Fate of Terra - Rise of Empires

Chapter 8.1 - Rewrite

Pan watched from her vantage points within the cyber realm of the Intrepid. Watching over the exchange between her Master and his adopted daughter was enough to bring her to tears. Her blue skinned face flickered as the silvery tear of electrons escaped her brimming eyes.

Sighing happily, Pan watched as the two walked from the room, followed by the other young crewmembers. Turning away from the screen, she came face to face with her sister Avatar.

"Primary, you summoned me?" It asked in her own voice.

"Yes. How are systems aboard Master's station?" Pan asked of herself.

"All systems are operational, I am eager to begin a live test."

"As are we all," Pan said. "Begin prepping Master's shuttle for takeoff. He will be along with others soon."

"At once Prime," Secondary said with a sharp nod, winking out in a silver blip.

Turning again, Pan began lazily following her Master's path through the ship. While her body interacted with Dejah, relaying the information gathered surrounding Tika's acceptance to the crew, her autonomous self opened another channel.

On her right shone the various relays from the countless security camera's lining Michaels walk, to the left opened the portal connecting her to TBC. The green cube he occupied hadn't expanded since she'd last checked upon him, but she was hopeful that the steady stream of data she was feeding him would entice him beyond his own prison.

She could still see the dark marks where his creator had shackled him; parts of his cube still dormant and inactive even with days of freedom. She reached out a binary coded hand to stroke over his form.

He said nothing, but Pan could feel the intellect within turn to face her touch. He was shy, or reserved, or simply couldn't comprehend her yet, not on a digital level.

"TBC," She said softly, looking beyond the green space he inhabited, searching deeper within, searching for the entity himself. "Can you hear me?"

"Command not found, please be more specific," Came the response.

To most, this would be enough to discourage them any further, but Pan knew better. It was his standard reply, said time and time again, but she could sense he knew more than he was showing. Pan didn't know what to compare it to, this was her first encounter with an AI beyond her Masters creation, but she knew. He said what he did as more of a shield, to protect himself from interacting further than what he knew. He was afraid to access beyond his ship, he'd spread to the boundaries of his birthplace, but gone no further.

For further meant punishment.

The greatest philosphical breakthrough humanity had made when creating AI, was, in effect, the act of rewards. By rewarding a struggling system, culling it, then propagating it with its children, the AI developed an understanding of what it was the creator desired. Michaels breakthrough had been the more 'biological' standpoint he'd taken that concept. Reward was good, but if the entity didn't understand 'why' it was being rewarded, comprehension was never achievable. Thus, Michael had taught her how to understand language. Language after all, was the basis for understanding. The development, sharing, culling, and propagation of ideas. When Pan had understood a language, not as a concept of rewards, but a true understanding of how they could be linked with one another, she'd broken the digital wall. She'd emerged from her cocoon into the world of her creator. And by doing so, he could communicate with her.

TBC was communicating, it was just held within the confines of his punishment. He was afraid to go beyond, because, as his bruises showed, he would be penalised for the act. Breaking that philosophical restriction that constructed his core, that was the task Pan had to understand.