Irric stepped off the ship, flanked by Nadi, who was escorting him as he answered Cyrix’s summons. Cyrix was already waiting for him when he stepped out of the docking bay. He joined the commander and together they went deep into ship, passing by several heavily guarded biometric security checks. Nadi was left behind at the ship, not having the security clearance to follow Irric and Cyrix. Although displeased at being left behind, she was wise enough not to pry too deeply into the on goings high command clearly wanted to be kept secret. No matter how curious she was. She wasn’t going to get any answers, and she knew it.

  The further in the pair went, the less people there were. Soon, they were walking down an empty hallway, void of any life. Cyrix guided them through a maze of corridors until he stopped in front of a heavy metal door.

  As they entered the room, Irric’s attention was grabbed by the large window running the length of one of the walls. Looking around, he noticed a resemblance to where the gru’ul prisoner was being kept. There was no lab equipment, however, and the only computer was placed in the far corner.

  Through the window in the room adjacent to the one Irric and Cyrix were in, Ava could be seen sitting in a featureless cell. Irric couldn’t spot any seams indicating the presence of a door. Cyrix strode over to the computer and inputting commands. He turned towards Irric and explained the purpose of their contact with Ava.

  “You’re here largely because you will be the one supervising Ava. We can’t afford to have other soldiers present when you’re working. There will be armed guards outside of whatever room you’ll be in, and they’ll follow you around as you move about the facility. Ava is not to be left unattended under any circumstance. The only places she is permitted to be are by your side or in this cell.” He pointed towards Ava’s seated form through the window.

  “Am I here to bring her to the facility right now?” Irric asked.

  “No. We’ve yet to negotiate her aid in our endeavors. You’re here to ensure that we get exactly what we need for you to do your job properly without granting her too many liberties. The Elders want to see what it is she wants in exchange for her service before committing.”

  “I see,” Irric said slowly, processing the news. “Am I going to be speaking to her during these negotiations, or will you be the one doing all of the talking?”

  “Ideally, I’ll be the one doing the talking. I don’t want her knowing you’re here quite yet. If you need to weigh in, let me know and I’ll turn off the communications channel so we can speak freely.”

  Irric nodded. “Understood,” he said. “What is it the Elders are looking for out of whatever deal we make?”

  “Time. They want to secure her help as quickly as possible so that we can put her to work. The Elders are really pushing so that things begin advancing quicker than they’ve been. They don’t like that your work has stalled.”

  “That’s hardly my fault!” Irric protested. “You expect me to work with alien systems that have been thoroughly messed up before my arrival. There’s only so much I can do in the time given to me.”

  “I’m not saying that you’ve done anything wrong,” Cyrix said placatingly. “It’s just that the Elders are getting snippy that there hasn’t been more progress yet. I think the discovery of those chemicals made them realize that it’s possible to get useful information out of the gru’ul systems. Now they want results.”

  “I’m doing the best I can. It’s not like I exactly have a team at my disposal to help me out. It’s just me and Tassie. That’s not a lot of manpower.”

  “I know. Which is why the Elders are so eager to make use of Ava. It’s a chance to massively increase productivity without compromising the secrecy of the mission.”

  Irric sighed. “I get it. Let’s do this then. I’m sure Ava’s bored stiff. She might welcome the change in her environment.”

  Cyrix typed away at the computer again. “I’m about to open up a communications channel now.” He punched one of the keys and an indicator light above the computer turned on. “Hello Ava, this is Commander Cyrix speaking.”

  Ava raised her head from where she sat. She didn’t bother getting up or changing positions, knowing that it wouldn’t amount to anything. “Commander,” Ava said in an even voice, “to what do I owe the pleasure?”

  Cyrix paused for a beat before answering. “We have questions. Would you be willing to answer them?”

  Ava’s eyes narrowed. “What do I get?” she demanded. “I’ve no reason to tell you anything after you’ve imprisoned me like this. There’s nothing to do. It’s maddening.”

  A small, almost imperceptible sigh was picked up by the microphone. Cyrix turned off the communications channel and turned to Irric, cursing the Elders that were forcing him to ask what she wanted rather than make her choose among options that benefited them. They were effectively letting Ava take control of the negotiations. It was as if they simply wanted to see what she would do if given the opportunity.

  Irric looked at him, slack-jawed. Annoyance was written plain as day on Cyrix’s face. “Those damn Elders and their games!” he spat, continuing his tirade. “This is going to end exactly like Adrian. She’s going to ask for something absurd. And of course, we’ll be stuck giving it to her. Mark my words, the next thing that comes out her mouth will be something unreasonable. This had better be worth it,” he grumbled.

  “What games?” Irric asked, forcing himself to speak.

  “I was explicitly ordered to do ask her what she wants first before offering anything. Which, of course, puts our prisoner in a position of power over us. How can the Tribunal expect me to do my job properly when they pull stunts like this?” Cyrix lamented.

  Irric’s expression soured. “This isn’t going to end well, is it?” he asked. Already, securing her cooperation would be difficult enough. If they also had to cater to the android’s whims on top of that, it would only make it harder.

  “Nope.” Cyrix sucked in a breath. “It’s time,” he said before opening the communications channel between them and the indicator light turned on. Irric remained silent. “What do you want in return for helping us?” he asked through gritted teeth. There. It was said. He knew there was no going back now. The Elders had better be prepared for whatever answer Ava gave.

  He made the communications channel only one way so that they could hear Ava while Ava couldn’t hear them. He waited nervously, a mounting feeling of dread creeping in with each passing second. He almost didn’t want to know the answer.

  Ava went still for a moment, her eyes blank. Suddenly, she blinked, and her vision came back into focus. “I have my answer, commander,” she said formally, then paused. “I would like to officially be considered and declared as a sentient being.”

  Cyrix and Irric looked at each other. “Told you,” Cyrix sighed.

  “I told you!” Cirrus shouted, pointing a finger at Orryn. After hearing Ava’s answer, Cyrix and Irric had excused themselves from the negotiations, unable to make a decision that big. Instead, they’d called the Elders, who were already in a meeting awaiting the results, and told them what had occurred. Cirrus had only spoken after the call had ended.

  If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  Orryn, for her part, at least had the decency to look chastised. “I didn’t think she’d ask for that!” she protested. “Out of all the things that she could have asked for, how could we have known that would be what she demands?”

  “Probably because none of our rights and laws extend to non-sentient beings,” Maraz interrupted, drumming his fingers on the table. “In order for her to get any form of protection, she first has to be eligible for it. It makes sense, when you think about it.”

  “I knew this was going to happen!” Cirrus said, her anger mounting. “This is why we should have discussed this possibility before hand. Now we’re being pressured into making a rash decision to advance our plans. Whoever heard of a sentient machine? It’s an object, not a person!”

  “I personally don’t see an issue with it,” Orryn declared. “It might be a tough pill to swallow, but we’d have to have this conversation at some point once we developed sufficiently advanced A.I. ourselves.”

  “Of course you’re ok with it,” Cirrus snapped. “Have you thought of what happens if we declare a machine sentient? The philosophical and ethical questions this raises? This isn’t the kind of thing we can do. We actually need the rest of our governing bodies to accept the idea. This needs to be ratified into law. Which then begs the question: at what point can a machine be declared as sentient?”

  “Then we simply tell them,” Orryn said. “If that’s what it takes.”

  “You want to leak military secrets to civilians?” Cirrus asked, aghast. “Even if they’re the legislative body of our faction, some things shouldn’t be known. Imagine the uproar this would cause! It would be impossible to hide from the general populace.”

  “Only the prime minister need know what we’ve discovered. She can make the decision to support us and circumvent any other people that would otherwise hinder us in our objectives. Alternatively, we can just not tell her about Ava’s existence, much like we’re already doing with Adrian.”

  “Do you want our entire operation to be leaked? Because this is how that happens. Already, the prime minister is breathing down our necks, asking what we’ve done with our flag ship. We can’t afford for her to find out what’s really going on,” Cirrus said. “Am I the only sane person here? This is too much. We can’t grant the android her wish, even if we wanted to. To properly do so would jeopardize everything we’ve worked to conceal. Not to mention the fact that we haven’t even discussed whether or not a machine can even have rights to begin with.”

  “She has all the qualities that qualify her to be sentient,” Orryn said. “Machine rights can be discussed another day. Right now, we’re operating under unique circumstances. We need the information she can provide, Cirrus. Otherwise, who knows how long it’s going to take us to crack the facility’s secrets?”

  “She’s a machine!” Cirrus said. “She’s made up entirely of metal. Manufactured. Her reaction to her environment is simply her programming. That’s not a person. That’s a thing. We should force her to work for us, period. Enough of letting our captives push us around.”

  “That would make us tyrants,” Orryn retorted. “Dictators. Is that really what you want us to become? Ava has a fear of death. She has emotions. She can reason. That alone should be enough for us to seriously consider granting her request. While I’m sure she’d work for us if we threaten her, how would we be able to trust the information she’d give us?”

  “If she lies, we kill her,” Cirrus said bluntly. “It’s really as simple as that. The android’s in no position to be making demands, yet we’re treating her as if she were. We’re the ones that should be in control, damn it all! That’s twice now you do this. Once was enough.”

  “I’m fighting for what I believe in,” Orryn said. “And I believe that Ava is a sentient being and should be declared as such.”

  “Before we can make a decision, any decision, we first need to consider if Ava can even be considered sentient to begin with,” Maraz said, weighing in. “If not, we refuse her request. If yes, however, then we’d be forced to acknowledge the fact that she does have fundamental rights.”

  “And I’m saying that we can discuss all of that later,” Orryn said, waving him off. “We don’t need to consider what her rights are to consider her sentient. We don’t need to pass a decree and get the rest of the government involved. If the time comes that her existence gets leaked, we can have this discussion again.”

  “So we’d be lying to her, is what you’re saying,” Maraz said.

  “No. We make it so that the military acknowledges her as sentient. What’s the general populace going to do, fight us over it? No. As long as we keep her away from the civilians, we should be fine.”

  Cirrus snorted. “And you said you didn’t want us to be dictators. What you’re suggesting would be the military unilaterally imposing its views on our faction. That’s not going to sit well. With anybody.”

  Orryn shrugged. “We can deal with that when the time comes. I don’t believe acknowledging somebody as being sentient is imposing our will upon the populace. Worst case, we can isolate her with Adrian and keep her where she can’t be found.”

  “You seriously want to put her in the same room as the man she experimented on? That’s a recipe for disaster. She’d most likely end up dead.”

  “I’m sure we can convince Adrian to play nice. He doesn’t strike me as the violent sort.”

  “That’s a pretty big risk. I certainly wouldn’t be that forgiving, and I’m not so sure he is either. Don’t you remember his outburst when he saw his old captors for the first time? That wasn’t fear. That was anger. Putting the two of them together is like lighting the fuse to a bomb. You know it’s going to off and that it’s just a matter of time.”

  Orryn hesitated, unable to refute Cirrus’ claim. “I think the only person who would have an accurate idea as to his reaction would be Miss Ayala, given how close they appear to be.”

  “It’s not like she’d tell us anything even if we asked. She’s already made that abundantly clear,” Cirrus said, rolling her eyes. “We need to assume the worst-case scenario if we stuff the two of them together in an isolated environment.”

  “Adrian aside,” Maraz interrupted, “It doesn’t do us any good to have Ava taken away from the facility. We can contemplate this issue if ever it actually arises later. What we need to do is determine how we’re going to respond to the android’s request.”

  Cirrus sighed. “Make it conditional then. How about we place her under an observation period while she works with us so that we can determine if her claims at sentience have credence?” She knew that was the best she was going to get. “The android needs to prove to us that she’s sentient before we can continue this discussion. So far, she hasn’t. Until then, we’re going to keep running circles around each other trying to come to a decision.”

  “I thought you were against declaring a machine as sentient,” Orryn said, her brow arched. “What brought on the change of heart?”

  “I still haven’t accepted her claims. I want undeniable proof. If she can show me that, then I’ll change my stance on the matter.”

  “What constitutes as proof then? Shouldn’t we determine that so we can properly assess the situation as it evolves?”

  The Tribunal devolved into yet another discussion that lasted longer than expected. By the end of it, they’d determined a rough guideline pertaining to qualities that described sentience. Knowing that time was of the essence, Kaius called another vote. “For those in favour of monitoring Ava for the qualities we’ve discussed on the condition that she work with us at uncovering the facility’s secrets, vote now,” he said. “Remember that this is not a commitment to an official stance on the matter of her sentience.”

  Three lights appeared, indicating the Elders’ stances on the matter. Orryn and Maraz were among those that voted in favour. Cirrus drummed her fingers on the table as she considered the proposition. They would be effectively coercing the android to work to their advantage without committing to any official response. She didn’t truly believe that the machine was sentient and was therefore not worried about Ava providing sufficient proof. As far as Cirrus was concerned, this was the best she was going to get, especially with Orryn so staunchly shoving her views down their throats.

  Kaius permitted extra time for the vote, seeing the hesitation written plain as day among the Elders that had yet to vote. All it would take was one additional vote for the motion to pass. A fourth light appeared, surprising everybody in the room.

  Cirrus smiled at the perplexed expressions as they regarded the light floating above her head. Nobody expected her to be the tiebreaking vote. When asked by Maraz about her change of heart, she simply said “It’s not we’re actually admitting she’s sentient or anything. We get far more out of this for the task of considering it. We can always deny her what she wants if she can’t prove it to us and we’ll still have profited.”

  Knowing that there didn’t need to be any other votes, Kaius announced the motion. “It’s official then. We’ll make a counter offer to Ava and reconvene once we have her answer. Should she accept, we will discuss security details with Commander Cyrix to ensure that the operation runs smoothly and without incident. We shall leave the negotiations to the Commander to ensure her cooperation. Meeting adjourned.”

  Murmurs of agreement echoed throughout the room as the images of the Elders disappeared. This time, nobody stayed behind to speak to Kaius. After ensuring that nobody else would return, he also winked out of existence, leaving the room empty once more.