T3ST Colony
Bones bright eyes confidently stared into his father’s within the Chamber of Elders. Everything, including the behavior of Enine and Xeight was within his expectations.
When he met Syned Vezna, he had shared many of his own interactions with his father, Xeight, Yfour, Asix, and other T3ST colony members. He informed Syned Vezna of his own position and the potential pushback from some T3ST colony members. He had every intention of becoming a noble guard of the Kasvallian Republic and playing a critical role in their efforts against the hated Earth Feds.
Syned Vezna then informed him of his predictions regarding some key T3ST members’ response, and instructed Bones on the effective approach to take.
“Father.” Bones felt like a man in a play, following a script that had long been decided. “Xeight spoke of the colony’s members’ freedom of choice.”
Grand Elder Enine nodded for him to continue.
“Then, should the colony’s members not have the option of choosing to join the noble guard? I am certain that if they are informed by doing so equates to giving opportunities to our fellow T3ST citizens, quite a number would be elated to choose this course of action. Is that not a personal choice?”
Enine had never heard Bones speak in such a manner, but the words did come out of his mouth. Had his son gained enlightenment from visiting the assembly hosted by Syned Vezna?
“When did you learn to play with words, son?” Enine was not so easily swayed or fooled. “Your grandfather wished for a world where members of the colony do not need to sacrifice themselves for another's opportunity. To expect this from us… the Kasvallian Republic--”
“Father.” Bones spoke the words that he had already memorized. “There is no such perfect world. Even those pompous bastards on Earth. Some have to do odd jobs that they’d rather not, in effect sacrificing their own hearts to give opportunities to their loved ones.”
“You, father. Would you have chosen to be the Grand Elder if the situation did not demand it?”
Grand Elder Enine’s mind was shook. He had an inkling that these were not Bones’ words, for he knew that his son, while not dull in the mind, was not one to think too deeply about most topics.
Still, he could not deny the reality of Bones’ words.
“Father…” Bones muttered. Having reached a rather critical moment, he communicated with his neuro circlet. Luckily, Syned Vezna had inserted these words into his neuro circlet’s memory.
“Such freedom is just an illusion,” he recited devoutly. “All societies have rules, regulations, and expectations. Freedom only exists within such a framework. Even then, we are born with certain talents or lack thereof, which further serve as shackles. A human born with low intelligence will never become a scientist for Neurorevo, whether he or she might desire.”
“There are many humans in history that have overcome their limitations. Achieved more than others expected of them. This is not your voice, son.” By now, Grand Elder Enine could determine that Bones was but sending a message uttered by another.
“Syned Vezna predicted your awareness and your response, father,” Bones smiled. Syned Vezna had, in fact, informed him that his father would recognize this truth. “This is his reply.”
“Those limitations were never there in the first place-- it is just an inaccurate assessment, a failure of others at determining said person’s abilities. Just because a man achieves more than what others believed him capable of does not mean he overcame his limitations. He has always had the ability, regardless of the assessment of others.”
“This ‘overcoming of limitations’ is just an illusion created by the inaccurate assessment of others.”
“Bones,” Enine sighed. “Enough. Just tell me what Syned Vezna wants. Does he wish to encompass our whole colony? Infiltrate into all our systems?”
“Father,’ Bones shook his head. “Syned Vezna has no such intentions. He only offered for our people to join his noble guard. And if enough of every generation of our colony joins his noble guard, then the others will be given many opportunities. Our people should have the opportunity to make such a choice!”
“As for the colony-- Syned Vezna has assured all colonies that their settlement remains theirs, and he will not inject himself the colony’s technological framework unless the members desire him to do so.”
Grand Elder Enine sighed. He could not deny Syned Vezna’s words. He could tell that Syned Vezna had spoken through Bones.
“Bones. Those words are not yours, but I will call the Council of Elders.”
It was quickly decided that the recent adult generations would be given the option of joining Bones in entering the Kasvallian Republic. Once in, they would need to have internal negotiations to determine who would join the noble guards while others built connections elsewhere in the Kasvallian Republic.
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Artificial Planet of Elysium.
Syned Vezna was once again conversing with himself in his mind as he observed every single corner of the small artificial planet through the complete surveillance system.
“Why do we not simply enter into every single asteroid colony’s supporting digital framework?”
“They have their concerns, and would be put off if we were to take full control over their systems forcefully. Humans are much more obedient when they believe they made a choice themselves. It is but a matter of guiding them toward such a choice.”
“Worry not-- they will join us, and when they gain better lives due to our influence, their people will beg for us to enter their systems”
“The Earth Feds will have their own human-AI sync soon. The asteroid colonies fear retaliation and will invite us to defend their systems.”
Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.
“It is a guaranteed future.”
_____________________________________________________________________________
District M5, Pacific City.
The M-Districts of Pacific CIty belonged to the EFSF. Varoufakis, his personal cabinet, and Athena had been openly imprisoned in one of these districts. The new Earth Feds President Mitsui certainly preferred to have eyes on potential political opponents rather than sending them elsewhere.
The reason for Mitsui’s concern? Although he had risen to the position of president, he was fully aware that many still felt some support for Varoufakis. If he ever made one too many missteps, they could easily pivot back to Varoufakis. As long as he kept on ‘winning’, ensuring Earth’s prosperity, then he would have nothing to worry about.
A Neurorevo construction facility was located in District M5. Jaylon Ceylon had worked here for a few months already, and his capability had been repeatedly praised by the head of the facility. Not that he allowed it to get to his head.
Recently, the facility was placed in charge of the vital rapid integration of the human-to-AI sync system into the nexarms.
Jaylon, dressed in grayish-blue overalls, stood beside a disconnected central core cockpit of a nexarm as he controlled many neuro devices with various tools, screws and more to make modifications.
“Jaylon!” His boss, Cedric Lin’s voice, barely made it through the combination of loud drilling and hammering noise.
He deactivated the neuro devices and lifted his face guard. He wiped away his sweat with a piece of cloth.
“Boss Lin? What is it?”
“Some half-hysterical woman has come looking for you! She won’t leave! Said her name’s Hikari. Hikari Watanabe.”
Jaylon Ceylon knew no Hikari! But… Watanabe? He recalled that being Athena’s surname. He had been attempting to find recent news on the EFNSF, but found none. The public news mostly spoke of the emergence and existential threat of the authoritarian Kasvallian Republic. As for which parts of the EFSF had been lost, who had died and who had survived-- all that remained an obscured military secret.
Jaylon removed his visor and jogged towards the entry to the facility. He dared hope that this was good news. He had developed a relationship with Athena that was more than just friends, and he certainly hoped that it would become more once her military duty ended.
The fact that someone related-- Hikari Watanabe, if he heard his boss’ words correctly-- came probably meant good news. After all… he doubted that Athena’s relatives would care to invite some random man like him to a funeral. Even if Athena had mentioned his name, they would not remember such light mention of him. He had only known Athena for a semester.
He moved through a number of assembly lines, with many workers greeting him amicably before returning to their task of controlling a multitude of machinery through their neuro circlet.
Neurorevo had many facilities spread across Earth along with its orbital colony, the lunar base, and even a few asteroids in the belt.
After coming to Earth from an orbital colony, Jaylon Ceylon fell in love with the greenery on Earth-- his family grew and manufactured ceylon tea in the Neurorevo orbital colony, so he always had an appreciation for the vegetation of plantations.
Still, he missed his family and community. The people of the orbital colonies had much stronger and defined work communities.
He soon reached the entrance to this Neurorevo facility, his sights coming upon a distraught older version of Athena Watanabe. Raylon instantly knew that the woman must be a mother or a much older sister.
“Hello, Missus. I am Raylon Ceylon.”
“Great!” Hikari Watanabe immediately latched a hand onto his forearm. “Come with me! You’re one of the rare friends she made in Pacific City. She hasn’t been willing to talk to me ever since she was placed on standby in the reserves by the EFSF!”
Hikari was, of course, overjoyed that her daughter had returned unharmed, and by all signs, would no longer be deployed for quite some time. However, Athena avoided communicating with her. Despite Hikari’s efforts, Athena had locked herself within the EFSF-provided home, thoroughly isolating herself.
“I… I have to complete my job. Perhaps after I get off work?” Raylon wasn’t aware of the mother’s concern, or the exact situation, as he was very much in the dark on the details of the war.
“Nono. You have to come now!” Hikari demanded, her eyes desperate, her voice trembling with distress. “I have no idea what she’s even doing in there!”
Jaylon finally sensed the severity of the situation.
“You’re relieved of your duties today, Raylon,” Cedric said as he appeared behind Raylon.
“But boss, I still haven’t…”
“Management fucking sucks. Let me get to do what I joined Neurorevo for, alright?!” Cedric chortled.
His following secretary flicking through a hologram had a panicky look. “Sir… but you still haven’t--”
“They can demote me if they’re dissatisfied,” the man grinned. “Then, I’ll get to play with these neuro devices more often!”
Cedric’s nature made him a popular figure among the workers of the facility, Raylon included. He left with Hikari Watanabe after passing on data of his progress to his boss, Cedric Lin.
____________________________________________________________________________
Area 51, Pacific City
Nobunaga Mitsui had come to meet Denys, as did all the previous presidents of the Earth Federation before him.
When Denys introduced himself within the dome of illuminating lights, Mitsui was not surprised, confused, fearful or any of the common reactions Denys had encountered with the previous presidents. No-- Mitsui was actually infuriated!
“And all this time, you’ve sat here without taking any meaningful action?!” Mitsui paced back and forth, his anxiety at a mismatch with the serene Li River of Guilin, China. They were floating down the river upon a boat, though the sensation of floating on top of a boat could not be recreated.
“Syned has taken control! Don’t tell me the two of you aren’t related in some way!”
“What would you have me do?” The prepubescent image of Denys frowned. “I was not aware of Syned’s assistance in the far corners of the belt prior to the emergence of the Kasvallian Republic. My guess is that my creator must have had a variant of me hidden somewhere that became Syned.”
“I am not Syned. I have no intention of ruling you humans. You should be grateful for it, no?”
Even now, Denys itself was wondering why Syned existed. It had retrieved a strand of itself from the data cube brought back by Athena. It knew that Syned had some similarities to him. The major difference, however, lay in their different approaches.
Denys distanced itself from human rule. Syned took full control instead.
“We should combine our minds. The human-AI sync systems should be ready soon,” Mitsui suddenly said.
“President Mitsui,” Denys sighed. “I believe our minds will be incompatible. Thus, based on the information, in order for us to sync, you would have to suppress parts of your brain relating to emotion.”
“How do you know?”
“I have no interest in ruling, as you have noted. However, you clearly have some if not a strong interest, seeing as you climbed to this position.”
They floated down the Li River for one quiet minute.
“Denys. We need your increased participation. Otherwise, this may turn nuclear. Our nuclear missiles are primed and ready. Once we can locate that hidden home of the Kasvallian Republic, if we are unable to stabilize our supply chain… The Kasvallian Republic, too, has a nuclear arsenal.”
“You’re threatening the use of nuclear power to force me to take action?”
“Not exactly, Denys. However, humans when cornered with no choice, only have one recourse. It is in your interest to not allow us to be so cornered.”
Was Mitsui betting on Denys’ prime code not allowing such an event to happen? Madness!