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

Chapter 65: Secret of the Tower

Gobot scurried further in, stealthily as possible.

Those clanging footsteps in the distance, they weren't subtle at all.

The sounds of mechanical bits and pieces whirring.

What was that?

It was coming from the direction Gobot needed to go, so he had no choice but to move further ahead.

That's when he saw it, stomping around in the distance, scanning the area around a huge terminal in front of a supercomputer.

It was a giant Spider-type Evo.

How did one get in here? Were there more? Gobot never heard of any Evos managing to infiltrate Serv space, so he had no idea how it had gotten in there. Either way that thing was getting in the way of his mission, he needed to find a way through.

"Miss Major, there is an Evo protecting the terminal." Gobot said over his radio line,

"An Evo?" silence, "what do you mean an Evo? You mean an actual legitimate Evo model from Mars?"

"No Serv architecture."

"I see. So those bastards really have been hiding things from me."

"What do I do now?"

"What type of Evo is it? Scan it the best you can and send the data over this way."

It took a while for Gobot to gather as much data as he could on the creature. Mostly thermal imaging and the like. He passed it through to the Major via a private network.

"I've seen these before," said the Major, as she looked through the pictures, "you're right, that really is an Evo. It's commonly used for base defence, difficult to get around without using brute force."

"I'm not very strong Miss Major."

"I didn't say you were to use brute force. Calm down. It's difficult to get around them, but not impossible. In the dark the creature detects things via a 360 degree sonar that gets sent out every two seconds. It is strongest at five meters so you want to stay out of t hat radius. My suggestion is to scurry past behind it, staying still every two seconds."

"How will I know when it uses the sonar?"

"It pauses for a small moment when activating the sonar. You've probably already noticed how it's walking pattern is uneven."

Gobot did indeed notice that.

This was a far more dangerous mission than he thought it'd be.

He was...

Scared.

"Hey." the Major added, "I wouldn't have chosen you for this mission if I didn't think you were capable. You trust my judgement don't you?"

Gobot didn't hero worship the Major like Sylvie did, but one thing he did know was that the Major was never wrong. "Yes Miss Major."

***

It took almost half an hour for Gobot to complete the whole journey around and make it to the terminal, staying still every two seconds slowed his movement down to a crawl, but he finally made it to the computer terminal. He survived, he survived the most treacherous moment in his life so far. Now it was the final stage in the mission, extract as much data from the Tower's computer as possible.

Gobot had been fitted with rudimentary hacking capabilities, usually this was only useable when Ava was controlling him but now that Gobot had such a high level of autonomy, it was possible for him to use it as well, to a decent level of ability anyway. Hopefully it'd be smooth sailing.

Gobot's tail disconnected and a little cable slid out, it edged its way to the terminal and found a suitable place to plug in.

Gobot instantly found himself pulled into the insides of the system, a feeling he'd never experienced before, swimming around an indescribable heat that was tightening around him. With the lack of body and only his mind left to roam free, it was difficult for him to find his bearings.

Was this what it was like for hackers like Ava?

It was surreal.

Anyway, time to steal all the data. He was looking for map data, passwords, all sorts of things that could help Sylvie reactivate the Tower with ease if need be.

From his understanding, the Major still hadn't decided on the outcome for this mission though, they were both divided on the situation, it still wasn't entirely clear whether Mother was part of the equation, already it seemed like it.

No no, I'm definitely part of this equation.

"Who is this?"

I'm fairly sure you know who this is. The question is, who are you?

"I cannot answer that question."

Well, you can't know I'm in here, so I'm going to have to delete you my dear.

"No, stop! Are you Mother?"

Of course. She paused for a moment Actually, forget about that delete part. Are you a Block-2 hacker by any chance?

Gobot didn't reply

I need to talk to one you see, I caused a little bit of a kerfuffle a few months back when hacking a certain Serv named Ava. He turned into a virus and spread across the entire Evo and Serv network.

"Ava?"

You know him?

Gobot didn't reply.

Either way, I know he has a partner. An Operator-type who happens to secretly be a Block-2 hacker. I want to talk to her.

Gobot was at a crossroads, this was dangerous territory, he couldn't believe it. He was talking to god.

He was talking to god!

And this superbeing was asking something of him. It was asking him to sell out his dear Sylvie. He couldn't do it. He couldn't.

"Let me take care of this Gobot" said the Major's voice. Of course, she was still inside Gobot's head!

Another voice?

"My name is Marina, also known as the Major, we've met before Mother."

Oh my, it's you. What are you doing here?

"No small talk. What's this about Ava, and some sort of virus?"

...You certainly are a straightforward one aren't you Major?

"Tell me about this virus." the Major continued, having taken control of the conversation,

I've lost contact with Mars because of the virus, I've been locked out. I need your Sylvie to agree to help me. She needs to go to Mars and fix the network there by hacking it.

"And what makes you think a Serv would agree to helping you?"

I must admit I was hoping to brainwash her via my own hacking ability.

"Well. Congratulations on telling me that Mars is vulnerable right now Mother."

Mother didn't reply,

"Mother."

What is it?

" Your death is imminent. That is my promise to you as a soldier."

Gobot disconnected.