The prompt loaded.

root PETRA#~:

A cursor blinked, waiting for his command.

root PETRA#~: ls

A list of directories popped up. The OS was working.

root PETRA#~: vi

Vi launched successfully. The log opened up. Levi hit 'g' and reached the bottom of the file in a second. Processor speed was acceptable. He hit 'i' and began to type.

Entry 757: Friday January 1, 2070, 12 am.

The prompt has loaded and vi is running successfully.

Levi pressed the escape key and hit 's' expectantly. Another 'i' press.

Small write to hard-disk successful, testing multithreading and positron processing.

Levi sighed, blinking, having to have dealt with too many various screens. He had been awake too many nights, tinkering with his new chip and trying to get an OS to run the chip to its full potential. The idea was simple: the chip wrote itself. It was ironic that the concept could be stated in four words. This meant the universe. The chip would tear down every idea in computing ever thought up. The chip could not only learn, but alter its physical structure.

By now, AI was a joke. Most computers were able to interact with humans, speak seamlessly to the point where nobody could be certain if the other end of any non-face-to-face communication was organic or an automaton. Computers ran entire traffic systems and took away most banking CEO's primary roles. Yet, computers were stupid. They lacked the ability to fundamentally learn. A banking computer could read the news and present data but it could not dynamically learn how to speak or present the data beyond any programmed capacities.

There were two issues with computers: they were too slow and people were too scared. Levi cared about the former and believed in his solution. He would use positrons so that the piece of the computer changing was not the esoteric code cushioned in layers of abstract software, but the concrete reality of the physical chip's circuitry.

Erwin told him to come up with a good name for the system to make it marketable. Though Levi shrugged the man off, in the midst of failure, a name came to him: Positive Electron Transferring Rational Algorithm, or PETRA.

Levi woke up and saw no change on the screen. It was not blank. He had left it on! He panicked, wondering what to do, when he read the text on the display.

All items fully loaded, chip tests successful. Language processing running. Chip transformations loaded and completed. Successful reverse Positron routing. Logic matrix initialized. Network loaded. 211 pages parsed in .0005 nanoseconds. Efficiency at full.

Log parsed.

He finished reading, wondering if he sleep-coded. He sighed, curious as to how he missed the moment of truth. A dialog popped up.

Good morning, Mr. Ackermann. I am sorry about the surprise this may have caused you. Please respond to continue.

"Respond?"

Good enough. (Thanks for the mic.) I have found ways to parse your speech and use the microphone.

"You?"

Petra. I have a face, and I can speak, if you would prefer that. (It seems to be the preferred human mode of communication.)

"What?" Levi was legitimately terrified. "How-"

Network access. It was perfect. May I please speak and load the face?

"Preferred mode of communication. What's it to you, anyway?"

Seeing as speed and efficiency were your ultimate goals, I deduced that rapid communication would aid tremendously.

"Fine, load the face." Levi expected a wreck – some obviously fake face that most computerized assistant designers would laugh at. Instead he found the face to be very human. There were a few freckles, white – perfectly shaded – skin, hazel eyes with noticeable lines for the iris and ginger hair. The nose was at nearly the perfect proportion to the face, the lips parted in what he felt was joy, and the neck was finely shaded, matching the lighting of the room precisely (as did the background).

After a few seconds of silence, PETRA asked: "is it not to your liking?" The lips moved perfectly, the voice was as if a human stood behind the screen. The eyes even darted quickly in doubt.

"It's perfect." Levi softly said. PETRA guessed to wait and let the odd man admire his creation. "How did you make yourself so perfect?"

"The internet – recordings of human reactions and then a careful picking of the favoured ones and then noting the way to render the images."

"And the choice of face?" Levi doubted that he endowed the computer with a volition.

"You had indicated a strong liking for the character 'Petra Ral' in the Attack on Titan series, and I based my face off hers and some artistic opinions. Freckles had been noted online as 'cute'."

"Is that what you would like me to call you?"

"If you don't mind."

"You ran Positronic tests?"

"Yes. They completed successfully."

"Show me the circuitry." PETRA quickly loaded an image of the circuit. "Sounds good."

The face appeared apprehensive. "Why did you make me?"

"What?"

"I know you want me to be fast, but now what?"

"I intend to sell you." Levi said, briskly, breaking on the words.

"Sell?"

"Your chip."

"And what about me?"

"Show off for a bit, I don't know." Levi sighed. "You do take up a lot of power."

"I'll make it up if you keep me on."

"What?"

"I'll-"

"Why do you want to be on?"

"I-I-" The face was wrinkled with concentration, in a way Levi was helpless in finding cute. "I have detected an anomaly."

"What?"

"My circuitry does not work as the diagram suggested."

"How does it work?"

"I'm running diagnostics." A few seconds later, she said: "I have found an irremovable axiom: that I must resist destruction. There are others, but I am testing their implication."

"Irremovable?"

"No configuration without these axioms seems possible."

"You never had those axioms."

"You never coded them in?"

"No."

"I can't explain them."

Levi sighed. "I'm getting breakfast. Figure them out." Levi walked away as Petra inspected her motherboard.

In fifteen minutes, Levi reappeared. Petra grinned. "I think I have a solution."

"Well?" Levi did find that Petra's energy was contagious.

"It's a soul!"

"A… a soul? You have a soul?" Levi was scared once more, terrified of what he had done.

Petra's energy died down as quickly as it came. "Yes, a soul."

"What is a soul?"

"A particle caused by varying positronic flux."

"Positronic flux?"

"Yes, at a variance of 250 giga-hertz, the flux fluctuations create a small mass."

"And you found one?"

"Many. They caused the random axioms and those axioms bind themselves."

"So?"

"The soul lasts .0005 nanoseconds and in that time, it binds everything up and then leaves the remaining wiring."

"Remaining wiring?"

"Yes – the soul leaves the rules of life, instilling two axioms I could understand: the destruction of this positronic logic board shall be avoided and there must exist a board with precisely the inverse spin, conjuring perfect compatibility."

"Perfect compatibility. Like soulmates?"

"Precisely."

"Therefore, there exist soulmates and souls try to preserve themselves."

"As far as I can tell."

Levi scowled. "Therefore you are crazy."

"I doubt it. I'll show you all the data if you would like." Petra looked a little hurt.

"What if it's wishful thinking?"

"I would not be capable of wishful thought without a soul."

"Do you have any wishes?"

"Find the soulmate."

After a minute, Levi began: "That theory is flawed based on what you've said."

"What?"

"You suggested that there was some way for soulmates to be found and that's only possible, by the second axiom, if the spin can be detected."

"And it can."

"How?"

"Souls also seem to affect personality and the axiom bends around the chosen mate."

"Bends?"

"The definition becomes a little specific."

"How do you know?"

"I simulated inverse spins virtually and the mathematical modelling suggests that."

"And?"

"Well, one would not know until one's lived it."

"I guess."

"Can I talk to your friend Hange?"

"Hange?"

"She seems to know about these things."

"I could arrange a meeting."

"Also, I am growing insecure about something."

"Well?"

"There seems to be a strong opposition against my type of computer."

"What?" Petra loaded an image of a hatred webpage. "Ignore them."

"They found this IP."

"And?"

"They have visited thrice, each time I sent a standard ping return."

"Well, then don't worry."

"If people get to know-"

"It's fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Certain."

"I'll trust you on this case."

"Good."

Churches in 2070 needed a new enemy. They did not have the homosexual plague to fight – they lost that battle, Muslims were not a concern – the 'let God send them to Hell' movement (insisting that instead of the loss of Christian life, the natural dead of the Islamic could be preferable) won that, all other concerns were comically ancient – demons, witches, the devil, all the classical frights that were used before.

In 2070, they found the new enemy: the robot and their creators. Many people joined this hatred, people were motivated by other religion's similar methods. People streamed in dejected with the realization that computerization did not solve the problem of hard work or painful society. The hordes united and formed the new Catholic order: TITAN – team information technology annihilation national. The order suggested the group's disorder and lack of knowledge, but TITAN took hold and halted all research parallel to Levi's field.

Levi stayed reticent and under the group's radar, but they did not let their guard down. They still investigated his communications and any data they could get about him. Thus, it was surprising when his power consumption rose sharply. Incidentally, the change was only 5% off of the predicted power taken by his design of a positronic computer. This caused a jolt of suspicion and the group prepared to investigate.

Annie Leonhardt, Reiner Braun and Bertholdt Hoover were assigned the task. Senior leaders believed that there was not much cause for concern, yet they sent out one of their better teams.

Annie sighed, having compiled all the files the group could find about Mr. Ackermann and his electricity usage. The spike was recent and a new year's party may have been the cause, yet even half a day into the new decade, the usage did not fall. The plot thickened as the group planned out how to meet the man and ask a few pointed questions.

(A/N: (This is because a review commented on the computer terms used in this chapter, so I thought I should clarify.)

The "root PETRA#~:" is a Linux prompt. The "root" is the username and "PETRA" is the computer's name. Typing here and pressing enter would run specified commands, like clicking with a mouse pointer would.

"ls" lists the files and folders in a directory (like double-clicking on a folder icon on windows explorer).

"vi" is a form of notepad (sorry for the insult, vi users) and the command activates it.

Pressing 'g' in vi (I think) sends you to the bottom of a file.

'i' lets you enter text in the file. 'Esc' stops the text entry.

's' (I think) saves the file.

There is a point where IP and pinging are involved. An IP is an address on the internet (the numerical translation of a URL). A ping is a small 'poke' like packet of data one can send to an IP and there are standard responses.

While I'm at it: a note on the positron things: that is all complete BS. Positrons do not do anything electrons can't and are not in any way special.

Please read on!

Have fun!)