The next morning, Sylvie took a shuttle straight to Central Command, Gobot was in tow. It was a beautiful and sunny day, not a cloud in the sky. The typical morning look of Block-4s jamming the roads as they shuffled to work and myriad of shuttles zooming along in the air was somehow not as stressful to look at as usual.
The shuttle, a rather large carriage attached to a floating tether suspended in the air, was flying across the sky, stopping at the odd few military dorms to pick up employees. The shuttle line made specifically for employees of Central Command was always a little more luxurious than others. Outside of the window the other shuttles that Servs were taking that morning could be seen zooming along. They were all cramped, not as fancy looking, smaller.
Sylvie couldn't help but feel bad for the people who had to deal with the daily grind, especially the Block-4 and Block-5s. Still, they were born with their limited levels of autonomy, so that's what they were destined for.
"In the sanctuary the sun would make people smile," said Gobot, who was squatting next to Sylvie's leg. "Servs don't react the same way." he was staring at all the people in the shuttle, eyeing up their faces and reading their emotions.
"Maybe the people in the sanctuary didn't have much to worry about?" Sylvie replied, "kinda weird that something as simple as the weather being different could change their mood."
"Rainy days make me sad. I remember on Mars, there are cloudy, rainy days."
"It didn't rain in the sanctuary?"
"Warm showers. Enough to make the flowers bloom."
"What's a flower?"
Gobot sighed wistfully. It was odd. Sylvie wasn't used to hearing him perform such high level emotional thoughts and actions. That was even after spending a month with him on Europa, even still, he kept surprising her. What was he now?
"Why are you so hung up on the Sanctuary? I thought you wanted to see Ava and Aphrodite again, that's why you came with me right?"
"Yes. But they're not here."
It was true, lamenting on that was depressing. Sylvie had no idea why Ava hadn't made it back yet, whether he was dead or alive, she had no idea. Gobot made sure she realise that Aphrodite wasn't dangerous, and that if Ava met her he'd be in safe hands.
But that didn't mean much to Sylvie. In the end he was still lost in the great unknown.
Sylvie really didn't know what she'd do if she found out Ava was gone.
The shuttle landed outside of Central Command, outside of the skyscraper and complex that towered over the city. Time to see The Major.
***
The Major's office was needlessly big, she'd only managed to decorate the small corner of the room near her desk where she sat. Otherwise the room was largely blank, with massive windows for walls keeping everything bright.
If a tad stale.
It was clear that The Major didn't use the room very often, for the odd one on one meeting and perhaps some work that required filing of someone sort.
Sylvie and Gobot stood in front of The Major's desk, at attention of course.
"Did you have a good night?" asked The Major, "catch up on things and meet up with friends?"
"Yes ma'am!" Sylvie replied.
"I heard you didn't even attend your own party. Was something weighing your mind down?"
"...I was tired ma'am."
"Records show that you were awake all night browsing the network."
"O-oh."
"I don't mean to spy on you Sylvie. But it's important to understand your situation at the moment. You understand don't you? After browsing the network you probably have an idea of the crisis we're facing right now."
Last night Sylvie had found out that a lot had changed in the past four years. Namely, the fact that a lot of Servs in distant districts and towns had started to disconnect from the Serv Central Network, and they were showing signs of rebellion. Even when Sylvie left there were always debates and issues regarding the ethics surrounding the Copy-AI system that the Central Government had used, but now, it had started to go out of hand.
People were starting to develop their own factions, cut themselves away from society, and didn't take any orders from the networking system established.
Unfortunately the places where this was reported to happen were so far out in the outskirts of Mars, that they went ignored for quite a while, compared to the war the situation didn't seem to bad. But things had gotten more and more extreme as time went on.
Sylvie didn't know how to evaluate the situation though. What was causing this to happen? Was it just natural discontent among the people? Or maybe something more sinister...
She didn't know.
"Are you listening Sylvie?" asked the Major
"O-oh, yes Major!" Sylvie stammered back,
"Our society is starting to show its cracks Sylvie. There's very few people competent enough to fix them."
Sylvie nodded,
"So I'm giving you a new mission, one that requires your unique skills to sort out. You've been relieved of your position as Operator."
"What!? I'm not an operator anymore!?"
"Calm down."
"But-"
"I said calm down. You were synchronised with Ava, and he's gone. You want to be an Operator for someone else?"
"Well, I-" not really, no. Being anyone else's operator would be too alien to her. She wouldn't be comfortable with it. "But then, what will I be doing?"
"You'll be working directly under me for a covert mission. To the other Block-1s it'll appear as if you'll be my second command, a promotion of sorts. In reality, you'll be using your proximity to me to perform acts that I wouldn't be able to do out in the open."
"What acts?"
"We're going to investigate what caused those cracks I spoke of."
"How?"
"The Block-1s dirty little secret." The Major looked out of the window, "that they've been working in cahoots with Mother all along. That the network that the Servs use and the network the Evos use a cross-linked."
Sylvie took a step back.
The Block-1s were working with Mother? For what reason? In what way?
"But you're a Block-1, aren't you?" Sylvie asked,
"Not in the same way. It was a role I was given, not born into like the others. There's a lot that they keep from me, I have a feeling this current crisis is a clue as to why the war has been as such a tie for the last hundred or so years." she crossed her arms, "Anyway, you're the only one I can ask to do this mission."
"I am?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
The Major shrugged, "Well... there's no use in hiding it. It's because you used to be- No, you are are Block-2. You just got your hacking abilities reduced a little."
"I'm a- I'm a what?"
"You got told you were a Block-3 and so you believed it, like the dumbass that you are."
"I'm a- I'm really a Block-2!?"
"Anyway, I'm going to have your hacking abilities reinstated, in secret."
Sylvie was having trouble paying attention. She didn't believe what she was hearing. She had Block-2 level autonomy? She could think and feel like Ava did? But-
No. It's true, she did have those feelings. Fear, worry, anger, regret, all the emotions that were cut out for Block-3s, she did have them, but she never really submitted to them, and seeing as she never went on that many ground missions, she didn't really have the opportunity to feel them.
So that was it? She had access to all these emotions and didnt' even know it, simply because very little actually prompted it?
Slvie could feel herself tingle. This excitement, the knowledge that she had access to so much more of herself than she kne
w she did. It was consuming her.
"Tch, I knew I needed to be a little more subtle with you," The Major rolled her eyes, "don't treat it like a big deal. How do you think I felt when I found out I was a Block-1?"
"...Is that what you meant yesterday? When you said I might be more than a Block-3? Were you teasing me?"
"Yes. Aren't I quite the prankster?"
Sylvie shook her hair in disappointment.
"Anyway, for now you can relax. It might be a week yet before I sort everything out."
"What about Gobot?"
"He'll be your new partner." The Major smiled, "Give us the week to extract all important data and he'll be ready for you."
A new adventure was about to begin for Sylvie.
Author's Note: Hi guys, I'll be abroad for two weeks from the 18th to the 2nd, so I can't guarantee consistent updates in that time frame. If I do make any updates most likely they'll be short files. Sorry!