Was there a Soul within the Steel? That was the question that had been plaguing Zim's mind of late. He was starting to believe that it was true, but he still wanted proof, something that was more definitive, more tangible than the fickle experiences that he and the other pilots have had up to now. To accept that there was a living sentience within the Framewerk meant accepting what happened with Paladin and Ariin was true and not just Ariin going into some sort of shock from the radiation poisoning and subsequent therapies... probably. What had happened with Serah and Atty with the infiltration team on this last mission also presented a number of other questions towards sentience and what it meant for us as pilots. Not only that, but it seems like most members of the team seemed to live on one extreme or the other. For Ariin and Katya, their names together brought back a quick pain of jealousy, but for them, there was no doubt. Whatever it was that happened with Ariin, to him it was absolutely true and that Paladin really did do what they are claiming it did. Serah, too, seemed to view Atty as a living thing, a friend, as much as anything else and that the thought of Atty not being alive was as silly of an idea as believing that we could eventually cohabitate with the Cruxi. Yet Roger and Devors didn't think that thier Werks were alive, and had dismissed the thought outright and had accepted what they had been told in their field manuals. They were good soldiers... well, maybe not, but all the same, they took the answers given to them and hadn't doubted them, or if they had, they found answers that quieted their questions. And there was Zim who seemed to live somewhere in the middle. He wanted to believe, and he knew that the truth was out there, but he hadn't yet found the answers. No... that wasn't right. Zim did believe, what he wanted was to know.

With a sigh Zim sat up from his bunk, he hadn't slept, not really, his mind was too preoccupied with these thoughts and others to really fall asleep. Maybe going over the battle data would either distract him or provide him with a clue to guide him on his way. Reaching for his datapad, Zim queued up the combat footage recorded from each Werk and from the safer distance of NOAH and its myriad of sensors and navigational equipment working to record the events of combat as they unfolded outside of the occupied space station. Zim could have gone into one of the simulator pods and emersed himself even further, rendering the combat in 3D around him, he could move amongst the action viewing the rendered combat from all angles. However, Zim didn't need to see that much detail, not yet anyways. He skipped through the initial deployment other than to make note of his Sync rate. Swiping through the video feed a few seconds at a time Zim came on the first real interactions with the enemy forces. Zim recalled what was going on inside the cockpit, but just to be sure he accessed his audio logs to see what he was saying when he was saying in real time in relation to what he was seeing happen. 

"You ready for this, Partner?" Zim heard himself asking, he heard no response, and there was no change in the Werk, but there was a small increase in the Sync rate shortly thereafter. Zim made a note of it, bookmarking the moment in the video feed before continuing the video. Things stayed where they were even as his made liberal use of the ATS and the additional thrust power he had on him. Looking at the video feed of the maneuvers he pulled off, Zim wondered how he had mustered up the ability to keep control of Black Star as he tested the limits. Then it happened, he got too close to the turrets. As the plasma blasts approached the shield was activated. There was no way that Zim had time to activate the shield. Not only that, but the sync rate dropped 4%. Zim didn't notice it when he was in combat, if he had, perhaps he attributed it the damaged leg. Zim placed another flag and continued on through the video. He continued this process of recording the ups and downs in his sync level, he went through and viewed it a few times, looking for any other indicator about what was happening that might debunk the theory he was starting to grasp at. 

Zim went back to the moment that Black Star deployed the shield, Zim verified the patterns, the movements, the reaction speed, the chain of events. There was no way that Zim could have hit the control to activate the shield. Zim thought back to the previous battle on the planet, recalling the wave surger blast at the end of combat that took out the sniper. The weapon wasn't fully charged yet and they were still out of range of the sniper. There was no way that the controls would have even let Zim pull the trigger, yet even as Black Star's head was blown off, the wave surger discharged a partial charge and still somehow reached its mark with deadly accuracy. There was no way that Zim could have accomplished either of those two things. Zim would request a control diagnostic to get a readout of what he was doing in both of those moments, for further evidence or to discredit the theory. 

So using these two examples of autonomy as the basis for the theory that Black Star is, in fact, a living sentient thing, Zim then wanted to understand the fluctuation in Sync levels. So if it is a living, breathing, thinking thing... well, not breathing, probably... anyways, if you say encouraging things to it, it connects with you better, it lets you make the decisions and not fight against you. If it takes damage it draws away from you. The stronger the sync, the deeper and more real the pain feels. So there were two thoughts that came to mind for Zim as to why a sentient autonomous machine would draw away and close the link a little. Option one, the Framewerk draws away to take back more control because it doesn't trust your judgment, after all, what you did when you were in control lead to it getting damaged. Option two, the Framewerk is attempting to block some of the damage from transferring through to the pilot. It is attempting to protect the pilot.

If we follow through with option two, that could explain the aberrant behavior seen by Paladin and Atty. When the MIST detonated, Ariin was at least partially caught in the blast. If Paladin, a defender through and through, did a data swap on Ariin's brain and personality in order to protect his mind and to maintain his body without the brain functionality, it would explain why that happened. If when the Cruxi triggered Elora's ability, if that somehow had the ability to force the Framewerks to close the connection down completely, then Atty's behavior could be seen as an attempt to protect Serah from all potential threats, or as what a Framewerk could do when it no longer is restricted by the Pilots will. Of course, it occurred to Zim, that if these machines were living things that there was also an argument that they had personalities. So if there were personalities then it is entirely possible that either of the above options is correct, depending on the situation. 

This was enough, for now. Zim had enough evidence to support his belief that Black Star was alive. He didn't need to understand the personality variants of the other pilot's Werks. All Zim needed to worry about was his connection with Black Star. Zim threw the datapad to the side and hurriedly threw on pants, not even bothering to grab a shirt, and rushed out into the hallway, making the shortest route possible to the hanger and ignoring anyone that he didn't have to salute as he passed. Zim pushed his way through the bulkhead doors leading to the hanger repair bay. Black Star was there hoisted into a massive cradle. Rudimentary repairs were underway, but more than likely they wouldn't have Black Star back up and operational until they made it back to base. 

Zim saw Black Star in another light now. He couldn't get any closer, the massive plasma cutters sending sparks the size of Zim's forearm scattering, so he looked on from a distance. 

"Thank you, Partner."