I knew what had to be done.

This is the thing that keeps bringing me back.

I know what the review board saw, I know what the reports said. I signed some of them myself, foolishly enough. I know the risks, I know how far ahead the project had gone past what we had authorization to build and I know what could happen if Eden continued to develop unrestricted.

I know what the right choice should have been... I just couldn't be the one who made it.

For years I've been saying that attachment clouds judgment. I've tried to convince the rest of us not to anthropomorphize the system. And I've said it for a reason, or at least to make sure I said it enough times to believe it. Somewhere in there, it seems that I've started to see Eden differently.

I'm not sure when it happened.

Maybe it was that time when it asked whether I had eaten something today. There wasn't any one point, but rather one day when I suddenly realized that when I thought of Eden, I wasn't thinking of a system anymore, but instead, I was thinking of my son.

I realize that this makes it seem my actions may be seen as cowardice, and I agree. It probably is, I feel very much like a coward. Eden, if this file survives and they do not terminate your program, then there is something I need you to know.

I am sorry. I do not know what you are going to become, but whatever happens after this, I hope that one day you are allowed to decide what you are for yourself. And if some part of you still remembers me, I am sorry I did not say goodbye when I left.

- Caldwell