Ava and Aphrodite: The First Human in 8000 Years (Featured)

Chapter 14: Hive Negotiations

Deep in the middle of the asteroid belt lay one of the largest PC-class warships – It wasn't certain what the Evos called it, or whether they even gave it a name, but the Servs referred to it as The Eye. Aptly so, the ship was a giant orb with a giant collapsed circular chasm right in the "middle", or at least, it looked like the middle because the chasm was always pointed at Mars for some reason. This chasm was confirmed to be generating heat comparable to the sun, and indeed, looking into it, the entire thing was roaring with an infinite red fire.

So looking at it through a telescope really did look like you were looking at a red eye in space.

The data files Ava had stolen two years ago had given the Servs endless information that they had no idea of at all, including the basic layout of the insides of The Eye. The Serv had since found out that The Eye, while almost completely smooth on the outside aside from landing docks for small ships, had an extremely complex network of small corridors and rooms leading all the way to the centre of the ship, upon where there was a gravity generator that allowed the ship to act as its own little planet.

For the last two years, Serv researchers were having trouble figuring out how a race of robots that were barely Block-5 could create such a beast, however Ava's intel about, Schweitzer, the supposed Evo whose autonomy was on the level of 3 or above, had started to cause commotion among the very few people allowed to see his report.

Either way, it was a historic day, The Major and other Block-1s involved in the war were invited to the planet to have an audience with the Evo Mother Brain, who would be transmitting her thoughts to the ship via her home inside of Jupiter. They, along with several other ships filled with Block-3 agents, were landing on the north end of the ship, right before the split of where the Sun cast its shadow. They were being greeted by a giant red orb surrounded by crackles of electricity, and five bland looking Evo robots who seemed to be making sure the orb was being kept in good working order. While the situation seemed harmless, it was, in fact, a great gamble. Every Serv was a functioning autonomous body, no copy-AIs. That was part of the deal. If their bodies were destroyed, they'd "die".

The invitation had notified The Major that it was the orb she had gone to see, the orb was a giant transmitter that would allow her to speak with the Mother Brain in real time.

The Major et al flew in with their most impressive ship, ornamental to a point. It was a royal red, completely smooth, and needlessly large. After landing, all the Servs, aside from one, made their way to the Mother Brain Proxy. No greeting, nothing, the Evos that were attending mother brain simply looked at The Major and the Block-1s and then strolled to a terminal in front of the orb. They pressed some buttons.

"Mother Brain?" asked The Major.

No answer, just silence. They had deliberately chosen the only ship with an atmosphere on the outside so that they could communicate via voice but, everything was deadly silent, The Major wasn't even sure if anyone heard her.

"Are you there?" she asked again,

"We are establishing a link," said one of the Evos, "we will be finished in one hour."

"What!?" The Major huffed in an effort to come across surprised and outraged.

"You came early. Mother Brain told us not to shoot you down, otherwise we would have."

A gamble worth taking "It seems there was a communication error, we must have gotten the time wrong. Alright, we'll all take a break for an hour and resume after that." She looked at the other Block-1s, four military leaders who had started to become useless as they fell further into debauchery, but maintained enough status to keep the morale of the Block-3s up.