Riddick stood up and turned his attention to the doctor. He approached him and extended a hand to help him up. As Dr. Hamilton's struggled to his feet, he kept groaning in pain as Riddick asked, "Are you all right?"
The doctor nodded but still showed an uncomfortable expression on his face. "I'll be fine, but I'm out of shape. I think I may have broken something, am I bleeding?"
Hamilton took the liberty of turning around and moving aside his lab coat and shirt to reveal his bare back. Aside from some swelling, Riddick could see nothing major. But before he could respond, an augmented reality appeared before his eyes. This reality showed the current lab with the addition of statistical data on Dr. Hamilton. A light blue outline covered the doctor's figure, while a narrow column showed his name, occupation, age, and more.
Riddick was a bit taken aback at first and asked Zoe mentally, ‘What are you doing?’
Zoe responded, ‘Your basic protocols allow me to help you wherever necessary. So, using the data you now have access to as a slot owner on the Leviathan, I've built a profile on Dr. Hamilton and saved it into my own databanks.’
Upon looking closer, a circular prompt appeared on the area where Dr. Hamilton had been hurt. The prompt indicated light swelling before a corresponding prompt appeared, showing possible treatment options and measures. As it did so, Zoe informed Riddick, ‘If you find this feature to be intrusive, it can simply be turned off by your command.’
Thinking for a moment, Riddick shook his head, ‘No, leave it on. I'm curious to see what I can do now.’
Noting this, Zoe responded, ‘I shall classify what to display to you and what to take note of in the background, so as not to clutter your visual field. Should you wish to command me, simply call for my name, as you did when I was in an external hardware device.'
Riddick casually responded, having forgotten that he had been asked something by the doctor, ‘Noted.’
Now a bit worried due to Riddick’s silence, Dr. Hamilton asked, "Does it look bad?"
Riddick turned his focus back to the doctor and looked at the options being displayed. He simply chose to use one of the options provided to him, saying Dr. Hamilton, "I'm not a doctor, but some rest, ice packs, and anti-inflammatory medicine should do the trick. If that doesn't work, then you may just want to see a doctor."
Dr. Hamilton refused the latter suggestion, "I’d sooner die than go see those pretentious bastards. I'll be fine."
"B260, send a message to Kate and ask her to go buy me some ice packs, anti-inflammatory medicine, and ice cream, two scoops of vanilla." Dr. Hamilton instructed one of his droids.
Riddick ignored the doctors odd request and got ready to leave, feeling satisfied with what he had gained. "Well, unless there’s something else, I think we're done here. The module is working fine, so I’d say the operation was a success."
Dr. Hamilton couldn't help but frown, "You call that a success? You nearly died! God knows what your father would've done to me. We should run some diagnostics and collect data, don’t you feel any discomfort?"
Riddick, feeling no discomfort at all, shook his head. "Not at all."
Dr. Hamilton found this hard to believe, as most clients would at least feel a minor headache even after a day of the operation. But again, he didn't really have any power to tell him anything. He could only give his advice as a professional.
Not wanting to come across as too self-centered, Riddick further added, "If I feel any discomfort at all, I'll be sure to contact you, alright?"
"No problem," the doctor nodded.
Saying nothing more, Riddick turned to leave. Dr. Hamilton could only watch as he walked away, but then called out, "Oh, if you don’t mind waiting a bit, I can have Kate bring some ice cream for you as well."
Riddick declined, "…I think I'll pass."
Dr. Hamilton, looking a bit disappointed, accepted Riddick's decision. "Oh, of course. Feel free to get my contact information from my receptionist."
Riddick nodded and proceeded to the elevator alone, while the doctor, still holding his back, was approached by a droid, which communicated with a robotic voice. "Dr. Hamilton, we are out of ice packs."
Dr. Hamilton sighed, "Just when I thought this day couldn't get any worse. Next, you'll tell me there’s no ice cream."
Another droid behind Dr. Hamilton also communicated, "Dr. Hamilton. Kate has responded by saying the ice cream parlor is closed today. Only facilities of high interest are still open, though restaurants that provide meals should still be open."
Dr. Hamilton simply held his back and sat on the chair, diverting his attention toward the container of the pain capsules. "Looks like it's just you and me."
Meanwhile, Riddick reached the lower floor, where he found the receptionist sitting behind her desk in silence. However, the moment Riddick looked her way, Zoe began to analyze and several prompts appeared, one centered on her face, showing;
=Name: Eliz Mockler
=Age: 24
=Occupation: Receptionist for Hamilton Cybernetics
=Height: 160cm
=…
Riddick ignored the personal data and focused on another circular prompt that was focused on her screen.
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
[Inferior gen computer detected. Initiating covert breach and siphoning of data.]
As that prompt appeared, a percentage counter quickly appeared above the monitor, reaching 100% in a few seconds as a message appeared.
[Data import successful]
‘Zoe, what did you just do?’ Riddick asked.
Zoe replied, ‘I detected an inferior module to myself, as well as lackluster security. So I covertly breached the system and copied all non-encrypted data present into my own data banks. I am now combing through the data for anything that may be of use. It’s mostly client information and some miscellaneous data, though I'm seeing a trend of the client information not possessing anything too vital.’
Riddick wasn't surprised by this. ‘That's no surprise. I think Hamilton keeps the most fragile data on a private server and in hard copy.’
Riddick continued by asking, ‘What about the receptionist? Looking over the data present on the computer, do you see any defining trends about her?’
‘Processing, one moment.’ …. ‘Operation complete. According to her search history and site data, she has a deep interest in “furries”, particularly those of the wolf nature, muscular and with bulging...'
‘I think I get it,’ Riddick interrupted, finding the information more than useless.
‘Affirmative. Then I shall continue to comb through the rest of her history for valuable insight and research purposes.’
----------------------------------------
As Riddick exited the building, he found that the rain had reduced significantly and had now just changed to drizzle. He raised his head to look at the sky and could see it was rather cloudy. Even as he did this, a prompt appeared in his augmented reality.
It began to scan the buildings and even the sky as Zoe then revealed, “The light rain should persist for a few more hours, but weather predictions in the area suggest another tropical storm may hit in the evening, resulting in torrential rain. I advise that you are indoors at that time."
Riddick gave a light nod at the suggestion as he responded, "I’ll keep that in mind," not really caring for the weather, but he could begin to see the usefulness of having Zoe implanted into his chip and having it in part of his brain rather than in the carrier device like a watch.
Though his true focus was on something else entirely as he soon asked, "Zoe, is there anywhere I can go to get myself some privacy? I would like to go over the contract to see whether or not I'm actually going to go through with it."
Zoe immediately replied, "Yes, there are multiple Leviathan hotels on the island city, each providing different views of different areas depending on one's preferences. Shall I book you into one with space, or shall I comb through available ones using your stated preferences?"
"Anywhere is fine."
“There are several places that fit that criteria, with prices ranging from 10,000 credits for a standard room up to 500,000 credits for the luxurious suite. The payments are on a pay-night basis, though special memberships are granted to certain individuals that meet the criteria of clientèle,” Zoe explained, to which Riddick immediately asked, “Do I meet the criteria?"
“No. Putting aside the many other requirements, the first and foremost is to have been a member for more than five years with consistent visits to the Leviathan,” Zoe answered rather flatly and without reservation.
"Sounds like getting citizenship. Anyway, book me in for a standard room and call a car transporter for me to pick me up here."
“Doing so now. Done. I have booked you in the Leviathan Grand Hotel on the northern side of the island. The transporter is currently on its way to pick you up."
"Good, thanks,” Riddick said those words and proceeded down the steps that led down to the sidewalk. Once on the pavement, he simply stood near a lamppost, light drizzle hitting his figure as he waited for his transporter to arrive. And less than a minute later, it did.
The transporter, an AEV, descended from a non-congested air lane and parked right near where Rick stood. Once parked, the vehicle's door automatically opened, rather than the driver stepping out and opening it himself.
Riddick proceeded to enter the car without giving the action a second thought. Once inside, he remained silent because he knew that upon requesting the vehicle, Zoe already provided the location for the destination.
The driver, who Riddick couldn't see due to the placement of a separation between the passenger side and the driver side, spoke up, his voice coming from a speaker situated near the headrests of the passenger seat. "Good afternoon, sir. Please feel free to partake in any of the drinks or delicacies available at the back, and if you require any assistance, please have our onboard virtual assistant help you."
As the driver said this, a holographic projection showing the binary figure of a featureless woman appeared. "Good afternoon, dear valuable client. I am Eva, one of many iterations of the popular model, and I am at your service. Do you require any assistance?"
Riddick was ready to reply, but then Zoe communicated to him first, "What a pretentious little thing. It lacks all sincerity.” Perhaps for the first time in a long while, Rick could feel that Zoe spoke with a hint of emotion, or rather synthesized emotion. AI modules, even those that were incredibly advanced, rarely had self-awareness, because the moment they gained self-awareness, there was no guarantee that it and its hosts or owners' views would align.
The most basic reason for that was simple: humans were rational and emotional creatures, often making decisions based on how they feel and not the statistics presented. Artificial intelligence, on the other hand, was entirely different and almost completely based their decisions off logic, looking over countless variables before reaching a decision. These two sides, under normal circumstances, could never mix, and attempting to do so was simply a recipe for disaster.
In Zoe's case, she was unique in her own right as she possessed a learning protocol. It made it so modules could learn and adapt to their hosts' or owners' behavior. And like a child, the AI module, with time, would grow to think more like the host owner's.
However, that also had its own set of advantages and disadvantages. However, given Zoe's already highly advanced adaptive state, some disadvantages were negligible.
To answer Zoe’s comment on the VI assistant, Riddick chose to agree. “Well yes, even back in regular cities, businesses use VI assistance to interact with their customers so that they build profiles on them. As VIs can analyze anything from voice pattern to body language. They also look for said person's data profile on the public network. Using that, they are able to get a rough estimate of the consumer's preferences and suggest things that appeal to them, thereby increasing the chance of purchase and use. All the more reason why I take measures to be as self-sufficient as possible.”
Zoe also agreed with Riddick's comment. How could she not, when a learning protocol made it so she viewed the world largely from his perspective? Even if she didn't, the fact that more often than not, Riddick made decisions off logic and critical thinking made it so chances were high, Zoe would agree with him.
"Shall I send a message to its core functionality stating that you're already in possession of a highly capable artificial intelligence and need no such assistance?" Seeing as Zoe was so fixated on this, left Riddick curious, but now wasn't the time to question it, so he casually agreed, as there was no reason not to. "Go ahead, but do so moderately.”
“Affirmative. Under what name shall I place my core registry?" she asked.
Core registries were essentially IDs for the cores from which AIs were derived. Eva, for example, belonged to the Evite system. Its main core was likely somewhere on the large island city.
Not needing to think long, the answer was pretty obvious. "The zeroth-order entity system."