Truth and Fact are not the same thing

People often misuse Truth. The only place where True and False are entirely, and unquestionably, black and white is in Mathematics. When you start applying it to Law or, even worse, Politics and Religion, Truth takes on a whole new set of meanings. None of which have the clear precision of a mathematical proof.

Part of being in Intel was taking assorted Facts and distilling them down into something that resembled the underlying Truth. If there was, in fact, one to be found. Sometimes the supposed facts had to be correlated before you could tell if it was actual fact, or just a steaming pile of gôu pì.

The ongoing Ardra issue is a good example of parsing some sort of truth from what appear to be contradictory facts. The Intel I had was fragmented, in some cases indicating a "living but unknown" person, in others suspecting an automated device of some kind. A few considered Ardra to be a fully sentient AI, possibly with military origins. None of the sources seemed to have a complete picture.

Jai had put a Doctor Qui in touch with me. Supposedly, he had knowledge of Ardra's origins. According to him, Ardra was part of a failed experiment in Quantum Consciousness that had been mothballed 20 years ago. Perhaps more to the point, he claimed that the personality fragment, or however it could be defined, Lily was carrying, was actually nothing more than a program designed to link semi-autonomous drones. Hardly AI at all. In fact, by his description, Ardra was nothing more than a fairly sophisticated Expert System that suffered from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

Much of what he said didn't mesh well with the Intel I currently had. He seemed surprised that Ardra existed at all, which meant it was possible he had no idea the project had been reactivated. Given the 20 year span, it was possible there'd been a number of breakthroughs that let Ardra achieve a good deal more than he'd been aware of. It was also possible he was well aware of Ardra's current situation and lieing through his teeth.

I could throw some Intel resources at it, or possibly tap into the building Justice information surrounding Ardra. For the time being, I was simply going to take it as potential data points and make careful note of the source. His interest in just how Lily had acquired the information was another point of interest. I could have sent him to Cody, but given the kid's extraordinary skill level at Bullet Catching I was more than a little reluctant. If this was a veiled attempt to glean what I knew, which was considerably more than I'd let on, I was just as happy to keep them in the dark.

The one thing we did agree on was that it would be good to get Ardra out of Lily.

Speaking with x0x0 shortly thereafter gave me even more information, much of which conflicted with what the doctor had told me. x0x0 had a good deal more information on the project, including the source of the Ardra personality.

She brought up a few other individuals who appeared to be involved, several of whom I'd look into using my own Intel channels. But, by x0's telling, Ardra was hardly a failed AI. She was still a living mind and was having a measured effect on Lily. Which brought us both back to finding a way to get Ardra's personality matrix out of our little girl. Where Doctor Qui just wanted to purge it, x0 and I were leaning more towards giving it a home. Assuming we could convince Lily to let us, x0, really, as she was better equipped for it, transfer the Ardra personality from her to a new host.

How hard can it be?

At least x0x0 had something for Anna. A big Doberman, that wasn't entirely a Doberman. Genetically or structurally. Toby was a right fine specimen , if, as x0 said, not entirely real. Considering how Anna enjoyed playing with Haley, who was quite real, she'd probably have a ball with the big Dobi.

At least someone would get some fun out of this.