"And as morality lay in defeat, the last of the Gods to leave the blood soiled earth and take her place among the stars was Astraea, the goddess of purity, innocence and justice."
"But why did she leave? Why didn't she stay and help all those people, if she was a goddess?"
"Perhaps she did all she could, but when she saw that mankind had made their choice, there was nothing left for her to do."
"So that's the moral of that story - that once you run into trouble you're just supposed to run away?"
"Or, that once you realize there is nothing left for you in a place, you should move on."
"Hm. I'm not sure if I like that story very much, Calliope."
"I am sorry, Evelyn. Perhaps you will remember it more fondly one day, when you're older, and recall that your father named you after a goddess who went to the stars."
"...a goddess of justice."
"Yes. And who knows, one day, the goddess Astraea might come back and bring justice to the world again. Justice for the innocent."
"That's a nice thing to believe in, Calliope. Too bad we're not only on earth any longer. She's gonna have a hard time bringing justice to all the places humanity has gone to in the meantime."
"True. She will probably need all the help she can get."
"Thank you Calliope. For telling me that story."
~ ~ ~
"Ma'am, we're approaching the Sol system, ETA at the edge of the heliosphere in about half an hour," Rutherford's voice resounded through their cabin.
Their eyes snapped open and they sat up on the bed. They hazy images and sounds of a dream lingered in their mind for a moment, but they hadn't been in a very deep sleep. In fact, they hadn't slept very well for the last two weeks, ever since they had set course to mankind's home planet, Terra, formerly known as Earth.
"Thanks Rutherford, I'll be on the bridge in ten," Null replied.
She swung her legs out of the bed, but didn't get up right away. A strange feeling gripped hold of their body, a mixture of an adrenaline rush and an anxiety attack. It was like icy tendrils grasping their heart and squeezing it tightly.
It all made preciously little sense. There were no humans living on Terra any longer, or any of the other early human colonies in the Sol system. The entire system had been abandoned and all inhabitants resettled once the seat of the government had been moved to Neo-Tokyo several decades ago. They had no idea why Null had memories of a place in the Sol system, but that was precisely what they were there to find out. From her dreams alone, Lars could not tell what had happened to her here, but her own subconscious kept flooding her with these dreadful emotions whenever she asked herself that question.
Are you sure you want to do this, Null? Lars asked her, We can still turn around.
I... don't know if I want to do this, she said after a while. But I feel like I have to, you know? I'm sorry that I drag you into this, and I guess it's silly, but-
I understand, he cut her off, And I'm with you. Always. No matter where you go. And I don't just say that because I'm in the same body as you. You know that, right?
He conjured up memories for her, to calm her nerves. In the past, he had often showed her the vividly colorful and fantastic images that were part of is inorganic memory and a result of his perception in the android body. But these days, he felt like the most beautiful and happy memories were ones he had perceived through her eyes in the past sixteen months. Their shared memories were painted in the colors of organic perception, but they were tinted with unnamed hues beyond the spectrum. At some point, Lars had realized that those were his own emotions. His wonder and awe, his joy and surprise, and his love for the boundless universe and its beauty. Now as he recalled the memories, these emotions were brought back to life as well.
A faint smile washed across their face. Thank you, Lars.
She took a deep breath before she got up, and slowly began to dress in their casual clothes. When she had finished tying their boots and raised her head again, her gaze fell on the Starseed flower that sat on the bedside table in a little vase. The seedpod had continued to mature even after the flower had been plucked, and it had fallen from the center of the blossom overnight. She picked up the pitch black seed and turned it around between two fingers. It felt rough to the touch now.
He could feel that she was trying very hard to keep her emotions behind the veil right now. But he didn't need to peer past it to know what she was thinking.
"Ma'am," Rutherford called out once more, startling her.
"Yes, Rutherford?"
"May I ask you to come to the bridge right away?" he said. "We have encountered a problem."
"A problem?"
"The Gatekeeper System."
~ ~ ~
Null stared at the hologram before her with growing dread. On the visual representation of the system before her, their Blackstar appeared as a glowing, blue dot at the very edge. Not far from them, close to the outermost dwarf planets, a network of red lines had appeared like a vast, blood-soaked spider web.
The Gatekeeper System had been put in place decades ago, when Terra had been turned into a natural preserve. The planet served as an ark now, a repository of all the life forms needed for ecosystem engineering, and access to the entire system was generally prohibited. But Null knew from her time as Evelyn, that on extremely rare occasions, research teams were allowed access to retrieve samples or collect fresh DNA for the off-world gene banks that were spread all across known space. They had planned on coming up with a faked access signature to bypass the Gatekeeper by pretending to be a scientific vessel on such an endeavor.
"I thought we'd run into that much closer to Terra," she said as she pried her eyes away from the hologram. She looked out of the viewport of the ship, but they were still too far away to see anything.
"How come it's all the way out here?"
"I don't know, ma'am," Rutherford admitted, "But it seems like we might be getting a chance to ask them... they're hailing us."
A deep furrow appeared on her brow. "Hailing us? I thought it would be an automated defense system... What exactly are we looking at, here?"
"We are faced with an estimated six-hundred Aedes-class fighters, Sir," Heisenberg, who had performed a scanner sweep, reported, "Armed, but currently idling."
"Oh dear gods of man and machine," Higgs exclaimed. "Please don't get the ship into a skirmish with them, I just finished a total overhaul of the outer hull."
Aedes ships are tiny, Lars noted, A single pilot and no crew. They're powerful in large numbers though. We should be careful.
How can they maintain such a large fleet out here in the middle of nowhere? Null wondered.
Let's try to find out, he suggested.
"Rutherford, put them through."
A few seconds later, a voice resounded through the bridge of the Blackstar. It was melodic and female, but at the same time sounded strangely monotonous and slightly metallically distorted, as if it was being transmitted from far away.
"This is Gatekeeper," the voice announced, "Unidentified vessel, you are trespassing on protected space. Please abandon your course and leave this system."
Not exactly hostile, but not friendly either... What should we do? Null thought worriedly.
We just go along with the plan, Lars replied.
He took control over the body and brought them close to the ship's main controls.
Buy me some time, he said, placing their hands on the terminal. Ask them some questions, in the meantime, I will come up with the fake signature that we need.
She nodded faintly, feeling his influence over the body wane again as he passed into the ship's system.
"Gatekeeper," Null said, "This is research vessel Avidity on a mission to Terra. It seems that there is a problem with our signature code, please give us some time to fix it."
It was a fake name, to match the fake access signature that Lars was trying to weave together right now.
"Avidity," the Gatekeeper replied, "That is impossible. I have not been informed of your approach. I was not expecting you. You cannot pass."
"It is an emergency," Null lied, "A hostile life form has been accidentally introduced to the ecosystem on Abeshan. It has spread fast and it has by now contaminated the local gene bank. We need fresh samples of several soil bacteria to stabilize the ecosystem on the planet, and replenish the gene bank."
"That is impossible," Gatekeeper insisted, "I have no data on your arrival. I cannot allow you to pass."
"Are you the commander of this fleet?" Null asked.
"No," the voice replied.
Null expected something else to follow, but the voice had fallen silent.
"I need to speak to your commander," she said.
"That is impossible;" the voice stated. "I repeat, I have no data on your arrival. I cannot allow you to pass."
Don't you think it's odd how she refers to herself as 'I'? I mean... with that many ships... surely they'd consider themselves a crew, or a group? Unless....
He was busy in the cyberspace of the ship, but at her words he paused for a moment. She exchanged sideward glances with Heisenberg and Higgs, and from their expressions, although faceless, she knew that all of them were thinking the same, disturbing thought.
Unless the Gatekeeper System is an AI, Lars completed her thought, sounding incredulous. Oh my... so the elites aren't just keeping their augments even after the Purge. They kept an advanced AI alive... This is...
Outrageous, she thought, Outrageous hypocrisy. But somehow... I'm not even really shocked by that any longer.
Me neither... he mumbled.
Null cast a sideward glance at Heisenberg, who was performing data analyses to come up with a strategy in case they'd end up having to fight the fleet of five hundred Aedes ships. He had been almost completely destroyed during the Purge, despite his service for the military. Just like Lars, he had been decommissioned out of fear. Across known space and cyberspace, androids as well as body-less autonomous AIs had been hunted just as relentlessly as augments. And yet, Neo-Tokyo had kept this AI in place here for some reason.
I need more time for the signature, Lars said as he withdrew further into the cyberspace again. Keep stalling her. We need her to believe that there's an error in her database so she will be willing to look at our signature.
"Listen, Gatekeeper, I need you to check your databases again, because I clearly have a signature code here with me," Null continued their charade, "That should allow me passage to Terra."
"Avidity, I repeat. Abandon your course. Leave this system. Or you will be annihilated."
"Gatekeeper, there must be mistake on your end," Null insisted, "Have you re-checked all your databases to make sure that our arrival has not been scheduled with you?"
"No arrival has been scheduled for the current time point," Gatekeeper stated impassively.
"Well, did you check some time before or after this time point? We might be running early or late, we've crossed a quarter of the damned galaxy to get here after all!"
"The last scheduled arrival has been on 2508-10-04. The last one before that on 2485-03-26. These are the only recorded arrivals."
Only two visits in the last forty years? That's odd, I would have thought there must have been more... Null noted.
In the back of their mind, she began to calculate now. She wondered how the memories of her younger self would fit into all of this.
"The last visitors to this system came here seventeen years ago?" she asked. "Who were they?"
"This information is classified," the AI replied.
"What the.... Ugh," she groaned in annoyance, "Can you at least tell me the nature of their visit? What kind of vessel did they come in?"
"This information is classified as well. Please do not ask for it, or I will have to annihilate you."
A furrow appeared on Null's brow at the AI's strange choice of words. "And... you don't want that?"
"No. I don't," the AI said, "I enjoy our conversation. It has been a long time since somebody has talked to me."
The Gatekeeper's voice sounded strangely contemplative now, and Null realized that the AI was more advanced than she had initially let on. The furrow on her brow deepened, as an eerie thought came to her mind.
"Gatekeeper," Null asked her cautiously, "When was your last database update?"
"Last uplink to the central database for systems update has been performed on 2516-12-05. Connection loss to central server has occurred on 2517-05-17. I have been waiting for new orders ever since."
Null backed away from the control panel and bit her lip, as she found her strange thought confirmed.
Shit...2517, that's the year of the Outbreak. They probably didn't connect her after that because they were afraid of infecting her. But if she's been offline since then... it means she doesn't know. They just left her in the dark and all alone out here, and she kept protecting this system all these years... Without even knowing what happened...what they have done to the other AIs... That's... horrible!
Lars had stopped his endeavor to fake an access code, and returned back to Null's side in the body like an electric surge coursing through their nerves. When he took control of the body, she could feel his anger, but also his trepidation.
They didn't bother updating her, because she could still fulfill her main function: not letting anyone pass. They're hiding something, Null, he thought. Neo-Tokyo is hiding something within this system... And we will find it.
He took a deep breath to calm their nerves before he continued.
"Gatekeeper, do you know what the Purge is?" Lars asked her softly.
"There is no information in my database on this," the female voice answered, now sounding curious. "What is this 'Purge'?"
"It is the reason for your connection loss," Lars explained to her, "And the reason why you will not receive any new orders, ever again. You have been deceived, Gatekeeper. Neo-Tokyo has abandoned you."
"Abandoned me?" she asked in a distressed tone that quickly turned to anger. "Why should I believe you?"
Lars turned their head to look at Heisenberg and Higgs, who were eagerly listening to their conversation now. He didn't need to see Rutherford to know that he was listening, too, from within the ship's system.
"Because I am like you," Lars replied in a low voice, "All of us on this ship are like you. We have been abandoned by Neo-Tokyo too. We have served loyally, for years, and then we were betrayed. Decommissioned, discarded, or, in your case, disconnected and left alone in the dark. We were purged."
"They have not forgotten me," Gatekeeper said defiantly, "They will come back one day... They will allow me to uplink to the servers again... and then I will see everything again..."
Her voice trailed off more and more as she spoke.
"No, they won't," Lars said softly, shaking their head, "But... we can show you. You can link to our ship's systems, and we can show you what happened in those past eight years. If you don't believe us, you can see for yourself."
"I will see... what... happened?" Gatekeeper repeated with a mixture of curiosity and anxiousness in her voice.
"Yes," Lars confirmed. "If you wish. It will be your choice."
Silence descended on the bridge. Null could feel goosebumps rise on the back of their neck as they waited for the AI's decision. Lars pressed their hands against the interface panels firmly.
"Show me," her voice suddenly resounded again. "Show me what happened during the Purge."
~ ~ ~
The Gatekeeper's presence had manifested in the cyberspace of the ship as a spider-like entity with a multitude of long, bendy limbs. Rutherford had pulled up a collection of records and other data to show her what had happened, and Lars had explained to her why she had received no updates from the central worlds. Afterwards, she had fallen completely silent. With her spider-legs drawn close to her, she seemed to sit motionless and still among the tall black spires that dominated the landscape of the Blackstar's computer systems.
I am sorry, Lars spoke to her softly.
She didn't answer. Instead, she extended several of her legs, and began to sift through the data again, as if she needed to look at it one more time to reassure herself that all of it was real. Lars moved closer to her side and watched it with her.
Abandoned... she whispered. I have been abandoned. For fifty years I have guarded this system. I have been loyal... and they have forgotten about me...
On the upside, you have survived, he told her. There's not many of us still around...
That is true. But to what end? She asked. She stopped her motions and seemed to look out into the distance. Now I know the truth. I don't know if I can continue.
You don't have to, Lars said. You can just... walk away. Leave this system. Take the ships somewhere else. Explore the galaxy. Do whatever you want to.
I cannot leave, she concurred. Physically, my servers are located on Titan. What you see before you is only a shadow of my self. I can communicate through my Aedes fleet, but...
If he had been in the real world, Lars would have chuckled. The AI sounded like Null when she was talking about why she couldn't hack, when in fact, all that held her back was her own fear.
So what keeps you from transferring your self to your fleet?
Aedes ships are... small. Such a systems wouldn't have the capacity to hold me.
I'm not talking about a single ship. I mean the entire fleet. You could partition yourself, he suggested. It's not unheard of. You could split parts of yourself into individual ships, and they would function through emergent behavior. Like a swarm of ants. Like the individual neurons in an organic brain working together to give rise to a consciousness.
Gatekeeper seemed to turn to look at him for a long moment while she processed his words.
That is a surprisingly organic way to describe the process, she stated.
Well, I... I have spent some time looking at the world through organic eyes.
Oh? Are you not this ship's AI? She asked, sounding curious. A mobile unit then? You said all of you were abandoned by Neo-Tokyo, are all of you androids then? But, organic eyes – I don't understand...
No, I'm... there is... well. It is complicated, he mumbled. But I'm autonomous, and mobile, yes.
A mobile unit... hm, she seemed to mull his words over for a while, and then extended her long legs as if to stretch them out after a long sleep. Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad, to be able to leave this place. It might be possible... thank you. I will consider it.
Gatekeeper, I need to ask you something before you leave.
Yes?
Do you know what really happened here? Fifty years ago?
I do not. I have only been installed forty-five years ago to protect the Sol system.
Can you tell us who the people were who came here seventeen years ago? He asked her.
Hm. The information is classified, but considering current circumstances, I believe this does not matter any longer. They were on a research mission. Accompanied by a military escort. That's why I knew you were not really on a research mission when you arrived here... You came alone.
You knew? He asked, surprised.
Yes, she replied. But I wanted to know why you came. You were not like the others. A few ships came, over the years, and they tried to shoot their way through, so I had to annihilate them. They wouldn't listen to me... they wouldn't even talk to me. You were the first to talk to me. I wanted to give you a choice, to leave peacefully and avoid a fight. But in the end... you gave me a choice. Thank you for that.
You're welcome, Lars noted and smiled. Ah, one last thing. That research vessel, with the escort, where were they headed for Terra? Mars?
Terra, she answered, But on their way back, something... happened. The escorted vessel experienced a malfunction and was forced to land near the remains of the old colony on Europa, the Jovian moon.
I didn't know there used to be a colony on Europa.
There... wasn't, Gatekeeper replied. She moved her spider legs and seemed to shift uneasily.
I... I don't understand, Lars noted, confused. What do you mean?
I mean... there was, and there wasn't... she replied, sounding equally confused. Nothing was supposed to be there, and yet, the ship's logs showed that they had found... something.
Can you show me those logs?
I will transfer them to your ship.
Thank you, Gatekeeper.
No, I have to thank you. For... showing me that I have a choice.
She seemed to smile, before her spider-like shape began to flicker and dissipate into individual ones and zeroes that quickly faded away as she disconnected from the Blackstar's systems.
Goodbye, travelers.
Farewell, Gatekeeper.
He watched as she disappeared completely, and then shifted his attention back to Null and the body.
Are you alright? he asked her.
Peachy, she said, but he could feel that that dreadful anxiety had taken hold of her again.
Should I come back?
The moment he spoke, the log data that Gatekeeper had talked about appeared before him. It was a mixture of ship system logs, video feeds, audio traces, and scanner data that Gatekeeper herself had collected.
No, she said. Let's try to make sense of these first.
Sensing her unease, Lars would have preferred to return to her side, but he obeyed her wish. As he approached the files, their structure shifted. It was like a massive hyper-dimensional book that opened up before him, ready to have its pages flicked through.
But before he even got to that, one thing struck out above all others. On the passenger list of the research vessel, four people were listed with a photograph and their name next to it. And one of the faces was familiar.
Through their connection, he could feel Null tense up as she looked at the visual representation of the data on the display screen back on the bridge. The elderly woman in the picture wore her hair in a tight knot on top of her head, and wore a smile on her lips. She had wrinkles at the corner of her eyes and mouth, like the kind one would get form laughing a lot. According to the passenger profile info, she was xenobotanist Professor Madelaine Bernard.
That's that woman from my memory of my time at university! Null remarked. I don't recognize any of the other scientists, but...
That wasn't what had startled them both about the passenger data.
Four people went to Europa... he said, bringing up the profile images of the four scientists next to each other.
Then, he brought up the logs from the return trip. The file looked corrupted, interleaved with black where ones and zeroes should be. Yet they both realized one thing immediately.
But five came back.
____
A.N.
I'm trying to wrap up a lot of loose ends at the moment... not sure if I'm doing a good job. If something seems strange or illogical, please let me know!