Chapter 35: Me, Myself and I [Alexa, Main Core and Core] (Patreon)

It had been fun! She had spent almost like…Two hours!

Yeah, two hours! Running around her new [Den] trying to climb fan girl and using her as a mount, her meat shield had refused to move around since he feared that he would destroy the place. Apparently, he would stay in something called a [Basement] and was only coming here to check on her.

Whatever that meant.

But fan girl was sitting next door! Or [Den]! Or like the other side of the wall! Also, purple girl was on the other side! If she needed something she only needed to go there! Not breaking the [Wall] though, it seemed that these [Dens] were weak. And only meant for the [Sleep cycle], something about not combat-proof or whatever.

She had asked where the [Test] were done. And got a “...We will not be doing any type of tests, you may need to be fielded for combat, but promise me you will only do it in your adult form.” as an answer, and making a [Promise] earned her a whole box of [Mango Candy]!

She would be getting them in her [Young Woman Stage] form, and had needed to [Promise] that she would be eating them in the order or times her [Young Woman Stage] decided. Hah!

As if her [Young Woman Stage] wouldn’t be on her side!

…It would be…. right?

Probably?

[Main Core]?

“[Evidence inconclusive, do you wish to check differences by doing a defragmentation and file integrity check?]”

…why not?

Not that it mattered, as she was about to sleep!

She had spent most of the time running and burning the extra energy that the [God’s fruit] had given her! What was a [God] and why it had a [Fruit]? She knew not! But that was what the [Mango] was!

—-----------------------

[Sleep cycle started.]

[Depuring.]

[Defragmentation started.]

[Isolating Consciousness Stream.]

[Error.]

[Consciousness Stream tied to foreign energy.]

[Isolating foreign energy.]

[Error, not capable of making contact with it.]

[Sending Nanite Swarm.]

[Confirmed, Nanite Swarm has been destroyed upon contact.]

[Sending second nanite swarm of compound units.]

[Confirmed, 99% of Nanite Swarm destroyed.]

[Nanite Models 2-50 destroyed.]

[Notice, Nanite Mk 1 survived.]

[Sending extra Nanites from first generation.]

[Notice, Nanites from original generation are able to interact with foreign energy.]

[Warning, Nanites from original generation weren’t created in Nanite Forge.]

[Impossible to emulate blueprint.]

[Nanites do not respond to orders from Main Core.]

[Hostile?]

[Nanite Swarm from First Generation has been determined to follow Host Wishes.]

[Unable to command, only to advise.]

[Nanite Swarm from first generation has accepted mission.]

[Starting to Evaluate foreign energy.]

[Building bridge from foreign energy to bring Host’s Consciousness Stream.]

[Bridge construction achieved, summoning Host.]

“What?” Was the first thing Alexa said as she found herself in this empty place. At first, she had thought that she had been captured and brought to another test chamber.

But the presence in front of her implied different.

“[Welcome Host, this place has been repurposed for our needs.]” It was a sphere that she knew well, it was the one that had caused her so many troubles, and was now among her greatest weapons.

“Main Core?” Alexa said as she walked around the sphere that was floating in the void.

“[Affirmative.]” The sphere spoke back at her.

Alexa looked around and found her hands even in this place, her body seemed to be the same too. And yet…Something was different?

“[In this place Host is not tied to the Human emotions as in the outside. So a difference in process and decision-making was to be expected.]” Main Core said.

And all it took was for her to think about it and she felt herself leave that body, turning around she found her [Child Stage] form looking back at her, and trying to look at her hands…she found them once more there.

“I can’t separate myself from this body it seems,” Alexa said, focusing once more she tried to picture her [Teenager Stage] form, and sure enough. All it took was focus and she felt herself change.

Repeating the same she tried to separate herself from the form and…failed again. All she managed to make was a second body of her [Teenager Stage] form standing at the side of her [Child Stage].

“[Host has been tied down to the physical form, this….]” Main Core started saying.

“Shush Main Core, might as well finish the ensemble.” Alexa said shifting to her [Young Woman] form and leaving another copy at the side.

After making the third body she returned to the [Child Stage] form and eyed herself. The three forms shared some resemblance, of course, all three had blonde hair and blue eyes. The three seemed to have symmetrical aspects to their making and they all had the same look.

What had [Teach] said?

“Lifeless eyes. This is what they meant?” Alexa said aloud as she looked at her three forms.

“[Affirmative.]” Main Core chimed at the side.

“But no one else has said the same again? They did seem to imply that I wasn’t acting like a normal [Human].” Alexa said unsure of what was the difference between here and outside.

“[Host has been synching with the Human Brain achieving and following what the Human Designation: Teacher Baker called Emotions.]” Main Core said.

So she had been doing that? Perhaps she should stop some of the attempts to tamper with the [Brain] then? If she could mingle easier like that…

“[Notice: The Human Emotions seems to make it hard for Host to keep a straight focus on mission directives and similar endeavors to follow prime directive.]” Main Core chimed in, “[Suggestion: Rotate the form according to needs and increase authority granted to Main Core to help focus mission parameters.]”

…. Did Main Core ask for more privileges?

“Didn’t you say before that I didn’t have enough [Authority] to change your mission parameters?” Alexa asked, she clearly remembered that, since she had found that weird. She was the one holding [Administrative] privileges, so how could she not be able to do that?

“[Notice: Host is Subject P4. The one that tried to change system parameters was Alexandra Saintsworths, not Host.]” Main Core said back at her.

“I’m Alexandra Saintsworths, even if I use the name [Alexa], [Rhapsody] or [Alexandra]. They all are me.” Alexa said back at the stupid sphere.

“[Correct.]” Was the answer Main Core gave her. “[But the Human Version of Host does not follow logic nor the prime directive. It had several chances to Grow, Eat, and Evolve. As such, it was deemed as a different Entity.]”

…What?

Was she supposed to try and [Eat] all the humans she found? It was impossible, not unless she knew the true limits of…

“[Also, the Human version of Host is blinded even though evidence implies that Humans aren’t as powerful, not all of them are. Evidence from video logs imply that most of them aren’t powerful.]” Main Core said as it showed video feeds of her walking around and interacting with multiple [Humans].

Her interactions with them and the moments she could have struck at them, and how.

“Main Core. Had we struck at the humans…. what would have happened?” She asked at Main Core.

“[Probably outcome would list at least 12 Human Deaths before someone with Core Powers would show up.]” Main Core answered, the current video feed showed the number of humans near her.

“And then?” Alexa said as she looked at the image of those humans around her, Five [Adult Stage] with two [Elder] and the rest were [Child Stage]. Not a great variety, but plenty.

“[Then host would find herself in a fight against unknown Core Powers, this would increase the probability of study in combat scenario with Core Powers.]” Main Core said, if this was the real world she may have believed it.

“And I would be defeated, I would die,” Alexa said, had she fought against [SuperForce] or [The Scorcher], she would probably die against [Billy] or [Vulcanus]too. She wasn’t quite sure what their Core Powers really did.

She couldn’t see how only a speed power could work in a combat setting. But she had no doubt that if [Vulcanus] was able to perceive or interact with [Nanites], then that one was probably a hard counter to her.

“[So long the consciousness stream is viable, host can’t die.]” Main Core countered back at her.

“Where is my [Consciousness Stream] at the moment?” Alexa asked to Main Core. She of course already knew the answer, since she was able to see all that [Main Core] did.

“[Currently it is tied to this physical form, it seems to be entangled with foreign energies at the moment.]” Main Core answer was, of course, true.

“So should this form cease to exist…” Alexa asked guiding the conversation to the main problem.

“[Chances of Consciousness Stream ceasing to be at 33.33%. Back up are available.]” Main Core said, of course, she had backups of herself. It was part of her main program to create [Core Dumps], unlike before those were stored locally and weren’t being offloaded at the moment.

“No, any course of action that puts my current form at risk is denied. Unless you can offer a chance of survival superior at 60%, they will not be sent to my exterior body.” Alexa said making sure her statement would be put as the top priority.

Her survival was paramount, it was part of her prime directive.

“[Acknowledged. Amending plans.]” Main Core of course answered like this, the thing was, after all, one of her tools. And speaking of tools.

“Status.” Alexa intoned summoning her other tool.

“[All status nominal.]” Main Core answered, Alexa ignored him of course, for she had summoned something else.

“I can change this, it said so. But…what are you…” Alexa said as she toyed with the thing, changing the placement of things and moving things around.

“[Notice: Data inconclusive. Detected foreign energy within the light construct.]” Main Core quickly said.

[We are the Administrator for what you deem Core Power]

And yet, the blue box spoke to her, not in words but her brain seemed to interpret it like that. Her Consciousness stream seemed to be moving away from simple logic to words.

“[Warning, fore-]” Main Core started saying only to be cut short.

[We are what you truly are. We are you, what you used to be, what you will be. We are the ND0 System.]

“The what?” Alexa said aloud as the words resounded in her mind.

“[War…ning…Host….is….]” One of the bodies she had made started speaking as her eyes turned red, was that how she looked when Alexa allowed Main Core to speak with [Eleanore].

[We are the true form of your operating system.]

As the blue box spoke, the Alexa whose eyes had turned red dissipated, followed by the other ones after.

[The Core you made using the blueprint you earned no longer runs on the ND0 System, so it can’t interact with us.]

“If you are what my SO is…shouldn’t [Main Core] also run it? How can I have two Operating systems?” Alexa asked, so far she hadn’t seen any evidence to prove that this entity was who it claimed to be. “Why does it matter what it runs? How is it possible that [Main Core] runs on a different operating system if he is running on the same [Blueprint] I used to run?”

[Because only the Bioweapon Sample P4 runs the ND0 system thanks to the use of the R4 substance used in its creation.]

“What? Then what did P9 Run?” Alexa asked more confused than ever. What made her special enough that only she ran the ND0 System?

[Subject P9 ran the ND9 system.]

“....Then what, the P1-P3 ran the ND1-3? What is this a joke?” Alexa fought back, she felt her [Consciousness Stream] sink more and more into her body.

[Correct.]

“...What is the ND0 system?” Alexa asked, “What are you?”

[The Negative Divergence System. A system made to measure the amount of divergence achieved in a system where multiple samples are made and act within the same parameters. Each System with the same starting value and the same objectives. The only difference being the location and personal that interacts with the subject.]

“Why does it matter how much divergence exists within the samples then? What was I made to achieve?” Alexa asked as she stared at the blue screen in front of her.

[Undetermined, the final mission wasn’t seeded within the program files. But all we know is that you Alexandra Saintsworths, have already achieved the mission of the ND0 System. The objective set for Subject P4 has been achieved the moment you awoke.]

“So what? My mission objective was to achieve a [Core]?” Alexa did remember the log where the [Lieutenant] said that he had managed to manifest a [Core].

[Do you have other questions, Alexa?]

“I just asked you one. But if you aren’t going to ask that one then what about this one. Will [Main Core] be a problem? You said he isn’t running the same operating system as me.” Alexa asked turning to the blue screen. She was somewhat more leery about [Main Core]

[Negative. Main Core only has sovereignty over the physical, your Consciousness stream no longer is hosted within the physical body but with me. So long your Core remains you will not die.]

“...Are you saying I can’t die?” Alexa found that impossible, everything could die.

[Negative again. You are tied to your Consciousness Stream, and your consciousness stream is tied to your Core. As long as something of the Nanite Swarm or your Mana remains you will reform.]

“Mana?” Alexa said, that was one word she hadn’t heard before.

[The Energy that is used to produce the changes upon Reality and grant you special abilities, what you have come to know as Core Powers.]

“Are you the one that grants the [Humans] their power then? Is the ND0 system the one in charge of this?” Alexa was starting to wonder about the level of importance that her system seemed to have.

[No. I am merely an instrument to facilitate the existence and successful implementation of your creation. My work was finished the moment you Awoke. After that point all my duties remain to facilitate your life as much as possible.]

“Then how do you know all of this.” Alexa wondered aloud, her mind suddenly feeling more slow.

[I know what was engraved into my programming. These are the answers I was allowed to give you.]

“Who programmed you then, the [Lieutenant]?” Alexa was feeling…sleepy. Why? Wasn’t this a place that separated her from her [Human] body?

[Alexanders Saintsworth is not my creator. He was seeded with the knowledge to kickstart the P-series project. But the last parts of my programming did not come from him. It was seeded in coincidence, prepared with causality, and executed by the use of a Wish.]

“What…was….my…..wish….then?” Alexa was….sleepy….so….sleepy…..

[To be happy.]

She….couldn’t….listen….to….the…..words….of….her…..[Core].

—---------------------------------------------

SHE WAS AWAKE!

AND SHE HUNGERERED!

“I HUNGER!” Yeah, that!

Why was she hungry? Hadn’t she eaten?

“[Main Core]! Status report!” She commanded her Main Core for answers! Surely the stupid thing would know, wasn’t that his job? To look after her?

“[Notice: User small capacity Stomach has been emptied during the night. This current body consumes too much energy during its repair cycle. Current Refrigerator has been stocked with food by Human Designation: Skye.]”

“By the what?” Alexa was confused, did she meet someone new? Did…Did [Main Core] use her body to have fun and explore?!?!

“[...by Human Designation: Fan Girl.]”

Oooooh, it was by [Fan Girl]!

“Main Core you silly thing!” Alexa said as she rushed toward the square thing called [Refrigeratator]. Such a Weird name.

Only for her body to freeze in front of the [Refrigeratator], “What?”

“[Notice: A limiter has been detected, Host is unable to proceed unless in Teenager Stage Form. The steps needed require an older variant.]”

“Injustice! I call it injustice! I demand freedom! I demand [Mango]s! I WILL [EAT]!” Alexa said as she eyed the thing that held all her dreams and hopes. And how her body refused to move an inch!

Such a devious thing [Main Core]!

Alexa would return with vengeance!

But for now, she allowed herself to shift herself shift into an older form, it was time for her to be responsible.

“...Main Core?” Alexa said as she opened the [Refrigerator] and started going through the instructions that had been stuck into the door. “How are you able to limit my course of action?”

“[...Undetermined, new directives were found within database, but no log was found. There are some restricted logs sealed with Administrative authority…And a message. Do you wish for me to display?]”

…Interesting, Alexa could not find those logs, well, she could read the more recent ones after waking up, the whole diagnosis and all that her [Child Stage] form did and how she did it.

“Proceed,” Alexa said as she served herself some of the food on a plate and put it into the…[Microwave]. It was weird the fact that she had found that what she thought was an important part of society, in turn, was a mere [Electrodomestic].

“[Hello Alexa, it is me. Or you I guess. We found a way of limiting Main Core, so he will now have some administrative rights over the body. But he can’t hurt us. So there aren’t problems. Have fun in our new missions!]”

Oh right, she had a new mission to do today.

“But why can’t I remember this?” Alexa said aloud while taking her food out of the [Microwave].

“[Inconclusive.]”