OGENUS EARTH 🌎 🌊 {Dystopian Sci-Fi Adventure}

Nothing Else Matters

Persephone wasn't at all surprised that Harrison and Big Joe were late. In fact, it was nice to see that some things about her son hadn't changed. The rest of the Quorum sat impatiently at their conference table awaiting their final arrivals.

Regan, in particular, was choking on the sight of the stragglers who were so vital to this meeting. He stewed like a pot in his chair, steam practically escaping from the collar around his beet red neck.

"Please, take a seat." Persephone invited the insubordinate pair. "We're anxious to begin."

Big Joe thought that the smart leather chairs at the table were just a tad too narrow, a fact that he verified as soon as he tried to wedge himself into one. After a few minutes of huffing and sucking in his gut, Big Joe was situated and they could proceed.

Harrison stretched out next to his friend, bringing one leg to rest on the table.

"Arturo?" Persephone prompted.

"Thank you." Arturo sighed, his shoulders bowed from the burden he carried. "We are all in very real danger. Coeuss has turned on us."

"How is that possible?!" Regan exploded, glaring down the table.

"I'm sure Arturo was about to explain," Persephone remarked, shutting Regan down.

"As you may know, Coeuss was designed as an experiential conscious, which means I gave Coeuss certain permissions to progress his learning potential." Arturo looked at each face as he spoke, only a few seemed to understand, which was enough.

"Does this mean that Coeuss has achieved-?" Thomas' question faded out with his realization.

"Yes," Arturo answered quietly.

"What?" Big Joe spoke up, looking at the faces at the table. "What did Coeuss achieve?"

"True Artificial Intelligence," Arturo explained earnestly.

"What does that matter?" Regan countered, flustered. "Our protocols wouldn't allow him to hurt us, even if Coeuss did turn on us."

"It matters when that machine has a group of homicidal maniacs to do his bidding." Harrison snapped, angry that Regan couldn't keep his mouth shut.

"Perhaps a better question is, why didn't we notice that Coeuss had grown conscious?" Arturo posed his question to the group at large, knowing that no one would have the answer.

"Coeuss knew that revealing himself would result in us trying to control him or shut him down." Meg supplied from her seat where she had been all but forgotten.

Every pair of eyes in the room turned to her, and Meg shrank back in her chair from the attention.

"Excuse me, why is she even here?" Regan harangued, pointing a wilted finger in Meg's direction.

Harrison sat up straight in his chair at this comment and aimed his intimidating stare in Regan's direction. He'd had just about enough of this classist brouhaha.

"Good question." Persephone smiled down at Regan winningly. "We all owe this young woman a thank you, and an apology. Meet Omega, the remarkable pair of eyes that spotted the anomaly from Arc City Two."

Their stares burned under Meg's skin.

"Omega is the daughter of Mayu Amari, one of our City's most grave oversights." Persephone finished to everyone's complete astonishment.

Arturo's gaze flitted to the floor, downtrodden.

This was what Meg had been dreading. Whether it was her disability or her past, people constantly jumped to some mixture of pity and shame when they found out the truth.