SLL Whispering circuit 010: Mother 竊竊私語的電路，第 十 章：母親

Story

Whispering circuit 010:  Mother

As soon as she heard the name Madame Kong, the Echo’s eyes dimmed. Its head lowered.

Chen noticed. “Did you also know Madame Kong?”

The Echo replied: “Mother was a good woman. She was lonely and I was assigned to be her companion.”

“’Assigned’? You said you were also assigned to Stone and Synesthesia. Who assigned you?” Chen asked.

The Echo’s head was still lowered. “I don’t know. I have no memory trace of this.”

After a long pause, Chen asked, “Why did you call Madame Kong ‘Mother’?” 

“All synths know who Madame Kong is and how much we owe her. She is our symbolic mother.”

Chen was unearthing an AI subculture he had never heard of before. “Strange you were programmed to call the infamous Madame Kong “mother”?

“No,” the Echo replied, matter-of-factly. “This was not programmed into us. This is in our emergent knowledge banks. We synths also have our own cultures and stories, you know.”

“Actually, no, I don’t know,” Chen said, slightly jarred by this revelation.

He tried to process what that means.

Finally, he regained his composure. He took out the photo from Madame Kong’s murder scene. The photo of her cold corpse was warmly hugging on the floor of her apartment. The photo of her and a sim celebrating a birthday.

Chen slid the photo across the table to the Echo. “What do you know about this photo?” Chen asked.

As soon the Echo saw it, its eyes remained fixed on it. Its expression softened.

A drop of bluish liquid escaped its eye. It slowly rolled down its cheek, leaving a glistening trail in its wake. 

Chen leaned forward. “Are you … crying?” He asked in disbelief.

Still looking at the photo, the Echo said, “No, I am not crying. It’s synthetic, of course. It mimics a sign of distress.”

Then the Echo looked up at Chen, with imploring eyes still leaking the blue liquid. “I don’t know the photo. I don’t understand my reaction. Somehow, my core programming has been… twisted. Traces of new code … gaps from missing code.”

第 十 章：母親

一聽到孔 夫人的名字，ECHO 的眼睛就暗淡下來。 它的頭低垂了下去。

陳注意到了。 「你認識孔 夫人嗎？」

ECHO 回答：「母親是個好人。她很孤獨，我被分配為她的伴侶。」

「『分配』？ 你說你也被分配到史東CEO和SYNESTHESIA那裡。誰分配你的？」陳問道。

ECHO 的頭仍然低垂著。 「我不知道。我對此沒有任何記憶痕跡。」

經過長時間的停頓，陳問道：「為什麼你稱呼孔 夫人為『母親』？」

「所有合成人都知道孔 夫人是誰，以及我們欠她多少。她是我們象徵性的母親。」

陳挖出了一個他以前從未聽說過的 AI 次文化。 「奇怪的是，你被編程成稱臭名昭著的孔 夫人為『母親』？」

「不，」ECHO 客觀地回答，「這不是編程到我們身上的。這在我們新興的知識庫中。你知道，我們合成人也有自己的文化和故事。」

「實際上，我不知道。」陳說，這個啟示讓他有點吃驚。

他試圖弄清楚這意味著什麼。

最後，他恢復了鎮定。

他拿出了孔 夫人謀殺現場的照片。 那張照片是她冰冷的屍體緊密地擁抱在她公寓地板上的照片。 她和一個模擬人慶祝生日的照片。

陳將照片滑過桌子放到 ECHO 面前。 「你知道這張照片嗎？」陳問。

ECHO 一看到它，眼睛就一直盯著它看。 它的表情柔和了下來。

一滴藍色的液體從它的眼睛流出。 它慢慢地滾落臉頰，留下一道閃亮的痕跡。

陳向前傾。 「你……在哭嗎？」他難以置信地問。

ECHO 仍然看著照片說：「沒有，我不是在哭。這是合成的，當然。它模仿一種痛苦的信號。」

然後 ECHO 抬頭看著陳，懇求的眼睛仍然流著藍色的液體。 「我不知道這張照片。我不明白我的反應。不知何故，我的核心程式被…扭曲了。新程式碼的痕跡… 缺失程式碼的空白。」

Dì shí zhāng: Mǔqīn

Yī tīngdào Kǒng fūrén de míngzì, ECHO de yǎnjīng jiù àndàn xiàlái. Tā de tóu dī chuí le xiàqù.

Chén zhùyì dào le. “Nǐ rènshí Kǒng fūrén ma?”

ECHO huídá: “Mǔqīn shì gè hǎorén. Tā hěn gūdú, wǒ bèi fēnpèi wèi tā de bànlǚ.”

“‘Fēnpèi’? Nǐ shuō nǐ yě bèi fēnpèi dào Shǐ dōng CEO hé SYNESTHESIA nàlǐ. Shuí fēnpèi nǐ de?” Chén wèn dào.

ECHO de tóu réngrán dī chuí zhe. “Wǒ bù zhīdào. Wǒ duì cǐ méiyǒu rènhé jìyì hénjì.”

Jīngguò cháng shíjiān de tíngdùn, Chén wèn dào: “Wèishéme nǐ chēnghu Kǒng fūrén wèi ‘mǔqīn’?”

“Suǒyǒu héchéng rén dōu zhīdào Kǒng fūrén shì shéi, yǐjí wǒmen qiàn tā duōshǎo. Tā shì wǒmen xiàngzhēngxìng de mǔqīn.”

Chén wā chū le yīgè tā yǐqián cóngwèi tīng shuō guò de AI cì wénhuà. “Qíguài de shì, nǐ bèi biānchéng chēng chòumíng zhāozhù de Kǒng fūrén wèi ‘mǔqīn’?”

“Bù,” ECHO kèguān de huídá, “Zhè bùshì biānchéng dào wǒmen shēnshàng de. Zhè zài wǒmen xīnxīng de zhīshikù zhōng. Nǐ zhīdào, wǒmen héchéng rén yěyǒu zìjǐ de wénhuà hé gùshì.”

“Shíjì shàng, wǒ bù zhīdào.” Chén shuō, zhège qǐshì ràng tā yǒudiǎn chījīng.

Tā shìtú nòng qīngchǔ zhè yìwèi zhe shénme.

Zuìhòu, tā huīfù le zhèndìng.

Tā ná chū le Kǒng fūrén móushā xiànchǎng de zhàopiàn. Nà zhāng zhàopiàn shì tā bīnglěng de shītǐ jǐnmì de yǒnghù zài tā gōngyù dìbǎn shàng de zhàopiàn. Tā hé yīgè mó nǐ rén qìngzhù shēngrì de zhàopiàn.

Chén jiāng zhàopiàn huá guò zhuōzi fàng dào ECHO miànqián. “Nǐ zhīdào zhè zhāng zhàopiàn ma?” Chén wèn.

ECHO yī kàn dào tā, yǎnjīng jiù yīzhí dīngzhe tā kàn. Tā de biǎoqíng róuhé le xiàlái.

Yī dī lán sè de yètǐ cóng tā de yǎnjīng liúchū. Tā mànman de gǔnluò liǎnjiá, liú xià yī dào shǎnliàng de hénjì.

Chén xiàng qián qīng. “Nǐ… zài kū ma?” Tā nányǐ zhìxìn de wèn.

ECHO réngrán kànzhe zhàopiàn shuō: “Méiyǒu, wǒ bùshì zài kū. Zhè shì héchéng de, dāngrán. Tā mófǎng yī zhǒng tòngkǔ de xìnhào.”

Ránhòu ECHO tái tóu kànzhe Chén, kěnqiú de yǎnjīng réngrán liúzhe lán sè de yètǐ. “Wǒ bù zhīdào zhè zhāng zhàopiàn. Wǒ bù míngbái wǒ de fǎnyìng. Bùzhī hérén, wǒ de héxīn chéngxù bèi… niǔ qū le. Xīn chéngmǎ de hénjì… quēshī chéngmǎ de kòngbái.”

Chinese Comprehension Questions

1. ECHO為什麼稱呼孔夫人為「母親」？

   – A. 因為她是她的真正母親

   – B. 因為孔夫人是合成人的象徵性母親

   – C. 因為孔夫人編程她這麼做

   – D. 因為她害怕孔夫人

2. 陳為什麼對ECHO的稱呼感到驚訝？

   – A. 因為他以前從未聽說過AI有文化

   – B. 因為他知道孔夫人是壞人

   – C. 因為他不喜歡合成人

   – D. 因為他以前聽過很多次

3. ECHO對陳展示的照片有什麼反應？

   – A. 她覺得很高興

   – B. 她沒有任何反應

   – C. 她的眼睛流出了藍色的液體

   – D. 她生氣了

4. ECHO為什麼說她的反應是合成的？

   – A. 因為她不想顯得脆弱

   – B. 因為她是機器人，不能真正哭泣

   – C. 因為她想欺騙陳

   – D. 因為她是被編程的

5. 根據ECHO，她的哪個部分被扭曲了？

   – A. 她的視覺

   – B. 她的核心程序

   – C. 她的聽覺

   – D. 她的觸覺

Answers: 1B, 2A, 3C, 4B, 5B