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

Chapter 51: Intruders

It was a rather monotonous two hours, Ava spent most of them sitting on the cold metal floor with his eyes closed, analysing the internal architecture of the supercomputer with his newfound control over the machine. It was still too vast and complex for him to comprehend. Whoever had created it was a being far beyond his understanding.

So obviously Mother had made it. He'd spent the time wondering why she'd felt the need to create a Serv production facility only to come to the rather obvious conclusion. That she was going to build her own Servs to help in the battle, or that she was making infiltration units. Either way if that was her plan she'd never managed to put it into place, the Servs didn't have any problems with Evo-produced Servs. She must have given up on it, or perhaps it was taken over by the Heretics before she had time to put her plan into action.

When the Class-1 exited the final gestation pod it looked completely different. Actually, Ava had never seen a Serv that looked like the Class-1 before. Ava didn't have any control over the facial model that the Class-1 would have, his assumption was that he'd have the same face as himself, but, no, it was different. Rather than the rather yellowy beige face that all Servs had, this one was a shade of light pink. His facial features were different too, an angular face, a more prominent jaw, and his default hair wasn't white, it was brown.

Why?

The Class-1 looked at Ava for a moment and examined his reaction, he then took a look at his reflection in the glass of the tank that he'd just exited from.

"This feels familiar," he said,

"So, this is how you always saw yourself?" asked Ava,

The Class-1 paused for a moment, he seemed to be postulating on what the answer to the question should be. This time, it was actually possible to read his emotions through his facial expressions. His eyes were squinting, his teeth clenched tight, "Yeah, I think so. But, I don't remember ever thinking of myself this way. I guess it was subconscious." he threw Ava a smirk, "heh, you're one hell of a guy Ava, I didn't think you'd actually help me out."

"Well, didn't you say you'd help me? I don't wanna take away anything from the gesture but. Y'know, you promised." Ava frowned for a moment, it was a typical question, starting to get cliche but he had to ask, "so now that you've got your own face. Do you have a name?"

"A name?"

"And not some bullshit name derived from Class-1, no cop-out like that. Who do you feel like you are? What should I call you?"

"Oh. Right." The Class-1 looked at his reflection once again, "I haven't decided yet. Gimmie time to think."

Ava shrugged, although his face exuded more warmth and sympathy than before "Fine, I getcha. I guess we'll come up with something eventually." in reality it was a bit of a breath of fresh air meeting someone who was sort of similar to him. Ava wondered if it'd be possible for the Heretic to defect and maybe join the Serv side once this was all over. Having a friend that wasn't an amnesiac or a hot headed human would be a breath of fresh air.

"Well, I'll uphold my end of the bargain Ava. I'll take you through the quickest route to the exit. There are still other Heretics around though, so we'll need to stay in the shadows." he stretched a little to get his body's joints back in shape and then ran to the door, "c'mon!"

***

Half an hour running down thin corridors, Ava recognised them slightly, so he had trust in the fact that the Class-1 was sending him in the right direction.

It was a steady run and the two seemed to be avoiding the Heretics that were prowling around pretty well, but then suddenly a security alarm began to sound. A loud shriek wailed across the entire facility and all the lights turned red. All the Heretics that were just minding their own business became alert. Ava stopped dead in his tracks.