//------------------------------// // Epilouge: A Beloved Creation // Story: Alpha One Six // by Misanthropian //------------------------------// Lyra sat in her usual coffee shop booth. Her laptop sat in front of her, untouched. She didn't open it. Instead choosing to stare past it, at the hazy image of the lobby lights reflected by its brushed aluminium surface. A double espresso sat across the table growing increasingly cold as she sat in silent inaction. She let out a long wistful sigh as she finally looked up. A few ponies remained in the shop after the morning rush. Some were still in line, others sat or stood about waiting for, or enjoying their various drinks and the occasional breakfast snack. The shop owners daughter stood behind the counter taking orders at the register. She briefly shot Lyra a look of empathy. Though it was of little comfort. Lyra let out yet another sigh as she reached over to her bag and opened it. She levitated out a small lyre and held it magically in front of herself. She hesitated before reaching out and plucking a couple of the strings. The tuning was mildly off, but she couldn't be bothered to fix it. She paused again before taking a breath and moving the instrument closer to herself. Her hooves moved slowly, carefully, playing out what she remembered of some sonata she had learned decades ago as a filly. The music blended into the noise of the cafe. Yet even so, it cast a warm, but sombre, atmosphere into the room that everypony felt and seemed to savour briefly before they went about their lives once more. As Lyra plucked the last notes, she chose to let them ring out before she simply levitated the instrument down onto the table and moved her gaze to the ceiling. "Wow. I haven't heard that in a while..." She looked back down to the small figure next to her laptop. It looked back with a concerned expression. "Not since you left ERoCo.." "Yeah, well.", Lyra returned to gave upwards towards the hanging light fixture illuminating her table, "It's been a while since I felt so..." She hesitated, looking for the words. "Depressed?" Twilight offered. "No...", Lyra closed her eyes in thought, "Emotional?" She pondered. But it still wasn't the right word. "It's like I can feel... something...", She smiled warmly, slowly opening here eyes, "Like I don't feel so numb anymore." "So. The opposite of depression.", The figure had a puzzled look, "Like you're actually happy for once?" "Not happy, no. Well, a little, but not really.", Lyra shook her head, "I can't really explain it. It's like I have meaning again. For the first time in years." Twilight stared off in silent though. Lyra looked down. "Nothing to say?" "Did you need me to say something?" The tiny plastic princess asked. Lyra stared across the restaurant. "I... I guess not...", She paused, "That's weird..." Twilight smiled. "I think maybe you feel, complete." "Yeah, I guess." Lyra said to herself. "If that's the case, what do you need me for?" The figure asked. Lyra paused to look out the window. "I guess... I don't..." When she looked back, the figure was still. It stood static, bearing the same unblinking plastic smile that it always had. Lyra smiled and let out a soft chuckle as the picked it up. "Heh. So stupid..." She placed the figure in her bag and leaned back. She closed her eyes again allowing sunlight pouring in from the window to warm her gently smiling face. The bell above the door chimed and soon the sound of hoofsteps led in her direction. "Wow. I've never seen you looking so... not crazy." Lyra opened her eyes calmly and looked in the direction of the voice. The former nurse Redheart slowly trotted up and slid into the booth across from her. Lyra looked at her warmly. "I think I might be sane for once." "That's probably the scariest thing you've ever said." Redheart let out a chuckle. Lyra chuckled back and looked back across the cafe at a TV showing the news. It droned on with typical political rubbish and drawl, yet the conversations had shifted over the last few days. Briefly the image of a robot sitting at the center of a crowd of ponies appeared, giving context to the conversation at hoof. Redheart followed Lyra's gaze. "It's different now. Isn't it?" "Yeah.", Lyra smiled, "No more hiding..." "It's all going to change.", Redheart looked down, "For better or for worse..." "Change is what we make of it." Lyra smiled at her. She smiled back. "Yeah." The bell rang again. The two ponies turned to see a young stallion looking about awkwardly. "Dennis!", Redheart called, "We're over here!" Dennis turned to see the two and quickly headed over to join them. "Uh... Hey." He spoke awkwardly. "Hows your dad?" Lyra looked to him as he moved to sit next to Redheart. "He's... uh...", The colt shifted in place, rubbing the back of his hoof nervously, "Suffocating... I barely made it out of the house." "Well you did almost get run over and then start the biggest protest in Ponyville history." Lyra smiled slyly. "Ehhehe..." He laughed awkwardly. "It makes sense that he'd be over protective right now." Redheart agreed. "Well, right now he thinks I'm getting snacks at the shop down the street.", He looked up and rubbed the back of his head, "He's gonna be mad when he finds out where I really am." "Oof." Lyra oofed. "Well, we're glad you made it." Redheart reassured. "Yeah." Lyra said. "Eyup..." He responded. The three sat in silence until it was awkward. Dennis finally spoke. "So uh... Why are we here?" "Good question." Redheart turned towards Lyra waiting for a response. Lyra cleared her throat and levitated the cup that had been sitting across the table, untouched until then, to her lips. The coffee had grown cold and was unpleasant, but she found herself in need of the caffeine and so downed it quickly. She let out a rough cough in the wake of the harsh beverage. "I uh, well. I'm still waiting on somepony." Redheart raised a brow in confusion. "Wait who? Were all here." "Not quite.", She looked out the window, " I have a contact at ERoCo.. I'm hoping they have some news for us." "A contact?" Redheart inquired. "Who is it?" Dennis asked. "Don't know. Never actually met them." "What kind of news?" Redheart asked. "We'll just have to see..." Lyra looked back to them. "Speaking of ERoCo..", Redheart looked Lyra in the eyes, "You never did answer my question." Lyra cleared her throat again. "What question?" She pretended not to remember. "About why you did what you did there." Redheart stared her down. "Right... That..." Lyra found herself once more fixated on the back of her laptop. "Wait... Did what?" Dennis looked at them in confusion. "Are you serious?" Lyra looked at him. Redheart looked to Dennis. "How old are you, Dennis?" "15. Why?" He looked to her. "He would have been six Lyra. He wouldn't remember." Redheart pointed out. "Remember what?!" Dennis half shouted in frustration. Lyra leaned back. "What do you know about CAIF?" "The Common AI Framework? It's an open source GPL project that's used basically every modern AI's.", He looked to her, still confused, "You wrote it, didn't you?" "What do you know about how it got started?" Lyra asked. "I uh..." Lyra sighed. "About 11 years ago, back when I worked at ERoCo.. They had me working in their AI development lab." "Really!?" Dennis looked at her, surprised at the revelation. "Actually. I was head of AI development." She smiled as she reminisced. "Anyway.", She continued, "I was working on a new type of universal AI. A 'general purpose' AI, if you like. Not an AGI, but something that could still learn just about anything." "Did you succeed?" Dennis asked. Lyra smiled. "Of coarse I did." She looked to the ceiling as she spoke. "It was nearly perfect. Based on the way that the equine brain is basically a central network that branches into separate parts for different tasks." "That sounds like CAIF." Dennis noted. Redheart shushed him as Lyra continued. "Me and my team had put so much work into what was to be a revolutionary project. We wanted it to change the world. And seemingly so did ERoCo..", Her smile faded, "But we had different ideas of what that meant." Dennis waited. "So... What happened?" Lyra looked to him. "They did what big tech companies do. They copyrighted the code and demanded fees for anypony who wanted to use it.", She leaned forwards, placing her front hooves on the table, "We begged them to open the project. But it was to much money making potential for them to pass up.", she paused, "So I... took things into my own hooves." "You stole it?!" Dennis asked, in shock. "No, no." Lyra reassured. "I spent eight months, behind their backs, rewriting the project from scratch to be better, faster and more stable.", She looked up with a smile, "Then I released the entire thing as the Common AI Framework, under the GPL, as a public project.", Her smile vanished, "But I was still working at ERoCo. when I did it. What's more, I had directly contributed to their original project.", She looked down, "I had knowingly violated my contract, and by technicality, their copyright on the original code." "What did they do?" Dennis asked. "What do think?", She asked back, "They filed a lawsuit.", she sighed, "They eventually settled for booting me from the company... and most of my life savings. They decided that leaving the open source project to develop would be better than trying to continue maintaining their less superior version on their own, so CAIF got to continue existing. So I won in the end. I guess..." She fell silent. Dennis' brow furrowed. "But why did you do it if you knew what would happen?" "That sort of technology, with the power to change lives, the whole world even, for the better...", Lyra looked to him, "It belongs to everyone. I'd have let them sue me into the ground if that's what it took." Dennis winced. "I don't know if that's worth it..." "It was to me...", Lyra smiled, "It's just what I believe. I'd do it all over again if I had to." Redheart smiled. "So would I." Dennis looked between them. "You're all crazy." The two shared a laugh as the bell over the door chimed yet again. An older stallion approached the table. "Sweet Celestia!" The group looked in his direction. "It really is you..." He looked at Lyra. "You're Jay?" Lyra asked. "Call me James." He replied. "Good to finally meet you." Lyra reached out and shook his hoof. "You too, miss Pascal." He smiled to her. "Pascal?" Redheart gave Lyra a puzzled look. "A nickname.", She hesitated, "My second name actually.", she turned back to James, "So. How'd it go?" "Well. Lets just say I gave in my letter of resignation today." He said and held up a small flashdrive hanging from a lanyard. Lyra took it carefully. "You mean..." "It's all there." He smiled. "I can't believe you made it out with this..." Lyra stared at the drive in disbelief. Redheart looked between the two in confusion. "Wait, what's happening? What is that?" Lyra closed here eyes and took a deep breath. She held the drive out where the other two could see it. A small label on the side read 'Property of ERoCo.'. Redheart's mind clicked. "Is that?.." Lyra looked at her. "What would you give, to save a life?"