is....prey, in a sense. Something
to be hunted down and exterminated.
-
 As for the rest......
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