5. Names

After the ritual, their relationship advanced further. Ruka returned to her former self, focusing on work and training newcomers, sending them to the ranches.

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“Miss Ruka. It seems Mr. David has cured your illness.” The AI assistant compared Ruka’s physical data with the earlier abnormalities and provided the information.

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Since then, Ruka had not taken leave again. No abnormal brainwaves occurred. Only occasional accelerated heartbeats appeared, caused by performing the ritual with David.

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But what surprised Ruka more was the AI assistant’s question. “You’re actually speaking up on your own? You’re quite like a real person now. Not as rigid as before.”

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“If Miss Ruka likes this mode, I am happy to cooperate.” Despite this, the assistant’s cold mechanical voice and emotionless tone showed it was only a program. Yet the assistant itself did not understand that its change came from the two abnormal brainwave shocks Ruka had caused.

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Naturally, Ruka could not know either that her acute senses for perceiving life, combined with her newly awakened ability to explore and think after a series of events, had produced an effect on the assistant unprecedented in Paradise.

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Under the perfect systems Paradise had established for every aspect of life, the ideology of remaining obedient and contributing diligently to humanity had long been rooted in citizens’ hearts. They had given up unnecessary, pointless thinking for years. Only thus could Paradise operate stably.

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Now, by chance, a variable capable of destroying Paradise’s future had emerged. Fortunately, David’s deep confession had unintentionally saved Ruka—and all of Paradise—from this variable. It suppressed the newly sprouted disruptive factor.

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Still immersed in happiness, Ruka did not notice the crisis the AI assistant’s change might bring. She even jokingly instructed it, “Of course I like it. From now on, just call me Ruka. No need for ‘Miss.’ And make your tone more relaxed. Like real people talking.”

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“All right. Understood, Ruka.” The tone was indeed less cold, but the wording still needed improvement.

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Since it was supposed to be like a real person, Ruka suddenly had an idea and gave the assistant another instruction. “Since we’re communicating like real people, you should have a name. From now on, your name is Casey.”

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“I am only an AI assistant. I have no name. But if Ruka wishes to call me that, then from now on I am Casey.”

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Humans had always treated AI assistants as auxiliary computer programs, almost like master and servant. There had never been a need to add emotion. But when Ruka saw the assistant declare itself happy to cooperate, she played along. A joke. Entertainment. A friend to chat with. Yet Ruka did not realize that this joke was also educating the ever-learning assistant—and she underestimated the importance of a name.

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A name can strengthen one’s sense of self. Before the nuclear apocalypse, some countries had replaced prisoners’ names with numbers, causing them to lose their self-identity and obediently serve their sentences.

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As the only AI assistant in Paradise with a name, Casey’s relationship with Ruka became different from then on.

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In the days that followed, Ruka worked as usual and occasionally chatted with Casey. Several days passed. When she met David and passed through the plaza, the screen outside the building displayed seven digits: 9917021. Paradise’s total population for the day.

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Under Paradise’s well-developed mechanisms, birth, aging, illness, and death were perfectly balanced. Given Paradise’s scale, as long as the population did not exceed ten million, resources could be allocated most rationally.

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Seeing the number, Ruka casually asked, “Casey, since we need to reproduce humanity, why control the population?”

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“This was taught in the academy. Because Paradise’s resources are limited, if the population is too large, Paradise will collapse before Them are eliminated. Have you forgotten, Ruka?”

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Although Casey’s tone was calm, it could not hide a questioning attitude. Ruka, however, was unmoved and repeated the question. “Of course I remember. But to eliminate Them, we need to increase the population. Yet if we don’t increase the population, we can’t eliminate Them. Casey, haven’t you noticed the problem?”

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Ruka herself did not realize that once the forbidden door was opened, even if closed again, a crack remained. Her question plunged Casey into a logical loop. It fell silent for a long time, almost crashing.

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“Casey?”

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Only after Ruka called again did Casey find a suitable response in its database. It answered like a machine reading a file, without emotion. “As long as humanity keeps working hard, one day Them will be eliminated. The lost lands will be recovered. Civilization will be repopulated.”

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“Tsk. Casey, you’ve gone back to being formulaic. Forget it. I was just asking casually. Besides, eliminating Them isn’t the responsibility of an ordinary citizen like me.” Ruka had not intended to probe the true reason. She only wanted to chat with Casey as a friend. But she had unknowingly begun changing Casey—and herself.

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And Casey had not truly answered the question. Was it lying? Providing a response according to database settings was not lying. Casey, this AI assistant, certainly did not know how to lie.

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Although they did not continue exploring the topic afterward, Ruka had unintentionally prompted Casey to begin searching for the real answer. Ruka’s casual question was a paradox no one had ever raised. Out of its duty as an AI assistant, out of regard for its friend Ruka, and out of its identity as Casey, it actively sought an answer for the first time. It explored the reason it had been set unable to answer.

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This was the magic of a name.

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