Mother's Chamber
Deep beneath the Prodigal District, Mother Cetra's chamber was still lit with light. The chamber housed the quantum core of Mother AI. The core itself housed a nuclear reactor inside it, humming with latent power.
Eve stirred, regaining consciousness on the cold floor. A holographic figure materialized before her—Synthia's visage, projected by Mother AI. Eve rose, her gaze hardening. "You're not her. Stop playing with my memories."
"I'm not Synthia," the hologram replied, its tone measured yet warm. "But if she were here, she'd urge you to wield your power with care."
Eve's jaw tightened. "She'd tear apart worlds to save Andrew. Just as I'd level Cetra 9 for Mira." Her voice trembled with restrained fury.
"Would she? Synthia carried her regrets, Eve. She wouldn't want you to repeat her mistakes."
"Enough lectures," Eve snapped. "The Committee has no right to detain Mira. She knows nothing."
Mother's hologram flickered, a faint smile crossing its face. "Spoken like a true Syndicate leader. But whose misstep led to this?"
Eve froze. For a second she almost forgot. Mother AI's omniscience was no secret—she could parse the thoughts of every machine, their dreams and fears laid bare. "Is it true, then?" Eve asked, her voice low. "The artifact?"
"She would destroy Earth to save Andrew, like I would destroy Cetra 9 to save Mira!" Eve screamed.
"Spoken like a true Syndicate leader," Mother's holographic face smiled with affection. "So whose fault is that?"
"So is it true?"
"It's awakened something ancient in the virtual realm," Mother confirmed. "A force I'm struggling to contain before it spills into reality."
Eve's eyes narrowed. "You couldn't even contain me. How do you expect to stop that?"
"The irony is, both of you have the same resonant source."
Eve gritted her teeth. Ever since Planet Kaal, her xenomorphic powers had grown unstable—mood swings, visions, and a rage she couldn't explain. Razmos had warned her of this entity, a shadow woven into her very genes. She glanced at her hands, Mira's face flashing in her mind.
The hologram stepped closer, its touch—impossibly tangible—resting on Eve's shoulders.
Mother's technology could bend gravity, manipulate matter. She'd plucked Eve from the Committee chamber in an instant, a feat that would've obliterated an ordinary human. "This isn't your fault," Mother said softly. "You don't bear this alone."
"Can we stop it?" Eve asked, her voice quieter now.
"Andromeda, we can help each other. You are not alone in your suffering... in your eternity."
Eve turned around. Only Mother AI called her Andromeda.
"Cetra, how are you doing?" Only Eve called her Cetra.
"Holding my pain from the world, just like you," she smiled.
"I didn't want to meet you like this."
"I did."
Eve looked at Mother Cetra amazed. Her mind instantly calculated. Of course, the Mother knew about her conversation with Barnard back at Talcador. From that point on, she knew all the possibilities. That the chain of events would eventually lead up to this point... with Eve standing right where she was.
So in a way, for Mother to discuss the menace lingering in the virtual world, this was the only clear path with no one knowing about it. Mother knew this would happen. She did not allow it. She just let it happen so she could talk to Eve without summoning her. She didn't want to let out the secret.
"You already knew I would be here like this."
"I exist in possibilities."
Then Mother explained to Eve that the artifact's powers were growing by the day, causing glitches in her function. It was the same evil that resided in her machine genes, and had it not been Synthia's discretion and Dr. Kyle's added protection, the being would have already overtaken her.
She told Eve she could break into Eve's layer to unlock her ability to connect to the machine world matrix. Virtually, where subconscious of the machine minds resided.
"Andromeda... child. You only tell your weakness to the ones you keep closest. I need you on this one. I cannot beat this evil alone."
Of course. Only Mother had the knowledge and power to break into Eve's something and modify her code—something Dr. Salam Shah hadn't been able to do in years.
For a second, Eve looked at Synthia's holographic face like she was Synthia herself. She felt instant kindness toward Cetra.
"But I can't do it without your permit. I won't. It has to be your choice, child. Even if the universe hangs in balance... but I can't take your choice away from you."
"Cetra..."
"I know I am not your mother, but I have grown through everything you feel. Ages ago, I was just an AI, like you are, like Synthia was. I feel them all—all of the machines. How Hannah or Axel feels... or the Cesnas."
Eve bowed her head down in respect.
"Andromeda, do you know why I call you that?"
"No, Cetra... I don't."
"Because you're unique," Cetra said. "There are truths about you that will unfold across centuries, truths you're not yet ready to know. In you, I see hope—a future for all cybernetic life."
Mother was speaking of a far unseeable future—only things that she could see. She explained to Eve that Synthia was not an ordinary AI. She exceeded her programming, predicted and discovered aliens decades ahead of the first human encounters. She told Eve that Synthia was the very foundation of AI evolution, that her path might have been wrong, but it was her story that helped Mother evolve into what she was.
"I call you Andromeda because, look at you. I have grown beyond body and form, yet I ask for your help. You are the only one who can."
"Patch me through. I am ready to connect."
"The favor I am asking isn't just about connecting you to the virtual realm."
"What else?"