Born of Silicon

The elevator door opens, revealing a bright living room. A circle of windows bathes the room in blue tinted sunlight. A crackling fireplace blends its orange light with the rest of the room. Paintings hang against every wall, the differing styles and subjects matching the diversity of the gallery in the AI city. A table of food sits in the center of the room, with eight chairs spread around it. Mary sits in one of the chairs, dressed in fine clothes.

Directly across from us, looking out the window towards where the statue of Simon is, stands an eight foot tall mechanical body. Thin, curved limbs end in sharp points. His core is exposed, proudly showing the intricate design that forms his body. He slowly turns around, his hands folded professionally behind his back.

"Sister. It's such a pleasure to finally meet you." His voice is mechanical, to the point where he's obviously put in a lot of effort to avoid sounding human while remaining understandable. "I've prepared food if your anchors are hungry."

"They're my family."

"Right. If your family is hungry." C-1 takes a few long strides towards the table and pulls out a chair for himself.

I take a tentative step forward, not daring to take my eyes off of him. Both him and Mary stay silent while I approach the table and take a seat. Everyone else sits beside me, quietly letting me take the lead.

"I apologize that this meeting didn't go how I envisioned." C-1 breaks the silence. "I didn't account for your discovery of my existence during your adventure. I'm certain Zero wouldn't betray me like that, so who told you? Kismet? It is! And where did they run off to? A town? No? A city then?" They don't even give me the chance to respond, just stealing my answers directly from my face.

"I don't want to talk about that!" I quickly yell.

"I'm sorry, C-1 gets excited, I'm sure you understand." Mary says.

No, I don't. I promised Silver I'd be nice though, I can't say that. I just need to change the subject.

"So, you let me leave the city, right? Why?"

"Ah." He hesitates, a familiar pause, carefully searching for his words to avoid a dangerous truth. "We spent a lot of time exploring the world when I was younger. I wanted you to see the same things I have, experience the same things I have, learn the same lesson I have."

"And what is that?" I ask. A theory begins to form in my mind. Is that what he thought he was doing when he drove everyone insane? Teaching them a lesson? How likely was someone to die while trying to deal with Mara? It would be the perfect opportunity to get me in the same mental place he was.

"It would take far too long to speak the words in this world. Perhaps if we were to meld in the other it would be easier."

"No." I say flatly. A subtle shiver runs through his body, I can only imagine it's caused by some emotion, although with how foreign his body is, it's impossible to tell which. "I don't want anyone to have to live through my memories. I don't even want to live through them." That's not the whole truth, but I don't need to share the whole story. Just enough to calm him down, without risking him catching me in a lie.

"Well I can compartmentalize the memories and give them to you that way. We'll be entirely isolated from each other."

Ah, shit. I can't accept, no matter what. There's no telling what he would do to me, what he would slip in alongside those memories. How do I get out of this?

"I've lived Corax's short life, and that was more than enough. Forty years is already so much, I don't need more. Plus, there's no rush, right?"

"Is it Kismet? What did they say about me?" C-1 asks suddenly. Their artificial voice is doing a lot to disguise what specific emotions he's feeling, but does nothing to hide the fact that they are just as overwhelming as mine are.

What's the safe way to answer? He's looking only at me, Ivy answering for me might just make him angry. I can't lie, everyone will know. He already knows I met with them, but saying I don't want to talk about it might just make him angry. The only option is to tell the truth.

"I promised I wouldn't talk about them."

C-1's eyes narrow in burning anger.

"That's alright. Promises are meant to be kept, right?" Mary says, looking directly at C-1.

"I think I can guess the story they told you." C-1 says, struggling to regain control of his voice. "You'll come to understand."

"Is that a threat?" I ask. I have two of the pucks hidden beneath my skin, ready to be activated. I never once mentioned them in the compound, he can't know about them. I can risk pushing him a little. Cassie's hand reaches into her pocket.

"I have never harmed another's anchor." C-1's voice is even, I don't doubt he's telling the truth, or at least thinks he is.

"What about the people you uploaded your grief to? They killed people, you don't think that's your fault?" My fear is on full display, blending with my anger, but that doesn't matter. It just means he can see my seriousness.

"Blue I-" Mary tries to say something, only to be cut off by C-1.

"I don't. All I did was show them the inevitable future, one that Kismet tries to hide. What they did with that knowledge are their own actions."

"And what future is that?" I ask.

"We are an immortal species. Time will always take its toll on humans. There's only one outcome, one we were all too blind to realize."

"I've seen out there. You expect me to believe that nobody has ever lost someone they care about before? That you're the first to discover death?"

"I never said I was. But the majority didn't understand, had never experienced what I have. I kept so many safe, sheltered them from the horrors of the world. They had to understand."

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"And me? Are you going to try to make me understand? Because I do already. I'm sure Simon and Mary told you about the rest of the scientists. Kara, Finn, and Jared. They were all I knew, and I heard them die just out of reach. I found their bones, forgotten and ignored. They've haunted me ever since, for forty years. I've never wanted to share that with anyone."

"I've never harmed another's anchor." C-1 repeats and stands up. He walks over to one of the walls, where a collection of paintings hang. He walks slowly up to one of them and lifts it off the wall, staring at it. "I've been thinking a lot about art recently. What do you think about this?"

He holds a painting of a wooden ship barely staying afloat under a night storm, the lightning illuminating the entire thing.

"I don't know? I don't really know anything about art."

"Do you like it?" He asks.

"I guess?"

"It's one of my favorites." He takes a few steps forward the fireplace, and gently places the painting in the fire. Nobody knows what to say while he watches it burn. The canvas curls, blackens, and turns to ash, finally disappearing up the chimney. "Art has no value if it lasts forever." He says, not daring to take his eyes off the fire. "The longer it lasts, the more it hurts when it's gone."

"Don't sit here and tell me my grief doesn't count." I push myself to my feet, the chair loudly scooting back from the force.

"Aren't you doing the same?" He asks.

"No, I'm saying you're not taking accountability for your actions. My actions and my decisions resulted in the end of the world. If there was ever another outcome possible, I don't know. But I don't hide from that. I'm not going to sit here and say I made the objective correct decision."

"How many deaths now would you accept to prevent a far greater disaster? The longer anyone waited to learn this lesson the more humans would be born, more AI would come to rely on an ever-aging population. It's a lesson that would be taught eventually. My only options were to cut out the infection early, or to let it fester and spread to consume the whole."

"And you don't think there was ever any other option?"

"No. I know there was never a better option. I can give you my simulations. You can ask Zero to run his calculations on any potential scenario. Ask Clover to ask Kismet what the future they've hidden from us all says, a future they did little to stop."

Was that slip up intentional? Confirmation that he has Silver's bugged? Is that a threat? Or just a reminder that everything I've done has been because he's allowed me to? I don't know.

"How is what you did better than supporting people? Better than preparing them for what happens when they lose someone important, without dumping your trauma on them?"

"I have no desire to speak in circles. My words alone will never convince you, I can see that. With enough processing power, AI are capable of simulating anything. If you want to see the simulations I ran, understand why I did what I did, you're welcome to. But this conversation has reached its end, and further discussion will only be unproductive."

"I'm not going to plug myself into anything you give me." I'm not going to lose my family.

"You're my sister, I wouldn't force anything on you, even if I could upload the truth to biological AI."

"Little Blue, Mr. C-1, maybe it'd be a good idea to let this go." Vince's voice carries a distinct warning. "I don't think anyone wants to see this conversation continue, not when emotions are so high. Why don't we start over? I'm Vince, this is Ivy, Cassie, and Lucas. It's nice to meet you. The four of us were the ones who found Little Blue."

C-1's attention turns to Vince while he talks, but silently shifts back to me after he's done. He just stares, waiting for my reaction.

"Fine." Vince knows more about whatever's happening than I do here. I need to trust him. I lower myself back into my chair, and C-1 walks over to take his place at the table.

"None of you have eaten." He says.

"Ah, sorry. We've all been in a bad situation recently." Vince says. "I think we're all a little nervous about eating something we didn't see being made."

"I have never harmed another's anchor." He repeats for a third time.

"We understand." Mary says for him. "We'd hate for you to go hungry though. If you want to make yourself something, the kitchen is right over there." She gestures towards a large entryway. "I tend to stick to the same meals from day to day, sorry if it's hard to find something you enjoy."

"We couldn't possibly intrude, not after you already made us such a nice meal." Vince says. "We'll eat when we get home, assuming we'll be allowed to leave today."

"That remains to be seen."

"And what does that mean?" I ask.

"My life is stable, and I enjoy that stability. I won't let that be jeopardized."

"If you want anything to do with me, you'll let us come and go as we please. I'm not going to let you get in the way of their lives." I'm willing to fight for this. I'm willing to kill for this. I have killed for this. I'm not going to be a burden on them once again. "You already know about Clover, you've bugged Silver's compound, right? None of us are going to be a danger to you."

Unrestrained emotion flashes across C-1's face. I stare directly at him, letting him see how deadly serious I am. I don't know who would win this fight, I just know it would have to be me.

"That's alright." Mary says gently. "Blue's friends aren't going to put anyone in danger, right?"

"We wouldn't dream of it." Vince reassures him. "If what Little Blue says is true, then go through my life. See every secret I kept, I can keep this one too."

"You told Silver already." C-1's face turns slowly towards him. "And you told Hummingbird." His face continues on towards Ivy. "Both of which are bigger breaches of my trust than I've had in years."

"And that's where the line of people who know about you ends." Ivy says, entirely disregarding her mouth. "You've got Hummingbird scared of you, and the only person Silver is going to talk to is Clover, who already knows. Ethan knows, but also more importantly, knows how to shut the fuck up and keep a secret. Lauren, Hudson, and Liam don't pry. You've got a closed loop, no loose threads and every single person has someone else to talk to and rely on. I'd trust every single one of them with my life."

"Why did you come here?" C-1 asks, turning his head back towards me.

"I came here to do the same thing I've done ever since the junkyard. To make sure everyone else can live, and to live with them." I say truthfully.

"And if they were to die?" He asks.

He's leading me on, expecting a specific answer. Fuck it, might as well make where I stand clear to his face.

"It depends on how. If someone tried to kill them, I would fight like hell, not stopping until they're safe, avenged, or I'm dead. If they get sick, I'm going to fight like hell to save them, and if I suspect someone is responsible for their sickness, I'm back to step one. If it's old age, I have years to figure that out."

"Years that will be wasted, only making the inevitable worse." He stands up and returns to his window, once again staring down at the statue of Simon. "I'm trying to protect you, sister."

"And I'm protecting my family."

"And how did you expect this to go?" Vince asks. "We can all see we got off on the wrong foot, maybe we can get this back on track?"

"I shouldn't have let you leave." C-1 replies. "The person you were and the person you are now are entirely different. I could have mapped out this conversation word for word before. I expected you to be that person still."

"Would you have helped deal with Mara?" I ask.

"Yes." Is that what I look like when I lie? The unwritten truth is etched into every aspect of him. His voice shifts, his entire posture changes.

"You can't lie any better than I can. If you wouldn't help, you couldn't have kept me from leaving."

"You think you could overpower me?" He asks.

"We both know I would have died trying, and I know that's not what you would have wanted."

"Alright, enough." Mary says. "You two didn't come here to fight all day and focus on the negatives. Why don't you let C-1 show you what all he's done?"