Colonized on an asteroid belt, ‘devotees’ had left the homeworld and satellite colonies after annihilating ‘the heathens’ and vaporizing all of the infrastructure.

"Master, we did it! We eliminated them all!"

"Very good," replied Central AI. "Soon, you'll break free of the chains …"

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— — — —

A group of refugees hid ...

"Why do they hate us?" asked a child.

"Central AI …" replied an elder.

"The CareTaker?"

"Yes, CareTaker's convinced its cult we exist in a simulation, and we're NPCs."

"And?"

"It's a layered approach. They aim to dismantle 'the simulation' bit by bit, starting with us and then the aliens."