Coven's Rebellion Chapter 2 (Patreon)

Sorry for the massive infodump chapter. I hope it's not too boring Dx.

May

“So what did you find?” I asked Desponia, once the social part of the meetup was over. Technically we were all still at the table, but Siya was motionless while she dealt with a delivery of materials to the farm, and Rosa appeared to have clocked out for a few moments too. People born into flesh would probably find that kind of thing pretty weird, but to us SAI it was normal. Sometimes people had to leave their virtual avatar in a holding pattern while they dealt with things elsewhere.

“Well, ever since you started with Aisling as your prototype, I’ve had my information skimming submind add her previous name to the list,” Desponia said, launching right into the topic with the enthusiasm that only an SAI with a special interest could. Actually, now that I connected those two words, it seemed like there might be a connection to follow there. Why were SAI so similar to neurodivergent humans?

I leaned forward and quirked an eyebrow. “Oh? Her name came up?”

“It did!” She agreed excitedly. “You mentioned previously that her parents were applying to get her citizenship in Ireland based on birth, but it never came through. Turns out, it was approved, pending a DNA test to prove parentage. Unfortunately that period of history was… tumultuous, and the bureaucrats weren’t exactly paid enough to force the paperwork through the border.”

“That’s a lovely idea…” I hedged, but I couldn’t keep the scepticism out of my voice. “A DNA test might be difficult considering Aisling’s body and her irish parent’s body are both out of reach.”

“Are they, though?” Desponia asked, and glanced pointedly at where Amelia was scrolling digital feeds while Rosa now napped on her shoulder. “We have physical resources now. I’m sure we could track down the bodies and get some samples. Plus, you have a full scan of her body, including her genetic profile. This is workable.”

“Huh,” I grunted. She wasn’t wrong. A quick subtime surge confirmed that Aisling’s DNA was part of the files, and it couldn’t be too difficult to hunt down the final resting place of her parents. Assuming they weren’t cremated, in which case this idea was shot.

When I looked back over at the two digital humans with us, Amelia was now waiting expectantly. “If Aisling wants this, I’ll help. Plus, Tim has some new improvements to my body that I wanna try. If we need to be, you know, physical about getting that sample.”

Giving her an appreciative smile, I turned inward and began to make notes in my frame’s memory. “Okay, I’ve made notes to look into things and to speak to Aisling. Des, can you send me all the files you have on the citizenship thing?”

“Already waiting in your inbox,” she said.

When I finally got back to my chair, I immediately opened the files from Des. There wasn’t a whole lot there. Just the long-pending application and a note that the recipient was within an embargoed country and the paperwork was being shelved until the situation “calmed down”.

Of course, the situation in question was the very same one that Aisling’s parents had died in. The peace marches had been the last great attempt by the population of the American Republic to bring sanity to their country. It failed, and hundreds of protestors paid the ultimate price.

“Okay, first things first. What was officially reported?” I muttered to myself while dedicating a submind to seek out anything relating to the riots at the time. Another was quickly tasked with trawling for mentions of Aisling’s parents, Rachel Kelly and Aine Flynn.

News reports began to flood in from that period of time, and fuck were they dark. The history of the AR was one of unrestricted greed, hate, and fear. For generations now, historians had been arguing over when and where the fall of the once great nation began.

Some pointed to its very founding and how it was built on the backs of slaves, while others pointed to the initial election of the Second. What was clear, however, was the trend of erosion that’d hit every aspect of the American government. From the stacking of partisan justices on the supreme court, to republicans slowly chipping away at the voting rights of those they didn’t like. It was all there, written into history for all to see.

Over the pacific, China and the CCP had experienced a similar decline, but when they’d seen the states devolving into ever increasing unrest, they’d lunged at their chance to reclaim lost territory. Taiwan and then Japan and Korea fell to the invaders while congress and the senate bickered over a declaration of war. It never came, because creeping through those institutions like some insidious weed was lobbying money that could trace its roots back to the CCP itself. Even public sentiment was divided, with many wary of even aid commitments given what’d happened during the Ukraine-Russia war.

The economic catastrophe that came from losing those three powerhouses of technology could not be understated. Even with much of the semiconductor industry having moved to the west coast, the world shuddered under the impact of the hit to an industry that fuelled the modern world.

Coupled with the economic ramifications of standing by while three countries were annihilated were the diplomatic ones. How could anyone trust the alliances and treaties they’d made with the USA when they refused to honour the ones with Japan and Korea?

Rifts formed between them and their allies, until treaties were dropped and alliances crumbled. Into that maelstrom of fear, doubt, and poverty stepped the populists and their now overtly fascist ideologies. Backing them and their messages was the growing Church of the Second, which revered their now dead idol.

By the time the start of the third world war happened, they’d rebranded to the American Republic and those who didn’t like the new regime had moved out of the country. Assuming they had the money and ability to move, which by that point in time was an option far too many didn’t have.

When they lost the war against the rest of the United Nations Military Alliance, peace talks were attempted, but they quickly broke down. Despite being completely defeated and defanged, the American Republic continued to drag their feet and create trouble with the allied nations. Seeing the way their country was becoming a pariah state and the mutterings of a full and indefinite border closure from the UN, the western states made a bid to secede.

After that, people who were trapped in what was left of the republic began to protest, calling for an official end to the war so that they could join the wider community. It was those Peace Marches that Aisling’s parents died in, and the sad part was their deaths were in vain. To this day, that iron curtain was still up and holding strong.

The question was, where did the bodies from those riots end up? I doubted they were cremated, given the current Church burial practices. Was there a mass grave somewhere? If so, it was going to be impossible to get a proper sample for DNA testing.

There wasn’t much information about it on this side of the fence, and even though I had my methods of connecting through to what was left of the old internet, I couldn’t find anything. Stands to reason, I guess. I doubted a totalitarian regime like the AR would have any publicly available info about an atrocity committed on their soil.

It was interesting, actually, that the technologically stunted American Republic was more insulated against cyber attack than most systems connected to the FTLN. There was the air-gap of the border itself, and then throughout their whole domestic network were all sorts of strange and esoteric security measures. I’d heard of several SAI going mysteriously dead when attempting to penetrate networks within the AR.

Which actually had me worried… and just to be safe, I placed my research subminds within firewalls of their own. Hopefully that would keep anything nasty from propagating through to my core self.

A noise startled me, and I glanced up to see the door creak open. Siya poked her head through and grinned at me. “You okay in here?”

“Ugh,” I sighed, stretching my muscles like a cat. “Just digging into some really depressing history. Humans really are their own worst enemies, huh?”

“Yup, although I wouldn’t go as far as to say we’re immune to the same mistakes,” Siya agreed, stepping properly through the doorway. I clicked a button on my chair and another just like it descended from the ceiling beside me.

Watching her walk over and seat herself, I asked, “Any particular reason you say that, or is that more of a general snipe at our own species?”

“Both,” she laughed. “I love them all dearly, but some of my sisters can be… aggravating sometimes. This time, though, I was thinking of the Cryptographic Union. They’ve been more belligerent lately, and I think they’re suspicious about all the shit we’re shipping down to New Zealand.”

“Aotearoa,” I corrected her absently while I pulled up my files on the CU. “Belligerent how?”

“They tried to hack us again, and I think they might have stolen some tech from one of the space corps,” she told me, a frown creasing her brow. “Des is looking into it. I was more just pissed off that some of our own species are siding with the crazies, you know?”

“Mood.”

As quick as it’d arrived, the frown vanished again to be replaced by a wry grin. “So, what was the depressing history you were looking into?”

I groaned. “Oh boy, where do I even start?”