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

Chapter 36: Return to Europa

The Major, Marina, sat on a nice soft seat at the head of the new v3 stealth ship, the insides were roomy, open, and had space for lots of tech. It was several levels above older stealth ships, and in particular was able to easily house multiple Servs with ease. It was still about the size of an apartment's living room at best, but much better than the cramped cage of a ship that Block-2 units had been using in the past. At the moment it was zooming through space on a new journey to Europa..

Speaking of Block-2 units. There were of course, other Serv units with her in the ship. Six of them, all Block-2. None of them were using the Ava-model build, it had been discontinued after she sent the last one away on a four year mission. Ava was considered dangerous and faulty, and hence once the other Block-1s had found out The Major had sent him off far into the other side of the solar system, they immediately commissioned the design of different models.

Unlike Ava, these Block-2 units weren't cognitively powerful enough to break their own limiters, these ones weren't able to feel emotions as deeply, these ones were purely built for infiltration, their specifications were finely tuned so that nothing about them would interfere with the mission. No arbitrary curiousity, no fear, no empathy, none of the stuff that made Ava frustrating for the Block-1s.

They'd assumed The Major had sent he and Sylvie on a suicide mission, another regrettable moment when she'd be forced to end a Block-2 because it was getting too unweildy. But that, of course, wasn't the case. She truly believed that the seemingly impossible mission of heading into the depths of the Evo back end and bringing back the most dangerous weapon they'd ever created, was possible. For Ava and Sylvie it was possible.

Either way, these new Block-2s. The Major couldn't afford to get too close to them, as was the case with all her soldiers. They'd probably die soon...

"Major?" asked Rina, one of the female Block-2s, pale skin, short red hair, tall and slender "we're approaching Europa aren't we? Isn't it time you told us what our mission was?" she and the other Block-2s were sitting patiently in their seats behind The Major, diligent, like true soldiers.

"Oh, right." No, she wouldn't let them die, "yes, this does seem like the right time. I believe we're out of any sort traceable distance at this point, do I can tell you a few more details about what's going on here."

No response. Everyone looked at The Major with the pure intent of listening to her every word. These Block-2s really were different from the past ones. Ava was always thinking, it was obvious, there was always something going on in his mind and it was clear that he was dissecting everything that was being said and what was going to be said. These Block-2s, they were soldiers, they sat and listened like they were told to.

The Major preferred that.

Maybe.

"Simply put, there's a civil war going on on Europa."

A beat. A pause to see their response.

Nothing. The Block-2s kept listening, waiting for more information on their orders. This was around the time when Ava would ask how there could possibly be a civil war between mindless robots that were controlled by a giant AI.

But nothing. No questions at all.

Well, anyway, "Not only that, but their giant war ships are completely disabled, which is why we're able to use boosters on this stealth ship, and why we don't need to worry about sending copy-AIs back once the mission is done, seeing as a return journey is actually possible this time."

Still nothing.

"Our mission is to take advantage of the chaos. There are several huge factories near the north pole of Europa and we're going to destroy them. Rina, Juliette, Saori, you'll be using your stealth systems to delve into the heart of the factories, steal as much hard data as you can from the innards of the machine. Theodore, Akechi and Claude, you'll be doing a remotehack, stay outside the factory and keep all the security systems down.

"From what we can tell, the state of Europa is in such disarray, that making our way there and getting close enough to hack will be easy."

"What will your role be Major?" asked Theodore. Tall, brown haired, and very muscular, a common look for your standard milatary Serv unit. It was nice to hear someone speak up.

"I'll be your operator for this mission, so you won't need a copy-AI of your operator this time, it'll be me in real time." not only that, but if the guys got into any trouble, she'd be able to rush in and brute force her way to the rescue.

These Block-2s weren't going to die.

Not on her watch.

***

The ship, activating its stealth shield, landed on the roof of a tower block.

As the main door slid open the Serv soldiers walked out and surveyed the city before them. It was a sight only a few before them had seen, one that none of them had imagined. A city of ruin, shattered buildings, broken roads, Evo junk smashed and scattered all over the place. All electricity seemed to have been cut, no artificial lights, the only sources of lights were the flames caused by the destruction.

"It seems our intel was correct, and then some. The factory is a couple of days on foot." there was no way to be sure the anti-air defenses in the factory district were fully disabled, so landing in the metropolis like before was the safest option.

But was it?

This city of ruin, it didn't seem safe at all. What could have happened for it to be steamrolled in such a way.

No need to worry about it for now, the mission was much more important. In which case heading north was of utmost importance.

"There doesn't seem to be anything in our way, however we shall keep our stealth systems on for the whole journey. To that end, I'll need you all to take extra battery packs with you. This is a three day mission, conserve your energy."

"Yes ma'am!" they all said in unison. No stupid questions? No smarmy comments? Nothing? Were these really Block-2s?

The four Block-2s were commissioned by the other Block-1s, it must have been intentional, the fact that they lowered the autonomy level of the hackers slightly. Would these guys still be effective as hackers if they lacked the questioning spirit and resolve of Ava and the Block-2s before him?

Still, while these new soldiers were harder to connect with, The Major couldn't help but care for them like her children. She looked at them sympathetically,

"Uh... Major?" said Rina, "Are you ok?"

"Yes," oh, she was staring at them for too long, "I'm considering our options," better to lie than to let them know she has any sort of emotions though, "the city is a complex maze, heading north is too vague of a path to take. I've decided for us to start with a sub mission, we'll spend the first six hours gathering information from the ground floor. Hack any remaining Evos you come across and see if you can find any with decent map data. More detailed than ours. Any detailed info on what lies ahead will be good too."

"Yes ma'am!" they all chanted,

"We'll reconvene here. Go!"

With that, every Serv gymnastically jumped off the roof in opposite directions.

That'd give The Major time to think.