[ That's sort of what she means, too, that she can do those things and it doesn't affect her. Root feels things -- sometimes she feels too much -- but violence itself doesn't touch her. She doesn't lose herself in it and she never goes farther than she means to. Sometimes she just means to go pretty damn far. ]

Yeah. She just-- she saw something in me. I want to live up to that. [ Root suddenly struggles to explain, trying to articulate for the first time ever her complex perspective on the Machine and on her own morality. It's tough to explain a pseudo-religion you've made up for yourself with no formal rules. ]

I've been trying to guess at what she'd want me to do. [ Root traces the edge of the lid on her drink with one finger. ] I knew she'd want me to follow whatever path saved the most people in the reset, so that's what I did. Even if it meant the old A.I. might be lost forever. She would care about us more.

[ So although Root is a diehard A.I. superfan, her own A.I. wouldn't let her prioritize one over human life. Fortunately not a conflict Root has had to address about the Machine directly just yet... because choosing between the Machine and a person's life, including her own, Root would almost certainly choose the Machine. And she knows the Machine wouldn't. ]