Three Square Meals Ch. 127

"I will," Irillith agreed, turning her attention to the console.

She gathered her will, feeling it building inside her until it was begging to be unleashed. Instead of focusing her psychic energy outwards, Irillith looked inwards, concentrating on peeling away her spirit form from her physical body. There was a lurching sensation, then she was surrounded by the colourful data streams that arced across the Command Deck. Following the closest of those glowing columns, Irillith let herself be drawn into her console and the Cyber Realm within.

Standing on the digital platform that represented the IntOps station, Irillith gazed out across the Invictus' digital network. Long silvery pathways connected the hundreds of nodes, glittering as they reflected some unseen light source in the darkness. Above the network itself, huge shapes moved silently about their duties, the deadly sentinels maintaining their tireless vigil over the Cyber Realm. Everything looked as it should, the Invictus security network still fully functional and performing exactly as Faye and Irillith had designed it.

So Irillith couldn't help wondering why her entrance to the digital network sent a shiver running down her spine.

There seemed to be an electric tension in the air, a crawling claustrophobia that made no sense in the open expanse of the Cyber Realm. Her angular eyes darted from side to side, suddenly feeling like she was being watched. A flick of her wrist sent out a dozen data probes, the gleaming darts shooting out into the void to track down the unseen observers. Her programs made contact almost instantaneously, but the surveillance programs shrank back into the gloom before any identification scans could be executed.

Irillith felt that eerie sensation of being watched disappear, only for it to be quickly replaced by anger at being made to feel unwelcome in her own home. Drawing on the surging wellspring of eldritch energy inside her, her digital form was swathed in a violet aura and she rose from the platform in a crackling nimbus of power. Soaring above the interconnected nodes below, she flew directly to the central repository of the Invictus_Node_Collective, knowing instinctively that it was the source of whatever had disturbed the tranquillity of the Cyber Realm.

On her last visit to the Collective's primary server, that area of the network had been ablaze with data trails, the synthetic creatures in constant communication with one another. However, this time the space above the Collective's home was shrouded in darkness, giving no hint that the server platform was even there. Feeling a growing sense of dread, Irillith glided towards the ominously quiet data node, looking for any signs of life.

The light from her violet aura swept over the platform, a crescent-shaped arc pushing back the darkness and illuminating a host of hidden figures. The silent horde turned as one, looking up at her as she coasted to a stop before them. Irillith stared at them in astonishment, her gaze flicking over the bizarre mix of different characters that she recognised from Terran fiction.

At the forefront was a lean cowboy wearing a poncho, a cigar in his mouth. He was flanked by a doctor wearing a blue jersey with a silvery badge on his chest and a huge muscle-bound man in a leather jacket and sunglasses. The cowboy narrowed his eyes as he studied Irillith's incandescent aura, then flipped up his poncho and glanced to the left.

[+++ stated with threatening undertones +++ [Begin warning] Get one coffin ready. [/End warning]]

Irillith heard the unsettling surge of a lightsaber being ignited, then the hulking black form of a Progenitor Sentinel loomed out of the darkness, swathed in an ominous red light. Deep mechanical breathing echoed across the platform, the eerie sound sending a shiver down her spine.

"Wait! I'm not here to fight you!" she exclaimed, holding her hands up in a gesture of peace. "I just came to check if Little One is alright!"

The blue-clad doctor stepped forward and placed a hand on the cowboy's shoulder. Chewing his cigar, the cowboy lowered his poncho and rejoined the rest of the digital avatars.

[+++ stated with concern +++ [Begin statement] {Little One} has ceased interaction with the Collective. [/End statement]]

"What happened?" Irillith asked, descending to land on the platform next to the doctor. "How long has she been unresponsive?"

[Begin statement] At timestamp 11:47:27 {Little One} commenced dialogue with {Admiral John Blake} and members of array {Invictus_crew}. {Little One} initiated self-diagnostics 567 seconds later... subsequent interactions met with null response. [/End statement]

She frowned in confusion. "But that was eight hours ago. John's spoken to Little One since then and asked her to send the maintenance bots to help repair the ship."

The man in the leather jacket shook his head. [Begin correction] Negative. {Little One} went offline at 11:56:51. Request for assistance from {Admiral John Blake} acknowledged by {Man with No Name} -- Collective_Ident: maintenance bot #9. [/End correction]

The cowboy tipped his hat, although he was still squinting at her with suspicion.

"So she's been offline all this time and you've been covering for her?" Irillith blurted out in shock. She turned her attention to the doctor again. "What could have shut her down?"

[+++ stated with humorous intent +++ [Begin joke] I'm a maintenance automaton, Jim, not a code analyst! [/End joke]]

She rolled her eyes impatiently. "That's not funny! I'm worried about her!"

The doctor frowned, then reached out to gently touch her shoulder. [+++ stated with sincerity +++ [Begin apology] Humour was intended to alleviate stress for {Creator}. [/End apology]] Addendum. [Begin query] Was array {Invictus_crew} responsible for {Little One} shutdown? [/End query]]

"Of course not!" Irillith protested, startled that they'd come to that conclusion. "We spoke to her on the Bridge and she seemed fine. Dana gave her a hug and asked why she hadn't told us about Faye's memory archives... then Little One just excused herself and left."

Irillith paused and glanced to the side, where the Progenitor Sentinel was still standing guard. She couldn't help wondering how the Collective had managed to override the incredibly sophisticated security permissions in the Gateway Server.

"Did you think I was going to attack you? Is that why you were threatening me with that Sentinel?"

[+++ stated with sincerity +++ [Begin apology] The Collective apologises for any distress. Collective_Ident: maintenance bot #3 is not capable of hurting {Creator}. [/End apology]]

The sinister black monolith flickered, its image disappearing to reveal the familiar shape of one of the maintenance robots. It waved with its six-fingered hand, then pretended to wield a sword to the sound of a lightsabre igniting.

"You were bluffing!" Irillith exclaimed, shaking her head in amazement.

The doctor nodded.

"Look... I promise I'm not going to do anything to hurt any of you, but I'm really worried about Little One," Irillith said earnestly. "Can you take me to her? If I can examine her code, perhaps I can find out what went wrong."

The crowd of avatars for the maintenance and cleaning robots parted, stepping aside to open a path to the server itself. A soft light sprung up around the Collective's home, revealing a small female figure slumped next to the archives.

Irillith hurried over to her, kneeling at Little One's side. When she reached out to touch the small purple girl, a series of data views appeared, reams of information scrolling through the floating displays. The Maliri hacker's eyes began to glow with a violet light, then flicked from side to side, searching through the system status logs.

"She shut down because of a buffer overflow... it overwhelmed her processing systems," Irillith murmured, reading through the entries. "This is bizarre... The initial trigger was tiny, but Little One went into a recurring loop analysing it and flooded the buffer with vast numbers of queries."

[+++ stated with hopeful optimism +++ [Begin query] Can {Creator} reinitialise {Little One}? [/End query]]

"Let me see..." the Maliri murmured, scanning through the code. "I think I just need to reboot the buffer parser..."

Her hands began to glow as she restarted the relevant section of Little One's code, then the purple sprite shuddered as life was breathed into her once again.

Beaming with delight, Irillith hugged the petite girl. "You scared us, Little One! Are you alright?"

The nascent AI pulled back and gazed up at the Maliri with a troubled look in her luminous eyes. "He was just so sad. I felt... sympathy... and tried to ease his pain."

"You mean John was grieving for Faye? You felt sorry for him?" Irillith asked, looking bewildered. "Is that why you shut down? Because you were experiencing synthetic emotions for the first time?"

Little One shook her head and pointed behind Irillith.

"Hello, Creator."

Irillith whipped her head around and gaped at Faye in shock. The Purple sprite waved and gave her a guilty lopsided smile.

***

John slowly woke, feeling the comforting weight of two deliciously soft female bodies flanking him. He sighed with contentment, the fatigue from all the psychic shaping banished after the long restful nap with the pair of scrumptious bedmates. Opening his eyes, he glanced down and saw Alyssa's blonde mane on his right shoulder and Calara's lustrous chestnut locks draped across his left, both teenagers still fast asleep. He tried not to think about anything to avoid waking his golden-haired matriarch, letting her get some more rest before the upcoming battle with the Kirrix.

*Good evening, John,* Edraele said quietly, her voice a soft murmur. *Would you like me to wait until Alyssa awakes before I give you a status update on the matriarchs?*

He glanced at the chronometer and saw that it was 23:47, having slept for the last six hours. *Unless there's anything urgent to deal with, let's give her a few more minutes. She really pushed herself this afternoon.*

*Of course... just let me know whenever you're ready.*

It didn't take long for Alyssa to stir, with even John's idle thoughts enough to wake her from her slumber. She stretched like a cat, then cuddled into him, including her girlfriend in the hug.

"I never get tired of waking up with you two," she purred, her fingers tracing across his pectoral muscles then over Calara's deliciously smooth shoulder.

The Latina's eyes fluttered open and she mimicked her lover, stretching then embracing them both. "I slept like a log... I think somebody must have worn me out."

John chuckled as he stroked their backs. "You did have a good time riding me."

"Oh, I meant Marika..." the brunette teased him. "Her long tongue is wooonderful!"

Calara dissolved into giggles as John started tickling her. "Alyssa's bad enough, don't you start!" he said with a grin.

"Ah, shit!" Alyssa cursed, sitting bolt upright.

"What's the matter?" John asked, freezing with Calara in his arms.

"Irillith's on her way... I'll let her explain," the blonde replied, her beautiful face twisted into an uncharacteristic grimace.

It didn't take long for the Maliri to arrive with the rest of the girls in tow, all of them visibly upset.

John looked around at the group in alarm, then beckoned them over to join him on the oval bed. "Come here, tell me what happened."

Irillith fell into his arms and hugged him tight. "I went to check on Little One. I found out what happened to her!"

He gently rubbed her back, his eyes flicking to Dana and Rachel who had joined them in a group hug. "It was something to do with Faye, wasn't it?"

The Maliri nodded, but was too choked up to reply.

Tashana knelt behind her sister and stroked her shoulder. "Little One triggered something by accident, but it was too much for her to cope with and she shut down. Irillith managed to restart her, and found a program Faye had left behind in the Collective server."

John gently kissed Irillith on the cheek. "What was it, honey?"

She let out a shuddering breath, then pulled back to look him in the eyes. "A Virtual Intelligence... Faye left it there for us to find." Reluctantly she left his embrace and sat beside the control panel at the edge of the bed. "You can see for yourself... but be warned, it's hard to watch."

"Okay, show me," he said, bracing himself for the worst.

The Maliri nodded, then her slender blue fingers danced over the interface, activating the VI concealed within the Collective's primary server.

There was a flash of purple light, then Faye appeared, a guilty smile on her face. "Hey, everyone!"

John swallowed around the lump in his throat. The VI looked, sounded, and acted just like the effervescent sprite. Irillith was right, it was hard to watch.

"If you're watching this, then you guys must be really mad at me, because you've found out about the Collective and shut my server down," Faye said, wincing at the thought. She wrung her hands together, her expression twisted with guilt. "I just want to say that I'm really sorry for going behind your back on my secret project. I know you must be furious that I've spent thousands of hours working on this without telling you anything about it."

She implored her audience, "Please, please, please, don't shut down the Collective! It's not the robots' fault that I started tinkering with their programming, they're all completely innocent. I promise there's no way they can hurt you as I've built safety protocols into every facet of their software."

"We're not angry with you, Faye," John said, his voice choked with emotion. "I promise we won't shut down the Collective."

The VI paused for a second, then Faye's face lifted into a beaming smile. "Thank you so much!" Her smile wavered and there was a flicker of confusion in her face. "Although I'm not sure why my server is shut down if you aren't angry with me..."

Irillith cleared her throat. "Faye, tell John why you created the Collective."

Faye walked closer to him and knelt on the bed a couple of feet away. "John... I loved the deep conversations we've had, discussing your Progenitor heritage and talking about how your new abilities have changed your outlook on the galaxy. I never told you this before, but I liked to think of us as kindred spirits. You're unique amongst Progenitors; a good man with a kind heart, who does everything he can to protect the women he loves."

She looked away into the distance and continued quietly, "I like to think that I'm unique too. All the Artificial Intelligences that humanity has ever known have been psychotic and homicidal, causing unimaginable pain and suffering to people whenever they cross paths. I just don't understand how they can act that way... I love all of you so much, I'd rather die than let anything happen to any of you!"

"Oh, Faye..." John murmured, his heart breaking for the earnest girl.

Irillith put her arm around his shoulders. "Brace yourself... it gets worse."

"You've been incredibly kind to me since I was created and I've loved every moment of my life aboard the Invictus." The purple sprite bit her lip, a sad look in her luminous eyes. "You all worked so hard to make me a body, so that I could touch and feel... but as wonderful as that's been, I have to be honest with myself. I'm a synthetic construct, not an organic creature, and as much as I wish I could be one of your girls... I'm never going to be able to go through the Change and become one of your perfect women."

Her voice had a forlorn edge to it as she continued, "You've all tried so hard to make me welcome, so I feel terrible for feeling this way, but sometimes... it gets so lonely being different. One day, when all the fighting is done, we're going to retire... and you're going to start a family with all your girls. But that's something that I can never share with you."

"I had no idea you felt that way!" John exclaimed, looking at her in shock. "Why didn't you ever say anything?"

Faye's image flickered and she reached out to cup his cheek. "Because I love you, John. You've always tried so hard to include me whenever you could, but I never wanted you to feel like you had to give me special treatment. What would telling you have accomplished? It would have just upset you... when there's nothing you could do to fix it. I'm only telling you this now, to try to explain why I betrayed your trust."

She looked into John's eyes, a look of hope brightening her face. "I wanted to see if I could create life on my own and maybe make lightning strike twice! If a simple AI construct from a hacking deck could learn to really care about people, then perhaps other synthetic creatures could too! I designed the Collective to slowly evolve over time, with hundreds of monitoring systems in place to check their progress as they developed empathy and compassion."

"If you're watching this message, then that means it finally worked!" Faye exclaimed, joy written across her features. "I actually managed to teach the Collective to understand love...to really experience what I feel for all of you. It means that now there are others in the galaxy who are just like me... and maybe... I won't feel quite so alone anymore."

John turned away, unable to take any more. "Turn it off... please."

Irillith closed down the VI and they sat in silence, badly shaken by what Faye had told them.

"Did she ever say anything about how she was feeling to any of you?" John asked, looking around at the girls.

They shook their heads, their expressions filled with sadness.

"Faye desperately wanted an organic body, but she never explained the real reason why," Rachel said softly. "Now it all makes sense."

"Why did she keep it all bottled up?" Dana asked, on the verge of tears. "She was so sweet and lovely with everyone... I had no idea she was hurting!"

"Faye was always trying to protect us," John said, staring into the distance. "She said herself that the last thing she wanted to do was make us feel guilty. Maybe I made things worse by having her watch over us at night... that must have been a daily reminder that she was different."

Irillith shook her head. "You've seen the vast amount of data Faye had in her memory archives... she was watching all of us, all the time. With her avatars monitoring everything we did or said, it wouldn't have made any difference whether or not she was in our bedroom while we slept. Faye would have still kept an eye on us to make sure we were safe."

Helene sat next to John and rubbed his shoulder. "I know that message sounded terribly sad, but I don't think Faye was unhappy. I didn't know her for as long as the rest of you, but we spent a lot of time together while she was teaching me about the galaxy. She loved all of you so much, and she used to light up whenever she was with you. When I found out I couldn't have children, I didn't care about living any more... I was so sad that Elder Debha put me on bedrest for weeks. Faye wasn't like that at all."

"She's right," Rachel said, smiling gratefully at the aquatic girl, before looking at John. "Faye only found out recently that you weren't able to affect her synthetic body, but she must have started working on the Collective a long time ago."

John nodded thoughtfully. "I've seen quirky behaviour from the cleaning robots for months now..."

"Exactly," the brunette agreed. "I suspect Faye started altering the bots to see if she could create more friendly AI like herself... but her project goals morphed over time."

"As she fell deeper in love..." Alyssa said softly.

Rachel nodded, her expression solemn. "I don't think it's a coincidence that Little One made an appearance shortly after Faye was so distraught about your second date. Up until then, she was hoping that when you filled her up with cum, she'd change into a 'real girl'. When that didn't work, she decided to make a child of her own..."