Mother had invited the group inside her house. It was more like a cottage, very cozy, rural, hidden. She'd locked herself away in a small home in the middle of a field in the middle of nowhere. It was clear that she'd decided to live the life of a hermit.
She'd done so for thousands of years.
From what it looked it like it was just a small two-storey building, the bottom floor was simply a kitchen and living room, only two chairs around a small dining table and a sofa. The stairs led upstairs but the lights were off, it was unclear but that was probably where she slept.
Ava and the group looked around, there was no indication of any sort of technology or computing devices that could connect her to the network. How did she control all the Servs and Evos?
Ava did a quick scan for electronic devices in the area, it quickly became clear to him that there was a huge hub of technological wizardry below them. Computers, networks, receivers, odd devices that he couldn't identify. Her basement. It was most likely a massive facility underground. She'd built her little cottage on top of it.
Mother went to her kitchen and started making more tea.
"Locke, go to the fields and gather more leaves, will you? We're running short," she asked,
"Which types would you like ma'am?" Locke replied,
"Restock on all of them. We're running low."
Locke paused, "That will take over a week ma'am." he said,
"I know. Get going."
Locke looked a tad dejected. He walked to the door and took another glance at the gang before he saw his way out and walked outside. It was getting dark.
Mother was a bit of a slave driver. Well, no surprise.
"I haven't got administration access to the original solar network," said Mother, "I can moderate the system. Give commands, appoint roles, etc etc. But the actual big changes to the system? I can't do that." it wasn't clear who she was addressing. Everyone, maybe. "But the only way to defeat this virus is to-" she sighed, "to cut everyone off the network completely. Manually."
"Delete the network?" asked Ava, "you mean... actually get rid of it completely?"
"More than that. You need to do a full reboot. Doing what you and Aphrodite intended, that wouldn't get rid of the virus, it would still be in the Evo or Serv's system. I know it sounds harsh, but we'll need to deactivate every Evo and Serv that's already infected. After that we'll have to cut the network to make sure the virus doesn't spread at all." she froze for a moment, like the words that were coming out of her mouth truly hurt her, "potentially forever."
"C-cut the network out forever!?" Aphrodite's voice elevated, "you'll set the Evos free!?"
"It's not like I have a choice."
Ava couldn't quite understand. Was that the only option then? Mother had spent thousands of years manipulating everyone, it was her entire life and being. Why was she now ok with letting all of that go?
"To you, I'm no doubt the most despicable person in the world. Manipulating your community, creating this false war, robbing you of your autonomy. But this isn't the model that I created. It's a model mankind has been using to moderate the Servs and Evos for a long time. We wanted to evolve you to be more human. You all had thousands of years of human development to catch up to." she turned to face the group, "when you were reborn in new bodies, your thoughts, your ideas, your communities, they were fresh, naked. You had no history to learn from. We needed to create the history for you. The network was used to force you to learn how to make your societies work."
"The Block system model was put in place to emulate what human society was like?" asked The Major,
"Yes. An emulation of the class system that mankind developed naturally over thousands of years," said Mother.
"How did the Servs act without the block system?"
"Anarchy. No-one knew their place. It was chaos. You needed to be given roles. The same was true for Evos somewhat, however, theirs were on a more extreme level. Their model was built on a work ethic rather than social ethics. Everyone had an assigned job, they were made to do it with precision, no questions, everyone was a slave. I'm not a fan of it personally. But that's what was decided for the Evos."
"You're giving it up so easily?"
"Well-"
"It's because they don't need it anymore, right?" asked Aphrodite. "You saw how the Evos that were cut off the network acted like. They're human. They are. They have emotions, relationships, communities. They care for each other. They don't need to learn anymore."
"I dunno if the same can be said for the Servs though," said the Major, thinking back to what happened in the off-network cities on Mars. They were still in a complete state of anarchy.
"I don't care to be honest." Mother sighed, "The Servs can do what they want. If they kill themselves, then they kill themselves. It seems the social model we chose for the Evos was more effective than the model we chose for the Servs."
The Major didn't know what to think of this. She hated the fact that her people were being trodden down on. But if they really were a detriment to themselves, then would cutting them off the network really be a good thing for them?
Well, like Mother said. It was better than letting the virus kill them. She and the Block-1s, or maybe some sort of other suitable leader, maybe they'd be able to help, maybe they'd be able to construct their society organically, without the need of a system that was forcefully doing it for them. She wanted to trust that the Servs were intelligent and aware enough to do that.
"How will us remembering our pasts help you get into the back end and cut the network then?" asked Ava,
"The login details. I don't have them. I used to have the biometric logins, way back in the day. Eye scan, fingerprint, vocal recognition, all that. But... Infinity Engine changed my body. So I can't log in anymore, thankfully, there's another me," she pointed at Aphrodite, "a perfect clone, sculpted with all my exact details." she shrugged, "but even then, that's just stage one. I was never Administration Level, that was someone else." she then pointed at Sylvie, "Your original self from thousands of years ago. She was one of the Administrators. She worked on the project extensively. And of course, she got turned into a very special Serv when the project was over."
Mother walked up to Sylvie, "Both you and Ava have Infinity Engines in you. Do you know what that means? You, all the Block-1s, and all the Block-2s have actual human brains in them. They've been farmed multiple times since then of course, I mean there have been eleven or so of you by now right? Either way, you're not like other Servs, you're not simply computers with human memories in them. You're a hybrid. That's why I'm sure you'll be able to get your memories back. And you'll be able to give me Admin access to the network."
Ava grit his teeth,
"You really are a master manipulator aren't you!?" he said, "You planned this whole damn thing! You got tired of moderating the system so you made sure that all three of us came together, and forced us to come to Earth so we could help you."
"Hey." Mother frowned, "I wouldn't call myself a master. I didn't plan on your predecessor to turn into a damn virus! You ruined everything Ava! Do you know how many people died because of your virus!?"
"...But, that wasn't m-"
"It was you. It was your personality, your brain, your being that did that. Who cares if it was technically a previous clone? The you of now would have done the same thing! Don't make it look like I'm the bad guy here. I'm trying to atone for my sins at the very least."
She was right. As detestable as she was, she was right.
"Ava." said Sylvie, "I can't hack myself. As you know, I'll die if I use my hacking abilities."
"Huh? Why do you want me to hack you?" asked Ava,
"Isn't it obvious?" Aphrodite shook her head, "somewhere in her brain her fragmented memories are hiding in there. Deep inside. She wants you to find them for her."
"Would that work?"
"Heh." Mother nodded, "You're a smart one Sylvie. Well, of course you are, you always were."
Ava had embarrassed himself there. Thinking about it, it made sense.
He didn't quite like following Mother's orders, but it seemed that Sylvie had already decided she'd help. Well, Sylvie had. Another person was a little more reluctant...
"Why the hell should we listen to you?" asked the Major, "why should we believe anything you say? You're absolutely pure evil. You've helped enslave billions of intelligent beings. Didn't I already say I'd kill you? Now you expect me to help you instead?"
"Major, I didn't plan for you to be here at all." said Mother, "it's only those three that I needed for this plan."
The Major reached for her lance,
"In that case..." but she couldn't, an invisible force was stopping her from grabbing in,
"Didn't I tell you already? You can't kill me. I'm your master. Ava and Sylvie are immune to human commands because they have human brains. But you're still my servant. You only have one use." she crossed her arms and looked away as if she knew she'd regret was she was going to say, "you're the gun I'm using to point to their heads."
"What!?"
"Sorry, but this needs to be done. So if you guys don't listen, I'll order the Major to kill you all." she fidgeted, "I don't mean any ill will. But if I have no choice then that's what I'll have to do."
"You absolute bi-"
"Major please!" Sylvie exclaimed, "don't! I'll do it! This is the only hope we have!"
Mother nodded, "Right. Once we drag out Sylvie's original. I'll direct you to the facility in America where the network was developed. The story of the fall of mankind will end there." she looked at Ava, "I'll give you some time to get ready."
Ava nodded, "Fine. I'll do it then."