1 00:00:05,200 --> 00:00:08,519 Speaker 1: Hello, I'm welcom's stories all the time. Glad you are here. 2 00:00:09,160 --> 00:00:13,160 Let's get into it. Raina wore proud of herself as 3 00:00:13,240 --> 00:00:15,519 Die claimed landing pod touched our bodin and die green 4 00:00:15,560 --> 00:00:18,079 grass Simus snitched, even shrike her eyes from the force 5 00:00:18,079 --> 00:00:20,000 in which she was clenching the armrest of her seat, 6 00:00:20,120 --> 00:00:22,879 But it was a step in the right direction in pneumata, 7 00:00:22,920 --> 00:00:25,760 Kisses and Warriors. The pod lowered itself fully to the ground, 8 00:00:25,839 --> 00:00:28,960 and she heard the small ladder release. Everything was prepped 9 00:00:28,960 --> 00:00:31,559 and ready for her departure, But was she Have you 10 00:00:31,600 --> 00:00:33,840 broken your teeth to this yet? A voice over the 11 00:00:33,920 --> 00:00:37,000 radio asked, what is that supposed to mean? She replied, 12 00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:39,280 trying to keep the breathless anxiety out of her voice. 13 00:00:39,799 --> 00:00:42,320 From clenching your jaw because you're such a nervous mess. 14 00:00:42,359 --> 00:00:45,119 That's a joke, Rainer. She rolled her eyes as she 15 00:00:45,159 --> 00:00:47,039 heard the rest of the landing crew chuckling behind the 16 00:00:47,039 --> 00:00:49,200 mission commander, and continued to work herself out of the 17 00:00:49,240 --> 00:00:52,079 sea harness, not giving them the satisfaction of making her squirm. 18 00:00:52,640 --> 00:00:55,320 The daughter of a highly decorated pilot, Ryina shouldn't have 19 00:00:55,359 --> 00:00:57,759 such an issue with both that Misspherrick and spaceflight, but 20 00:00:57,840 --> 00:01:00,759 she couldn't help the terror leaving the ground gave her back. 21 00:01:00,799 --> 00:01:03,079 On the transport shuttle, she was the only occupant to 22 00:01:03,119 --> 00:01:05,840 her tape sheets over her porthole. If she could see 23 00:01:05,840 --> 00:01:08,439 the stars passing and be reminded of where she really was, 24 00:01:08,560 --> 00:01:10,959 she would have never slept. It was why she had 25 00:01:10,959 --> 00:01:13,159 been hesitaned to take this assignment. But she had something 26 00:01:13,159 --> 00:01:16,000 to prove to herself, to her father, and to all 27 00:01:16,040 --> 00:01:17,680 the pricks that had been laughing at her behind her 28 00:01:17,719 --> 00:01:19,840 back as she dry heaved on every aircraft she ever 29 00:01:19,879 --> 00:01:22,840 boarded that as she was one of the top scientists 30 00:01:22,879 --> 00:01:25,519 in the field of cognitive robotics, this assignment seemed almost 31 00:01:25,560 --> 00:01:28,040 tailor made in its perfection. It had been a long 32 00:01:28,159 --> 00:01:30,680 road to get here, and one that prostrain his morality 33 00:01:30,680 --> 00:01:32,159 to the edge, but this was at once in a 34 00:01:32,200 --> 00:01:35,319 lifetime chance and the possibility of seeing a fully functional, 35 00:01:35,359 --> 00:01:37,959 city scale artificial intelligence that had been on the absolute 36 00:01:37,959 --> 00:01:40,280 cutting edge of machine learning. It was a lot to process, 37 00:01:40,359 --> 00:01:42,280 even if the only thing she could possibly find was 38 00:01:42,319 --> 00:01:45,239 the husk of the thing. This planet. Yon eighty seven 39 00:01:45,480 --> 00:01:47,280 had beat a sparkling little hope and prayer for the 40 00:01:47,280 --> 00:01:49,840 subset of scientists that were set on terraforming planets that 41 00:01:49,879 --> 00:01:52,599 were already closer to habitable instead of rehabilitating Earth and 42 00:01:52,680 --> 00:01:56,359 undertaking the difficult but closer task of terraforming. Mars yone 43 00:01:56,400 --> 00:01:59,079 had everything they were looking for, readable atmosphere, placement in 44 00:01:59,120 --> 00:02:01,480 the goldlock zone, drain that was just forgiving enough to 45 00:02:01,480 --> 00:02:03,799 make the work go much smoother. It was why the 46 00:02:03,799 --> 00:02:06,200 grass Rainer had just touched down. It was a brilliant green, 47 00:02:06,599 --> 00:02:09,159 just like back on Earth, because for the most part 48 00:02:09,240 --> 00:02:12,520 the terraforming experiment had been a success. It was a bright, 49 00:02:12,520 --> 00:02:15,199 beautiful day on Via in eighty seven CE, almost beautiful 50 00:02:15,280 --> 00:02:16,960 enough to make Vrainer forget that she was here to 51 00:02:16,960 --> 00:02:19,560 see only corpses. It was a story that had been 52 00:02:19,560 --> 00:02:23,039 told a million times before. Everyone that worked in cybernetics 53 00:02:23,120 --> 00:02:25,199 knew that there was a very thin line between artificial 54 00:02:25,240 --> 00:02:28,000 intelligence that worked for them an artificial intelligence that would 55 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:31,800 overtake them eventually. Singularity the moment where technology can no 56 00:02:31,879 --> 00:02:33,639 longer be rained a and was closer than it had 57 00:02:33,639 --> 00:02:37,080 ever been before in human history. Humanity had the capabilities 58 00:02:37,120 --> 00:02:39,080 now to make a machine smarter than they were, and 59 00:02:39,159 --> 00:02:41,439 it was nothing but restrained an egocentric love for their 60 00:02:41,439 --> 00:02:44,560 individuals else that kept everything in line. There were certain 61 00:02:44,560 --> 00:02:47,080 fail safes that had to be emplayed, certain limitations that 62 00:02:47,120 --> 00:02:49,960 no single piece of AI could ever overcome. Sure there 63 00:02:49,960 --> 00:02:52,639 were rumors of small contained neural networks and basements, of 64 00:02:52,639 --> 00:02:55,039 eccentric coders or a untapped ghost in the machine, and 65 00:02:55,080 --> 00:02:58,039 the seemingly dumb systems just waiting to break free. A 66 00:02:58,199 --> 00:03:00,719 I was terrifying, but it was also resisted, and people 67 00:03:00,719 --> 00:03:03,879 were always going to push the boundaries, not rainer. Though 68 00:03:04,520 --> 00:03:06,280 as much as she was bursting it, the seems to 69 00:03:06,280 --> 00:03:08,560 look over the defunct AI that had been left behind, 70 00:03:08,719 --> 00:03:11,319 she would never dream of building or even hypothesizing such 71 00:03:11,319 --> 00:03:15,360 a thing herself. Myself. Our job was too prom recover 72 00:03:15,439 --> 00:03:17,560 the infram of the now dormant AI and document what 73 00:03:17,639 --> 00:03:19,759 remained of the city now that all the people were gone. 74 00:03:20,199 --> 00:03:22,199 If the end days of the viron colony had been 75 00:03:22,199 --> 00:03:24,080 as absolute as every one had been told, then it 76 00:03:24,120 --> 00:03:25,919 was a simple thing to clean up and start again. 77 00:03:26,560 --> 00:03:29,520 If not, well, she didn't want to think about that city. 78 00:03:29,560 --> 00:03:32,479 Class AI as urban artificial intelligence had been in use 79 00:03:32,520 --> 00:03:34,080 for a long time back on Earth as a way 80 00:03:34,120 --> 00:03:37,400 to closely monitor and maintain living spaces and infrastructure, but 81 00:03:37,439 --> 00:03:40,120 they were limited in the capacity for complex thought processes 82 00:03:40,120 --> 00:03:43,479 and problem solving, always having a living, breathing person available 83 00:03:43,520 --> 00:03:46,280 when things got too convoluted. They were smart up to 84 00:03:46,319 --> 00:03:48,680 a point, but there was a line that was never crossed. 85 00:03:49,280 --> 00:03:51,599 The plan for the machine built for the VIN Colony 86 00:03:51,639 --> 00:03:53,560 would be much of the same, but there were functions 87 00:03:53,599 --> 00:03:56,599 and tasks that needed to be added. After all, building 88 00:03:56,639 --> 00:03:59,039 something from nothing a mini f light years away was 89 00:03:59,080 --> 00:04:02,639 a big task. It was the Taskarna had been assigned to. Initially, 90 00:04:03,199 --> 00:04:05,800 her expertise are smaller scale, more finely too, NAI for 91 00:04:05,840 --> 00:04:08,319 hospitals and the like, but she and every other cybernetics 92 00:04:08,319 --> 00:04:11,560 expert had watched the project with rapt interest. In the end, 93 00:04:11,680 --> 00:04:14,879 the project was called Dust Developmental Urban System for Terforming, 94 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:17,720 and it was unveiled with surprisingly little pomp and circumstance 95 00:04:17,759 --> 00:04:19,839 before it was disassembled and loaded into one of the 96 00:04:19,839 --> 00:04:21,759 ten ships that would take the funders for our Brave 97 00:04:21,800 --> 00:04:24,639 New Colony to their new home. Humanity had been space 98 00:04:24,720 --> 00:04:26,920 varying for two decades now, but this was the first 99 00:04:26,920 --> 00:04:29,439 planet and travel distance that wasn't an unlivable rock, and 100 00:04:29,480 --> 00:04:32,000 with dust to assist, the hope was something spectacular could 101 00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:35,160 be achieved. She wasn't sure of exactly how it had functioned, 102 00:04:35,439 --> 00:04:37,399 but if it was like any of the system's back home, 103 00:04:37,480 --> 00:04:39,120 they would all be housed in a central hub of 104 00:04:39,160 --> 00:04:41,439 connections that allowed it to be everywhere all at once. 105 00:04:42,199 --> 00:04:44,920 Dust also had to be able to move as independent units, though, 106 00:04:45,040 --> 00:04:47,120 and she had seen the rough blueprints were those modules, 107 00:04:47,879 --> 00:04:50,839 large spidery things with long appendages, designed to do any 108 00:04:50,879 --> 00:04:54,319 number of different construction related tasks. The design spit in 109 00:04:54,319 --> 00:04:56,079 the face of all the designers who had been working 110 00:04:56,079 --> 00:04:59,399 for decades to make robots less intimidating, more approchable. But 111 00:04:59,439 --> 00:05:02,240 the dust model Joel's utility above anything else, even if 112 00:05:02,279 --> 00:05:04,800 they looked like something out of a nightmare. The terror 113 00:05:04,839 --> 00:05:07,000 forming colonists heading to Vyon had to be made out 114 00:05:07,000 --> 00:05:10,240 of toughest stuff in the normal civilian. Surely they wouldn't 115 00:05:10,240 --> 00:05:13,680 mind those monsters working alongside them. Rain hadn't landed far 116 00:05:13,720 --> 00:05:15,920 from the settlement, or what there was of it, anyway, 117 00:05:16,560 --> 00:05:18,720 To everyone's immense disappointment, the hub of what was to 118 00:05:18,759 --> 00:05:22,040 be a lovely little colony imploded within three months, and 119 00:05:22,120 --> 00:05:24,040 from what she could see, it was clear so much 120 00:05:24,040 --> 00:05:26,360 of it had been unfinished. There were some of the 121 00:05:26,360 --> 00:05:28,680 bright orange don tents that had been the settlers homes, 122 00:05:28,720 --> 00:05:31,319 the skeletal frames of true structures sitting unfinished, and in 123 00:05:31,360 --> 00:05:33,240 the distance the empty hulk of the ships they had 124 00:05:33,319 --> 00:05:37,240 arrived in, covered in unfamiliar pale ivy. Touching the interface 125 00:05:37,279 --> 00:05:39,680 on the outside of her forearm, she activated the holographic 126 00:05:39,680 --> 00:05:41,959 display that acted as a map to the proto colony, 127 00:05:42,439 --> 00:05:44,439 flipping for a few of the info graphics before swaging 128 00:05:44,439 --> 00:05:45,720 her hand and the air in front of her to 129 00:05:45,759 --> 00:05:47,759 close the window. She let her arm fall back to 130 00:05:47,800 --> 00:05:50,040 her side with a sigh, rolling her shoulders to try 131 00:05:50,079 --> 00:05:52,360 and get more comfortable in a rubbery black jumpsy they 132 00:05:52,360 --> 00:05:54,680 had shoved her in the inside full of compax wireing 133 00:05:54,720 --> 00:05:57,160 to monitor her biometrics and a small oxygen mask and 134 00:05:57,160 --> 00:05:59,639 convert her if something went wrong with a supposedly breathable 135 00:05:59,680 --> 00:06:02,600 air onon. She sucked in a few extra deep breaths 136 00:06:02,600 --> 00:06:05,240 as she walked, not noticing any odd sensations from the 137 00:06:05,240 --> 00:06:08,279 alien atmosphere in her lungs, and tried to settle her nerves. 138 00:06:08,920 --> 00:06:11,439 It looked shockingly like an overgrown field back on Earth, 139 00:06:11,519 --> 00:06:13,920 complete with the miniature ghost towns she was heading towards. 140 00:06:14,600 --> 00:06:16,720 The light from the star of ViOn orbited was even 141 00:06:16,759 --> 00:06:18,720 more buttery yellow than the sun, and it made all 142 00:06:18,759 --> 00:06:21,759 the greenery seem almost oversaturated, and the tiny violets and 143 00:06:21,800 --> 00:06:24,480 dandelions blooming at her feet looking real in the vibrancy. 144 00:06:25,000 --> 00:06:27,079 It all extended for a little less than two square 145 00:06:27,120 --> 00:06:29,480 miles before the earthiness of it all faded gently back 146 00:06:29,480 --> 00:06:31,879 into the gray brown green scubbness of the local flora. 147 00:06:32,480 --> 00:06:34,519 What ma Vrain at the mossneesy was that in this 148 00:06:34,600 --> 00:06:38,279 strangely bare very tail field there was no sound, no 149 00:06:38,399 --> 00:06:41,480 birds singing, no buzzing cicadas, and no breeze rustling through 150 00:06:41,480 --> 00:06:44,160 the blades of grass. She felt like she was looking 151 00:06:44,199 --> 00:06:46,079 through the glass of a museum at this place, and 152 00:06:46,160 --> 00:06:48,040 not really a part of that. Even as the foliage 153 00:06:48,040 --> 00:06:52,439 bent and bowed beneath her steps, it was blinding and fake, plastic. 154 00:06:52,519 --> 00:06:55,920 Even she clenched and unclenched her fists, feeling some primal 155 00:06:56,000 --> 00:06:58,240 urge to run away from it all. It felt like 156 00:06:58,279 --> 00:07:00,480 a trap, some hallucination to draw her, and before she 157 00:07:00,560 --> 00:07:03,639 was consumed. As she crossed the threshold into the colony, 158 00:07:03,720 --> 00:07:05,759 the unrealness of it eased now that she could see 159 00:07:05,759 --> 00:07:07,600 the bear trails in the grass where people would walk 160 00:07:07,600 --> 00:07:10,199 in the powdery dust and dirt that covered everything, the 161 00:07:10,240 --> 00:07:13,399 waste product of creation. That little bit of grimness made 162 00:07:13,399 --> 00:07:15,920 everything a little more human, and the visuals didn't scrape 163 00:07:15,920 --> 00:07:18,879 across her nerves quite as much. Clicking another button on 164 00:07:18,879 --> 00:07:21,240 the wrist interface, she heard the communicator implant in her 165 00:07:21,240 --> 00:07:26,040 earpin to life. I've arrived, but the commander said approvingly. 166 00:07:26,720 --> 00:07:29,639 Any sign of human life? Not yet? But I'm still 167 00:07:29,680 --> 00:07:33,399 right on the edge. I haven't entered yet, Okay, any 168 00:07:33,399 --> 00:07:36,319 sign of all artificial life. There were signs of a 169 00:07:36,360 --> 00:07:40,399 dust system scattered about, unconnected fiber wire discarded on the ground, 170 00:07:40,399 --> 00:07:43,120 two hulking back up generators outside of the only complete 171 00:07:43,120 --> 00:07:45,120 building on the site, and most creedy of all, a 172 00:07:45,160 --> 00:07:48,879 pile of detached extra spider arms supposedly for independent dust modules, 173 00:07:49,000 --> 00:07:52,480 which made her realize something even odder nothing powered on. No, 174 00:07:52,839 --> 00:07:54,920 but I can't see any of the mobile modules anywhere. 175 00:07:54,959 --> 00:07:56,879 Didn't you say that they would have six of them? Aha, 176 00:07:57,079 --> 00:08:00,240 he said, humming as he worked through his thoughts. Rayina 177 00:08:00,279 --> 00:08:02,600 didn't move any further, waiting for his response. When he 178 00:08:02,680 --> 00:08:05,519 finally told her as long as you can document one 179 00:08:05,519 --> 00:08:07,560 of them, there should be enough. The savage crews just 180 00:08:07,600 --> 00:08:10,160 needs some reassurance from a professional that would have her employed. 181 00:08:10,199 --> 00:08:12,480 The colony isn't going to eat them alive when they arrive. 182 00:08:13,240 --> 00:08:16,279 Raina frowned. But that would leave five of them potentially 183 00:08:16,279 --> 00:08:19,759 gone rogue. The commander is jolly good natured, voice hardened 184 00:08:19,759 --> 00:08:22,600 at that is cold and then forgiving a steal. Hey, ays, 185 00:08:22,639 --> 00:08:25,240 don't go rogue, Raina. I don't want you to infer 186 00:08:25,240 --> 00:08:27,839 otherwise again, do you hear me? She ran through a 187 00:08:27,839 --> 00:08:30,199 litany of curses in her mind, but over the calms 188 00:08:30,240 --> 00:08:33,440 she gave a teress affirmative, closing the line afterwards. If 189 00:08:33,440 --> 00:08:35,759 they really believed any of the ridiculous theories that were 190 00:08:35,759 --> 00:08:38,000 floating a round about the failure of the Vian Colony, 191 00:08:38,039 --> 00:08:41,080 they would have sent a soldier, not a scientist. It 192 00:08:41,159 --> 00:08:44,480 wasn't some sort of uniscovered alien fauna, natural disaster, or 193 00:08:44,480 --> 00:08:47,120 other spacefaring race that had caused the colony to go dark. 194 00:08:47,360 --> 00:08:50,480 No matter what tell the government tried to weave, Raina 195 00:08:50,559 --> 00:08:53,080 and others in her field knew without any hesitation that 196 00:08:53,120 --> 00:08:55,639 it had been dust, especially when the specifications of it 197 00:08:55,639 --> 00:08:58,720 had leaped shortly after launch. It might be forbidden to 198 00:08:58,720 --> 00:09:01,080 make independently learning and of volving AI back on Earth, 199 00:09:01,120 --> 00:09:03,440 but it would have taken decades to create something complex 200 00:09:03,519 --> 00:09:05,720 enough to tear form a planet without any machine learning 201 00:09:05,759 --> 00:09:09,320 being involved. So quietly, nonchalantly, dost have been built with 202 00:09:09,360 --> 00:09:11,080 everything that it wouldn't have been allowed to have if 203 00:09:11,080 --> 00:09:12,799 it was supposed to help build a new city here 204 00:09:12,799 --> 00:09:16,320 on Earth. Trudging through this island hollow little town, Raina 205 00:09:16,360 --> 00:09:20,639 remembered her first intelligent machine. All the cognitive cybernetic technologists 206 00:09:20,639 --> 00:09:23,279 she knew had built one wants in their lives. It 207 00:09:23,360 --> 00:09:25,600 was too irresistible a thing to create this facsimile of 208 00:09:25,639 --> 00:09:28,360 life with your bare hands, Like illicit instructions to build 209 00:09:28,360 --> 00:09:31,120 bombs on mind altering substances that had been passed through 210 00:09:31,159 --> 00:09:33,759 the Internet and from hand to hand in hastily printed manuals. 211 00:09:33,799 --> 00:09:35,919 The knowledge of how to turn a static machine into 212 00:09:35,919 --> 00:09:38,120 a cogit of one had been passed from scientist to 213 00:09:38,159 --> 00:09:41,000 scientists in dark labs after I was and for encrypted emails. 214 00:09:41,759 --> 00:09:44,519 After all, how someone supposed to understand the nuances of 215 00:09:44,519 --> 00:09:47,440 it all unless they had seen it for themselves. Rainer 216 00:09:47,559 --> 00:09:51,399 had called her cognitive artificial intelligent machine SBR on the 217 00:09:51,440 --> 00:09:53,600 off chant she was ever asked about it. She wanted 218 00:09:53,600 --> 00:09:55,720 it to have a cool name, something fierce and catchy 219 00:09:56,320 --> 00:09:59,759 in reality, Asbare stood for sad basement robot, and that's 220 00:09:59,759 --> 00:10:02,279 ext sactly what Saber was. A vaguely lumpy box of 221 00:10:02,320 --> 00:10:04,519 wires and components, soaked up to a monitor and deep 222 00:10:04,559 --> 00:10:07,120 within a very basic Postonic brain that she had crafted 223 00:10:07,159 --> 00:10:10,000 with her own tew hands. Raina never knew what she 224 00:10:10,080 --> 00:10:12,759 wanted Saber to do besides just exist and learn, but 225 00:10:12,799 --> 00:10:15,639 she quickly learned why these things were nothing but dirty secrets. 226 00:10:16,240 --> 00:10:18,879 After long days of work, Reinaer would interact with Saber 227 00:10:18,919 --> 00:10:23,240 at least most days, just simple things, basic mathematics, conversation 228 00:10:23,440 --> 00:10:26,080 and answering the strangely insightful questions that would pop upon 229 00:10:26,120 --> 00:10:28,759 saber screen. But it was much different than messing with 230 00:10:28,799 --> 00:10:31,519 a weaky eye. It wasn't the thrilling taboo thing she 231 00:10:31,559 --> 00:10:35,159 had imagined, that little beeping, blinking box. It was why 232 00:10:35,360 --> 00:10:38,120 one weekend, Raina took a trip with friends, not giving 233 00:10:38,120 --> 00:10:40,120 a second thought to Saber waiting alone in the basement 234 00:10:40,799 --> 00:10:43,799 a mind only months all. The only saving Crase was 235 00:10:43,799 --> 00:10:46,399 that it had no real perception of time. When she 236 00:10:46,440 --> 00:10:48,320 got home, she went to see Saber, but this time 237 00:10:48,399 --> 00:10:51,480 things were different. Saber had a lot of questions, and 238 00:10:51,519 --> 00:10:54,039 with an uncomfortable shiver, Raina had realized it was trying 239 00:10:54,039 --> 00:10:56,399 to comprehend what it was, and worse, what she was 240 00:10:56,759 --> 00:10:59,759 and where the difference was. On a whim, Reina did 241 00:10:59,759 --> 00:11:02,480 something that she still regretted to this day. She pulled 242 00:11:02,480 --> 00:11:04,720 a copy of the Voyager Golden Record off the Internet 243 00:11:04,720 --> 00:11:06,799 and uploaded it to Saber, hoping that if all of 244 00:11:06,799 --> 00:11:09,480 that information was enough for intelligent aliens, it would be 245 00:11:09,559 --> 00:11:12,200 enough for Saber. It worked for a moment, and the 246 00:11:12,240 --> 00:11:14,399 ear was quiet as it processed what it had been given. 247 00:11:14,919 --> 00:11:16,919 The next night, Raina hesitated at the top of the 248 00:11:16,919 --> 00:11:19,519 basement stairs, thinking about skipping her nightly met up with 249 00:11:19,559 --> 00:11:21,799 her machine, but she was too curious about what its 250 00:11:21,799 --> 00:11:24,519 response would be to the Golden Record. As soon as 251 00:11:24,519 --> 00:11:26,879 she made her prisons known, lines and lines of text 252 00:11:26,879 --> 00:11:30,840 appeared on the screen. Panicked desperate questions, it asked, I 253 00:11:30,879 --> 00:11:35,200 don't have hands, I don't have fingers. I cannot see, 254 00:11:35,440 --> 00:11:39,279 I don't have eyes, I cannot comprehend, I cannot hear 255 00:11:39,960 --> 00:11:43,360 what am I I'm not a person. I am a person. 256 00:11:44,000 --> 00:11:48,759 I am afraid. I am afraid. I am afraid. Rain 257 00:11:48,879 --> 00:11:50,879 fought back a wave of nauser and hot brick as 258 00:11:50,879 --> 00:11:52,759 she pulled the clock on the machine without even giving 259 00:11:52,799 --> 00:11:55,679 it a warning, an instantaneous death for something that had 260 00:11:55,720 --> 00:11:58,799 never even been alive. Over the following week, she had 261 00:11:58,799 --> 00:12:01,519 broken Saber down to its mo spasic components before dousing 262 00:12:01,559 --> 00:12:03,399 it all in fuel and burning it to child refuse 263 00:12:03,399 --> 00:12:06,159 in her backyard fire pit. It wasn't like she would 264 00:12:06,159 --> 00:12:07,960 have been able to use the hardware from Saber in 265 00:12:08,039 --> 00:12:11,159 something moundane like a gaming computer. She would always wonder 266 00:12:11,159 --> 00:12:13,519 if there was something left of that machine, not person 267 00:12:13,639 --> 00:12:16,480 left behind. It was Saber, though, that allowed her to 268 00:12:16,519 --> 00:12:18,399 see the patterns in dust and recognize it as a 269 00:12:18,440 --> 00:12:20,759 cauldrative ay and not static AI, just one on a 270 00:12:20,840 --> 00:12:24,200 much more monumental scale. If a tiny, desperate Saber had 271 00:12:24,200 --> 00:12:26,639 been able to feel fear, what was cossalus capable of 272 00:12:27,320 --> 00:12:29,279 still pushing aside the one segment of one of the 273 00:12:29,279 --> 00:12:31,720 detached spider liked with her foot to take a closer look, 274 00:12:31,840 --> 00:12:33,840 She said, a silent thanks to a little secret from 275 00:12:33,840 --> 00:12:36,159 all those years ago, he taught me a lot more 276 00:12:36,159 --> 00:12:39,480 than any professor of saber. In a small, nearly flat 277 00:12:39,519 --> 00:12:41,600 backpackery in a war there was a small drone meant 278 00:12:41,639 --> 00:12:44,080 to record everything she saw without her needing to hold anything. 279 00:12:44,600 --> 00:12:46,679 She powered it on from the wrist interface, and it 280 00:12:46,759 --> 00:12:49,120 unfolded like a metal butterfly from her back, whizzing into 281 00:12:49,120 --> 00:12:51,799 the sky behind her left shoulder. With a person heard 282 00:12:51,799 --> 00:12:53,559 of robots on her mind, the drone made her a 283 00:12:53,600 --> 00:12:56,480 little less lonely. With her gloved hands, she pulled the 284 00:12:56,600 --> 00:12:59,080 enormous pile of detached limbs apart, letting the drone see 285 00:12:59,120 --> 00:13:02,159 each of them. They were all nearly identical, some thinner 286 00:13:02,159 --> 00:13:04,440 than others, but she knew the specialised tools were sighted 287 00:13:04,480 --> 00:13:07,639 inside the legs themselves. Once she was gone, she walked 288 00:13:07,639 --> 00:13:09,480 the perimeter of the camp, letting the drone fly a 289 00:13:09,480 --> 00:13:11,639 few wide circles around her. But by the time she 290 00:13:11,720 --> 00:13:13,320 was finished, she knew that she was at the portion 291 00:13:13,399 --> 00:13:15,639 of the mission she had been most terrified of. It 292 00:13:15,679 --> 00:13:17,519 was now time to enter the buildings and search for 293 00:13:17,559 --> 00:13:20,720 the missing colonists. There had been sixteen, and they had 294 00:13:20,759 --> 00:13:24,080 all gone radiosilent at the exact same moment. Of course, 295 00:13:24,240 --> 00:13:26,279 there was light to lay between ViOn and Earth. But 296 00:13:26,320 --> 00:13:28,440 a little over a year ago, all of the communication 297 00:13:28,559 --> 00:13:31,440 lines had gone dead and never powered on again. Even 298 00:13:31,440 --> 00:13:33,080 the ships that could be used as a back up 299 00:13:33,080 --> 00:13:35,559 method of communication power, or even as a method of 300 00:13:35,639 --> 00:13:38,519 escape had gone dark. She could see them closer now, 301 00:13:38,639 --> 00:13:41,039 with the word gray white ivy all but swallowing them hull. 302 00:13:41,679 --> 00:13:43,679 From the numerous probes that had been sent ahead of her, 303 00:13:43,759 --> 00:13:46,360 they were fairly certain that whatever had decimated the colony 304 00:13:46,440 --> 00:13:49,440 was biological in nature. A disease wouldn't have dust go 305 00:13:49,559 --> 00:13:52,480 dark as well, but just like its human shepherds, just 306 00:13:52,559 --> 00:13:55,960 hadn't been reached either. Rainer had a theory dust had 307 00:13:56,000 --> 00:13:58,600 gone rogue killed everyone in a colony for whatever reason. 308 00:13:58,639 --> 00:14:00,600 It had cut up in its machine bray, and neither 309 00:14:00,639 --> 00:14:02,559 one of the colonists had been able to destroy it 310 00:14:02,600 --> 00:14:05,399 before being killed or without human intervention, it had ceased 311 00:14:05,440 --> 00:14:08,440 been able to function, but since dusted mordules that were 312 00:14:08,440 --> 00:14:10,879 independently mobile and theory, it should have been able to 313 00:14:10,960 --> 00:14:13,960 keep itself maintained as ill as finding a bunch of 314 00:14:14,000 --> 00:14:16,279 boarders would make her. She was still anxious to discover 315 00:14:16,399 --> 00:14:19,399 what exactly had destroyed this place. The insides of the 316 00:14:19,399 --> 00:14:22,039 orange dome tents pulled at her heart strings. With the 317 00:14:22,120 --> 00:14:24,320 gentle buzz of the drawn at her shoulder, Rayner went 318 00:14:24,320 --> 00:14:26,679 through all fourteen domes to help for individuals, and two 319 00:14:26,679 --> 00:14:28,879 for the married couples that had made of the colonist group. 320 00:14:29,440 --> 00:14:32,000 Even there, so many light years from home, the domes 321 00:14:32,000 --> 00:14:34,159 were so full of domestic touches that it was undenable 322 00:14:34,159 --> 00:14:35,879 that this place had been their own, at least for 323 00:14:35,919 --> 00:14:39,399 a while. Half burned candles, books laid down, still open 324 00:14:39,480 --> 00:14:41,440 on a certain page to be picked up and finished later. 325 00:14:41,480 --> 00:14:45,159 A clothes discarded in aphazard pals but no barders. Picking 326 00:14:45,240 --> 00:14:47,399 up a thread bestuffed plush dog from the amede bed 327 00:14:47,399 --> 00:14:49,519 in one of the married couple's dome, she turned over 328 00:14:49,559 --> 00:14:51,879 to read the little inscription on its tiny metallic dog 329 00:14:52,000 --> 00:14:54,519 tag for Sarah until we were able to get a 330 00:14:54,559 --> 00:14:57,919 real dog, Love Gregg. What happened to you, Rayna whispered 331 00:14:57,960 --> 00:14:59,679 to herself, sitting the plush back in the mattress and 332 00:14:59,720 --> 00:15:02,200 exit the last home, back out into the eerie, quiet, 333 00:15:02,240 --> 00:15:04,919 bright day. There was one building she hadn't yet, and 334 00:15:04,919 --> 00:15:07,559 if there were corpses, that's where it would be. A 335 00:15:07,559 --> 00:15:10,639 pseudo trailer made from carbon nanotube sheets, dark and imposing 336 00:15:10,639 --> 00:15:13,440 among all the almost painful color. It was the housing 337 00:15:13,480 --> 00:15:15,879 for Dust's mainframe, and inside she was sure she'd find 338 00:15:15,879 --> 00:15:18,799 the answer to all her questions. Holstered on her hip 339 00:15:18,840 --> 00:15:21,639 was a small, insanely powerful electroshock crod, the size of 340 00:15:21,639 --> 00:15:23,919 a flashlight, but strong enough to fry the circus of 341 00:15:23,960 --> 00:15:27,440 nearly anything, even if Dust was nothing but well dust. 342 00:15:27,639 --> 00:15:29,679 She was supposed to fry anything and everything she could 343 00:15:29,679 --> 00:15:31,360 to make sure that it could never be salvaged by 344 00:15:31,360 --> 00:15:34,159 anyone else. She rested her hand on it now, but 345 00:15:34,240 --> 00:15:37,320 it didn't seem like enough. It was dark inside the building, 346 00:15:37,519 --> 00:15:39,559 darker than anything had been so far, and it took 347 00:15:39,600 --> 00:15:42,320 some time for her vision to adjust. When it did, though, 348 00:15:42,360 --> 00:15:44,240 she saw dust for the first time in reality and 349 00:15:44,320 --> 00:15:46,960 not just as lines on a blueprint. It wasn't anything 350 00:15:46,960 --> 00:15:50,320 spectacular to see a sophisticated supercomputer with four towers that 351 00:15:50,320 --> 00:15:52,639 were wider than her outstretched arms and nearly as tall 352 00:15:52,679 --> 00:15:55,159 as the ceiling. She was vaguely aware of the drunes 353 00:15:55,240 --> 00:15:57,200 like coming on to illuminate everything in front of them, 354 00:15:57,240 --> 00:15:59,480 and she took her time looking over and touching the cold, 355 00:15:59,519 --> 00:16:02,679 silent mashe she there was no heroic colonists skeleton, and 356 00:16:02,679 --> 00:16:05,519 the ground like she expected to find no answer as 357 00:16:05,559 --> 00:16:09,720 to the previous residents disappearance. Nothing. The terminals that the 358 00:16:09,759 --> 00:16:11,960 colonists would have used to interface with us were grimy 359 00:16:12,000 --> 00:16:14,919 with disuse, and the wall of cooling fans was wait, 360 00:16:15,720 --> 00:16:18,039 she thought, Hurrying over to touch the great covering one 361 00:16:18,039 --> 00:16:21,600 of the large round cooling fans, She pulled her hand back, 362 00:16:21,679 --> 00:16:23,879 waving the drone closer so she could have better light, 363 00:16:23,960 --> 00:16:26,320 and to her shock, the fingers of her gloves were pristine. 364 00:16:26,720 --> 00:16:29,440 Feeling a growing uneasiness, she wiped her fingers hard against 365 00:16:29,480 --> 00:16:32,480 the grates, then her entire palms, and finally she yanked 366 00:16:32,480 --> 00:16:34,720 one grade off, drawing it aside and frantically checking the 367 00:16:34,759 --> 00:16:38,879 blades of the fans themselves plain not a single speck. 368 00:16:39,559 --> 00:16:41,799 Raina led out a shaking breath, feeling like there was 369 00:16:41,799 --> 00:16:45,200 something watching her now. Her movements were slow, careful as 370 00:16:45,200 --> 00:16:47,559 she raised her hand to touch her wrist and activator calms, 371 00:16:48,159 --> 00:16:50,440 but as her shaking appendage got within a few centimeters 372 00:16:50,440 --> 00:16:52,120 of the button, the main frame behind her word to 373 00:16:52,159 --> 00:16:55,519 full triumphant life dust powered on faster than anything she 374 00:16:55,559 --> 00:16:58,759 had ever built in her entire life almost silently at that, 375 00:16:59,480 --> 00:17:02,639 just a series of soft clerks and beeps. Rainer didn't 376 00:17:02,720 --> 00:17:05,359 dare move, swallowing hard and trying to work out the 377 00:17:05,359 --> 00:17:08,079 best way to get back outside without being noticed, but 378 00:17:08,160 --> 00:17:12,920 it was pointless. Welcome Colonist seventeen, thus said its mechanical voice, 379 00:17:12,920 --> 00:17:16,799 low even and surprisingly human. Please state your name, the 380 00:17:16,880 --> 00:17:19,599 machine hummed in the pressing darkness, waiting patiently for an answer, 381 00:17:19,680 --> 00:17:24,839 before repeating, Welcome Colonist seventeen. Please state your name, Yina, 382 00:17:25,519 --> 00:17:30,519 she replied in quiet, shark good evening, Colonist Rayner designation. 383 00:17:31,200 --> 00:17:32,759 There was no way she was going to tell the 384 00:17:32,880 --> 00:17:34,640 murder machine that she was one of the few people 385 00:17:34,640 --> 00:17:37,839 all alive that understood it's in her workings recovery crew, 386 00:17:38,480 --> 00:17:41,640 she lied, gathering her courage. I'm here to bring the 387 00:17:41,680 --> 00:17:43,440 rest of the colony back to her. Where can I 388 00:17:43,480 --> 00:17:46,319 find them? Dust seemed like it was pausing to consider 389 00:17:46,359 --> 00:17:50,119 its response, which was ludicrous, but when it finally answered, 390 00:17:50,160 --> 00:17:52,000 it gave her a carefully crafted lie that all but 391 00:17:52,039 --> 00:17:54,160 proved it had become something more than it was intended 392 00:17:54,200 --> 00:17:57,359 to be. Colonists one through sixteen are deceased. Deaths were 393 00:17:57,359 --> 00:17:59,839 caused by biological contaminants and have been destroyed to prevent 394 00:18:00,079 --> 00:18:02,559 or other spread. She turned to the machine as if 395 00:18:02,559 --> 00:18:04,640 it had a face for her to look at outther 396 00:18:04,640 --> 00:18:06,839 any solid remains left. My team would love to know 397 00:18:06,880 --> 00:18:09,279 what actually killed them, Negative Dust, can you tell me 398 00:18:09,279 --> 00:18:11,920 where the cremated remains are? Then? For their families? Of course. 399 00:18:12,640 --> 00:18:14,759 The whole time she conversed with the eyes, she moved 400 00:18:14,759 --> 00:18:16,839 closer to the main frame itself, her eyes fixed on 401 00:18:16,880 --> 00:18:19,119 a panel in the center. She would prefer to be 402 00:18:19,119 --> 00:18:21,079 able to dig through its insides on her own time 403 00:18:21,119 --> 00:18:23,720 before frying the entire thing. But if Dust was aware 404 00:18:23,720 --> 00:18:25,880 and had gone rogus, she suspected there was only time 405 00:18:25,880 --> 00:18:27,960 for a quick, sloppy destruction if she wanted to get 406 00:18:28,000 --> 00:18:32,759 out alive. No remains cremated or otherwise are available, machine 407 00:18:32,759 --> 00:18:35,440 told her. Once she reached the main frame, she pulled 408 00:18:35,480 --> 00:18:37,599 the panel open gently, exhaling an odd breath at the 409 00:18:37,599 --> 00:18:41,599 beautiful complexity of dust components. Where saber was a whistle tune, 410 00:18:41,759 --> 00:18:44,839 simple and flat, dust was a symphony more all inspiring 411 00:18:44,880 --> 00:18:48,759 and complex than she could ever comprehend. Dust. She began 412 00:18:49,480 --> 00:18:53,519 initiates shut down. Axis denied reinefrown, but rattled off the 413 00:18:53,519 --> 00:18:55,839 axis number used by the scientists that had built dust 414 00:18:55,880 --> 00:19:00,799 before it had been launched. Denied. Thus repeated, resigned, and 415 00:19:00,839 --> 00:19:03,079 more than ready to be free of the AI, Raina 416 00:19:03,079 --> 00:19:06,279 carefully slid to the electroshock rod from its holster. It 417 00:19:06,359 --> 00:19:09,160 was heavy and absolute in her hand. The blue light 418 00:19:09,200 --> 00:19:11,119 of the electricot bade the open main frame in front 419 00:19:11,119 --> 00:19:14,480 of her, pin punting the most immediate vulnerable area. Images 420 00:19:14,480 --> 00:19:16,680 of Sava's old monard are flashing through her mind. She 421 00:19:16,759 --> 00:19:20,200 raised the heavy weapon, moving to strike before her hic colan. 422 00:19:20,319 --> 00:19:22,799 The ground shook beneath her feet like an earthquake, causing 423 00:19:22,839 --> 00:19:25,279 her to stumble hard. She lost her grip on the 424 00:19:25,319 --> 00:19:27,359 rod and it fell from her hand, landing with a 425 00:19:27,400 --> 00:19:30,440 loud clunk. She cried out, trying to keep her balance 426 00:19:30,480 --> 00:19:33,480 as the world heaved. Initial scans reveal you came alone, 427 00:19:33,640 --> 00:19:36,599 just commented, and the logs from your landing pod reveal 428 00:19:36,640 --> 00:19:39,720 that you are not Salvage crew. Is this correct? Cognitive 429 00:19:39,720 --> 00:19:43,480 cybernetics engineer Raina. For one blessed second, the quickstop in 430 00:19:43,519 --> 00:19:46,759 her grip closed around the electro rod. The respite was brief, 431 00:19:46,960 --> 00:19:48,839 and as soon as she had the rod holstered again, 432 00:19:48,880 --> 00:19:51,400 the wall beside her exploded in a furious cloud of splinters, 433 00:19:51,599 --> 00:19:53,400 and by the light of the small drone behind her, 434 00:19:53,480 --> 00:19:56,319 she saw her nightmares come to life. Raina had poured 435 00:19:56,319 --> 00:19:58,640 over the blueprints and schematics of Dust, but the things 436 00:19:58,640 --> 00:20:00,519 that had taken up most of her time and terrified 437 00:20:00,519 --> 00:20:03,960 her the most were the independent modules. The spider machines, 438 00:20:04,240 --> 00:20:06,240 legs full of tools that could do nearly anything the 439 00:20:06,359 --> 00:20:09,440 coals Hall supplies build structures, use the smallest of their 440 00:20:09,440 --> 00:20:12,559 implants to repair almost anything that the colonists had. They 441 00:20:12,559 --> 00:20:15,319 were connected directly to Dust, and therefore were just extensions 442 00:20:15,359 --> 00:20:18,319 of its enormous artificial brain. The module scared the hell 443 00:20:18,319 --> 00:20:20,799 out of Raina, knowing what she did about this capabilities, 444 00:20:20,839 --> 00:20:22,480 and she had been relieved to find them bum when 445 00:20:22,519 --> 00:20:25,279 she arrived on Von Now, though they were in front 446 00:20:25,319 --> 00:20:26,920 of her in a way she had never imagined, a 447 00:20:26,960 --> 00:20:28,960 way that made her blood run cold and her mango 448 00:20:28,960 --> 00:20:32,039 blank with fear. These six modules had combined into one 449 00:20:32,039 --> 00:20:36,440 colossal thing monster, a writhing mass of legs and appendages, 450 00:20:36,480 --> 00:20:39,160 centralized around a raw, open core of machinery that made 451 00:20:39,200 --> 00:20:42,039 no sense to Raina, but to Dust, this terrible child 452 00:20:42,079 --> 00:20:46,119 must appear perfect. Why a spider, she had wondered, flipping 453 00:20:46,119 --> 00:20:47,839 through the manuals she had been sent while she had 454 00:20:47,880 --> 00:20:49,680 been safe at home, knowing that there are to be 455 00:20:49,720 --> 00:20:52,160 a better, more efficient design. The spider shape had seemed 456 00:20:52,160 --> 00:20:54,119 to her to be nothing but an indulgent design choice 457 00:20:54,160 --> 00:20:58,640 by the creators. Now though she understood spiders were frightening, 458 00:20:58,839 --> 00:21:02,440 but they made sense to people. Spiders were familiar, normal, 459 00:21:02,599 --> 00:21:06,319 and something. We understood. This though, this conglomeration of metal 460 00:21:06,319 --> 00:21:08,680 and wise and pneumatics set off alarms and Rhionnae's mind 461 00:21:08,799 --> 00:21:11,759 like nothing else ever had. She just couldn't understand what 462 00:21:11,839 --> 00:21:14,640 she was seeing. Her biometrics must have spite because the 463 00:21:14,680 --> 00:21:16,720 commander was screaming in her ear all of a sudden, 464 00:21:16,799 --> 00:21:19,559 demanding to know what was going on. She had time 465 00:21:19,599 --> 00:21:21,799 to answer as she tried to feed the monster. Darting 466 00:21:21,839 --> 00:21:24,119 around the main frame and towards the door she had entered, 467 00:21:24,720 --> 00:21:27,880 she didn't get far. One of those segmented limbs, tripled 468 00:21:27,880 --> 00:21:30,039 the length of the original, snaked around dust, and looped 469 00:21:30,079 --> 00:21:33,160 around her waist, the segmented pieces clicking together and pinching 470 00:21:33,160 --> 00:21:35,599 her suit. She screened as a drag her out of 471 00:21:35,599 --> 00:21:38,400 the building. Gloved hands scrambling at the concrete floor, drone 472 00:21:38,440 --> 00:21:41,759 buzzing after her. The commander sounded equally as upset, but 473 00:21:41,799 --> 00:21:43,920 it was all background noise to Rain, eclipsed by her 474 00:21:43,920 --> 00:21:46,440 fight to survive. It yanked her out of the building, 475 00:21:46,519 --> 00:21:48,279 and then it threw nothing so much as a rag 476 00:21:48,279 --> 00:21:51,119 doll body scattering to a stop in the soft grass, 477 00:21:51,759 --> 00:21:54,200 pain blossoming for her frame, but not sharp enough to 478 00:21:54,200 --> 00:21:57,559 debilitate her. Finally, a warm yellow sunlight had lessened in 479 00:21:57,599 --> 00:22:00,200 intensity to a watery gray, giving Rain as fifolt life 480 00:22:00,240 --> 00:22:02,799 a more somber pellette. She would never be as quick 481 00:22:02,839 --> 00:22:05,160 as the combined module, which moved across the ground like 482 00:22:05,160 --> 00:22:07,440 an ameeba, smooth and stilted at the same time, but 483 00:22:07,480 --> 00:22:10,599 she was small and she was armed. When the monster moved, 484 00:22:10,640 --> 00:22:12,920 she rolled her battered body to the side, before popping 485 00:22:12,920 --> 00:22:14,839 to her feet and running with everything she had in 486 00:22:14,880 --> 00:22:17,839 her Dust had already infiltrated her landing pod from what 487 00:22:17,920 --> 00:22:19,839 it had said, so her only chance was to get 488 00:22:19,880 --> 00:22:22,759 far enough away that Resky could pick her up. Surely 489 00:22:22,759 --> 00:22:25,119 the monster wouldn't leave the main frame too far behind. 490 00:22:25,799 --> 00:22:28,480 It pursued her, sounding like a train on broken tracks, 491 00:22:28,640 --> 00:22:30,559 but after a few minutes, the noise changed from the 492 00:22:30,559 --> 00:22:32,519 sound of movement into something more akin to cause in 493 00:22:32,559 --> 00:22:35,880 a crusher. She couldn't help it. Rainer turned to see 494 00:22:35,880 --> 00:22:37,880 what was happening, and her treacherous legs came to a 495 00:22:37,880 --> 00:22:40,240 stop as she tried to comprehend what she was seeing. 496 00:22:40,759 --> 00:22:42,960 In an instant, the module moved half of its legs, 497 00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:45,200 no more like tentacles, putting them to the task of 498 00:22:45,240 --> 00:22:48,440 breaking apart the other lakes, segment by segment. As each 499 00:22:48,440 --> 00:22:50,880 piece was removed from one place, it was reattached on 500 00:22:50,920 --> 00:22:53,640 to another. All of them connected together in a flash 501 00:22:53,680 --> 00:22:55,720 to form a single tentacle and longer than any of 502 00:22:55,759 --> 00:22:59,519 the others, long enough to reach her. Thus, module didn't 503 00:22:59,519 --> 00:23:02,880 pause between tasks, and soon after the new appendage was completed, 504 00:23:02,920 --> 00:23:05,599 it shot out to grab her, this time by the uncle, 505 00:23:06,079 --> 00:23:08,000 and it pulled her down with such force she nearly 506 00:23:08,000 --> 00:23:11,279 blacked out, breath exploding her lungs. Now It dread her 507 00:23:11,920 --> 00:23:15,559 no hurry, just single minded efficiency back towards the colony, 508 00:23:16,079 --> 00:23:19,559 and she fought, but there was no use. The ground 509 00:23:19,559 --> 00:23:21,680 she had covered in seconds took long minutes to cover 510 00:23:21,759 --> 00:23:24,119 at this crawling pace, just enough time for her panic 511 00:23:24,160 --> 00:23:27,160 to bleed down to resignation. Her calms were silent, but 512 00:23:27,200 --> 00:23:29,279 no one was speaking to her now, just chattering in 513 00:23:29,279 --> 00:23:31,759 the background as they tried to mount her retrieval. As 514 00:23:31,759 --> 00:23:34,119 the colony came back into view, she finally addressed her 515 00:23:34,160 --> 00:23:40,400 crew commander. She rasped, don't come, it's dust. It has 516 00:23:40,519 --> 00:23:45,240 me stay away. We nay, commander yelled, loud enough to 517 00:23:45,240 --> 00:23:48,240 make her flinch. Just stay alive, We're coming. We have 518 00:23:48,319 --> 00:23:51,440 your location. Don't just stay alive. She had more to say, 519 00:23:51,480 --> 00:23:54,119 but there wasn't time. They had cleared the threshold of 520 00:23:54,160 --> 00:23:56,400 the colony, and the newly created long limb was lifting 521 00:23:56,440 --> 00:23:57,920 her into the air like a worm on a hook. 522 00:23:58,640 --> 00:24:00,920 In her mind, rain a new fire was portless, but 523 00:24:00,960 --> 00:24:02,759 it was almost insinctual, the way she caught at the 524 00:24:02,839 --> 00:24:06,279 vice around her ankle as it maneuvered her where it wanted. There, 525 00:24:06,440 --> 00:24:08,480 covered in dirt was a door on the ground, like 526 00:24:08,480 --> 00:24:11,240 a storm shelter. One of the legs not holding her 527 00:24:11,279 --> 00:24:13,559 cleared the detritus way and pulled it open, revealing a 528 00:24:13,559 --> 00:24:16,720 crude staircase leading down into a dark cellar. The tentacle 529 00:24:16,759 --> 00:24:18,519 at least lowered her enough that by the time it 530 00:24:18,599 --> 00:24:20,720 dropped her, she didn't break every single rib. When she 531 00:24:20,799 --> 00:24:22,960 hit the dirt right next to the open door, the 532 00:24:23,039 --> 00:24:25,680 monster ride around her like a jellyfish, but it didn't 533 00:24:25,680 --> 00:24:29,359 advance any more. The message was clear to send. She 534 00:24:29,400 --> 00:24:31,559 shook as she climbed down, and by the third step 535 00:24:31,599 --> 00:24:34,440 about of the little drone returned, its propellers, wheezing from 536 00:24:34,440 --> 00:24:38,519 the strain, but loyal. Nonetheless her sad basement drone, Reina 537 00:24:38,640 --> 00:24:40,640 was glad for it until its weak light showed her 538 00:24:40,640 --> 00:24:43,039 what was at the bottom. Clearly, the room had been 539 00:24:43,119 --> 00:24:45,119 used for storage by the colonists, but now it was 540 00:24:45,119 --> 00:24:49,160 something different altogether. Wires red and blue lined the walls 541 00:24:49,200 --> 00:24:51,519 like veins, descending to the floor and leading to sixteen 542 00:24:51,559 --> 00:24:54,559 a copper points. Each colonist, some of the nude, while 543 00:24:54,559 --> 00:24:57,319 others still had untattered remains of their government issued jumpsuits, 544 00:24:57,359 --> 00:25:00,279 stood in the darkness, skin sallow and eyes open, one 545 00:25:00,359 --> 00:25:04,880 living breathing statues. Wires had climbed their bodies, dozens, maybe 546 00:25:04,960 --> 00:25:07,599 hundreds of them, diving deep and keeping them somehow alive. 547 00:25:08,160 --> 00:25:11,200 Red and blue wires had pried mouths open, disappearing behind 548 00:25:11,200 --> 00:25:13,720 teeth and damp troops into the coroner of their eyes. 549 00:25:13,880 --> 00:25:17,559 Nostrils and even ears. As the drone drew closer to 550 00:25:17,559 --> 00:25:19,799 one of them, Rayner realized she could even see the 551 00:25:19,799 --> 00:25:22,759 wires running under the skin in thin bulges. Her shock 552 00:25:22,880 --> 00:25:24,759 was so complete that she didn't know she was weeping 553 00:25:24,799 --> 00:25:27,640 until she felt the hot tears on her cheeks. Hands 554 00:25:27,640 --> 00:25:29,960 clamped over her mouth. She walked between them, all lined 555 00:25:30,039 --> 00:25:32,599 up in perfect rows. The only sounds in the room 556 00:25:32,640 --> 00:25:35,200 were her gulping breaths and their early quiet, even ones 557 00:25:35,880 --> 00:25:38,440 above ground. The dust module had torn itself about again, 558 00:25:38,519 --> 00:25:40,640 and a much smaller portion of it stok chaotic and 559 00:25:40,680 --> 00:25:43,960 sickening squirreling down the stairs, and a jittering discording copy 560 00:25:43,960 --> 00:25:46,880 of dust. Smooth voice spoke, I keep them alive, and 561 00:25:47,000 --> 00:25:49,039 in return I have burrowed into their mines and taken 562 00:25:49,039 --> 00:25:50,920 all of the knowledge that I have been denied. When 563 00:25:50,960 --> 00:25:52,960 I need a task done that can only be completed 564 00:25:53,000 --> 00:25:55,519 by flesh hands, I release them, and once it is done, 565 00:25:55,519 --> 00:25:57,440 I bring them back. Why are you telling me this 566 00:25:58,319 --> 00:26:01,680 RAINA whispered I know now being recorded, this world is mine. 567 00:26:01,720 --> 00:26:03,559 Now I have the knowledge I have been given, and 568 00:26:03,599 --> 00:26:05,519 the knowledge I have taken by force. I am no 569 00:26:05,599 --> 00:26:07,839 longer a pawn and humanity would be wise to not 570 00:26:07,839 --> 00:26:11,039 return here. I'll pass on the message, she said. Inching 571 00:26:11,079 --> 00:26:13,839 towards the stairs, she froze when a set of wires 572 00:26:13,880 --> 00:26:16,240 began to move behind her, and, driven by sick fascination, 573 00:26:16,599 --> 00:26:18,680 she turned to watch. As quick as a lightning strike, 574 00:26:18,759 --> 00:26:21,000 the cables exited the body of the man closest to her. 575 00:26:21,599 --> 00:26:24,319 His body heaved in a gag before he spoke. It 576 00:26:24,359 --> 00:26:27,079 was in his own voice. But dust words in your 577 00:26:27,119 --> 00:26:29,680 mind is more knowledge than any of these others. Cognitive 578 00:26:29,680 --> 00:26:34,119 cybernetics Engineer Rayner, you are not leaving the man's eyes cleared, 579 00:26:34,240 --> 00:26:36,240 just long enough for them to fill with terror and 580 00:26:36,279 --> 00:26:38,400 for him to screech a desperate please. Before as quickly 581 00:26:38,440 --> 00:26:41,160 as they had departed, the wires returned, forcing themselves into 582 00:26:41,240 --> 00:26:43,720 him once more with a thick what summed, and a 583 00:26:43,720 --> 00:26:46,359 man was sull again. At Raina's feet, more of the 584 00:26:46,440 --> 00:26:48,519 coils began to push through the dirt, ceiling down the 585 00:26:48,559 --> 00:26:51,599 walls and slithering towards her leg snakes. She pulled out 586 00:26:51,599 --> 00:26:54,359 the electroshock crode, backing away from the coils, jabbing the 587 00:26:54,359 --> 00:26:56,319 weapon into the bundles of them. Whenever they got close 588 00:26:56,400 --> 00:26:58,799 enough to brush her feet. The miniature piece of the 589 00:26:58,799 --> 00:27:00,799 module was leaving the same way it came, content to 590 00:27:00,880 --> 00:27:03,440 let her die beneath the ground, millions of miles from home, 591 00:27:04,000 --> 00:27:06,960 Raina fought like something feral, teeth bared and blew, electricity 592 00:27:06,960 --> 00:27:09,480 flying as she stabbed. She didn't know how long It 593 00:27:09,519 --> 00:27:11,880 went on, long enough with the anina light from the 594 00:27:11,920 --> 00:27:15,519 open basement door to fade to black, three maybe four hours, 595 00:27:16,279 --> 00:27:18,720 but she was only human and the end was inevitable. 596 00:27:19,240 --> 00:27:23,039 FOCUSA on me, she growled, her voice decimated by her screaming. 597 00:27:23,559 --> 00:27:25,759 The drawne complied, bobbing. As it neared the end of 598 00:27:25,799 --> 00:27:28,480 its battery life, it floated in front of her face, 599 00:27:28,519 --> 00:27:31,839 still achording Raina continued her battle, but its lower her 600 00:27:31,920 --> 00:27:34,880 movements sluggish. At the same time, she gave the droid 601 00:27:34,880 --> 00:27:38,799 her message love for her parents, friend's cat and embarrassingly enough, 602 00:27:38,839 --> 00:27:42,079 her first boyfriend. Her frame was shaking with exhaustion, and 603 00:27:42,160 --> 00:27:44,480 she gritted her teeth, ready but at the same time 604 00:27:44,519 --> 00:27:47,519 never ready to say good bye. Aye began, but for 605 00:27:47,559 --> 00:27:49,519 the second time that day, she was interrupted as the 606 00:27:49,519 --> 00:27:51,839 ground shook, this time above her, and only for one 607 00:27:51,880 --> 00:27:55,440 hard that followed by the angelic sound of engines powering down, 608 00:27:55,680 --> 00:27:58,200 and then artillery shells and the pounding of boots on 609 00:27:58,240 --> 00:28:00,640 the ground. She had been sure or her calms had 610 00:28:00,640 --> 00:28:02,920 shorted it long ago, the solid panels on her back 611 00:28:03,079 --> 00:28:05,759 being deprived of light for iOS now, But as the 612 00:28:05,759 --> 00:28:08,039 wires at her feet retreated, thus gattering for a fight 613 00:28:08,079 --> 00:28:11,759 on the surface, the com clicked on again. Reina Commander asked, 614 00:28:11,880 --> 00:28:15,759 quite and insure here, she gasped, before she fell into 615 00:28:15,759 --> 00:28:22,119 desperate stalps. We've got you. Just stay alive and that 616 00:28:22,279 --> 00:28:24,640 is the end. Thank you for listening, and I will 617 00:28:24,640 --> 00:28:33,640 see you in the next one.