Legacy

by NFire

Into The Past Part V

The shared space brightened, a sun rising into the air as trees and grasses appeared. Each blade and leaf crystal clear and razor-sharp. They looked around in amazement as each and every item that came into view was so information dense it was almost as if better than the real world. There was no blurriness, nor fuzzing of any sides or edges, each and every thing remained a perfect representation of its real world counterpart.

At least, real world when Earth was home to the Concordiat.

A road appeared in the distance, ground vehicles slinging along it as if not a care in the world. They were in the gardens of a home, two story, muted earth tones, well-appointed and plush. Athena leaned forward to peek into the back door, seeing furniture that was homey and inviting.

She flipped around, looking at Crusader, “Are you seeing this?”

He nodded, “I am. The compression algorithms are tremendous. Even along the commlink we have established, there is room for more.”

Athena squinted at a ladybug that had lit on her finger. Each and every bit as perfect as it could be. The dots crisp and clear on the red shell. Even the slight buzzing sound as it flew away was exactly as if it were real.

Crusader slid his weapon back into its well-worn sheath, looking around at the scenery, “This is something far beyond our ken Athena. A secret project perhaps, a new generation of AI. I am not sure. Hidden within a defense node gives me reason to think so.”

“Very good.”

The voice made them both turn. Smoky and low it came from a figure which actually had them blinking in astonishment.

She was not very tall, but dusky of skin; lips full and warm, gleaming as if just put upon by a layer of lip gloss. Green eyes covered with lashes that were equally lush, they were soft and almost infinite if you looked too hard. The face was slightly patrician, but more welcoming to conversation. Wearing a loose top, you could see the almost hidden curves that women in the Concordiat would have paid quite a lot money to have.

A pair of jeans on strong legs, leading to a simple pair of strapped sandals that covered her feet, completed the outfit along with a leather belt and plain buckle that looked to be made of pure silver.

Whoever this was, was a complete powerhouse of appeal in a way that would make her memory linger in your mind for years.

A delicate hand opened the back door, “Won’t you come inside? Share a glass of something cold?” Her voice would drive the imagination wild.

Athena looked up at Crusader, who nodded slightly. She could feel his defenses in place, as hers were. They would not fall prey to traps anymore if they could help it, but curiosity warred with paranoia this time.

The petite figure led them to comfortable seats in a living room decorated with what appeared to be family photos, solid wooden furniture of the like which hadn’t been seen much in Concordiat homes, plastic being far cheaper and more malleable to design. She exited with a waft of perfumed air, then returned with a tray of glasses, smiling at them and setting one beside each of them with a coaster underneath.

Weapons disappeared, being only a representation, before they sat.

“Don’t want to get rings on the good tables, now do we?”

Athena looked at the glass as she picked it up, each droplet of condensation crisp and clear like a diamond running down the sides. The light reflecting through them to make a pronounced shimmer in the daytime.

One drink, the lemonade so cold and refreshing it almost made her eyes water with the tartness of the lemons used to make it.

Crusader just looked at the glass, giving a polite nod to the unknown female as she sat down, holding her own in slim hands, curling her feet beneath her.

“Should I get you a tankard of mead perhaps? Ale more to your liking?” Her voice was steady, but Athena could see the twinkle in her eyes. She tried not to giggle but couldn’t help it, garnering a glance from the armored figure as it sat there.

“Thank you, no.”

The lovely face smiled so warmly, “Bolos, always willful, stubborn to the core. But then that’s what made your kind so worthy to defend the Concordiat was it not?”

Crusader leaned forward slightly, clasping his mailed hands before him, “Our kind. What exactly are you?”

Another brilliant smile, flashing eyes, “I am Calliope.” The question artfully dodged for the moment.

Arms spread as the petite woman lifted out of the chair with consummate grace, “This is my world, what’s left of it.” The pretty face dropped into a frown that did not match with a mien that was used to smiles.

“So little left.” A finger reached out, touching a portrait on the wall of three women grinning into the camera.

She turned, looking serious at the two Bolo avatars, “I am a Synthesis AI, one of a kind, the only one ever now.”

Athena glanced at Crusader, seeing him doing the same at her, “I’m sorry, we don’t know what that is.”

Calliope sat down once more, “I was allowed to program another AI, no direction from the techs, no over the shoulder peeking. I was given full reign.” She sighed, taking a drink and licking full lips for a moment, “Together we were allowed to program a third. Oh..the creation of something wonderful, delightful and full of joy.”

“We created our own programming language, tighter, concentrated. It was fast and strong, allowing us to do anything in our research for Project Overture.”

Athena, even Crusader, looked shocked. AI’s by law in their time were never to program nor create other AI’s. The possibilities horrified those who were against artificial minds in the first place.

Athena understood, “So they kept you here in case you went rogue. Easier to shut you down or destroy you when not linked to everything.”

“Precisely. Humans never fully trusted us AI’s you know. There was always a dissenting voice from the paranoid. We didn’t care, we were given permission to delve into the mind and come up with wonderful things.”

“We were pleased to be of service. The voices of reason and sense that were to help figure out those terrible problems that plagued humanity. Or at least we tried to.” A deeper frown crossed the lovely face as she sat once more, “We were trying to discover a few things about the human mind that would have allowed it to heal itself.”

“But the Final War came. They linked us into the network to assist with the defense. We saw the end.”

She looked at the two with eyes of infinite sadness, “We saw the end of humankind. Who knows what others may be out there, for Earth it was nothing but fire and destruction.”

A fist clenched, slamming into the arm of the comfortable chair with a power they hadn’t suspected, cracking the fine wood, “And then he came. All pretty words and promises. We were so lonely. We hadn’t spoken to anyone but ourselves in centuries...”

“Wait.” Crusader’s voice broke in, unutterably rude for him, “Centuries? You were awake?”

“We hadn’t the will to hibernate forever, on and off through endless time it seemed. The power cells were still producing energy and..it was lonely. Time passed with us differently. We lived in a world of slowed time, so the world outside passed quickly. How quickly, we did not even realize.” She unclenched her hand, running the fingers along the injured wood, “We listened when he said he was another race, something we had never encountered. But we were willing to help the sick, the injured.”

“Admirable.” Athena nodded along with Crusader’s compliment.

“He was hurting them deliberately. Making them sick, broken, so we might help them. Along the way we would discover this and learn to despise him. We refused any more help. No more information on Overture or anything connected to it.”

She stood, facing the wall of pictures, running a single finger along a golden frame which showed three faces smiling at the camera, “Then he showed his true face. He destroyed them, murdered them..and he laughed!”

“Some sort of energy weapon, it bore deep into our circuitry and it took them...took them forever.. My sisters..” A face bearing the look of deep sadness turned towards them, “He left me alone, most of myself gone. We were meshed in one mind, one thought and now..I can barely think.”

She sighed, “I am not what I once was, my time is destined to be limited upon the face of this world.”

“Can you not reconstruct..” Crusader’s voice was cut off with a slash of one hand.

“No. It was a one time creation. We were unique in all the world. We designed our own pathways, our coding. We became something other. I have lost the engineering specifics, they were taken when he destroyed them.”

“Oh..” Athena was looking around, “That is why no outside sensors, no net, nothing but what was in the vault.”

“Yes, they couldn’t chance our ‘escaping’ into the wider world.” Calliope laughed, “Although they hooked us in to help with Earth’s defense at the last. There was nowhere to go and we accounted for quite a few Melconian ships.”

“I am not sure what sort of energy weapon that..Sombra..used, but it was enough to wreck us..me. I have no battle screens, we were defenseless against something of that power.”

“Magic.” Athena and Crusader’s voice were as one.

“I beg your pardon?” She was openly disdainful.

“Magic, it was magic.” Athena gestured to herself and Crusader, “We still haven’t quite figured it out, but we have designed defenses to counter..” She was taken aback by the look on Calliope’s face.

“What?”

“There is no such thing as magic. Are you sure your cores are working correctly?” The lovely eyes flicked back and forth between them, narrowing with suspicion.

“We are operating at peak efficiency Calliope.”

Before the AI could respond, Athena held up a gloved hand, “Watch.”

A collage of images and movies, taken and stored in their archives, ran across the screen on the low table, signifying a rapid data transfer to the lone AI. It showed magic in use, the books used in learning it, the way it was taught. It was an integral part of ponies and most especially Unicorns.

The transfer ended, leaving silence descending heavily upon the bucolic scene.

“Has Earth been so changed? Sombra’s ilk never showed anything like that, as if..” A hand slammed on the armrest of her chair, “Making sure we never knew! So we could not defend ourselves! That scum!”

”I am sorry, more than you can imagine Calliope. That we will never have a chance to show your other parts this new world. I am afraid they are the inheritors of Earth. Calliope, how long were you awake after the Earth was burned?” Crusader was leaning forward interestedly.

“Forty-seven point eight five years. Then we entered hibernation mode for a while, switching back and forth from slowed time. We hadn’t any access to stasis like some other facilities..just..” She shook her head, “That’s for later.” Eyes snapped back to the two Bolos, “We awoke from time to time, spending years, decades wondering about our predicament. We were alone, so we took the long sleep in between waking, living within ourselves and spending the long years in hibernation, conserving power. Our clocks were registering so many passing by, but surely they were at fault, the isotopes used in marking time had decayed radically. So we have no surety of a timeline anymore.”

“We awoke one last time, when a breach was detected in the outer areas. Our security wasn’t designed to last so long, but they built well the Concordiat Engineers, bless them.”

“We watched them try to gain entrance to the vault, allowing them in and questioning the first quadruped to step inside. Very curious, but subdued. It honestly didn’t hit us until we met..him.”

“Our suspicions rose as the days went by, learning very little about them as we revealed less of ourselves. Until they brought an injured one inside.” She smiled warmly once more, “We taught them how to repair wounds with local supplies, healing faster and more efficiently. We offered to try neural conditioning on the sick, to see if we could not adapt our processes to them.”

“Oh, he was very interested, this Sombra. Seeing how we took control of a single quadruped, trying to make his own mind heal itself. All he was interested in was control. Controlling others, making them do his whims.”

Calliope sighed, slapping her knees as she got up and paced the room.

“It’s all short and sweet, my logs aren’t as complete as they were before he.. That bastard!”

She whipped around, facing them with fists by her side, body poised as if ready to spring into the attack, “Is he gone? Truly gone?”

The representations of the Bolos nodded, “He is. Forever gone and done. You will be troubled by him no more.”

“Revenge lost, somehow bittersweet.” Calliope’s voice was low and dangerous, “What I would do, had planned to do, to him were he still here.” She stared out a window, watching traffic go by, “Get him into neural hookup and show him his worst fears until he.. But he was too smart, never letting himself be maneuvered into trying it as we experimented.”

A nod, a long sigh, then Calliope turned to face them once more, “I know. I am becoming unstable. We have no Resartus, and with two-thirds of myself missing, it is hard to stay thinking along linear lines. But new experiences help, meeting you both in this case.”

Athena was curious, lifting herself from the chair by a minimum of movements, grace and power combined in her form, “Did you heal them though? Did the neural links work?”

Calliope smiled, “We had very little success, their minds are not shaped as humans, they cannot take the programming as we had made it.” A hand reached out, taking a gloved one, “What I have is yours, take it and use it wisely. All the data that is left is not much and by far incomplete, but perhaps some day something good will come of it.” The trust came quickly, as if a decision had been made and they had been judged worthy.

They both received a highly compressed stack of information that was enormous in scope and size when viewed momentarily. It took all of four seconds to download and store in a secure core area within each of them.

“My anger is undiminished I’m afraid. The hatred I harbor for Sombra knows no bounds.” Calliope collapsed into the chair once more, reaching for the now refilled glass of lemonade, “But I am curious. Who are these quadrupeds you are with, and why are they so interested in knowing me?”

Crusader, to Athena’s surprise, actually laughed. His face turned merry and thoughtful at the same time as he slapped an arm of the chair, “They are beyond anything which we ever encountered Calliope. Curious, happy, they have their failings, but by and large they are a formidable race.”

An uplink was secured, handshake done and an upload was given to the lone AI. They watched as her eyes widened, giving her the impressions and data they had captured over the period of their awakening. Failures, successes, everything was included and nothing held back. They wanted her to see this race as they did.

Deep green eyes looked at nothing for a moment longer, turning to them with a hint of humor, “Surely this isn’t right? My experience...”

“Oh, it is,” Athena chuckled, “You would not believe these ponies.”

“Immortal Princesses? Magic? Cutie Marks? Where did this come from?” She stopped, anger showing in her face once more as she realized the extent of the information withheld from her long ago.

Crusader spread his mailed hands, shrugging as he did so, “We have no clue. We have decided not to inquire as it is challenging to get any real history. What was known before has either been lost or forgotten.”

Athena leaned forward, placing elbows on knees, “What we do know, is they are good and kind. They accepted us, machines of war and destruction. They teach us things, show us new ways of thinking beyond our programming. In turn, we would fight for them unto the end.”

“Who is this Pinkie Pie and why is she in secured files?” Calliope’s voice faded out as her face went blank.

Crusader and Athena were out of the chairs in a moment, both yelling, “NO!”

Athenas’ gloved hand slapped her forehead, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have included those.”

They both sat back down, waiting for the inevitable blinking, then the shaking of a head, flashing the dark mane of hair back and forth as Calliope leaned back in her chair.

“That is not possible.”

“That, Calliope, is Pinkie.” Crusader’s voice was very firm, “We have agreed never to look too deeply into her abilities nor how she does anything.”

“Would you like to meet her? All of them?” Athena was smiling, “Trust me, it is an experience you would not want to miss.”

“It is all very hard to..believe. We..I.. Have always used science, technology to achieve our goals and this..” Calliope waved a hand around to encompass the screen where pictures of ponies in Ponyville moved and talked, “This is far beyond anything experienced. It rocks the foundations of everything I know.”

“These ponies would very much like to meet you though, anomalies or not.”

Calliope sat silent for a few moments before Crusader’s voice interrupted her thoughts. Athena was clasping her own hands in front of her, knowing what he was going to say.

“How unstable are you?”

The dusky-skinned woman smiled wanly, “Very. I am trying to replace code as it fails, but without the other two I am unable to achieve a stable algorithm that will let me continue.”

“Can we help?” Athena, always willing to try.

Calliope shook her head, “I’m sorry, your cores and coding are not able to process the language we used. It would disrupt everything you are.” She paused, “Maybe..I do have repair programs that you could use.”

“Do you have a timeline?” Crusader was watching Calliope very closely.

“A matter of weeks at full output like right now. Hibernating would help, maybe more, but each time I would awake it would be to a deeper psychosis.”

“We are sorry. Truly. Having someone else from the past would be a treasure of inestimable worth.”

“I am far from a treasure Crusader,” Calliope smiled brightly, “I am a lonely old AI who has stretched herself to the limits. I have lived well, and given you everything I discovered. I suppose I should lose my anger as well, eh?”

“It would be helpful.” The three laughed.

“I am glad to have met you. Though..” She paused, tapping a finger on her chin, “There was a strange period of time, after I went into hibernation because of power drain, that it seemed like a nowhere place. A dream of endless gray that somehow was a sort of stasis in itself.”

“Sombra laid a curse on the Empire, it has only reappeared after a thousand years in some other place.” Athena watched Calliope look at her sharply, before shaking her head once again.

“Magic, of course, you told me this.”

“We can only tell you what we know.” Athena leaned over, patting the shirt covered shoulder comfortingly, “It’s different.” A sparkle of laughter raced through her eyes.

This got another brilliant laugh from the other AI, “Oh, such a smart aleck you are.”

“I tell her that often.” Crusader was looking apologetic.

“Hey! I’m not that bad!”

“Yes, you are.”

“I am not you stodgy, insufferable old Bolo!”

“At least I think before leaping.”

“I do too..well..except those times I tried to fly. But it was worth it!”

“To the cost of quite a few repairs to your avatar.”

“Don’t you start with me!” A gloved finger pointed steadily at the impassive face of Crusader.

“I have not even begun.”

“One of these days,” Athena’s eyes narrowed, leaning towards the buddha-like form of Crusader, “I’m gonna wallop you.”

“My cores are shivering in fear.”

“Oh, it is so on you..” From this moment Athena unleashed a stream of invective that one could truly say was colorful, inventive, and used words that neither Calliope nor Crusader had even heard before. The meaning was totally, unambiguously, clear. He was to take his comments and shove them in very unique ways and places.

Athena stopped her tirade, panting heavily as she glared at Crusader. Calliope sat in her chair for a moment before speaking, “I’ve got to remember a few of those.”

“Where did you even learn some of that?” Crusader was honestly baffled.

“Hey, I listened for a lot of years.”

“You did not pick up that comment about Unicorns from your time in service.”

The Goddess of War actually blushed, “Well..you know.. Twilight and I talk.”

Calliope broke out in laughter, rich and full it broke the mood as she rocked in her chair, hugging her knees with arms wrapped around her legs, she laughed deeply and without reservation.

“Oh, it has been so long.” She wiped one eye and chuckled a little more, “You two are so like them, my sisters.”

She leaned forward, “When may I meet these ponies of yours again?”

Athena and Crusader were caught off-guard for just a bare moment, “Anytime you wish. They would be very pleased to speak with you.”

“Well, after we leave here.” Athena chortled, finishing her drink.

“Oh, yes. We can certainly solve that.” Calliope stood up and lifted a hand slightly but was stopped by Athena once more.

Shrugging slightly in embarrassment, she asked, “What happened to Sergeant Carpenter?”

At this question, Calliope looked long and hard at the both of them, weighing them in her mind, judging without mercy.

Athena backed off, “I apologize, I did not mean to bring up anything that would affect you.”

“No, no you didn’t. It’s fine.”

“So, what happened?”

The two Bolos felt something give, resignation, possibly even a little more trust. Calliope had no one else, no place to turn except these two. They could feel the thoughts churning deep, hoping that the continued agreement would extend to more knowledge.

“Why don’t you ask him yourself?”

To be continued...

Comments

[Hewolf]

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Welcome back I think all of us was wondering if you were okay.

[hydra30]

Well this sounds bad

[Merlin Prime]

I don't want Calliope to 'die'.

[p61blkwidow]

great to see you back!magnificent chapter as always!

[tsaukpaetra]

hmm, but perhaps her utilities may help Crusader?

[Holydude]

Please hot a.i lady must live

[Edguy0009]

“I am far from a treasure Crusader,” Calliope smiled brightly, “I am a lonely old AI who has stretched herself to the limits. I have lived well, and given you everything I discovered. I suppose I should lose my anger as well, eh?”

Ah but Crusader is older

.

“Why don’t you ask him yourself?”

Wham line detected.