Book of Hours

The Second Hour

The sound of the outside rings throughout the entire room, and she felt to room grow smaller the more she watches them.  She knew naught the location of the children, and knew less of the will that was mechanized, and superiority to her human flesh. Even with the combined power of her and the Princess, she is no match for the dog fight that awaits her outside the blast doors.  She was safe, for now, and wanted to know the faith of the innocent. If anything were to befall them, she would never forgive herself, and the world would never be whole ever again.  Without humanity, the earth is nothing but the empty space which surrounds her.  She had to find them, and anyone else who survived the massacre. She felt the tears, but fought her sadness, so much life has been lost, and she was a witness to the war that raged against all life. As oblivion sang in her ears, and the darkness began to envelop her, she heard a cry come from the other side of the room.

"Hello?," she moved cautiously toward the sound," It's me, Kress, I am unarmed, please, who's there?"

"Kress," she heard a weak voice under the rubble, as she pushed it aside she realized the person under the rubble was none other than Vega herself.

"You, you monster!" she felt a surge of power, and a will to harm, yet did her best to stay composed.

"Please, I need medical attention, Kress, I'm sorry for everything but you must understand, what I did was for-"

Kress willed the air to leave her, starving her of oxygen, as she pinned her against the floor. The walls creaked, and cried, as the room expanded and contracted. Kress never felt such power, she never knew what magic she had till this very moment, and she soon became drunk and mad with power.

"You should've died with the rest of them, all this, everything is because of you, your the scum of the world, the cancerous vile that taints all living creatures with your agenda of evil."

"Kress-," Vega spoke, trying to breath a breath that will never come,"I know how to deactivate the android."

Releasing her hold, she gasped, and coughed from the straining of her vocal cords. She stood slowly, and met Kress. They stood for a moment, silent, knowing nothing could be said to right all the wrongs done to her by the hands of Vega. But, if ever she could redeem herself it would be at this very moment.

"Speak, or be killed"

"The android is linked to the central computer, it can extract any data held in the mainframe, I believe the contact you had with the machine some how triggered it's original programming "

"What do you mean?"

"The AI was the love child of two griefing parents,  and in their grief they coded the soul of the child inside the machine, making it the reincarnation of the deathly one"

She looked at her for a moment, lost in a maze of information, how is it a metal monster infused  with the soul of an innocent? What would drive it to slaughter thousands? What good comes from this? Is it an instrument of peace or an engine for chaos?

"I know what your thinking, and I have no answer for your quarrels, but I do have a theory.  You have to understand as a leader, I had to make decisions that impacted us all in various ways.  The better half of us aren't equipped to handle the burdens of captaincy, and I had to do what was best for my people and her nations."

"What you did was for the best for you and only you, and nobody else. You're a monster."

"I'm a monster for what I did, but we have come so far in such little time because of my misdeeds. I had to insure that the AI used couldn't be duplicated or used against us, so I did the wise thing, and had the two scientists executed and expunged from history for the sake of national security." 

I was nauseated, my stomach turned, and my body was revolted by the woman who stood before her was a, she was a tyrant,  cold-blooded killer and a clinical leader who did as she please, not aware of consequence. She looked away, and took hold of the holoscreen, with a few clicks she showed me a blueprint which was meant to be of highest secrecy. The room filled with light and at the center of it all was a live feed of the android's thoughts and processes.  It flickered as sparked flew out from it, as if it was in a state of turmoil or in a great deal of pain. I could see how it was thinking, and the more we watched the more pain it was in as if it knew we are able to peer into its soul.

The AI was a copy of the child's brain, meaning it still had some unknown innocents, but because of this all the other knowledge she has access to it corrupted the memory bank and made it revolt against her masters. It had learned the fate of her creators and the secret agendas hidden from the people.  Vega knew it was in a blind rage, but she also knows that Vega acted without remorse, without compassion, and void of any human emotion to speak of.  Did this make her a coldhearted woman? Did she act as the keeper of humanity or out of madness?

Does a leader have the ability to do wrong,  just so that it becomes right by some twisted regalia toward favor? Is this justice? Is this peace?

I was shocked, I felt such a hatred, so much angst, and sensed it grow more in intensity the more I pondered. I look at her, wishing she just died with the others.

"Please, understand, I am not a evil person, just a victim of circumstance."

"Tell me how to shut it down, and then I will bring you to justice."

"First I must log on to the systems to-"

"No, don't do anything, I'll do it."

"But if I don't deactivate the countermeasures it can be a problem for all of us, the computer is programmed to arm itself in the event it is not manned. Things will get really ugly, really fast."

"I can handle myself, what do I do about the robot," I said with conviction.

She told me I had to reach the hanger as the war rooms doesn't have the capabilities to shut her down completely but the Angel Barachiel has a generator powerful enough to emit an EMP that could be immobilized, but not destroy it completely.  It can only be destroyed by a second EMP in the War Room, disabling the AI by erasing it from the main computer, but it would come at a cost.  All data collected by the Council would be wiped leaving us to our own vices, and defenseless.      

"It's going to be a window of thirty seconds," she looked into my eyes, and as she did I felt the need for comfort, she is, after all, my mother.

"You can do this, I know you can." she took out her holoscreen, then took my hand placing it in mine.

"This is yours now, Erakim Halmotion" 

We looked at each other and nodded, we had to act before she did, and we took our places amongst the chaos, she opened the doors, and I flew to the ariel bay. Full of hope I will be victorious in our battle, for an enemy I help in it's rise to power, and in the downfall of our society. At the end of the hall, was an Angel, in attack position, as it hovered motionless I fear Vega has lied to me once again. Bracing my self I moved forward, and so did it.  Charging I felt the air around me light up and then a blast of smoke filled the room, it shot, then I fired back.