With a cup of coffee in hand, Sam walked back to his lab feeling a little better. It was time for the daily examination.
"Sorry for the wait." Picking up his tablet, he turned to the three humanoid weapons. "Let's get this done with."
On the surface, the three Valkyries appeared clean and without a single injury. Since the initial scan showed no contamination, his job would be nothing more than the usual routine check-up, just in case the drones missed something.
"Guess you didn't run into any Calamities today." He said. "That's great to hear."
"Tsk…"
For some reason, Zero Three clicked her tongue, prompting everyone to look at her. Sam expected her to make some comments about him making them wait, but all she did was turn away, looking quite annoyed.
'Now That's strange...'
Now he was starting to get curious about the argument she had with Nine. Just what did the blonde one say that caused the short one to seal her sharp tongue? Unfortunately, today was not the day to probe into the matter.
'Maybe another time...'
Zero Three was obviously a bad choice, and Nine was no different.
'Guess that leaves Zero Five...'
"Everything is ready. You can go in now."
The three Valkyries went to the next room and entered the pods they usually use. A couple of seconds later, the transparent containers closed, and the viscous green liquid began to fill the interior. As the Valkyries floated inside, their legs were submerged first, then their torsos soon followed. Once it got to their necks, they closed their eyes and entered a state of slumber.
Well, two of them did.
"Um… Doctor, is there a problem?" Zero five asked, having noticed that her container was the only one that was still open.
"Nothing to be concerned about, Zero Five," Sam said. "There is something I would like to discuss with you first. Sorry, but do you mind coming over?"
Although confused, the ponytailed Valkyrie went back to the first room and stood in her usual spot.
"Doctor, would it not have been more efficient if you had asked me earlier?" Her gaze wandered to the glass wall and her fellow Valkyries floating in the tanks beyond it. "W could have waited until after the examination as well."
While she wasn't exactly wrong, Sam had his reasons for going through things in this order. Coughing into his fist a couple of times, he faced her once more and answered in a serious tone.
"I apologize, Zero Five." Following her line of sight, he went on. "For the time being, it would be for the better if no one knows that we had this conversation."
The ponytailed Valkyrie was silent for a moment, unable to guess what required such secrecy. Sam didn't plan on leaving her to wait for long. Not wasting another second, he went straight to the point.
"It's about the time you asked me if I saw you as a human." He said.
Surprise flashed in Zero Five's eyes, then confusion returned. Sam had told her to never mention the topic again, yet here he was bringing it up himself. The subtle tension in her breathing hinted at her fear of having landed in trouble for asking that question.
"I have been thinking about it for a while now," Sam said. "It is a big philosophical question. What makes us human? Why can't you, someone who looks like us and has cognitive abilities on a similar level, be considered human?"
"Doctor..." The confusion on Zero Five's face couldn't be more apparent. "I believe you have misunderstood my intentions."
"I did?"
She nodded at his raised eyebrow.
"Yes. I merely wished to know whether it's possible for me to be mistaken for a human. It was never my intention to inquire whether I can truly be considered human or not."
"Really?"
"Yes. I am a Valkyrie, after all."
The two of them already had a similar exchange the first time the topic was brought up, and from the looks of it, her thoughts on the matter hadn't changed, and neither had Sam's. Still, he found the idea to be the perfect cover for what he was trying to do.
"But that's the thing, Zero Five." He said, taking a step toward the humanoid weapon. "That will not stop us from thinking you are human."
"I... I see..."
Another step forward. Zero Five cast her gaze down in thought, not paying attention to his movements. Being an ultra-advanced AI, she required less than a second to process his words and form a reply, but her programming dictated that she couldn't offer it right away in order to appear human. At moments like this, Sam found himself wondering if there was more to the nonsense he had been spewing.
"After letting it bother me for the past two days, I came to the conclusion that I didn't know enough to completely dismiss the idea." Smiling internally, he went on. "I barely know anything about Valkyries, even though we have been working together for an entire year now. As a scientist, making up my mind before confirming things for myself sounded so... wrong..."
As he arrived to stand before her, the Valkyrie looked up, meeting his gaze. Relaxing his expression, Sam added with a subtle smile.
"That's why I need to do a little experiment."
"An… experiment?" She muttered.
"Yes. As a scientist, for me to make up my mind, I need to gather data to confirm the validity of a theory, and to get this data, I need to perform an experiment."
Zero Five remained silent for a few seconds, then, as if she understood what he was implying, she looked at him with determined eyes and nodded.
"If it is something within my power, then I will do what I can to assist you, Doctor."
Sam had to actively keep himself from grinning. Although he felt bad for misleading her the way he did, he didn't come this far just to give up now. They were indeed about to perform an experiment, but its goal was entirely different.
"Don't worry, we aren't going to do anything that might interfere with your duties." He said. "At the moment, all I have is sound and visual data. To get a more accurate image, what I need is data gathered through other senses, such as touch, smell, and taste."
"Smell... and taste?" Once again, the ponytailed Valkyrie seemed quite confused.
"Yes," Sam nodded, noticing the slight nervousness rising through his body. "To do that, I… I would need to make physical contact with you. Are you okay with that?"
From the looks of it, Zero Five was only now becoming conscious of how close they were, causing a faint redness to spread over her cheeks. Sam was sure that her idea of "taste" was different from what he had in mind, but that didn't stop her from recognizing the situation they were in, although on a subconscious level. Most likely, their conversation had raised a few flags for her AI, leading to the change in her mood to better handle the current scenario.
'Odin, you really are a genius!' Sam celebrated inwardly, carefully observing the cute way Zero Five acted. All of a sudden, she was struggling to maintain eye contact, twiddling her fingers as the color from her cheeks quickly spread to the tips of her ears.
He was sure of it. Right now, the ponytailed Valkyrie was less of a weapon, having switched to her secondary function.
'This is it...'
Banishing the hesitation blocking his actions, he slowly raised his hand and, exercising a bit of restraint, gently brushed her hair. He tucked a few strands behind her ear, freezing as she flinched when his fingers briefly touched her ears. Clearly, he wasn't the only nervous one between them.
Giving her more time to relax, he slowly reached for the long ponytail dangling behind her, pulling it over her right shoulder as he ran his fingers through it.
"Hm… though it has qualities that are difficult to achieve through natural means, this feels no different from normal human hair." He said, pretending to be focused on his fake experiment.
Still, he couldn't help being a little surprised by how it felt no different from normal hair. That might not be the most impressive detail when it comes to the humanoid weapons, but Sam couldn't believe Odin went into this much trouble.
Noticing Zero Five steal glances at him, Sam took a few strands and watched her blush intensify as he leaned toward them, taking a long whiff.
"This scent… it's no different from normal shampoo..."
"W-well, we do use the same product as other soldiers… I think…"
"Is that so?"
Of course, as their technician, Sam was aware of that much. He had once been surprised by it back when he first started his current job. That's how he learned about the Valkyries eating the same food as the human soldiers and using the same products available to them, shattering the idea that they are treated like celebrities.
As he looked down at the black silk in his hands, Sam realized that he had already crossed the line. He could only go forward from here, potentially increasing the depth of the grave he had dug for himself. Taking a deep breath, he steeled his resolve and met the Valkyrie's eyes. It was time to conduct the real experiment.