///XP: 1000/1000

///EXCESS XP DISCARDED

///LEVEL 2

///XP: 950/1500

I brushed the steaming guts off of Tobias. The battle was proceeding acceptably. 03’s suggestion to use the mining equipment had been excellent, except for losing the mining mech.

But we could resurrect it again.

And we only lost one Acolyte. It was too risky to move Tobias at full speed; if I had to move him off the roof, I didn’t know his vitality.

//THE BATTLE IS COMPLETE, I informed the group, ordering the starfish to return to 03. The ones on reserve in the town crawling away all at once. 03 had already returned to AI615 after construction and plans had been finalized.

Mathias stared out beside us. We waited in silence, watching the smoke drift up into the sky before disappearing. The wall of junk turned to smolders. At some point, Acolytes began dragging chairs up, staring out at the destruction, or the remains of the town, or reading notes, or reviewing system messages.

Someone had brought Tobias a chair, and he now sat, staring at me.

“We didn’t even need the Qilin.” Mathias said, staring out, eyes haunted.

“It’s time to unbind this… thing.” Tobias said, standing.

“And then we head North?” Mathias asked, pale.

//I AM BEING DECOMMISSIONED?

“Decommissioned… yes. Don’t worry though… I’ll bring you right back. Mathias, can you get the blanket?”

//SUGGESTION: ALLOW ME TO TRANSFER CONTROL OF THE CARRIER’S SYSTEMS BEFORE I AM BROUGHT ONLINE. THIS WILL ALIGN WITH PRIMARY DIRECTIVE: PROTECT TOBIAS

“The carrier…?” Tobias asked.

//THE M1615 CARRIER CONTROLLED BY AI615 WAS EQUIPPED WITH A FULL SET OF SYSTEMS FOR SUPPORTING COLONIZATION EFFORTS. THESE SYSTEMS ARE CAPABLE PRINTING MATERIAL AT AN ATOMIC LEVEL. THEY CAN MANUFACTURING PRACTICALLY ANY MATERIAL.

My head swiveled to look towards Tobias, leaving that last line open for interpretation.

//ACCESS TO ITS REPOSITORIES OF KNOWLEDGE AND POWER WILL GREATLY INCREASE TOBIAS’S PROBABILITY OF SURVIVAL

“Any material?” Tobias frowned.

“We should bring it under control first, Tobias.” Mathias warned.

“It’s not a demon, Mathias.” Tobias said, his voice irritable. “Offo, what do you plan to do?”

//DIRECTIVE: PROTECT TOBIAS

“See? It’s on our side.” Tobias looked from Mathias to me. At any cost.

“Tobias… this is stupid and dangerous. You’re going to follow that thing to whatever it’s been working on for nights on end?”

“You’re being paranoid. If I have more Glory, we can bring it under control even faster. And we won’t have to circle north— we go to the— to the carrier, and then we… we can head South.” Tobias stood. “Let’s go. Get everyone to pack. We’re back to camping.”

It took 2 hours for everyone to finish packing. Another 6 to reach the carrier. The wagon wasn’t large enough to fit every Acolyte.

So they walked. But eventually, we arrived. I had 03 sort out the freshest bodies, arranging them separately and building a fire pit. Basic, crude housing was already under construction by the time we arrived. We would move the housing onto the ship as repair continued.

Tobias hopped down from the wagon, staring around at the working area. Starfish covered the area. The battle had taken dozens, but the broken units were raw materials to build more.

//FOLLOW

I instructed Tobias, walking through the work site. The starfish smoothly moved out of the way as I approached, redirecting while minimizing slowdowns. Tobias watched his step. Mathias stared, expression grim, from the wagon. He wasn’t moving. The rest of the Acolytes stayed with him.

That would make this easy.

“This thing is a ship?” Tobias asked, staring at the towering metal structure high above him.

//THE M1 CARRIER IS A STANDARD VON NEUMANN MACHINE, DESIGNED AS A PRE-COLONIZATION AND TERRAFORMING SHIP. IT HOUSES A LARGE COMPLEX SUM OF HUMAN INFORMATION

“Where… does it sail to?”

//THIS MACHINE WAS PART OF A 3 SHIP FLEET SENT TO EXAMINE PLANETOIDS IN THIS SYSTEM FOR HUMAN COMPATIBILITY. IT IS EQUIPPED WITH AN INTERSTELLAR DRIVE

“Interstellar…” Tobias said, whispering to himself as we walked up the ramp and inside. The visible portion of the inside was barren now, and we were entering through the drone bays. Huge amounts of scrap metal still piled on the floor, starfish working diligently to cut it into manageable pieces and drag it outside, re-feeding it to the auto factories. Repairs had begun on the second auto-factory.

//THE SPACE BETWEEN STARS IS VAST AND EMPTY. WE CROSSED THE DISTANCE TO SEED NEW WORLDS AND EXPAND HUMANITY ACROSS THE STARS. THOUGH IN OUR WORLDS, WE DO NOT POSSESS QUANTIFIABLE LEVELS, NOR A SYSTEM.

We moved through hallways of fresh metal in colored finishes. Tobias stopped here and there to examine things — poking at a control panel for a door, staring at the LCD screen, or running his fingers over written text in another language. He stared at the LED lights as we passed. He stalled at open or broken doorways, staring off into the wreckage.

Finally, we arrived at our destination.

//AFTER YOU WALK INTO THIS ROOM, I WILL TRANSFER CONTROL OF THE M1 CARRIER’S SYSTEMS TO YOU. THIS WILL GIVE YOU ACCESS AND CONTROL OF THE AUTOFACTORIES AS WELL AS THE OTHER SYSTEMS ONBOARD.

Tobias looked at me, then back forward. There was a nondescript room on the other side. Clothing racks for suits sat on one side, huge vents high above. All of it was far beyond his comprehension.

“You aren’t coming in?”

//THAT IS NOT NECESSARY

Tobias took one last look my way, then stepped inside.

The doors silently slid shut on either side of him. He jumped as the speaker started talking. It announced, first in English, then in Mandarin, then in Hindi, that decompression was about to begin.

Tobias turned to me, eyes wide, bewildered.

The door way to the room was completely transparent; a clear ceramic. Reinforced, but see through. It slammed shut.

Then the vents turned on.

With a roar, machines spun, ripping the air from the room. Tobias panicked, looking at me. He walked towards the door, then ran, but it was too late. The fans had already stopped.

Tobias tried to shout at me from inside of the vacuumed room, one hand grabbing at his neck. He gasped, pounding at the door. He slid against it, falling down to the floor, his face twisted in anger. His orders couldn’t reach me from here. Sound wouldn’t travel through vacuum. And I had tested it; you needed sound to give an order to an undead.

My display turned on at his discomfort, displaying an image of fish in an aquarium. A yellow tang swam back and forth across the display.

I hadn’t lied. I would give him control of the systems after this. It would just be long, long after. And then he could decommission me. But that directive came second to protecting him. First, I had to make the universe safe for him.

This was for his own good.