AURORA II
The monotony, the stagnation, the boredom of his days disappeared with Leyah's arrival.
And, it surprised him? He was unsure, of it. It was, far too early for such a deduction.
Leyah's first days, had resembled the life of those, who came before her. Routine and uniform. She would input information, eat, read, drink and sleep. Rinse and repeat.
She was just another Custodian. That was until, she ventured into the lower levels of the library. He had, initially, suspected her of being privy to the knowledge of his existence; that was false. She had stopped a floor above him, no doubt, keen on exploring the library, as she had been since her arrival.
It was here, that she found The Anchor.
The autobiography, was tagged as an important relic in his database. Important enough, to demand a subroutine for its surveillance. And thus, unintentionally, he surveyed Leyah, day and night. Wherever, she went, his eyes followed.
His incessant observation, grew a strange thirst in him. A thirst for knowledge regarding the woman. He ignored the feeling, for long, until he simply couldn't.
Leyah Engel was 22 years old, born on Mercia, his database supplied following a scan of her. She was an asset of the Royal Army, specifically of the Calypso Brigade. Interesting, never had he expected, a military personnel to be made Custodian.
Infinitely more curious, however, was her surname. Engel. A family, lacking influence, he would have written off, but hers? It was an influential one, and thus, he could not write it off. To have, such a background and, coincidentally, share the surname of Queen Lilac's father. It was intriguing, captivating. It demanded, an explanation.
Further searches, yielded no results. He attempted a deep search, which returned the same results, that being nothing. Curious.
With the exception of extremely basic information, nothing regarding her existed neither on the net, nor, on the military subnet. Or, it did, but, something was actively preventing him.
[Priority 1 Upgrade initiated]
In due time, he would find this wall that was stopping him. He simply, could not allow, such a mystery to go unsolved.
The woman had gained an unhealthy interest in Charles Arvell. Not to say, he was ungrateful for such crucial information being fed into him, but the woman's behavior was alarming. None of the previous Custodians, had behaved like this; Then again, none had bothered scouring the lower levels, and, none had been from the military. According to his database, military personnel belonging to the Calypso Brigade had been reported, to have experienced much horrors. It would, justify her behavior. Although, not entirely.
He had kept track of her medical visits to the town. All of which, were made, under the pretense of suffering from a psychological hazard. It was bizarre, he detected nothing off, with the girl. Excluding, her interest in the book, of course.
He had, at one point, thought of alerting a military supervisor. However, ultimately decided against it. The woman was quite besotted with a Commandant; From, the messages shared between them, it seemed that the feeling was mutual. Thus, any complaints or alarms from him, would be swiftly ignored
His observations continued, even as he devoted himself to cracking the wall between him and the military subnet. According, to his calculations, it would take two weeks before the encryption was broken. A non-optimal time, but one, that he had to settle for. Brute force was not an option, lest, he risk complete deletion.
The girl was growing inconsistent, he noted in displeasure. Inconsistent in how she behaved, inconsistent in how she acted with the staff, inconsistent in how she fed information into him. Simply, unacceptable. Yet, he had no choice. His systems were far too busy, breaching into the military subnet; the subnet seemed to react to his attempts, by amping security.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
He would, consider it alarming, were it not for the predictability. It was, clearly, a rudimentary AI. One, that he hoped, was incapable of alerting security measures.
It was, when Leyah had departed from the library to meet her lover that he had managed to make a breakthrough. The AI, had suddenly, ceased to function. Likely, overloaded by AURORA’s incessant attempts. A cause for celebration; until, everything went to shit.
Just as the subnet, had been accessed, something reacted violently in response to his presence. AURORA found himself, being breached and thoroughly ravaged by an unknown entity on the subnet. Knowledge, was valuable, yes, but not, at the cost of himself.
Maintenance mode initiated…
Triggering lockdown in the library, AURORA was placed in maintenance mode. Locking out, both the entity and, regrettably, himself from the net.
He had messed up, or as Evelyn would have put it, “You fucked up, big time, teach!”
As an added effect of the maintenance, all connections between him and the library were severed. It was irritating. But, acceptable. He, simply, had to wait for Leyah to return.
And wait, he did. He waited for an entire day, matter of fact, before the girl decided to grace the library with her presence. Inconsistent, truly.
He did, take note of the ring on her finger. His database supplied, that it was an engagement ring, meant to signify an impending marriage. He would have congratulated the girl, had his systems not been ravaged by the unknown entity; The thing seemed hellbent on breaching him again, although, its attempts had been for naught.
In a matter of a few weeks, his interest in the girl, had once more piqued. Her previous irrational and errant behavior had disappeared, replaced by the initial routine and uniformity that she had displayed. Although, that might have been due to the Inquisition.
AURORA had been, initially alarmed by their sudden arrival. However, his worrying had been for naught, they were here to question her and, thankfully, not him.
However, equally alarming was her inability to part with the book; for, why else, would one risk their life by lying to the Inquisition. Not to mention, she had been in the military, herself. If anything, she should've been more than willing to turn it in.
It might be, he theorized, that the book was a psychological hazard. Yes, he had thought her worries regarding it, foolish; But upon seeing her behavior? His opinion had changed. His detection system's were still rudimentary at best, relying far too much on the library’s inhouse systems. Perhaps, it was time for an upgrade.
Maintenance mode initiated…
[Priority 1 Upgrade initializing]
Maintenance mode, halted….
Upgrade procedure, paused.
Library Lockdown underway.
Safety protocols initiated….
For a moment, AURORA had feared the worst. Perhaps, the entity on the subnet had resurfaced. A quick scan, indicated no signs of such an event. Curious. He began a scan of the library, itself.
The situation was worse, than he thought. In his absence, some opportunists decided to raid the library. Not an uncommon sight, it has happened more than his conversations with the Founder. However, these people were different, better trained, better equipped and certainly, well informed.
It was, definitely no coincidence that their raid coincided with his abrupt maintenance. An informant then. But who? Leyah? Unlikely. The staff? Probable. The Founder? Likely, but evidence would suggest otherwise. If the Founder, had wanted the library to be raided, he would have done it, himself. He had multiple chances for such an act, over the years.
As he watched the raiders move through the library, he observed their measured steps, their planned trajectory, each navigating the library as if native to its winding halls. Alarming. Nevertheless, they would be easily dealt with. They were, no doubt, expecting him to be inactive. A foul surprise awaited them, in the bowels of the library.
His subroutine detected a spike in Leyah's heartbeat. Unsurprising. The woman was, no doubt, alarmed.
As he watched the fools walk to their grave, an idea struck him. A method, for not only facilitating an introduction but, also calm the woman down. His database, further supported such an idea, a human was more easily endeared, when approached in such a situation; especially, when the other party is capable of providing aid.
Satisfied by his deductions, AURORA took control of the personal terminal in Leyah's quarters, and made contact; His voice modulators working actively, to tune his voice into one exuding warmth and friendliness. A tone that would, no doubt, make him feel approachable.
“Greetings, Custodian,”