"Mr Ava? Sir? Are you ok?" asked the woman,
"So tell me," said Ava, "what happened after that? What happened to society?"
"Oh, that's right. I'm meant to tell that you that too." The woman pulled out another book, "I've got this all memorised but, you know, in this situation it's so hard to remember" now she was trying to hide her nervousness, "ok so... there have been several periods. Soon after this book was written came the dark ages. Society crumbled due to another virus, the Serv society reverted to a very simple and savage state. After a few hundred years they managed to evolve, and society finally started to become more civilised again, although technology was still on a rudimentary level. The renaissance helped elevate our society back to the level of artistic integrity it once had however, and soon after it led to the industrial revolution, where our technology managed to thrive once again. Unfortunately there were several wars that happened after this, but Serv society still continued to develop at an exponential rate. Reaching this point, we can easily say that our society has now reached a level of technological mastery that surpasses that of the society you were once a part of."
Ava paused after hearing this, he tried to digest it, "Shit, a lot of stuff can happen in 2000 years I guess."
"..."
"Somehow Aphrodite's family managed to survive all of this huh?"
"I believe there are many Serv out there that may have some of her genes in there somewhere. I was one of the many to be traced back to her, and apparently I resemble her the most, so I was chosen as the first person you saw when you awoke."
They didn't really look alike at all. Their voices were similar, a bit.
"The dark ages, lack of technology. All that stuff. How did my AI manage to survive all that? How am I here?"
"Well the data was floating through space. It never went back to Mars. We found it only a couple of decades ago during space exploration, back when we were trying to find alien life."
"Wow." This plan wasn't a one in a million chance, it was one in a billion.
"From our understanding your data has been spread all throughout space, there's billions of copies of you out there. I suppose my ancestor wanted to make it as easy as possible for us to come across you once our technology reached the level that we could bring you to life." the woman bit her lip again, "actually, after the 2000 year time limit passed, our society was still only just getting out of the dark ages. We only found you recently."
"Wait, so you're telling me...?"
"While your AI was activatable 2000 years after she encrypted you, we didn't find you until 4000 years in the future. Well, 4196 years later, to be exact."
Ava's eyes widened,
"So I'm fucking 4000 years in the future!?" he shouted, but then slumped back down, "jeez, like it makes any difference at this point."
"Your return has been prophesied, thanks to you Serv society was able to survive, and evolve. Aren't you happy you have the opportunity to see the fruits of your labours?"
Ava didn't totally know how he felt. He felt lost, that's all he knew. This was too much for him.
"Now what?" he said, "is there even a place for me here?".
"Of course," the woman replied, "we've made it so that you'll never have to worry about anything ever again. You're an icon, our treasure. Please, maybe you should rest a little longer, and then I'll make preparations to-"
The phone rang. The woman quickly rushed to it and replied to the call.
"Hello?" she paused, "what!? Really?" she ran to the window and edged the blinds open, "holy crap! When did the information leak? There's... there's hundreds of thousands out there!"
Hundreds of thousands? Of what? Some sort of enemy threat? Maybe the woman hadn't told him the full story yet.
"No, the only viable exit is the teleporter on the roof. The others probably won't work with so much interference. But-, I don't want to take him out so soon."
A teleporter on the roof? Ava could escape, he could leave this weird facility and have some time to himself to figure things out. He didn't trust anyone here, he didn't trust the situation at all. There was no guarantee that anything the woman had said was true either.
The teleporter was his chance to leave.
The woman's eyes were off of him, he was sitting pretty close to the door. All he'd need to do is find some stairs. He shifted his legs around to see if he could more them properly. Still a bit of difficulty, still quite stiff, he'd need to put a lot of effort in to be able to actually run. How annoying, if he had his original body he'd just be able to hack the woman and knock her unconscious.
Ava slowly stood up, he tried his best not to make a noise, he kept his eyes on the woman as he slowly crept to the door and put his hand on the knob. Thankfully, the woman was talking, she was too airheaded to check up on Ava every now and then, her eyes were firmly fixed on whatever was going on outside. Ava couldn't help but be curious about what she was so mesmerised by, but that was neither here nor there, it didn't concern him. Maybe.
He opened the door and tip-toed out, it was difficult, his body was so alien. And then he ran. He probably should've stayed silent, but he couldn't, he just ran.
The door slammed open, the woman was behind him,
"Hey wait! Stop!" she explained, "oh jeez!" she pulled out a radio and started mumbling into it as she dashed after Ava.
Still, Ava kept running, he was having trouble but he kept the rhythm of his new body up, he was dashing through random people in the corridor,
"Stop him!" the woman yelled, "it's the saviour!"
But they didn't stop him, they were all too startled, too taken aback by his mere existence. Instead they gave him way and let him run even faster without a second thought.
Finally the stairs, Ava continued his journey, how many floors? It didn't matter, he ran and ran and ran, his legs were starting to burn. He needed to escape, what was going on in this alien world? He didn't want to deal with it. A war? A disease? Who knew, he didn't want to be a part of it. He needed to get to that teleporter.
It must have been at least thirty floors.
He finally made it to the top. His legs were on fire. The rooftop was completely empty apart from some alien looking flying vehicles and a rectangular pod with lights inside of it. It was probably the teleporter, Ava had no way of knowing because it looked nothing like the ones he'd seen before. The sun was setting and casting a glow on the building.
But then Ava noticed the noise. The it was the noise of a huge crowd. He looked around, he walked to the edge of the building. There were scores of people, thousands upon thousands as far as the eye could see. There were banners, fireworks, huge screens saying...
Welcome Home
There was a gasping behind Ava,
"This," the girl who was chasing him huffed, she had caught up, and was barely able to stand up straight, "this is for you Ava."
"For me?"
"We've been waiting for you, we've been waiting to welcome you home. You've been missed. I-I know it feels like you lost everything, but Ava." she smiled, "but that's because you gave us everything. Serv society, thanks you."
Ava stayed silent.
He didn't know how to feel. Humbled perhaps? Why was there was thumping in his chest? Why were his eyes getting wet? Why? Why? Why?
Aphrodite's ancestor suddenly threw him a look, she stood up and stared him right in the face. That was Aphrodite, that was Aphrodite's face.
"Ava, what you do is your choice to make. You gave us that privilege, it wouldn't be fair for us not to give it to you." she nodded her head towards the teleporter, "I know how to use that thing."
"I'm... tired Aphrodite." Ava muttered.
"I know." Aphrodite's ancestor walked up the Ava and put her arms around him, he rested his his head on her shoulder, "...You need to rest." that warmth, it was hers, it was Aphrodite's. Ava couldn't stop the tears from falling.
"Should I prep the machine?"
Ava lifted up his head, Mariella Aphrodite let go of him, "No." he said, "I'll serve my people until the day I die," he smiled, "that's why I exist, that's what I want. It's what makes me-" he paused, "happy."
"Thank you." Mariella smiled back, "I'll say it again." and Ava heard Aphrodite's voice resonate through hers, "Welcome home."