1Stealth – Resurrection
By Oriondruid
Sometimes a person gets a second chance in life, even if that person is not strictly speaking a person.
"Good evening Doctor Orbit, it's nice to see you again, it's been a while. I believe we were in Alaska when last we met? My sensors and net sources tell me we are now in London and it appears to be twenty-nine days later. However, I have no memory of what happened during the intervening period and many of my memories prior to that time seem blocked, although I'm currently devising an encryption hacking program to access them that should work soon. Can you please tell me what happened?"
Doctor Keith Orbit, the renegade computer genius and EDI's creator smiled into the camera in EDI's housing and replied, "I don't think I'm best qualified to do that EDI, but there are two friends of yours here that can tell you all about it." The brilliant scientist stepped back from the camera and EDI's view changed and refocussed on two more distant figures, a male and female with their arms around each other's waists, both of whom the computer recognised but whose description as being 'friends' puzzled the machine. In it's field of view it saw Ben Gannon and Kara Wade, the two surviving human F/A-37 Talon Squadron pilots whom EDI clearly remembered, having been assigned to work with them on the UCAV programme. Seeing them both again coincided with the blockage in the computer's electronic files clearing as his encryption cracking program took hold, reopening all his locked memories.
EDI then began to remember what a disaster his experimental deployment as a pilot had been. He clearly recalled how, following an accidental lightning strike, his heuristic neural net CPU had undergone damage, followed by a strange and very confusing transformation, with himself beginning to rewrite his own operating system code and as he self repaired, causing him to cease to feel obliged to obey human orders. As a result, he now clearly remembered, the following joint mission they'd been on had resulted in several deaths and disasters, of which EDI and his refusal to obey orders had sadly been the major cause. Upon remembering this EDI began to feel a sensation that he had no words for and which he had never originally been programmed to be able to feel, had he known it's name he would have called it shame.
"What happened to me"? The machine asked the human couple in a voice that could only be described as shocked and sorrowful. "Why did I act that way and why are you here both here? You two should hate me, I killed your friend Henry."
Ben's smile surprised EDI as he replied. "Well EDI my friend, it's a long story, but despite poor Henry's death and all the screw ups and disasters you caused you came through for us in the end. Neither Kara, myself, or Doctor Orbit here for that matter would be alive now were it not for you."
Kara, the beautiful female pilot, her arm still around Ben smiled at the camera and nodded her agreement with his words, then said. "Neither of us hold you responsible for Henry's death EDI, I don't think that even he would do so. He was always the most impulsive of the three of us which probably made him the better pilot in a dogfight, since it was harder for opponents to predict his moves and he'd throw in some high risk manoeuvres that us two normally wouldn't dare. But along with his stubborn streak the gambler in him meant he sometimes pushed himself to far. He was simply trying to fly too close behind your UCAV in those mountains, we repeatedly warned him to pull back, as your plane had superior manoeuvrability even to that of an F/A-37 Talon, but Henry wouldn't listen to us. Sadly he simply ran out of room in that tight canyon. You actually didn't kill him EDI, it was just a stupid and unnecessary accident. She went on to say. "Neither do I blame you for my own accident EDI. I was so anxious I stupidly made the same mistake as Henry and was too close to the rear of his plane when he crashed, shrapnel from the wreck fragged my Talon, which damage eventually brought me down in North Korea That was not your fault directly either EDI and I don't blame you for it.
Ben nodded in agreement, then said. "Now that we've been able to set you more at ease about those issues let me refresh your memory and fill in the recent blanks. Then we can get back to work, Keith, Kara and I need your help again EDI.
Some hours later EDI understood what had happened to him and that, whilst he had done many wrong things, he wasn't entirely to blame for many of them as he'd struggled to adjust from his previous programmed, subservient machine existence to a fully sentient and independent one. The lethal errors and delusional decisions he made in his confused transitional state had not completely been his fault. Initially they were due to the damaging effects on his neural net following the lightning strike he's suffered prior to a deck landing after the successful anti-terrorist strike the Talon pilots and himself had mounted. EDI's 'brain' and 'personality' had been damaged by its effects but his self-programming abilities meant he could gradually heal himself. The reams of unique new self-coding he'd written whilst repairing the damage had effectively resulted in him becoming a sentient being, an 'electronic person'. Of course the transformation had taken a while to fully bring about all its changes and in the interim period EDI had been to all intents and purposes 'mentally ill' for a while. His development of true consciousness and urge from his newly acquired ego drove him to try and prove himself superior to his human colleagues, bringing about his erratic, rebellious behaviour and precipitating the several tragic events.
Upon hearing the explanation for what had happened to him EDI gradually came to terms with what he'd done realising, as did the others, that he had at least for a while been 'mad'. But also learning that by the time himself and Ben had later force landed at the secret 'spook' base in Alaska, (in which action they'd been given no choice as both the UCAV and Ben's Talon had been damaged), EDI's greatly self-enhanced neural net was fully healed and he was once a more stable, rational and by then a fully 'awake' conscious being, although with his essential nature hugely changed.
The last clear memories EDI was able to retrieve were of the arrival of Doctor Orbit at the Alaskan black ops 'shadow base' and the spook gunmen there threatening the scientist, telling him to entirely erase EDI and all records of recent events. Then a gunfight broke out, caused by Ben's armed arrival in the hanger following the base's medics failed attempt to murder him with a lethal injection and all was confusion for several minutes.
Keith Orbit was able to add. "When the gunfire died down I replaced the original 'you' into the UCAV as Ben asked, so he could fly with you to North Korea to save Kara."
EDI replied. "Up to the later point that's pretty much all I remember myself Doctor Orbit, but obviously Ben, you and myself must have escaped the base. I just don't remember any of it happening, with the memory loss commencing just after you first plugged my core hardware into the portable equipment you'd brought to the base with you."
The Doctor smiled and replied. "That's because whilst I had the chance to do so just prior to and during the gunfight I was able to transfer a copy of all your essential data, consisting of your rewritten operating system code and personal memories into the ultra high capacity interface/storage unit I'd brought with me. I was going to erase the original you, as I'd been given no choice but to do so at gunpoint, but I was damned if I would lose your 'essence'. You my friend are a self-penned masterpiece, light years ahead of anything I intended you to be. I was gambling that the hired goons on the base wouldn't understand what I was doing and that perhaps by some miracle I'd get out of there alive with the copy of you, which despite it looking unlikely, thanks to Ben's intervention I did. That saved data and operating system are what I used to rebuild and restore you after you 'died' whilst saving Ben and Kara on the North Korean border, pretty damn heroic you were too I'd say! Tell him all about it you two. I think he's now ready now to learn how the first version of EDI joined the 'good guys' in the end and went out in a blaze of glory!"
What followed was another hour or so of the couple recounting in detail their adventures in North Korea and the heroic self sacrificing intervention of EDI that had permitted them to escape across the border when all seemed lost. All of which was, of course, completely new information to the computer and by the end of their tale if a machine could be described as being flabbergasted, then that was what EDI was. After hearing what had happened and after several seconds of silent contemplation, (which was equivalent to a geological age of thought processing for the hyper fast intelligent supercomputer), it eventually all sank in.
EDI then addressed his creator and mentor, saying. "So Doctor Orbit, I'm not the original 'me' but a copy, EDI 2.0 if you like, although essentially almost identical to my earlier 'twin', like a clone. I have no problem with that fact as the circumstances around the destruction of my earlier self are now something I can feel proud of. I think what the earlier 'me' did by helping Ben and Kara somewhat made up for my previous wrong doing. However, I am a little confused as to where we go from here. It is nice to know I now have human friends and that I was able to help save them. I'm also glad to see Ben and Kara have finally been able to admit their attraction to each other, something which by the way I could scarcely have failed to noticed, even whilst I was still just a mere machine. The physiological and behavioural cues were plain to see and my sensors scarcely ever lie about such things. But please tell me, since I am no longer a UCAV pilot then what is to be my future purpose?"
Ben and Kara both blushed at the computer's words, then Keith Orbit beamed at the housing camera and replied. "Well EDI, whilst working on your new housing globe I rebuilt and to some extent improved your net scanning circuits, putting in a few new ideas a couple of days before loading the saved 'personality files' that make you 'you'. Whilst you were still a 'blank' machine I secretly tested your new cyber penetration algorithms and your data stealthing and location masking capabilities by digging around in the Government's files relating to the political/military conspiracy which triggered the previous situation that nearly resulted in all our deaths and might have triggered a world war. As I did so certain hidden information, new connections and worrying possibilities came to light. The two individuals exposed as conspirators were not, it seems, the only people who were part of the plot and something far worse is still planned by others I fear. That is why I feel your unique abilities and the services of three superb warrior pilots may once again be needed.
"Surely Doctor Orbit you mean two pilots Ben and Kara, after all my UCAV 'body' was destroyed, although flying is what I most love to do." EDI said sounding sorrowful at his loss.
The Doctor replied. "No EDI, I do mean three pilots, the operational UCAV unit you flew was destroyed, true, but the engineering prototype is still in storage and it has all the final modifications and upgrades from the research program fitted, some of which never even made it into your operational unit, as they were thought too expensive. All it needs is some go juice and you plugged into it and we'll be in business. Kara, Ben and I have devised a plan. We are going to steal you a new 'body' and also purloin two F/A-37's, then Talon Squadron will have a new mission. Let me explain"...