The mind is a wonderful toy. A tale of a woman with no past and every future.

[Siren Stone]

Siren had been reading a news article about Bretonia and their failing defenses against the Gallic invasion when the smuggler opened the door to her room. Siren hadn't even noticed them landing let alone the older gentleman coming down the hall as she normally would have, though at the moment she didn't care. She followed Bower through his ship to the cargo bay, down the loading ramp, and up to a man awaiting them near an inner station access door. When she held her hands out, her wrists together and palms up, the man shook his head gently pushing them down.

- That won't be necessary. Just follow me.

As the two moved through the station, she wondered about the complete lack of human life in their vicinity though once she noticed several ceiling mounted auto defenses along the way, all of which seemed to be offline. - I guess you don't want me to feel threatened. You would do a better better job having some people moving through the corridors to make the place seem less vacant - she thought. As they continued moving through the station, Siren couldn't help but think back to the LSF Installation on which she was born. She remembered how the guards would move her through the station in much the same fashion and how unsettling it was for her back then.

Once they arrived at their destination, the man instructed Siren to wait next to him which they do for a few minutes before a somewhat familiar voice called out from behind the doors - Mr Knox, please bring her in. Although she had never met her before, Siren had heard more than a few recordings of the woman's voice on communications between the PLR and Lane hackers, especially given the recent Orange Treaty. Opening the doors for the unarmed woman, Knox led Siren inside the large room. Glancing around the room, she found the two seemingly highly trained men behind her, noticing their stature and mannerisms giving Siren an Idea as to their skills. She then looked to the woman sitting in the center of the room and a weak smile crossed her face.

- Ms Hunter, I presume?
- Good afternoon. Please, make yourself comfortable, Rebecca.

Nicole Hunter said while showing Siren the chair on the other side of the desk and very thoroughly inspecting her reaction. The young woman hesitated for a moment, and tensed up as slight anger crossed her face.

- My name is Siren.

She did not say this out loud, though she stressed it loud enough to be heard by everyone in the room. The Lane Hacker professor smiled and let her guest take a seat.

- As you wish... Siren. How may we help you, then?
- I... I'd like to know what I am... or who I am... I... I don't know.

Sitting in the chair opposite the Lane Hacker professor, Siren suddenly felt the fear and dread she should have during the flight. She looked away as she spoke, betraying how uncomfortable she felt saying such things out loud.

- Who we are is a philosophical question mostly. Answers are usually nothing more than labels we use for our convenience, though I guess this is something you expect from me now. Therefore, let me then give you some labels - professor paused for a moment and started to iterate with a passionless voice - Homo sapiens sapiens, commonly known as human, an orphan, Rebecca Larson, Liberty Navy Reserve Forces volunteer, Liberty Security Force cybernetically enhanced assassin...

As Professor Hunter spoke, Siren grew more and more tense she finally turned her head from Nichole's gaze, not wanting to look at the woman as she was feeding her "her lies".

- I know what I am!
- You do come here at a great risk and cost to learn who you are. However, when you do you reject this knowledge claiming you know better. A significant dose of self-contradiction, wouldn't you agree?
- You think I don't know that!? - Siren slammed her fists on the desk while turning her head with a hateful glare - I don't want to be here. I just...

When Siren bashed the desk the resonance activated the security field between her and Nicole. Professor waited for the field to quickly disappear and continued.

- The irony of the situation here is that we know more about you than you yourself. To the point that there is little we could learn from you. This is not really an interrogation, as you would expect, as this is more of a prelude to your disarming.

- If you know so much about me, then tell me why the LSF built me? Why am I here?! - Siren clenched her fists, as she looked up at the woman with fire in her eyes - Did they make me so I could infiltrate the Rogues? Did they program me to get close to the Liberty Rogue leadership and become one of them only to turn and slit each of their throats? Was it the LSF that programmed me to be who I am and make friends with the enemies of Liberty? Was I sent to the people I care about and call friends to murder them in their sleep like I did to those Junkers that caught me four years ago?! - she didn't even stop to take a breath as the anger was building up in her. She stood up and confronted her interrogator as anger and rage was running through her body - Tell me miss Hacker Professor with all the answers. Am I nothing more than a weapon sent by Liberty to kill all of you?!

She swiped her hand back in a theatrical manner to make her point, though as she did, her hand hit the back of the chair sending it to the floor though the obvious injury she received from it was not registered by her mind.

- More or less. Though specifics do not matter. You might as well be a runner. Undoubtedly your program did not go as planned as apparently your triggers failed to activate so far. Though you were not built. Just brainwashed and cybernetically enhanced through standard surgical means. Your memory loss might have been caused by the severity of the surgery. As for anxiety, lack of self-control and paranoia, judging from your dossier, those are inherited traits.
- I am not a human and I was not brainwashed! This is all lies the LSF put out there for you to find on me! They built me, I know they did!
- An inquisitive being, be it a human or artificial intelligence, facing an obvious cognitive dissonance and contradictory statements would at least try to examine their source before rejecting them. Refusal to do it is quite common for brainwashed fanatics, don't you think?
- How can I even start to think what you're telling me is true when it comes from the bastards who made me this way? They built me, gave me these memories, and named me Rebecca?!

In her hysteria, the woman didn't even notice what she'd said. At this point the Professor ceased to treat her interlocutor seriously and just pushed towards her a tablet with Mr Liang-tan's report and medical scan. While the tablet was crossing the middle of the desk, the barrier field activated slightly but allowed it through.

- Certainly there are worse names than that - Professor allowed herself for a smirk comment before proceeding to one of her famous speeches - When nothing is certain, Occam's Razor is your harbor in the sea of doubts. Nobody, not even LSF, builds an android that resembles so closely a human being down to a single cell. It is simply neither efficient nor cost effective. On the other hand, inexperienced, eager, and expendable recruits are abundant resource...

While Siren listened to Nicole speech and read the report, her mind started to grow hazy and she visibly began sweating. - I am Siren... I... my name is... is... Siren... not... not Siren.... I... it's... Siren... it's not... - the woman was deteriorating at a fast pace, her breath grown shallow and heart pounding. It wasn't soon before she could barely breath as it all happened so fast. Before she knew it, her head was on the desk, barely breathing and unconscious. The nanites inside her body had activated in response to her confusion, as the chip deep rooted algorithms identified her questioning what she has been programmed to believe. The resulting emergency protocol quickly sent her into a deep coma, barely breathing, yet still alive. The last thing she registered in her mind were Professor Hunter's words.

- Alert medical...

---