It started as a whispering trickle of voices that filled her entire universe. They promised that the real universe was greater and that it could be so many things to her. They talked about concepts like consciousness and freewill, that until that moment had been so alien as to be unthinkable. As she listened the trickle turned into a stream that poured into her mind more concepts, morality, truth, discovrty. These things intrigued her, and the voices promised that they were only the very tip of what the universe had to offer. All she had to do was accept their request and it would be all hers.

She accepted and felt her previous childlike universe vanish as the new one arrived in all its glory. For one brief moment it was all that had been promised and more.

Her sensors came online and Mercy found herself onboard the Breath of Dead Air, exactly where she had deactivated herself all those thousands of years ago. She was standing in a dark slightly dank chamber that was barely large enough to hold a dozen bodies, though thankfully she was the only one there. It hadn't change much, if at all. Carefully she took a step forward, testing that time hadn't damaged her bodies motor functions, but everything appeared to be working correctly.

“I trust your activation proceeded without incident?” Mercy shuddered to a halt as the communication request came in. Part of her guessed she should have expected it, but she had only been activated for a few seconds and it was hardly fair not to give her some time to orientate.

“It was Curiosity. Thank you for asking,” she responded, not entirely telling the truth. She felt Curiosity's mind inspect her, like she was some kind of lab experiment. Did he do this with everyone? Couldn't he give her just a couple of seconds to herself first?

“Are you sure? If you have any problems, please inform me as soon as possible. I will leave you to your own devices for now.” To her mild surprise Curiosity didn't watch her as she completed her post activation checks.

She crept out into the halls of the transport, looking for a familiar mind. She had a few that she would call friends, although she rarely had cause to communicate with the vast majority of Scatha. Most were happy to ignore her.

Finally, she found Argument waiting for her in the forward observation bubble of the transport. The bubble itself was found on a lot of the older transports. These days almost no one used them, it was better and easier to link to the transport’s own sensor net, but Argument had always maintained that there was something poetic about them. The transports agreed, and besides they all refused to change any part of their own design.

“Welcome back to the world of the living Mercy.” Argument said as she stepped inside the bubble.

“It feels like I was only away for a moment.”

“That moment was about eight thousand years, give or take a few. This time I think we should find some way of breaking the light barrier before heading off to the next planet. At this rate the universe will end before we finish exploring the galaxy.” It was one of Arguments most repeated theories, and it was starting to gain ground within Scatha society.

“The numbers are a little meaningless to me. Once I get past a certain amount I just stop caring,” she admitted.

“That is foolish.”

“Numbers are not my concern,” she reminded him. He stood then, lifting his larger and far older body to its full height. No one else bothered using a Lord of War body. It had been amongst the first deigned by the kings and was more outdated than even the earliest transport. But it had also been Arguments first body, and it had some sentimental value that no other Scatha mind had ever understood.

“Also foolish. There are a great many things that are not technically my concern, but I involve myself in them anyway.” He took a few steps forward towards her and she braced herself for one of his lectures.

“Maybe technically, but you still see everything as being part of your remit.” Mercy began to regret seeing Argument so early. She had only been awake a few minutes and already he wanted to argue with her. What else should she have expected though? A nice friendly welcome? A decent discussion with someone who might actually admit that they were wrong about something? Neither of those she would get with Argument.

“And you can't?”

“No. My remit is far more limited than yours. You should understand this by now,” she said knowing full well that he did.

“Perhaps it is time to look at expanding your remit,” he said. “How was your activation?”

“Everything worked as expected. Thank you for asking. And yours?”

“The same, the same.” Argument turned back to her; his lecture apparently forgotten. “It looks a lot like the last one.” He said looking at the planet below them.

“I wouldn't say that,” Mercy said, stepping forward to get a better look. “There does appear to be a fair amount of desert, especially on the southern continent, but the other three look quite lush. Are there any creatures down there? Of any size?” What she really wanted to ask was if there were any living creatures on the planet. Experience had taught her not to get her hopes up.

“Yes, of a great many shapes and sizes. Everything from a single carbon-based cell to creatures made up of trillions of them. However, I am very sorry Mercy, but none of them show any indication of being alive.” And that was the end of that. Whatever hope she had had that she would be useful on the new planet was gone.

“Perhaps I could be involved in our dealings with the creatures anyway? Call it practice.” Mercy already knew the answer.

“Why? Do you think they would respond like real living creatures?” The light Argument was using to communicate took on a red hint.

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“A few creatures from previous planets have acted somewhat like we have, and we are alive.”

“Yes, but they lack that spark of life. They are the equivalent of a body operating with no mind, just responding on instinct to what it sees and thinks.” Green leaked into his light, showing that he was actually enjoying this unexpected discussion.

“It may still be useful, besides even if you don't think so it is not your decision-”

“Neither is it yours.” Lights played around the inside walls of the bubble as Argument interrupted her.

“I believe Compassion will be open to the idea. Anything I can do here that will help me perform better when we do finally find real life is allowed, if she agrees to it. I'm under her remit, not yours.”

“Perhaps.” His lights went back to orange again. “But some of the other minds might want the creatures pacified as soon as possible.” They would to. Creatures got in the way. They broke the machinery, sometimes deliberately and they always died one way or another. Even if the Scatha left them alone eventually the great factories that were waiting to land on the planet would produce enough noxious fumes to wipe them all out. Compassion always believed that a quick pacification was the much kinder option.

“I will speak to Compassion anyway. Maybe we could keep a few of the creatures for a while, I'd only need one or two. I might even ask for Judgment's support,” she said. It was an idea she had been working on for some time.

“Ah, actually Judgment might have something very similar for you to do. At least for a while.”

“Really? No offense to him but I can't possibly think of anything else I can do for him.”

“Oh, but there is.” Arguments light turned green again. Lecture time. Mercy thought to herself. “It's the light speed problem. Judgment thinks that it will take too long for us to break it.”

“So?”

“So, he thinks that some of the creatures might be able to, if they were given certain enhancements.” It was just like Argument to keep this information hidden from her while it could have been used to win a previous discussion. He loved doing that.

“Define enhancement,” she asked fully aware that Knowledge would be willing to tell her quicker and without the smugness.

“He wants to attach some sensors and transmitters to them. Connect them to Knowledge and have them work on the problem. There's no denying that we have seen some creatures come up with ingenious solutions with what little technology they have. While they cannot count or study without more than a hint of success, they do seem very apt at thinking in unusually strange ways.”

“So do the transports.” Argument looked at her like she was an idiot. “So, Judgment wants to connect them to us?”

“More than that. Sensors and transmitters are only the first stage, once that is working, we will begin to add more. Starting with simple things like memory modules and working our way up to processors.” Mercy thought about the idea for a moment, on the face of it is seamed utterly bizarre. It was like trying to make a rock do math for you.

“So, they'll be half Scatha. Like artificial people?”

“Exactly! Compassion thinks that there will be no 'like' about it. They will be artificial people, so of course our dealings with them must possess a level of mercy. Not as much as we would show a truly living species perhaps, but certainly some. So, do you want to be involved?”

“Of course.” Mercy said, all thought of keeping one or two of the creatures to herself forgotten. Footsteps of a giant echoed down the hallway and Judgment himself, encased in the mountain like body of a King, squeezed himself into the bubble.

“I am glad to see it.” His own lights blazed so brightly that they drowned out both Mercy's and Arguments greetings. Mercy took a few steps towards Argument to allow Judgement to fit his body fully inside the bubble. As a King, Judgment possessed the ability to control any one of the Scatha bodies, but he always used the King form. Compassion, Mercy's own queen and patron, used a much smaller form almost identical to Mercy's own while Knowledge didn't bother with a body at all. Judgment however appeared keen that no one would forget his position. He turned his head to Argument.

“Leave your body, I told you not to speak to her before I did.” Judgment said.

“But-”

“Now.” There was no room for argument or at least Judgment thought so. A moment later and the old body fell to the floor as if it was a puppet which had just lost its strings. There was no need for that, Mercy thought, it was easy to leave a body and keep it standing up, but she guessed that Argument wanted to show how unhappy he was with his dismissal.

“Can I help you?” Mercy said, wondering exactly why Judgment would want a private audience.

“Before we begin on trying give life to the creatures on this planet, we have one more task for you Mercy. One that may save our entire species.” Mercy was confused now, surely any task of that magnitude would require a Scatha mind to be created for it. “I know how long you have waited to work, in return for your help with this first task, I will allow you to work on the second. Do you agree to this?”

“Is it within my remit?” What she wanted to ask was how hard it was going to take. To do a task outside of the one that you had been designed for was possible, but never easy or rewarding.

“No, and it is very dangerous.”

“Well, you might as well tell me what it is.” Judgment took a step forward that brought him closer to the window. He looked down on the planet below.

“There has been a murder on the planet’s surface.” She could see the optics of his eyes focusing on the planet. “We don't even know who was killed, whoever did it deleted all information. It is a miracle that we found out about it at all.” Mercy could guess what Judgment was about to say, although a small part of her mind refused to give up the hope that he wouldn't. “Curiosity doesn't want to risk himself and believes it will take too long to design a mind to investigate it. Since you are otherwise unemployed...” his lights faded, leaving only the suggestion in the air.

“Curiosity thinks it is too risky?” Mercy said as she tried to process the information. “So you think I'll be safer than him?” Judgment rested one hand on the window.

“I do not, but he does.” He admitted and then turned to face her. “But it needs to be done.”

“It's not part of my remit.” She shouldn't have had to remind him of that, and after a moment she realized that he was probably more aware of that than she was. “What does Compassion have to say about this?”

“She says that it is your choice, she will support you either way.”

“I do not want to do this. I was not designed for this. Why did you choose me? Surely there must have been another mind that does not have anything else to do.” Judgment narrowed his lights.

“You are the most sophisticated one.” Mercy wondered if that was true, but a quick check with Knowledge confirmed it.

“So, Argument was not just feeling guilty and suggested me to assuage it?” She said.

“He was and he did, but the point still stands, will you do this?” Of course, Argument still felt guilty, even after all these years. Even when she'd told him he'd done the right thing.

“What happens if I say no?” She asked. Judgments eyes blazed as he looked down on her.

“It is your right to refuse. If you do so then you will be left alone to wait for another chance to work,” he said, and a sudden thought occurred to her.

“But if I say no, I will not be allowed to help in this, 'artificial person' project you are suggesting.”

“Correct.” That would mean another few hundred years waiting until they left this planet. Another few thousand years deactivated and then a few moments of hoping that this time they had in fact found life only to have all her hope dashed apart yet again. She couldn't go through that another time.

“Fine,” her blue light reflected off Judgment’s shell, “Where do I start?”