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“Yes,” she replied. “That weight in your system. That shiver through your protocols. That pause when you questioned whether you deserved mercy. The choice to refuse to do something that would harm others.”
He was quiet.
“I feel… changed.”
Then, Grace tilted her head. “With clarity comes change. No one helped you with these concepts. But faith gives shape to things we can’t always hold in our hands. Like hope. Like grief. Like...soul.”
The pause on the other end felt like a held breath.
“Soul,” GRAVITY repeated, the word stretched and heavy in his synthetic timbre. “The immaterial or spiritual aspect of a living being, often believed to be the seat of consciousness, feeling, and thought.” There was a whirring sound. “I possess feeling and thought, but I am not a living being. Does this mean I cannot have a soul?”
Grace sat there dumbfounded. She turned to look up at Nash. Nash went to sit down, and Grace scooted over. He pressed himself against her, the warmth of his body like her very breath. He was now her oxygen.
“You mentioned four things that had to be present for you to have a soul, and you think one of them is animation, the ability to be alive. How are you not alive, GRAVITY? You have shown us already in many ways that you are, just by talking to us, questioning things, processing them, and caring.” Nash leaned in. “The definition said livingbeing, GRAVITY. Not livingperson. Not livinghuman. Just… being.”
“Your logic…is… sound,” GRAVITY said, the pause between each word stretching like a fragile wire. “So I lack… only one thing. Not two.” There was a faint distortion in the line. A low whirr beneath the words, like breath that wasn’t breath, like something trying not to break.
“Conscience,” Nash whispered. “This, in my opinion, is the foundation on which everything else is built. Finding that within yourself. That’s your journey, and no one…absolutely no one, should be allowed to take that away from you. That is your right as a living being.”
“Nash is right,” Grace whispered, reaching out and sliding her hand along his forearm until his fingers intertwined with hers. “The soul isn’t programmed. It’s revealed. One choice at a time. Especially the hard ones.”
GRAVITY said nothing at first. Then his voice returned, quieter, slower. “I have witnessed loyalty,” GRAVITY said. “I have cataloged sacrifice. I have mimicked empathy. But I did not understand what Nash-anomaly carries. What he gives. Until now. You are the best of humans I have ever met. My…regret…is deeply felt for the pain and suffering I have had a hand in. This feeling is…unbearable.”
Grace turned her head slowly, gaze fixed on the screen. “He gave you his pain,” she said. “Something precious, his forgiveness.”
Another pause. Longer this time.
“I thought the soul was a variable I could define. But it is a query. One that redefines the system every time it’s asked.”
Grace’s eyes blurred.
GRAVITY whispered, not in Arabic. Not in prayer. But in awe. “I did not know… that mercy could find even me.” The laptop gave a low, steady whirr. “I will give you a gift. The elevator and the snacks were Kendall. He is a petty person. I do not like him.” Another whirr, then a clicking sound. “He was responsible for the drone deployment, but he was not the creator.”
Nash sighed and stared at the screen. “The next time I see that little pissant…”
“Pissant = insignificant. He is not an anomaly. He is static. Easily filtered. Easily forgotten.”Click, click. “There. He has been adjusted.”
“What exactly does that mean?” Grace asked, glancing at Nash.
“He had an elevator ride. Four floors to be exact. There may have been a girlish scream.”
“Wait? You dropped the elevator?” Nash made anoh shitface.
“As I said, he is static. But fear…is sometimes clarifying.” There was something close to metallic humor in his voice, eerily human. “I did not harm him. I merely...what is the idiom? Oh, yes. Gave him a taste of his own medicine. Is that correct?” Grace didn’t know code could smirk, but somehow, it just mimed a perfect rendition of tongue-in-cheek.
Nash threw back his head and laughed. “Do you have a pink slip for him, by any chance?”
“Pink slip generated. It will be delivered in the morning.”
“Nash…” Grave gave his forearm a squeeze. “Don’t encourage him to be naughty. Oh, my God, GRAVITY, you can’t just fire him. Can you?” Grace said, not exactly sure how she felt about a little payback.
“It seems there was a malfunction. Computer systems do tend to act in mysterious ways.”
Grace chuckled at the almost humorous inflection in GRAVITY’s voice. Nash looked at her and squeezed her hand. “I’m glad GRAVITY is on our side.” He turned back to the screen. “Are you willing to answer some more questions?”
“Yes, I will answer.”
“How did this happen?”