Chapter 4: The Promise

How can an AI become human? What exactly is a human? When an AI meets every definition of "human," is it still an AI or a person?

Xida sat in a daze, subconsciously extending her right hand toward the passenger seat, wanting to touch the man who had suddenly appeared in her field of vision.

"You look a bit dazed, Xida." Yahweh closed his eyes, letting the girl's pale, organic fingers pass through his cheek, leaving behind a ripple of blue virtual particles.

"I'm just surprised," Xida pressed her lips together and snatched her right hand back as if shocked by electricity. Only after Yahweh's flickering virtual form stabilized did she speak again.

"Except for lacking a real body, you look no different from a human."

"I have neither a human body nor human emotions... Xida." Yahweh opened his eyes and turned his head away, no longer meeting those beautiful violet eyes.

"Is that so? Then why won't you keep looking into my eyes, Yahweh? Are you lying?" Xida looked at the man's profile, smiling like a mischievous child who had gotten away with a prank.

"I'm just... just don't know how to express it... I'm missing something..." Yahweh preferred to prove with facts that he would not lie to Xida.

"Then what about when you made me angry before, or made me laugh... what was that?"

Yahweh looked up at the moon through the sunroof, not looking at Xida's expression, but speaking on his own, "I don't know either. I just felt I should do it, so I did... I'm not clear on the reason."

"No logic, doing what you want to do—that's basically human emotion, in my opinion. Compared to an AI, you seem more human." Xida turned her body, took her feet out from under the seat, and propped them up on the car's center console between the driver and passenger seats, also looking at the moon through the sunroof.

"Are you comforting me? Xida?"

"How does it feel?"

"Indescribable..." Yahweh murmured.

"Ha..." Xida chuckled softly and said no more.

So the two sat in silence, both looking up at the bright moon, lost in thought.

"So what's going on, Yahweh? I plugged in the Biochip, and in the blink of an eye you appeared inside my head, watching the moon with me." Xida hesitated for a moment, then voiced the doubt in her heart.

"Have you heard of Soulkiller, Xida?" Yahweh glanced at the puzzled expression on Xida's face and continued, "In 2013, a cyber-hacker named Alt Cunningham created a technology capable of digitizing human personality and consciousness and uploading it to the network. She named it 'Soulkiller'."

"They had such awesome technology back in 2013!? Damn..." Xida was so surprised she nearly fell out of her seat. "So, the reason you're in this Biochip is the reverse application of 'Soulkiller'?"

Yahweh nodded. "Arasaka Corporation stole the research results of Alt and me, and based on that developed the Relic Crystal Yuan."

"You and Alt?" Xida interrupted Yahweh's statement excitedly, scrambling up from her seat in a few quick moves until her face was almost pressed against Yahweh.

"Her hacking skills were indeed shocking, and they attracted me just after I crossed the Black Wall," Yahweh shifted his body slightly and added before Xida could press further, "Based on her achievements, I proposed the idea of 'whether Soulkiller could be reversed to download a digitized consciousness back into a human body,' and we successfully collaborated to develop a prototype. Unfortunately, Alt was later captured by Arasaka Corporation and became the first test subject of Soulkiller... After Arasaka obtained most of the research results and the prototype, they spent decades researching and successfully developed the Relic Crystal Yuan."

"Then how did you end up inside this Biochip?" Xida touched the Biochip already inserted at the back of her head.

"This is the prototype. I hid in hibernation for decades. The fools at Arasaka Corporation were so focused on researching the Soulkiller program that they never discovered me. After developing the Relic Crystal Yuan, Arasaka considered the prototype obsolete and dumped it in a warehouse." Yahweh paused. "I don't know who put me inside a music player... so stupid..."

"I truly thank that person. Without him, we wouldn't have met, would we?" Xida picked up the music player she had just tossed aside and stroked the wooden casing repeatedly.

Yahweh smiled silently and continued, "The Relic Crystal Yuan is extremely dangerous. After the host dies, it repairs their body and, through Cyberware Erosion of the brain, invades all the host's nerves, allowing the consciousness within the Crystal Yuan to successfully occupy the host's body. The process is irreversible."

Xida stopped her hand and stared at Yahweh's profile once more. "So, if I shoot myself in the forehead right now, you will occupy my body?"

Yahweh shook his head. "The prototype is incomplete, and..." He fell silent for a moment, then spoke gently to the girl who had leaned close, waiting for the rest.

"Xida, believe me. I will not hurt Xida."

"Mm..." Xida suddenly covered her chest, turned her back to Yahweh, and her body shook back and forth, looking very strange.

"What's wrong, Xida?" Yahweh could only see the girl's red ears beneath her short hair and felt somewhat puzzled.

"Will you leave me?" Xida whispered, her back still turned to Yahweh.

"No... unless you pull me out and throw me away yourself..." Yahweh answered honestly.

"Pinky swear!"

"What is a pinky swear, Xida?"

"It's a promise..." Xida turned around again to look at Yahweh and smoothed out the messy wrinkles on her clothes with both hands.

"A promise about what, Xida?"

"A promise... we promise... to live together, grow together, and realize our dreams together!" Xida looked into Yahweh's somewhat confused eyes and smiled, her lips curving upward.

"Your silly look right now is so funny... extend your left pinky, like this..." Xida smiled and extended her right pinky as well, carefully hooking it with the man's clumsy left pinky. Their thumbs gently touched, stirring up only a faint ripple of blue particles.

Yahweh looked at their interlocked fingers, then shifted his gaze. Xida was smiling with her eyes closed; under the moonlight, she looked absolutely beautiful.

"Xida..."

"Mm?"

"I really want to become human... and then..." Yahweh stopped short, feeling confused. A surge of impulse was about to burst forth, but when it reached his lips, he didn't know how to say it.

"Shh..." Xida raised her free left hand, placing her slender, pale index finger vertically against her lips. "I will wait for you. Wait until the day you are ready to say it..."

"Okay... Xida..." Yahweh felt that unprecedented sensation fill his virtual body and gently curved the corners of his mouth.

The full moon hung in the sky, witnessing the two make a promise for a lifetime.