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

The Fall of Man, Part 3

"So we'd achieved immortality. Yes, it wasn't true immortality, but it was immortality nonetheless. But even that wasn't the most unbelievable feat mankind managed to pull off. At that point it had been almost one hundred years since the invaders had attacked, we were anticipating another wave sometime soon. Sure we'd avoided the curse of aging, but in the end, we knew that their weapons technology would have been advancing while we were busy putting our resources into curing or at least avoiding the disease.

"We knew one more attack would wipe us out entirely. So our final move was the work on the most advanced technology we had at the time, place all our bets on it. The Black Hole bombs.

"As I mentioned, the BHBs were primarily used to teleportation, and we... heh," she lowered her voice "I don't believe we did this, what fools," she paused for a moment, "we surrounded the Earth with a ring of BHBs, organised a mass exodus to Mars, Europa and certain other colonies, and detonated the bombs around our entire planet."

Aphrodite stared at Mother with her mouth agape,

"So you... you teleported the entire damn planet!?" she exclaimed,

"A fifty-year project. No, maybe longer than that. For many, our lives were dedicated, defined by the promise of living on another world. Escaping the conflict forever. We couldn't fight anymore. We betrayed mankind's neverending instinct to fight, and chose flight instead." another sip of tea, she stared at the bottom of her cup, she'd finished it all, "have you heard of the fight or flight response? To Servs it's a new concept only available to the Block-2s. The more human Servs. Yes, for most Servs, the mission is all that matters. Fighting to the end. Unthinking. Stubborn.

"Not for humans. The fight or flight response for individuals is the choice we make innately during moments of stress or conflict. Will we fight our fears or run away from them? It a choice that every individual human is uniquely tuned to. We all respond to stress in different ways.

"Individuals anyway. The same can't be said mankind as a collective. As a fully fledged community of people, the nature of our society, the way we saw soldiers, and money as expendable, meant that the fight option was always the choice we'd decide to make. It's why we were always, throughout our entire existence, always gripped in war."

"So," said the Major, crossing her arms, "this time mankind chose flight. In the most extreme way possible. I guess that must say something."

"It just shows how desperate we were to keep on living. Aren't we a pathetic, despicable race? Is it tenacity, or just stubbornness. Either way, it's hard-coded into our genes." Mother replied,

Sylvie opened her mouth for the first time in ages "I can't believe you teleported all of Earth into the clouds of Jupiter. I mean, wasn't it dangerous? Didn't you say it involved expanding multiple black holes or something?"

"Stretching out millions of singularities to create a mega Kerr-Black hole. Like I said, they're harmless. There was no danger as long as the calculations were correct. The only real problem was the amount of energy required to activate the bombs." Mother sighed, "and so, that's how our society ended. After teleporting to Jupiter, we transferred the original core of Jupiter in place of Earth and bombarded it with nuclear bombs, it was an illusion painted so that if the invaders ever came again they assume mankind had destroyed themselves in a nuclear war and would overlook the real Earth, hiding in Jupiter.

"The entire operation took up so much time, so many resources, so much manpower. By the end of it all, when we were finally safe... society had crumbled. The concept of the family unit had all but disappeared, relationships, friendships, caring for one another, immortality had gotten rid of all of that. Industry, currency, technology and resources, we had no need for it and it was all sparse anyway. Our struggle to survive had stripped us down to mere shadows of ourselves.

A melancholic smile, "We'd turned into monsters long before the virus did anything to us."

"I can't tell if you're happy or sad that your race died such a pathetic death." said the Major,

"Pathetic or not. It really shows how terrifying humans are, doesn't it?" added Ava, "The things you guys did. The torture you guys put yourself through, it seems like dying would've been a better option."

"Well. We're not dead yet." Mother looked at Aphrodite, "Are we, Aphrodite?"

Aphrodite tried not to meet with Mother's eyes.

"I'm not like you," she said, although she remained right next to her, her filial bond still keeping her stuck to her mother.

"Why'd you tell us all this? I get that Aphrodite needs to know, but-" started Ava,

"Well. It's because I have a final request for you all. To look deep into your memories. Deep deep into your memories and come to the same realisation that the Evos on the scrapyard did."

"What's that?"

"That you're human. You may have forgotten. But that's what you are. Remember the you from back then. Remember the individual from thousands of years ago who begged to get transferred to a Serv body because they were terrified of death."

The Servs all looked at each other. They weren't sure what they were being told to do.

"I trust you Block-2s to be able to do it. Find your true self hiding inside of you, the person who was locked away for all that time. Remember. Remember who you originally were. The human from eight thousand years ago. The one who uploaded the mind to a machine and let it get recycled over and over and over for millennia. Ava, Sylvie, find yourselves" Mother muttered, "Once you do that. I'll tell you how to defeat the virus, save the Serv, and hell... maybe even save the human race."