The Resurgence AU

The Notes

August looked back at the quiet metro before they stared back at their book. "Calm your thoughts, August..." They whispered under their breath. How long until Tartar noticed it was missing? They could only guess it was rather important to him and his plans. Exactly why they needed to keep it away from him...
Inkopolis looked so creepy late at night. Advertisements echoed in the distance, filling the empty streets with color. It looked like there was just a terrible rainstorm. August's frill lifted and spread out, showing off the ink inside of it. They felt...felt so comfortable with the moistness and humidity of the air. Then...creeping thoughts of anxiety filled their mind...the quiet streets suddenly filled with nightmares and monsters that wanted to hurt them, craved to spill their blood.

With every turn they took to try to get home, they felt they were going to bump into Tartar. Shell...they were so scared of seeing him again. Or, worse, seeing what he did to their friends! August couldn't imagine it...seeing their friends hypnotized and...and under his control...?

August curled their arms around themself and sniffled, shuddering from the cold. "I...I need to get home..." August looked back at the large book. Maybe...maybe instead, they could find somewhere safe to read this...? Alright...alright...let's do that...

So August did, they searched until she found an old building to duck into. Who knew who much they could learn from this book...

"This book was made as a catalog for the years past humanity's time-!" August's voice caught in their throat. "W-Wow...th-..this book is...will I even still be able to read it..?" August asked, now flipping through the pages carefully. "...I'll start with the good pages and then read the worser pages," August thought aloud before they started reading the book.

"Day 2... I've started programming the AI now, adding simple things for now like past events and history, a little bit of science here and there to teach it a few more things as I work with making sure its storage can handle all of the info.

Interestingly, I received a small email from someone, it just said 'Hi'. Still no idea who sent it but for now, whoever sent it doesn't seem malicious. I've written the conversation below." August traced their finger down the page, reading the conversation.

"Hi."

"Hello."

"Hi."

"Hello?"

"B."

"B?"

"Hi."

August only tilted their head, 'Is...this about before Tartar went nuts...? Must be. Hmp...I could never imagine Tartar as this. He seems like the person that was just created crazy.' August grumbled in their head before reading the rest, 'Maybe though...it's been 12,000 years since humanity. I would go crazy t- NO! Don't think of that! Tartar is a crazy AI who's blended people!! So- so- so many people!' "... It went all like this for about an hour's time before I stopped responding. Whoever it was has been filling my email with more and more emails though. Looking back, the initial was a little humorous but it did still waste time I could've spent working on the AI." August muttered under their breath before turning the page to the next good note.

The next good note was Day 23. There was very little writing with a large recording taped to the inside of the page, one of many recordings from what August could see.

"Day 23, The AI has taken an interest in an old telephone I brought in to repair. It's interesting. It's expressed liking the horn on it and its shape. The scientist's child, whom I've learned to be named Calypso, keeps visiting me and continuing to talk to the AI. Something tells me Calypso will be over the moon when he learns that it can speak. It was...shocking at first for me." August's hand hovered over the recording before they detached it carefully from the page and pressed play, bringing it up to their ear.

"Did you just speak?" An unfamiliar voice asked. Immediately, August knew it had to be a human voice. It sounded weirdly friendly and almost too similar to Tartar's voice. 'Must've used this guy's voice as a reference...' August kept listening.

"Zhould I...havvv warned grrou first?? Piiicked...up." And that had to be Tartar's voice. It was so cold and lifeless. It was so slow and rather quiet too like the robot was struggling to talk coherently.

"You should've told me first before scaring me."

"Zcared."

August heard a sigh come through the recorder. The human must've been a little frustrated.

"Alright. I un-."

"Zlipped..."

"I under-" August cracked a small smile, finding the human being interrupted rather funny. As strange as it was for August to admit that Tartar was making them giggle.

"I wazzn't zzure..."

"AI, I understand. Everyone gets scared. ...Even an AI strangely..."

"No...hate...??"

"None. I suppose it makes conversations with you easier." Aww...that...almost sounded a little sweet. Tartar sounded so reliant on someone liking him. To have someone cared for him in some way. It brought a small frown to August's face.

...There was a long pause in the recording, making August believe the recording was over for a moment. Tartar's voice suddenly crackled through again.

"Haazzz name?"

"Pardon?"

"Profezzor...that'zz...what IIII...call... you," ...Oh. This was that Professor Kunshur that this book originally belonged to. He sounded...sweet. Despite August's fear of humans, they couldn't help but admit that they felt sad for the...extremely late professor.

"Are you asking for my name? I could've swore I already imputed that when I started programming you. Uhm...I go by Den. Denewiah Kunshur."

"Do...I have...a name...? (SLANG_NOT_FOUND)?" Hm! So Tartar used slang back then too...

"I just call you AI. Do you want a name?"

"Pleazzze..."

"...Hm..."

"What about Tartar? Like the sauce." August couldn't hide how hard they cringed at the sound of that name or how they cringed even harder at the reasoning.

"Anyy...name-...givvven to me...by youuu-uu-u-..izzz great name..."

There was a sudden shuffle from behind August, causing them to lift their head over to look at the source. It...was just a can that had been...thrown? As August bent down to investigate the can, the sound of running came from behind them.

Before August could react, a sharp pain exploded on the back of their head. The attack was heavy enough to cause August to collapse.
The last thing they saw was a golf club drop to the side of the figure...