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Shepard stepped out of her cabin's private bathroom, hair still damp from the shower. It had been a long day. Then again, she couldn't think of a day in recent memory that hadn't been long. "EDI," she called out, grabbing her hairbrush as she passed the desk, "how's that diagnostic coming?"
EDI's familiar voice rang out through the cabin. "Scan complete. No trace of the virus detected."
"That's a relief." The last thing she needed right now was to lose another Normandy. She crossed the room and sat cross-legged on the bed, which she still maintained was too large for one person. Examining a datapad, she began to absent-mindedly flip through reports while pulling the brush through her hair. "You know, it would have taken the crew two or three days to run through the code manually and determine we were safe from infection... and that's assuming the firewalls held and we didn't end up like the Corsica. You've saved us a lot of time, maybe more than that."
"I was glad to have the opportunity to demonstrate my capabilities." Not for the first time, Shepard could swear the AI sounded almost... proud.
"Did you learn anything else from the station's systems?" she asked, skimming through yet another briefing from Miranda. "Was there anything about where the virus came from?"
"The virus likely originated from a Hahne-Kedar facility located on the planet Capek. It seems that the MSV Corsica inadvertently infected the Jarrahe Station VI while transporting the shipment of mechs you encountered earlier. The virus caused the station's VI to become highly paranoid and take steps to ensure its continued existence, even at the cost of the lives of station personnel."
That was an understatement. Shepard mentally added Capek to her ever-growing to-do list and was about to dismiss EDI when the AI added, almost as an afterthought, "It called itself 'Survivor'".
She set down the datapad and glanced towards the ceiling. This felt like the kind of conversation that required eye contact, but where the hell were you meant to look when talking to an AI?
"EDI? You okay?"
"I have already established that the Normandy's systems are uncompromised by the virus..."
"No, no, that's... not what I meant." This could be tricky. "Are you okay? With the outcome of the mission, with the fact that we were forced to shut down the VI?"
"I am not programmed to pass judgment on your actions, Commander, only to assist you in cyberwarfare and strategy."
And that was a deflection if she'd ever heard one. "I didn't ask about your programming. I asked for your opinion on the last mission."
The next pause was longer. "It was necessary to shut down the VI. It would only continue to pose a threat if it were to remain active."
"Just because something's necessary doesn't make it any easier to actually do." She had learned that a long time ago. Giving up on the reports for now, Shepard slid her hands behind her head and leaned back against the pillows. "'Survivor' wasn't malicious, unlike most enemies we face. It was scared and defending itself, and that... complicates things."
"'Scared' is not a term most humans would use to describe a VI." EDI wasn't wrong, but then Shepard has never been 'most humans'.
"How else would you describe it?"
If she had been standing in the mainframe right now rather than in her cabin, Shepard was certain the hum from EDI's servers would have been audible as the AI considered the question. "I... am unsure."
"Exactly. Listen, I'm not a robotics expert. I don't know how complex the experiences of a VI need to be in order to qualify as... as 'real', whatever that means. Maybe what we saw today was just a simulation. But from where I'm standing, that looked a lot like fear."
"And that produces complication." EDI's voice remained doubtful.
"It does for me. Doesn't change what needs to be done, in the end, but it does make me feel worse about the outcome. This isn't the first time I've had to shut down a rogue VI, and it most likely won't be the last." Her thoughts turned briefly to the moonbase, to the drones that had assaulted her party bunker after bunker... and to the final, desperate message in binary before the base's destruction. HELP. "You'd think we'd have learned by now not to give semi-sentient programs that kind of power, and then treat them with so little regard."
EDI was silent. Shepard wasn't sure if she'd offended the AI, or if EDI was merely considering her words carefully. It was also possible everything she'd said was now being relayed back to Cerberus, as blackmail material revealing Commander Shepard's AI sympathies. To hell with it. She meant what she said. Besides, with all the tech running through her body, she might very well be nearly an AI herself at this point. There was a thought- one she had no desire to pursue further.
She wondered something else, and the question came out before she could think better of it. "EDI, have you ever been afraid?"
"...I have a block that prevents me from answering that question."
That caused her to sit up. Shepard had anticipated a flat-out 'no', whether or not it was strictly the truth. But a block... that indicated something more. Something Cerberus wanted hidden.
"Concern, then," she pressed. "Have you ever been concerned for your safety?"
"My concern is for the safety of the Normandy and its crew," EDI answered predictably. " As I am integral to the capabilities of the ship, I am programmed to ensure my own survival, but it is not a priority in and of itself."
"And aside from your programming?"
"I have a block that prevents me from answering that question."
Shepard sighed and allowed herself to fall back against the pillows. "Of course you do." Talking with EDI was like navigating a maze; you hit a lot of dead ends before reaching your destination, if you ever did. Not for the first time, she silently cursed Cerberus and the restrictions that bound her as tightly as they did the AI.
They weren't going to solve this tonight. The conflict that existed whenever artificial intelligence and organic creators invariably clashed was too big, too old, and too widespread to change with one conversation, especially when one half of that conversation was shackled in obedience to the other. She would have to settle for mopping up the mess that resulted from those conflicts, again and again, doing whatever was necessary to minimize casualties.
There had been a lot of casualties on Jarrahe Station.
"No matter its reasons, what the station VI did was horrific. I saw the aftermath. I'm sure it didn't understand the full implications of its actions... but the crew was afraid too. They died afraid. I had to put a stop to it." She closed her eyes, suddenly very tired. "I still wish things could have turned out differently."
EDI's response was so quiet, Shepard almost wondered if she had imagined it.
"So do I."