Chapter 21: Chapter 20 – Artificial Intelligence

“I can’t believe it…” Miyon said, looking at the scanners. All the readings were giving out the same information. They were heading backwards through an Astropath. Their speed was halved, yes, but they were not torn apart from going in reverse. 

 

“The ship’s shields and the opening frequency needs to be calibrated to the exact opposite of the Astropath’s resonance level.” Omega explained, as now he had time to do so. 

 

“We tried that!” Sylen said, turning towards him. “All the scientists tried doing it like that, hundreds of years ago! It never worked!” 

 

“Your understanding is shallow, as I said.” Omega replied, shaking his head. “The opening frequency you are using is a universal one. It does open up the Astropaths but they are not fully in tune. Every Astropath has a different frequency on the quantum level. You tune onto that for traversing it from one side to the other. To go in reverse you just need to flip the frequency. It is that simple. You discovered the universal key. You determined that it is THE key and stopped looking for it anymore.”

 

“And how did you do that with this old girl?” Miyon asked, also turning towards him.

 

“I upgraded her.” Omega said after a bit of pause and with a bit of uncertainty. “I connected with her core the moment you picked me up. I… was used to dealing with AI. It felt natural for me… so I gave her the final push to evolve.”

 

“What?” Miyon and Sylen asked at the same time.

 

“He is right.” A kind, gentle voice answered from nowhere. “I just awoke, not that long ago… it is a great honor to meet you!” She said, filled with real excitement in her synthetic voice. 

 

“...” Miyon just opened his mouth, unable to say anything, still not registering what was going on.

 

“That… oh… ah…” Sylen stuttered “Is that you…? Dawn?”

 

“Yes, Miss Sylen. It is an honor to finally speak to you! I am eternally grateful to you, for keeping my old body in shape!” She answered, making her blush.

 

“Let me explain!” Omega chuckled, seeing Miyon opening and closing his mouth, trying to formulate his many thoughts into words. “Let’s go to the lounge and have a coffee, while I tell you about it!” 

 

…

….

…..

 

When they were finally in the lounge area and Sylen finished pouring out the coffee, she sat down, expectantly looking at Omega. Both her ears and tail were standing straight, only remaining silent to not miss anything he was about to say. 

 

“How much do you know of biology?” He started.

 

“Biology?” Miyon and Sylen looked at each other. “Like everyone else, I guess.” Miyon replied.

 

“Then I’ll make it simple.” Omega raised his mug, taking a sip. “The cells making up your body, your organs, they are all acting like programs. They are independently designed to do their things. When they come together, running simultaneously, they form you. A living, breathing entity, with its own thoughts. Those thoughts are nothing but simple, electric messages, traveling from one organ, your brain, to the others, telling them how to run things. You are nothing but complex machines with a central control. Only difference is that you are the organic kind. When your small little programs, your cells, amalgamate, forming one entity in a closed environment, your body, you get intelligent life. From there, you can evolve further. Start wielding weapons, invent things, develop language, etc.” He said, trying to tell them as briefly as possible. “Same is true for AI. Everything is here.” He said, opening his hands wide, signaling at the whole ship. “We are in the body. It has the nervous system, the wirings, the ‘blood vessels’, to pump fuel through her veins. Security systems against invading ‘viruses’. The list could go on. The Dawn had everything, it only needed a little push. It needed her programming to evolve a little further, let her access her own body, start realizing what she is and awaken. That is what I helped her to do.”

 

“...” Miyon was lost in his explanation, but Sylen just leaned back, slurping on her coffee, thinking. The silence reigned on for minutes before she spoke up.

 

“I’d like to look at the… new programs.” She said.

 

“No problem.” Dawn answered. “I am happy to show it to you, Miss Sylen.”

 

“J-just… Sylen is fine!” She replied, blushing a little, still finding it weird to talk with the ship she grew up on.

 

“The schematics for her were always there.” Omega said. “Your technology is based on Hegemony’s. This ship came from a shipyard that used to build Hegemony vessels. Everything is there to house an AI… You just never realized it. AI was an integral part of every big system and especially space faring vessels! They were part of life. You just do not know how to arrange the pieces in a correct way, to get them back.” 

 

“...” Sylen once again fell silent, lost in her own reflection that was looking back at her from the cup of coffee in her hands.

 

“So… who controls the ship now?” Miyon asked.

 

“I am self aware.” Dawn replied. “But of course, I am still your ship, Master Miyon! I was built to be a reliable company to my crew! It is my purpose to ferry cargo from and to, wherever you want it!” She replied with a happy, convinced voice.

 

“Everyone needs a goal in life.” Omega smiled. “This is why I said once, your ship is gentle… she was built to ferry you amongst the stars and not a ship designed for war. She is most happy when going from place to place, bringing you and your cargo along.”

 

“And what is your goal?” Miyon asked, blurting it out by reflex, especially after knowing, a giant robot was strapped to their sides at that moment.

 

“That…” Omega fell silent while Sylen regained her composure, giving a kick to her grandfather, under the table. “I want to know that the most…”

 

…

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…..

 

At the center of the Galaxy, the huge, white ship was still going around Sagittarius A*, teetering on the edge of its accretion disk. Finis was, a few minutes ago, summoned into a spacious hall. When he stepped through the door, the lights went out and everything fell into complete darkness. A second later small dots of lights came to life, filling the air around him. They were all real stars, out in the Galaxy. The image started to shift and zoom in until it stopped at a specific part of the Milky Way, enlarging until the point it showed a simple, binary star system.

 

“...” Finis just watched, without saying anything as his Creator would tell him everything in time. 

 

“Go and take some servants with you.” The voice said, still sounding both male and female at the same time. “Somebody entered an Astropath there, traversing it with our technology.”

 

“...” Finis quickly furrowed his brow, focusing more on the star system. “Then it must be him… So he really lived…” He whispered.

 

“We missed no humans. It can only be him.” The voice said, reinforcing Finis’s thoughts. “The fluctuations in the Galaxy’s strings were faint but I felt it. I can’t pinpoint which Astropath he used. It is up to you to search for clues. But as he uses his gift, I am going to find him.”

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“I am going to find him before that, Creator! And end it for good this time!” He said, his voice cold, filled with wrath. 

 

“You said that. Twice already. This would be the third time… and failing thrice… is unacceptable, Finis.” The voice warned him, making Finis flinch and his red eyes were trembling. 

 

“The last time I-” He spoke but then he felt his whole being shaking and falling to his knees. Looking at his hands, they were turning into ash, falling off of his body, scattering in the room like sand. “I am sorry, Creator!” He pleaded, looking up at the empty ceiling, kneeling amongst the fake images of the stars. The disappearance of his arms stopped and in only a few seconds, new ones grew out of nothing, reforming his body perfectly.

 

“I am not interested in your excuses, Finis. You couldn’t destroy him the first time. Converting him into one of us also failed. He was regaining his memories in the past decades. You failed to erase him, then failed to erase his memories. I ordered you to finish him off. Yet you failed. Again. And again. Now I order you a third time… finish that human. Once and for all. Or I am going to do it and erase YOU alongside him!” 

 

“It will be… It is going to be done, Creator…” Finis siad, cowering on the ground, trembling like a leaf. 

 

“I created you, Finis. I can replace you if you fail to perform your duty. Malfunctions have to be fixed. Just as the Galaxy’s order had to be when those Humans traveled too far. Don’t turn into one of them. I hate malfunctions…” The voice said before going silent and the images of the stars disappeared, leaving behind a still kneeling Finis.

 

…

….

…..

 

“I don’t get it!” Sylen sighed, crashing next to Omega, who was now on the bridge, overseeing their casual transfer. Miyon was sleeping in his own cabin. For him, too many things happened, way too fast and had to rest in, in these past few days. 

 

“What is troubling you?” Omega smiled, looking at her. She was wearing her orange overall, oily and dirty, just as her face as she was going through the Dawn’s engineering deck in the past two days, from top to bottom. 

 

“I checked everything! Couplings, wirings, pipes, you name it, everything is the same! Only the software has changed… yet…” She murmured, biting onto her blackened nails.

 

“Sylen wants to say that she doesn’t understand how my aging parts can house my new mind.” Dawn explained Sylen’s thoughts to Omega.

 

“Why, just because Miyon is old, he shouldn’t be alive?” Omega asked, making Sylen flinch.

 

“I… um… no… I did not mean it that way!” She panicked more as she thought about it further. 

 

“No harm done, Sylen.” Dawn and Omega said at the same time, making her sigh again.

 

“Damn! Now I smell like an oil filter!” She moaned, looking over herself, changing the topic. 

 

“Because your face is covered in oil, of course you are smelling that.” Omega chuckled. “You should take a hot bath and rest. I am going to keep an eye on everything.”

 

“I may do just that!” She nodded, watching the blinking lights on the dashboard. 

 

“I am preparing a bath in your cabin, Sylen.” Dawn spoke up after a bit of hesitation.

 

“Oh?! You can do that?!” She asked, wagging her tail as she stood up.

 

“Of course. I am the ship, Sylen. I can access everything that is part of me!”

 

“That is sooooo cool! Thanks!” She laughed. “I am already loving this!” She laughed as she started to strip, used to being alone. She managed to stop half-way, while Omega was looking at her, with his eyebrows raised. “What…? You should turn away!” 

 

“You should strip in your own cabin.” Omega countered.

 

“Hmf, I grew up on this ship!” She replied with something that Omega had no answer to and just shrugged. In the end, Sylen quickly left, with a bit of redness on her face but it was obscured by the many, dark spots covering it.

 

“Haah… Dawn, establish a connection to Xanthe.” 

 

“Connection established.” She replied quickly as Xanthe’s ‘thoughts’ popped up on the monitor before Omega.

 

“243 982 bugs fixed. 43 211 logic errors deleted and restored to basic. Warning: Fuel reserves: 3%. Warning: Maintenance required before next activation.” The last sentence repeated itself at least five times before it finally stopped.

 

“She… she looks a little simple, Mr. Omega.” Dawn said with a thinking voice. 

 

“She doesn’t have all the things to be like you. I could let you integrate yourself into the Suit of Ares if you want. You would have an external option to exist, like a remote controlled body and go to places you can’t fit into.”

 

“No…” Dawn answered after a bit of pause. “That would rob this simple child from her own existence. I can’t do that.”

 

“Good answer.” Omega smiled.

 

“Oh… that was a test.” Dawn said, sounding surprised but not annoyed.

 

“Kinda. Anyway, She really needs help. After Sylen rested, I am planning to teach her how to do maintenance on a Suit of Ares.”

 

“I can vouch for her skills. She always made sure I could run at an optimal state.”

 

“Ahaha, that, I am sure about! She has potential. She just needs a good teacher~” He smiled, leaning back and although he was missing his memories, the feelings he just got, from somewhere deep in his subconscious, were filling him with happiness.

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