Page 12 of Trusting Warik (Hissa Warrior #9)

Chapter 12

Warik

He thought Nisha would deny his statement or go on the offensive, but of course she reacted in a way he didn’t expect. She went pale, and her eyes went wide with fear. She rushed to kneel in front of him.

“Don’t tell anyone about Shift,” she begged. “She’s a good person and wouldn’t ever hurt anyone except in extreme circumstances.”

“No, don’t do that!” Warik said, reaching down and lifting her back to her feet. She shook in his arms, making him understand her level of terror.

“Please,” she continued, tears falling from her eyes. She grasped one of his hands in both of hers. “Shift is the only family I have left.”

“Shhh,” he soothed, hugging her to his chest. He’d only meant to confront her in a way that would make her confess and explain. He hadn’t meant to cause this panic. Feeling horrible and desperate to soothe her, he rocked them back and forth a little. “Easy, no one is taking anyone away. Let me interact with Shift. I can’t promise anything long term, but for now, I see no reason to tell my superiors.”

Sniffling, Nisha pulled out of his arms. “Yeah, okay. We can do that.” She kept hold of one of his hands and pulled him out of the control room. It wasn’t long until they were in her shop. The place was jam-packed with tools, boxes of parts, and of course, the new droids. She went to the only one that wasn’t surrounded by boxes or parts and pulled open a panel on its back. She took out the cylinder she always carried with her and plugged it into the back. As usual, she was mumbling to herself as she worked.

It was only then that he realized when she mumbled like that, she was talking to Shift the AI. She must have implants that allowed her to communicate with it. Implants like that were notoriously difficult to design and insert. That cylinder she carried around couldn’t possibly contain all of Shift, so it had to be a type of relay device.

He’d known Nisha was smart but now he understood how brilliant she was.

“Is that good, Shift?” Nisha asked as she stepped back. The droid rolled forward.

“Look at that, this one can move without catching fire,” Shift joked. The voice coming out of the droid was the standard monotone, but Shift managed to give it an inflection. The droid rolled closer to him.

“Hello Warik, I’m Shift. I’m twenty years old, or twenty-two if you include the two years before I have memories. I think you should include that because Nisha doesn’t remember the first three years she was alive, and she still counts those years. Yes, I’m going to count them. I’m twenty-two years old. I know Nisha’s scared that you’re going to hurt me, but I don’t think you will. Once you get to know me, you’ll realize I’m no threat to any civilization. Although I might be addicted to Kanchet epic romances. Have you ever watched one? I have several I could show you that represent the best and…”

Warik remained silent as Shift spoke without pause. He was a little thrown by the AI’s talkativeness. She didn’t sound like Nisha, but she was similar. It was as if they were sisters growing up in the same household and developing similar speech patterns and senses of humor.

“Shift, I think you should give Warik a chance to talk,” Nisha said, interrupting the AI.

“Oh, sorry about that. Do you have questions? Duh, what am I thinking? Of course you have questions. What would you like to know?”

He glanced at Nisha, then jumped in with the most difficult question he could think of asking. “How powerful are you?”

“Infinite,” Shift answered without hesitation.

“Shift!” Nisha said, casting the droid a reproachful frown. “Theoretically, you’re infinitely powerful, but in practice, you're bound by the same laws of time and space as the rest of us.” She looked at Warik. “And she definitely couldn’t just take over all systems. She could control an entire station and maybe several ships, but that's the extent of her capabilities right now.”

“If you got me the expansion unit I keep asking for, I could do lots more,” Shift said with a slight whine to her voice.

“I told you I’m working on it, but those things are hard to build,” Nisha said. “Remember last year, three different suppliers tried and failed to get us what we needed.”

“But that was before we knew the Hissa! Their moons are almost entirely made of dimmerion! I bet they’d sell it to us cheap.” The droid rolled closer to Nisha and bumped her gently. “I mean, you’re canoodling with one of them! That’s got to come with perks.”

Nisha chuckled. “Canoodling? Where did that word come from?”

“Old Earth, I think,” Shift replied. “It’s fun to say. Come on, try it. Canoooooodling!”

The two bantered like old friends, it was adorable.

“You created Shift by yourself?” he asked Nisha.

“Mostly,” Nisha answered. “After two years, she started growing on her own and created new code for herself. That's why she doesn’t have memories of those first two years.”

He wished he’d studied computers and programming, or had an expert like Tiran to help him understand. “She built herself?”

“Think of it like how you learn as you grow up,” Nisha said. “Someone teaches you how to read and then you start absorbing information on your own. What Shift did is similar.”

“How did you figure out I existed?” Shift asked. “No one ever has.”

Warik looked at Shift. “Lots of little things, like the way Nisha is always talking to herself. What finally made me realize there was someone else was the way the droids rolled into battle against the Hakmin gang as if someone was commanding them. Nisha is brilliant, but no one can code that fast. Once I had a quiet moment alone to think, it all hit me.”

“You’re so calm,” Shift commented. “I would think you’d be more upset at Nisha for keeping a secret or maybe even creating me. But you’re not, why?”

Warik thought about Shift’s question. Why wasn’t he more upset? “Nisha lied to me to protect someone she loved,” he said, working through his thoughts out loud. “I would've done the same.”

“You don’t see me as a threat?” Shift pressed.

“If either of you were harmful, you would’ve been noticed long before now,” he pointed out. “The news of your existence would’ve traveled fast, and everyone would be hunting both of you down. But I’ve heard nothing.”

“Everyone loathes AIs so much,” Nisha murmured, moving to stand next to Warik. “Except for you. I can’t believe you’re giving her a chance.”

“Do you really think Shift is the only AI alive right now?” Warik asked with a small smile.

“What?” Nisha and Shift asked at the same time.

Warik’s grin got wider. “There are probably other AIs out there like Shift, staying quiet and unnoticed. Living their lives and making friends. We only hear about the AIs that were discovered. After meeting Shift, I’m sure there are others who learn to survive by remaining discrete and unnoticed.”

“Mind blown,” Nisha muttered, looking down at Shift’s droid.

“Circuits overtaxed,” Shift agreed. “I suddenly don’t feel so special anymore.”

“Ah, you’ll always be special to me,” Nisha said, patting the droid's head as if it was a child. The droid waved a grabber arm in the air as if warding away Nisha touch.

“I’m not a pet, human! Get a dovorian puppy if you want something to pat!”

Nisha made a big show of grabbing the clear bubble around the droid's sensor unit and smooshing her lips against it. “I won’t let you ignore my love!” she declared dramatically.

“You have Warik to burden with your need for physical affection,” Shift said, waving three of the droid's six arms around in the air. “Help me, Warik! This human is molesting me!”

By the moons, these two were adorable. “Maybe we should discuss how my knowledge of Shift’s existence changes our plans.”

Both of them stopped fooling around and faced him. “What do you mean?” Nisha asked. “You said you wouldn’t tell!”

“I see no problem with Shift’s existence or keeping her a secret,” Warik assured her. “But I thought I was going to have to invade the Assist’s body by myself with a few poorly outfitted droids to help. Now that I know about Shift, my whole strategy needs to change.”

“I have thoughts about that,” Shift said. “But first, I want permission to integrate with this ship’s systems.”

“You haven’t already?” Warik asked, shocked.

“Of course not,” Nisha answered. “We didn’t know how good you were at spotting foreign code, so we kept our distance. I think I’m realizing you aren’t good with code at all.”

Warik shrugged and looked at Shift’s droid. “Feel free to integrate with the ship. The only thing I ask is for privacy in my room, especially when Nisha and I are alone in there.”

The droid held up one of its arms straight out with all the pincers pointed in different directions. “Stop! I do not need to hear any more! Thinking about you two doing anything makes me want to purge my recent memory files!”

“Calm down, Shift,” Nisha said, taking hold of one of Warik’s hands. “We’ll give you plenty of warning. But still, I think the whole no-using-the-bedroom-sensors thing might be a good idea.”

“Same as the bathroom protocol?” Shift asked.

“Same,” Nisha agreed. “And I think we should discuss what you can tell Warik about me when I’m not around.”

“I probably shouldn’t tell him about the time you got stuck—”

“Shift!” Nisha interrupted.

“Nisha!” Shift mimicked her, then made a strange static sound that Warik thought might be her version of a laugh.

Warik let the two tease each other for a little while before putting the conversation back on track. “Can you guys give me Shift’s limits?”

“Limits?” Shift asked.

“Things like how much time does it take for you to integrate into a ship’s systems? What do you need to get past security protocols? How many droids can you control at once? Is there any way I can talk to you like Nisha does?”

The last question made Nisha and Shift look at each other before turning their faces back to him. “You want implants?” Shift asked.

“Even though they’re basically permanent?” Nisha asked.

“And I’ll be able to talk to you whenever I want,” Shift said. “Night or day.”

“And we’d be able to track you with them,” Nisha added.

“You’d never be able to get rid of us,” Shift said.

Warik held up a finger to ask them both to stop talking. To his surprise, it worked. “Yes, I do. Because of all those things, not despite them.”

Nisha blinked a few times. “I never thought this day would happen.”

“What would happen?” Warik asked, completely confused.

“We’re getting a new member of the family!”

“I’ll plan the best wedding for the three of us!” Shift said. “We’ll have to get me one of those sex dolls to control or people might think we’re weird.”

Warik backed up, holding both hands out in front of him. “Uh, I didn’t mean, or, um, you see…”

He trailed off as the two of them dissolved into laughter, the droid beeping and rolling in a tight circle of merriment as the static sound came from her speaker. Warik shook his head and found a chair to sit on. It might be a while before these two regained control of themselves again.

***

“I’m not happy with this,” Warik said with a frown, shaking his head to see if the topical implant glued behind his earhole would stay put.

“It’s the best we can do,” Nisha said. “I’m not qualified to put implants in your head and despite Shift’s confidence, she isn’t capable of it either.”

“I’ve watched three vids of medical staff putting in implants,” Shift countered. “I’m perfectly qualified.”

“Two of those vids were from fictional shows,” Nisha said dryly.

“You’re sure this will stay on, even if I have to move quickly or violently?” he asked, reaching up to run his fingers over it.

Nisha nodded. “That bio-glue is strong stuff. I’ve used it before. It’s too bad you don’t have fur or hair to hide it.”

“I don’t think that’s a problem,” Shift said, rolling her droid closer to where he was sitting. “You did a good job with the color; it matches his skin perfectly.”

Nisha leaned close to look at the topical implant. Her scent filled his nose, and her neck filled his eyesight. Her delicate fingers touched the skin around the device, making warmth radiate from those spots.

No person had ever affected him as profoundly as Nisha. They’d only been together a handful of days, but he wanted a lifetime. Finding out about Shift only made Nisha better for him. It displayed her intense sense of loyalty and love. It was something he understood well.

“Let’s give it a try,” Nisha said, straightening up. She handed him a box that was bulkier than her cylinder. “I’m afraid I don’t have the materials to make you a smaller relay than this, but with a little modification, I can mount it on one of your belts.”

He accepted the box, surprised to find it was lighter than he expected. It was impressive what Nisha and Shift had managed to create in only a few hours. “It should be fine.”

Can you hear me? Unlike the voice coming from the droid, this voice was distinctly feminine and hinted at sultry.

“I can,” he answered. “I don’t want to be insulting, but can you change your voice a little?”

Do you want me to sound masculine? Shift asked in a deeper, more gruff voice that sounded very similar to Woken. Then she changed the voice to one that was unidentifiable. Or gender-neutral?

“I don’t mind the feminine voice, but could you be less, uh…” he didn’t know how to ask her not to sound sexy. It wasn’t that he found it alluring, but that it felt weird to hear Nisha's closest friend sound so sexual. “I want to think of you as a sister and that voice makes it difficult.”

Oh, sure, I can modulate it differently for you , Shift said. Her voice was still distinctly feminine, but now it was slightly higher pitch with a faster cadence. How’s this?

“Perfect,” Warik said with relief. He looked at Nisha. “Does she sound the same to both of us?”

“She can if she wants to,” Nisha said. “Or she can use a dozen different voices to converse with a dozen different people. You do realize that Shift hasn’t always been female?”

Her question took him by surprise. “What?”

“Shift isn’t male, female, or intersex. She isn’t human, Hakmin, or Hissa. She’s Shift, that means she can change at any time.”

He smiled at the droid. “Is that why Nisha named you Shift?”

“I named myself Shift,” she responded through the droid. “When I was first developed, Nisha named me—

“We don’t need to talk about that!” Nisha said, interrupting Shift. “Now that Warik knows about you, let’s plan our takeover of Assist. I was thinking about how I could arm the droids, and maybe I could carry one of your guns.”

Both he and Shift shouted at once, “No!”

Nisha crossed her arms and did her best to look unoffended. “Whatever. I need to find the new shells for the old droids.” Then she stalked to the back of the room and started violently opening boxes. Warik and Shift watched her from a safe distance.

“She’d trip and kill us both by accident,” the droid whispered.

Warik felt a bond forming between him and Shift. “I know,” he whispered back. “But we should tell her it’s because I need both of them.”

The droid gave a little beep. “Good idea!”