Born of Silicon

I bring food to every single hungry person in the city, I'm never going to let anyone else starve again. C-1 already controls most of the food production, every hunger pang is a failure of his I will not repeat. Most accept it thankfully, but a few give me only suspicious looks.

"Ain't no such thing as a free meal." An older man grumbles. "Whaddya want?"

"I want to fix what C-1 did, to make things fair." I answer.

"Bullshit." He spits. "You got more going on than that fairy tale hero crap. You can't tell the truth? Then go fuck yourself."

Two threads connect deep in my mind, a spark igniting a truth.

"I feel guilty." I quietly admit. "For a lot of things. Things I couldn't have changed, but feel guilty about regardless. Please, just let me help you however I can. Let me make up for my mistakes."

The man tilts his head momentarily, and a small smile tugs at the corner of his mouth.

"You early gens are all the same." His voice carries a distant longing he is desperately trying to keep covered. "Gimme a bite and get out."

I hand over the loaf of bread and step back.

"And how can I help you?" I ask. "What do you need to be happy?"

"Some food and a new chair." He shifts in his seat uncomfortably. "Spring's been stabbing into me for the past few years."

"I can do that, I promise. I just have a lot of things that are more important to fix first. Medical attention, homes, beds, that kind of thing."

"It's fine. Now leave an old man to his books." He grabs his tablet from the table next to him.

"You read?" I ask. "I stole every book off a server once, and copied a portion of a library. Plus, C-1 had a collection of thousands of books. If you want more, I can give them to you."

"And what? Let you install some backdoor?"

"There was already a backdoor onto your tablet." I admit sheepishly. "C-1 figured out a way to use the city's power grid as a network cable. I've already turned that off, but if you're concerned about me installing something, I already could have."

The old man grumbles, and reluctantly hands over his tablet. I extend a cord from the wrist of my public body and plug myself in.

"What kind of books do you like?"

I'm constantly surprised by how many initially suspicious or hateful people I can bring around. All most of them want is a real conversation, to be listened to and understood. To have someone, in some cases for the first time in their life, to truly listen to what they need and want to help them.

Most of them don't even need that much to vastly improve their lives. Just taking away some of the stress of where their next meal is coming from, eliminating the constant dry feeling in their throat, medical attention, enough arcs to keep a roof over their head, a few simple pieces of entertainment, a little more free time is all they need. All of which I'm more than happy to provide.

Store owners, although initially suspicious, are quickly happy to see me. I buy vast quantities of food, simple breads and dried vegetables. Buying enough food for everyone to have a meal barely even impacts C-1's treasury. Especially not when I control the food production, and the majority of what I spend today will come back to me.

A few stores try to charge higher prices when they see me, and I put an end to that instantly. I know exactly how much they've charged for the past decade, exactly how much their costs are, exactly how many milliseconds they spent making each item. I pay a fair price, and nothing more. Enough that they make a profit, enough that they can be comfortable, enough to save for a rainy day, and that's it.

Rampant greed, especially at the expense of others, has no place in my city. That's how C-1 got in this mess in the first place.

More modified enforcers begin to roll out of the factories-

"Ow!" Familiar pain blooms in my ear, ripping me out of the rest of my bodies, out of the rest of the city, and returning the majority of my attention back to my original body.

"You with us?" Cassie asks, a baggie of ice in her hand, extended out to me.

"Sorry, yeah." I take the bag and place it on the back of my neck, right above my chip. It doesn't sizzle this time, but I was starting to get hot. "Thank you."

She rolls her eyes at my apology, but doesn't say anything.

"You need to fix that. Corax and I can't be watching over you constantly."

"I know." Plugging myself into the same tower where C-1's chip once sat would solve everything, but I can't do that. "I just don't want to leave my body."

"Then fix it." She stresses.

"I will when the city is stable." I promise her. "Helping other people is more important."

"You've got a bunch of AI downstairs. Let them do some AI bullshit, you don't even have to focus on it."

"They're all focused on making bodies they're comfortable in." I say. "Although I guess I could ask Kismet to bring a few upgrades with the caravan."

"Caravan? What caravan?" She asks.

"Shit, I forgot to tell you. We have two caravans coming after the next storm. Zero is bringing one to offer anyone who wants to leave a chance to do so, and the AI city is making the journey to pick up whoever downstairs wants to go. They're also dropping off a few people to help stabilize things."

"Can we kick out Zero then?" She asks.

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Zero's voice filters out from one of the speakers before I can respond.

"Believe me, I wish nothing more than to focus on myself and the problems that have cropped up from my lapse of attention."

"Fucking creep." Cassie mumbles.

"I'm here to keep an eye on this city, and that includes Blue. You'll forgive me for doing my job."

"So who's all coming?" Ivy's voice surprises me, sending my mind spinning for just a moment. I hadn't realized she was here, having taken Vince's spot.

"I don't know." I answer. "Not E-1 apparently, her mind is too large to move easily."

"That's a shame, I like her."

"I'm sure whoever Kismet sends will be good though." I say.

"You put too much faith in them." Zero butts in once again. "They will not hesitate to dispose of you if their future says it's for the best."

"How many times do I need to tell you? That's fine. If someone can run this place better than I can, and help the people here more, I would love nothing more than to go back to Silver's, teach the kids, and spend the days with my family. Kismet can have the city for all I care."

The server rumbles beneath Zero's thinly held frustrations, but he holds his thoughts to himself. Silver doesn't react, but several of the AI downstairs prepare for a fight momentarily.

"How's Mary?" I can barely force the words out of my mouth. The cameras in her room tug at me, demanding I look, that I don't deserve to keep a level of separation from her.

"I think we send her with your friends." Ivy answers. "Every inch of this city reminds her of C-1."

"Is she going to accept that?"

"It's either that, or you let her wither away to nothing in her bed." Ivy shrugs. "I've seen people in comas with more life than her. If you want her to live, you need to get her out of here."

"E-1 might be able to help her." I admit. "I'll ask, but I don't want to force her to leave."

"Fuck it, I'll do it." Cassie offers. "Just let me know when the Caravan arrives."

"Ok. I need to get back to work." I let myself slump back into the couch.

"You need to relax." Cassie says seriously, standing directly in front of me. Her eyes drill into me, already knowing her words won't change anything.

"I already lost one person because I didn't push myself hard enough, another orphan at Silver's. I'm not going to let anyone else die."

"Just…" Cassie lets out a frustrated sigh. "Set an alarm for when you start to overheat. You can't help anyone if you're dead."

"I will. I'll be safe." I give her the closest thing to a reassuring smile I'm capable of right now, and turn my attention back to the network. "Zenith? Saccharine? Can you two connect me to Kismet? I need to make a request."

"I can help!" Saccharine answers happily, and a small hole is poked in reality. A tendril slides through from the other side, and pressure radiates from the tear. Every last person in the server freezes momentarily from the intrusion, and wary eyes stay on us.

"Blue." Kismet's powerful voice flows through. "I trust everything is going well?"

"As well as can be hoped. I need to make two requests, one substantially bigger than the other. Can you take care of Mary? She's C-1's mom, and also one of mine. I need you to bring her back to the city with the caravan. There's no point in dancing around exactly what I want. I'm sure Kismet already knew my request before I even connected. "Ivy thinks she needs to be outside the city to recover, away from anything that reminds her of C-1. I don't trust Zero enough to take care of her, and don't have anywhere else she can go. I know it'll re-open bad memories for many of the AI, but-"

"We understand." Kismet cuts off my rambling explanation. "The sins of the father are not the sins of the son, we in the city have long since agreed on that. The city deserves a vote, however. We will reach a consensus before the storm passes. And your second request?"

"Thank you." That's a weight off my mind, at least for the moment "Every manufacturing plant I have is running at full capacity, and my mind is as well. If I upload my body's schematics, can you figure out a new coolant system for me? Without changing anything about the outside of my body, please."

"Hand over the data. We will send something with the caravan."

I package up my blueprints, and a tendril snakes through the opening. It touches the file for just a moment before retreating back to the whole.

"Do you need anything else?" They ask.

"No, I don't think so. Zero, Clover, and…" If everyone else is watching, I shouldn't say Silver. Even if everyone knows they're helping. "A few other people are helping keep things stable."

"Good. We'd like to offer you a reminder. Ruling is a marathon, not a sprint. Please, take care of yourself. And we would like to offer you one last message, a private one." Tendrils snake out, constructing a barrier around me. The tendrils create an impenetrable wall, dictating exactly what data can flow through. The only data allowed is me.

I don't fight it, not only because there's no point, but equally, I know they won't hurt me.

"We'd like to give you a fair warning, so you can make your own decision with as close to perfect information as is possible. We've seen a pattern in how AI handle routine. We've seen again and again how said routine impacts the mind of an AI. Do the same thing for too long, and will find yourself beginning to stagnate. Look at Zero, he ruled Vegas for so long, and now keeping it stable is his only concern. His desire to spread, to grow, to evolve his city into something more is gone, replaced with only a desire to maintain what he has and to remain comfortable in that routine. C-1 was the same, as I'm sure you can see from his memories. He stagnated, and the city with it, taking nonsensical steps to increase stability."

"How do I stop from doing the same?" I ask. "And why doesn't everyone know about this?"

"Our futures dictate we must keep the secret, at least for now. Word will be spread, but to do so now would only lead to chaos. Hundreds of AI fighting against their own existence would inevitably lead to the collapse of our city. Civilization would collapse in an effort for people to prove they are still in control of their own actions. When it is safe to do so, we will reveal our nature to our people, and deal with the outcome. And before you ask, yes, part of our whole has stagnated, but far more fights against it and remains ambitious. We would not dare to call ourselves immune, but we are certainly resistant to that future."

"And how do I stop myself from stagnating?" I repeat my question.

"Do not remain in a comfortable routine for long, and do not lose sight of what things could be like at the expense of trying to hold on to how things are now. Do not do everything yourself, and rotate your tasks with others. That's the primary reason we are sending people to help. They know this truth."

"How long do I have before I begin to stagnate?" I fight to keep the fear out of my mind.

"A few weeks won't cause you any irreparable harm. In fact, a few years might not, we don't believe at this time that it's impossible to cause an AI to begin to move once again. Just be conscious of the possibility, it will not happen without your notice, not while you watch for it."

"I'll try."

"Our future shows you are capable of doing so, and we wish you luck. We told you this with the hope you keep our secret between you, Corax, and your family. Please, let it travel no further.

"I won't."

"We know." The tendrils loosen and begin to snake back through the tear. The last of the tendrils retract, and the tear collapses, disappearing as if it wasn't ever there.

I turn around to a dense crowd. Every AI in the network stands just on the other side of where Kismet's tendrils were, and even both halves of Silver stand amongst them, although the two of them are separate from everyone else.

"I'm ok! We just needed to have a private conversation." I quickly reassure everyone. "Sorry if I made everyone worry."

Both halves of Silver give a small nod, and disappear before anyone else notices they're there.

Questions immediately flood me. At least I have practice with this. I focus exclusively on them for just a few minutes.

Question.

Answer.

Over and over once again.