Chp. 3 - Shell of What Was

                                    

                                          
Out of all the bizarre things that've happened to me last night until this morning, I'd say befriending a Murder Drone ranked pretty high on that scale. But an A.I. inserted into my own head with a strange nanotechnology that has actually been quite useful was not one of them.
I think my response was more than appropriate. 
"Holy Robo-Jesus!!" I screamed in fright, tumbling backward off the car and into the snow with a grunt, the sprite looming over me, even I could tell it was definitely not impressed. I rubbed my visor, but he still lingered, made from red nanites, the same colour as SIVA.
"Hey, you okay out there!?" N called over as I swung my arms up in a panic.
"A-all good, totally chill! Definitely, not talking to a weird A.I. thingy floating above me right now?" I smiled forcibly, his yellow eyes blinking once.
"Oh, okay, try not to slip again!" And like that, N waved and disappeared, thank goodness.
~Are you going to answer me now? Or am I wasting my time?~ It continued to speak in the same, blunt tone, only there was the occasional chitter like an insect.
Sitting up sharply, I shook the snow off my head. "Hey, you're the one jumping out at me with that creepy voice and all these questions! What are you doing in my head? I've got enough brooding on my own without someone else's backseat comments,"
~I am... I... do not know~ His figure turned, scanning the ruined city before us. ~Strange, this place is similar to the Cosmodrome, but the toxicity in the air is higher, unable to support fauna... and there are planets I do not recognize above. Where am I?~
I cocked my head, "Uh, you're on Copper-9, dude, isn't 'Cosmodrome' some dumpster scrapheap on Earth?" I may hate school but you pick up buzz words when writing dull essays.
~My memories are foggy and there are gaps. I remember... SIVA, yes, it was something I worked with, but, what was I again? I wasn't human, they called us... Fallen~ That sure sounded ominous as I sat back down on the car, staring at the A.I. who turn to me again. ~Copper-9, very well then. Now, as for my previous questions-~
"Ah-ah-ah, I answered one, now you answer mine, got that?" I tapped my temple. "You're stuck in my head without my consent, atop all the crap I've just gone through today, and I am really-really conflicted and stressed about all of this. So you want answers, you give some in return, creepy A.I,"
~Do not call me that, machine~ That's pretty damn ironic coming from him.
"Then what's your name, creepy A.I?" Then I paused myself, eyes flashing sideways for a moment. No, I remembered that string of text from earlier, this tech was looking for a suitable host, its previous one was deceased but came with a name. Shaking my head, I quirked a digital brow. "Does 'Kovik' ring any bells?"
While I couldn't see his face, his head tilted upward sharply, and I felt I could tell how he was feeling, guess that's part of having some weird A.I. in my body. He didn't answer me immediately, mulling over the name with his upper arms crossed.
~Kovik... I believe that was my name~ He answered.
If that were true though, then by SIVA's record, he was dead, so how did he end up like this? I ended up muttering it aloud. "SIVA must've made a digital imprint of your consciousness, it would explain the gaps in your memory, huh, not so different than the Disassembly Drones, only less malicious, probably,"
Better than 'creepy A.I.' I guess. "Well, from now on I'm calling you that, unless you prefer the alternative?"
His lower arms then crossed, clearly annoyed if that wasn't obvious before, ~Your humour is dry and unimaginative, machine~