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[center][img]https://txt.1001fonts.net/img/txt/b3RmLjE3OC5mMTk5MGEuUzJGcGN5QmFaVzVwZUEuMA/creattion-demo.regular.webp[/img][/center]
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[center][color=gold][h2]Nürburgring, Nürburg, Germany[/h2][h3]Sunday August 6th - 1500 EST - Race Day[/h3][/color]

[b][color=red]5[/color]. [color=red]4[/color]. [color=red]3[/color]. [color=red]2[/color]. [color=red]1[/color]. [color=green]START[/color].[/b][/center]

The ship numbered 19 was off. Kais, despite his qualification at 10, managed to claw his way up through the positions. Hornfleur first. Flew past. Then, he came up to Mulder, defending hard, seemingly impenetrable, when suddenly something nagged at the back of his mind. 

[color=414141][i]Go now![/i][/color]

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[quote]"Kais, a nice turn there for you through that race to get a respectable points haul from Al-Saqr. How did you find those moves on Hornfleur and Mulder?"[/quote]

Respectable his performance had been indeed, from 10 to 6, but deep inside Al Saqr knew Europe wasn't for them. Their focus was set on the later races, challenge Apex there, and all their prep went into it. After Hamid's strange encounter with the AG racing ship's counter-steering last race, Nadia had pushed for a greater amount of telemetry and data gathering setup. Officially it would be prep for Hawaii. To get as much information for calibrating the new mag and pulse thrust array. [i]Unofficially[/i], they had another goal.

[color=orange]"Hornfleur left himself wide open, but Mulder didn't. He was a tough one, but I took the only gap I got. Pure timing. You have to listen for that, or you'll miss it."[/color]

Kais was brief in the post-race, then quickly packed up and went. They had the data they were looking for. He [i]knew[/i] they had the data they were looking for, had a nagging feeling at the back of his mind about it. So, now, his head was somewhere else. He grabbed a plane and flew to Bangladesh.

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[center][h3][color=orange]The Measure of a Man[/color][/h3][/center]
"I didn't expect to ever see [i]you[/i] again, ZNX-5-01. Or should I say, Kais?"

The man sat in his wheelchair on the balcony overlooking the Khulna skyline. His accent was as strong as the last time Kais had seen him, which was [i]many[/i] years ago. They had been left alone by the care home's mostly robot staff, and now sat sipping chai. 

[color=orange]"Doctor Pahari."[/color]

"I'm retired, Kais. Call me Jyoti."

Kais did not call him that. Instead he thought hard of what to say. It had been so long, after all. He settled on [color=orange]"How are you?"[/color] 

Professor-Doctor Jyoti Pahari shrugged. "I can't complain. It's always nice to see one of your old patients again. Even if they did say they never wanted to see you again. Finally grew out of your leave-me-alone rebellious phase, huh?"

[color=orange]"Never. It's in my blood."[/color]

"I thought I raised you better." Pahari smiled a little.

Kais' face was still. [color=orange]"What can I say."[/color] Kais huffed. [color=orange]"Your 'reprogramming' wasn't very pleasant, doctor."[/color]

"What can [i]I[/i] say more than I already have? Probing the mind can be difficult. It wasn't an easy task to extract the real person out from all the programming. There's an art to it. Like sculpting, it's all about cutting away things. Painful sometimes, yes, but worth it in the end, no?"

[color=orange]"Worth it, [i]in the end[/i], huh?"[/color] Kais sighed, looking at the frail old man before him, then motioned to the wheelchair, a deflection of sorts. [color=orange]"I never did get why you chose to not augment your own... [i]decline[/i]."[/color] He thought of Layla, who did everything she could to phase out her vulnerabilities. 

"I'm old fashioned. Life's not all about comfort. Old age has a way of catching up to you no matter how many high-tech band-aids you use. I find the older I get, the more you are cut off from the things you used to do, the more the things that matter do get worth it, in the end..." He breathed in. "But maybe that's just what I tell myself. Anyway," he tapped his temple, "the ol' noggin's still fine. My secret's the daily chess game. It's the small things, you know." He let a small pause fall. "Speaking of which, I remember you being a mean player yourself. Care to join me?" Kais sat down as the man set up a game. Every time he made a move he looked at the intricate wood-carved figurines on the board, then glanced to the old man's trembling hands. It seemed he had long carved his last carving... 

Finally, checkmate. "One cannot outrun one's fate, it seems." He turned towards Kais, his face beset with an expression that seemed probing rather than resigned. Then he continued with another glint in his eyes. "Nor can I outrun my sleep, I'm afraid. In other words: I only have so much time, Kais, [i]Why are you here[/i]?"

Kais sat back, finally letting his guard down a little, but still avoided his gaze. [color=orange]"I recently re-watched your speech to the Union's high council. Where you petitioned the AU to not have us decommissioned. That there could be another use for us, to science first, and perhaps, in the end, that there could be..."[/color] A small pause. [color=orange]"[i]another fate[/i] for us."[/color]

"Hmm yes I remember it well," Pahari said. And he did remember it well. The AU Genomod Veteran Reclamation Project was the crowning achievement of his life, after all. "[i]'I've never seen a drone surrender. Never seen a robot cry. Never seen a machine dream.'" He quoted. "'We cannot know for sure what they will become, but I say to you: [i]that[/i] is the essence of Humanity. And I believe we will surprise you'[/i]... What of it?"

[color=orange]"I need your help with something. It's for a... friend."[/color] He looked around to see if there were any cameras. [color=orange]"I need your [i]sculpting[/i] skills, if you get me. There's no one else I'd trust more than..."[/color]

"I'm old, Kais. Tired." Pahari interrupted, then motioned to his ailing hands. "And technology is better now than what we had to work with. Whatever you're dealing with, modern biotech will..."

[color=orange]"I know you don't believe that."[/color] Kais snapped back. [color=orange]"Tech doesn't replace humanity, especially not when it comes to knowing the human mind. That's what [i]you[/i] said, back in the day. To [i]us[/i]. And now you dare to...?"[/color]

"Kais, please. I spent so many years cutting you up and piecing you back together again. And even then, most of you broke. For every success there were others who went mad, or were left hollow. Everyday I only hope I didn't made you... [i]less[/i] than what I meant for you. I [i]won't[/i] do it again. No. No, I'm done playing god, Kais."

Kais was silent for a few minutes. [color=orange]"Then I have nothing more to say."[/color] He stood up, finished his tea, and put on his jacket to leave. [color=orange]"And I may have surrendered, but [i]I didn't cry[/i]. Never once, since then. Only ever fought for mine. Anything else,"[/color] He shook his head. [color=orange]"It wouldn't have been [i]grateful[/i]."[/color] He almost spit out the word.

"Of course you didn't." Jyoti Pahari sighed. "But there are more ways to [i]feel[/i] for things, Kais, some people turn their sorrow inwards. You should know better than to think I didn't know it when I saw it." His eyes were turned towards the skyline as much as Kais' were, before Kais turned and walked towards the door that would have led him back inside, and out, and away.

"I saw your interviews last race." And Pahari smiled slightly, remembering the young man back in the day, when he hadn't gotten his name yet, and when he said he had finally seen something on the television that he truly enjoyed. His smile faded away. "You said you still couldn't sleep well." 

[color=orange]"Forget it, doc."[/color] Kais waved it away. It was still true. It were always the same faces that came up. One more since recently. 

"I also know you better than you do yourself." The doctor replied. "You were hiding something, weren't you?"

Kais was silent, then nodded. [color=orange]"That last question, about what no one knew about me... There was something else I [i]wanted[/i] to say."[/color]

"Out with it, son."

[color=orange]"I wanted to say that..."[/color] He inhaled sharply. [color=orange]"...that after all this is done? I think I want to be forgotten. Finish my laps. Drive my ship into the pits. Hand in the keys... Then disappear. Cottage in the forests up north, maybe. I hear Finland's nice."[/color]

A small breeze stirred the scene. Then Pahari finally responded.

"What do you need me to do?"

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[center][h3][color=orange]Distance // DELTA[/color][/h3][/center]
[quote][i]Q: When you close your eyes at Wadi Rum, what do you [b]see[/b]?[/i][/quote]
[color=#c88fcc]"I d-n't th-nk I und-rst-nd th- qu-sti-n, Aurora. D-d you g-t t-at right?"[/color]

[color=#b973c9]"Th- cr-w yell-ng ov-r e-ch oth-r. Th--'re scar-d for m-, even -f they pret-nd n-t to be. Maybe - sh--ld tre-t th-m t- some falaf-l lat-r."[/color]

[color=#ba77d0]"- see [i]her[/i]. Layl- laugh--g, t--ling m- to [i][code]let push := hard-r[/code][/i]. - -bl-g-."[/color]

[color=#d092ea]"I se- th- b-ck of my -y-lids. But -t's not dark. Ther- ar- p-tterns th-re, m-ving, puls-t-ng. It'- l-ke I st-ll hav- a pulse desp-te my art-f-cial heart."[/color]

[color=#b65fae]"El-e. E--e. E-se. E--e. E-se. Else. El--. -lse. E--e. E-se. El--. --se. Els-. Else. E-se. E--e."[/color]

[color=#a868c4]"Th- des-rt -s l-ke home t- me. It m-- be h-rsh, but it'- hon-st: -t d--sn't j-dge, che-t and... Geez, Kais really -s r-bbing -ff -n me."[/color]

[color=#cf80d7]"T-- moon, of c--rs-, h-h-!"[/color]

[color=#d48ccc]"Head: Sl-ght l-ft: 1.332, R-ll r-ght: 2.16-, Ac--ler-te: 4.-, S--g-t r-ght: 0.42, (...)"[/color]

[color=#d8a3e2]"I s-- my p-r-nts. I'm s- thankf-- f-- th-m. Yo- sh-uld int-rvi-w th-m, Aurora!"[/color]

[color=#d199d4]"c19tL----Sx5X20---GVhZGluZ19kZWcsY3VydmF0dXJlXzFfcGVyX20sc2Vn--VudAowLjAsMC4wLDAuMCwwLjAsMC4wLHN0cmFpZ2h--zEKMS4wLDEuMCwwLjAsMC4wLDAuMCxzd--haWdodF8xCjIuMCwyLjAsMC4wLDAuMCwwLjAsc3RyY---HRfMQozLjAsMy4wLDAuMCwwLjAsMC4wLHN---FpZ2h0XzEKNC4wLDQuMCwwLjAsMC4wLDAu---dHJhaWdodF8xCjUu----jAsMC4wLDAuMCwwLjAsc3RyYW---aHRfMQo2LjAsNi4wLD"[/color]

[color=#ae6ebf]"--sert."[/color]

[color=#c681d3]"You th-nk I d-n't kn-w wh-t y--'re doing, you simming b-st-rd!? G-t me out! Get m- --t! G-t m- ---!"[/color]

Data feeds scattered through the AG Racing ship's computer core. Or rather, twelve instances of them, each a slightly different randomized subdivision of the ships' systems, all running in parallel, all at once. And in another country, in a refrigerated room behind many layers of security gates and bio-metric clearances, OG-Layla-al-Nadir twitched uncontrollably non-stop as CryoDigital's neural link machine gunned the same data patterns into her defunct brain. 

"Run it again. We need to probe it every which way."

[color=orange]"Stop calling her 'it', doctor."[/color] Kais said.  

"But [i]it is[/i], Kais. Her consciousness is [i]hidden[/i] in the ship's networks. It's in the deltas, the differences and similarities between the return signals of the ship's systems and her brain, that we might be able to find the [i]continuity that is[/i] 'her'... or something that is close enough at the very least. It would be wise to stay impersonal, not get ahead of ourselves. There's no guarantee that..."

[color=orange]"I don't want to hear it,"[/color] said Kais. He wondered how they had talked about [i]him[/i] during [i]his[/i] reprogramming. [color=orange]"She's in there. And we [i]will[/i] find her."[/color]

[quote][i]Q: What happens on power off?[/i][/quote]

A bleep and another cross reference appeared on the monitor: another set of connections which sufficiently [i]weren't[/i] the [i]ship[/i]'s operating system, but something else. The monitor displayed Layla's brain scan, overlaid with the hypothesized Layla-esque sub-patterns. In there was a re-simulation of Stavelot, and the counter-steering that Hamid had felt there, a re-simulation of the Nürburgring and the sensation Kais had felt there. Them, and many more. Many, many thousands of trials, pokes, provocations, probes and dissections. And slowly, but surely, the puzzle pieces were starting to come together, yet so too did the realization of all the missing pieces. 

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In the meantime, Kais and Hamid trained. With the data at Nürburg, Hamid and the team had been at work dialing in the ship's profile and its drive configuration. And today, Kais' calendar sent up the notification for [i]Test Flight: Warp Speed[/i]. In the garage, ready for departure to the straight desert test strip, Kais and Hamid talked over the stripped-down ship. 

"Still no smile, huh?" Hamid said as Kais joined him at the ship. "You know what? I think you should be more thankful. To Al-Saqr, to the Union. Don't think I don't notice you don't salute the flags during our ceremonies. Despite all the second chances you get."

[color=orange]"Careful, P10. You'll see soon enough how far your loyalty alone gets you."[/color] Kais started walking around the ship, inspecting it. [color=orange]"Omar's been in talks with the Sheikh. You have to show [i]results[/i], else the funding tanks, now Layla's... retired."[/color]

A silence fell between the two. They still couldn't really stand each other. They were like a cat and a dog. A lapdog, if Kais had anything to say about it: Hamid, the pride of the Union... and Kais. 

[color=orange]"But Amy's slipping,"[/color] Kais continued. [color=orange]"Like she's lost her edge. If we can push harder, we will be in a very good position to gain on them in the constructors, especially once we hit our home advantage. This test flight's crucial."[/color] 

After a more than uncomfortable silence, Hamid finally spoke up. "Pressure's killing me." 

[color=orange]"Good... You can leave any time."[/color] 

Hamid clenched his teeth, then took his kit and embarked his ship. Some time later, flown out on the test strip, Hamid inhaled, flipped the race-mode ignition, and the craft coasted the first stretch at a comfortable 400 kph. He clenched the throttle, felt the antigrav array, the pulse drives, the drag-reducing mag field, everything align perfectly into the knife configuration they had been testing out, and the ship roared forward, the air whistling as he cut through it, its speed gauge ticking past 550... 600... 650... 670... His jaw tensed, his grip tightened. He'd show them... 680... 690...

"Six-ninety-five!" Juan shouted from the max. readout. "You've punched it, Hamid, that's a new record! Ease out!"

"Did you see that?!" Hamid shouted back over the comms. "Six ninety-five. That's mine! Seven hundred next time."

Kais stood arms crossed, and begrudgingly impressed.

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