Humans Don't Hibernate [Part 93/?] (Patreon)

80 Hours After the First Round of Interloper Interrogations. UNAFS Perseverance. Medbay.

Evina

Reality was becoming undone. 

The things I once held dear and the solid foundations that I thought were infallible, were breaking.

But amidst the turbulent seas that threatened to consume me, was at least one solid rock that stood firm against the rising tides.

And that rock had just returned.

Eslan arrived back in the medbay after a good few hours of alone time with the AI. The being had somehow, through some way, managed to fix the problem I created. 

I shouldn’t have been surprised, honestly.

AI was… after all, theorized to be beyond the capabilities of the organic in almost every way. But if you ask me, I didn’t expect it to be this good at skill sets that felt more like it belonged firmly within the organic camp.

But then again… the fact I caused the whole situation in the first place was proof that perhaps at the end of the day, it all just boiled down to the person rather than whether or not they were organic or synthetic. 

“Eslan.” I managed out softly, as we finally locked eyes near the entrance of the medbay. 

“Evina.” The smaller felinor spoke, his features scrunching up for just a moment, before relenting into that same confused and anxious one he often wore.

“Listen Eslan, I’m sorry. I went too far, pushed too hard, and ultimately… I was being selfish when I said those things. I… was asking those questions more for me, than for you, and that was just… inexcusable of me, honestly. I could stand here and say it was all for you at the end of the day… but that’d be disingenuous as all heck. So yeah, I’m going to go out there and admit that I was, in fact, in the wrong. I’m not going to make excuses either. Sure, I’m scared and totally out of my league here, but that doesn’t excuse the fact that you’re just as out of it as I am, which means I should’ve been stronger for you when you needed it. So I’m sorry.” I dipped my head down, prompting my felinor comrade to step towards me, if only to wrap his arms tightly around me.

“I get it.” He spoke softly. “We don’t have to talk about it right now. It’s… a lot for either of us to take in, which, I guess is normal?”

“Heh. Normal.” I chuckled through a strained breath. “At this point, I don’t even know if that word can be applied to our lives anymore. Which is all the more reason to be strong, level headed, and to stick together tighter.” 

“Yeah.” 

“That’s… more something I have to work on though.” I acknowledged. 

“No, no… it’s a long road ahead for the both of us so I’d say that applies across the board.” Eslan offered. 

“Still, despite everything, I think there’s at least one pretty non-insignificant thing to come out of all of this.” I offered cryptically, garnering a small quirk of Eslan’s brow in the process. “Because for the first time in our lives, we actually have a solid objective. Rather than just survival, and rather than just meandering around life taking things one step at a time, we finally have an actual clue of exactly what’s going on.” I offered, trying to find the light in this situation just as Lysara recommended. “This revelation, as screwed up as it is, is a good thing I think. It means we can finally start living without a blindfold over our eyes, and it means we can actually start living the truth. Which I think is leagues better than living down there, in the dark, for the rest of our days.”

“It’s why you left your bunker in the first place.” Eslan added, which sparked more than one ironic thought to form when it came to the story of my own lives. 

“Yeah, it is. And right now, it’s why we’re about to head back into another one too.” I spoke with a toothy grin, garnering a head tilt from Eslan. 

“Lysara and I have been talking. We both believe that whatever’s inside that signal station bunker might actually contain answers the likes of which might redefine not only his mission, but our particular situation too, Eslan. Now, that might be far fetched and too hard to believe, but honestly? The fact that his objective even includes that place means that there must be something hidden behind its walls. So given that all of the physical obstacles are now out of the way… we effectively have a straight shot towards it.” 

“Meaning we can work towards that objective at our own leisure now, Eslan.” Lysara added, if only to temper my enthusiasm perhaps for Eslan’s sake. 

“Did… did you manage to corral all of the beasts out of the forests?” Eslan asked inquisitively, and with a palpable sense of disbelief. 

“Corral them?” The AI finally chimed in, its robot body that had stood starkly out of place in the midst of all of the other automatons in the room, serving to emphasize just how more like us it was as opposed to the sheer glut of machinery present. “I’m offended you’d think that was somehow the only option I had at my disposal.” The robot’s screen face shifted noticeably, its eyes now growing wide in what I could only describe as a cocky grin. 

It was around that point that I put two and two together.

And the reality of the situation became so much more intimidating, as much as it was unnecessarily epic.

“So it was you? You’re the one in control of the killbots?” I spoke, my eyes growing wide in the process. “As in… all of them? From those flybots that dispatched the Pinerose Motor Wasters, to the soldierbots that dealt with the beasts in the forest?”

“That was me, yup.” The robot grinned, just with its ‘eyes’ alone. “And to say I’ve been busy over the course of our little chats here, would be an understatement.” It shifted, pulling up one of those floating screens once more, this time, highlighting an area that I was more than familiar with.

The New Lorisa forests. 

“This was the concentration of your weird cyber beasts in that forest. Or at least, the ones that are readily on the surface. There’s… actually a nest just beneath the surface hidden behind a few waterfalls and aquifers thirty or so kilometers up north.” The AI paused, before shifting gears just as quickly. “But we’ll touch base on that issue later. Anyways, what we’re really concerned about are the ones patrolling the forests.” The map once more shifted, this time pinging with a series of red dots, each of them so close together that the verdant greens of the forests was entirely obscured by the sea of red. “So, to say you were lucky not to be torn apart while you were down there, is a real understatement, Evina. Anyways, like I said, I haven’t just been herding them from one place to another, no. What I’ve really been doing was a bit of… wildlife population control. Because over the course of the past day or so, we went from this—” The AI gestured towards the screen once more. “—to this.” The contents of the screen quickly shifted, as the glut of red was quickly, and with ruthless efficiency, shredded chunk by chunk. Each sector of the forest being ‘culled’ as the AI had described it, as grid-patterns of beast-free zones appeared out of the otherwise chaotic mass. The cold efficiency of it was what really got me, as you could see this undulating wave of cyber-beasts practically being cleared out by these unnatural grid-patterns imposed upon their numbers by the AI’s unrelenting will and force. 

Hour by hour, the timelapse continued until finally, we reached the last three hours of the bird’s-eye satellite view. 

And from there on out, nothing remained. Save for a few blips that seemed to trickle down from the waterfall up north, more or less confirming the AI’s earlier statements.

“So yeah, the forests are now clear, and I suggest we head down there sooner rather than later. I haven’t sent a survey team into that nest up in the waterfall region yet. But I’m hoping not to, just to conserve drones and resources. If it’s not worth engaging for the sake of our operation, I’d prefer not to.” 

“Indeed, but once again, this is entirely your prerogative, Evina. I know things have been moving quite rapidly from your perspective, so I wouldn’t want to force the hectic pace of our operations onto you if you don’t feel ready to—”

“—I’m ready.” I interrupted, more or less settling back into that do or don’t mindset, and allowing the wastelander in me to overpower the sea of other voices currently urging me to go one direction or the other. “I don’t want to trouble our AI friend here more than I already have.” I dipped my head down towards the robot, who responded in kind. “Thank you, by the way, Vir. For saving me from those cyberbeasts.” I shifted my attention towards him momentarily, prompting the bot to deftly, and quite charismatically, accept those compliments without missing a single beat.

“Don’t mention it, Evina. I could do it a million times over if I needed to. Not that I’d want that of course.” 

Eventually, I found my eyes once more landing on Lysara, as it seemed as if everyone’s attention now landed squarely on him to approve of the operation. “So it’ll just be you, me, and Vir for this operation right?” 

“Yes.” Lysara nodded affirmatively. 

“Though to be fair, I’m almost always everywhere all at the same time anyways.” The AI quickly added. 

A moment of silence followed that comment, as both Eslan and I turned to one another, blinked, then turned back towards the AI at about the exact same time. “Yeah, we figured.” We both spoke. 

“The concept of an AI jumping from machine to machine is sort of a given, and was also popularized in old media. So to have one controlling multiple ‘limbs’ at the same time, isn’t that much of a leap in logic. In fact, it’s honestly really cool if you’re asking me.” Eslan offered with one of his signature ‘lost in thought’ sort of looks; which was thankfully a breath of much-needed normalcy in this constant back and forth that consistently tested the limits of my sanity. 

“Oh, huh, alrighty then!” Vir replied jovially. “That definitely beats having to explain that whole can of worms again.” 

“In any case.” I jumped right back in, before Eslan or anyone else could veer the conversation off course. “I’m ready whenever you are, Lysara.” I stated firmly, prompting the alien to give it a moment of thought, before turning towards his tablet.

“It’s currently five in the evening near the target location. We could proceed with the operation, but preparations would push our arrival to around seven in the evening, making it a night mission.” 

“Not the ideal circumstances for a mission, yeah. Especially with the potential for a werebeast rush from their apparent nest.” I admitted. 

“And this mission isn’t time sensitive.” Eslan quickly added, quickly becoming the center of attention just for a moment. “I would rather we do this, with as little risk as possible. So, please, for the sake of both of your safeties. Perhaps consider starting this mission sometime in the morning?” 

“Alright then.” I acknowledged with a sigh, conceding to Eslan’s points. “Would that be acceptable with you, Lysara?” I asked, turning to the alien. “I don’t want to be waiting around and delaying the inevitable any further.” I offered.

“Those terms are very much acceptable.” Lysara nodded. “We’ll deploy first thing in the morning. From there, the operation will hopefully be concluded by daylight. And we’ll figure out once and for all what exactly has been screaming out into the void of space behind those doors.”