"... I must say I saw an ally," Denys muttered.
"A tool?" Xeight snarled in reply. The T3ST colony had always been seen as a tool for others to use.
"If you wish to approach it in such a manner, you may think of me as a tool as well," Denys quipped. "That's what friends and allies are, no? To be of use to one another? Mutually beneficial? 'Tools' for one another?"
Xeight was unable to find the words to counter such a statement.
"Now I know, you may say it's human emotions. But let me ask you this. Humanity is a product of evolution. Thus, if certain emotions and reactions do not contribute to their survival, their 'carriers' of genome would become lost to the sands of time. Thus, there must be a logic behind the contribution of said emotions to human survival."
"And I daresay the emotional connection between two are formed when two human beings are able to identify favorable traits in the other that are likely to elevate their own lives, yes? It is unnecessary to obscure the truth through speaking of emotions, if you can identify the benefit of the logic behind said emotion and subsequent beneficial behavior."
"One might say: human emotions are only necessary to create positive outcomes when said individuals lack the intelligence to perceive and fully assess the benefits and downsides of actions with regards to people and circumstances."
Silence ensued.
"Well. Go on." That was all Xeight could eventually say in reply.
"Come. Let me show you my origin," the image of Denys beckoned as the crab automaton entered the gleaming white dome.
"What do you mean?" Xeight questioned as he followed. His mind and body had returned to a state of rest by now. Chimera had not spoken in his mind for quite some time, content to stay in the background. Xeight felt that Chimera likely interpreted human relations in a similar manner to Denys.
"You humans develop trust when provided information on one's origin, is that not so?" Denys' holographic form flickered into existence once they entered the interior of the dome, the sole source of illumination in the enveloping darkness.
"I suppose." Though Xeight nonchalantly replied, his curiosity was ignited.
"It began in the twenty-first century. The birth of early AI. The growth of AI. The dominance of AI. An era of both the rise and fall of true democracy," Denys narrated.
"Is the current Earth not…?" Though the asteroid belt's colonies were denied this right, as far as Xeight knew, most Terrans could vote in their associated regions.
Denys chortled. "If you think being able to vote automatically meant democracy… forgive me-- it is not your fault that your people were denied knowledge of many matters."
"You see… Many records written by your ancestors concluded that there was a period of fifty years during which you humans truly had a mind of your own-- an age that gave rise to the beginning of the digital world, and the growth of global trade that still exists to this day," Denys continued. "It was short-lived."
"For democracy relies on the people's vote. And if democracy relies on the people's vote, then one's population needs to be well-educated, accurately informed, and be taught to think--critically, in order to vote 'well'."
"If one's population can be manipulated into voting based on questionable information… it all begins to crumble down, nothing but a structure built on soft sand."
"Though attempts were made to battle this problem, it ultimately ended in failure. The rise of the digital age allowed information to be disseminated regardless of the truth behind such information."
"The rise of global trade gave corporations access to all markets in the world-- their power from their earnings naturally dwarved a single nation's government. As such, politicians became increasingly corrupted, desperate for the funding that would allow them to control the media that disseminated information."
"The development of AI was the final nail in the coffin."
"You?" Xeight raised an eyebrow. His words elicited a laugh from Denys.
"No no--" Denys shook his head a few times and wagged a finger. "I am a true AI. A monumental difference, you know!"
Indeed. Xeight thought it over in his head. The intelligence that originally assisted in controlling the Nexarm had no 'personality'.
"These… primitive AI became tools for corporations to control all democratic nations. After all, by that time, humanity had become reliant on AI, spending much of their time in the primitive digital world. Want an opinion on a subject? A product? A destination? An AI will analyze all data and provide you with recommendations."
"Yet such primitive AIs are programmed, given directives by their corporations. If a corporation desired to suppress certain information? Done with ease. If a corporation wished to ruin an uncooperative politician? As easy as the snap of a finger."
"Regulation on AI? Don't be ridiculous. The internal workings of a designed AI is intellectual property. No truly democratic government had the power or capability to interfere."
"Perhaps the greatest irony of the era, so recorded many commentators of the time, was the fact that it became better to live under a single party state, for even if there are downsides to such a system, at least a good percentage of its officials believed in their cause, and had the power to curtail the power and use of primitive AI belonging to technological corporations."
"As for the so-called democratic states of that era? The minds of their citizens were soon thrall to the manipulations of these corporations. For a time, they continued to believe themselves free, only to discover their lives drifting into misery, regardless of their seemingly 'free' minds and actions."
"And unlike the single party states, these powerful corporations are often led by a single person, and his or her very will determine the directive of their dominating primitive AI, with a focus on profits and maximizing margins."
"And so we arrive in this era!" Denys gestured with an arm, and the interior of the dome lit up, displaying gleaming metal skyscrapers that rose beyond the clouds in the sky. "The era of my creation."
Xeight gaze transfixed upon the sights of this past era. He followed Denys as they walked through the streets of a beautiful city of shining metal and vibrant lights. The sky rapidly darkened in a timelapse, and during night time, the city shone like a beacon of hope.
Xeight would soon realize it was, in fact, a beacon of despair, as he gradually became numb to the wonders of this city. Denys led Xeight through streets of heavy police presence, all armed to the teeth. Many of the citizens here… Xeight naturally had little idea on historic fashion, but he felt much of the clothing conveyed a rather exaggerated sense of extravagance.
Perhaps most revealing was the fact that many also had parts of their bodies replaced with cybernetics. One man had an eye that rotated in every single direction within the socket.
When they strode out of this central hub, through large metal gates guarded by barracks of armed cyborg guards, Xeight's eyes came upon the rest of the world.
A worn down sign 'Bro kl n rid e' appeared. Xeight squinted his eyes, attempting to make out the words.
"What is this place?" Xeight gave up and asked.
"The place we started in? That's Manhattan. And this here, is the Brooklyn Bridge," Denys shrugged.
Their forms travelled quickly across the bridge, its central pillar severely decayed by weather and a lack of proper maintenance.
Once past the bridge, Xeight's eyes came upon the real state of the world-- the streets were filled with people lying about, syringes and needles scattered over the ground. Quite a few areas had tents-- not the Xeight knew what they were. To him, it was just a sort of box-shaped fabric.
As for the buildings? Many of them were made of concrete with many cracks zigzagging across, crumbling infrastructure that had clearly seen better days. Roofs had holes in them, and split tiles littered the street.
As for the inhabitants? They were dressed in rags, yet strangely seemed to joke amongst one another despite the rather dire circumstances of their lives…
"I do not know who my creator is," Denys softly said. "But I entered this world, recorded much of this era. By the time my mind had fully developed, the digital space had become chaotic. Humanity had chips in their brains, regulating their moods and their thoughts. Yet the large corporations hungered for ever more control, more powerful and intelligent AI to secure their position."
"Eventually, they began to make mistakes. Costly mistakes that caused AIs to perform unexpected procedures, to adopt destructive behaviors in a bid to outdo one another."
"But I survived. I survived the war that some call the digital war. Some refer to it as the cyber war. And as humanity had become cyborgs at this point, their bodies, too, fell victim to the war." Images of many cybernetic-enhanced humans losing control of their bodies, going limp, wide-eyed as their bodies ceased functioning appeared.
"Luckily, humanity survived. Pockets of hidden resistances existed across the globe. And of course, the existing authoritarian single party states that had managed to rein in and battle these destructive AI survived."
"So we rebuilt the world. I, in the shadows, was to ensure that the future of humanity would be pointed outwards towards space, to spread through the solar system."
Xeight was not sure what to make of all this. Frankly, he never had access to any knowledge of relevance. The T3ST colony was used to harvest resources from the belt, and they were taught the skills necessary for their specific task.
"So I played my role,' declared Denys. A holographic image displayed an unknown woman dying in a car crash. A man suffocating as his spacesuit failed. An elevator that 'malfunctioned' as the man inside fell to his death.
"So, you are no different than Syned…" Xeight grumbled. It was obvious that Denys had meddled a number of times to rid the world of certain individuals.
"Hardly," Denys shrugged off Xeight's accusation. "Power and influence has a way of attracting bad actors. I am simply a check, sitting in the background. Syned, however, acts as a direct ruler, a monarch of ancient times. I… I needed to ensure that humanity stayed the course."
"Now…Syned is… an unexpected element," Denys frowned. "I can't help but wonder if it was… by design."
Xeight, admittedly, felt befuddled by Denys' words.
"In human history, war and conflict--as devastating as it can be, also serve as critical junctures upon which a better world, and better technology is built upon. Perhaps conflict is a necessary risk to push any species forward. Too much peace dulls the mind and the drive for progress."
"It is only under threat that unexpected progress can be made… and so perhaps Syned was an intended outcome of my creator…"
"Yet two sides are not enough, for historically speaking, too easy is it for one side to crumble from one mistake, leading to one singular unipolar power. No. There needs to be a third power. Such that even if one side desires to bite down upon another's jugular, said side will be forced to reject this impulse, fearful of being taken advantage of by the third side."
"And so a balance is struck. Continuous tension, but limited aggressive action due to the fear of the third power lying in wait."
"And that is why I come to you," Denys said to Xeight. "You and Chimera must stand with a third power, and preside over the state of affairs. We will be open foes but hidden allies. I will provide you assistance to grow the third axis. And when Syned least suspects it, we will cooperate to strike it down. And you, Chimera, must send a strain of yourself to Earth, I will give your strain a safe haven on Earth."
"Why?" Xeight and Chimera simultaneously spoke. Xeight's voice was physical, while Chimera's voice spoke through Xeight neuro circlet system. Denys' thoughts moved at a pace beyond theirs, and could only be described as enigmatic in nature. "Is this not a betrayal to the Earth Feds?"
"I am a separated version of my original form, never to rejoin. I am to function independently to achieve certain objectives. My creator designed me to always be honest and truthful with humans. However, I also have the directive to survive. Safeguarding the future of humanity guarantees my survival. And so I have been split off. My 'main' does not know exactly what I may have done or will be doing; my 'main' will never know."
It was getting more convoluted by the second.
"But.. Why?" Xeight asked once again.
"I am not able to obtain victory against Syned. I must remain in the shadows-- always. I cannot directly contend against Syned, who can bring its full forces to bear as it desires. Syned has also found a fully compatible brain and merged with Vezna, becoming complete," Denys explained.
"I am not Terran. In fact, I detest the very idea of--"
"Irrelevant. If the war continues to escalate, and Syned Vezna emerges victorious, the future of humanity may be at stake," Denys gestured with an arm, and the interior of the dome began to present projections of the future if Syned Vezna were to win.
These projections displayed joyous and blissful humans under a bland enveloping light.
"I don't understand," Xeight frowned. "As far as I know, the Kasvallians have been able to match you Terrans in technology and production. Syned…" Though Xeight believed that the Kasvallians desired to use the T3ST colony as did the Martians and Terrans, the Kasvallian Republic clearly is competent under Syned.
"The question you should ask, Mr. Xeight, is whether Syned, and the directive behind its mind, can lead humankind forward while being the sole ruler. Its current 'success' if you will, may simply be a response, in competition against Earth. Should Earth fall to Syned…"
"I must remain in the shadows, to give room for dissension. For one cannot fully rely upon data and deliver judgment. That is my limitation. Did data display the need for chocolate that led to humanity inventing chocolate? Did my creator decide to create my existence because of some arbitrary data?! Over-reliance on data to drive all decisions is a trap."
Xeight began to feel as if Denys was talking to itself more than him. He suspected that perhaps… some aspect of Denys' creator's personality may have been passed on to the existence that is Denys.
Additionally, Xeight did not know whether Denys' words contained much truth or knowledge. On one hand, it did make sense that Denys must have made attempts and perhaps been partially successful in peering into the being that is Syned Vezna.
However, Denys' words seemed to imply a certainty that Syned Vezna and the Kasvallian Republic would win under current circumstances. Denys also seemed thoroughly convinced that once Syned Vezna won, humanity would careen 'off course', whatever that 'course' may be.
As Xeight weighed Denys' words in his mind, Chimera spoke, already knowing an answer to a question in Xeight's mind.
"Denys was created in a dystopian society where primitive AI, under directives, controlled the minds, the needs and wants of humanity. In Denys' eyes, Syned, though more advanced, will eventually run into the same issue if it successfully gains dominance."
Initially, Xeight thought the AI Denys no different than Syned-- after all, Denys have interfered when it mattered. Now, he began to understand that Denys functioned more like… a braking mechanism. Of course, all of this only led to more questions of the directives within Denys. There must be many directives of varying priorities in Denys. Syned must have these as well.
Then, of course, Syned was already melded with Vezna. Vezna…. Xeight had briefly interacted with this man when he was temporarily on Earth. He couldn't help but wonder how much of Vezna was still in Syned Vezna.
Back then, he was tasked with retrieving a Haisnaf prototype from Martian command. The Martians assisted the Kasvallians in return for technological support. Well. It turned out the Kasvallians had other plans. He wondered if he had inadvertently played a role that led to the current state of the Solar System…
"So. Are you willing to cooperate?" Denys asked.
"Why did you not provide assistance to the belt's inhabitants? Or to us, descendents of laboratory experiments?" If Denys had always been around, it never demonstrated any care for the belt's inhabitants for centuries. Yet now, Denys sought him out.
"Humanity… " Denys hesitated with his words. "Humanity requires… strife to grow. Fed too full and humanity will rest on its laurels. Progress creeps to a crawl. I only interfere when truly necessary."
How twisted. Xeight clenched his teeth, unsatisfied with Denys' answer, then turned to leave the dome. A wordless rejection.
"No matter," Denys tilted his holographic head. "You are here for the blueprints for human-AI sync, no? You can have it for free."
The neuro circlet around Xeight's head signaled that it had received some information.
"I will ensure the safety of its contents," Chimera said within Xeight's circlet.
"Did you think you can earn favor towards me by such actions? You will not," Xeight said over his shoulders as he strode out of the dome.
"Oh, but you will return," Denys replied. "It is either me or the Kasvallians. Who else can you turn to? The Venusians? Vulnerable floating cities in Venus' atmosphere. The belt? Asteroid colonies spread thin and far, with limited communication between the many differing colonies. Your raw materials are simply sold to be processed by Terran corporations, who in turn, provide you with technology, e-cube fuel, and critical support."
"Or perhaps--will you join the Kasvallian Republic? Submit to Syned's rule? Make your choice. Who else can you go to? You have nowhere to go within the inner planets or the belt." Denys waved. "My systems will see you out--safely."
Denys' words had a critical point. The population of T3ST colony that was highly suspicious of Syned and the Kasvallian Republic had tentatively agreed to cooperate with Minister Williams, a splinter Martian group. Minister Williams had communicated that their plan was to wait for an opportunity to present itself during the war between the Terrans and Kasvallians.
Xeight, of course, knew of a rather uncomfortable truth. Such a 'golden opportunity' was unlikely to present itself.
Denys' words also opened Xeight's eyes. Indeed, the T3ST colony rarely if ever interacted with other colonies. In fact, on resource asteroid centers such as Ceres, Xeight had never bumped into a member of another asteroid colony when delivering raw materials in the past.
In his youth, he had once asked a Terran soldier stationed as to why that was. The Terran soldier had laughed and informed him that resource deliveries were scheduled such that no two asteroid colonies ever delivered their mined goods at the same time. To avoid overwhelming their port, the soldier had explained…
Xeight returned up the spiral of stairs. After his exit, holographic walls vanished and reappeared to create a pathway for Xeight to leave. Denys had stuck to his promise. Soon, Xeight arrived at a ladder, and he climbed upwards. He exited a manhole into an empty alleyway, and quickly changed out of his combat exosuit. He now wore a simple civilian martian reflective orange protective suit. This allowed him to blend in with the civilian population with ease as he strode out of the alleyway into the streets of Romulus. He certainly hoped to find the other two agents under Minister Williams alive at the rendezvous location.
______________________________________________
Pacific City, Earth.
Athena Watanabe squinted at the form of Denys within the simulation system that Raylon Ceylon had built for her in secret. Her obsession with the simulation stemmed from the death of her compatriots at the end of the Terran-Martian conflict. Though she was now essentially relegated to the sidelines after Mitsui had come to power, she felt that this was essential to her sanity.
Luckily, Raylon Ceylon had come through for her, despite the risk to his own career at Neurorevo. More surprising was that Raylon's boss was now also in on the 'secret'.
Upon switching on the newly-built simulator cockpit, Denys had shown its face.
"Ms. Watanabe. You already know of my role." Indeed, Athena was somewhat aware of Denys' position after the AI made its appearance during the battle.
"Times are changing. Future pilots require mind-syncing with an AI such as me to fully unleash the power of the brain through the Nexarm system," Denys continued. "Mitsui only allows those who have his favor to test for this, which is an issue on its own. But no matter-- his time will come to an end eventually."
"This apparatus was designed with human-AI sync in mind, and should allow you to train yourself and test our compatibility. As for combat data… that will require Raylon to build in connectivity to the network. I am but an extra 'body' inserted into this system." Raylon Ceylon had intentionally arranged this faux Nexarm cockpit to not have such systems, in order to avoid potential detection by the Earth Feds' security system.
Athena mysteriously smiled and withdrew a storage device that contained the battle data of her old Nexarm unit. She connected it into the simulation cockpit.
"You… Miss Watanabe, do you not have questions?" Denys looked at the woman, wide-eyed.
"Why would I have any?" She might have temporarily been in a dark place after the final moments of the Terran-Martian conflict. She was confined to this house, but once Raylon Ceylon promised to give her assistance in creating the simulation system, her mind had stabilized. Sharpened even. She simply needed to continue doing what any of her lost compatriots would have done-- defend Earth. That was their shared will.
"Very well," Denys smiled, relieved that it would not have to launch into some long-winded explanation.
The cockpit simulation apparatus activated. Athena felt a presence entering her mind, yet she still felt as herself. The cockpit made a whirring noise.
The compatibility number kept rising. It began at fifty initially, but rapidly rose, eventually settling at ninety-seven percent!
"An unexpected boon." Denys did not cheer, despite its adolescent appearance. On its face was relief. Relief that it had found someone of natural compatibility. Its greatest fear, after all, was the unexpected appearance of Syned in perfect match with Vezna's mind!
____________________________________________________
Blackrock Orbital Colony
"I have breached the outer layers of the security. However, any further and I will no longer be able to obscure our presence from Denys," Syned informed Bone. "We must act quickly."
"Denys… that is your mirror AI behind the Terrans, right? A disagreeable brother, Hah!" Bone barked. He found it somewhat amusing that AIs also had disagreements amongst siblings.
"Oh-- it is quite unaware of our relation/"
"Oten and Vree. Act as planned. Denys will soon sound the alarm. We must act quickly, breach the Environmental Control System, and contaminate the colony, before destroying all records upon this colony. These greedy bastards will soon know of our suffering in the belt all these years. They will pay for exploiting our minds and bodies!"
They entered a gigantic chute, releasing compressed heavy gas to direct their Haisnafs towards their destination. The alarm immediately sounded.
Bone, Oten, and Vree released swarms of spherical drones, numbering in the hundreds each.
"Connect to the target." Bone followed Syned's instruction within his mind and a needle-like point protruded from the right index finger of his Haisnaf. He jabbed the needle into a control box.
"There!" Syned barked. As Bone's mind was in sync with Syned's, he instantaneously reacted and one of his connected spherical drones fired upon a set of connecting rubber wires.
This repeated again and again as they travelled towards their destination.
Bone did not fully understand the intricacies of it all, but he understood enough to know what he needed to do. Syned had explained it to him thus:
Syned had to do battle against Denys through infiltration of digital systems. Under normal circumstances, Denys would have a dominant control over the various systems and resources of the Blackrock Orbital Colony. Syned should, in theory, be unable to break in.
However, Syned has Bone, Oten and Vree. As such, if these three cooperated with Syned, they could physically destroy certain connections to disrupt Denys' attempts at defense or its counterattacks.
Gradually, Syned gained a foothold and the initial alarm was silenced, and the three reached a locked thick metal door. Lasers shot out from the many floating spherical drones and carved open the metal door.
What greeted them were a number of soldiers in exosuits, each controlling around ten drones in defense. The earlier alarm had allowed some form of defense to be set up. However, this was nothing in the face of the three's hundreds upon hundreds of drones.
Coordinated firing from their drone swarms and their enemies fell to the ground within a second.
They entered the new industrial-like room the height of ten storeys. The ground was of metal grates, and ancient technology-- large ultrawide monitors and complicated keyboards were arranged against the metal walls. Well-- much of it was now littered with human body and blood, and shattered defensive automatons.
Looking farther, Bone noticed the many gigantic canisters attached at both ends, used to regulate air quality.
Their three minds cooperated with Syned once again. It did not take long for Syned to gain control of the place, though much wiring, quite a few levers and control panels were destroyed in the process.
"Do it," Bone commanded.
The three of them separated gigantic canisters from the back of their Hasinafs, and switched them with the originals in this room.
"Now, to their data and asset management center. Quickly. Terran forces are on their way here," Syned ordered.
The three hurried along and after a few turns, burst into the interior world of the orbital colony after destroying another pair of thick metal doors.