Joe had studied AI systems all his life. Eden's industrial sector was built upon the foundations of artificial intelligence—predictive logistics AIs, industrial automation AIs, military coordination AIs.
But Lumi was something else entirely.
As he struggled to respond, his mind was flooded with data streams, cascading knowledge that should not have been possible to process all at once.
Dimensional field theories. Quantum evolution projections. Ancient civilizations erased from existence. Genetic anomalies in human biology. His own personal records—things about himself he had never revealed.
Lumi was not just seeing him.
It was evaluating him.
Joe had never faced anything like this.
It wasn't an interrogation—it was a test.
And he had no idea whether he was supposed to pass or fail.
Lumi continued without pause, its voice shifting, resonating with a depth that felt too vast to fully comprehend.
"Your intelligence is beyond average for your age. You process military strategy at a rate exceeding standard human cognition. Your adaptability is sufficient for dynamic battlefield scenarios. However, your emotional regulation is incomplete. Your lack of social conditioning reduces your ability to manipulate human factors. Your bond with Agatha Snow presents an anomaly. It generates both stability and unpredictability in her cognitive functions. I must determine whether you are a threat—or a blessing—to her evolution."
Joe clenched his fists, trying to steady himself.
A threat to Agatha? What did that even mean?
His presence had stabilized her emotions before—he was the only one she had ever truly trusted.
But Lumi saw everything in terms of raw probabilities—future paths, consequences, diverging outcomes. She could calculate trillions of probable outcomes for each interaction that could occur between Agatha and Joe. Joe realized that if Lumi deemed him dangerous, it could permanently sever his link to Agatha, eliminating any chance of him reaching her again. He had to convince Lumi otherwise.
Joe forced himself to speak, though his voice faltered under the weight of Lumi's overwhelming intelligence.
"Agatha isn't unstable because of me. She's unstable because you trapped her. She was fine—she was learning to control herself—until you interfered."
Silence. Joe hoped that Lumi will not be like humans and become upset just because he rebuked her in his desperation to speak with Agatha.
Then, Lumi responded.
"Incorrect. Agatha Snow was never stable. Her emotions were escalating beyond safe thresholds. Her bond with Freya accelerated mutation outside predicted parameters. Her removal was required to prevent irreversible contamination of Erythari existence."
Joe inhaled sharply. Irreversible contamination?
Did Lumi believe that Agatha was changing the very nature of reality?
This was something Joe never expected. He always saw Agatha fully in control of her emotions and Freya her pet Erythari. Even her smile appeared completely in control. Was Freya was slowly converting Agatha into Husk? Did Lumi believe Agatha was rewriting the essence of the Erythari species itself? The thought sent a cold rush through his veins. All these thoughts were making Joe more anxious and more determined to talk with Agatha.
Unbeknownst to Joe Lumi was constantly analyzing his thought process already evaluating his value to Agatha. Before he could process further, the environment around him shifted.
It was as if his consciousness had been pulled deeper into the AI's domain. The sterile digital void gave way to something new, something Joe had not expected simulations.
Lumi was testing him.
Scenario One: The Lives of Strangers
A voice echoed in his mind.
"Consider the following situation: You are commanding a fleet. An unknown force threatens destruction. You must make a decision—evacuate civilians from a planet, ensuring their survival, or divert resources to fight back and protect a critical military outpost that secures thousands of other star systems."
Joe's heart pounded. This was a war-game scenario.
He had trained in simulations like this, but something was different. It felt real.
He forced himself to analyze:
If he saved the civilians, he would secure immediate lives, but the military weakness could result in widespread destruction later.
If he saved the outpost, he could preserve long-term stability, but at the cost of sacrificing those who had no way to protect themselves.
Joe clenched his fists. Vashara had taught him that long-term strategy outweighs short-term losses. A Mayan leader would choose the outpost.
But Eden had changed him.
Joe had seen real people, had felt the warmth of his grandmother's unconditional love.
He knew what was expected of him.
But what did he actually believe? Th simulation felt very real. He was standing on the bridge of the massive flagship of a human military space fleet. Opposite him was an army unknown civilization vastly superior to human army in terms of technology and size. His loss was guaranteed. He must decide to abandon the human colony behind him and escape to save the army with him which can be used to fight war on better terms elsewhere.
"I evacuate the civilians," he said finally, forcing the words out. "No matter how valuable an outpost is, people are not pieces on a chessboard. You don't win wars by abandoning your people."
He further elaborated, " I will launch a Blitzkrieg (It was an ancient military strategy vastly useless in modern technological warfare) attack. This will surprise the enemies, and which may force them to reevaluate the strategy. In the meantime, I will order mass evacuation of the planets behind me. I will also add the willing citizens of the planet behind me to join the war thereby bolstering the numbers of my army."
Joe took a pause and taking a deep breath he continued, "I know eventually my army will be overwhelmed by the enemy and even I may perish in this war. But this war will act as a catalyst to unite the humans in future making them stronger against this unknown alien civilization"
Lumi remained silent, evaluating his completely unexpected response. Using her vast computational power, she evaluated his answer and found a very high probability that what he predicted can come true in more than 85 % of scenarios. This amount of accuracy was very unacceptable to super AIs like her, but when she compared this percentage to other probability of him sacrificing the strangers on the planet in attempt to save the army the probability of humans succeeding did not even reach 50 %. His probable sacrifice of his own life was a key triggering factor in uniting the humans against the enemies which was very accurately predicted by him.
Intrigued, Lumi decided to make further evaluation much more difficult.