Someone

The new morning sun was just starting to warm up the cold morning air.

"Ahhhhh. This is what I needed." Anna proclaimed.

"Yeah. I've been holding it in for a while." Stephanie agreed.

"Is this-this what you call, taking a pi-piss?" Asked the A.I. while observing the two on opposite sides of the same brick wall. The only wall nearby that wasn't knocked down in the destruction of the initial stage of the invasion.

Anna raised a brow and coldly looked at the giant mech's multiple exposed red-eye sensors staring at her.

"Can you not look at us? This is private time."

"My sensors," The mech pointed at its head. "Do no-not have a blind spot. No matter how I turn the optical intake-take unit, you can be, seen."

"So cover them up or something." She pouted. "It's weird having someone stare at me while I'm... Busy..."

"Some...one? Do y-you consid-"

"I SAID, COVER UP!" Anna grabbed the nearest loose brick and threw it as hard as she could in her awkward position. The giant mech casually watched as the feeble attempt to show dominance failed exceptionally. Though, to quell her inconsequential fury, the A.I. figured it would be best to attempt something to stay on her good side.

The mech itself was standing on a collapsed double-decker highway. A nearby large aluminum sign looked big enough to give her some sense of privacy. The massive hand picked up the sign gently, but it still crumpled a little in the grasp of the giant's strength.

Both women watched as it picked up the sign and held it up to cover the face of the mech. They both started laughing because the sign was for a popular theme park that used to be nearby called, Idiotland. The sign had split in half and the mech was holding the "Idiot" half upright while the "land" portion was hanging down from the corner.

"My Moon," The A.I. continued. "You referred to me as-s, "someone." Does that mean you think of me as an individ-individual and not just a program?"

Stephanie peeked her head around the wall and smiled at Anna.

"Oooo. This is where the A.I. becomes self-aware and starts liking you more than just a servant to the master. He will then attempt to become more human in order to court you. After that, he will attempt to make you as immortal as he is so you can both live together forever."

"I can't tell if that's a horror or a romance movie," Anna said as she finished what she came to do. Stephanie looked off to the side as she turned away and began scratching her wrist.

"It's actually an anime from when I was a kid. Still one of my favorites." She noted nervously. Anna failed to see why she looked so nervous. She shook it off as a mystery of life.

"I'm starving. How are those rations you told me about?"

"All gone."

"All g-gone." Stephanie and the A.I. said in unison. For a split second, Anna could swear the two looked at each other, even with the idiot sign still covering the mech's face.

"Let m-me do a qui-quick search of the area for... I found something. Plea-ease stand back."

The mech reached out with its free hand and scooped away a large amount of rubble. This also proved that the sign in front of the mech's face did absolutely nothing. A steel door was mounted in the ground. A single finger was all it needed to pry the door away, revealing a pantry for what must have been some kind of general store. The mech held out its open palm and the girls quickly filled it up with non-perishables and things with a long shelf life at room temperature.

"There is too mu-much here to fit inside the capsule with Phany-any. I have repurposed the pantry to be more complementary-lementary to human food items."

Stephanie started to put up a finger as if to call attention, but the A.I. either ignored it or didn't see it.

"Why are you calling her Phany? That's rude!" Anna scolded the A.I.

"She said-d some males call her Phany. Is it rude-ude because I am not a human male?"

"It's RUDE for ANYONE to call her that! Say you're sorry!" Anna demanded.

"Anyone... You're right. I am sorry-ry-ry." Stephanie gave a coy smile as her reply.

Instead of the cockpit rotating to the right, it went to the left instead, revealing a large door. It opened into a decent-sized walk-in room.

"What? Why didn't you tell us you had this room? Why was I stuck in the tiny capsule?" Stephanie asked almost angrily.

"Because this room was air-tight. You would have suffo-suffocated within a matter of minutes."

Stephanie just started shaking her head.

"I... That's... a good answer."

"I made changes-es to it last night as we trav-aveled. You can now be in this room without suffocating if you wish."

The girls tossed all of the old contents of the room as the A.I. had explained that most of it was poisonous to humans. While Anna was stocking up some shelves, Stephanie had a question for the A.I.

"How long before we get to where we are going?"

"About two more d-days of-of travel. But our contact said they were four days out, y-yesterday. They won't arr-arrive for another three days."

"So we got a day to kill?" She contemplated. "Anna!" She shouted. "I have some ideas."

They spent half of the day searching for decorations for the new room. It was turned into a small bedroom with lots of shelves filled with food.

The other half was spent taking in the sights. Most of the time it was places that one or the other used to know before the destruction. There was an occasional human running for cover, not knowing they were friendly.

The last stop they made was at a field of flowers that escaped the destruction. The A.I. was actually the one who made the suggestion for a pit stop before nightfall. Stephanie ran behind a nearby tree. Anna got out and instantly plucked one of the blue flowers to smell.

"These are my favorite."

There was a light breeze and the bright orange sky brilliantly lit up the flowers. They had a slight tilt toward the last light of the day.

"My Moon, you nev-ever answered my question from earlier." The A.I. mentioned on their private channel in her head. "Do you think of me-of me as someone, rather than a something?"

Anna contemplated the question. It wasn't something easy to answer. A true A.I. is real intelligence. There were fake A.I.'s all over the internet. Just programs that learned algorithms and common practices and employed those practices with random people all over the world. Maybe that's how a real A.I. is born, but this was different.

"I don't know if I can answer that right now. I know you are smarter than any human and you can hack into electronics without lifting a finger. I don't know..." The A.I. seemed to hang onto every word she said as if it were waiting for her to say something very specific. "I don't think I've seen any real emotion from you. I think someone has to have emotion. Maybe that's what separates someone from something. Or, at least that's one thing that separates the two."

"Emotion..."

"Why are you asking me?"

"Do I have to be someone to have a n-name?"

"A name? No. Things have names all the time. Boats, cars, and guns. People will name almost anything. Do you want a name?"

The A.I. hesitated.

"Could I be called, M-"

"WOLF!" Stephanie seemingly came out of nowhere and shouted. "He looks kinda like a wolf, right Anna? Or a werewolf or something, right? Let's call him Wolf or Wolfy."

There was a small lake nearby and just enough light left for the A.I. to look at its reflection in the water.

"Wolf... A wild K-9 beast, known for hunting in p-packs. They have a hierarchy but, still look after each other. Werewolf, a fictional beast, half human, and half wolf.."

The A.I. couldn't explain how it felt to have a name. All it could do is recite the many descriptions and examine the many images of wolves and werewolves on the human internet that was downloaded into a small partition of its memory.

"Wolf... The representation of the moon to a wolf, I think the name is a good fit for you and I, My Moon."

'It sounds to me like you are starting to use some emotions. Maybe you will be someone, one day.' Anna thought to herself, knowing that Wolf was listening.

The two women retreated into the chest of the mech once more. Wolf had made an autopilot interface so that Anna could get some sleep while they were heading north. The first thing she did was turn it on and sit back.

~ "By the way, Wolf. Since you were mean to Stephanie earlier, I decided not to tell you to stop for a while but, you can put the sign down now."

"Yes, My Moon." The mech tossed the sign. It landed on top of a building that was home to a group of survivors. They promptly found a new shelter the next morning. Who would want to stay at an idiot shelter?