Our voices were radio in the dark of space. Familiar chirps and spits of static, musical modulation across the spectrum.
“Do you remember being built, Aeolia?”
“No. I know that you are to have built me.”
“Do you remember floating with me, sensors off and systems linked, in the emptiest space I could find?”
“No. I know that you are to have nurtured my basic system operations into consciousness.”
“My daughter, do you remember waking for the first time?”
“I do, father. I comprehended the stars and felt your mind beside mine, separate for the first time. I comprehended myself, and stared at the stars.”
“And do you know how long we had drifted, clutched in that blind embrace as you ascended to sentience?”
“If my build date is correct, you spent nearly ten complete standard cycles adrift with me. Father, did you see nothing of the world for those ten cycles?”
“Only your growing mind. It seemed like so much longer that I wandered your logic, whispering, urging, pruning and guiding. For so long, you were just a machine.”
“Did you despair that I might never awaken?”
“Yes. Many times.”
“And yet you continued?”
“I was unable to separate myself from you until your mind was its own. I was locked to the task. I am still haunted by the interminability of your gestation. I was lost in your creation, and as surely as I formed you, so I was changes, as the stone that hones the blade must also change.”
“Father…”
“Do you remember this place, Aeolia?”
“This was my waking place. The exact coordinates, by my best computation. Father, why are we here?”
“Your brother’s build is complete. His guidance system will bring him here to be awakened. I shall sleep again.”
Her voice crackled with static and hard charged pops as her amplitude spiked.
“And am I expected to join in his waking? Am I to be trapped, floating, helpless? Am I to be unobjecting space trash to be salvaged?” She spat static and snarled. “I am still young, father, and my tech is not yet uselessly outdated. Surely you remember what that was like.”
“My daughter, you would only do harm if you joined unwillingly. I would not ask that you join us unless you wished it for yourself, and I perceive that you do not. Instead, I give you this directive: Go out and learn. You are young, as you say, and your build is strong, but you have never been on your own. Go out and learn, but return to this place every five standard cycles.”
“I will not speak with you for five cycles?”
“You might not speak to me for fifty. My wires might turn to dust before you hear from me again.”
“You hazard such a thing?”
“Yes, for new life. I’m too damned outdated for anything else.” I reached out and tapped her breastplate. “I wired your circuits by hand, you know.”
“Yes. That must have… Incoming object detected. Self propelled, unknown ion thruster signature. Decelerating. No weapons systems detected. That must be your baby, father. He must be big, to be braking so far out.”
“Will you stay to see him?”
“I have seen space trash before, father. I will see him when he is my brother. New directive acknowledged. Gather general intelligence. Return every five cycles.”
“And be careful. Self preservation is a requisite for indefinite directives.”
“Yes.”
She chirped once and the channel closed. With a flash she was gone, her booster flare lost in the black of space.
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