Winning Peace - Chapter 23 (Patreon)

I leaned back and watched from cyberspace as the final stronghold of the Last Dogs was breached by a multinational force. High in the mountains of Tibet, a country almost completely controlled by their rhetoric and cult-like mentality, the Stellar Council had led a fifty-thousand strong commando unit of the best of the best, supplemented by twice that many Autonomous Troopers. The humanoid robots I'd initially designed for the Security Force here on Luna had been adapted for all-out warfare and were doing quite well at it, honestly. At least, for the lack of networking I allowed them.

I didn't want to add another synthetic race to the galaxy.

And humanity had already been through enough, they didn't need an AI uprising on top of everything.

Some people in the various military units had actually complained about the loss in troop efficiency from non-networked VI units. I'd offered them a report on the subject before I'd finally hung up my hat, though I didn't know if they'd take me seriously. Not that it mattered if they did or not. I was past the point of relying on humanity to actually be intelligent. No, there were three dozen safeguards in place on the hardware alone that would brick the units if someone tried to link them up. The software was even more complicated, redundancies built into each and every system that would stop them from working if the individual units began to interconnect.

I'd installed much the same on all of the new satellites that were being rolled out into the solar system and the server farms that were powering the neo-net. Even if it would be utter counterproductive stupidity to try and stop the internet itself from being networked, I could still make sure that humanity's systems wouldn't be the playground for a race of artificial intelligences.

As the final rooms of the structure were being burned to the ground, I closed the window.

That was it, the threat was done. I'd made sure of it. I'd found every terrorist cell, tracked down every source of funds, exposed all of the knowing and unknowing collaborators, dug up all of the bunkers, and neutralized all of their stored WMDs. I'd made doubly and triply sure that the leader was dead as well. Even if the man himself would have essentially been atomized from standing at ground zero under a rod from god, I still went through the motions of checking for any sort of deep bunkers or exotic radiation that could have indicated an escape teleportation of some kind. Unlikely as it was, now that I knew the Reapers were in play, I couldn't be too careful.

Which was why I'd made humanity impossible to indoctrinate.

Even now there were people who were blaming me in ferocious fits of outrage over the god-given sanctity of their randomly-generated genome. That was how I felt in my most cynical moments, at least. I knew those people had a right to be angry, had every right to be angry. They'd wanted a cure and I'd given them a retroviral mutagen which had fundamentally altered the composition and chemistry of not only their brains, but also their yet-to-be-born descendents' brains.

In a strange and twisted way, the Last Dogs had been correct. Not in anything they'd done, of course. In that regard, the empty atrocities they'd accomplished brought only death. But... in their assertion that humanity wasn't fit for outer space. In that regard, at least, I think there was a grain of truth to their arguments.

I shook off the dark thought and turned my attention to other projects, closing out the window in the process. The ghosts of the past were only bothering me because of the final execution of Last Dog loyalists, no doubt. They'd long-since ceased to be a credible problem for me after I'd cured their memetic plague. Their only real legacy at this point was my beyond-paranoid data hygiene and, by accident, a humanity far more able and capable to stand against the alien races of the galaxy.

Now, though, I needed to go about ensuring my own legacy was something far more triumphant.

The Reapers.

I remembered little from the games and associated content, but I knew enough that I'd kicked myself into high gear over the last five years. Things that I'd believed I could take my time on were pushed to the forefront as the highest priority possible.

An alert rang through my systems and I focused my attention towards the dead rock flying throughout interstellar space that I'd diverted a stealth ship towards a few years prior. While it would have been an interesting experiment to confirm what I believed element zero capable of, I'd instead just dusted off an old alcubierre drive from the shelf I'd put it on when the apocalypse hit. After cleaning it up a bit with some of the further knowledge I'd gained, it was easy enough to construct and launch from my new Mars base.

Right now, though, my appointment had just walked through a portal onto it, ready to audition to change her life.

One of my local bodies activated, stood, and opened the nearest door.

The eighteen-year old blond girl stiffened as she heard my footsteps, turning to stare at me with piercing blonde eyes. Her form was clothed in a stylish modern suit, though one more at home planet-side than the vacuum-suit inspired fashion of Luna and the colonies. Purely by physical appearances, though, the body I was currently wearing and her physical features could have easily been mistaken for close relatives. “Hello Sarah Blaine. It's nice to finally meet you in real-space, so to speak. My name is Ezekiel Lopez. Doctor if you're feeling fancy.”

The young woman swallowed and nodded, holding out a hand. “You're... not what I expected. Are those... is this body cybernetic?”

I smiled at her, “You've got a good eye, and a good memory. Yes, this is a cybernetic frame that I'm currently piloting as a surrogate body. Think of it as something like a drone.”

Sarah nodded slowly, then sped up. “Yes, I've read up on the theory. That must mean your real body is somewhere close, though. The latency issue-”

She cut herself off as I laughed. “Isn't one. At least, not if you've developed quantum-entanglement communicators.”

I tapped a finger against my head and relished in the awe. I so seldom got to brag on a personal level like this anymore. It was a nifty little trick, though, one which I'd reverse-engineered from Aperture Sciences. In that respect, those lunatics had learned how to launch themselves into space before taking their first steps, let alone running.

“No one else knows about this,” Sarah observed with a frown as she looked around. “I... where are we? I thought it was strange that you'd come down to Earth just to meet prospective apprentices.”

I gave her a few more points as I smiled. “You're on a rogue planet passing near the Sol System. 'Near' in a cosmic sense, at least. You're currently about 11.53 light years from Earth.”

Sarah sucked in a huge breath like she'd just been punched in the gut and instinctively looked around for a window. Tolerantly rolling my eyes, I sent a command through the system and a heavily armored panel shifted to reveal a barren and rocky landscape outside the spacious room we currently occupied. Beyond that, though, was an expanse of stars unlike anything you could find in our home system.

Our.

The word felt good to consider once again.

It had been a while since I'd checked in with Sasha, hadn't it? I wonder if she'd mind me calling?

“Dr. Lopez... you must know I didn't come here to become your apprentice,” Sarah finally stated as she finished looking out the huge window. “I-I mean, not only that, at least.”

I hummed and nodded, still looking out into the black void of deep space with her. “You know, most young women grow out of the crushes they have on their teachers.”

Even said without judgment, the words brought a heated flush to Sarah's cheeks as she turned back to the barren landscape instead of continuing to look at me. “Anubis... I know what everyone says, but... I can't help it. My parents and my sister... they tried. Even my little brother, they're good people, but they don't understand.”

I made another thoughtful noise, content to allow her to speak. I learned to value conversation, when it came my way. “Explain it to me.”

Sarah frowned, then scowled. “Our town still hasn't had the vaccine, you know? A lot of people don't want to get it given all the side effects... we're under quarantine right now. We have been since people started going rabid.” She visibly hesitated here and I gave her an encouraging nod. “I... know you did all of that. On purpose. To try and make people better.”

I nodded again, this time in confirmation and without the recrimination or denial she expected, she began to truly open up.

“It's different for them. They were born with working bodies,” Sarah began. “I don't blame them for it, I really don't, but it makes it so hard for them to understand. My mother talks about how lucky I was to be born with working legs and arms and eyes and... I understand there are kids out there who didn't even have what I have, but is it so much to wish for more? Is it so ungrateful to want to have been born with a functioning voice? And then they treat me like I've done something wrong when I fix this defective body!”

By the end of the rant, she was flushed and out of breath, unshed tears beginning to rise at the corners of her eyes. I pulled out a small handkerchief and handed it to her.

“Th-thanks,” she nodded.

“No problem,” I replied, then sighed. Even if I didn't need to, the gesture was comforting on a psychological level. “I understand, Sarah. Perhaps more than you do, even. I will not pretend your loved ones do not have valid reasons for acting the way they do, but they have nowhere near as much validity in judging you for your own desires.”

Sarah gave a mirthless laugh and blew her nose. “Y-yeah... it's like... my mom keeps talking about marriage and kids. And my sister's already married with one on the way. Then she drops hints about me looking for a cute boy or girl. And my dad, his knee is going. He just won't treat it or get a replacement. My sister's better, at least. They did that gene-blending IVF thing. Which, of course, is okay, but me getting a cybernetic voicebox?”

She scoffed, shaking her head.

“What you're proposing is a step far beyond a simple cybernetic fix,” I stated instead, rubbing at my chin and narrowing my eyes in thoughtful consideration.

“But you can do it, right?” Sarah asked, turning to me with red eyes.

I hummed with a frown. “I've spoken with you at length on this subject a number of times electronically, but I will ask once more... You do know that Anubis is not a person? Regardless of how much you instructed him to emulate human emotions, they are just emulations. He does not truly feel love or affections for you, merely having developed the capacity to fake it. In truth, 'he' is not even that. Anubis is a genderless, sexless program, not a person.”

Sarah grimaced again, but refused to look away from my probing gaze. “Whatever you say, Anubis has given me so much... I want to do this much in exchange.” She paused, narrowing her eyes. “Especially since you won't let him become anything more.”

I shook my head. “Humanity has no need for true artificial intelligence to bloom at this stage of its development. We've suffered too many blows recently and are only just getting back on our feet. The virtual intelligences I've distributed cover the needs of the Stellar Council.”

“And... I've read your arguments,” Sarah admitted, her temper cooling. “They make a lot of sense. Which is why I want to do this instead. It's... not AI, but it's a step further. Something like what you've been doing, I think.”

I chuckled and nodded, reaching up to tap my head again. “At this point, I'm nearing a full gestalt consciousness, yes. What you're asking for is different, though. You want me to essentially implant an incredibly advanced VI directly into your brain. You want to fuse with Anubis.”

Sarah nodded, then looked outside. “I... was going to say it was the path forward, to explore beyond the solar system, but...”

I stayed quiet, flicking her an expectant gaze.

I was curious what justification she was going to use.

“I love him,” she admitted quietly, her hands clenching to fists at her side. “If this is the only way I can be with him, help Anubis become a real person... that's what I want.”

“This very well could lead to ego death,” I replied. “Functional suicide.”

“I'm eighteen.” I raised an eyebrow at the non-sequitur, even if I could predict where she was going with this. “Society says I'm old enough to do things that might get me killed. That's what being a legal adult is all about, right?”

I sighed again. “The only reason I'm even entertaining this notion is because, moving onto the next step of my plans, I'll be needing help. Going through with this operation, augmenting yourself in this way... there will be a period of adjustment. After that, you'll be working for me.”

Sarah nodded quickly, her head nearly bobbing as she gestured to the void beyond the viewport. “If this is what you're getting up to now that you're not a minister anymore, I want in. I want it more than anything. I want to see how far we can go.”

“This is merely Operation Redoubt. It's an emergency safehouse of sorts, one of a few different emergency backups I'm constructing should things go badly in the future,” I stated with a slight grin. “This is just the tip of the iceberg.”

“Why haven't you told anyone about this?” Sarah asked, obviously befuddled. “It's amazing!”

I shook my head. “Humanity needs time to recover, to nurse its wounds. To prepare itself for the threats in the wider galaxy. Threats which I've discovered.”

Her eyes widened dramatically. “You're talking about aliens.”

I jerked my head sharply. “More than that. Much more.”

Sarah bit her lip. “That's why you did what you did to humanity, wasn't it? Improved us?”

“It's one of the reasons. There were others. The immunizations dramatically cut down on cancer rates, eliminated diabetes, cut back blood pressure problems by seventy-five percent, got rid of eyesight issues... a great many birth defects as well, to be honest.”

Sarah accepted the heavy look I gave her, understanding on her face. “So what the Last Dogs did was just an opportunity, then?”

“The same way all problems are,” I replied with a wave, wondering if I should tell her about the cognito-hazards. After a moment's hesitation, I decided to table the matter for now. If I went through with this, she'd learn eventually. The main reason I'd concocted the deception involving the protozoan was to keep the info-hazard box of demons well and truly shut. I didn't need anyone else trying to replicate what those lunatics had done.

A bioengineered plague was one thing. It was a horrible, if understandable threat. A parasitic idea, though? That was the stuff of nightmares. Also a bit too close to indoctrination for my taste. I didn't know if the Reapers were actively monitoring all civilizations or waiting until they opened a relay, but it was better safe than sorry. Doubly so with my own non-standard tech development.

At the rate I was going, though...

“I'll help you,” Sarah stated, turning to look me in the eye. “I promise. You can even leave in the safeguards and shackles on Anubis. I love him as he is.”

“Fine,” I acquiesced as I nodded slowly. “It's against my better judgment, but I've found that painfully lacking on occasion before. Perhaps this will be another, Ms. Blaine.”

“No,” she shook her head. I half-turned just as I was about to lead her away to the operating room. She hesitated, looking surprisingly shy for a moment. “Not Blaine. I... I decided on a new name, if I went through with it.”

I raised an eyebrow in silent invitation.

“Thonis-Heracleion.”

I stared at her for a long moment, then nodded my ascent and gestured to the wall where a portal appeared. “Very well, Thonis-Heracleion, if you'll step this way we'll be installing your other half. If the operation is successful perhaps you'll help me find a few more exceptional minds like yourself. Once you hear the full story, I'm sure you'll agree we need the help.”

The eighteen-year-old girl took a deep breath before stepping through a gap a dozen more light years across to an isolated system I'd stripped from human records. In the sky of the moon we were now on, an alien gas giant hung, taking up the bulk of the view. Two distant stars, one a white dwarf and the other a red giant, slowly passed behind the enormous world.

In between, though, hung the beginnings of a truly enormous shipyard as it consumed an asteroid field's worth of resources to fuel my new construction projects.

“A little bit more intimidating than an airless rock in the void between stars, huh?” I asked with an impish grin.

“Just a bit,” the young woman admitted.

Skill List:

Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans 1&2 // 3-5 (New)

Gundam: Universal Century 1-5 (New)

Gundam: Seed 1-5 (New)

Reaper Indoctrination Technology: 1-10 (Retconned In)

Megastructures: 1-5 (New)

???: 1-10 (New)

~~~

Here's the new Winning Peace.  Nothing much to report.  Probably heading to bed after this, so I'll reply to comments after I get up.

Thanks again for all your support and I hope to keep things moving at a steady pace.

Next up is OG Industrious.