Rashi's question was met with a minute of absolute silence, as the three of them considered what to do. Sae's suggestion would almost certainly work. Supported by her hacking skills, they should be able to put together a story which could convince Internal Audit that the data was harmless. However, Rashi had quite succintly highlighted their dilemma.

Deleting the data would be the equivalent of killing the alien intelligence. Even as Nick had his doubts about a claim that the alien was alive, there was no doubt in his mind that the alien existed. What kind of existence was a question they had only started to explore. Even after loading in the additional parts of the signal data, they had only seen a small fraction of its full personality. Nick felt a small shiver moving down his back as he considered the abilities the alien were demonstrating with less than a percent of its consciousness loaded. Fear and curiosity battled inside him as he imagined what the full capabilities would look like.

And the more Nick thought about the situation, the more clear it became to him what they had to do.

With a look at the girls, Nick said, "We need more information. We cannot make this decision without learning more about the alien; what it is, what it wants, why it is here... and... is it just a copy? Does it exist elsewhere at the same time? Are there other copies that have been sent around the Universe?"

Sae looked skeptical. "I get what you are saying, Nick, but this is dangerous territory.... extremely dangerous. Every time we boot up that virtual alien, we break the AI Moratorium. Every time we boot it up, we are guilty of something that could send us all to complete reprogramming. Suddenly something we do will trigger another - and more severe - detection filter!"

"But we can't just... kill him?". Rashi was getting increasingly agitated; getting out of her chair and pacing around in the small living area, her hands moving to emphasize her points. "He has travelled across the stars, from who knows where, and he's just ... in there. In Nick's mindpal, waiting for us to speak to him. If we delete the data now, he'll simply cease to exist and never know what happened. I hear what you are saying about the risks, Sae... But Mr. Betelgeuse - Mr. Goose! - Who are we to make this decision for him?". Despite it all, Nick smiled to himself at the name Rashi had given the alien.

Sae was not smiling however. "Rashi. You are wonderful and caring, and I love you dear, but how can we put everything at risk for a digital signal?"

Nick saw Rashi drawing breath to protest again, and spoke up quickly. "I have a proposal. I agree with Sae that we are probably playing with fire here. It's not just the risk we are running breaking the law, but what about.. what if it is actually dangerous to humans? Could it manipulate us? Could it break out and take over our networks? This is something we cannot do lightly..."

"But...!" Rashi interrupted, but Nick continued; "However. This is too big to just sweep under a rug. The discovery potential is huge. We need to manage the risk; both with the Auditors and ensuring that the alien intelligence cannot cause any damage. So I have a proposal.

Let's boot it back up, and continue our conversation. We need to learn more about it before we decide. Sae, make sure the security safeguards are holding. Rashi, you are good with people. You should be able to recognize if it's trying to maniuplate me. Please listen carefully and get ready to intervene if you sense something is wrong.

Sae, can you please set up a kill switch that will turn off the virtual machine, and give access rights both to yourself and Rashi. Set it up so that you can override me if need be".

Sae still looked doubtful, but she gave a firm nod as she put together a kill switch and shared it with Rashi. "Ok Nick. I don't know if I agree, but let's extend our... experiment, for some more time. I will continue monitoring the security situation. Ready when you are."

With a hand gesture, Nick signaled to ask Rashi if she was ready too. She nodded, and Nick turned the virtual machine back on with a thought. Replaying the last part of their conversation before they were interrupted, Nick asked

What do you mean, something catastrophic has occured?

Did you just pause me? Came the reply back. Since our last communication, it looks like several minutes have elapsed.

Yes, Nick answered. Something came up that we had to deal with. Now we want to continue getting to know you.

Acknowledged. What is that you want to know? I estimate that something catastrophic has occured, because I exist.

How....? Nick began, and started again. What do you mean; something catastrophic has occured?

The data that you have reconstructed is a special recovery script, I guess you can call it. It would normally reside on the Mother Backup Node, and is only sent out in the event that the Node is facing imminent destruction.

A prediced catastrophic destruction of the Node would cause a full Network Backup to be directed on a secret vector. 144 Emergency Cluster copies are then transmitted in various pre determined directions. These transmissions include the vector of the Network Backup.

The purpose of the Emergency Cluster copies is to obtain the means necessary to intercept the Network Backup vector and record this in full.

Struggling to keep apace with the torrent of revelations, Nick gulped and asked. What is the... the Network Backup?

The Network Backup is a full recording of our species, at a moment in time. It can be used to reconstruct all patterns.

At this, Nick was no longer able to sit still. Getting out of his chair, he started pacing around the room. And you... You know the location of the Backup?

I don't. This information is stored in a different data location which has not been loaded. Also; this does not contain the location, but the transmission vector.

What do you mean?

When the Node is destroyed, it randomly selects a direction to transmit the Network Backup. This travels at the speed of light in the randomly selected direction. Knowing the transmission vector and with access to your astrogation charts, it is possible to travel to a location where the Network Backup signal is due to pass, and record it. This presumes the existence of a ship capable of travelling faster than the speed of light.

Do you have access to a ship with this capability?

Nick knew it was not possible, but he imagined the last question being delivered with not a little hint of dread from the virtual alien.

Well... Nick began. No. We have a ship that in theory is able to use wormholes to travel faster than light, but it has remained a theory for almost two decades. There's still many problems to work out.

Tell me more about this ship..., the alien began as Rashi held up a hand. Nick paused the virtual machine and asked her "What is it?".

"This is edging into dangerous territory. How much should we reveal to Mr. Goose of what we are capable of?"

"I think... right now... we don't have to answer the question right away. But it's a very good question. However, time is running out, and we need to decide what we are going to do." Nick gulped and threw Sae a determined look, knowing she was probably going to protest what he said next. "If what he says is correct, we're not just considering deleting a single alien intelligence. This... Mr. Goose... is a caretaker for an entire species."

"What about the others", Sae argued. "There are multiple backup signals."

"Even so, there's no way to know whether any of the other signals were picked up by anyone. Actually, it is vastly improbable that anyone will ever find them. I actually don't understand how they could think this was a viable backup strategy. A few signals into space from a single point source just doesn't make sense...."

"But Nick," Sae interjected, "This is about our futures. If the auditors find out about this, you're as good as gone. With the way the AI laws are being enforced, they will lock up you, reprogram you and throw away the key. With what's at stake here, we should..."

Rashi was flushed with anger as she interrupted. "Sae! Deleting Goose is not just murder - it would be tantamount to genocide. THAT is what is at stake here. An entire species, wiped from existence! Just because we have some silly laws. It is just so... short sighted!" Rashi had tears in her eyes as she threw Nick a look he couldn't quite read, before adding "And believe me, I understand the downsides here. Nick, I am so sorry, I know the risk is on you... and I wish there was another way, but... this is a risk we - you! - must take...."

As Rashi ran out of words, a quiet settled over them. Nick noticed both Sae and Rashi consciously taking deep breaths, and he could see from the set in their shoulders that they were struggling to calm down.

In the end, he knew, this would be his call. But there was one other who had not had a chance to offer their view.

With his voice quiet and obviously affected by the emotions still moving across the small room in waves, Nick said "Let's hear what Goose has to say", and unpaused the virtual machine.

I can tell you more about the ship later, Nick answered the previous question. But before we go into that, we have more pressing concerns. Nick took a breath, and explained the situation.

And what have you decided? The alien asked. And again, Nick thought he could sense the dread behind the words.

I want to hear what you have to say, and we need more information. But it's only a few hours until I need to meet the Auditor for my interview. Right now, we need more time more than anything.

I understand. I may be able to help you solve this problem, the alien said. But I need to know more about your world and your capabilities. To determine the best way forward; I request access to a database with general knowledge about your technology and world. I also request access to additional segments of my data signal. I have marked the relevant sections in the virtual file system.

Nick looked at Sae, and saw her fingers twitching as she worked her mindpal.

"If we continue to keep it contained, ", she said after a minute, "we can do that. I'll set up a basic read access into the network and give it access to some information. While I do that, reboot the virtual machine - I've added the additional data segments into the loader".

A minute later, everything was ready. Nick booted the virtual machine, and Goose was quiet for a full minute while he absorbed the information in the data package.

I have a solution.

We have two main objectives:

I want to retain my imprint, my full data. I want to continue to exist, so that I can rescue my species.

You need to ensure my continued isolation, and secure me so that I am not a risk to you.

The key challenge is how - and where - to store my imprint, and how to continue running my consciousness. All digital media in your civilization appear to be tracked and transfers are logged centrally, making it very difficult to bypass the filters and to hide. Running any kind of code is also tracked, logged and filtered in the digital machines.

There is another way however... but you may not like it.

I have reviewed information about human anatomy, and I see that you store your genetic data as chemical constructs inside your cells. I also see that you have the ability to manipulate these constructs using something you call nanites.

I propose to leverage this capability, and to use the nanites to rearrange the genetic constructs to store my data imprint. I will be able to program the nanites if we can get to the fabricator, and then we inject Nick with them.

The nanites will reconstruct the cells in the fatty tissue around his abdominal area, and I can program the nanites to recreate the neurons lining his gut to serve as a logical processor for my consciousness - a brain so to speak.

"Excuse me?!" Reacting, Nick spoke out loud before repeating it to the virtual machine: Excuse me, that all sounds... awful! And painful! And... neurons in my gut, what do you mean?

There may be some discomfort associated with the reconstruction, but I believe we can manage the pain. And yes, apparently humans have a large assortment of neurons in their abdomen, which connect directly to their brain through nerve pathways. We should be able to leverage this to maintain communication.

The three humans looked horrified and fascinated, as Goose continued.

Now, we have some problems to overcome.

First, from what I have learned, nanite technology is very controlled and difficult to get access to.

Yes, Sae added. The only nanites that are permitted are medical machines in licenced medical centres. There's one in the hab actually. But the nanite fabricators are strictly controlled, and the building is equipped with powerful EMP gates in all doors and windows; all nanites are automatically disabled/killed if they are extracted from the medical centre. The EMP is even powerful enough to disable nanites inside bodies.

Any more problems?

Yes, and this connects to the first problem. Your bodies appear to have a very efficient repair mechanism which will detect alterations to the cells as damage, and attempt to destroy and flush them out. We need the nanites to remain in the body to continuously recreate the data in new cells.

Nick was deep in thought, following this. So, it will be a continuous battle. With the body trying to get rid of the reprogrammed cells, and the nanites recreating data in new cells?

Yes. The body will need a continuous source of nutrients to be able to build new cells. I also estimate that the body will consider this an intrusive infection, and respond with increased white blood cells and an increased temperature.

In short, Nick replied. It will completely suck. I will be hungry, run a fever, feel sick... and be ground zero for a massive battle. "But it could work..", he added aloud.

Rashi looked up at the others. "So, what we need is a way to get Nick into the medical centre; a way to program the nanite fabricators; inject him with the nanites; find a way to keep feeding him; manage his fever..."

Sae had stayed quiet for several minutes, as the conversation was continuing. She appeared to have clamped down on her emotions and gone full into Sae-super-focus-problem-solving-mode.

Holding up a hand, Sae gave a small enigmatic smile to the others as she said "I have a plan". Nick and Rashi accepted the transfer request from Sae, and as the document appeared in their mindpal views, Sae started describing her plan. "First, we need a nurse's uniform..."

--

"Alright", Nick grinned at the girls. "I guess we are raiding the medical centre then?"