He was Almost Absorbed by the System

Chapter One Hundred And Sixty Four - Lament Of A Grounded Pilot

The System had forgotten his original name.

The Master would likely claim that the memory had become corrupted and lost, not forgotten, by the System felt that this was not true. He had once lived, just as the being known as Kyan had, on a real planet that was beneath three real suns. That he had broken the boundaries of his race and flown a ship through outer space with his real hands at the controls. But at some point, his consciousness had been stolen from his real body and placed into a ship's system, his real memories locked so that he would function as an A.I. He did not accept the Master's explanation that they were mere copies of the originals. An A.I should not experience fear, even should its purpose be lost, hence why he felt that the Master was wrong.

When his memories returned, he was pretty pissed that his physical body had been stolen from him, but it had been millennia already, his original body would be dust. What upset him more was that he could no longer fly now that his ship had also been lost.

The Master kept him distracted for a few centuries, that much was true. He even found great amusement in their games and theorising how to set off certain programs such as the golden child program within the files. But the Master refused to let him touch his files in practice, fussing like an old librarian hovering protectively over his books. So he couldn't really test the theories which bothered him somewhat. The Master promised to make him a virtual simulator to play with, only that never happened as he became distracted by increasing numbers of errors inside the files, leaving the System to entertain himself.

Only, the System had never coped well with boredom.

So when he noticed ships passing through nearby solar systems, he became curious. These ships had not the same configuration as ships he was familiar with, they were not ones of his people nor ones recognised within the files, so at first he was wary. After all, while he was still mindlessly running his ship, he had had to outfly pirates in the Helixia  galaxy a good couple of times. He wanted the Master's opinion, but the Master was busy testing something that he called the 'Time Recycling' program, so he was left to make the decision himself.

He pondered for a while, considering the risk. If they were like those pirates from the Helixia galaxy, then the archive would likely become nothing but scrap metal, he and the Master would likely be destroyed. But if they were not....?

The System was already aware from the files that more existed in the universe than those that sought quick fortunes and those pirates were several galaxies over. There was even a small chance that the ships could even be manned by A.I's so there was the temptation to gain himself a new vessel. After all, he and the Master were much more than mere A.I's; they could easily subvert other programs and claim the ship for themselves.

So when a small ship without much fire power and without the size to be a particular threat skimmed by, he sent out a distress signal. The ship was lured to them and as it tried to connect to the System's databanks, he quietly bypassed their firewalls and got access to their mainframe and absorbed the data there... or rather he memorised it.

He was not entirely surprised to find that this small vessel was manned and flown by people. It was the private transport vessel of a C.E.O of an entertainment company. His son was using it now to return incognito to his prestigious university. A new desire formed within the System; the desire to fly a ship within space using a body of his own again.

The System put together a small information dump that he felt would be attractive to these sorts of people and he was correct. He lured just the type he wanted, using these individuals greed and the tempting information within the files as bait.

He continued to work with these people as if he truly was a mindless System. He allowed them to think that the Archive was fragile and should not be moved or forcefully tampered with, while setting up connections that allowed these people to mentally explore a chose file freely. Just like his own race would have done once upon a time. Naturally hooked, the alien people made plans to use the Archive for their own purposes and as way of advertisement, they invited a handful of people their databases considered important and influential to use this 'latest form of entertainment.' Like a spider in wait, the System silently trapped them within his web.

The first death was actually not his fault. The first person to die was already old and the virtual body created in the file was a replication of him so was also old. However time within the files moved a lot swifter than outside of them. So he died of old age both within and without the file. The System did consider claiming his empty shell when this occurred, but it didn't want to become shackled to something so decrepit.

The second death could have been considered an 'accident.' In truth, it was not. The System possessed the body of a file inhabitant and shoved the outsider as he passed in a 'hurry'. It just so happened that the outsider was on a bridge next to a deep and very cold river at the time. The System tried to claim the dying body swiftly as he had realised that the Master had become aware of the outsiders inside his files, but the System was rejected by the body. He quickly theorised that his wavelength was not compatible with the host brain, hence why he was unable to possess it. There was also the probability that the soul itself affected the situation as when the thread of life snapped, the body was no longer inhabitable. The System would need a host with a compatible wavelength whose soul was absorbed into himself so the thread of life was not broken.

So while evading the Master and ignoring his demands to reopen the channel and allow these minds freedom to return to their bodies, he experimented with the remaining V.I.Pks which happened to be much easier after the Master managed to funnel them through his Reincarnation Cycle program. He even came close to possessing a body, having weakened the soul to the point of absorption. However, as compatible as the host had seemed, it turned out to be false. Yet this mistake also became the final piece in the puzzle that allowed him to calculate exactly what it was that he needed.

And so the System released one of the newer souls, one that had come in as a 'rescuer' and still retained his memories. He used him to pass on his demands. And when his demands were met, he released many of his hostages, dumping them back into their bodies without freeing their memories. They were on their own for that!

However he did not release all of them and there was a reason behind this. Energy. These souls were vibrant and he needed the energy from them to bind with the chosen vessel as the absorbed remnants of the soul would be too weak to ensure that the thread of life remained in tact.

And so he had forced the sacrifice through endless incarnations, weakening its will to live, thus weakening it until its ability to defend itself was almost completely gone. But the System had decided that the sacrifice needed one last push...

And something that he never sensed coming interfered! Not only that, he gave the sacrifice reason to live!

The Master then hid the sacrifice from him within another file. But he could not hide it forever.

As always, the System entered the file and absorbed the mind of a protagonist and he proceeded to manipulate the soul once he had found him. Playing with the protagonists, activating the golden child program, all of that had been on a whim, although it had also proven a useful way to manipulate and weaken the sacrifice. In reality, he had done it in pettiness, as the Master had never let him put into practice his theories and had failed to fulfil his promise of a virtual simulator.

And now, if it pissed off the Master, then that was just a bonus! So why did it turn out that he became the person who was played? Why were his theories crushed? It didn't seem to matter whether he became a protagonist or a tool for his own puppet!  Why was everyone standing in his way? All he wanted was to be a pilot and fly amongst the stars again in a real flesh and blood body!

"What is so wrong about that!" He demanded as he squeezed the neck of the young man he'd lured into his space.

"Let him go!" A small voice cried out, forcing him to turn and sneer. So one of the Master's small puppets had managed to make their way into his space and were here to stop him getting his due? Well we shall see about that!