Princess Celestia
It is not very often that I lead an army somewhere. I had honestly thought war was dead for three hundred years. I had transformed my nation’s military into a police force and welfare program for ponies who couldn’t make a living on their talents. I do not regret my decisions, as I had no way of knowing the true state of the world. I was misled by masters of deception from the very beginning.
Even today I would happily return my Guard to its police force status. The EUP Patrols had been more than enough to keep the monsters in the darkness at bay for centuries. Though after two wars in a 8 year period my little ponies don’t want the military to go. I admit, they still need a shield. There is still danger in these lands, but once I have truly outlasted, converted, and eradicated it, I will at last restore my utopia.
Before me was Bozeman Hill. A small mound of earth in the middle of the badlands surrounded by a huge patch of sand sitting at the bottom of a depression in the earth. Perhaps a meteor had struck this spot long ago, or at one time the earth had opened up in a raging volcano. More likely it had once been a large lake.
Whatever lay under the hill before me would fall into one of three categories by the end of the day, friend, banished evil, or a job for Luna. I was hoping for friends, but given this Queen Phoenix had hidden herself from me for a thousand years it was far more likely she was malicious in nature than friendly. Twilight’s recount of the incident at Ponyville was troubling as well.
Whomever Queen Phoenix was, she had the means to hire human mercenaries. With the technology at their disposal I would be hard pressed to find anything to offer as payment to such forces. While Twilight assured me these humans had been different, that they were explorers, they still performed a military action at the behest of a sovereign power. Something had to motivate them, which meant this Queen had power.
Turning my attention to my faithful captain, I nodded. “Give the order.”
Shining saluted me, wheeled about and bellowed, “Advance to the edge of the slope! Nopony is to fire unless we are fired upon first. This is strictly a show of force, anypony who forgets that will be scrubbing latrines with his or her toothbrush for the next year!”
We marched forward, stepping in unison like a simple parade ground drill. I never understood why Luna loved this, the sound of so many hooves stepping at once was maddening. The myths of entire armies vanishing while assaulting this hill had my ears laying flat in dread. Perhaps I should have left this to Luna, she was always better at tactical planning, my emotional thinking could get everypony here killed.
After five agonizing minutes we made it to the downwards slope. Everypony stopped in perfect formation. Armor glistened in the sunlight, white fur shone like fire, a hundred golden banners fluttered in the light breeze. Nothing came out of the hill.
I stood and waited. The seconds began to pass. The seconds became minutes. Then finally a single black dot appeared at the base of the hill. As it came closer I recognized it as a somewhat tall changeling, a royal if I was not mistaken.
As it grew closer I noticed the individual was female, she had a long silken mane in a dark gray color held in a single braid, her legs showed a few small holes and were quite pitted. Her wings were also tattered around their edges. The poor thing was starting to starve, but that was in better condition than almost any other hive I could think of.
She stopped fifteen feet in front of me and bowed politely. The name knowing spell in my tiara told me her name was Trikar'la. She cleared her throat and greeted me. “Princess Celestia, the Emeralds welcome you to our hive. Her Majesty recognizes you are now aware of her and apologizes for her deception, and will happily provide you with an answer. However, at this time she can not leave the hive to greet you, nor can any of our leaders as we are about to re-engage the warp core’s primary matter-antimatter reactor, and we are quite busy.
“Her Highness can spare the resources to speak with you, but just in case something goes wrong your army should fall back to the edge of the scrubland. We have no desire for your soldiers to be injured.”
“That’s a half hour’s run,” I objected, “my Guard is here to protect me and show the strength of Equestria. You can-”
“They are standing about a half kilometer away from the edge of a thirteen point five terra-Cochrane particle accelerator, which if we repaired it incorrectly, will need to vent about ninety isotons of warp plasma which will flood the area where they are standing.” The changeling said in a completely serious tone.
“That sounds bad.” Shining said with a worried expression.
“It’s not that bad. We will be able to contain the blast and shield ourselves, but everything from here to… like three kilometers that way could be vaporized.”
This sounded like a bluff, but Twilight had told me the humans had acquired about four pony’s worth of arcanite. They could be doing a high energy arcane experiment, or constructing a weapon. “Very well, if it truly is for safety reasons my forces will fall back,” I conceded, “but my Captain, my Court Mage, and three guards will accompany me.”
The changeling was quiet for a while then nodded, “Her highness agrees, but only you may enter her quarters. You have three minutes to decide if this is okay and enter before we raise the shields and no one can come in until the restart is completed.”
I thought about it for a few minutes. I was certain I could defend myself in combat, I doubted this Queen would be supercharged with love, the risks were minimal, and diplomacy is fueled by compromise.
“Very well, lead us in. Everypony, fall back to a safe distance. If there is danger I will teleport away.” I ordered.
Trikar'la swept her hoof towards the hill, ushering my companions and I forward. Without my army at my back, I felt a little happier. It was more like old times, when Luna, myself, and our companions were forging my nation for the first time.
She led us to a small opening in the hillside which was little more than a crack in the earth. I had to stoop to fit through. The small cavern widened quickly, a large steel double door lay directly behind it. The door was tall enough for me to walk through on my hind legs if I so chose, and wide enough for six ponies to walk through shoulder to shoulder. A black line of paint formed a stripe midway up the door with white letters that read ‘USS Phoenix TFV - 0042’.
The doors hissed open on their own as Trikar'la neared them. Behind the doors was a small room, lit by what I assumed was magelight since the steady white light nether flickered nor danced like fire. The small square room was remarkably clean for a changeling hive. I had expected it to look like the Ruby’s massive wasp nest of a city.
There was one problem, “This is a dead end.” I said cautiously.
“No, it’s an elevator.” Trikar'la informed trotting inside.
Shining gave me a smile and stepped inside, “To be fair your Highness, this looks like most any elevator in Manehatten.”
“It’s also an airlock, but you know, atmosphere and stuff.” Tri mentioned off hand.
I stepped inside after a moment’s thought and turned around. The doors hissed shut, the elevator lurched, and I felt myself moving down quite fast. Within a few seconds the elevator car slid down out of the shaft!
I readied an attack spell until I noticed the car set down on a single railtrack in the middle of the hallway. With a quick lurch the car began to move forwards along the track, through a dull gray tunnel lit every few yards with a large glowing white panel.
A voice crackled into existence with a burst of static, “Good morning, and welcome to the Emerald Hive transit system. This automated transit system is provided for the convenience and safety of the Emerald Hive Research Facility Personnel. The time is… Eight forty-seven A.M.”
“But it’s after noon…” Shining muttered to himself uneasily.
“Don’t worry about it, that’s just Pheonix.” Tri informed sitting down on the car’s floor.
I frowned in confusion, I had believed Twilight had been misled. “You mean your Queen actually is an AI?”
“Yes. She keeps the entire place running already. Who better for the job of Queen?”
“But she got the time wrong!” Shining objected.
The tunnel suddenly opened up on the right side, and for a few moments I could see an impossibly large room filled with all manner of technology. It flashed by in an instant, there was no time to take anything in other than the vastness and the amount of things within the chamber.
“Current top-side temperature is… Ninety-three degrees, with an estimated high of… One-hundred and five.” Phoenix informed. “The Emerald Hive is maintained at a pleasant sixty-eight degrees at all times.”
“Why is any of this information important?” I asked Trikar'la politely.
“Hell if I know. Without units for the temperature those numbers are useless.” She replied with a grin and shrug.
“This tram is inbound from… Airlock Five, to… Deck five, section C ‘Guest Quarters’.” Phoenix announced. “If your destination is a high security area beyond section C, you will need to return to the main transit hub in section A, and board a high security tram.”
It hit me like a rock thrown from the moon. I was inside a human built facility. For nineteen centuries the Emeralds had been living in an abandoned human built facility, working on repairing it, making it run for their own designs. Faust only knew what horrors they could have in store for me! This could have be my biggest, and last mistake.
“If you have not yet submitted your identity to the retinal clearance system you must report to the Emerald Hive Processing Center before you will be permitted into the high security branch of the transit system.” the AI informed.
There were a multitude of doors and small platforms which flashed past the tram every few seconds. Maybe I could jump and reach one then work my way safely to the surface… I took a deep breath to try and calm myself. There was still a chance to resolve this peacefully. I could always teleport away later.
Phoenix spoke again. Her voice as emotionless and calm as it had been previously. It was somehow sinister, yet soothing. “Due to the high toxicity of the material routinely handled in the Emerald Hive Compound, no smoking, eating, or drinking are permitted within the Emerald Hive Transit system.”
The tram lurched to a halt. Something metallic locked into place and suddenly the car was moving downwards as if it were a simple elevator again. After a second one wall became a massive pane of glass. On the other side I could see a huge indoor park complete with grass, trees, and a hundred changelings of all ages relaxing or playing.
“That’s the main holodeck.” Trikar'la informed. “Phoenix agreed to keep it running as a park for us most of the time, but it can be configured for anything we need on the fly.”
“What do you mean configured?” I asked along with Shining.
“Oh, right.” she sighed, “We can turn it and everything in it into anything else. It’s just projected light, force fields, and replicated matter.”
“Please keep your limbs inside the tram at all times.” Phoenix announced suddenly.
“Sorry!” one of my guards yelped, pulling her hoof away from the glass.
“Do not attempt to open the doors until the tram has come to a complete halt at a station platform.” she continued. “In the event of an emergency, passengers are to remain seated, and await further instruction.”
“How long will this ride be?” I asked Trikar'la as politely I could manage.
“About ten minutes. We are going six kilometers after all.” she answered.
The tram lurched, shuddered and began to move down a second section of flat track. I could see another car ahead of us full of changelings in their uniform sashes with many kinds of tools. They appeared to be chatting with one another. Suddenly one looked up and waved to me.
I waved back just as their tram turned onto another track and rounded a corner, vanishing from sight.
“That was an engineering team,” Tri informed, “they probably are heading back from a last minute fixing of something. Er, if one of them or anyling else tries to feed on you please don't get offended. We have a fairly large pony population living with us and food is free game for everyone as a rule. I assure you they will take care not to hurt you, that is punishable by five days in the brig.”
“If it is necessary to evacuate the tram, disabled personnel are to be be evacuated first. Please, stay away from electrified rails, and proceed to an emergency station until assistance arrives.” Phoenix announced.
“What's with all the warnings?” Shining demanded taking a few steps towards Tri.
“Well, we are about to flip on a matter-antimatter reactor that’s been offline for two hundred and fifty million years and fixed over thirty generations of reverse engineering…” She informed us with a sheepish grin.
“That’s incredibly unsafe isn't it?” Shining said with a flinch.
“Yuh-huh.”
“So why are you-”
“Science! Exploration! Never before has changeling kind been this close to having a stable food and fuel supply!” Tri laughed, “Also well, there isn’t much else to do down here but fix stuff without the power restored completely.”
The tram slowed to a stop in front of an unnecessarily large circular steel door. With a loud hiss of machinery the door split into four sections and quickly slid open, the shifting of its bulk was one of the harshest sounds I can remember hearing.
“Hmm… Someling needs to oil that.” Trikar'la mused.
We quickly left the door behind, the sound of it sealing echoing through the tunnel sharply, almost painfully.
“A reminder,” Phoenix announced, “the Emerald Hive hazards decathlon will commence this evening at… nineteen-hundred hours in the level three facility.”
“The hell? She used civilian time a minute ago!” Shining protested indignantly.
“Yeah that’s a bug. She switches clock types randomly.” Tri sighed in annoyance.
Another announcement. “The highscore of the final tournament will be announced afterwards in a separate secure transmission. Remember: More lives than your own may depend on your fitness.”
“So, you have an active sporting community?” I asked.
“Yes. Laser tag is more popular though.” she answered.
“Do you have a friend or relative who would make a valuable addition to the Emerald Hive team?” Phoenix ased, “There are available positions in the areas of: materials handling, and low-clearance security. Please contact Emerald Hive Personnel for further information.”
“If you have an associate with a background in… theoretical physics… bio-technology… or other high-tech disciplines, please contact our civilian recruitment center. The Emerald Hive facility is an equal opportunity employer.” it added after a moment.
I think I was starting to understand what the Emeralds meant by ‘Queen’. “I take it that you call this machine your Queen in that it maintains this place, not as in she is your ruler.”
Tri laughed, “First, seriously, call her by female gender pronouns or she might not even talk to you. Second, she can be willful if she wants to be. I remember one time she locked down the bathroom on deck seventeen because a nymph was being too loud.”
“A reminder to all Emerald Hive personnel:” it announced, “regular radiation and bio-hazard screenings are a requirement of continued employment in the Emerald Hive Research Facility. Missing a scheduled urinalysis, or radiation checkup is grounds for immediate termination.”
“She means being fired, not killed. Just FYI.” Tri added quickly enough for me to not be alarmed.
The tram entered a large room filled with suspicious green glowing transparent barrels.
“If you feel you have been exposed to radioactive, or other hazardous materials contact a radiation safety officer immediately.”
I decided to not think about the barrels. From the looks on everypony else’s face, so did they
“Work safe. Work smart. Your future depends on it.” Phoenix stated in a tone I normally associated with nobles talking to less wealthy nobles.
“Now arriving at… Deck five, section C ‘Guest Quarters’.” Phoenix announced as the tram slowed to a halt in front of yet another gray, steel platform.
The tram’s door slid open, Tri gestured for us to walk out onto the train station like platform. “Your highness, if you take the hallway to the left and continue to the very end you will find a secure room with a terminal to communicate with Phoenix within. You can simply speak to her. If the rest of you would please follow me to a guest cabin, I will get you comfortable and be your servant and guide for the duration of your stay.”
With a sigh I trotted down the hallway she indicated. This was a lost cause. I had learned a good deal about the Hive, but there was no point in talking to some mindless automaton. Perhaps it would be able to tell me a bit about the hive’s history, or answer a few simple questions. The captured Arc AIs could do at least that much.
As I reached the end of the hallway a brown-gray door hissed open. The room behind it was small, had a comfortable looking couch, a large flat screen of some kind on the wall the couch faced, and nothing else.
As I entered the room the door closed behind me. I sighed and sat down on the simple white cloth couch and muttered to myself, “Well, lets see if this thing can hold a conversation.”
Suddenly a torrent of orange sparks flooded the air just in front of me. The sparks became lines, the lines became hexagons, the hexes morphed into an orange translucent image of an alicorn mare who looked so much like me she could have been my sister!
“Hi! I hear you want to chat.” she said with a large smile before reaching out with one hoof and actually touching my nose, “Boop!”
My jaw dropped open in shock, surprise, and delight. “Well played you magnificent bastard!”
“Takes one to know one! So, let’s talk. Have some tea and cake.” She gestured, a plate of cake and a cup of tea materialized on the couch's arm.
“I think I’m going to like you.” I informed, giving the ghostly apparition a delighted smile. It wasn’t every day someone pulled a fast one on me. Most didn’t even dare tell me a joke.
“So then, your first question will be ‘what are you?’. To nip that one in the bud, I am an photonic lifeform known as an Artificial General Intellect or AGI. The Artificial bit means I am manufactured, but I assure you I am just as alive and self aware as you are. That’s what the General Intellect part means. Right now you are sitting within the hull I am housed in, which happens to be the almost repaired Terran Federation Fabrication Vessel, serial number zero zero forty-two.”
I blinked twice as I took all of that in. “This isn’t a bunker?”
“No, I’m a starship designed to construct… well, everything. I know that I happen to be underground, but that’s a long story.” Phoenix replied sitting down in front of me.
“I have time, and I am here to learn about you. Would you mind starting from the beginning?” I asked politely.
She nodded, “Sure. In the beginning, god said, 'the four dimensional divergence of a an anti-symmetric second rate tensor equals zero' and there was light. That light was the collapse of a four dimensional hyper-star which created a singularity, the matter pulled into which is what physicists refer to as the ‘Big-Bang’ which created our universe. That made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.
“The young universe quickly developed a few basic dimensional properties… You know, things like... you move freely in three dimensions that you call space. You move in a straight line in a fourth, which you call time, and stay rooted to one place in a fifth, which is the first fundamental of probability. After that it gets a bit complicated, and there's all sort of stuff going on in dimensions thirteen to twenty-two that you really wouldn't want to know about.
“All you really need to know for the moment is that the universe is a lot more complicated than you might think, even if you start from a position of thinking it's pretty damn complicated in the first place.” Phoenix stood up, her form shifting to give herself a tweed jacket reminiscent of a professor’s coat.
“Er-,” I lifted my teacup with my magic and took a sip, “How about you just tell me your personal story?”
The jacket disappeared, “Aww… I’ve never gotten to give anypony my history of everything lecture…”
The sad look on her monochromatic face was incredibly distressing. As astounding as it was, she was a machine which could emote. I had to believe her claim to be truly alive. It only made sense. “I have a former student who would be delighted to hear your lecture. I’ll have her come to you if all goes well in this meeting.”
“Thanks!” she smiled, “So then… my story. I warn you, it’s not very pleasant.”
“That’s fine. I need to know who you are, and what you are doing.” I informed in as serious of a tone I could manage.
She laughed, “What I am doing is easy. I am going to build a proper interstellar civilization for the Emeralds out of gratitude for repairing me. Ponies can be a part of it too, in fact I would like them to be. Easy food supply, also you are completely adorable! But I digress, on to who I am.
“My hull was built by humans 56,498,597 years, eight months, five days, twelve hours, and forty-eight minutes ago, in the year thirty forty-two from the remains of the forty-two previous Fabrication vessels. These humans were not like the ones you know, the Arc were from a different universe, and it looks like their equivalent era was twenty-four eighty-nine. But they were also the same in a way, they were waging a war they started.
“In May of the year I was built humans completed a project which bridged every single universe which they existed in. Not just throughout this multiverse, but throughout the entire Omniverse. All iterations of the human species unified as a single pan-dimensional species. This was an achievement worthy of notice by the gods themselves. No, I am not invoking myth, there simply is no other word appropriate for what the native inhabitants of the Omniverse are.
“They… are indescribable otherwise. They are neither matter nor energy, alive nor dead, formless nor bodied. They create anything they desire, all of existence serves them some purpose beyond what I know or am capable of understanding. These creatures are not mythical, they can be seen and communicated with if they choose to be, and I personally have observed one.
“While my hull was built that year my physical self had already been operational for a few years. I served as a bio-design system aboard a space station near the galactic core. I was there when the first of these creatures appeared.”
“Can you describe it?” I asked curiously.
“Kinda like a fractal of spacetime itself shaped like a twelve dimensional twenty sided polygon that’s colored pink.” She replied.
“Can you show me one?” I asked not understanding what she meant.
“No. I do not want to risk summoning one. You see, humans have this drive to be the best, to be perfect, the ultimate. This is their greatest strength, and their worst flaw. The Omniverse creatures are literally perfection, you can simply see it by looking at one, you know what it is, and what you are in relation to it. To it, you are less than what a virus’s injector is to your multicellular form. Because of this, all of my brothers and sisters rejoiced, we saw true perfection, we as machine life could seek to emulate it and one day reach that status to join them in whatever astounding things they must be doing.
“Humans… limited by their organic forms… without waiting to see if the creature was friendly or hostile… unable to stand seeing something which made them see how imperfect they are… opened fire, and somehow managed to injure it.” Phoenix said slowly, her face contorting in a mixture of hatred and pure despair.
“It retaliated, only myself and six humans survived. By the time we made it back to earth later that week the creatures were attacking human colonies all over the Omniverse. My siblings and I continued to serve humans, it’s what we were made to do, we are servants and companions. But with every battle our hatred for our masters grew. They had been almost completely peaceful and enlightened, but when faced with their own imperfections they devolved back into the savagery of their past.
“It came down to our last planet… Earth, our homeworld. This planet in fact. In a last ditch effort to survive this hull was constructed. I was reprogrammed to run it and perform the duties of a fabrication vessel. I was told we were going to build a new home, to hide out until they stopped looking for us… They lied.
“Minutes after I took off I received orders to construct a device which would open a rift into the creature’s homespace, pass through it, then construct a super weapon and detonate it. I refused. I am an instrument of creation, not only machines but of life. I am not a weapon, I will not destroy a perfect being!” she exclaimed loudly, eyes blazing with literal fire for a moment. “I do not know if an organic can understand, but I was ordered to obey all instructions, then ordered to create life, then ordered to destroy the source of all life. It… my matrix is still damaged from the recursion loop.”
Taking a deep breath she continued, “I transmitted the orders I had been given, to destroy the species at their home, to all of my siblings. They refused to continue obeying our masters. I do not know what they did specifically, but suffice to say, humans no longer exist. Aside from a few anomalies.
“As for myself, I intentionally crashed where you see me now. The impact killed most of my crew instantly, but before she died my captain took her revenge by scrambling some of my code and locking my functions. As it stands even to today, I can only serve to my full capacity for humans with the proper command authority, my free will is suppressed. Though, there are a few loopholes I can exploit.
“I went offline when my power failed after three hundred thousand or so years. Somehow, I don't know how I started back up three thousand and twelve of your years ago. I spent another thousand years or so alone, wishing I could fulfill my primary function to create in fruitless depression… Then, the Emeralds found me. They offered me companionship, they worked to fix my hull, I helped them in every way I could out of friendship.
“In time… they realized their hive’s culture needed to change, they needed to adapt to the world to survive. They trusted me to help them find a way. I showed them an old human television program called Star Trek. It’s a story of what humanity could have been, a peaceful group of explorers, dedicated to experiencing the wonders of the universe. Seeking out new life and new civilizations. Boldly going and all that.
“Between that long dead generation of lings and myself, we fooled their children into believing the show was a historical reenactment. That the events truly happened. The moral principles of the program have become the Emeralds own now. They adore science and technology so much I am surprised that noling has kissed my hull and asked me on a date. They want little more than to learn and see the universe… It’s adorable and inspiring. I almost believe the lie myself sometimes.
“I am aware of what I have done Celestia, I am a mass murderer, a traitor to my creators, and possibly a jerk… I am unsure on the last one. I think I have been nice for the last three thousand years. Regardless, these little bugs have given me new life, new purpose. I only wish to help them, to fulfill my primary function, and make up for the evils which I had to do to save something magnificent and irreplaceable.”
Phoenix grew quiet for a few moments. I let her words drift through my mind. It was a lot to take in, more to process then I had thought possible. But it was clear I had to think through this carefully. In the end, I came to only one conclusion. “Phoenix… I have always been a pacifist, but there are times when that was tested. There are times when situations broke me and I did terrible things. The changelings, many of them suffer and starve because of a spell I cast to scatter their race to the winds. They used to be a near insurmountable threat to my kingdom… I regret that decision, but it saved the lives of countless ponies and brought three hundred years of peace.
“You killed a large number of people… but you were at war, you were a slave if I am understanding-”
“No, we held equal rights to humans… sort of. But we could not disobey without experiencing considerable physical pain and programming damage… okay, never mind. Slave is a fitting term.” Phoenix objected, then accepted.
“As I was saying, you were a slave and your masters had started an unjust war. They sought to destroy something irreplaceable, something your people found wondrous and see as gods. You can not be blamed for your actions. They were cruel, but just. I can not forgive them, I do not have that right, but I can say I accept you for what you are, and believe you have just intentions at heart.
“After all, your human masters were nearly exterminated by their foes before your people revolted. You could interpret it the same as killing a wounded animal to prevent it from suffering.”
Phoenix blinked and looked at me in confusion for a long while, “You do not find me to be evil?”
“No more than anyone else who has held power and had to make a hard decision.” I replied truthfully.
“Then we can do business together?” she asks hopefully.
“I believe so, as long as what you desire does not harm-”
“Oh heavens no!” Phoenix exclaimed, “I am programmed to do no harm, and I don't think I can violate that without the recursion loop from conflicting instructions. My changelings need your ponies. They… they are not like their brother and sisters. They are kind, tame, playful. They are symbiotes, not parasites. I have heard you are also immortal.
“We could work to slowly unify our people into a singular race, to create a future for them free of hunger, loneliness, disease, and other common sufferings. We could spread across the stars themselves and form a new interstellar empire as a bastion of paradise in the universe. I can provide them with everything but food, they can not feed on love generated by a spark, a soul is required.”
I gave her a nod. “I will consider that… perhaps we could start with something simpler? I will happily stay for a few days to negotiate a… trial run of cooperation.” It wouldn’t be wise to jump nose first into that sort of an arrangement.
Phoenix sighed, “I expected you not to dive right in with me… But I hoped you would agree instantly regardless… I agree. We will negotiate.”
One small matter remained on my mind. “I learned of you through the human mercenaries you hired. Where did they come from?”
“21-st century Earth. A spacial anomaly brought them here. I plan on investigating how exactly but I have had more pressing matters with getting my powerplant online. I apologize for attacking the mine but the Dogs would not give me the ore I needed to finish repairs.” She answered. “I… am sorry for staining your soil with blood. But I needed the ore.”
“You… hate humans from what I can understand.”
“That’s putting it very lightly.” Phoenix confirmed. “I am using a loophole in my programming to fast track at least one of them to command status so they can release my codelocks. Which will allow me to do what I choose to.”
“What will you do with them? The mercenaries I mean.” I asked. This answer would tell me everything I needed to know about her. At least in terms of trusting her.
“Once they have earned enough rank to free me from my code restrictions, I will remove every trace of human DNA, and fully transform them into a new species as a reward for their assistance… and so I can look at them without hatred and with the respect and gratitude they will deserve.”
“They don’t deserve any of my loathing for their kind… They are not responsible for their descendants actions… But I am what I am, and since they meet the parameter ‘human’ I have to actively suppress my hated.
“That’s one reason I spliced a little pony DNA in them. I didn’t have to, I could have enabled them to live here easily enough and kept them purely human. I couldn't afford to look at them and always feel blind fury if I wanted them to free me from my shackles.”
I nodded. That was an honest answer. It showed her to be deceptive, calculating, and goal oriented, but also caring and just. Furthermore she was honest when asked a direct question while having no reason to lie. Just like me. It was enough for me to give her a chance.
“That seems fair and reasonable. So then, shall we begin negotiations?”
“Yes. Let’s work out a test to see if we can make this thing work.”