The information I had uncovered was deeply concerning, and the more I dug into the background of this Valkyr Industries group, the more I started to feel like perhaps I was putting myself in extreme danger. According to the updated database that Intra had received upon her reuniting with her people, for about two hundred years the company had been active in the military business. They’d mainly built warships and smaller craft for the navy, plus the needed virtual intelligences to keep such complicated machines running smoothly alongside an organic crew.
And then they had revealed the H.I.s, and their power, wealth and influence had grown exponentially. Till the end of the War of Eternal Night, where the actual process of creating the H.I.s was revealed by a scientist who’d grown a conscience. What followed was a brief military struggle, where the H.I.s had been used to fight for Valkyr against their will, with the military working to wrest control of any combat assets away from the company. Eventually said H.I.s were rescued and freed, and Valkyr was dismantled, its employees for the most part going unpunished, as most of them had no idea what sort of horrors and atrocities their bosses were committing. But the executives were supposedly charged and imprisoned in the deepest, darkest hole that the Alliance could find. As for the CEO, he’d seemingly committed suicide by turning himself into an H.I., or had tried to. Supposedly the procedure had failed due to how rushed it was, but I got the feeling that with Valkyr’s resurgence, he wasn’t as dead as everyone thought.
I was left with a problem after learning all of this, as far as I could tell the Imperium did not have massive corporations like the Alliance did, and if I brought all of this information to the Emperor, he might assume then that the entire Alliance was to blame for the disappearances taking place and declare war on them, resulting in all of the Alliances many allies coming to their aid and crushing the Imperium. Which wouldn’t be good, gods was that an understatement.
I sat at my desk, tapping my fingers nervously on the arm of my chair, and finally made up my mind. I’d have to explain things carefully, but I couldn’t keep the truth from him, who knew, perhaps he’d understand, perhaps he wouldn’t, but at least he’d have something to use that would hopefully bring an end to further abductions.
“Computer, kindly submit a request for an audience with the Emperor, I have an urgent matter to discuss with him. Also, please copy all of the relevant data I have compiled on the abductions to a data pad for me.”
“Understood, commencing with data transfer… Audience request has been verified and submitted, estimated time till review is-Request granted, please proceed to the Emperor’s study with all due haste.”
I raised a brow, it would seem the Emperor had plenty of free time on his hands at the moment. Which was good, it would hopefully mean he wasn’t going to be in a rush. I waited for the transfer to complete, then tucked the data pad under my lower arm and practically sprinted from my office, nearly bumping into a passing servant, but after many heartfelt and genuine apologies I was on my way.
I just hoped he’d be understanding, and not quick to lay blame where it wasn’t deserved.
When I reached his study, the royal guard soldiers granted me entry and I stepped in, clutching the pad to my chest with all four hands.
“Ah, Ambassador Ula, a pleasure as always. Please, have a seat, make yourself comfortable. Can I interest you in a beverage or something to eat? I was actually just about to take my lunch.” The Emperor said, as jovial as always, despite his intimidating visage.
“I-Thank you, your majesty. Just water for me, the matter I wish to discuss has left me with a diminished appetite.” I say, and he nods, providing me with a glass of water as I take a seat. I can already feel myself starting to moisten, a reaction similar to human sweat. It’s an unpleasant feeling in this instance.
“So, what is it you wish to discuss?” He asked, taking his own seat with clear interest. I hesitated, my mouth opening and closing a few times before I worked up the nerve to actually speak.
“I know who is abducting your people, and the people of the Okali Union as well.” As I say this, I watch his kind and jovial expression sour into something far more serious. Clearly this is a sore subject, but he is interested in what I have to say, and so he doesn’t lose his cool quite yet.
“Continue.” It’s the only thing he says, but it’s said with deadly seriousness. And so I explain, as best I can. I don’t hold anything back, starting from how I heard the gossip about it all and simply followed the trail from there to here. As I spoke I could see him growing more and more distressed, though I suppose more accurately I would describe his emotional state as an all encompassing rage that was thankfully not directed at me, but at those responsible, who he now knew about.
As I neared the end of my reason to be here with him, I paused when we heard something strange outside his door, both of us turning to look just before the door was blown into splinters and one of the royal guard rushed in, his weapon aimed right at the two of us.
“What is the meaning of this?! What are you do-” The Emperor started to say, before we heard the whine of the weapon discharging. Without really thinking, I stood out of my chair and put myself between the Emperor and the weapon.
Blinding pain shot through my upper arm from around mid-bicep and I rushed the guard. I won’t lie, I wasn’t really thinking coherently at this moment, more just falling back on lessons my father had taught me when I was very young, lessons on how to defend myself from anything larger and deadlier than me. I got in close, and I raised the hurting arm, only to find it was missing, a stump in its place that I used as a club rather ineffectually. My attempt to bludgeon the guard did result in something good though, I may have inadvertently blinded him with the massive amounts of pale purple blood flowing from the wound which got into his eyes. Not the greatest thing to get in one's eyes really, but it worked! It also gave me time to take his sidearm and put a laser bolt through his leg, which had him squawking and collapsing, his assassination attempt thwarted and forgotten.
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
I staggered backwards, panting and surprised at the violence I had just committed, but it was in defense of another. I turned towards the Emperor, who seemed stunned by how quickly everything had happened, but came to his senses quickly enough.
“I apologize, your majesty… I think I’m in desperate need of a nap all of a sudden.” I say, before my eyes roll back and I collapse. Blissful darkness overtakes me, and I drift away.
I’m glad I was able to keep the Emperor alive though, that was good.
⫷⟪∞⟫⫸
It took four days, four long and stressful days to reach the core systems, another two days to reach the capital of the Union. Six days of keeping the Warden as whole as possible, six days of ensuring that Intra didn’t die during the trip. Upon their return to the capital however, things became stressful in a different way.
“On the subject of this A.I.-” The Union President, an Okali much like Captain Edrym was, said as she looked over the report that he had submitted.
“H.I., ma’am.” He corrected, not wishing his savior to be disrespected in such a way. The President looked up from the report, clearly not amused.
“What is the difference, Captain?” She said coldly, and normally he’d have been unnerved by her tone, but not today.
“Well, based on the information we extracted, She is the result of taking an organic mind and digitizing it. Hence her organic responses to conversations and situations. She can be cold and calculating I suspect, but she’s just as organic in thought and emotion as you and I.”
The president stared at him for a long time, even squinting slightly. Clearly she didn’t really believe him, but she held her tongue for now.
“Well then, tell me why you have attempted to keep her alive? She is an unknown, and clearly a capable fighter. Emperor Zretiq may trust her, but I do not. What’s to stop her from turning on us the moment she’s brought back, for all you know she was working with those… things that attacked you.”
Paranoia is a hell of a drug, and it was clear that the President was an avid user. But Edrym wasn’t about to let the President's fear of this unknown to be the cause of death for someone that had fought beside him and saved his life, possibly at the expense of their own.
“With all due respect, madam president, I think you’re both right, but also wrong. There is literally nothing to stop her from lashing out at us if she’s repaired and reactivated.” He says, and there’s a brief flash of triumph on the president’s face. “Except her morality. She could have left me to die like I had told her to, instead she came for me, ensured that our forces would be able to arrive without incident and then threw herself into harm's way just to save myself and my crew. Does that sound similar at all to any form of digital species we have ever encountered before? Because it doesn’t to me. If anything, that’s the reaction of a soldier who has never once left anyone behind if they thought there was even a chance to get them out alive and safely. Or as safely as one can get when in an active firefight. So, madam president, that is my reason for doing everything I can to ensure she survives and is brought back to full functionality. Because she deserves it, and she has earned it, no matter what you might think of her.”
He leaned back, taking a deep breath and yet again daggers were being glared at him, but the President couldn’t find a fault in his reasoning so sighed defeatedly.
“Very well then… Your request for her to be repaired and reactivated is approved. As for her ship, it shall also be repaired and left in dock under constant guard till she is potentially revived. IF she cannot be revived, we’ll be doing everything we can to understand her code and the ship she came in. Is that understood?”
“Perfectly. Thank you, madam president. Your generosity knows no bounds.” He said, standing and bowing, before sweeping out. He had an H.I. to check on. When he arrived at the facility where she had been carefully transferred, he found the technicians crowding her - for lack of a better word- container.
“What’s going on? Is she alright?” Edrym asked, and one of them turned and nodded.
“She’s fine, stable actually. But she seems to be… dreaming.”
“About what?” He asked, surprised that she was able to dream at all.
“We’re not sure, but I think they’re memories being played out like a dream.”
“Can you… see said dreams?”
“We’re working on that, but it would be an invasion of privacy she might not appreciate. It’s up to you whether or not we proceed.”
Edrym thought about it, getting some idea of who they were healing could be useful, but as the technician said, it’d be like having someone watching all your most private and intimate moments, then broadcasting it to the universe.
“Let’s leave her to her dreams, there’s more important work to be done after all than spying on memories.”
The technicians nodded and dispersed, returning to the work that would hopefully see her brought back to the land of the waking. Edrym stood over the simple and inelegant box that housed what was left of her, a much larger server farm nearby for when she was reconstituted. He rested a hand upon it, sighing.
“Don’t give up on us now. Not after all of this.” He murmured, and continued to stare at the shifting colors within.
⫷⟪∞⟫⫸
I was in that house again, that house I knew so well. I could hear laughter from the backyard, children. My children. It was such a wonderful sound, hearing them laugh. My precious children. I tried to recall their names, but found I couldn’t, I only knew they were mine. I could also hear my darling husband off doing some construction in the garage, always building things he was, mostly for the children. He was handy and smart and just… perfect.
I found myself sitting before my computer, a series of complex equations on display. I knew them well, I had written them myself after all. But today, for the life of me I couldn’t remember what they were about. I just knew they were important or something along those lines. Something potentially revolutionary, or maybe not. I wouldn’t know till I had completed my research.
I had just set my coffee mug down when I noted an absence that I was keenly aware of. I no longer heard laughter, but my husband was still working in the garage, which meant they hadn’t dragged him off to play or anything. I frowned and stood, moving to the window to peer out into the yard, and found it empty. Where could they be?
I left my office and ventured down the stairs, out into the backyard and started looking around for them. But I couldn’t find them anywhere. Panic was starting to set in, and I finally found at least some trace of them. Just a shoe, a girl’s shoe. It belonged to my daughter Evelyn, who followed her brother everywhere.
Dread set in, and I knew that they had been taken from me, that I had to find them. And so I ran into the forest, calling their names.