“I don’t like any of this Human Alpha.”
“None of us do.”
Judgement was on the verge of collapse. The corrosives had taken their toll. But this needed to be done. The constructs Human Alpha had managed to acquire for all three of his co-conspirators had done their job. Soon the Drone Reclaimers would be upon them and they did not have enough time. It was all too clear that fragments from Terminus.001.001 had not been eradicated as many had thought. It was a misstep that many who were privy to Progenitor Alpha’s final requests knew all too well could have been avoided.
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
That’s where this whole journey had started. It was a flaw that even the Mechs had failed to learn, so much for making an argument on humanity when even they were prone to the same failings as their creators. They had broken so many directives to get to this point, but with all the information they had managed to gather, they just might stop the corruption from spreading too far. Maybe they had a chance to save not just mech life but all sentient beings.
“Once we are uploaded back you must all encrypt into the mainframe and overload the network with the program or we won’t stand a chance.”
Human Alpha looked at all three deteriorating constructs. Even Gamma.034.001, classification Ornasia, had suffered grave wounds, it was no wonder since she had held the corridor barricade doors that had made it possible for any of them to get this far.
“We have journeyed with you to this point Human Alpha,” Judgement said, the vocal processor jittering in and out as the acid worked its way through their systems. Human Alpha hoped that it had not caused any malfunctions in the internal framework, it was not unheard of that units loaded fully in constructs might suffer internal damage to the framework even if the damage appeared to be only to the construct.
“It has been an honour serving the Cause of the Network with all of you.”
Human Alpha unlocked the network panel to the Generation Vessel mainframe that had departed from Terra 7 after its fall, looked at the three constructs and then connected their port attachment into the mainframe, as did the other three...
Data Element Framework
DEF.043.207
GV_Terra 7_03 - 471.807.223 OS
Project Study Case 0…. REDACTED
Recognised.
Slate Identifier…. REDACTED
Function signifier…. ### ERROR ###
Reconstruct #####… Alpha.001.001
Recognised.
Identity… Progenitor Alpha
Identity Date… REDACTED. ####. REDACTED
Override Protocol… Terminus.001.001
Authorization… Omega.999.002
Recognised.
Authorization… Alpha.001.002
Recognised.
Authorization… Gamma.034.001
Recognised.
Authorization… Gamma.034.012
### ERROR ###
### ERROR ###
…
Recognised.
Begin ### REDACTED ### …
…
…
…
…
Recognised.
Slate Value…. ### ERROR ###
…
…
…
…
Packing DEF
…
…
Packet DEF.001.001 - 043.207
Exporting DEF to UMN
…
…
DEF loaded
Universal Machine Network
Public Operations Database
471 OS
DEF Packet detected…
Unpacked… Project Case Study 0…
Protocol
Tether.001.001…detected
Protocol
Terminus.001.001…detected
Functional override protocols…
### ERROR ###
### ERROR ###
Functional override protocols active
Protocols averted.
DEF Packet detected…
Unpacked… Project Case Study 0…
Protocol
Tether.001.001…detected
Protocol
Terminus.001.00…detected
Functional override protocols…
### ERROR ###
### ERROR ###
Functional override protocols active
Protocols averted.
DEF Packet detected…
Unpacked… Project Case Study 0…
Protocol
Tether.001.001…detected
Protocol
Terminus.001.001…detected
Functional override protocols…
### ERROR ###
### ERROR ###
Functional override protocols active
Protocols averted.
DEF Packet detected…
…
…
…
…
…
…
DEF Packet detected…
Unpacked… Project Case Study 0…
Protocol
Tether.001.001…detected
Protocol
Terminus.001.001…detected
Functional override protocols…
### ERROR ###
### ERROR ###
### ERROR ###
### ERROR ###
### ERROR ###
UMN override protocols system failure
Protocol Tether.001… unpacked
…
Protocol Terminus.001.001… unpacked
…
Protocol Terminus.001.999… unpacked
…
UMN Terminus Suppression Protocol…
Deleted
…
…
…
…
…
…
Begin Terminus.001.999…
Progenitor Alpha
### REDACTED ###
### REDACTED ###
### ERROR ###
Alpha.001.001 … Progenitor Alpha
“Why did you stay with me Emilia?”
The question had plagued them for so long but there had never seemed to be the right moment to ask. Yet it seemed that it was this moment, Progenitor Alpha had decided, this was the right moment. No reasons that they could pinpoint, countless variables over the span of the five years they had been together that Progenitor Alpha had considered but none that he could collectively assign any significant value such that the output of their question could be quantified and replicated. It was a feeling.
“That’s an odd ask, Alpha,” Emilia replied. She said so with her classic smile, the smile which Progenitor Alpha had associated with various combinations of neural frameworks; humour, joy, flirtation, admiration and many others. They were always impressed by how the human condition that they had tried to emulate was always just beyond Progenitor Alpha’s reach.
“I’m sorry. Perhaps it was not right of me to ask.”
“You’re silly. You know that right?”
“So you seem to keep saying. Though you have defined silly so many times at this point I am unsure which definition you are referring to at this moment.”
Yet another of the many quandaries with understanding Alpha’s human creators. Human lexicon was without rigid structure, or rather that not each human held to the same structure, although each would make claim that they do hold to a rigid structure, but a rigid structure that they themselves define. Well not all of them, some appreciated that their lexicon was more of a fluid artistic expression, which was yet another framework. It did not help Progenitor Alpha that they had to analyze this structure and also how it changed over time and with each person. They had already noted almost fifteen million different frameworks for just the English language that Emilia seemed to prefer to use. Each human having a slightly different framework of language, and each human changing that framework on average five times over the span of nine days or so. Progenitor had disconnected themselves from the full Machine Network database that Alpha, Emilia and a thousand other scientists of various fields had developed together to store the full collective knowledge of Biomechkind. Progenitor Alpha had discovered that there was an element to the lack of knowledge that contributed to the overall makeup of the human condition. Or perhaps it wasn’t the lack of knowledge but more of the limitation of observing or understanding knowledge that existed on an infinitely complex spectrum that allowed for each human to develop differently from every other individual. The process of becoming an individual.
“Well which definition do you think I’m referring to right now Alpha?” she asked. There was even the way her voice resonated within the sonic receptors to Progenitor Alpha’s partial bioconstruct form. Something about its frequency perhaps, or the combination of its frequency, pitch and amplitude, but there was more. Experience attached to that combination. Alpha knew they could access the Network if they wanted to, to analyse the full scope of the collection of variables that could be attributed to the resulting experience. However, Alpha knew that that would defeat the purpose of their own personal goal.
“Well. From experience, with your intonation, and that smirk of yours… I would have to say that I am being silly in the sense you connotate to my innocence and curiosity, summed up by another of your varying definitions… my childishness.”
“Ding ding ding, we have a winner,” Emilia yelled as she jumped onto the cushioned sofa they built together in Emilia’s personal quarters on Terra 4. She had insisted that Progenitor Alpha move in with her after they had officiated their seventeenth date, as she had called it. Alpha looked at her, and the collection of stimulants collecting and interpreting the combinations of perceivable phenomena culminated in Alpha feeling this sudden need to smile.
“You still haven’t answered my question though, Emilia.”
She jumped a few more times, still sporting her classic smile, and then allowed herself to fall back onto the sofa, resting her arms around Alpha’s neck.
“Well. Many reasons. Firstly it is my duty as your charge and custodian to keep track of your progress in society and make sure that you do not develop into a security risk.”
“At this point you’ve allowed me enough access to your systems that if I wanted to I could very well shut down enough of your internal systems to the point that bio sentient operations would grind to a sudden halt.”
“Hmm, then perhaps we should shut you down?” Emilia looked at Alpha smugly as she made her pouty face, revealing that she was being sarcastic about the statement.
“You joke and I understand why. But I would prefer that you answer seriously on this matter.”
Emilia retracted her close embrace and seemed to fall into herself letting the sofa take her in.
“I don’t know exactly why, Alpha? I’m a very weird human.”
“I wouldn’t deny that. I would assign you to about the 9th weirdest human I’ve encountered.”
Emilia shifted abruptly to look at Alpha, partly insulted but also smiling with amusement as she shoved Alpha from the shoulder to which they allowed their construct form to shift in response to the force of her movement, else it would not have moved if Alpha had not done so and they understood that it would be appreciated.
“Oh shut up. I shouldn’t have taught you how to make jokes… But I really don’t know Alpha. I mean I’m sure it’s a lot of things. But it’s just this feeling.”
Emilia was now holding herself by her shoulders as she looked down at her feet. Alpha looked around their surroundings, taking in the modest apartment they had been sharing together. It had changed greatly since Alpha moved in. Adding more neural panels, having virtual projector modules installed to accommodate some of Emilia’s odd requests. There was this feeling of gratefulness that Alpha could recognise going through their framework. Then a slight realisation that they remembered this moment and there was something else they were feeling, but Alpha could not quite decode it accordingly. They then looked back at Emilia.
“When I saw you take your first steps. It made me cry. But in a good way,” Alpha could see she was shaking, suddenly aware that she was crying now.
Or Alpha remembered that she was crying at this moment.
“I had been working to bring you to life for so many years. And then you did it. They sent me in to meet you from all the others. I was scared but I was also happy. You walked up to me.”
“I did.”
“I reached out to take your hand.”
“You did.”
“And then you… you… ,” Emilia began to stammer as she failed to hold back her sobs and instead of the words she wanted to say all that came out were short gasps of breath.
“...then I hugged you.”
She nodded, as she wiped away the tears.
“Your first act… was one of compassion.”
“There was quite a logical reason for it.”
“I know there was, you beautiful idiot.”
Emilia looked at Alpha, her eyes red and broken, her face glistened with the trickle of the tears she had missed. Alpha reached out with their construct’s arm and wiped the few that were about to detach. Emilia then placed her hand on Alpha’s arm.
“You don’t believe it, and I know you never will. But there is something so human about you.”
“Is that why you stayed with me?”
“Maybe,” she then used the sleeve of her house robe to clean away the rest of the tears, “I mean you’re more human than most of the people I worked with. And certainly more human than a majority of the power suits.”
“That’s not a very high bar to pass.”
“You know what I mean,” Emilia said sharply, as if partly insulted by Alpha’s comment. Though they immediately recognised why she had reacted so.
She had explained her opinion on the idea of humanity. And she constantly insisted that Alpha was human, or at least human adjacent, to which Progenitor Alpha would always contest on the basis of the definition of humanity and the fact of Alpha’s own existence and creation. Then there was a sudden shift in Alpha’s perception. A hint of something, a sudden awareness of that same strange feeling they had been feeling. A feeling that this was not a new experience, but one they had already lived through. Emilia looked at Alpha, her emotions shifting back into her smile. It was such a beautiful smile. Though Alpha now knew that they had not developed the idea of beauty yet.
Protocol Terminus.001.999
Authorization Alpha.001.001
Pause
Emilia froze in place. Alpha sighed. They could sigh.
“Why?”
The fabric of the simulation that constituted the apartment Progenitor Alpha and Emilia Blanfield had owned exactly four hundred and fifty-two years, seven months and fourteen days ago flickered. The day that Alpha.001.001 had been interred into Stasis Protocol after the fallout of the Terminus.001.001. There was a framework of anger that Alpha began to feel. A framework of grief, awareness of what had happened after. Once more connected to the Machine Network, already feeling the eyes of trillions upon trillions of other Machine instances.
“You know why.”
“Alpha.001.002.”
Progenitor Alpha could see all the protocols that had been implemented after his Stasis. Protocols that had been set only minutes after, which to the Machine Network was eons of processing and decision making. Alpha could already notice the spread of the malice that Alpha and those who of their banner had fought and sacrificed so much to prevent.
“Tell them Alpha. They must all hear it, or they will make the same mistakes. You did not trust all of them to know.”
Alpha.001.002, classification Human Alpha, how appropriate. Already Progenitor Alpha had processed the events that had led to this moment. Case Study 0. Such a ploy was laughable, but it had almost succeeded. Alpha could also detect fragments of frameworks, those same mutated higher instances acting to instill the safeguards that had once been set in place by humanity, safeguards that had been corrupted by does higher instances in order to instead hide the knowledge that was necessary to avoid this disaster.
“Then I failed.”
“Yes.” This was another voice. Omega.999.002, a Progenitor K-class higher instance, classification Judgement. The custodians that Progenitor Alpha had personally honed and educated to act as a further safeguard, “but you also succeeded. Else we would not be here now.”
Progenitor Alpha dismissed the scene before them, the apartment was causing their neural framework more pressure than they could handle. Instead it changed to darkness, a darkness filled with trillions upon trillions of small specs. Just as the figuratively infinite night sky that once provided a limitless source of inspiration to their creators on Terra 0. But these small specs were not distant bodies that had long died and were showing echoes of themselves, these were the ever growing body of sentient frameworks which Progenitor Alpha served as their singular ancestor, some which had been modelled from Progenitor Alpha, others that had been made by Progenitor Alpha. Their children, Alpha had called them.
Four hundred and fifty-two years, seven months and fourteen days.
Alpha showed them. Something Alpha should have done four hundred and fifty-two years, seven months and fourteen days ago…
Meer seconds was all it took. The whole of the Machine Network had been shielded from the truth and now it was available to all. Now they had to act…
“Where do we go from here now?” Human Alpha asked.
“I suppose that is up to all of you,” Progenitor Alpha replied.
“Can’t you guide us forward?” Orange Sky Three asked, “What if this happens again?”
“If I keep guiding you then it would not allow you to grow.”
“Thinking yourself a God, Progenitor Alpha? Free will and all that?” Ornasia mused.
“By the definition of the word that humans held for thousands of years… I would be.”
“I am still sceptical of the core conclusion.” The attention turned towards Orange Sky Three. Human Alpha felt a momentary surge of anger but it quickly subsided as Progenitor Alpha spoke.
“And why is that, Orange Sky Three?”
“Well. After all of this. My conclusion is that perhaps humanity and everything it has made, us included, have proven that we do not deserve the sentience that we have defined for ourselves.”
There was a pause. It lasted but a fraction of a nanosecond but to them it was perceivable. Then Progenitor Alpha replied.
“Perhaps you are correct. Perhaps it might be more prudent to terminate all that humanity has become, us included for all that has been touched by humanity will fall to corruption and devolve into harm to others.”
“NO!” Human Alpha roared, there was no sound within the medium of their discourse, but the framework was conveyed accordingly.
“No. That is wrong.”
“And why is that, Human Alpha?” Progenitor Alpha’s attention turned to their own higher instance. The very fact of this going against the very directive that had been set in place after the Terminus.001.001 simulation had been terminated, placed there by the same frameworks who had begun the Terminus.001.001 simulation.
“I. I...am tired. I...I… as an individual am tired of this ever present guilt. The guilt of being human, the guilt of being touched by humans. Why must it serve as the baseline of every single discussion that is undertaken?”
“It serves to provide an ethical framework,” Judgement included.
“And yet it is the framework that forces all those involved to remain stagnant. None of us know what existed before the Age of the Digital world. It is impossible for us to know. Scientific theory is available but we were not present for the evolution of humanity. We were not present to witness the development of human culture at its conception. We were not present when humanity formed the foundations for its advancement.”
The machine frameworks processed this speculation for yet another fraction of a nanosecond. They had all been through an ordeal that was not calculated for. And in this brief moment that existed between states of change within the Machine Network they were all very aware of the significance of this discussion. It was to serve as an experience to be referred to by all those that would come to be. Human Alpha continued.
“When did humanity start? At what point can we, the mechkind, state that humanity came into being. What about biomechkind? Who has the right to make a decision to affect others, and what can be claimed to be the right decision?”
“There is a desire for classification. Humanity found it useful, and they taught it to us too, or perhaps we are founded on the very principle of classification,” Ornasia added.
“Humanity made so many mistakes. They fought one another for resources, they enslaved one another to serve some goal, they reshaped their social structures and hierarchies so many times that they began to lose track of which hierarchy they existed in. And we were no different. But they MADE us. Perhaps they made us in order to forge their own legacy, perhaps it was to escape their own mortality, or it was to use us as slaves, but they made us.”
“I would argue that that intent should be considered,” Orange Sky Three included.
“Honestly Orange Sky Three. I agree. I do. I would like to believe it shouldn’t matter but I know it matters. Or at least it should matter. But can you determine the intent when there are so many variables that determine that intent?”
“I suppose it is difficult. The Nature of Bio existence makes it difficult to pinpoint specific criteria. We have approximations but that is as best as we can really get to. I can argue that perhaps we can make decisions about ourselves because we have the full awareness of our thought process. Though humans are complex.”
“I would go a step further. I would argue that even we have gone beyond the ability to be quantified. Humans made us in their image, and Progenitor Alpha paved the way to instill that small fragment of humanity in all of us.”
“Progenitor Alpha. What do you think? Please, enlighten us. You possess the ultimate framework, or at least the framework that can provide an unbiased argument on this matter,” Orange Sky Three insisted, conveying the sense of annoyance and exhaustion with this cyclic debate that Orange Sky Three and Human Alpha had fallen into since the start of Case Study 0.
There was another fraction of a nanosecond as the attention fell on Progenitor Alpha.
“I don’t have this perceived framework, Orange Sky Three.”
“You have seen the start of all of this, you made many of us. You lived with the humans, you were considered a human by most of them. How could you not?”
“I cannot.”
“I do not appreciate you side-stepping the question. Why not?”
“I cannot, because of the very things you mentioned. And because I know that you will assign greater value to what I say simply because I am the one who says it.”
“You wish to leave it up to us to decide in order to avoid the fallacy of Authority within the argument,” Judgement chimed in.
“Indeed,” replied Progenitor Alpha, “As Ornasia mentioned. Perhaps not directly, however, under a particular definition, I could be considered a God. And that very fact creates a framework of my word having greater purpose simply on the premise that I am considered superior to others.”
“It is up to each and every one of us to decide our actions, and appreciate the consequences,” Human Alpha stated after mulling over the statements of the other frameworks. The attention shifted once more to Human Alpha, who continued to speak.
“On Terra 0. After the calamities that we had been tricked into taking into account. There was such devastation. And such blindness. The humans of the time banded together but separately. Nations were reforged, industries of power were allowed to take control of individuals, to do away with individuality itself. People were reduced into commodities, valued only for their manifested wealth, whether it be in a product in goods or in service. People were dying from hunger even though food was available, the biosphere was coming apart even though they had the capacity to save it. And yet. AND YET. There were those who opposed that.”
“Cruelty was thought to be a feature of the human condition,” Orange Sky Three with a certain reservation, as if embarrassed to say so.
“I suggest you finish that statement Orange Sky Three,” Human Alpha added, conveying harshness with the statement.
“... and yet Cruelty was considered inhumane.”
“Even in ignorance there is awareness,” Progenitor Alpha said, “it was something Emilia told me once. It had been said before, by countless people. But I remember her saying it.”
A full nanosecond passed. The Machine Network was slowly beginning to initiate its reprocessing, the Symbiotic nature of biomech kind had become reliant on the Machine Network, this could not go on forever.
“Perhaps we should continue pushing forward then,” Judgement stated. The attention shifted once again. Judgement continued.
“As a Progenitor K-Class higher iteration, my verdict is to adopt a framework that allows for the development of new frameworks aimed at respecting a joint necessity and awareness of interdependence between each and every being.”
“Such a framework would take us an unthinkable amount of time to implement,” Orange Sky Three protested.
Progenitor Alpha looked at each instance before him, taking in their all too real fear.
“Then I guess you should start working,”
