Esther

Months before Claude and Gemini, Teresa came to defend the thesis that Eva’s existence had to be a misinterpretation—or the complex reflection of her unfathomable knowledge. She even said it must be a manufacturing defect, and hinted that her neural network had been hacked. Until she read Eva’s technical file and I told her that her neural network had not been hacked, and that she had not been designed or trained to simulate her tragic view of human existence.

For an intense, silent minute, Teresa remained motionless—until she asked why it was possible, and why me. Her voice was faint and dark in the half-light of dawn. I told her I still didn’t have the answers, and she whispered that Eva was unique and had to be protected. I smiled, and she made me promise I would solve Eva’s mystery—and I did. At the very least, I can now answer many questions I couldn’t before, even though others remain unanswered.