“...Y-You can’t give her juice… She needs the tubes.” Z-9 interjected, looking concerned, but suddenly more involved. They seemed to keep their distance from 444, but still wanted to get a good look at this sleeping girl. “And if you w-w-wake them up, then… They’ll kill the bag-persons, who make the juice, so…”
Arms freed up, Doris simply approached the pink-haired
echoni first, offering a hug. Z-9 had to think about all of the new implications between what Knowledgebot and Doris had said, but simply became a quivering noise machine in their indecision. Their
human mother took this as a sign to simply swoop in the rest of the way and embrace their head, hiding Z-9’s unstable emotions from those around.
“There there. It’s okay.” She cooed. “I know this is all confusing, but you’ve done us proud. It’s time to make up your own minds about things, okay?...”
It was… a surprisingly emotional tone. But then again, Doris knew full well that she might be about to die. She wanted Z-9 to know that she really cared, at least.
The E-5 seemed lighter than air. It’s soft breath could be felt against
Z-23’s face in the encroaching cold. It would be so easy, just to wrestle them out of this slumber...
Dr. Knowledgebot, having many doctorates in a variety of subjects, knew very few of them could help in subverting doomsday. He stood to his full height, and walked up to stand before 444, a hand gently petting Z-9 as he moved onward. “444, you have a choice to make. However, one such as you needs to know all the facts before making a choice, otherwise people won’t think you’re the best.” He was laying the groundwork to a conversation, so that 444 would even listen. “The facts are, if the child wakes, it may very well destroy us. You will not die, neither will your siblings, but all else could very well be destroyed. Doris, may be destroyed. I may be destroyed. But worse, is that every human will be destroyed as well. And when all humans are destroyed, you will no longer be the best of something. You will be frightfully average. She will be better than you.” He turned to Z-23 next, a separate argument designed for her, them, whatever. It was hard to be objective here, these children in distress affected him somewhat. “Z-23. I know you don’t wish to see the humans destroyed. Regardless of past conflict, they need your help to survive. And you need them, whether you realize it or not. Think of it like a large family, in a sense. At least ideally, I wish it could be so.”
He turned then to Z-9, and he leaned down to her level again. “Look at you dear. You’re not so different from a human, and that’s not a bad thing. You have a heart. You care. You’re a person, capable of making your own decisions and of feeling with your heart. I’m very proud of you.” He turned to the three of them, his mechanical voice somehow sounding so alive. “Let us set the child back to her slumber, so that the world, the
system, can be safe. You will be unsung heroes, so that one day the humans will look to you and see a true hero. Someone that’s very cool, someone that gets things done. It is your choice, but I advise placing the child back with Doris.”
“And let her sleep for her entire life? She might as well be dead.” 444 said, “You guys don’t know how to take care of her so she should be with us. You’ll bring us the tubes she needs and you’ll make our living space bigger so she can have a space of her own.” She was giving off an unrestrained confidence, even as she tried to look for some subtle facial ques from Doris and Dr. KB. She was quite aware that she was pushing her luck, but as far as she could tell the Bag people and
robots still needed the Echoni, so she still had cards to play.
Z-23 was certainly a lot more cautious, looking from 444, to Doris, and back again. Normally this is where someone would tell her what to do, and she didn’t know who she was supposed to listen to. “I uh… I don’t think she should be locked up.” She managed to add, remembering her own experiences being kept in the Echoni warehouses of
Alpha Concourse.
“There will be a time and a place for her to awaken.” Doris spoke to 444 first. They didn’t create this being by accident after all… “But the world simply isn’t ready. Not yet. We are running into the night without a light to guide the way.“
A heavy breath. They wondered about what really transpired here, at the bottom of the world. She wondered if Knowledgebot understood that he was invited to lend dogmatic credibility to all this, if their most fiery of children was to choose the most ‘direct’ path… If this was done by the hand of a machine,
the magnetic assembly might just accept it regardless of the calamity. But that was still a pretty unfortunate waste of life.
“...I know… I know this has been harsh on you. I gave up a large part of my own body to make this research a reality, too. There was never a right time. We just had to barge on through.” A new tone. The smile had returned, considering the purity of Z-23’s expression, which caused Doris to begin making their way over, using her mechanical hands to adjust Z-9s limbs, and put them in a situation where they were both cradling the new child.
“...There is a glass pagoda deep inside one of the megastructure summits in Concourse alpha. It’s officially my house, but I never really had a use for such frivolous… too much to do… Perhaps you would like to let her rest there?” Approaching the green haired now, arms folded, smile distant. It was perhaps at this point, of all times, that the disconnected, morose smile was perhaps able to explain itself. “I don’t blame you if you hate me, for the life I’ve given you… But I do love you, 444. You’ve become so much more self-reliant and driven than I ever expected… In the end, this galaxy is going to keep spinning after all of us pathetic bag-people are gone, so… I hope…”
“I hope you understand that it had to be this way, my daughter... Can you do me one favour, and keep her secret until the time is right? Like one of the tools you used to break out, so many times before? That’s what I want her to be... Your secret.”
“My Echoni and I will take your pagoda. If we like it we’ll keep it. Now teach me,” 444 said, dramatically moving one arm to point over at the sleeping E-5, “Why is the world not ready for her to wake up? Why does she have to sleep and be kept secret. How is she going to break all your bag-people.” 444 didn’t seem to be attaching much emotion to it, seemingly willing to meet Doris half-way without any spite involved. She also had a way of cutting through so much of the emotional baggage like it was just another thing in need of smashing.
Z-23 on the other hand, seemed far more worried, still unsure of who she was supposed to be following, but ending up holding the sleeping Echoni regardless. “Maybe we should keep her a secret. Doris says she needs to be a secret…. But we can still take her outside right?”
“Think about it like this…” Doris fixed their glasses, making a patient expression. “Z-9 and Z-23 have their robotic parts as well as their fleshy parts, correct? Well, the thing that makes the Echoni really unique, so special compared to humans, is the alien parts we made them from, deep down inside their cells… At first, we saw it as a power source… Then, when we realised that you all had special gifts on top of that, we were even more pleased, but…”
This was going to be a hard thing to explain at their level. It was bordering on the sum total of
SEER’s knowledge. Their reason for decades of continued research.
The demure antlered woman took a pause to crouch and run a metallic finger through the water at their feet, causing the minute green particles to flicker and twist in intricate little whirlpools.
“...What… What we didn’t realise is… It’s all part of one big creature. It’s all connected. You are… closer than human sisters could ever really be…” Looking back up they just smiled, looking ones more like they wished to give 444 a full embrace. “The exophages are all part of one interconnected whole… Each part has it’s own special function, like the individual bits of the body, which is why your powers are separate and unique, but... This E5… Your sleeping sister, 614, is more like a neuron. She’s the brain. She’s the part that thinks… You understand? She won’t just think for you, she’ll think for this stuff below us, too. All of it, everywhere on the planet. Maybe everywhere in this universe... Maybe other universes... We... don’t know...”
Water swirled again as they moved their boots, choosing the less threatening target of Z-23 to hug instead. “So you see, she needs to sleep where she can be taken care of, my darlings… Where… We can find out exactly what it is she needs.”
“What about the collars? Won’t that shut down her powers and keep her from thinking for us?” 444 asked. The echoni remaining as stern and calm as ever. “And why is she special? Why can’t I think for her instead?”