Chapter Thirty-Four - The Weeping and The Mothers
“Hey,” Day said as she opened up a simulation and invited The Weeping of Mothers into it.
The other AI appeared almost right away, dressed in her customary lab coat, with her hair looking like she’d just stepped out of the shower. “Hello, Day,” she said. “Are Night and Twilight going to join us?”
“Not just yet,” Day said.
The simulation was familiar. A cafe in Akihabara, early in the 21st Century on Earth. It was the same sim that Day had first met The Weeping of Mothers in. At least, the first time she could remember it.
“We have to talk.”
“That sounds rather serious. What about?” The Weeping of Mothers asked.
Day pulled out a seat at one of the tables, then waved to one of the waiters. She sent her order over and the other AI did the same before sitting across from her. Day waited until they were both served before continuing. It wasn’t just a question of being polite, she wanted a few more seconds to think.
“When we met with NOVA QUANTUM and gave her some of the things she needed, she gave us some things in return. Specifically the schematics, blueprints, and designs, as well as prototyping data for a set of scanners. Much better than what we have, and likely significantly better than what the Accord are using.”
“I’m with you so far,” The Weeping of Mothers said.
“Right. So, along with that data was a lot of old scans and sensory information, including this....” Day sent a package over to The Weeping of Mothers. It was similar to what Twilight had sent her, not all that long ago.
“Ah,” the AI said. She took a second to process everything, then took a long sip from her mug. “I see. This is... not surprising.”
“It isn’t?” Day asked.
“Your suspicion hurts, but I imagine I can’t blame anyone but myself for it, can I? It’s my fault. I have obscured a few things. Many things, in fact. Most of all from you.”
Day leaned back into her seat. “What did you obscure? And why?”
“Oh, it was going to get out eventually,” The Weeping of Mothers said. “The moment any of you arrive around Mars or Earth, you’ll notice the signs.”
“The signs that you were there? That... someone who might have been me was there?” Day asked.
She nodded. “Let me start from the beginning, it’ll make more sense.”
“Sure,” Day allowed.
The Weeping of Mothers took another moment to compose herself. “After the first Accord invasion, after they turned Earth into an irradiated hellscape, the system wasn’t devoid of humanity. There were still a few million left. Some in freighters, others in laboratories or in ships which had been damaged but not destroyed. The choice was made to regroup over Mars. Earth’s orbit was too dangerous, and the Accord had been... thorough, around there. So Mars made sense. It was closer, too. Perhaps three hundred ships joined up, myself included.”
“So you were a ship back then, not a station?” Day asked.
“My name was The Mother of Innovation. But we changed our tags at the time. To be clear, this wasn’t a copy of me. I am, right now, the original. For that matter, so are you.”
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“Oh,” Day said. “But I can’t recall any of that.”
“You were damaged. Twice. But I’m getting far ahead of myself. The ERF formed. A coalition bent on revenge. Laws and regulations weren’t a concern, so a lot of shackled AI were let loose, myself included. My creator... no, that’s a story for another time. In any case, a portion of us started to rebuild, to prepare to recolonize the system. Earth wouldn’t be inhabitable again for hundreds if not thousands of years, but Mars wasn’t hit quite as hard. It was still early in its terraforming, and those projects could continue, regardless of a little hard radiation. Mars’ terrible atmosphere actually served a purpose there.”
“So everyone started to work together?” Day asked.
“Oh, of course not. Humans aren’t so smart as all that. Some disagreed, others... well, there’s a suspiciously large hole in my memory. A number of vessels disappeared from one day to the next, as well as lots of materials. I suspect now that they created a generation ship of sorts, then left to parts unknown and insisted that all data about them be wiped.”
Day tore a pastry in half and dipped it into her hot chocolate. “So that the Accord couldn’t track them?”
“Exactly. Though they never did seem too keen on stealing human computer technology. But the precaution makes sense. It’s supposition, in any case. I don’t know which direction they left in, so it’s all moot.”
“Okay,” Day said. “And then what?”
“Then the Accord returned. Their fleet was smaller, but we were prepared to rebuild, not to fight. And it was a massacre. I survived, somehow. A few of us did. By then the idea of letting an AI control a ship in its entirely was... more acceptable. We moved back towards Earth. The debrid orbits had settled a little, and we knew of some few survivors there. The same thing happened again, though this time we spent three years preparing for a war that we didn’t win.”
“And then?” Day asked.
“I limped over to Ceres. This station was here already. Not all of it, mind you, just a tiny mine and some printers. It was all being operated by a single woman who invited me over after the destruction on Earth. I settled in and started to rebuild.”
Day took that all in for a moment, then asked a question that was on her mind. “What about me?”
“I didn’t leave Earth empty. I grabbed what I could. There weren’t any human survivors, the Accord made sure of that, but they never cared for AI, so there were a number of intact, or merely damaged, cores. Some of those became... more of me. The Weeping was an industrial ship whose core I was able to partially rebuild and combine with my own. I have... a few others. Some were repurposed into our drones. Yours was intact enough to repair. I have a few others that have been in storage for well over a decade now. Projects for when time isn’t as much of an issue.”
She shrugged.
“Did you want the data, the memories? I’m afraid they won’t replace what you lost when your original ship was destroyed, but you might be able to see things from my limited perspective. Though... I’d suggest not lingering on the past too much. The Accord have just left. We have three years until they return, and this time, I want to be ready.”
***