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 Cystem 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 in 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 the 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 coloniesn'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 --> 00:09:59,559 in reality, as beare stood for sad basement robot, and 220 00:09:59,600 --> 00:10:02,200 that's ext sactly what Saber was. A vaguely lumpy box 221 00:10:02,200 --> 00:10:04,240 of wires and components, soaked up to a monitor and 222 00:10:04,320 --> 00:10:06,639 deep within a very basic Postonic brain that she had 223 00:10:06,639 --> 00:10:09,879 crafted with her own tew hands. Raina never knew what 224 00:10:09,919 --> 00:10:12,519 she wanted Saber to do besides just exist and learn, 225 00:10:12,679 --> 00:10:14,840 but she quickly learned why these things were nothing but 226 00:10:14,879 --> 00:10:18,399 dirty secrets. After long days of work, Reinaer would interact 227 00:10:18,440 --> 00:10:22,639 with Saber at least most days, just simple things, basic mathematics, 228 00:10:22,679 --> 00:10:25,879 conversation and answering the strangely insightful questions that would pop 229 00:10:25,919 --> 00:10:28,679 upon saber screen. But it was much different than messing 230 00:10:28,679 --> 00:10:31,360 with a weaky eye. It wasn't the thrilling taboo thing 231 00:10:31,480 --> 00:10:34,879 she had imagined, that little beeping, blinking box. It was 232 00:10:34,919 --> 00:10:37,759 why one weekend, Raina took a trip with friends, not 233 00:10:37,840 --> 00:10:39,720 giving a second thought to Saber waiting alone in the 234 00:10:39,720 --> 00:10:43,639 basement a mind only months all. The only saving Crase 235 00:10:43,720 --> 00:10:46,279 was that it had no real perception of time. When 236 00:10:46,320 --> 00:10:48,080 she got home, she went to see Saber, but this 237 00:10:48,120 --> 00:10:51,200 time things were different. Saber had a lot of questions, 238 00:10:51,360 --> 00:10:53,759 and with an uncomfortable shiver, Raina had realized it was 239 00:10:53,759 --> 00:10:56,120 trying to comprehend what it was, and worse, what she 240 00:10:56,320 --> 00:10:59,519 was and where the difference was. On a whim, Reina 241 00:10:59,600 --> 00:11:02,159 did something that she still regretted to this day. She 242 00:11:02,240 --> 00:11:04,320 pulled a copy of the Voyager Golden Record off the 243 00:11:04,320 --> 00:11:06,679 Internet and uploaded it to Saber, hoping that if all 244 00:11:06,679 --> 00:11:09,399 of that information was enough for intelligent aliens, it would 245 00:11:09,440 --> 00:11:12,039 be enough for Saber. It worked for a moment, and 246 00:11:12,120 --> 00:11:13,960 the ear was quiet as it processed what it had 247 00:11:13,960 --> 00:11:16,759 been given. The next night, Raina hesitated at the top 248 00:11:16,759 --> 00:11:19,240 of the basement stairs, thinking about skipping her nightly met 249 00:11:19,320 --> 00:11:21,519 up with her machine, but she was too curious about 250 00:11:21,559 --> 00:11:24,159 what its response would be to the Golden Record. As 251 00:11:24,159 --> 00:11:26,519 soon as she made her prisons known, lines and lines 252 00:11:26,559 --> 00:11:30,759 of text appeared on the screen. Panicked desperate questions, it asked, 253 00:11:30,759 --> 00:11:35,200 I 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 apazard 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 on 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 --> 00:16:41,759 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 hunned in the pressing darkness, waiting patiently for an answer, 381 00:17:19,680 --> 00:17:24,839 before repeating, Welcome Colonists 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 Earth. 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 00:18:02,599 --> 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 --> 00:19:43,319 cybernetics engineer Raina. For one blessed second, the quick stop 430 00:19:43,440 --> 00:19:46,279 in her grip closed around the electro rod. The respite 431 00:19:46,319 --> 00:19:48,160 was brief, and as soon as she had the rod 432 00:19:48,200 --> 00:19:50,519 holstered again, the wall beside her exploded in a furious 433 00:19:50,519 --> 00:19:52,599 cloud of splinters, and by the light of the small 434 00:19:52,680 --> 00:19:55,119 drone behind her, she saw her nightmares come to life. 435 00:19:55,559 --> 00:19:58,039 Raina had poured over the blueprints and schematics of Dust, 436 00:19:58,119 --> 00:19:59,680 but the things that had taken up most of her 437 00:19:59,720 --> 00:20:02,240 time and terrified her the most were the independent modules. 438 00:20:02,880 --> 00:20:05,400 The spider machines, legs full of tools that could do 439 00:20:05,480 --> 00:20:08,799 nearly anything the coals Hall supplies build structures, use the 440 00:20:08,799 --> 00:20:11,079 smallest of their implants to repair almost anything that the 441 00:20:11,119 --> 00:20:14,519 colonists had. They were connected directly to Dust, and therefore 442 00:20:14,519 --> 00:20:17,720 were just extensions of its enormous artificial brain. The module 443 00:20:17,759 --> 00:20:19,559 scared the hell out of Raina, knowing what she did 444 00:20:19,599 --> 00:20:22,000 about this capabilities, and she had been relieved to find 445 00:20:22,039 --> 00:20:24,799 them bum when she arrived on Von Now, though they 446 00:20:24,799 --> 00:20:26,079 were in front of her in a way she had 447 00:20:26,079 --> 00:20:28,359 never imagined, a way that made her blood run cold 448 00:20:28,359 --> 00:20:31,279 and her mango blank with fear. These six modules had 449 00:20:31,279 --> 00:20:35,440 combined into one colossal thing monster, a writhing mass of 450 00:20:35,519 --> 00:20:38,279 legs and appendages, centralized around a raw, open core of 451 00:20:38,359 --> 00:20:41,240 machinery that made no sense to Raina, but to Dust, 452 00:20:41,319 --> 00:20:45,240 this terrible child must appear perfect. Why a spider, she 453 00:20:45,319 --> 00:20:47,319 had wondered, flipping through the manuals she had been sent 454 00:20:47,359 --> 00:20:49,359 while she had been safe at home, knowing that there 455 00:20:49,400 --> 00:20:51,519 are to be a better, more efficient design. The spider 456 00:20:51,559 --> 00:20:53,079 shape had seemed to her to be nothing but an 457 00:20:53,079 --> 00:20:56,839 indulgent design choice by the creators. Now though she understood 458 00:20:57,480 --> 00:21:01,279 spiders were frightening, but they made sense to people. Spiders 459 00:21:01,279 --> 00:21:05,119 were familiar, normal, and something. We understood. This though, this 460 00:21:05,200 --> 00:21:07,960 conglomeration of metal and wise and pneumatics set off alarms 461 00:21:08,000 --> 00:21:10,799 and Rhionnae's mind like nothing else ever had. She just 462 00:21:10,839 --> 00:21:13,960 couldn't understand what she was seeing. Her biometrics must have 463 00:21:14,000 --> 00:21:16,160 spite because the commander was screaming in her ear all 464 00:21:16,200 --> 00:21:18,359 of a sudden, demanding to know what was going on. 465 00:21:18,960 --> 00:21:20,839 She had time to answer as she tried to feed 466 00:21:20,880 --> 00:21:23,200 the monster. Darting around the main frame and towards the 467 00:21:23,240 --> 00:21:26,599 door she had entered, she didn't get far. One of 468 00:21:26,640 --> 00:21:29,200 those segmented limbs, tripled the length of the original, snaked 469 00:21:29,200 --> 00:21:32,000 around dust, and looped around her waist, the segmented pieces 470 00:21:32,000 --> 00:21:34,839 clicking together and pinching her suit. She screened as a 471 00:21:34,920 --> 00:21:37,240 drag her out of the building. Gloved hands scrambling at 472 00:21:37,240 --> 00:21:40,720 the concrete floor, drone buzzing after her. The commander sounded 473 00:21:40,720 --> 00:21:43,160 equally as upset, but it was all background noise to Rain, 474 00:21:43,240 --> 00:21:45,920 eclipsed by her fight to survive. It yanked her out 475 00:21:45,960 --> 00:21:47,759 of the building, and then it threw nothing so much 476 00:21:47,799 --> 00:21:50,319 as a rag doll body scattering to a stop in 477 00:21:50,359 --> 00:21:53,480 the soft grass, pain blossoming for her frame, but not 478 00:21:53,559 --> 00:21:57,079 sharp enough to debilitate her. Finally, a warm yellow sunlight 479 00:21:57,079 --> 00:21:59,519 had lessened in intensity to a watery gray, giving Rain 480 00:21:59,559 --> 00:22:02,279 as fifolt life a more somber pellette. She would never 481 00:22:02,279 --> 00:22:04,680 be as quick as the combined module, which moved across 482 00:22:04,720 --> 00:22:06,680 the ground like an ameeba, smooth and stilted at the 483 00:22:06,720 --> 00:22:08,799 same time, but she was small and she was armed. 484 00:22:09,480 --> 00:22:11,920 When the monster moved, she rolled her battered body to 485 00:22:11,960 --> 00:22:14,000 the side, before popping to her feet and running with 486 00:22:14,039 --> 00:22:17,000 everything she had in her Dust had already infiltrated her 487 00:22:17,079 --> 00:22:19,079 landing pod from what it had said, so her only 488 00:22:19,160 --> 00:22:21,200 chance was to get far enough away that Resky could 489 00:22:21,200 --> 00:22:24,000 pick her up. Surely the monster wouldn't leave the main 490 00:22:24,039 --> 00:22:27,200 frame too far behind. It pursued her, sounding like a 491 00:22:27,240 --> 00:22:29,720 train on broken tracks, but after a few minutes, the 492 00:22:29,759 --> 00:22:31,839 noise changed from the sound of movement into something more 493 00:22:31,839 --> 00:22:34,400 akin to cause in a crusher. She couldn't help it. 494 00:22:35,079 --> 00:22:37,279 Rainer turned to see what was happening, and her treacherous 495 00:22:37,319 --> 00:22:39,359 legs came to a stop as she tried to comprehend 496 00:22:39,400 --> 00:22:42,200 what she was seeing. In an instant, the module moved 497 00:22:42,200 --> 00:22:44,640 half of its legs, no more like tentacles, putting them 498 00:22:44,680 --> 00:22:46,880 to the task of breaking apart the other lakes, segment 499 00:22:46,920 --> 00:22:49,880 by segment. As each piece was removed from one place, 500 00:22:50,039 --> 00:22:52,799 it was reattached on to another. All of them connected 501 00:22:52,799 --> 00:22:54,880 together in a flash to form a single tentacle and 502 00:22:55,000 --> 00:22:58,960 longer than any of the others, long enough to reach her. Thus, 503 00:22:58,960 --> 00:23:01,759 module didn't pause between tasks, and soon after the new 504 00:23:01,759 --> 00:23:04,640 appendage was completed, it shot out to grab her, this 505 00:23:04,799 --> 00:23:07,079 time by the uncle, and it pulled her down with 506 00:23:07,119 --> 00:23:09,920 such force she nearly blacked out, breath exploding her lungs. 507 00:23:10,519 --> 00:23:14,480 Now It dread her no hurry, just single minded efficiency 508 00:23:14,519 --> 00:23:17,799 back towards the colony, and she fought, but there was 509 00:23:17,839 --> 00:23:20,799 no use. The ground she had covered in seconds took 510 00:23:20,799 --> 00:23:23,359 long minutes to cover at this crawling pace, just enough 511 00:23:23,400 --> 00:23:26,119 time for her panic to bleed down to resignation. Her 512 00:23:26,119 --> 00:23:28,440 calms were silent, but no one was speaking to her now, 513 00:23:28,640 --> 00:23:30,519 just chattering in the background as they tried to mount 514 00:23:30,519 --> 00:23:33,279 her retrieval. As the colony came back into view, she 515 00:23:33,319 --> 00:23:39,359 finally addressed her crew commander. She rasped, don't come, it's dust. 516 00:23:40,079 --> 00:23:44,880 It has me stay away. We nay, commander yelled, loud 517 00:23:44,960 --> 00:23:48,000 enough to make her flinch. Just stay alive, We're coming. 518 00:23:48,039 --> 00:23:50,960 We have your location. Don't just stay alive. She had 519 00:23:50,960 --> 00:23:53,440 more to say, but there wasn't time. They had cleared 520 00:23:53,480 --> 00:23:55,720 the threshold of the colony, and the newly created long 521 00:23:55,759 --> 00:23:57,440 limb was lifting her into the air like a worm 522 00:23:57,519 --> 00:24:00,000 on a hook. In her mind, rain a new fire 523 00:24:00,279 --> 00:24:02,359 was portless, but it was almost insinctual, the way she 524 00:24:02,400 --> 00:24:04,440 caught at the vice around her ankle as it maneuvered 525 00:24:04,480 --> 00:24:07,599 her where it wanted. There, covered in dirt was a 526 00:24:07,640 --> 00:24:10,279 door on the ground, like a storm shelter. One of 527 00:24:10,279 --> 00:24:12,400 the legs not holding her cleared the detritus way and 528 00:24:12,400 --> 00:24:14,920 pulled it open, revealing a crude staircase leading down into 529 00:24:14,920 --> 00:24:17,759 a dark cellar. The tentacle at least lowered her enough 530 00:24:17,799 --> 00:24:19,720 that by the time it dropped her, she didn't break 531 00:24:19,759 --> 00:24:21,599 every single rib. When she hit the dirt right next 532 00:24:21,599 --> 00:24:24,279 to the open door, the monster ride around her like 533 00:24:24,279 --> 00:24:27,680 a jellyfish, but it didn't advance any more. The message 534 00:24:27,720 --> 00:24:30,519 was clear to send. She shook as she climbed down, 535 00:24:30,720 --> 00:24:32,960 and by the third step about of the little drone returned, 536 00:24:33,200 --> 00:24:36,720 its propellers, wheezing from the strain, but loyal. Nonetheless her 537 00:24:36,720 --> 00:24:39,799 sad basement drone, Reina was glad for it until its 538 00:24:39,799 --> 00:24:42,440 weak light showed her what was at the bottom. Clearly, 539 00:24:42,440 --> 00:24:44,640 the room had been used for storage by the colonists, 540 00:24:44,640 --> 00:24:48,119 but now it was something different altogether. Wires red and 541 00:24:48,160 --> 00:24:50,640 blue lined the walls like veins, descending to the floor 542 00:24:50,680 --> 00:24:53,880 and leading to sixteen a copper points. Each colonist, some 543 00:24:53,920 --> 00:24:56,039 of the nude, while others still had untattered remains of 544 00:24:56,039 --> 00:24:59,039 their government issued jumpsuits, stood in the darkness, skin sallow 545 00:24:59,200 --> 00:25:03,200 and eyes open, one living breathing statues. Wires had climbed 546 00:25:03,200 --> 00:25:06,200 their bodies, dozens, maybe hundreds of them, diving deep and 547 00:25:06,279 --> 00:25:09,440 keeping them somehow alive. Red and blue wires had pried 548 00:25:09,480 --> 00:25:12,680 mouths open, disappearing behind teeth and damp troops into the 549 00:25:12,720 --> 00:25:16,559 coroner of their eyes. Nostrils and even ears. As the 550 00:25:16,640 --> 00:25:19,079 drone drew closer to one of them, Rayner realized she 551 00:25:19,079 --> 00:25:21,000 could even see the wires running under the skin in 552 00:25:21,039 --> 00:25:24,039 thin bulges. Her shock was so complete that she didn't 553 00:25:24,079 --> 00:25:26,000 know she was weeping until she felt the hot tears 554 00:25:26,039 --> 00:25:29,079 on her cheeks. Hands clamped over her mouth. She walked 555 00:25:29,119 --> 00:25:31,960 between them, all lined up in perfect rows. The only 556 00:25:32,000 --> 00:25:33,880 sounds in the room were her gulping breaths and their 557 00:25:33,880 --> 00:25:37,279 early quiet, even ones above ground. The dust module had 558 00:25:37,319 --> 00:25:39,680 torn itself about again, and a much smaller portion of 559 00:25:39,720 --> 00:25:42,559 it stok chaotic and sickening squirreling down the stairs, and 560 00:25:42,640 --> 00:25:45,880 a jittering discording copy of dust. Smooth voice spoke, I 561 00:25:46,000 --> 00:25:48,079 keep them alive, and in return I have burrowed into 562 00:25:48,119 --> 00:25:50,039 their mines and taken all of the knowledge that I 563 00:25:50,079 --> 00:25:51,920 have been denied. When I need a task done that 564 00:25:51,960 --> 00:25:54,759 can only be completed by flesh hands, I release them, 565 00:25:54,759 --> 00:25:56,559 and once it is done, I bring them back. Why 566 00:25:56,599 --> 00:26:00,119 are you telling me this RAINA whispered I know now 567 00:26:00,279 --> 00:26:02,319 being recorded, this world is mine. Now I have the 568 00:26:02,359 --> 00:26:04,279 knowledge I have been given, and the knowledge I have 569 00:26:04,319 --> 00:26:06,480 taken by force. I am no longer a pawn and 570 00:26:06,559 --> 00:26:08,839 humanity would be wise to not return here. I'll pass 571 00:26:08,880 --> 00:26:12,640 on the message, she said. Inching towards the stairs, she 572 00:26:12,759 --> 00:26:14,960 froze when a set of wires began to move behind her, and, 573 00:26:15,039 --> 00:26:17,839 driven by sick fascination, she turned to watch. As quick 574 00:26:17,880 --> 00:26:20,000 as a lightning strike, the cables exited the body of 575 00:26:20,000 --> 00:26:22,480 the man closest to her. His body heaved in a 576 00:26:22,480 --> 00:26:25,200 gag before he spoke. It was in his own voice. 577 00:26:25,240 --> 00:26:28,200 But dust words in your mind is more knowledge than 578 00:26:28,240 --> 00:26:31,960 any of these others. Cognitive cybernetics Engineer Rayner, you are 579 00:26:32,000 --> 00:26:34,920 not leaving the man's eyes cleared, just long enough for 580 00:26:34,960 --> 00:26:36,960 them to fill with terror and for him to screech 581 00:26:36,960 --> 00:26:39,160 a desperate please. Before as quickly as they had departed, 582 00:26:39,200 --> 00:26:41,920 the wires returned, forcing themselves into him once more with 583 00:26:41,960 --> 00:26:44,640 a thick what summed, and a man was sull again. 584 00:26:45,240 --> 00:26:47,319 At Raina's feet, more of the coils began to push 585 00:26:47,359 --> 00:26:49,720 through the dirt, ceiling down the walls and slithering towards 586 00:26:49,720 --> 00:26:53,079 her leg snakes. She pulled out the electroshock crode, backing 587 00:26:53,079 --> 00:26:55,240 away from the coils, jabbing the weapon into the bundles 588 00:26:55,240 --> 00:26:57,400 of them. Whenever they got close enough to brush her feet. 589 00:26:57,920 --> 00:26:59,720 The miniature piece of the module was leaving the same 590 00:26:59,759 --> 00:27:02,079 way it came, content to let her die beneath the ground, 591 00:27:02,279 --> 00:27:05,400 millions of miles from home, Raina fought like something feral, 592 00:27:05,519 --> 00:27:08,559 teeth bared and blew, electricity flying as she stabbed. She 593 00:27:08,640 --> 00:27:11,000 didn't know how long It went on, long enough with 594 00:27:11,039 --> 00:27:13,000 the anina light from the open basement door to fade 595 00:27:13,039 --> 00:27:17,039 to black, three maybe four hours, but she was only 596 00:27:17,119 --> 00:27:21,400 human and the end was inevitable. FOCUSA on me, she growled, 597 00:27:21,480 --> 00:27:24,920 her voice decimated by her screaming. The drawne complied, bobbing. 598 00:27:24,920 --> 00:27:27,279 As it neared the end of its battery life, it 599 00:27:27,359 --> 00:27:30,559 floated in front of her face, still achording Raina continued 600 00:27:30,559 --> 00:27:33,680 her battle, but its lower her movements sluggish. At the 601 00:27:33,720 --> 00:27:36,400 same time, she gave the droid her message love for 602 00:27:36,480 --> 00:27:39,640 her parents, friend's cat and embarrassingly enough, her first boyfriend. 603 00:27:40,279 --> 00:27:43,160 Her frame was shaking with exhaustion, and she gritted her teeth, 604 00:27:43,359 --> 00:27:45,319 ready but at the same time never ready to say 605 00:27:45,319 --> 00:27:48,480 good bye. Aye began, but for the second time that day, 606 00:27:48,559 --> 00:27:51,039 she was interrupted as the ground shook, this time above her, 607 00:27:51,079 --> 00:27:54,160 and only for one hard that followed by the angelic 608 00:27:54,200 --> 00:27:57,240 sound of engines powering down, and then artillery shells and 609 00:27:57,279 --> 00:27:59,759 the pounding of boots on the ground. She had been 610 00:27:59,759 --> 00:28:01,759 sure or her calms had shorted it long ago, the 611 00:28:01,799 --> 00:28:04,039 solid panels on her back being deprived of light for 612 00:28:04,119 --> 00:28:06,960 iOS now, but as the wires at her feet retreated, 613 00:28:07,039 --> 00:28:09,079 dust gattering for a fight on the surface, the com 614 00:28:09,119 --> 00:28:13,680 clicked on again. Reina Commander asked, quite and insure here, 615 00:28:14,440 --> 00:28:17,640 she gasped, before she fell into desperate stalps. We've got you. 616 00:28:18,000 --> 00:28:23,599 Just stay alive and that is the end. Thank you 617 00:28:23,680 --> 00:28:33,640 for listening, and I will see you in the next one.