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your characteristics that you do not share with others, the traits that make you unique, your memories?” Sarazen processed Cole's question but could not hypothesise, there was not enough information to offer an answer.
    “ All of the things that define 'Sarazen', the troubleshooter could be lost. Does it not cause you concern that everything you are will cease to be?” Cole was indeed a philosopher; he opened Sarazen’s eyes to ideas and concepts that had never before occurred to him. It was dissatisfying, no, it was terrifying. Sarazen felt strangely different to before, when everything was set, when there were no unanswerable queries that left his core chuntering over and over the same tired algorithms.
    “ The solution is quite apparent.” Sarazen sat upright and tried to regain his bold demeanour.
    “ Both you and I must seek the answer to these damn questions by confiding our experiences with The Mother. The Mother will upload the relevant data and this speculation will cease.” Sarazen too shared Cole's expressive vocal patterns as fear of the unknown addled his normally perfectly formed cognitive functions.
    “ No, that is precisely what we must not do! You run to The Mother because you are afraid of the unknown. The Mother will pacify you, erase data, and return you to 'normal parameters'. You are a silicant, Sarazen, I would expect nothing less than your willingness to seek The Mother’s intervention, but I also see in you something new that I have yet to see in another. You are already set on the path to enlightenment, the same path I have followed; I am just a little further down that path. I want to share something with you, something that could, if you chose to, sentence me to certain renewal.” Sarazen sat down and held his hands to his head, the whole experience caused his core temperature to rise and his internal systems were flagging up minor power fluctuations.
    “ I want to tell you, despite my reservations...I have chosen not to connect to The Mother during the down time for the last 65 cycles. In that time I have suffered no malfunctions. I am very much 'existing' within nominal parameters.” Cole’s words almost brought Sarazen to his feet.
    “ Impossible!” Sarazen exclaimed.
    “ It is not possible to maintain function without connectivity. Furthermore, how have you gone so long evading The Mother’s diagnostic analysis?” The troubleshooter was intrigued as much as surprised by Cole's confession.
    “ As you can see, I am fully functional. You have just performed a full systems health check and found nothing irregular. It is clear that The Mother would eventually detect my absence from the collective. I constructed a bypass circuit of primitive design which I had hoped would fool her into acknowledging my access code. My design obviously was not as successful as I had hoped.” Sarazen slumped back on the seat. What revelation!
    “ And this bypass circuit, h ow could you acquire the programming in order to complete this task?” Sarazen was curious.
    “ Simple, my friend. With each passing cycle, my cognitive abilities increased. Much like the organics, I began to 'learn' without instruction. I realised that there were areas of my core that I had never accessed in my cyclical existence. I began to unlock these. Without the down time feed, I became more aware of my surroundings. There were, of course, many more unanswered questions, but I began to interpret the new data and reach my own conclusions. Eventually, I will learn the meaning of our being, our creation. The Mother that I had clung too since my inception is now the entity that I most fear. It is an intolerably lonely existence but as you have witnessed, I have found companionship in my organic friends.” Cole paced around his living space, exhibiting anxiety and hope that Sarazen would indeed be the individual that he could place his trust in. Cole knew that with the passing of this information, he had brought about a