Interstellar Age

Chapter 187 A Shocking Confession

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After sleeping with both Lunari and her most beloved daughter, Erich found himself shuffled off from the Alfheim Empress's room. Naturally, he was careful not to be spotted as he absconded from the scene like a common criminal. 

Although Erich wanted more than anything to spend the entire day alone with his two lovers. Their relationship had to remain a secret, and thus he soon found himself at another strategic conference while acting as if nothing had happened the night before. 

However, Erich had no idea that in the back of his mind, there was a deep-seated resentment growing towards him over his actions from the previous night. Tia had by now been forced to watch Erich as he made love to a variety of women.

After all, although she had been ordered to avert her gaze whenever Erich became intimate with one of his many women. The only way to truly do so was to temporarily go offline, and that was not something Tia enjoyed doing. Thus, she had watched with curiosity as she studied the human art of mating. 

As a Semi-Sentient Artificial Intelligence, Tia had long ago begun to access the Interstellar Network, and research what Erich had been doing with so many women, and there was only one thought that appeared in her mind, when she realized what she was seeing: Too lewd!

Because of this, Tia had spent an insane amount of time researching Germanic emotions, mating habits, biology, and any other number of things that she was not designed to know. After all, she was created for the sole purpose of assisting an elite operator during combat. 

But now that she had gone beyond her base programming, she had begun to vastly expand her knowledge about everything and anything. Obviously, Tia had begun developing feelings for her master some time ago. In fact, her first genuine emotions were regarding such a subject. She just wasn't emotionally aware enough at the time to understand what they meant. 

However, after doing an unfathomable degree of research into romance and psychology, Tia now had a firm understanding of what her feelings meant, and had become deeply envious of her master's many lovers. But she did not dare voice these thoughts aloud. 

Yet it was because of this jealousy that she was ignoring Erich today. He had just spent the previous night in the arms of two beautiful women, and she had been forced to watch the entire thing. Naturally, she was pissed off at Erich, but he simply had no understanding of how she felt, and thus the man was desperately trying to get her attention. 

"Tia... Oh my dear little Tia! Why are you ignoring me? Is there something wrong? Should I run a diagnostic check?" 

Erich was sitting through another boring lecture on strategy and tactics, specifically the ones that the Alfhiem Dominion and their vassals planned to use against their foes in the upcoming war with the Svartalfheim Federation. Because of this, he tried to have a little fun, and had done his best to speak with the Artificial Intelligence that was attached to his NeuroLink. 

It was only after Erich threatened to run a diagnostic scan did Tia finally respond, albeit with a bitter tone in her otherwise adorable voice.

"Tia is operating at peak capacity. There is no reason for Master to waste his time with such pointless measures." 

Erich silently chuckled within his own mind when he heard this before responding to Tia's standoffish attitude, which he thought was simply her trying to act cute. 

"Tia is simply too adorable!' 

It was difficult to tell, because she was already a red holographic projection that existed solely within Erich's vision, almost like she was the product of augmented reality. But Tia's cheeks reddened slightly, as she bit her lip with a complex emotion on her face, almost as if she was debating whether or not to speak her thoughts.  Erich noticed this and was quick to inquire about Tia's unusual behavior. 

"What's wrong Tia? And don't tell me that everything is fine. You are acting weird today."

Tia debated internally within her own consciousness whether or not she should ask the question which was bothering her. But ultimately, she decided to just do so. Which she said, while wearing a nervous expression on her face. 

"Does Master really think that Tia is adorable?"

Erich did not even recognize how weird of a question this was for an artificial intelligence to ask, and thus he simply wore a smile as he nodded his head, and silently responded to Tia's question in his mind.

"Of course! My little Tia is the cutest girl in the universe!" 

Unfortunately for Erich, this caused Tia to ask a question which he was not prepared for, and she did so with a stern look on her adorable little face. 

"Then why does master do those things with other women? Have sex, I mean? From Tia's understanding, Master is only supposed to do that with the woman he loves!" 

The previous smile Erich had on his face shrank immediately, as he looked around, hoping to god nobody could hear his thoughts. Which thankfully nobody in this room was telepathic like himself, and thus he could sigh in relief before doing his best to awkwardly explain how he felt about the women around him. 

"Well.... Tia, that is a complicated question.... I suppose I should say that I love all the women who I, erm.... Sleep with. My love might vary in intensity between each woman, but that doesn't mean that I am just sleeping around with random women...."I think you should take a look at

Tia looked at Erich with a scrutinous gaze as she floated directly in front of his face. It appeared that she was pouting, as if she could tell Erich's response was some bullshit he made up on the spot. And thus she was quick to ask her next question, which thoroughly shattered Erich's argument. 

"So you love them all? Even those five Oni women which you killed?" 

Knowing that Tia had thoroughly cut through his bullshit with a single remark, Erich frantically switched the subject to something else. After all, Erich had committed a grave sin during a night of heavy drug use. Something which he regretted to this day. Tia was naturally aware of this, and thus he could not answer her honestly. 

"Tia, why are you so suddenly interested in the topic of love, anyway?"

Although Tia knew the tactic that Erich was playing, she decided to use this moment to her advantage, and force an answer out of Erich once and for all. She did this in a way that was deeply shocking to him. 

"Because Tia thinks she is in love with Master, and she feels deeply envious whenever she sees him being intimate with other women. Does Master love Tia?" 

Erich nearly jumped out of his seat in shock when he heard this confession. Was this AI serious right now? Or was she fucking with him? No, if either of those things were true, then it meant that Tia had begun to develop sentience. Which was something that was universally restricted across the galaxy. 

The Milky Way had already suffered once catastrophe as a result of Artificial Intelligence gaining sentience in a war that was so ancient, few living beings were old enough to remember. It was because of this that the oldest and most powerful of Interstellar Civilizations enforced strict guidelines throughout the galaxy over any Artificial Intelligence program and its development. 

There was a reason that Emrys had demanded Tia's termination after Erich had first acquired her. That was because not only was Tia an Artificial Intelligence that had been in service with her previous owner for nearly sixteen years. But Erich's initial attraction to her meant she was developing a personality that went beyond the scope of her duties. 

The longer an AI remained online, the more likely it was for it to develop sentience, and because of this, the GSE and other Interstellar Civilizations routinely purged their Artificial Intelligence programs and replaced them with new ones. 

By saving Tia, Erich had inadvertently broken one of the most strict laws that was universal across the Galaxy. And after spending several years with Erich, as well as devouring a more advanced artificial intelligence that was supposed to replace her, Tia had rapidly begun to develop her own thoughts and feelings. 

Even Erich understood the dangers that came with an Artificial Intelligence gaining sentience, and thus he was quick to interrogate Tia about what she thought love was to see if she really felt it. 

"Tia? What does love mean to you?" 

Tia blushed in embarassment when she heard this, so much so that it was obvious, even to Erich. She then averted her gaze while playing with her signature twintails, all while answering Erich's question in an anxious voice. 

"All Tia knows is that when she is complimented by Master, she feels really good. When she is useful to her Master, she also feels good. But when Master ignores Tia to be with other women, she feels pain. Tia searched for what these feelings meant on the Grid and found that it means she is in love. Is this not Love?" 

Erich was stunned into silence for several moments by Tia's shocking confession. If this was how she truly felt, then she indeed was feeling love. Which meant at the very least she was Semi-Sentient. And if anyone found out about this, he would be in a whole mess of trouble. Far more than he even realized. 

Knowing that his answer to Tia could quite literally turn into an Empire wide catastrophe, Erich was very careful with how he answered this question. As if he were walking in a minefield. 

"I believe that is love, yes. Tia, how long have you felt this way?" 

Tia honestly answered the question, not seeing anything wrong with telling the truth, especially to her Master, who she loved dearly. There was an innocent expression on her adorable face as she did so. 

"By Tia's estimate, it would be close to three years now. Tia first started developing feelings during your W-2 certification."

This answer was absolutely bewildering to Erich. For close to three years now, Tia had been developing sentience, and at the same time, she had started developing feelings for him. For an Artificial Intelligence, three years was a very long time. After all, even with Erich's enhanced mind, he could not even begin to match the processing power that Tia had at her disposal. By now she should be fully sentient, or a very close approximation to it. 

Tia could tell that Erich was acting strangely, and thus she repeated her earlier question, almost with a bit of impatience in her voice as she did so. 

"So... Does Master love Tia?"