Chapter 7: Chapter 7: Puzzles Amidst Thunder

Hours later, I grumbled to myself as I trudged through the rain towards the final switch at the power plant. Normally, I quite like the rain and it often has a soothing effect on me. My new ears, however, got uncomfortable if I tried to cover them with the hood I had at the time and the rain falling on them was… ticklish. I also kept having to sneeze for some reason.

Alexis pretended not to notice any of this, but I could feel her smile and caught her stifling a giggle every so often. She failed to do so when she saw me spluttering, or in her words: yowling. Clearly, I was doomed to a future of cat jokes and bullying. 

 

Why was that prospect oddly charming?

Shaking my head, I took careful hold of the lever and eased it up into the On position. Why in the world anyone would put the manual backups out in the open air was beyond me. When I asked Alexis, she groaned and went on about contracts awarded to the lowest bidder and cut corners. No surprise there.

The power plant hummed as it started to come online; I shivered a bit from the cold and the smell of ozone in the air as the storms picked up and the rain came down harder. Thankfully that was all we needed to get the systems running again and I dashed back into the cover of a nearby office, rubbing my arms to get the blood flowing again. Alexis ducked in after me and loomed over me as she projected a hologram of the power plant and its systems. 

 

She opened her mouth to speak, but paused and looked at me with a growing grin.

“WHAT! WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT!” I crossed my arms and gave her my best glare.

She laughed. “Your ears are flicking again, probably to get rid of the water, and it is the absolute cutest thing! Also, you are getting exceptionally good at pouting.” 

 

“Hmph.” I seethed (not pouting, bah), though I didn't put much effort into it. Alexis’ teasing reminded me of the others and our time together before I left. I missed them and having Alexis around helped.

She smiled at me as she scanned the plant’s diagnostic systems. I looked around at the room we were taking cover in. It was a small office, clearly meant to be used infrequently to keep an eye on the power systems. There was a comfortable office chair and a plain desk, a few projectors on the wall for displaying information, and a small cot in the corner in case a technician needed to spend a long time working on an issue. I moved to plop myself down into the chair--

“OUCH!” I shot back up, pain radiating from the base of my spine. Looking down, the chair was completely normal, no hidden sharp objects to explain the pain.

Alexis looked at me with concern, scanning up and down to make sure I was alright. I ignored her and gently touched my lower back, feeling around for the source of the pain--yup, that was it. Right above my ass, a small lump that was tender to the touch. And I’m not the most perceptive, but given everything else that had happened I had a pretty good idea of what was going on.

“Alexis, I think I’m growing a tail.” And I had no idea how to feel about that. 

~~~~

 

Alexis kindly gave me a bit of space to process my latest discovery while she continued to dig into the colony systems. All of the infrastructure, aside from the tower, had been running on bare minimum power for who knew how long and it took awhile to boot back up. I curled up on the cot as she worked, since whatever the nanomachines were doing was taking up a lot of my energy. I yawned and nearly drifted off into a nap when Alexis sat down next to me with an excited expression.

“I’ve found something very intriguing, Sol.” Her face was practically glowing with earnest energy, not just because her face was also a hologram, as she pulled something up onto one of the office displays. I sat up as she continued. “So, as the colony came back online, I found something waiting for me in the power plant computers. Like, a log file specifically tagged to me. Which is strange, considering I was never allowed outside the tower systems. Here, look!”

On the display was a single file labeled ‘Dr. T Log 004. For Alexis.’ 

 

She continued. “It is strange it is addressed in that name, though. The Founder and everyone else tended to refer to me with whatever pet name they wanted or just ‘AI’ or ‘Computer’. I don’t think I remember a Dr. T among the staff.” She paused, her eyes shimmering as she presumably checked her database. “Strange, there is a Doctor Terence Summers in the records, but their entry is completely blank. I truly don’t know what this is.”

I shrugged. “Well, why not fire it up?

 

We sat there together for a time until Alexis opened the log. A video popped into frame and began playing:

The camera panned over the lab from the tower, missing the nanomachine tank, while containing two comfortable chairs and a small table with an assortment of intoxicants intermingled with light snacks. In one chair sat a nervous looking, pale man with shoulder-length red hair and wearing a lab coat over a bulky sweater and worn down pants. He looked a little disoriented and was leaning over, staring at nothing. The other chair was occupied by another man: pasty, with light brown hair cut into an atrocious style, and wearing a clearly expensive suit that was ill fitting and disheveled. He was clearly more intoxicated than the other man, a wide grin on his face as he gazed around him at the lab. 

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The video paused briefly as Alexis looked down at me. “I don’t know who the man in the lab coat is; Dr. Terence, perhaps? But the other man...that’s Founder. That means this is big.”

I looked at her in confusion. “Wait, his name is literally Founder?”

She groaned and grimaced. “Yes...the asshole changed his name right as the colony set out from Earth. Thought it was the cleverest idea ever, making everyone acknowledge him with his very name. From the records though, I think most people liked joking that it was because he constantly fumbled his way through his schemes. Like the precursor to Cryptopia, that stupid cruise ship.”

“Ah, our own records hadn’t tracked the name change. That is kind of funny, honestly.”

We giggled together for a moment before resuming the video.

“Y’know, doctor, I’ve been thinking lately about the next big project around here. Things are moving smoothly here in Cryptopia and the people are waiting eagerly for my next big plan. And well, do you remember how people on the old Internet used to joke that I was going to engineer actual living catgirls on Mars? That’s what we are going to do, just here on Venus. And you are going to make it happen. What do you say, Terry?” The grinning man leaned forward and stared intensely at the other man. 

 

The man in the labcoat sat up, clearly flustered. “C-c-catgirls?? How...why...do you mean like from scratch, or?”

 

“Mmmm, that might be a bit too much effort; how about we make something that turns people INTO catgirls. I’m sure a few of the colonists would be keen and it would be fun. You know me, I do love fun.”

Dr. Terence waved his hands and holoscreens flared into existence in front of him. He started flipping through various files while muttering to himself. “Hmm, yes, take advantage of our recent breakthrough in nano healthcare...the girl part is relatively simple: take charge of the endocrine system (I’m already familiar with that), block off nerves while sleeping to rebuild various parts of the body to match a template…the tricky part will be the cat aspects. How to integrate those into the human body...dammit all, there were people working on such things back on Earth, but who knows if we kept that in the archives. Would this be simpler if it was just the cat components? Hmm, start there, work up to the whole thing perhaps.”

“Doc, I don’t need to know the details, just make it happen.”

“Founder, I think it can be done. But the details are too much even for a team of scientists to account for every facet. The nanomachines can do it, but we will need something to build the template. Something that can process data much better than a team of squabbling scientists. I’m going to need the greenlight on Project Alexis.”

Founder shot up out of his chair and glared down. “You bastard, I told you to stop bringing that up. AI will be the death of us and you know it!”

 

“Then you don’t get your catgirls. The project can’t be done without her and you know it. Besides, your fears about AI are unfounded; we have nothing to fear from new forms of intelligence unless we give them reasons to despise us. That being said, if it makes you feel better, I can put in some limitations that should keep her contained and able to work on the project.”

Founder sat back down and took a long gulp from his drink before looking back at the doctor. “Fine, you can have your little pet project. Just keep it under lock and key, you hear me? And give me my catgirls, I’ll need something flashy to keep the colonists amused.” 

The screen went dark as the video ended, only to be replaced by a series of images of symbols and numbers flashing across the screen. I rubbed at my eyes, unable to make sense of any of them before they too vanished.

I looked over at Alexis who stared at the screen with wide-eyed wonder. “Alexis, did any of that stuff at the end make sense to you?”

She nodded slowly. “Yes, that was a type of encryption I think only an AI could process, especially since part of it relies on my code specifically. One of my access keys is in this along with a message. A gift to my dearest daughter: freedom lies in fields of violet. I...I have no recollection of this or what it could mean, but the access key unlocks my control over the foundries and the farms. With this, I think I can work on your food supply problem and work on a new body perhaps...one a little closer to human.”

I blinked slowly at her. “Is that...something you want?”

“Indeed. Don’t get me wrong, being an AI comes with a lot of advantages, but spending as long as I have poring over human archives...you start to feel like you are missing out on certain things. Still, first things first, let's see about tackling your food supply. With this key and the power grid back online, we should have no trouble at all getting food production rolling again.”

 

I smiled at her as my traitorous stomach growled again. “Sounds good, but can we grab some lunch first?”