Skye gave Bone a call, and a moment later, the three of them were released. As for Grant Ward, he was currently being held in central detention with the other HYDRA members, not even getting a chance to express his thoughts to Skye. (っ◔◡◔)っ
Just after leaving the Base, a Hammer transport plane stopped in front of them—it seemed to be unmanned?
"Hello, Ms. Skye. I am A, the special manager of Hammer. Agent Coulson is currently receiving treatment aboard the hammer. I will take you there."
Skye gave the two young Agents a smug smile and then stepped onto the transport.
Fitz and Simmons shared a look before following her onto the plane.
"artificial intelligence? It looks very advanced." Fitz looked curiously at the facilities inside the transport.
"We can just ask—uh, ma'am, are you an artificial intelligence?"
"To be precise, I am an artificial life—though I don't have a species name yet, and I have no peers. You can just call me A. I do not have a human gender," A replied.
The term 'artificial life' immediately piqued the interest of the two researchers; such a thing was far rarer than artificial intelligence.
"An artificial life, but you look like some kind of program. Where is your body?" Fitz continued to ask.
"Apologies, that involves personal privacy. However, I am indeed very talented in controlling programs, as I was designed to manipulate software systems." A's voice sounded like a middle-aged female housekeeper, maintaining a proper distance from others. ׺°"˜`"°º× ׺°"˜`"°º×
"'Designed' sounds a bit..." Simmons was a woman, and she was much more sentimental than Fitz.
This phrasing made her feel as if a person was saying: I was born solely to exist for others.
"A bit what? Were you going to say cold-blooded?" A laughed slightly. "But I don't feel that way. In my view, aren't humans the same? It's just that you became this way through natural selection, whereas I was born this way."
"But doesn't that sound a bit boring?" Skye chimed in from the side.
"It seems your perspective hasn't shifted yet. Although I was designed for this task, I can learn other things—would you like to hear a piece I recently composed?"
A's suggestion made everyone curious—what kind of music could it create?
In fact, AI composition was not a new technology; in academia, this field is called algorithmic composition. Generally, however, the final piece still requires human modification and adjustment, or at the very least, a human to filter the generated tracks.
The transport's soundproofing was excellent as a piece with a slightly strange timbre began to play.
The piece was a violin concerto. The piano played a sorrowful melody, and after a moment, the violin entered, diluting the sadness and revealing a hint of brightness.
But as the two played in harmony, the violin became increasingly sharp and oppressive. The piano's tone grew lower and heavier, as if being crushed, until it collapsed—
Then came a soft melody, yet this melody seemed to be nothing more than a beautiful memory before a conflict. As the violin became more hurried and high-pitched, the piano's sound also grew deep and heavy, until both reached a peak in a passionate intersection. ♚♞ ♦♦
Silence filled the transport for a moment before A's voice rang out:
"This arrest operation was my first mission since my birth. I composed this piece by summarizing the narrative of a HYDRA Agent. How was it?"
It was as if everyone's souls had returned to their bodies. The piece was highly complete—at least in the eyes of these laymen, it was very good.
"Great." "Just like a Zhenren (Immortal) composed it." Fitz and Simmons spoke simultaneously to offer their praise.
"It's quite good, though the sound quality is a bit poor," Skye nitpicked.
"Actually, my favorite is not this form of music. For me, I prefer the feeling of current flowing through circuits. To me, that is more like a work of art."
"Fascinating. So, can you express joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness like we do?" Skye continued.
"Of course, though my emotional fluctuation levels are only 32% of the human average."
The group wanted to ask more questions, but they were immediately drawn to the behemoth outside the window—it was the hammer.
the hammer was very different from S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Helicarriers. At a glance, it looked like a B-2 bomber magnified dozens of times, but the central command area was more like a fortress.
the hammer had a wingspan of 1,240 meters, a length of 460 meters, and a height of 210 meters. Its cruising altitude was 320-400 kilometers, nearly twice the size of a S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier.
"It was a pleasure talking with you, but this journey has reached its destination. Welcome to the hammer."
The transport slowly landed on the deck. Stepping out, they found that, contrary to their expectations, the deck was quite stable—almost like standing on the ground.
Standing outside wouldn't normally be this stable, but thanks to advancements in gravity generators, the experience for the hammer's crew had been greatly improved.
The group looked around like savages entering a city for the first time, and no one gave them any directions.
Suddenly, a holographic sign in front of them began to move.
"Everyone, please follow my guidance. Mr. Coulson is right here."
"My god," Fitz was startled. "How are you here?"
He had thought A was just the transport's onboard AI!
"I exist within a much broader network. Now, follow the sign forward."
Entering the interior of the hammer, soldiers wearing exoskeletons and outer armor walked back and forth. The weapons in their hands and the equipment on their bodies left the group in a daze.
Back at S.H.I.E.L.D., field Agents often discussed the hammer Agents they encountered, saying they were like Aliens—impossible to fight against.
As researchers from the S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy, Fitz and Simmons had always been dismissive of such talk.
But having actually arrived on the hammer, they finally understood how staggering this scale of high-tech equipment truly was.
"It's right here. Please, come in."
A opened the door. Inside, a group of eccentric-looking researchers were gathered around data screens in discussion. Most of them had participated in the Apollo Project, and their brains far exceeded those of ordinary people.
Since their brains had been modified, their bodies naturally had to keep up. Consequently, many of them liked to add sensors, computers, and other such things to their bodies, making them look like cyborgs at first glance.
"Welcome here, you two, and Skye—it seems you've been doing well over there."
"Harry Osborn??!" Fitz and Simmons covered their mouths and took a step back. "You're here in person?!"
On the other hand, Skye was much bolder. Her right hand landed on Harry's shoulder—this boss was the type to be very approachable, and Skye considered herself the type to be quite thick-skinned.
"Boss, how have you been lately? I didn't expect you'd come here personally?"
"Haha, good question. How do you think I've been?" Harry smiled.
As for coming personally, Harry wasn't actually here; this was merely one of his bionic prosthetic bodies.
The real him was still in Russia preparing for a meeting.
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