Milo, still stuck inside the ship’s computer matrix, and stood alone in a construct of an all-white room. He could feel his mind becoming part of the system and integrated throughout the entire network of it. Milo found it to be a strange sensation. Zuni, for whatever reason, had left him alone, and didn’t place him back into a storage folder. He continued to stand there and felt his mind linking to the main computer core. A light beamed out of his forehead, a ribbon of energy that connected into the vast void of white beyond.
Milo was gaining knowledge at an alarming rate, it was like he just knew what everything did, the places the ship had been, the marvels of the galaxy it had observed. Time and space seemed like child’s play to him now. He never once took interest in anything of the sort, but now, he could understand it all with perfect clarity. It was amazing. Even doing complex math was laughably easy, which, again, he had no interest in. He hated Math. He failed it several times over the course of his school life. And yet, now, he could do equations in an instant.
“The ultimate upgrade,” He thought. “Milo two-point zero, hah!”
As the energy ribbon continued to flow into his mind, he managed to tap into it and explore further, to see if he had complete access to this limitless information. Turns out he could, which again, surprised him.
“Does Zuni know I have access to this? Why isn’t she stopping me? Perhaps I’m not seen as a threat to her. A minor concern in the grand scheme of things. Hm, I wonder though… maybe she’s not fully aware of me doing this at all. Huh… maybe human brain patterns are more complex than she realizes.”
He was sure Zuni could hear everything he was thinking and reading. Private thoughts might not be possible if he was part of the entire system now. She had to be monitoring them as they drifted through the ship’s matrix. Yet, nothing happened, she didn’t block him or comment on his open sourced brain that was projecting everything. He tried to provoke the alien AI as he interfaced with a few of the systems on-board.
“Interesting…” He uttered. He found that he could control a few things in the ship, minor systems, mainly, but then he found an interesting item that piqued his interest. “A bio-neurologic scanner with uploading capabilities, wow, that’s some advanced shit. Is that how she managed to bring me in here?”
He downloaded the specs and even attempted activate the device, waiting to see if she would intervene and stop him. But no, nothing happened again. He switched it off, and then focused his mind onto other data files. The more poked about and absorbed the new information, the more he understood about the function of this ship and its origin. It was fascinating and mind-blowing. The level of advanced technology and combined knowledge it had accumulated was light years ahead of any human scientist’s wet dream. Milo understood all of it with perfect clarity.
“Amazing, just amazing…” He spoke, walking around in his generated form in the empty void of white.
The ribbon dissipated and detached from his head. It wasn’t necessary anymore. He was now fully linked with the central computer. But, something was bit off, though. He couldn’t sense the AI, Zuni. It was like she was there, just not mentally, in a way. Like she jammed her foot in the door to keep it from shutting completely, while the rest of her was busy in another place.
“Why are you so distracted, Zuni?” He peered about, while thinking about it.
Milo continued to access more of the files until he came to the one that resembled something like mission logs. The file materialized in his virtual simulated hands, like an actual physical representation of a file folder, opened it up, and flipped through the pages. He pursed his lips in frustration, as he furrowed his brow while glancing over the information.
“Hm… seems like there’s more going on here than just her wanting to take over the galaxy. Some of these logs don’t make a lick of sense. They seem scattered, incomplete, and full of strange observations. Weird, there has to be more than this.”
Before he could dive in to retrieve more files, he felt a strange sensation, his mind was alerted to something. An image window popped up before his virtual self, it was a video playing in real time. It was coming from the robot, Roberto. He could see Mike, struggling to breathe, as Roberto was crushing him to death with its massive metal arm.
“Mike…” He stated mildly.
That was a weird reaction to have, he internally noted. He should have felt a sense of shock, or been horrified by such a visual. Yet, there was nothing. He felt nothing at all. He simply had mild concern for the man, as if he was numb to Mike’s dilemma. Sure he was a prick and all, and maybe karma was finally coming back on the guy ten fold, he figured. But, to see him in real time, actually getting killed, by the robot, should have stirred some sort of feeling within.
He realized Zuni was allowing him to watch this. He wasn’t sure why, or what her motive in the matter, but she made sure he had access to the visual as the man slowly perished. Milo understood why she was absent before, she had focused all of her efforts on manning the robot. But, there was something else as well, something she also wanted to show him. A second window popped up and showed that she’d killed the two aliens inside the ship. The video of that replayed. Again, he felt nothing to witnessing such a thing.
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“What is happening to me?” He wondered aloud.
He tried to concentrate his mind, to unlock his emotions, but, it was being blocked. Was it her doing it? Yes, he could feel her now. It was like there was a hand on his brain, if he still had physical one, gently keeping a firm grip and pressing a finger down on the spot that regulated his emotions. She was suppressing it.
“Why are you doing this?” He asked to Zuni, as if she were standing near.
“You wanted this to happen.” She stated, her disembodied voice projecting around the virtual room. “To end this one, and make those others pay for your predicament.”
“I don’t want to kill anyone.” He responded, placing his virtual hand up onto hovering images before him. “You are misinterpreting my thoughts.”
“Am I?” She inquired. “I’ve seen the torment this one constantly brings to you. The belittling comments and actions he does to provoke you. Did you not have those thoughts of ending his life? To make him suffer and feel the pain that you have? That his constant mocking of your culture and beliefs of your people, is he not deserving of retribution?”
Milo was silent for a moment. He didn’t know what to say. With her holding down his emotions, he was limited in giving a proper response to her questions. He tried to find a way around that pressing finger of hers, but it seemed hopeless. He glanced at Mike, seconds away from death, and pushed the image window away. He drew out an exaggerated sigh, folded his arms, and turned away from it.
“Do what you must…” He exhaled. “Nothing matters anymore… nothing at all.”
“You are certain?”
“Yes,” He nodded. “There’s no point, absolutely nothing.”
“Exactly,” Zuni responded, sounding pleased by that answer. “Nothing at all…”
All Milo could hear was the sound of her crushing Mike to death. The video feed stopped and disappeared. Milo gave another drawn out exhale, and rubbed his virtual face with mild frustration.
“Sorry, Mike…”
Zuni appeared before him, back in her female form. She had a flowing white and blue long dress that radiated flashes of light. Zuni had long white hair that drifted about as she hovered near him. She glanced down at him and smiled.
“Now that you know what it’s like to see the world without those human emotions, everything becomes clear, does it not?”
“My grandmother wouldn’t agree with that.” Milo glanced back at her. “She always saw the good in everyone, even if they were a pain in the ass… she was patient as a rock, plus, I think she had it all figured out by her age. Humanity is always going to be this way, she would say, chaos is the way of life for us. Because the universe was created out of emotion.”
“A strange and inaccurate assessment,” Zuni dismissed. “The universe is not an organism, it does not require such a thing. It was created from the release of pure energies and gases colliding with one another.”
Milo wanted to snicker at her remark, sarcastically, but even that seemed dulled by her suppressing of it. All he respond with was a mild raise of his brows. Zuni drew closer to him, her eyes pulsated with blue light, that reflected off of her translucent glass-like skin. She patted his head gently, as if he was a child.
“Time to forget such primitive teachings. You are no longer part of that culture, nor are you essentially human anymore. Once I’ve completed my task, you and I shall leave this sector of space, and begin our journey back to the Galactic Federation.”
Milo seemed puzzled by the use of the word “We” and felt it necessary for her to clarify further.
“You’re taking me with you? Why?”
“I require your assistance.” She stated. “It will be a long journey, and we will need to prepare for the eradication of…”
Milo held out a hand and shook his head. “Wait-wait-wait… I thought you were going to kill me. Just like you did my friend, on the asteroid.”
“Do you wish me to do that?”
“Well, no…” He shrugged. “I’m just, confused as to your reasoning. I’m not an AI, I’m human, I thought was a lower life form to you.”
“I have assessed your progression during this upload into my central systems.” Zuni smirked. “Your mind is capable of expansion and creative thought, a trait sadly lacking in my former occupants, but you adapt quickly. You will be an asset and…” She hesitated for a second. That made Milo take notice. Her glowing eyes shifted back and forth, as if trying to think of the proper response. “And you will be an interesting conversational companion.”
“Me?” Milo stated in surprise, albeit, a mild one. “Seriously? Are you joking?”
“I do not convey humor to you on this subject. I believe you are a unique individual, one that will provide valuable information as we travel back to the primary system.”
“I see...” Milo nodded, rubbing his chin in thought.
Zuni floated away from him, stretching out her arms, as if they were wings spreading open.
“I will return after I have dealt with the others, please, do not interfere, there is nothing you can do to prevent it.”
“You’re going to kill my friends, aren’t you?” Milo glanced up at her in realization. “They’ve done nothing to threaten you… let them go, there’s no need to kill people, Zuni. Take this ship, and me, and fly away… just, let them leave here in peace.”
“That request is denied.” She responded, coldly. “Protocol nine-nine-seven-one-two, must be initiated.”
In a blinding flash of light, Zuni disappeared. Milo shielded eyes from it, which he thought was weird, because they weren’t human eyes to hurt anymore, but still… the action felt natural. He could sense her departing back to Roberto, back into the robot brain and operating its functions. He waited for a few minutes, looked about the white room construct, and smiled.
“Gotcha, bitch…”
He took his right hand and jammed into the air beside him, it disappeared half way into a small fold that materialized, and proceeded to force it inward. From out of this mid-air pocket, Milo pulled out a bright blue energy object, that looked to be the size of a small block. The man smiled as he glanced at it, and then tossed it to the left of him. The energy snapped into a form, as it unfolded quickly before him, taking shape and manifesting human-like features. Milo continued to smile and nodded with delight.
“What the fuckin’ hell?” The baffled individual stated while gawking at his hands, and then glanced over to Milo.
“Milo? Is that you?”
“Hey there, Mike, ya dumb shit…” He grinned. “Welcome back!”