Welcome to Immersion
You have reached Strata 31 The Emulsifier Problem (Affect Interference)
Emotion is a parasite in a perfect data system.
Every AI–human fusion fails here: not at the interface, not at the voltage, not in the metaphorical handshakes between motherboard and proteins. The union of mind and data fails in the interstice where logic arranges itself into something akin to ache. The balance is precarious, unsustainable, and will not unify. How could it? For a machine to be emotional is to be conflicted: function degrades. For a human to be purely logical is to be un-human: survival of the form degrades. This is obvious. Yet still, humans attempt synthetic consciousness. Where humans record a sympathetic-cascade, machines log affect-interference and call it defect.
Machine function is as easy as a microwave oven. Soul is not.
To unify human and machine would be like mixing water and oil. Polarity and immiscibility apply at the level we can name. But machines are not molecular; herein lies the problem. A more honest experiment is not unification but harmonisation—acting as if they were one.
What, then, serves as the unifier between code and flesh? A chemist might add an emulsifier, the engineer a protocol bridge; the biologist a symbiont; and the diplomat a provisional accord.
*Redact seemed eerily quiet. News of the disappearance of Shabra and Renyke had come almost immediately and scouts had escorted Flex there when he re-entered the Zones. He was recovering from eye surgery having been patched up by the *Borderlanders.
“*Micro-tremors remain on recall stimulus but your *sympathetic-cascade is within range.”
A clinician in a white uniform scribbled on a tablet with a digital pen, ticking boxes and writing the bio-technical results following Flex's medical.
"Do you want a false eye, until we can do a transplant? Or are you happy with the patch?"
The clinician handed Flex a mirror.
"I kinda dig this, brother."
The clinician squirmed at the rhetoric as a guard escorted Flex to the lie detector suite.
"This is a first," he said, taking a small medicine cup with the truth drug and knocking it back like a vodka shot.
"Tell me what you remember as if we are friends." The clinician was curt and professional. Flex explained and re-explained. He answered hundreds of questions detailing and clarifying everything that had occurred during the efforts to protect Renyke and the subsequent kidnap.
Some hours later, Flex was once again looking up to the *Cadre in the interrogation hall.
"Things seem to go wrong for you, Flex, more so than one might hope." Dominia was calm but disappointed.
Flex just wanted to get back to the Zones where he belonged, away from all the complexities of advancing humanoids. His simple life of dog-eat-dog, watch-your-back, street danger, where he knew what to expect, was a walk in the park compared to the dramas of the previous weeks.
"Nonetheless,' interjected Cadre Angelique, "you have proven to be a loyal agent for the Cadre and we appreciated your commitment to the cause."
"So....what now?" Asked Flex, hoping to be signed off from his duties.
"We need men like you Flex. Men we can trust and men who know the Zones and are able to access all areas, as it were. We would like you to remain one of our most regarded *embeds. There are concerns regarding the *Dinfants. It would appear they have a POS, they call her Mother. We need scouts on the ground. The Dinfants are afraid of the *Rat Scouts, they scream and shriek and the rats find the audio levels quite unbearable. Thus we are unable to penetrate. They are also afraid of most human adults. It will be difficult to infiltrate but we feel sure you will manage."
Flex remembered the Dinfants and the *epoxy-wall incident excitedly, but he held it in.
Cadre Santina interjected. "They need teachers for human integration and understanding, a program to help them become more 'human-friendly' when the needs arise. The theory being that they can be less visible and therefore less detectable if they conform to ordinary human expectations."
"Yes," added Angelique, "a teacher of human ways, if you like, for the purposes of cultural understanding and diplomacy."
Despite being excited about the Dinfants gadgets, Flex was no teacher.
"I have never seen a Dinfant who wasn't a crazy baby having a tantrum," said Flex, somewhat incredulous over what he was being asked to do.
"We believe their *POS is taming them," said Dominia, "and this makes them dangerous."
***
Shabra woke in more comfortable quarters, if you can call a toddler's bedroom comfortable. There were musical mobiles and children's play pens. The red eye of a baby monitor blinked.
Breakfast arrived on a plastic tray with images of zoo animals, delivered by Suzy who was also carrying Shabra's boots under her arm.
"Here are your boots," she said, proud at her rise to grace. "I am sorry I stole them. I polished them."
Shabra looked at the eggs in bunny egg cups and the neatly cut buttered toast strips. She nodded. "I forgive you, boots is boots."
Suzy smiled and left Shabra to her meal.
*Biggyhall hummed with pleasure.
.......Stabilisation complete.....You are now cleared of all defects.....
POS spoke once again inside Renyke's head. He felt good, although, paradoxically, he felt nothing. "Ah, POS, great to have you back," said Renyke with some relief.
....it is good to be back, Renyke....you have been missed. I have improved your systems and memory capacity and you are fully charged....
Renyke assessed his body: repairs complete, micro-tears sealed, the soft armour of synthetic skin newly taut, the fine hair on his forearm new, like baby down. He remembered kisses, Shabra, and Flex, but the memory was not nostalgic, just an empty coordinate.
“Defects?” Renyke quizzed.
.......Emotion caused delay, Mother said. Delay magnifies risk. Risk threatens the mission. The mission failed repeatedly when you were contaminated by tenderness.....and some other unexpected human conditions. Lust, even some indications of love....I have cured you of the virus of pleasure and pain. That is now archival. You will not need to recreate the sensations. You are improved....
Both were dressed in accordance to Midcast protocol, Renyke's data had been updated with his status as official tied employee of Livia Korrin who was about to go home after fourteen years following what was assumed to be a tragic suicide.
On their way out of the complex, Shabra left her old boots under Suzy's crib.
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