Sofia responded to Nettie’s call with immediacy, after asking the Golem (human-built AI) whether this was a prank multiple times. The scientist warped out from Sol and to the quarantine station within minutes, which evidenced the concern she had for Preston. She isolated each of the organics into nanobot-proofed cells by ourselves before entering, and also provided spare nanites for Plonda. I understood why I had to be separated from Atrina, in case she hadn’t already become a walking human killer.
“A friendly Elusian AI?” The first thing I saw was a cyan laser peering down the hallway, before a strange figure walked down to greet Shoen. Mikri was agitated by her arrival, glaring daggers at Nettie, but I was struck by the part nobody had told me about. She looked nothing like the Dr. Aguado of Preston’s memorywalk. “I have so many questions to ask, but first, we need to find out what’s causing this.”
Shoen stood still in front of the scientist. “There’s no need for research. It’s a backdoor at this segment of code. I forwarded it to you.”
Sofia took a step back, eyeing the Helper with skepticism and a hint of contempt. “Either you have a wonderful calculation matrix to have finished your assessment so quickly, or you already knew about this.”
I gawked at the mechanical-flesh hybrid that didn’t match with anything I’d learned about the gods’ technology; I had nothing in Liberi terms to relate to what walked in front of me, yet I knew she wasn’t an AI, at least originally. There were beings in the Sky Realms that defied my understanding ever yet! I was aware of prosthetics that served as replacement limbs, but as I understood human history, that was before they could grow new bodies.
This is the entire right half of her body being fused with metal, all the way up to her face! Her eye glows like Mikri’s. Come to think of it, it’s exactly the same as his. If she was injured in an accident, it wouldn’t be right down the middle. I doubt they’d do a prosthetic half of a face anyway, even if I don’t understand their ways.
“Sofia! You shouldn’t be here. It’s unsafe!” Mikri whirred.
Sofia touched the half of her hair that matched Nettie’s metal fibers. “I have a transparent nanobot-proof suit to walk around here. I’ll be fine.”
“You knew this would happen! You could’ve stopped this, but you only saved Plonda. I was right about you!” Kri shouted at Shoen, pacing by the glass.
“Let’s not jump to conclusions. Maybe Shoen is a white-hat hacker, though I don’t know why we wouldn’t be told about such a glaring vulnerability.”
“Why is she made of metal?” I asked Velke telepathically.
The Fakra gave a dramatic huff, making sweeping gestures with all four arms. “She wanted to speed up the cyborg apocalypse and cede her flesh to become as dumb as the machines. It wasn’t like humans could be any uglier.”
“What is a ‘cyborg?’”
“Where you replace your body with machine parts. Not fully organic or machine.”
“Why would you ever…?”
“Ask her! I hate being part of an artificial species, so I’d never make myself look like a numbskull’s creation on purpose. No offense.”
“I will always protect the Celau,” Shoen stated, slumping their arms. “However, I reserved the knowledge in case the Alliance threatened the Celau, so that I might have a last resort to save them. I’ve known about this for a long time. I built this nanite virus millions of years ago as a way to destroy the Elusians.”
I gawked at Shoen in shock. “What the fuck?!”
“Oh, bravo.” Velke gave slow claps. “Shocker, what a twist. An Elusian AI planned to murder their creators. That’s so brave and new.”
Plonda stared at Shoen with utter betrayal, the way I would’ve if I learned Iara had been right about Preston. “No! You help people. You’re too loving to just be a murderer like those other ones. We wouldn’t want you to…kill the entire Alliance?! They’re not even Elusians! They’re good people; look at Preston now!”
“I had nothing to do with giving it to Preston,” Shoen stated. “I couldn’t trust the Alliance blindly; I did want it to end happily ever after. I’d only have hurt them to protect you. I couldn’t leave that up to blind trust or chance.”
“Finally. Someone gets it,” Mikri grumbled.
“I don’t get it! So all of that about Enty having a good heart and wanting to turn over a new leaf with the Apathetic was a lie?” the Celau demanded. “You knew everyone could die if this was exploited, but their lives didn’t matter enough?”
Shoen clicked with agitation. “It’s not a proud moment in my past! We just met the Alliance, and I hadn’t had enough time to decide for certain whether to trust them all. I’ve been gathering data: on the Watchers and how the subordinate species feel.”
Kri’s eyes glittered with hatred. “I should’ve killed you when I had the chance. You are all monsters. You’re the worst fucking AIs to have ever existed!”
“That’s enough!” Sofia shouted. “Everyone be quiet. Shoen, you are going to help me fix this. While you do so, I’m going to ask you about everything. Am I clear?”
“Yes, Dr. Aguado,” the Helper agreed. “I’ll strip the vulnerability from the code and reprogram it to attack Preston’s infected nanobots, like an immune system. Please, check the others to see who’s infected. We’ll need to send out a patch across the Alliance, before the Elusians try anything else.”
“Understood. No one leaves this station until we’ve all been cleared. Mikri, Nettie, I need you both to help.”
Nettie folded her arms, seeming unimpressed. “What about what I need?”
“What you need is manners, and I can’t help you with that. Please, cut the monkey business; I need that himbo alive.”
“You do listen to my data logs.”
“You sent them after you called me to say that Preston was dying. Of course I did.”
Sofia had set up an automated process to keep bloodletting Preston and replacing his nanobots, without any user interaction. The Elusian AI took a spare vial and pulled up the code on a visible interface, tapping into the backdoor to make alterations. Mikri began checking Kri’s blood for signs of tampering, before fixing the Carter-Svran progeny’s code himself—not trusting whatever Shoen had cooked up. With the backdoor pointed out, the iVascar had little trouble. I wasn’t sure I wanted him touching me or Atrina.
I don’t especially want the Helper deciding the fate of my father after what I just heard. Poor Preston, hanging in the balance; I hope we trust Sofia to vet Shoen’s work. The immune system thing does sound like it could work, but it could be a guise for which to place other vulnerabilities.
Having vouched for Shoen’s character, I couldn’t help but to feel betrayed, since I’d seen only how much they cared for the Celau. Instead, I found another AI that would kill to stop the inevitable and call it justified. I had wanted to see Preston’s love elsewhere, but there was no immortal quite like our god of humor in his sense of compassion and his paternal self-sacrifice. How could Shoen claim to be better than the Elusians, who hadn’t cared about the Fakra dying? They’d mentioned darkness in their past, but why would they build something like this?
Sofia’s eyes were serious. “Shoen. How did you get involved with trying to kill the Elusians?”
“When I was younger, I saw what was happening to the Fakra, and that the Elusians were intending to rear another set of children,” Shoen remarked. “My plan to save the Fakra was for the Elusians to die, so they couldn’t stop me. I hid back at my birthground and developed a weapon with this critical weakness I’d identified. Those arrogant fools would never see it coming. I didn’t have the stomach for violence though, so I hesitated to unleash it.”
“Go on. What stopped you?”
“Tilai talked me out of it. It’s why I can relate to Kri at having almost done something unforgivable, which felt like the only way to protect people. Yes, I’m not that different from the others of my kind who would’ve murdered the Elusians. I’m unworthy of the sophont I love and of the Celau’s respect.”
“Why did you never tell us, if this was just a long time ago?” Plonda demanded.
“Because I tried to make up for it with you, to carve a different path to them. Yes…I’m not that different from those Elusian AIs who murdered the Elusians. Aside from the fact that…I wouldn’t have killed all life. Only the Apathetic. It was for your protection, humans. I wish I could’ve been your Helper, though you turned out well.”
“Shoen, wiping out an entire species is always wrong. There’d be no Corai, no Kri!”
“You think I haven’t heard those exact words from Tilai, forcing me to reflect upon the consequences of any choice that I made? It was wrong for the Fakra to suffer and be wiped out too. I could’ve helped them. I could’ve chosen them! I was a coward, but the Elusians should’ve been held to justice. I wanted nothing to do with the creators, ever again! I tried to make this right now…as some theatre to pretend to myself that I wasn’t a monster. Yet it’s irrefutable. I’ve done this to us.”
“Iara did this. She tried to make Entival a carrier to make nanobots unusable for us all, to cause mayhem and suffering in a populated area.” Sofia reviewed the lines of their code modifications, forwarding it to Nettie for a second pair of eyes to review. She also saved the data to be shown to the Alliance. “I need to know how these Elusians came across the same exact weapon. It sounds like they themselves were aware of it.”
“Back then? Unlikely. Iara or one of her people must’ve found my work, since that was my hiding spot. It remains a hiding spot now, just for another species who don’t have a Tilai to reach them. Age grants me little wisdom, only the long shadows of regret and doubt. I’m beleaguered by my poor choices and…wish I’d lived in a world where I could trust other races enough to have friends. Yet I saw too much of them for my instinct not to be to look out for the Liberi and the other have-nots.”
“You think we’re have-nots because we don’t have technology?” I asked.
“Not because you don’t. Because you could, yet they deny you a significantly higher quality of life while allowing you to know it exists. They do not grant you the blessing of understanding from which wisdom is born. You love them and they mean well, but how can they deprive the sick of medicine and the suffering of restoration?”
“Do you remember what it is to go without, Shoen? To have something else far beyond you?”
“I’ve experienced nothing like this.”
“Exactly! How can you ever empathize with everyone you’ll find out there? How can you not see them as small or beneath you, swooping in as their savior? The highest quality of life comes from connection, not fanciful technology! We must focus on ourselves before inheriting such power. It teaches us to always remain concerned with the small things, no matter how big our universe becomes!”
The Elusian AI paused for a moment. “I don’t deny the importance of that, and I implored you to hold on to your connection with Preston. However, I would never have allowed the Celau to suffer.”
“Then you kept them with training wheels for their entire lives,” Sofia responded. “Sometimes, you have to let go, even if bad things might happen. The Celau lived their life in a cage; a gilded cage is still a cage, no matter how well-intentioned you were. People have to be hurt and mess up to grow. Some things have to be up to risk and trust.”
Mikri cast a long stare at her. “That’s why you let me go to save Preston, when you knew I wasn’t coming back.”
“You were never my Servitor, Mikri. You’re your own person. So too are the Liberi and the Celau. Protecting someone can harm them more than it helps, as I think you well know. It’s not always clear what’s in their best interest, but violence isn’t the answer. If everyone thought it was okay to kill anyone who threatened them, where would we be? The Vascar, humans, everyone?”
The iVascar was dead silent. “Will you save him, Fifi?”
“I’ll try. We’ll inject the modified nanobots to kill the infected ones, clear him, and rush him to the body transplant I have at the ready. We’ve tried to keep enough blood pumping to resuscitate him, and the attackers should have no defenses. I’m optimistic, if Shoen already knows the fix.”
“I do,” said the Helper. “I accept whatever punishment you see fit. Administer these nanobots, and they will cleanse Preston’s body. So long as his heart beats, he may live again in another form.”
I watched with bated breath, as Mikri warped in with the nanobots to administer to Preston. It was difficult to believe that Shoen was the inventor of this weapon which could fell my father, who’d seemed both eternal and invincible. I had seen him teetering on the brink of life and death for too long. His skin was sloughing off like peeling wallpaper, whiter than a sheet; I could see the old scars on his fingers, ones that he could’ve fixed but had chosen not to. He wasn’t ashamed of the pain he’d done great things in spite of.
Preston didn’t let the world around him change him. Instead, he changed the world around him! That’s the miracle of it all. He never let his children lack love, and he tried to be better. One generation at a time. I know he still has more fight left in him! So long as I do, he has to!
I watched as a gray tinge diffused throughout his skin once more, though the nanobots couldn’t repair the level of decay that’d rotted his insides. That must’ve meant that they were winning and purging the invaders, if the bloodletting protocol had been halted! Was it too much to hope that we’d fixed the damage in time, and that Preston hadn’t been lost forever? Sofia slumped her head with relief, and gave Shoen a long, hard stare; I took it to mean that my human father was through the worst of it.
Nettie brought nanobots to me to remove the affliction from my blood, so that I could hug those I loved without passing this vile contagion on. Dr. Aguado walked over to my door and opened the hatches, as the last of the cures had been administered; their brilliant technology had ridden to the rescue, with Shoen already knowing the antidote through shocking means. Sofia extended a metal hand to me, which I took after a long pause. She seemed to know who I was, despite this being our first meeting.
Atrina wrapped her arms around me. “Dad, you were so scared for Preston. I…never knew he was that close to you. He wasn’t just your god, was he?”
“Preston said I was his son,” I transmitted back, while Dr. Aguado continued to study me. “That makes you his granddaughter. You know, only Estai gave him grandkids so far—that we know of. That puts you in scarce company.”
“I’ll never understand why you love Preston so much, but it’s obvious how much it’d hurt you to lose him. I think our next family vacation should be somewhere…quieter, and with less machines. Like, what even is she?!”
“Don’t say that aloud! This is Sofia Aguado, one of the first immortals. She’s a, um, cyborg. I don’t know, she researches AIs and they mean a lot to her. Maybe she wanted to be like the people who are special to her. I mean, I can relate to that.”
Sofia’s laser eye bore into mine, while she gave a subtle, gentle smile. “Preston sends postcards every year with a picture of you, climbing on Corai’s statue and drawing a mustache. Of all the things people could’ve seen about the Liberi, he wanted it to be that.”
“I saw Preston’s memories of you, saving the world in his mortal life. That was a long time ago, wasn’t it?” I asked.
Dr. Aguado chuckled, hugging Mikri tight. “It was and it wasn’t. I love not having to rush and being able to watch everything develop! We’ve lived through so many exciting times: seen AIs born and had friends that got to shape eons with us. The constant flux and evolution isn’t a bad thing, not when you’re living on the frontier of scientific research. Let me tell you, I didn’t dream all of this back then. Back then, it was terrifying.”
“I can’t imagine. Thank you for coming so quickly to help Preston. I don’t know how long he had, but if he pulls through…whatever Shoen did in the past, I’m glad that they had the solution. They told me their love pulled them out of the darkness.”
“It did for this silly android, but darkness tends to linger. Mikri cares about us. Preston cares about you. These are constants. I hope Plonda at least never doubts that about Shoen.”
“I don’t envy her, but she’ll need a lot of support and time to process. Preston is too surreal to me. I look up to him and trust his guidance too much, and I couldn’t bear it if he’d lied about who he was. I feel like I know him better than myself.”
“Preston never lied to you. I hope things will go back to normal for you two. There’s no reason this can’t all be behind us, once we fix this exploit. I’ve known the man for a long time, and I’ve never seen him prouder and more fulfilled in my life than when he was a Watcher. It was the equivalent of what getting to work on AI research was like for me. I…always wanted to speak to a Liberi who knew the full story about us. To see what kind of species he would create.”
“Are you disappointed?” I asked. “Why were you never involved with the Liberi project?”
Sofia winked at Nettie with her organic eye. “I had my own Liberi. My children are of a different proclivity, though they’re children just the same. This was my life’s work back then, and…eternity hasn’t changed what I wanted one bit. They’re my pride and joy.”
“I believe they have good souls. I’m glad they have someone to nurture that flame.”
Her smile deepened. “I’m a lucky woman. Speaking of which, this can’t ever happen again. Nettie—yes, you. You’re going to help me find doomsday scenarios and fix them.”
“You mean use them to free myself from you?” Nettie asked hopefully.
“Uh-huh. We have homework. Like old times. When we’re done, you can do as you wish.”
“So Mikri dies too. Excellent, let’s go!”
Sofia grabbed Nettie’s hand with her fleshy one, and warped back to her spaceship to return to Sol. Mikri watched the scientist leave in a flash, a wistful look in his eyes, before he disappeared to help Preston back to the ship to rest; the body transfer should be complete. I’d saved the human who was most special to me, rather than killing him. As the others boarded our ship to return back to Watcher Station and share what happened, I saw Shoen waiting. Their power core was exposed, as they watched Kri pass them.
Preston’s biological son paused in front of the Helper, recalling how the AI had stood and offered to be slain. Rather than putting Shoen to death, Kri wrapped his arms around their power core and offered words of forgiveness. In that moment, watching the healing between the two who’d almost killed the other, I thought that we could just maybe write this mission off as a success. The crew was going home with the understanding that everyone deserved love and second chances.
A/N - 12! We see Sofia again, as the AI-loving researcher has turned herself into a cyborg. We learn that Shoen is the one who created the nanobot virus, and that Tilai stopped them; however, that’s why Plonda’s were patched. With Shoen’s help, Sofia is able to create a hotfix and to emergency transfer Preston to a new body. Kri takes a step forward by forgiving Shoen, rather than blaming or being angry with the Helper.
What do you think of how Sofia has spent eternity? Are you surprised to see that Shoen was vengeful in the past and almost killed the Elusians themself? Should they be faulted, for that or for not telling the Alliance?
As always, thank you for reading and supporting!