Foundation of All

“...If you hadn’t set off those…”

“Are you even listening to me? It. Wasn’t me! Did you even see how big that hole in the station was? You think I could carrying around something that big without knowing about it?”

Sean hesitated, “Then who? How?”

“I don’t know,” Roger said, “But it wasn’t me.”

Sean turned away, “Fine. We’ll just have to go back and break them out when we can. We can go back after preparing a bit more.”

“Yeah,” Roger agreed, “We’ll go back for Lira. Maybe Nyx too if he’s not too out of the way either. Despite everything he did help us.”

There was a cough to the side and Sean turned to see Emily standing there with an awkward expression on her face.

“Uh, Actually…” She said before trailing off a bit at seeing their expressions, “No, no. You’re right. We’ll just… have to plan carefully, that’s all!”

“What is it?” Roger demanded, “What do you know?”

Emily cleared her throat again, “Well… I’m not sure how you got in the first time. But Security will be on alert for a long long time. You wouldn’t even have a chance of breaking them out before then without getting caught. Not as we are right now at least… How did you get in by the way? How did you manage to pull it off in only a few centuries?”

The two men shared a confused look.

“Centuries?” Sean asked, “Nyx planned most of it, but we only spent a few years at most preparing. Nyx bribed someone to sneak us in onboard a raw fish delivery for the station. We went in with our infiltration suits and broke you out. Roger had some explosives he set off to divert security… We might have gotten away clean too if that second wave of explosions hadn’t gotten off.”

Emily waited, expectantly looking between the two of them.

“And?” She asked.

“And what? That was it.”

“That was it?” She asked looking confused, “How the hell did that work? Infiltration suits are good, but not that good. You should have been detected before you even reached the station. And what about the door to the prison level?”

“Maybe Nyx paid a lot of bribes to get us through?” Roger asked hesitantly, “He didn’t share that much besides what we had to do. He must have handled it.”

“And the door to the prison level? What about that?” She asked, looking skeptical at their answer, “That’s the hardest part.”

“Nyx had a code,” Sean said, “Pulled some favors to get it, but it let us go right in.”

Emily looked even more confused, “Just how connected is this guy? Only the chief of security and the leader of the Council has access to that code. You’re saying that Nyx managed to get Samir of all people to help break me out?”

Sean thought of how hostile Samir had been to Emily. Yeah, probably not… And the leader of the Council was more a rumor than anything else, Nyx wouldn’t be able to pull favors from someone like that.

“Well, we got through didn’t we?” Roger said, “You’re here, so clearly he got it somehow. Maybe Samir had it on a computer or told someone…”

Emily shook her head, “No, you guys aren’t getting it. I know Samir, for all his faults he’s not one to be lax about security. He’s not supposed to tell anyone the password or record it anywhere. He’d have to directly tell someone for them to know it.”

“Well…” Roger said before trailing off.

“But why would whoever helped Nyx do all of this then set off those bombs at the last second? It had to be them, no one else could have prepared so much ahead of time but then still let us through.” Sean asked, “It doesn’t make any sense. It had to be someone that Samir trusts a lot, but also willing to break you out, Emily.”

“I don’t know,” Emily said, “But… I don’t think it will be so easy getting in next time. We’ll have to be careful when we go back.”

“So you’ll help us?” Sean asked.

“Of course!” Emily said, “With me helping you out I’m sure we can figure it out eventually. I know someone that could help us a lot while we wait for all the security measures to loosen a little around Immortus Station. By the way, where are we going now? Do you guys have your own ship we are going to?”

Sean opened his mouth to tell her about Brenda, but Roger cut him off.

“Yes. We’ll be going to the ship first. I assume we can just leave this one behind and be fine?”

Emily shrugged, “That’s how most people do it. Steal what we can for profit and leave it to drift near the edge of some nearby system. Eventually someone will find some use for it again.”

“Better than spending months checking for trackers,” Roger said, sounding a little more upbeat.

Emily looked between the two of them and raised an eyebrow as Sean agreed with him. She ran her hand over her head, her hair looking like it had been buzzed down to the scalp after having to regenerate her head.

“Sounds like you’ve had some adventures even in such a short amount of time,” Emily said turning to Sean, “We can worry about getting your friends out of prison later. How about we catch up a little, tell me what you’ve been up to?”

She turned to Roger, “And I don’t think I introduced myself in the chaos. I’m Emily. Emily Stenson,” She stuck out her hand to him and Roger stared at it in confusion.

“You grab her hand with yours,” Sean supplied, “What did you call it, Emily? A… Handwiggle?”

Emily’s lips twitched upwards, “Handshake. But I almost like handwiggle better.”

Roger grabbed Emily’s hand so they were palm to palm and Emily pumped their arms up and down two or three times before letting go again and stepping back.

“Handshake,” She said as Roger stood there looking unsure what to do, “It’s nice to meet you, Roger.”

“Errr, Nice to ah. Meet you too, Emily,” Roger eventually said, shaking his head and refocusing on the conversation, “Sean’s said a lot about you. It’ll be nice to hear about it straight from the source. Is it true you’re over a million years old?”

“Only heard good things I hope?” Emily said with slightly nervous laughter, “Yep, over a million. Haha. Older than dirt.”

“Where did you come from?” Roger asked, “What was the galaxy like when you were growing up?”

Sean shook his head and tried to warn Roger off, but the man shot Sean a glance before ignoring him and looking back to Emily expectantly.

“Well, ah,” Emily said, “You know, smaller. Not as settled as it is now. Less Immortals floating around than there are today…”

“Oh, but what planet was it?” Roger asked, pushing further despite Emily’s obvious discomfort with his line of questioning, “Maybe I’ve heard of it. Is it near the core?”

Emily tilted her head and thought for a second. “Well, I guess… No, it probably would be called the inner edge of the outer rim these days. You’ve probably never heard of it.”

“Try me,” Roger said, “You never know, maybe I have.”

“No. You haven’t,” Emily said, a hint of annoyance entering her voice.

“How would you know?” Roger said, “Maybe I…”

“NO, YOU DON’T! NO ONE DOES!” Emily shouted before turning away.

“Sorry,” She said softly, “It was destroyed. A long time ago. I… I have to be alone. I’ll be back in a bit. Sorry…”

Sean shot Roger a glare and the man gave an unrepentant shrug as Emily left in a hurry. What was Roger’s deal? Why had he provoked her like that? Although Sean hadn’t known her homeworld was destroyed. Clearly she had been more attached to it than Sean had to Enguli. He still had flashes of sadness thinking about it, but the intensity of his feelings had started fading in mere months after hearing the news from Nyx. And here was Emily still affected by the destruction of her planet millions of years later.

“What was that for, Roger? That’s your first impression?” Sean said after Emily’s footsteps had faded into the bowels of the ship.

Roger shrugged, “Seems convenient is all. You think as old as she is she can’t answer basic questions like that? I think she’s playing it up, hiding something. I don’t like it.”

“And you thought the time to press her was now. Right after you met?” Sean asked with disbelief, ignoring Roger’s accusation. He just didn’t know Emily yet, she was just sensitive about certain things. Really sensitive.

“It was a perfectly normal question to ask,” Roger said stubbornly, “Why won’t she be specific about anything? You barely know anything about her. She’s hiding things, I’m sure of it.”

“What the Shadow, Roger? So what? That doesn’t give you the right to grill her like that when it was clear she was uncomfortable! What’s got into you?”

“Lira was captured to help her get out, in case you’ve forgotten,” Roger snapped, “You almost told her exactly where Brenda and Ash were without a second thought! What if she wants to hurt Ash for some reason when we get there? We can’t bring someone we don’t trust near Ash. And you have nothing but her word to prove that she isn’t some long lost queen of the damn Plaguebringers like Nyx believed.”

“You don’t get it, Roger,” Sean said, his anger fading a little, “I can’t believe it's all some act. I just can’t. But if it makes you feel better, we’ll figure a way to make sure she won't be able to hurt Ash. But when Emily gets back, apologize to her. You’re being a rude asshole right now.”

Roger got a mullish look for a few seconds before sighing, “Yeah, I guess I am. It just rubs me the wrong way that we risk everything for her and Lira gets captured and she can’t even tell us the basics… But fine. Deal.”

Sean shook his head silently. They all were off to a great start weren’t they…

There was tension among them all for the next few days despite Roger’s apology and Emily having calmed down a little. Sean didn’t press her more on her past, which irritated Roger. But Roger bit his tongue and didn’t bother her anymore to reduce their conflict. The man was currently up in the ship cockpit adjusting the coordinates so they would exit hyperspace as close to the location of their actual ship as possible.

“So,” Sean asked Emily as they sat together in one of the luxurious rooms on the ship, “What do you think about intelligent machines? The Plaguebringers and Immortal Council don’t seem to be fans.”

Emily looked up where she had been zoning out while staring at her hands that were furled in her lap.

“Hmmm? Sorry, what was that Sean?” She asked as her eyes focused on him.

“Intelligent machines,” He repeated, “What do you think about them?”

“Intelligent machines?” She asked, “Like… AI’s? You know what I think about their reliability on longer timescales. But other than that they're fine. Why do you ask?”

“No, no,” Sean clarified, “Like a machine that develops a personality closer to a person. Not just a normal AI.”

Emily frowned, “Huh. Do you mean an unshackled AI? I wouldn’t worry about them. I mostly just feel sorry for them more than anything. They are just like children with too much power. Flailing around confused until people end up killing them for some reason or another… Or they start turning nasty once they realize how much the Immortals hate them. Especially the Plaguebringers.”

“What about you?” Sean asked his heart pounding, “What if you discovered an… unshackled AI when it first became aware? What would you do?”

Emily looked thoughtful, “Hmmm. Well, I honestly don’t know. I can honestly say that I’ve never had to deal with that situation before. I’d want to help it, but at the same time… They can be so dangerous. You can’t put their lives over the people around them…”

Sean’s heartbeat slowed slightly. Looks like she wouldn’t be opposed to Ash on principle… She turned to Sean, “What about you, Sean? What would you do? It would definitely be a hard decision.”

Sean froze and tried to think of what he should say, “I would treat it like a kid, like you said. Maybe it would develop well if you treated it right from the beginning.”

Emily stared at him for a moment, “Actually, how did you hear about unshackled AI? The Immortal Council is pretty heavy on the censorship of telling people about them. And it's rare enough that it's not something that really comes up in normal conversation..”

“Just heard about it,” Sean said vaguely, waving his hand.

“Huh. Someone just told you?” She clarified.

“Something like that.”

“Hmmmm,” Emily hummed, but didn’t say anything else in reply as she stared into space again, “It’s good you’ve learned so much. You’re doing well in adjusting to this life,” She said absentmindedly.

They transferred to the old familiar ship that Lira, Roger, Ash, and Sean had been using for centuries now and left their stolen ship behind to drift aimlessly through space.

They settled in, and set off to Brenda’s base. After a discussion with Roger, Sean had convinced his friend that all they had to do was make sure Emily didn’t know the coordinates of where they were going and she couldn’t betray Brenda’s base. As for Ash… Well, it would be four on one if she attacked and as long as they were wary, they could introduce the two and work from there.

“Hey, Sean,” Emily said suddenly after they were underway in hyperspace again. Roger reported that it would be weeks until they reached their destination.

“Want to play some Foundation of All together?” She asked somewhat hesitantly.

“Sure,” Sean said, “It will be like old times, right?”

Emily nodded and they made their way over to the holodeck. They didn’t say goodbye to Roger who had locked himself into the command deck for the moment, suspicious that Emily would sneak in to read the coordinates of their destination when he wasn’t paying attention. Sean thought it was all very over the top, but if it let Roger feel better about things then he wouldn’t interfere.

“Hey, Sean. I haven’t been entirely truthful with you,” Emily said with a slightly wavering tone as the door to the holodeck opened. Sean turned and saw her complicated expression as she stared at him.

“Foundation of All… It’s my game. I made it, all of it. I know I… How frustrating it must be for you that I can’t talk about my past easily. I really don’t like talking about it, it brings back all the bad memories… But I thought you should know this at least.”

“Okay,” Sean replied, still partially in shock at the revelation, “Every last bit?” he confirmed, “Did you have anyone else to help you out? A team or…”

Emily shook her head, “Nope. Just me. Built the whole thing entirely from scratch.”

“Okay. Why didn’t you want to tell me?” Sean asked slightly confused at what he should be feeling right now, “That’s really impressive. The game really is top of the line, nothing else I’ve seen even comes close to how immersive it is.”

“Thanks,” She said, “I didn’t want to tell you because the planet it’s on… It’s based on my home planet. The one that was destroyed. I thought that if I… rebuilt it then maybe it was like they would carry on. But I didn’t know enough, remember enough about them. It’s only a shell, little bits and pieces put in from what I can remember. Nothing like I imagined it would be when I first started building it. I only added the game part later after I failed to rebuild my home planet again.”

“But it’s an excellent game,” Sean said encouragingly, “What about those worlds you built? That factory world you showed me, isn’t that worth something? You remember them, you don’t need a whole game for that.”

“But I don’t. I don’t remember them. Not really,” Emily said softly, “It’s just been so long, I can only remember the smallest bits… Sometimes I barely even remember anything at all. How can you stand it? Knowing that your home planet is destroyed? You seem so unburdened by it when you talk about it.”

“My family was dead,” Sean said, “I’m sad in an intellectual sort of way. But there was nothing left behind to tether me to Enguli. No friends, no family, the village hated me. I was an outcast, separate from the rest, my whole family was. I’ve felt more at home on this ship with my best friends than I ever was on Enguli. So I don’t have much trouble talking about it. It stopped being my home long ago.”

“Huh. I’m happy that you’ve found such good friends,” Emily said, “They’re the most valuable thing in the world. A real friend that has your back no matter what. More valuable than anything else…”

She shook her head, “Ah, but I’m bringing down the mood again. I’ve been doing that a lot recently. Let’s just go in and have some fun in Foundation of All. Maybe you can show me your world? Sounds like you’ve put some time in.”

Sean grinned as they stepped to their platforms and began their login sequence.

“Sounds great. It’s nothing like your world, but it’s really come far since I’ve started. As the creator of the game I’m sure you’ve got some tips on how I can do better.”

Emily chuckled as they materialized in an empty room at the center of Sean’s factory.

“That I can do,” She said, “Now, show me what you’ve been up to! Still playing on hard mode, look at this steel on the walls. Really good choice of alloy. Long lasting and cheap for big structural support like this…”

Their conversation quickly devolved to Sean explaining the engineering and organization of his factory while Emily rapid fire suggested various improvements or added little tidbits of knowledge on why one of his choices was ideal for this scenario but not that one. Sean knew what things worked and which didn’t, but he didn’t always know the reason why. Emily always seemed to know at a single glance what worked and what could be improved.

And that’s how they spent the weeks it took to arrive at Brenda's base.