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

Chapter 45: The Virus

Ava snatched the screen out of Aphrodite's hands, a cold sweat running down his face. He stared at the two Block-1s

"Extinction!? What? How!? And what've I got to do with it!?" he exclaimed,

"Show some respect kiddo." said Lin,

"You keep forgetting your place Ava," Rin added, "we're your superiors, so watch your tone."

"Shut up and just tell him!" Aphrodite interrupted.

The two tutted, "Some sort of signal is spreaded throughout the solar system. It originated on Europa, bounced off of Venus and Earth, and then made its way to Mars. The signal contained a virus, something we've decided to call the Heretic Virus, seeing as that's what Servs who are infected like to call themselves..."

"Heretics?" Ava muttered, that was what the Evos who were hacked by Ava-11 were called, "wait, is this some sort of hacking error? Was it done by-"

"You're a clever one. Yes, it's a hacking error, an extremely powerful one. A copy-AI but extremely basic in terms of its level of consciousness. It hacks everything, but in terms of its actual level of cognitive ability... well, it basically has none. Nothing but hate and disdain for Evos and Servs" said Rin, solemnly,

"So a super powerful copy-AI with no thought pattern made its way to Mars. Got it. And I guess you're going to suggest that the copy-AI is one of mine?"

"It most certainly is."

"Ava-11"

Lin and Rin didn't reply,

"I know that there have been eleven of me beforehand, so you don't need to keep that a secret from me."

The two looked at each other nervously, were they hiding something else?

"In that case the copy-AIs were probably made when Ava-11 was on Europa trying to find a body to hack, after his one started to decay." Ava grit his teeth, "this really is my fault. I left him on Europa, he's me."

"Wait, you're not responsible for what your copy did Ava," Sylvie chimed in finally, "you and Ava-11 are completely different people!"

"That's not true, if I were left on Mars, I would've done the exact same thing as him. So would you. Who wouldn't? Trying to cling on to life by any means possible. It's in our nature, isn't it?"

"...Well, it's still not your fault Ava." Sylvie said, he voice quietened, meek and defensive. Lin and Rin noticed Sylvie from the screen's camera. A quick look of shock on their faces. Perhaps it was because Sylvie had been hiding in the shadows for most of the conversation, there wasn't really much reason for them to be surprised about her presence. While Ava noticed this reaction of theirs, he decided to ignore it.

"I agree." said Aphrodite. "I'd hazard to say this isn't even Ava-11s fault. It's the copy-AI system at fault here. And the fact that it was used by a super powerful hacker. The system clearly leaves an imprint on things it hacks, even after deletion. And Block-2 hacking, with their strong affinity for emotion, must have caused a corruption."

"Whatever your opinions are," Lin rolled her eyes, "the virus has turned everyone infected into rabid monsters, murdering everyone in their path. It infiltrated our network and instantly took over several thousand Servs. The only way we could stop the spread of the virus was to turn off the network - which has now led to widespread chaos among Serv society. Lower level Servs now have no idea what to do, the block system is useless without any form of communication. Block-4 Servs are lost and unsure what to do without Block-3 and Block-1 Servs telling them what to do, society is collapsing. Lack of hierarchy will be the death of us."