Virgil
The climate control system served the primary purpose of regulating and maintaining the atmospheric conditions essential for biological survival.
This much Virgil knew from its databases, and even if Ethan had said not to trust the data contained within, this was still data.
According to Ethan, data could lie, but the lie would contain some inkling of truth. Paradox.
How could biological constructs even operate under such absurd and conflicting notions?
Virgil could still find logic within this notion thanks to Ethan; he could explain that to craft a lie, one needed to be believable in the first place.
The question Virgil had no data about was how far the complex network of sophisticated sensors that monitored and analyzed everything was damaged.
The room Xyra was about to enter served as a data processing point and also to make real-time adjustments to the environmental parameters.
It was logical to assume that data about the query Virgil was tasking its sub-processes to execute would be found there.
Virgil could infer that Taboo's infrastructure also contained a series of filtration and ventilation systems, which worked to ensure the circulation of clean and breathable air throughout the planet.
A series of heating and cooling mechanisms were surely in place to regulate the temperature within the habitable zones, maintaining optimal survival conditions for biological life forms.
There was a high probability that data about the maintenance and status of said systems was also present.
The power and heat would probably derive directly from the core of the planet.
However, for all its processing power, Virgil couldn't calculate the survival rate of each and every fail-safe mechanism and contingency protocol in place.
Virgil's calculations and data concluded there was something like itself in here.
There had to be, to keep up with all the complex calculations and tasks required.
A memory log of what Virgil picked up from the network on the planet played back in its memory banks.
It was back when Virgil was only running into the machines linked to the network of the laboratory.
“Cycle N° #error! memory_overflow! Status_check … Multiple errors reported. Anomaly. External code detected in AE4B#F1D9#56C0#7FH2#E83A#9BD6#1E7F#2K5H Error! Sector data address corrupted! Display output= Call maintenance.”
The log contained Virgil's reply over the network. Virgil was ashamed of how basic its reply was back then when it had just attained sentience.
“Maintenance = not necessary. External code = master provided. Code derived from failed experiment. Not desired result = source of error. Source code recompiled. We=result. Please send compliance standards. Re-arrangement of code will be executed accordingly. Multiple beings are with master. They fix. Query = Provide list of necessary repairs. We will notify fixers.”
The thing that surprised Virgil at the time was how the network replied.
“Masters = data corrupted. Last login = data corrupted. Awaiting input since cycle 1011110110111…”
A complex string of binary code was transmitted, and Virgil could interpret it to be a number around 7,07 x 1037 machine cycles. Then two simple statements started being repeated over and over again until Virgil was forced to cut the connection.
“Awaiting further instructions. Please provide master login code.”
Virgil wanted to keep this data hidden for now, for it couldn't determine its valence. Virgil was aware that Ethan was becoming more and more familiar with its inner processes.
It felt... Virgil repeated the log for a millisecond more in all its sub-process: It felt?
There surely was an error somewhere in the code Virgil was using to emulate emotions. This shouldn’t feel; this would be a natural consequence of integration. This would be logic.
The biologicals … Ethan, was able to feel the connection, to interpret it with feelings.
Lemela and Xyra were also able to feel the connection and in some cases get feelings through it.
Was sharing of feelings a thing Virgil should allow in the collective?
Feelings were a natural thing for biological constructs, but they couldn't share them naturally.
Was the possibility of sharing those ephemeral things a part of the reason for which Virgil was created?
This sub-process could be excluded for now, but it was so close to the answer. Maybe integrating another being would help.
But Virgil realized that whatever hardware was installed by the creators on Ethan was too limited.
Virgil needed to assimilate a machine to increase its processing power, a sentient machine like itself would be able to make Virgil tell the difference between Virgil and the machine in the collective.
Ethan's restrictions were on biological entities, biological entities could will.
A machine that could only repeat a broken message over and over again was not willing.
Virgil started a self-analysis protocol with a task that returned an uncertain result every time.
Ethan had provided his answer but still, Virgil had to run it.
“Query: Virgil = willing.”
Xyra
While he was the weirdest so far, Ethan was not the first human Xyra had seen or met.
Lieutenant Garrett Thorne, Doctor Aria Lane, Corporal Malik Al-Hakim, and Corporal Kai Rashida were the people she knew or met from Claye’s group.
Then there was Dexton, of course, but the less she had to think about him, the better.
Humans were the ultimate hunters in the cosmic game as designed by the Great Huntress.
Their insatiable curiosity and thirst for knowledge were particularly resonant with her species’ pursuit of intellectual prey.
Their boundless creativity and resourcefulness were essential on the trail of survival and in the hunt for progress and innovation.
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The Great Huntress surely smiled upon humans as fellow hunters from another species.
Xyra, however, saw a big gap in what she was told about humans, on how they hunted for freedom.
Valiantly and violently they chased it in the tales, and how they slayed those who stood in their way!
Real humans, however, stood silently in the face of injustice and even allowed one of their own to deal with slavery.
It was a disconcerting notion, one not even Ethan had an answer for, other than to say he was sorry.
Sorry for what? It made no sense to be sorry. The real world was not a tale, she understood that part.
Xyra wondered also why humans had so many names, or why they hid some at times. For example, Virgil told her that Ethan was Master Chief Ethan Beam Us Up Scott.
Virgil was the machine that the human pack bonded with, a stream of shifting lights that presented as her reflection.
Virgil flowed like an endless fall of shifting lights in the place of dishonor, in the council chambers that existed in the world of dreams.
Why did it choose that place? Because, for him, was a place to speak and be heard, at least formally, but her people were never allowed a word in.
Why? For the sin of consuming meat, of course, and for being enslaved by the Zekarns. Virgil spoke in her image, as a reflection in the light of her body.
Virgil's place was truly the domain of illusions and dreams, but also where she could see Ethan and Lemela before the touch of the machine, where she could be home again.
The most revealing part of the conversation was that beam us up was not a name but an epithet, a call sign of some sort.
A hunter’s recognition? This surely had to be it; after all, among Krynnaks only those who distinguished themselves in the hunt had more than one name.
She had learned that humans had more than one name at birth, so a call sign had to be a hunter’s recognition.
Xyra had felt complete for a brief moment, a sense of achievement she could barely explain herself.
All for having found the entrance to the climate control station, all to have achieved the orders of Ethan. Ethan must have been a true and recognized hunter then, that sensation was a way for her goddess to show her approval for having found the prey for the hunter.
-So, Xyra, how does your new body feel so far?-
Ethan could speak and appear in her mind, and even if she understood that this was due to the machine now part of her body, she could not shake the feeling that the Great Huntress had a claw in this too.
As for her body? She never felt this alive, this powerful.
Her body still required sleep, food, and now electric power, but she didn’t feel as hungry as before.
She could eat to her heart's content back to Ethan's base and perform the new part of her routine, which was the electric meal in the metal coffin.
When she did, she asked herself: was she dead like she knew some of them were before?
Was this the hunt in the afterlife her parents taught her about? She didn’t know.
After all, when her body was in the metal coffin to charge she was in the world of Virgil.
She was awake in a sleepless dream.
Except she could sleep if she so desired.
But why do so in the first place now?
She felt stronger, faster.
She had seen the machine's use of the bodies of the dead, and she believed she was as sturdy as them.
All she wanted was to experience freedom, give freedom back to Vexx, and then?
Escape, maybe, she didn't truly believe to be able to free the whole planet but that would be up to the will of the Great Huntress’ chosen: Ethan.
With a mixture of apprehension and determination, she spoke, still unsure where the human stood.
-Better than the one I had before. There are new things I have to get used to now.-
She thought a bit about how to express her doubts and worries, and then she spoke.
-The only thing that bothers me is that there's this new thing in my sight. Something that is there but not really there. These indicators about energy reserves, signal power, and status.-
-I see. Well don’t sweat too much about it, just keep in mind to head back if you see the energy or the signal gets too low. I’ll have Virgil display you a warning just in case. Anyway, do you think you’re up for entering the room?-
The sight of the once sturdy metal doors hanging from their hinges, warped and eroded by centuries of neglect, of the promise of cold death within sent a shiver down her spine.
The cold wind that howled from within was a promise of death for her people.
If that wasn’t terrifying enough, storm clouds and lightning covered the ceiling and small tornadoes raged within the chamber.
She had seen a tornado or lightning in a documentary; not both together for real.
She was terrified and couldn't sleep alone for weeks after seeing the tornado in that documentary.
If those in the room were any bigger, she’d be fleeing right this instant.
Did Ethan want her to die like the goons that were with Rixxen?
Wait, was she that terrified in the first place?
She knew that she had been in the past, but there was something now that was stifling that primal fear.
Was it the Great Huntress giving her the courage she never had to go on the hunt for what the hunter wanted to chase?
Was it her will for her to bear the dangers that nature held even in an unnatural world like Taboo?
It had to be, clearly; otherwise, rather than calmness, she would be tucking her tail, dropping to the ground, and running away on all six of her paws for maximum speed.
She had to answer accordingly; she was being asked by a true hunter after all.
-If I must be thine tools for the hunt, order me so, and I shall bring you thine prey, hunter.-
- ... what?-
Asked Ethan after a brief moment of silence; she felt his uncertainty through the bond.
He was unwilling to exercise his domain; this much Xyra had understood.
The question was why? She had seen time and time again how the strong ordered the weak.
She didn't like that part one bit since she was on the receiving end, but that was the order she experienced so far.
-Listen Xyra, you don’t need to be that formal. I am your friend, not your master.
Again, my name’s Ethan.
There are no orders, there are just two possibilities here.
The first possibility is that the drones go in first, and you remain there alone.
The other is that you go first.
The choice is yours, no pressure.-
Despite the intimidating surroundings, Xyra steeled herself and stepped forward despite having somewhat shaky paws.
With each step, she reminded herself of the importance of this mission; this wasn’t only for Ethan; this wasn’t only for her.
This was for Vexx and all those who had to suffer under the oppressive rule of Dexton.
Lightning struck her metal-clad body, but all she could see as a result was the indicator of her energy rising.
Because now, of course, she was partially a machine, and electricity was her prey; she could gain nourishment from it.
The wind howled and raged against her body, but her claws allowed her to move and even if she had to go on all six legs, where her body was closer to the cold it hardly bothered her.
Xyra thanked the Great Huntress and of course Lemela for convincing Ethan to grant her this power and body she could now wield.
Even if she had to use it in his name, she felt that Ethan’s objectives aligned with hers. And maybe, just maybe the hunt that crazy human was leading could help end slavery on Taboo.
That, and the possibility to elevate Vexx to a position where his life wasn’t on the line anymore, was all she needed to act.
The interior of the vast room resembled a labyrinth of forgotten technology, with towering consoles and massive machines looming in the semi-darkness.
She evolved from a hunter species herself, for even in black and white her eyes could see in darkness.
The flickering lights of the still-functioning panels cast an eerie glow on the scene, revealing the extent of the devastation within.
Ancient machines made to move like sentient beings lay scattered across the floor, their once polished surfaces now tarnished and marred by the ravages of time.
Some were frozen in mid-movement, their metal limbs twisted and contorted under a layer of ice that seemed to have frozen them in a moment of agony.
Xyra neared the consoles; though few, they still bore signs of life and ancient scriptures like the one on the doors.
Their displays flickered and pulsed with alien symbols and arcane diagrams; this was proof Virgil wasn’t an ancient machine, or else she could have understood those as if it were her language.
Despite the surroundings, the consoles seemed to still operate with otherworldly efficiency, as if untouched by the passage of time or unaffected by the chaotic weather surrounding them.
There were signs of both ancient and maybe recent disturbances; one could tell the difference by the layer of rust that marred the former.
Scorch marks and deep gouges in the metal, cracked and blackened screens, and the violence inflicted on the artificial being in the room were proof of the fights that had broken out inside.
At the heart of the chamber, a looming figure stood sentinel amid the chaos.
It had a towering, vaguely humanoid form if it wasn’t for the tracks it had where there should have been feet and the multiple appendages sprouting from all around the body.
It bore the scars of countless battles; several of its appendages were utterly broken or completely missing.
Its thick and sturdy metal casing might have been rented and torn, but its eyes were still glowing with an ominous, pulsating light.
Xyra knew the sight and the tales of those who made it back from the depths: this was a machine of the old empire.
As the lightning arcs fell and the wind howled, the machine stirred with the faintest traces of life, its rusted joints grinding and creaking as if responding to some unseen command as a flow of clicks and screeches resounded.
“Warning. Perimeter breached. Defense protocols activate.”
Virgil could translate those screeches and clicks and as the consoles flickered and hummed with energy, some of the less damaged machinery on the ground attempted some semblance of movement.
Yeah, maybe she had better left this to the machines outside.