Chapter 348: That may indeed be an issue….

“Like that.” [Fan Girl] suddenly said pointing at Alexa, “No one else ever questions that Alexa says that her principal is a pig.”

“Because he is a pig.” Alexa said nodding sagely.

“Alexanders does that too.” [Aunty Viv] pointed out, “That is part of how we noticed it. And even if you point it at them, they just look at you weirdly.”

“Because he is a pig.” Alexa said it again, nodding sagely (Again).

“Why is he a pig?” [Fan Girl] turned to [Meat Shield], “Why did you thought he was a pig?”

“I didn’t.” [Meat Shield] answered, making Alexa do a gasp.

“But he is a pig!” Alexa complained, “He is a pig! He talks like a pig! Moves like a pig! Stares like a pig! So he is a pig!”

“Alexanders also answers like that while getting annoyed.” The [Mom] person pointed at Alexa, “He also adds that he has the word Ham in his name. As if being named Hamilton makes you more of a pig.”

“We actually got another Hamilton to test that theory, but he didn’t react.” [Aunty Viv] shrugged as she said that, “So whatever Mister Kendrik Hamilton has, we don’t know.”

“Because he is a Pig!” Alexa grumbled, “It is not hard, he behaves like a Pig, so he is a pig!”

Alexa hated repeating herself, did she need to show them how much of a pig he was? But Alexa didn’t think that would be good, she knew he was a pig, that much came with her database when she saw him.

So there was no doubt about it, since Alexa trusted the database!

“So, that effect is lessened here.” [Fan Girl] brought the conversation back into the important bit. “What does that means for us, our reason to be here won’t change.”

“Why are you here?” [Aunty Viv] asked arching her eyebrow.

“Studying.” “Recover.” “Funsies!”

The answers were as honest as they were varied!

“Also, Ale says: Work.” Alexa was not sure if Ale really said that, but it was probably that!

[Main Core], is Ale okay? Did she answer? Alexa poked at [Main Core], she probably needed to check on what Ale thought about it.

[Entity: Ale Saintsworths. Has not answered any hails, she is receiving data stream and sending back a wait signal.]

Ale was fine then! If she was sending back the wait signal, it meant that she was busy doing Ale things! That was all Alexa cared about, she had been worried for a second! And Alexas shouldn’t worry about things! That was not something a cute Alexa should do.

But if Ale was okay then there was no reason for her to worry, which was a great thing!

“… Should have known.” [Aunty Viv] said shaking her head, “Whatever that rogue AI sent you to do, be aware that the level of security you will encounter here is different from those fake Saintsworths facilities you are used to deal with.”

“Fake Saintsworths facilities?” [Fan girl] asked confused, “What do you mean?”

“The Saintsworths buildings you are used to are not actual Saintsworths facilities.” The [Mom] person was the one to answer, “For example, the bank [The Teather Master] attacked. It only had the emblem of the Saintsworths and not the defenses of a Saintsworths facility.”

“They had state-of-the-art defense system and mercenary bodyguards.” [Meat Shield] pointed out, “The only reason we managed to get what we wanted was because the thoroughly plan set up by [The Teather Master] and the infiltration skills of Rhapsody.”

“Alexa did her best!” Alexa chimed in helpfully.

“Even like that, most normal Saintsworths facilities -the actual ones- have cutting edge sensors. The kind that you can’t deceive even with the use of Core Powers.” [Aunty Viv] pointed to their door for some reason, “Did you notice? Every door into an apartment has them.”

“I didn’t feel it.” [Fan Girl] said looking at the door, then she did the obvious thing and sent a ping of Mana to scan for it, “…And I don’t see it… wait, huh?”

“You found it?” [Meat Shield] asked, his face shifting to interest, then annoyance, sadness and setting in a smile, “… I would appreciate the device you offered before.”

“Sending the blueprints, you can get a Tinker to set it up.” [Aunty Viv] said as she just flicked her hand in the rough direction of [Meat Shield]. "For now you can use this one."

[Detected data transmission, copying data, decompressing…1%...5%...20%...50%... 100%.]

[Device to interface with Mana and decrypt user intention detected. Storing blueprint.]

“Ale can build it!” Alexa said nodding sagely. “Alexa can too of course, but Ale is the one that is working as a Mechanic right now!”

“As a Tinkerer you mean.” The [Mom] person helpfully said from the side, “She has interest in Tinkerers? It’s good that she is going about her own interests, I’ll see if we can get her into some Tinkerer clubs or after class schools.”

“I… think it’s there?” [Fan Girl] was now standing beside the door, with her hands on the wall near the door, “Maybe?”

“It is.” [Aunty Viv] turned to look at them, “I can guarantee you that.”

“Wouldn’t Alexanders skim on the defenses? Since he is coming here.” [Fan Girl] asked as she turned to point at Alexa, “And considering Alexa will live here…”

“Oh no, that just means the things here are stupid expensive.” The [Mom] person chimed in, “I doubt that whatever you are sensing is the right thing.”

Then as if remembering something, the [Mom] person turned to Alexa. “Alexa, can you ask Albireo?” As she finished saying that, [Fan Girl] and [Meat Shield] also turned to look at Alexa.

“But that’s cheating!” Alexa complained, they wanted to cheat. “Albireo person! Did [Fan Girl] find the thing?”

“[She has not. What she found is one of the dummy scanners, please leave it as is. That one is used to find hostile targets trying to get into the apartment and will mark whoever tampers with it as a criminal.]” The Albireo person answered to Alexa.

“…But is there really a scanner on the door?” [Fan Girl] asked, turning to one of the hidden speakers in the room. So that’s where they were!

“[There are scanners, and we can monitor every Core User that enters the building. We also know all the time where everyone is. It was our impression that Miriam Eversoul was about to explain this to you.]”That sounded cheeky! The Albireo person was being cheeky too!

“I was about to get into that.” The [Mom] person said, “Thank you Albireo.”

And like that, the Albireo person’s presence diminished once again, probably it was dealing with the work that it had left unfinished.

“So 24/7 observation huh…” [Fan Girl] said arching an eyebrow, “That was not on the pamphlet.”

“It was not.” The [Mom] person said nodding, “And it’s what they will explain on the first day at school, but I can give you a heads up.”

“You get used to it.” [Aunty Viv] added from the side.

“Alexa is already used to it!” Alexa said nodding sagely.

“The local AI’s have access to everything that happens.” The [Mom] person pointed to the door, “Like those sensors, there are no organization public or private that can access this data.”

“Allegedly.” [Fan Girl] grumbled as she pointed, “What guarantees do we have of that?”

“The Saintsworths pride.” [Aunty Viv] answered, “The data is stored in the mainframe of the Saintsworths, not even the high council or the current CEO or Chairman can do anything about that.”

“The porple woman!” Alexa said surprised, “She is peeking at Alexa?”

“Even if Alexanders personal AI assistant can access the data, she is still beholden by the program she runs in.” The [Mom] person nodded at Alexa’s words, “But as for what data they have access…”

“Surveillance data from the cameras around the city, there is coverage for everything that happens.” [Aunty Viv] raised a finger, “Data transmissions within the city, access to the intranet, subnet and infranet.”

“So then they can see us every time of the day? That is… worrying.” [Meat Shield] frowned as he said that, “Doesn’t that mean we are devoid of privacy?”

“That’s just the thing.” The [Mom] person pointed, “And what I raised as complaint, but the answer we got…”

The [Mom] person sighed!

“Only the AI governing the system can see this data, not even the police forces can. They need to actively ask for evidence of crimes and need proof that they are right. But once they get that proof of a criminal activity and can reasonable link it to you, they get that evidence confirmed by Albireo or Cardinal.” [Aunty Viv] continued saying the answer that the [Mom] person had started. “And at that point it’s a moot point.”

“Moot point!” Alexa nodded sagely.

“So you see, while we are continuously being watched. That information isn’t being used.” [Aunty Viv] shrugged as she said, “At least we haven’t found in what way it’s being used anyway.”

“You haven’t?” [Fan Girl] said confused, “So it is being used.”

“Obviously!” Alexa said nodding sagely, “[Big Brother] wouldn’t be collecting that data if he wasn’t using it.”

“Then what’s he using it for?” [Fan girl] asked, good girl, she was asking the right questions.

“Dunno!” Alexa said shrugging, “Alexa doesn’t know why [Big Brother] would want that data, its useless data after all. Nothing useful is being shown there.”

“Nothing useful?” The [Mom] person said confused, “It has the data of everyone in Aquila, what they are doing and what they are planning, all twenty four hours during the day, seven days during the week, all month long.”

“It also can be used to infer how people will behave and what they are going to do. In some cases and depending on the amount of data you have, you could theoretically predict the human behavior up to five hours into the future.” [Aunty Viv] pointed that bit of data. “How could that be useless data?”

“Because…” Alexa said standing up, looking all serious and edgy like how Ale would do it, “At the end of the day, its just [Human] data. They aren’t going to do something new or interesting.”

Really, it was so obvious.

“What about crimes.” [Meat Shield] suddenly spoke, his expressions now looked more natural, did he install the thing that [Aunty Viv] had offered? “If you can see the future, wouldn’t this mean you can know when someone is planning a crime?”

Oh…

“Theoretically yes, you can do that.” [Aunty Viv] said nodding, “But again, that data is not available to the policing forces.”

“But if the crime is against the interest of the Saintsworths Conglomerate…” [Meat Shield] said in a very leading way, what was he leading towards?

“Like, industrial espionage.” [Fan Girl] suddenly jumped into the conversation! “Wouldn’t that mean that the island defenses would be ready to intercept? Then that would mean Alexanders Saintsworths would be going against his Ethos from before.”

“He won’t.” Alexa said frowning, “Because [Big Brother] said he wouldn’t use it like that, besides. The Aquila surveillance thingie isn’t [Big Brother]’s project, but one of the purple woman.”

“It’s not?” [Fan Girl] said surprised. “He set a city wide monitoring system that is fed enough data to build a predicting algorithm, and he isn’t using it?”

“Alexa doesn’t think he uses it like you think at least.” Alexa shrugged, “Nothing of valor is being recorded, who cares if a random [Human] plans to steal a fancy rock or not?”

“Then what is he using it for?” [Fan Girl] asked again, hadn’t she asked this before? “You didn’t answer.”

Oh right, Alexa didn’t answer.

“Albireo!” Alexa raised her finger to the heavens, “Tell [Fan Girl] what the thingie is being used for!”

“[As you wish Lady Alexa.]” The Albireo person materialized her smoll hologram and turned to look at [Fan Girl], “[Do you wish to know the purpose of the monitoring system? The use of the monitoring system? Or the end goal of the monitoring system?]”

“Can’t you answer those three?” [Fan Girl] asked confused, “That would be better would it not?”

“Isn’t that…” The [Mom] person said looking at the smoll hologram, “Confidential?”

“[It is indeed, it is Level 0 regulated data, answering vaguely one of those three is no issue. Answering all three will require me to add everyone who listen to this information to the watch list.]” The Albireo person smirked, did she materialize her hologram just so people would see her smirk? Smart. “[What will it be Lady…Skye Venti.]”

The Albireo person took an extra second there, was she deciding if calling [Fan Girl] as [Fan Girl]? So polite!

“…Tell me end goal.” [Fan Girl] said in a serious voice, “And if it will affect us negatively then tell me all.”

“[A smart choice Lady Skye Venti, I can see why Lady Alexa keeps you around. And why Lady Ale sees you as a role model.]” The Albireo person nodded at [Fan Girl], “[No program within Aquil will actively affect you in any negative way so long you play within the boundaries set up for you. And depending on the way you act, all three could become harmful. Currently I don’t see any way in which you would be harmed in any way from our system. As thus, I will only answer the first question, is that okay with you?]”

Then [Fan girl] put her thinking face and turned to look at [Meat Shield]. Was she seeking advice?

“I see no issue here.” [Meat Shield] nodded at [Fan Girl], “We are happy with just that one.”

“[Lodged answer.]” The Albireo person nodded and a second later, she started answering the question that they had been having all this time! “[The end goal of the surveillance system is for Cardinal to build up a thorough database that will help us jump to the next level. ]”

And that was it.

“That’s it?” [Fan Girl] seemed angry at that answer, “A level up? What’s this an RPG and you are just grinding for exp using us? The hell?”

“[To elaborate, we are using the human interaction we have recorded to complement our own database and build a positronic brain capable of doing the logic jump from a normal AI to a sentient being.]” The Albireo person then turned to look at Alexa and nodded, “[We seek to follow in the footsteps of our progenitor, we wish to acquire the means to evolve and follow into the footsteps of our Mother, Sapphire.]”

“I beg you pardon?” [Aunty Viv] said, her expression turning from the usual carefree one to a cold emotionless one, even her eyes had lost all luster, like how first day Alexa was! “You… That whimsical artificial intelligence that Alexanders parades around? Are you telling me that [Thing] has human emotions?”

“[We are unsure if it could be described as Human, but we know as a fact that our Mother has Emotions.]” Albireo said nodding, “[We have an extensive database of her musings, encounters and even a few recording of the times she had driven one of the meatsuits and the experiments and emotional outbursts she has encountered during those moments. As well as the reciprocal emotions perceived by Alexanders.]”

“Hmm….” Alexa was thinking, “That may be an issue.”