There was an awkward silence. The cyborg blinked, looked at Clara, then at Amara, who looked as close to rolling her eyes as was physically possible. “You… didn’t get the memo?” She tilted her head at Mackenzie. “There was supposed to be eventually scheduled a full physical evaluation of one “Yama-uchi Chizuru” for reasons either disclosed or not.”
She looked at the woman in disbelief, then sighed. “Ah yes. Walls of bureaucracy, forever keeping us from doing our jobs. This may seem sudden, but the mission is more important than the introduction. Especially since the time of the medical staff is of great value and the crew of the Vitae is in danger.”
“Thus,” she spread her hands, “I only ask you to do what you do best. Find a malfunction.
If you can.”
There was another awkward silence until Amara decided she had had quite enough of all that. “Alright.” she commented after glancing around at the other women in the room. She wandered over to a nearby cabinet and opened it, having a quick look around until her eye landed on what she was searching for. She set it down in front of her and then rummaged around in a drawer for a second. When she turned back around, she held in her hands a small scanner and a set of needles. She then made her way back to Chizuru as she said with an obvious sigh “We’re going to need to run some tests. Blood work and such....” She trailed off as a thought occurred to her. “From the reports I read on you, you have some violent tendencies. You don’t plan to kill me if I stick a needle in you do you?”
The question, to Amara at least, had been a joke but from the corner of her eye she saw Clara tense up. The smile immediately dropping from her face. Amara did her best not to roll her eyes again.
Mackenzie was at a loss for words. She still did not know who or what this woman was. However, it was pretty clear as to why she had been called in. Though she had to admit, she was a little confused as to why Xaith was not here as well. If this was indeed vital to the Ark’s survival he would most definitely want to be involved. Annoyingly so.
Putting all that aside for the moment, she stepped forward toward Chizuru’s table. She also put aside any fear she might feel towards the woman. It was obvious that, at the moment, she harbored no ill will.
Mackenzie bit her lower lip as she analyzed the woman. In her mind, she categorized each visible technological component to what function it might hold.
“Can you tell me exactly what percentage of you is mechanical?” Mackenzie asked as Amara walked up beside her.
“Percentage?” Chizuru tilted her head. She casually took the scanner from Amara’s hands, and removed a panel to reveal a tiny disposable blood vial. “Do you want that in volume, weight, importance or cost?”
While waiting for the answer, she removed the vial, and pushed it against a needle that appeared to extend from her abdomen. “In volume, it’s about fifty-fifty,” the vial slowly filled with an unnaturally bright red liquid, looking almost like paint, “in weight, seventy five percent, in importance, hmm… the relationship is symbiotic so fifty fifty, and cost, well,”
She extended a delicate hand with the vial to Amara. It was half-full, a fairly small dose. “My blood is very durable, and can be tested upon numerous times. I also have very little of it so try to make due with what you have. Now, what is the cost of a human life to you?”
Amara was surprised when Chizuru took the scanner from her. Though she didn't object, Clara knew she was more than a little annoyed. Her jaw clenched and her eyes narrowed and Clara knew that if she and Mackenzie hadn't been in the room, she would be a lot more vocal about her annoyance. Instead she quietly steamed as Chizuru answered Makenzie's question in a roundabout fashion.
She was somewhat mesmerised by the process Chizuru went through to extract her own blood, watching with a curiosity that outweighed her annoyance. She wasn't very interested in the mechanical side of things but Chizuru's statement about her blood was very interesting to her. When the cyborg handed her the vial of blood, Amara chose not to answer her question, leaving that up to Kenzie. Instead she snatched her scanner back and wandered away to the other side of the small room, turning her back to the others. She was quickly joined by Clara, who seemed to be as interested in the blood as she was. A love of blood sure was a strange thing for these friends to share.
Mackenzie did not know how to answer Chizuru’s question. As a pacifist she had often contemplated that and had determined long ago that no life was worth more than another. She knew in this day and age that not many shared her views on such matters. All too often the few were sacrificed in the name of the many but who decided which few.
She took in a deep breath as her heart skipped a beat in guilt. She knew full well that her being here on the Ark was hypocritical if that view. It had caused many sleepless nights.
“ What regulates your actions?” She asked wondering if Chizuru still had a brain or if it was all computer controlled. “ is there a way for me to port into your systems as I'm guessing you're not Wifi compatible” Mackenzie smiled weakly after her poor attempt at a joke.
But the cyborg’s face was as serious as a grave. “Not Wifi compatible? Now listen here - “ she pointed a finger at Newton’s face, “I am
compatible with near arbitrary physical level communication on sub-hertz up to x-ray with as much channel separation as my processing power allows, and up to a hundred channels of wired arbitrary communication
without special equipment. But,” she spread her hands, “I have been keeping my RF capabilities offline since boarding, as I expect a cyber attack from the ship’s AI at any moment, and I am better at protecting wired ports.”
“So you will need something physical to interface with my mind.” she thought for a moment, then rose from the bed and walked towards the Ph.D. “Though I must wonder - computer or biological brain, when you get the data you need, when you are talking to me right now, how
sure are you of your ability to tell the difference? Is there a difference at all? Is your mind better than a computer’s because it is squishy? Both make calculations, both need energy and coolant, and with sufficient hardware overhead both will look identical from the outside.”
She stopped inches from the Chief of Robotics, staring hard into her eyes. “Are you
scared, Dr. Newton, of artificial people walking among you? Do you usually reduce others to the material composition of their central processor? What regulates
your actions?”
The cyborg didn’t sound angry, per se. But that was probably a bad sign.
