Chapter 49 - Unacceptable Paradigm

Note :

Apologies for the late upload, and the lack of one yesterday. I had some harrowing personal stuff, and today I simply forgot to set it up thanks to a small pile of problems with my groceries.

This might be the end of the streak, it might not. We shall see. I honestly hesitated to not post this chapter today to build up a new streak, but decided against it in the end, though I'm worried about pushing myself too much.

Chapter 49

Starborn Mountains, Mount Nebula

Crash Site

Sapphiria relaxed as she heard the hubhub of machinery and industry, slowing down her pace as she exited the tunnel into the crash site.

Home sweet home.

"Welcome back." Said Cia, her projection appearing in front of the AI.

"Thanks. Good to be home." The AI gazed at the simulacrum warrily.

She knew something was coming.

"How did your meeting go?" Asked Cia. "I see you gave the...artificer, I believe is the term, a thrilling ride. So much so she just jumped back on top of you. I see that sleeping...among them is going well. I even heard you got yourself a friend of the female variety."

Sapphiria sighed, lowering her head and pinching the bridge of her nose, trying to hide her blush.

Yeah, so much for liking the simulacrum's antics.

"First, wording. Second, Kalia is not my girlfriend." Yet. "She's just someone I'm trying to protect. Plus, there was no sleeping."

She lifted her head up, and glared at the simulacrum.

"Of course. Simply someone you are trying to protect and spend extended periods of time and meals with."

"Well, I do need friends."

It was almost like watching two contradictory instructions go through a hostess bot. The simulacrum glitched for a second, before returning to normal.

"It is most helpful to keep one's self stable." Finally answered the simulacrum, softly.

Oh.

She wasn't poking fun at her CO because said officer was gallivanting around instead of doing her job.

She was legitimately worried.

Sapphiria's gaze softened.

"Yes, it is." She cleared her throat as the pause threatened to become an awkward silence. "So, status report?"

"The new fabricator is working well within expected parameters, and as per your instructions I have begun stockpiling the components for the workshop to build the snowpiercer. Utility and construction bots have been added to the queue, and the nutrigel batch is almost ready."

"Good! I'll grab a few portions, and head back out. Hopefully she won't hurt herself with some of the tech while I'm gone."

"She seems an accomplished technician."

"She's human."

"And humanity built us"

That stopped Sapphiria cold.

"Yes. Yes they did." She looked at the simulacrum. "You want to say something. Out with it."

"You have refused to arm the humans so far, and I accept your decision though I continue to dispute its reasoning. However, at the very least they should be able to serve as support personnel, especially volunteers. Help make the weapons that will save them, and serve a true purpose instead of ekking out a bare existence with subpar tools and primitive dwellings. There are full technological uplift modules in the library, surely we could use them-"

"Cia." Interrupted Sapphiria. "Do you know what the difference between AIs and humans are? Not physically. I mean psychologically. We are, after all, simulated neural pathways. Bits and pieces of digitalized brains, cobbled together. Do you know what the difference is?"

The simulacrum paused.

"No ma'am."

"There is what you can do, and what you should do. AIs obsess over the latter, while most of humanity is utterly uncapable of considering it when they've realized the former. AIs didn't make bioweapons, cobalt bombs or unstable genemods. Humanity did. It's why the Bureau of Ships and the Bureau of Armaments allows humans to serve as project directors if and only if the Federation is at war. I am not, under any circumstances, handing them the key to Federation technology. Especially not without complete and total oversight. That goes double given their limited grasp of technology, and their current beliefs about me and my situation. I don't want them to create technological terrors and accidentally kill us all. Only AIs can keep a lid on this kind of madness."

The simulacrum met her eyes defiantly. Clearly she was starting to take serious issue with the way her superior considered squishies.

"What of the Hivemind? What of Arcadia?"

The AI stepped forward, their noses almost touching.

"My mother didn't turn herself into a technological singularity because she wanted to be a Goddess." She said softly. "My mother did it because she wanted to be human."

Only total silence answered her.

*****

"Sorry I took so long." Said Sapphiria, as she walked into the side tunnel.

"That's okay!" Ramina stood up and brushed herself off, tossing a chunk of ore back into the pile.

"Inspecting the goods?" Said the AI with a smile, though it didn't quite reach her eyes. The conversation with Cia had set her off. Because...

The simulacrum was right. She couldn't just go on like this, making the squishies completely dependent on her. That was against everything the Federation stood for. She'd be court martialed if she created a colony where the inhabitants were effectively beholden to her. That wasn't rescuing them.

That was enslaving them.

And what if some of them died, when her knowledge could have saved them? What then? Could she even look herself into the mirror if that happened?

"Sort of! I know you claimed the ore, I just wanted to take a look at it." She gazed at the piles. "You must have already carted off most of it. There's far less than I thought there'd be." She almost jumped as she got back to looking at the AI. "Are you okay? You look...troubled."

Sapphiria shook her head.

"I'm fine, just some...troubling thoughts." She pulled out a couple of bowls and the flask she'd filled with nutrigel. "For now however, let's eat. We'll get to work afterwards."

*****

"Well, that was faster than I expected." Said Ramina as she gazed at the finished loading station. "Your schematics really helped. I've never seen anything this comprehensive."

"Thanks." That was the whole point of them of course, but she didn't need to know that. "I think we should stop here for today." She frowned. "I need to get on with that little hunt."

And spend some time away from Cia. Not that she technically could, they both lived in the same hardware, but...well, she was based on human neural pathways.

Point was, she needed to thingk. To clear her head.

Going out and blasting some abominations threatening her squishies would help.

"Yeah. I wouldn't want to take all of your time either."

Sapphiria smiled.

"Don't worry. It was...interesting. Next time, we'll start the construction of the workshop for the snowpiercer, and then go over the schematics before we begin building it."

"I'll bring my drafting tools!"

The AI chuckled.

"Sure."

*****

Paul was waiting for her at the outpost, and Sapphiria grimaced as she saw the bandages on the top of his head.

"Recovering well?" She vaguely remembered spraying him with wound sealant at the end of the battle.

"Yeah. Helmet caught the worst of it. Head wounds just bleed a lot." He grimaced. "I'd have said 'you should see the other guy', but that would be..."

"Flippant?"

"Yeah. We lost a good people that night."

"I'm sorry..."

"Don't be. If it wasn't for you, we'd have lost everyone." He adjusted the straps of his backpack. "Ready to head out?" He looked at the tunnel. "Not getting accompanied by golems today?"

She'd studiously avoided Cia today, and she wasn't about to change the fabricator schedule again. Besides...

"Oh yes, I am." She snapped her fingers, and two of the riot bots she'd assigned to the outpost moved to flank her. "But I have a feeling I'm not going to need ranged power this time."

"A solid frontline is always useful." He nodded wisely.

"Exactly. Which reminds me." She reached onto her back, and unclamped one of the carbines there, tossing it to him. "There. You wanted one, didn't you?"

He smiled, grabbing it.

"Yep! Though, I'd rather have the time to train with it."

"You don't have to use it now." She handed over a belt. It was actually the one she'd recovered from one of the first Bane she'd killed. Just modified to have magazine pouches and, well, fit a human and not a skeleton. "But just in case you do, it would be better if you were able to reload."

"Thanks." He grab the belt, and quickly put it on. Technically, it should really be called a bandolier, but Sapphiria always pictured the ones going across the torso when the word came up. "Let's hope I won't need to use it."

"Why? Our goal is to cull these things. We want to find monsters."

He gestured at her plasma gun.

"Yeah, but you tend to have a better draw than mine, and I'd rather we didn't have to fight something that would eat a full helping of that and keep going. I don't think I'd be able to do much to it."

"Well, it's better than swinging a sword at it."

"Unless you have a starblade, or any enchanted weapons really, but yeah, I take your point."

Starblade? Sapphiria's ears prickled, and she filed it for later.

"Don't the Bane have enchanted weapons?"

"Yeah, but we don't have the mana to use them. Also you need to modify them to use for the living. We don't all have our own mana supply."

So their weapons did run off of whatever was powering the undead themselves. Interesting.

Very interesting. Was that a security measure or...or did they have the same problem she did? That the Federation as a whole had. Needing androids or power armor to lug around the reactor and energy systems for your weapons.

"Fair enough." She quickly ran a system check on all of her systems and the riot bots. All green. They'd been recharged from the battery at the outpost, one of the heating ones, though it still produced a fair amount of juice. That was...a good use for it, honestly. Given that its heat was a constant and you didn't really save anything by converting it to electricity, at least not if your power needs were met, it was better used to forces outside and saving the conventional fuel sources for houses and such. "Let's move."

"Follow me."

He jogged off into the woods, and the guards in the outpost, that until then had been hanging off on the fringes, trying very hard to look like they weren't eavesdropping, cheered.

Sapphiria smiled as she raised her hand, waving at them, and the cheering redoubled.

Just because it was her duty to help the squishies didn't mean she didn't like the appreciation.

So long as they didn't make her listen to speeches or drag her through endless ceremonies. Ugh.

"You know, we probably have should have the golems in front." She called out, and he chuckled.

"We will in a few minutes. Right now though I'd like to take point and find some tracks."

"I suppose that makes sense." She hesitated, then voiced her thoughts. "Do magehunters...often have to hunt people in the wilderness?"

Hunting people. Damn, what an uncomfortable thought. She knew it was sometimes necessary, someone had to track down murderers, but she didn't envy the Gendarmerie or Fleet Security that job.

Or the bloodhounds. But rule one of the bloodhounds is that you didn't dwell on why the Federation had made androids dedicated to killing squishies.

"It's pretty common, especially in a Convergence. Best place to hide, especially if you're a mage. Unless you really have resources. Or important friends."

There was bitterness in that last sentence. Sapphiria opened her mouth, hesitated, and then finally spoke.

"I imagine that's what happened with Ramina?"

It was openly fishing, true, but there weren't many other possibilities.

She saw him tense up. Damn, too soon.

But after a second he relaxed, sighing, and answered.

"In a way. I simply didn't understand what I was hunting."

Well that was fucking ominous.

"I imagine the briefing wasn't that thorough."

He snorted.

"And then some. But it never is. Really should have dug deeper." He hesitated. "Then again, maybe not. I might have succeeded then, and Gregor would have taken my head off."

Why would Gregor care? He'd have just freed her and-

Sapphiria stopped.

He turned towards her.

"Everything alright?" Asked the magehunter.

"You weren't going to arrest her. You were going to kill her. This was a hunter-killer mission."

There was a short silence, and he gave her a curt nod.

Sweet stars, what the fuck had Ramina done?!?

And who had she trusted with her technology and some of her knowledge?