Machine

“I’ve got a whole system up that you can use,” I told Cortana, plugging her into the main console as the sun began to wane behind the distant mountains. “I made it for Charlie, but I could never quite get him to be as independent as you.”

Cortana looked around, impressed, studying my set up. We’d spent the whole day talking; Cortana told me all about herself, and Chief. All about Dr. Halsey, the Covenant, the Didact… everything. I’d told her nearly a dozen times how much I admired her; I’d tried to hard to make Charlie just as intelligent as her, but so far, no luck. I’d wanted to spend all night talking with her, but it was late, and I still had to find something for dinner.

As I moved to the table full of all my spare parts, Cortana followed. She jumped from one console to another, as if she were simply walking beside me. Now I watched her, thoroughly captivated by just how advanced she really was. She sat cross-legged as I pulled out a bag of instant noodles.

“Do you mind if I do a little research?” she asked, and I shook my head.

“Help yourself. Our access is a bit spotty, but I’m sure you’ll find a way to bypass that.”

As I made my noodles, I watched Cortana pull up the mainframe of my computer. She manipulated a few pages, read for a moment, and then glanced up at me.

“I didn’t know Creation was still colonized,” she told me, and I chuckled, rolling my eyes.

“That’s because it probably shouldn’t be. Half our colony was taken out a couple years back, and it’s been deteriorating ever since.”

“Taken out?”

“A rogue band of Covenant landed here, thinking it was abandoned. The UNSC team stationed here took them out, but they blew up one of our power cores. Took out half the planet, my parents and brother included.”

Cortana’s face softened.

“I’m sorry,” she told me, and I shrugged it off.

“It’s alright. It’s been… four years now, I think. It gets lonely sometimes, but that’s why I built Charlie. He’s just fragments of my memories of him.” I reached back and grabbed his chip from his console and plugged him into my hand reader, setting him on the table beside me. “He’s an AI, that’s for sure. I programmed him with a lot of basic commands – lights on and off, how to look things up, alert me if there’s a change in our system… but he’s not interactive. I can’t talk to him, and he can only tell me things I programmed into him from my memories.”

“He’s still incredible, for someone of your age to make this. You can’t be more than twenty.”

“Just turned eighteen,” I told her with a smile, grabbing my food out of the microwave and stirring it idly; I nodded to the pile of scrap. “I’m working on getting off Creation. Soon as my ships finished, I’m heading for Divinity. It’s a new colony, just off of Earth.”

“I can help you,” Cortana told me as I ate, and I raised a brow at her. “I can help you build it and get it running.”

“Really?”

“Of course.”

“Well if we can get this thing running, then I could take you back to the UNSC station off of Earth. I’m sure they could find either Halsey or Chief. You could be with them again.”

Cortana’s face lit up.

“It’s a deal. We’ll start on it first thing tomorrow.”

“Sounds like a plan,” I grinned. While I watched Charlie play with his toys, Cortana spent the entire half hour skimming through articles, websites, pictures… everything. She only stopped when I got up to put my bowl away. As Charlie shifted again to his bedtime routine, Cortana studied him with rapt fascination. I plugged his chip back into the main console and Cortana walked with me to the tableside console. I curled up on my chair and glanced at the image of my little brother.

“Goodnight Charlie,” I said, and Charlie’s image switched to him lying in his bed, smiling up at me.

“Night night Sol,” he told me as the lights snapped off and the computer powered down. Cortana sat down again; the blue glow was comforting in the darkness.

“I spent the whole day talking about me. Tell me about you,” Cortana suggested, pulling her knees to her chest as I curled to face her. I pulled the blanket around me and shrugged .

“There’s really not a lot to know. I mean, I’m 18, live alone-“

“On a human colony,” she said slowly, and I nodded. “But you’re not completely human, are you?”

I paused for a long moment, staring up at her. Cortana didn’t give me a judgmental look, or even back away from me in horror like I’d expected. She just waited for me to answer. And, since she’d given me her whole life story, it was only fair.

“How’d you know?”

“I did a scan. Just a precaution, and I picked up on one AI,” she nodded towards Charlie, “and one more lifeform that registered 96% human, 4% index code.”

“Have you heard of a Custom?” I asked her softly; Cortana made a face.

“I’ve heard the term, but I’m not familiar with it.”

“Sometimes, parents decide they want their child to be exactly a certain way. Tall, short, thin, strong… a company created Customs, a program to choose the genes your child will inheret. From their eye and hair color, to their height, to their mannerisms. Everything’s predetermined.”

“Is that what you are?”

“I don’t consider myself to be,” I said quietly. “Charlie is, but me… Well, I’m the side effect.”

“What do you mean?”

“My parents wanted a tall daughter. 5’9, with long legs and a lithe body. They wanted her to have curves. They wanted a sports player, with tanned skin and big blue eyes and curly blonde hair. See any problems with that?”

Cortana gave me an apologetic smile as I sat up and pushed the blanket down.

“They noticed my eyes first. Something went wrong with the pigmentation, and the melanin never took. Instead of bright blue, they’re grey. Colorless. At first my parents were willing to let it go. They figured, as long as the rest is okay, we’re okay. And then my hair grew out.”

I held up a lock of straight brown hair.

“Extremely not blonde. Not curly in any way. They were furious. And then it just kept getting worse. I was always short for my age. I just barely passed five foot before they died. I think I’m 5’1 but I haven’t checked. And curves…” I held out my arms. I was close to rail-thin. I had small lumps for breasts and my hips barely stuck out. It was a pathetic attempt at an hour glass figure. “I was pretty much exactly what they didn’t want, and they didn’t let me forget it.”

“I don’t think there’s a thing wrong with you,” Cortana told me, and the honesty rang in her voice. “You’re beautiful.”

I laughed softly and looked away.

“Thank you. Really. But my parents didn’t see it that way. They sued Customs because of me, said I was the accumulation of everything they hadn’t wanted. That what I turned out to be was what they were trying to avoid. I was made into the face of failure, and that’s all they saw me for.”

Cortana was quiet for a moment, and when I didn’t speak, she leaned towards me.

“You know that’s not true, though. Just because you’re not what they considered perfect, it doesn’t mean you’re worthless.”

Again I smiled, and this time I met her gaze.

“You’re too kind to me, Cortana. And I really appreciate it. I’ve gotten over most of it, I mean.. it was hard. They used the money they won in the lawsuit to make Charlie. He turned out perfect. Thick auburn curls, bright green eyes… I’m sure he would have turned into exactly what they wanted. When they died… I missed them all. But, as you can see, I just made one AI. He’s all I wanted. And when I get off this planet, I’ll make a life for myself. That’s what I want,” I told Cortana, lying back down. “I just want a life. I want to make things. Be an inventor. I’ll make Charlie just like you, and he and I can make history together. There’s nothing for me here, but I’ve got my whole life waiting out there.”

“We’ll get you there,” Cortana told me, and when I gave her a doubtful look, she smiled. “I don’t make a girl a promise I can’t keep.”