"That does seem a little simpler than your description of biological warfare," she said. "But…what you're saying is that the world Outside is…safe?"
"Not safe," the AI corrected. "There are still a great many dangers, most of which I am actually uninformed about. But no toxic clouds permeate the air."
That sounded safe to her, anyway. Jessica13 had always assumed that the air itself was deadly, which made the entire world terrifying to live in. Only in the Bunkers could people breathe the air without worrying that they were being poisoned. Only in Sanctuary, if you did as you were told and helped the community, were you safe.
"It’s odd to think that the AIs and the folks in the science levels didn't realize that the air is safe to breathe," she said. "You'd think they would want there to be more air."
"My data suggests you have not exited the bunker without a protective mech," Mini replied. "That would suggest that others would have done the same. How could they have known that the air was safe to breathe?"
"They run resource extraction operations every six months." She tried to follow the movements of the mech as they headed deeper into the minefield and continued to remove the exploded ordinance and replace it with new ones. "They're supposed to run tests out here to make sure nothing potentially lethal gets into Sanctuary. They should know about this."
The logic of it was unmistakable. In light of what the AI had told her—and as far as she knew, they weren’t capable of lies—everything she had assumed had, in fact, been based on a lie. Or, she reasoned, if not an outright lie then at least an omission of truth, which was much the same thing. For the life of her, she couldn’t think why, though. Unless it was a matter of control?
That seemed uncomfortably sinister, but the thought made sense. If the folks in Sanctuary could be kept in ignorance, no one would question the rules or try to initiate changes. They would all continue to uphold what they believed to be the only way to stay safe and those who made the decisions could do what they wanted with impunity. It was a terrifying thought that struck out of the blue and left an acidic anger to roil in the pit of her stomach.
There was a pause in Mini's operation of the mech, and Jessica13 could hear the whirring of gears in the back that told her the processor was running hot and needed to be cooled. She focused on that to push the discomforting thoughts aside and waited for the AI to respond.
"The possibility that my data is still corrupted is sixty-six-point-six-seven percent when rounded to the nearest hundredth," Mini said. "There is the possibility that I could be wrong in my assertions. What happened over the duration of my inactivity could render all my knowledge irrelevant as well."
"Maybe I can look into helping you update your data banks from the hard drives we have on Sanctuary," Jessica13 said. "Wait, hold up."
"Waiting and holding up as requested," the AI replied and brought the mech to a halt. "Would you like to retake control?"
"No, but…look over there." She highlighted a speck of something she could see in the field but couldn’t quite identify.
Mini asked no questions and simply followed her line of sight to approach it without triggering any of the active mines in the field.
"What is that?" she asked as the Minato lowered to give her a better view.
"Data collected indicates….species name, Canis lupus familiaris. Commonly known as dog. Breed…unknown. Dogs were common household pets for humans and quite useful in the removal of pests, as well as physical and psychological support. Superficial studies show that if dogs were capable of surviving in this environment, so would smaller cats and other Canidae like wolves and coyotes. Studies indicate that when large numbers of genetically compatible animals occupy the same ecosystem, they have a better chance of surviving a dangerous environment due to the altered size of the gene pool."
"Well, A7 did say it was likely to be a pack of wild dogs," she replied and shook her head, not really understanding what the AI was on about. The mech moved away from the body. "It would have been interesting to live in a time when humans and animals interacted like that. We might even be able to get them to help us avoid the radiation and poison in the air. They've obviously managed to survive this long."
She spoke without thinking and immediately, her suspicions reared their ugly heads again and she had to focus hard to push them down.
More whirring of gears followed this statement and provided a welcome distraction. "That is possible and even likely. Dogs were instrumental in helping early-stage humans to survive."
"Are you all right there, Mini?" The whirring gears were a source of some concern. "Do you need me to take the controls for a while?"
"I am simply correcting data from your statements," Mini replied simply.
Jessica13 called up the processor data on her HUD. "It looks like your processor is running hot."
"Corrections run contrary to core coding," the AI said. "Overruling is…difficult."
"I'll take over from here, then." She took control of the mech, settled into place, and returned to work. "Maybe once we're back at Sanctuary, we can install a better cooling system. Have you thought that maybe overheating is the reason why you broke in the first place?"
"The possibility exists," Mini replied. "However, it is not likely."
Still, she decided she would look into that. She had the blueprint on how to fix the AI again if she ever needed to, but she had no intention to put herself through that much work again. It was better to prevent damage than to fix it, after all.
She diverted some of the cooling functions in
