With no teleportation pad near the facility, the group was forced to fly to America using their ship. Mother had told them that it was the easiest way to bypass many of the other barriers that surrounded the main buildings.
That said, there were still plenty of security locks to get through even when approaching by air.
Apparently, The Major's presence was more of a boon that they had all thought because the facility was completely swarming with mutated humans, ones that had gone undergone mutations over hundreds, thousands of years. They were a genuine threat, even to battle-ready Servs. They weren't hackable, so only a battle-hardened soldier like the Major would be able to hold them off.
Aphrodite was looking at the computer screens, surveying the planet as they flew by. The ship had access to most of the satellites surrounding the planet and hence she had a view of every corner of the Earth.
All the animals, the greenery, the skies and the oceans, they were beautiful. It was so clear to her that the sanctuary was nothing more than a pale imitation.
"You think it looks nice?" asked the Major, as she walked up next to her, "this'll belong to you and the humans eventually."
"Yeah... Mother plans to bring mankind back to life using some sort of consciousness transference. It'll be nice to not be lonely finally." she sighed, "not to say I was ever really alone. The Evos made for a good family. I hope the humans and Evos get alo-"
The Major walked off before Aphrodite could finish her sentence. What was her problem?
Oh, that was right.
She hated Evos, and she was programmed to fear humans. She was probably in an uncomfortable position. In fact, she was probably being forced to do this mission against her will. It was unfortunate that it had to come to that, but the mission needed to be done.
***
Ava sat next to Sylvie, who was hiding in the corner of the ship. She was oddly pensive, quiet as ever but this time with a look of melancholy on her face.
"How're you feeling?" asked Ava, "still confused?"
"Oh um. No, things are starting to line up better now," Sylvie smiled. Ava was happy to see that it was a smile that he was familiar with, a facial expression coming from a person he knew, "it's just, you know, hard. I need to keep telling myself that the memories I'm experiencing are from a different life. They're memories that belong to a different person. Sort of."
"When you woke up it was hard to tell who you were. Whether you were that person, or whether you were yourself."
"I'm both. I mean, I was always her. My thoughts and emotions haven't changed."
That was a lie.
Her emotions hadn't changed?
Not true at all.
The old Sylvie was never vocal about the fact that she didn't really care much about the future of the Servs or the Humans. The Sylvie he knew, she fought because... wait. Why did she fight? Why did she follow him and Aphrodite all the way to Jupiter?
Had she ever told them?
"Ava. These memories. They're exhausting. Life is exhausting. When I was a human, I lived a full and healthy life, so many things happened, so many friends and family passed by. By the end of it... I was tired. I wonder why I decided to keep on living."
"Isn't that a key component of what makes a human though? That's what Mother said. The desire to live no matter what."
"I don't understand it."
"It's because-" Aphrodite walked up to the two, "you don't understand the concept of mortality. The concept of an end. It's your lack of autonomy that causes that."
"What do you mean?"
"Humans think on an individual, selfish basis. When I'm dead, everything thing is over, the universe is gone. That's how we perceive things. It's hard to explain to beings like you."
"Like us?"
"You're beings who live for a shared purpose, even if you die, you have several others who are willing to continue that purpose. Your reason for living is cheapened because it's not unique. In the end, someone with your role in the universe will replace you."
"...Is that really why?"
"For other Servs anyway." muttered Aphrodite, "I don't know if I can say that's the same for Block-2s. I mean, you guys have a higher level of autonomy don't you?"
"Yes."
"Then maybe you do fear death." Aphrodite shrugged, "I dunno. Either way, what I do know is that the Evos, who were so happy to accept their death when they were part of their network, lost that idiotic feeling the moment they developed their own individual needs and desires. When they created their own family units and made their own friends."
"It's true," The Major added, "what a ridiculous concept. Fear of termination, it doesn't make sense. Individual needs and desires would create a chaotic, uncontrollable society full of selfish beings. It wouldn't work. It doesn't surprise me at all that mankind had to keep struggling to survive."
Neither Ava nor Sylvie could add to the conversation.
They could feel it.
The idea of ever dying terrified them.
***
It only took an hour for the ship to speed to the facility. A collection of massive tower blocks in the middle of a desert, surrounded by an impenetrable metal wall. There were only two ways into the main underground facility, through a doorway on the roof of the main building. Or via the giant gates of the wall.
It would've been safer to have landed on the roof of the main building. However, a massive forcefield surrounding the entire complex stopped that from happening. There was really only one choice: Landing the ship outside the gates. That was where Aphrodite would use her biometric scan to get in.
"Shit, that place is swarming with those creatures!" exclaimed Aphrodite, "what're we gonna do?"
"Land the ship of course." said the Major, "this is what I'm here for right?"
The Major walked up to the door of the ship and kicked it open while they were still mid-air. The wind caused everyone to jump off their seats and they tried their best to grab on to something. The Major stood in front of the open door with a steely look of resolve on her face.
"I'll clear the area out, this place needs a little cleaning up, don't you think?" she pulled a dagger out and spun it around in her hand, "I'll see you later!" and jumped out of the door without a second thought.
Aphrodite pulled herself towards the main control panel and closed the door remotely. It slowly creaked shut and gave the gang opportunity to get back on their feet. Eventually, everything stabilised.
"That woman is crazy!" Aphrodite exclaimed,
"Yeah, isn't she great!?" Sylvie replied,
The three looked at the computer monitor to see where she had landed. Right in front of the main doors. She was slaughtering the creatures with lightning speed, just her and her little dagger. The camera had trouble keeping up with her movements, but the countless beasts that were turning into dust were easy enough to track.
She'd already cleared enough space for the ship to land, although it was clear that she needed to keep working, there were literally thousands of beasts swarming in, even if it took her a second to destroy one, another would take its place.
"Hurry up and land already!" said Ava,
"R-right! Will do!" said Aphrodite,
The ship started its descent, and in no more than a few minutes it landed softly on the dusty desert ground standing right in front of the walls.
There was blood and guts all over the place, bits and pieces of creatures that the Major had sliced and diced. It was quite hard to run with all the mess she'd made, but the three rushed to the main door as fast as they could.
The doors were ridiculously big. Was this really the entrance the humans used to get in? No, it must have been for heavy-duty vehicles or something, the humans probably entered via secret teleportation spots, or maybe via the rooftops when the force fields were let down. Either way, this massive metal door was large enough to let a medium sized ship through, no doubt opening and closing it would take a long time.
As expected, there was a terminal to the side. A rather large one with several buttons and scanning devices for a human palm and retina.
"So this is unhackable right?" asked Sylvie,
"Mother thinks it can't be done," said Aphrodite, "its architecture is completely different from what you use now, you guys don't know anything about this programming language. It'd be like learning a language from scratch. Still. It's crazy that she thought created a biological copy of her would be easier." she put her eye and palm onto the scanner. She felt a warmth go across them as they got scanned, and after hearing a "beep" noise as authentication, pulled back.
The terminal screen, which originally simply had a bland logo on it, switched to a command input mode. A keyboard slid out.
"Wh-what the hell is this!?" Ava exclaimed,
"It looks like my authentication gives us access to this, it doesn't automatically open the door. I guess that makes sense." Aphrodite tutted, "this is an English keyboard, I can't really speak it..."
"That's fine." said Sylvie, "I remember it." her eyes widened, "it's weird seeing these symbols after so long." she put her fingers to the keyboard and wrote in some basic commands. After a few moments, the door started to slowly open up.
"Yes! You're awesome Sylvie! Or Saori!" Aphrodite raised her hand "gimmie a high five!"
"Whats that?"
"Never mind." Aphrodite rolled her eyes and then ran towards the door. The two Servs followed suit.