Stradivari and I walked by the guard at the front gate. I asked my new subordinate twice if he was completely sure he wasn't carrying any weapons. The guard, picking up on my obvious concern, quickly frisked Stradivari before letting us through.
I searched my mind for any recollection of how psychopathy actually worked. Most of my understanding of that mental illness was informed by movies or TV shows, but the one symptom that seemed to stay consistent between sources was a notable lack of empathy. Well, I really wasn't one to judge someone for lack of empathy, but a complete lack of concern for others could prove to be a danger for me. What if, in the self-interested calculus of Stradivari's mind, he decided that it would be better for him if I was dead.
That wasn't even considering the possibility that he was just lying. Nobody had told me that they were sending a new pilot to replace Vultee. I would have liked to pick out a replacement for myself. My first pick would have been Cucuruz Doan, Anavel Gato, or Iria Solari, but the top scorer on the simulators was a good enough replacement. Sure, Zeon's simulations were a famously bad substitute for actual combat, but there was definitely a high correlation between skill in the simulators and skill in combat.
There was one thought in the back of my head that I found really humorous. Somehow, when Stradivari told me he was a psychopath, it actually made me trust him a lot more. If he was an assassin sent by Gihren to kill me, there was no way he would tell me he was a psychopath, even if he was one. Such an admission would naturally put me in a hyper-alert state of mind, thus severely decreasing the success rate of any assassination attempt. Still, I made sure that Stradivari always walked in front of me.
"Where did you hear that you were assigned to Oracle Squad?" I asked.
"I heard it from Lieutenant Shao Wei," Stradivari said concisely.
"Uh huh," I said as we began walking up a staircase. Once I knew we were alone and far away from any weapons, I began speaking once more. "Okay, Officer Stradivari, I appreciate your honesty. Men with your condition are typically a lot more, uh, secretive about it. Before we go any further, I need to learn more about you. Is there anything about your condition that might affect your performance in battle?"
"I have killed before, if that's what you're asking," Stradivari said without blinking, "and I felt no empathetic response. There was a robbery at a convenience store in Quintzem five years ago. I happened to be there, and I was carrying a handgun in my waistband." He stopped as if the rest of the story was so obvious that it didn't have to be spoken out loud.
"How were you diagnosed?" I asked.
"After the shooting, I was mandated by the court to attend therapy for a year. Thinking those conversations were confidential, I revealed too much to the therapist. I applied to join the military around the time that the Autonomous Republic of Zeon gave the military the right to unseal confidential records. It was a mistake on my part," Stradivari said, shrugging.
"So they let you into the military, but they didn't put you in a combat role until now. I assume this is a wide-scale shift in Zeon as a whole, and it's not unique to you," I said.
"That's right," Stradivari said with an expressionless nod.
Great. Zeon had decided to deploy actual psychos to fight the Federation. When they called us psychopaths, it was no longer merely metaphorical.
"There's one last thing I have to ask you. Stradivari, how do you see the world? More importantly, how do you see me? Under what circumstances would you kill me?"
An unsettling smile appeared on Stradivari's face, and I could tell he was only smiling because it was expected and not because he thought the situation was actually amusing. He said, "I'm supposed to say 'I would never kill you, Captain' here, right? If it were anyone else, I would lie to you, but I know of your insight. I don't want to risk you seeing through me, so I will tell you the truth." Stradivari cleared his throat before saying, "Do you know anything about video games, Captain?"
"Yeah," I said, not liking where this conversation was going. "I know too much about them, really."
"Perfect. That makes explaining much easier. Living in my brain is like playing a particularly well-made RPG. I know I'm real, sure, but I don't know for sure that anyone else is real," Stradivari said.
"I think, therefore I am," I quoted.
"Exactly. I have no definitive evidence that anyone else thinks. Everything in this world could be a dream from which I will soon wake. All other people are essentially just NPCs or Non-Player Characters. You know, game characters that…" Stradivari said.
"I know what an NPC is," I said, cutting him off.
"Right. My point is that other people are NPCs. When you play an RPG, you don't necessarily go out of your way to kill NPCs if the punishment is too high, but you're not gonna feel bad if you have to kill one from time to time. As for you, Captain, you're a quest-giving NPC. I wouldn't kill you, because that would sequence-break the whole game. Though, if I knew we were about to lose and be captured, I wouldn't feel bad about killing or capturing you to save my own skin."
This world must have made me a weirdo, because I found Stradivari's honesty incredibly refreshing. I felt that, for the first time since I had been reborn in the Earth Sphere, someone was actually telling me the whole truth. Erik Stradivari was revealing to me his whole self. There was nothing in him beyond that purely rational and self-interested creature. Of all people in the Earth Sphere, I understood him the best.
"I believe you," I said with an unintentional smile on my face. "It sounds like I just have to make sure we don't lose. Easy."
"I knew you would understand me, Captain. Anyone who could be declared the Hero of Zeon would have to be a bit like me," Stradivari said, and something immensely unsettling happened on his face. An honest expression of joy flashed in his expression, causing his eyes to narrow and his lips to curl back. Within seconds, it had disappeared completely.
Together, me and the psychopath entered the common area on the hospital's second floor. Ramos, Aiko, and Wei were already there, dressed in civilian clothing. Aiko was sitting in a wheelchair, and Ramos was pushing her along.
I cleared my throat. It was time to confirm whether Stradivari was the actual newest member of Oracle Squad or just a very honest assassin.