Void Rift (rp) - Intermission

“Stella isn’t doing that. She doesn’t use other AI she creates as proxies, or if she does, she uses it for news reports in case of emergencies.”


“Well... that aside, you like reading, or are you more a social or warrior type?”

 

"That's better. Now just stay put, the ferret will be back any second now."

 

"That seems much...kinder." Gil says.


"All, really. I think reading and knowledge are important, but it's equally important to make friends who'll look out for you, and to be well trained in combat." Alex says.

 

He hums a bit, nodding.

“When you grow up stealing textbooks, you tend to not want people to have to do the same.”


“Okay... well, let me try this again. Do you want to first visit a library with more languanges than most libraries have books, a training room with a massive armory and a special coliseum that lets people fight fallen legends, or the bunk room where you can find a dryad sleeping next to a mermaid sleeping next to a centaur drinking with an incubus?”

 

"I can see the benefit of an informative AI...or I guess mainly I in this case." Gil says.


"The bunk room sounds interesting, though aren't dryads and mermaids just common misconceptions of forest and water guardians, interpreted by humans?" Alex asks.

 

“Huh?”


“No. You see, guardians don’t exist here. We have merfolk, harpy, dryads, angels, and so on.”

 

"Well, she's not really artificially created. More...injected." Gil says.


"How does this place function without guardians to sustain order and balance? To help it thrive?" Alex asks.

 

“True. We still call her an AI, but... true.”


“How? That’s too deep for me to figure out. I could arrange a meeting with Gaia’s advisor, she might be able to shed light on the subject.”

 

“Yeah, just gimmie a few minutes. You want him up here?”

 

“I don’t care, I’m free for the night.” He shrugs.

 

"I think you could learn a lot from her really, she's the end state of AI." Gil says, thinking.


"Your Gaia seems awfully different to mine." Alex says.

 

“I mean, I have. A lot of people have. My old laptop’ll have a StellarNet uplink, so you’ll be able to as well. She’s a really good counselor, too, if you’re going through particulary rough times.”


“Absolutely. Biggest difference is that she can’t change element. She’s the high goddess of earth. There are different gods for air, water, and fire.”

 

"I think that solidifies her stance as mother then." Gil says, laughing slightly.


Alex looks at Ihra with a look like she'd just flipped sideways and fallen through the floor; utter confusion.

 

“I wasn’t kidding when I said she was sort of like one big intergalactic mom.”


“Six high gods, six primary elements.” Ihra shrugs. “I had the same look when I met your Gaia.”

 

"It's an odd name to have. It almost sounds like how the worshipers of Caelia perceive her." Gil says.


"Have you met all those gods?" Alex asks curiously.

 

“Her parents were both astrographers.” Pozel shrugs.


“Not the ones mind controlled by the Hive Master. The others, yes.”

 

"Interesting." Gil says, idly searching Caelia on his computer.


"Whom?" Alex asks.

 

Pozel glances over, looking at the results.


“Exksys, or the Hive Master. He’s trying to enslave the high gods and everyone else under his direct control. That’s why there are refugees in your reality.”

 

Gil clicks on an encyclopedia article detailing Caelia, though there's not much concrete information on her.


"He seems like a megalomaniac." Alex says.

 

He looks for pictures.


“He’s going on a rampage because the gods wouldn’t let him raise a child or something dumb like that.”