Tuesday, September 1st, 2048

To my surprise, I received a phone call from SHOCKS the next morning. They wanted me to assist in a Mack interrogation. Which gave me a very bad feeling about Arina’s safety. With barely restrained fury I answered “Which Mack, and why do you need help with interrogation?”

Fortunately, it turned out that my concerns were unfounded. At least where Arina was concerned. SHOCKS had another Type 42 lying around, and apparently an earlier interrogation attempt had brought some success but almost burned the Mack-brain out. The Mack had been put into storage then, but now they hoped I could help them with a second attempt. So was there another girl to rescue?

I hurriedly printed a copy of the hardware I had needed to interrogate Arina, then jumped in my van and set off for SHOCKS. Arriving there, I was immediately guided to a lab where the Type 42 was strapped to a table. While she still had her head, the body was ripped up as badly as Arina’s old Mack body after my Fours had taken her down.

A dozen blinking red lights around the room flashed over LED signs that read ‘Nanite Annihilation Field Active: Magical Girl Presence Forbidden.’ High up on the side of the lab was an observer room from which people could watch what was going on.

Benjamin was there again, and another guy named Devin. Together they were supposed to be the experts on Mack computing systems. I asked Benjamin “What is a Nanite Annihilation Field, and how does it work?”

“Unfortunately, I only know that it sabotages nanites while leaving other tech mostly alone. It is Advent tech which nobody here seems to fully understand. Its purpose is to suppress the nanites these pseudo-MGs use in their weapon systems.”

I subvocalized to Elya “Try to find out more about that field.” Then I asked Benjamin and Devin “How did you perform the interrogation last time?”

Benjamin: “I run a sort of DOS attack on weapons and motor controls, Devin tries to overload its processing capacity. We observed that this is a way to force answers out of the Mack, but we don’t understand the mechanics behind it. Arthur over there will ask the questions, like the last time we did this.”

“I might be able to handle this without deliberately overstressing its brain. I understand you almost destroyed your interrogation object last time that way. But I need a fast connection to the Mack brain.”

They looked at me sceptically, but agreed. Devin said “OK, let's try it your way first. But I’ll watch and if things look suspicious I’ll start my pressuring software.” Benjamin indicated that I could use the cable access he already had connected to Madame Mack.

That connection is adequate.

Subvolalized: “Same drill as with Arina: Block the control software and emulate her volition as well as you can.”

To the boys I said: “I’m ready.”

Arthur flicked a switch and the Type 42 came online. Its eyes flickered red and yellow for a bit, settled on red and the cybergirl ground out “Flame Arrow.”

Nothing happened. Benjamin’s interference worked.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

I am getting valuable data here. But the Mack brain is indeed damaged and will deteriorate further over time. It is a matter of hours until irreversible personality loss in the digitized person will set in.

I subvocalized “Emergency copy then. Grab everything, the human consciousness has priority.”

In the meantime, Madame Mack started ranting but Elya shut her up quickly. “I am the end and the beginning, your doom aprrrr….”

Silence from Madame Mack. I interjected “I’m overriding the overseer software now, but it seems the hardware is slowly going downhill. I’d like to make a full copy of what I can while there is time. Please leave the Mack on at the end of the interview, I will handle the rest.”

Arthur started asking questions, and I let Madame Mack talk. Her way of expression suggested that she was very young, among the youngest MGs I had met so far. It was painful to listen to the distressed voice of the girl, but interrupting the interview now would be a bad idea. There might be no second opportunity for saving her.

Eventually Arthur was satisfied and everybody looked at me questioningly.

“Copy is still ongoing and might take another hour.”

Cyberbrain is measurably deteriorating. Madame Mack cannot afford time for other activities than being copied. I’m freezing her normal thought processes to free up bandwidth for copying.

Fifty minutes later:

Almost done, but error rates are rapidly increasing. I’m underclocking her brain now, that appears to increase stability.

Another two minutes later:

Copy complete. We lost a few megabytes to data corruption, but a digital image of the human mind has some redundancy. A few memories might be paler, a bit of knowledge may be lost, but Madame Mack is still herself.

I subvocalized back: “But could we build a replacement brain?”

That would be doable. The version I recommend would require Class I Computation Devices, a brain emulation software from that class and the GhostShell Mk II blueprint, for a total price of 4250 points.

The GhostShell provides the large capacity needed by a human consciousness by using many, many layers of very energy efficient circuitry. Estimated power consumption is 50W. With a suitable heat distribution system to spread the 50W throughout the body, it could nicely simulate human body warmth. Build time would be 33.8 days on your fabricator.

I kept subvocalizing. “How does the capacity compare to a human brain?”

In the top two percentile in terms of the complexity of thoughts it can handle. Speed wise, eighty percent faster than the average natural human brain. Overall, she would be quite smart with excellent reflex speed.

Keep in mind the GhostShell was not designed to make you into a superintelligence. Its purpose is to give an adequate replacement for what you lost. Serious upgrades are available for serious point investments and currently unaffordable for you. Let alone the manufacturing issues.

So far so good. Now I needed a potty break and had to figure out how to organize a new life for Madame Mack. Which was an interesting challenge. I was not really ready to be a substitute mom for a traumatized teenager, especially one with the social handicap of being a robot in a world plagued by a robot invasion. Perhaps SHOCKS would be the best choice again.

In the subsequent conference I announced “I have copied the vast majority of the uploaded personality, but there was some minor data loss because of the Mack brain breaking down. I am, however, optimistic that it will lead only to minor memory loss.

“Building a replacement brain is possible if time consuming. I am willing to provide the blueprints, and once the hardware is ready, I’ll come around to transfer the digitized mind.”

B.S.O.D asked “And how long would building take?”

“33.8 days. But SHOCKS has had its own fabricator since February, so that should not be a problem, right?”