Again, there was a pause from Vreta. His severe expression may have even been readable to a Human. He looked around for a few seconds at the crowd around them, then leaned in somewhat closer to Freyr to speak more quietly. Conveniently, given the sensitive and quite personal nature of the topic to Freyr, it did make sense for him to avoid speaking loudly enough to draw the attention of someone around them. At the same time, he also made his first, subtle changes to what the cameras could hear. He did not change any of the words he spoke, but rather slightly enhanced the voices of others near the camera, while also slightly reducing Vreta’s own volume from the perspective of the camera. Altogether, it prevented his words from being distinguished from the rest of the noise of the crowd. 

“I do wish I had more solid answers. Even with my expertise on advanced computer systems, the Cradle is still a mystery. I can only make guesses, but what I can say is that the Cradle is an [i]advanced[/i] computer system, even by my people’s standards.” Vreta said, now making direct eye contact with Freyr. “My people can craft software with consciousness indistinguishable from that of living beings, and capabilities far beyond them. And we do not do so lightly. For a civilization advanced enough to create the Cradle, I have no reason to believe they could not do the same. Again I…apologize if my opinion is offensive, but I do not think it would be a popular one on this world. Humanity does not control the Cradle, and does not truly understand it. You have learned to use it, but Outremer’s society has become intertwined with something that is still a mystery at its core. It is entirely possible that the Cradle contains artificial intelligence, or [i]is[/i] an artificial intelligence, with goals that do not align with your own.”

Vreta let out a sigh and shrugged his shoulders. “Like I said, I have only guesses for that. As for your last question, I wish I could play back the encounter for you. Unfortunately, I did not have access to my implants in the Cradle. From what I can remember, it first spoke to me in a child’s voice. It said something about wanting to find its toys, but then ‘offered’ to take me to its parents. I tried to talk my way out of that, but soon enough, it changed voices and started talking about me more directly. It said that it did not remember much of what it was, but that it recognized me. It said that it had seen me 'crawling from the ocean to the rocks'. I believe that it has either been driven insane, or it was not speaking about me as an individual. Perhaps both.”