“Wait, how could something like that be incompatible with anyone? “Shen asked
“It interfered with how our nerves functioned. I was a genome specialist. Expert at breaking down the genetic code. That generation of nanite, once modified to have any draw on the Etheric, damaged our bodies more than it helped. May I please continue?”
“Of course, “Boris responded, tossing a quelling glance at Shen.
“Eventually, I noticed he was meddling with sections of genetics that the group had agreed should remain static. Increasing aggression sometimes, intelligence other times, curiosity, things like that. Also adding recessive genes for far greater size and strength, speed, spacial awareness or reaction time. He was looking for something.”
“I foolishly confronted him alone, as we were lovers at this time. He laughed and admitted what he was doing and asked me how else he was to find the factors for physical perfection? Perfection hadn’t been our goal. Perfection is a myth. But he had hidden from us that which he was truly seeking — a way of finding what created physical perfection. He set no limits on the risks he would take to accomplish this project. I shudder to think how many races we stunted with the methods he used. Not every planet landed on had a single sentient race after all.”
“When I threatened to reveal his actions to the others, he laughed and pulled one of the neural stunners on me. I learned he lied about them. I had never felt such pain before in my existence. Soon enough, I was unconscious. I don’t know how long I was senseless for at this time. Long enough for him to not only put my brain in a box, using a modified method with nanite support, but also put programming locks around me. I was unable to tell them what had happened at this time. ”
“He told them I had requested cryogenic sleep. That I was troubled by some of the changes we’d been making. That using a device he’d made they’d still be able to access my expertise. And since they were able to, they didn’t question him. I was unable to tell them who or what I was when they asked if I… who I had been all they got was that damned riddle. They didn’t even question him. They didn’t want to question him. I realized then, far too late, that CILO was completely mad.”
“So eventually, we came to this planet. Disaster struck as the Etheric generators and the ship failed. I’m still not sure if the rest of the crew would have survived if he had thrown his effort into maintaining the drive for long enough to land safely. What he saw as his mission drove him to instead shield the lab. I suppose I can’t complain too much about that, as it’s only because the lab was shielded that I survived. If CILO had instead tried to maintain power to the engines and failed, I would also have died.”
“He built this safe-hold over a decade of time. It took two years to get the replacement Etheric reactor fully online. Creating that cave, arranging the equipment how he wanted it, all these things took time with the limited resources he had after the crash. On his first excursion exploring the surroundings he encountered a pair of modified humans, what you call Weres. The nanites they had in their bodies were far superior to the ones we were still using. I’m the one who designed the modifications to make them more… determined. I had no choice, but it is still my fault. At that point, I wasn’t just his slave. I was his willing slave.”
“Over the centuries I’d been in the box, I managed to convince myself that he had loved me. I couldn’t see him saving any of the others if they crossed him. I came to enjoy the work, I wasn’t creating monsters, but the wave of the future. The pain I caused them was only a necessary side-effect to the benefit of their race and the galaxy as a whole.”
“It was only after he died, from something he could have stopped so easily, that I realized how mad he had become. Even then, for over a century, I felt superior to Gyada. But a combination of her grief at the loss of her children, and the speed with which she had learned so much of the knowledge I was willing to impart to her cracked through that. It not only enabled me to change but made me want to change.”
“The abilities he planned to give her required that the nanites to have an enormous, and constant Etheric draw. They kept her body young, without the training on how to draw from the Etheric I had received from CILO. Those nanites allowed her to survive without food or water with minimal subconscious nudges from me. They can produce anything her body needs. In time she can learn herself, but she now has food and care enough from those around her.”
“But I was needed to satisfy her mind. I was still restricted in what I could do, but without CILO present to order me to cease and with the available time, she has an education hard to match in the galaxy.”
Boris asked, rather confused, “But how could you teach Gyada things outside your specialty? Why does she not know genetics?”
“For the first, I have access to an enormous database in the components attached to the core of my box. Every scrap of knowledge that the ship gained before and after leaving my home world is at my disposal. For the second, it took me a century to give her a solid grounding in all fields. By that time, I felt genetics had an incredible potential to corrupt an individual as a specialty. The arrogance I had even before he killed who I had been was not something I wanted to inflict on her. I wanted her to avoid the trap I’d fallen in. So I chose to teach her the physical sciences, even though I had little practical knowledge in them. This was a far kinder way to give her a chance at the stars.”
Gyada looked up sharply, “You don’t wish to travel to the stars again?”
The personality responded, “I had my chance. The damage I have done… I owe you, for saving me, any aid I can give your home world. I owe you the stars. But I don’t belong there now. When I have atoned for my wrongs… If I can… Maybe.”
Shen’s eyes narrowed speculatively. “So how can we access that database without your assistance?”
The computer responded, somewhat smugly “You can’t. If I am destroyed, or made incapable, there are measures in place that would compromise the accuracy of the database. Although I didn’t set them up, there is nothing I can do to neutralize them either. It was CILO’s last resort threat if the others found out about my nature. It is what had me convinced for so long that he did still love me. If I went, so did all the data.”
There was silence in the room as that piece of information settled into the forebrains of Boris’ top people. “Crap,” Paul said, “Bethany Anne is not going to be happy with a partially compliant AI that has information we desperately need.”
“She’ll say that while the information would be undoubtedly useful, we can get by without it. Especially considering how out of date it might be,” Boris suggested.
“That would be possible, although I have been independently expanding theoretical and application basis from my original database. I am willing to provide several prototype designs in exchange for the database I request. Although some may have flaws in real world development, I am sure some will be useful,” the personality responded.
There she was, dangling the carrot. For Boris, it wasn’t what those weapons might be able to do for him, but what they might be able to do for Bethany Anne. He didn’t really want any weapons more destructive than those that were already available on Earth. The pucks were bad enough.
Even if he still wanted a MotherPucker. Just one.