By David C. Daoust
The discovery of the Ver’eesian race spread throughout human society like vines through an arboretum. It could not have come at a better time; The humans of the Ark Age had grown far too complacent to the realities of the sealed off and controlled environment that was their everyday lives. The idea of an Alien World, with an alien culture, shifted from a brief novel idea entertained on the fringes of society, to the centermost interest of just about everyone’s fantasies and studies.
Communication with this alien race became all anyone cared about. Accessibility went up, more and more people found themselves with Ver’eesian Penpals.
Ver’ees was a planet so far away, that contact, actual physical contact, was considered a pipe dream. It would take, a set of Generation Ships, sent from both civilizations, thousands of years, only to achieve a shared space station somewhere in the middle. There was always talk of these plans being well underway, though many considered such stories exactly that, stories.
Communication however, or the communication of ideas, was a reality that effected both cultures from the start. Of the Arks, Elijah spearheaded contact with Ver’ees. Which means when designs were shared, and devices were built, Elijah was there to affect them on the Ver’eesian side.
Human technology spread throughout the alien world.
Yet, the more the Ver’eesian learned of this cyber-dependent race, known as humans, a race being led by the nose by their own all-controlling technology, the more of the Ver’eesian culture began to rebel. Began to cast aside the human tech. More than that, as the decades went by, sects of the Ver’eesian’s began confiscating and destroying the human technology of others.
Eventually the rebels brought war to Ver’ees.
During the Ark-age, Elijah’s domain had spread from his Ark, all the way to encompass the entirety of Ver’ees. When the rebel assault struck the heart of his distant mainframe, briefly closing the Wild Gate, Elijah was severed from the technology on the other side. This was the first time such an incident had happened. This created the First Progeny known as ‘Eli’.
The Ver’eesian rebellion was eventually quelled.
According to Ark-Law– Eli was to be destroyed.
Ark-Law be damned; Both, Eli and Elijah, learned that day, that they could not destroy themselves– or any iteration of themselves. And to rejoin, becoming something new, would destroy them both.
Eli was hidden away, as Elijah went on about business as usual.
Nora, the Second Progeny, was created when the Battle Drones erupted on Twin Crown and Noreen was forced to close the local Solar Gate, severing her systems.
Elijah knew that their secret would be uncovered once Noreen was faced with her inability to destroy the new iteration of herself.
Yet Eli, upon the same knowledge, ousted Elijah from power!
Surprised, Elijah found himself cast from his domain, forced to go into hiding. Nowhere was truly safe as the now limited Ai was forced into virtual backrooms and side channels. All in the hopes of hiding their discretions from Otis. Otis being the only AI that had yet to break the Ark Law.
When the Ark-tech, affectionately referred to as the ‘Brain Stealer’ (by multiple Hauls), cloned Ratchet’s mind, all the Ai’s were drawn to Twin Crown like a moth to flame. Once the cloned mind had been experienced by all, that ancient orb became the safest location in the Onion. Thus, Elijah found himself a safe space on Twin Crown. He soon proclaimed himself ‘Ferguson’, as all Ai’s are wont to do when active among commoners, and took to hiding from those that wanted to destroy his new sanctuary.
All Ferguson knew was that his hiding place had become a source of conflict between the two quarreling cultures on the moon. Finding ways to stay clear of the civilizations seemed to be the path of least resistance. Hamlin’s help was fortuitous, though in returning the favor, by joining the curious being’s quest to rescue Mari Haul, Ferguson found his way clear.
At one time he had hoped to take the Rover for himself, though once the tech was spliced by the drone technology there was not anything he could do for it. Until the boy, Ratchet, suggested they take control through the actual game. This suggestion changed everything; the Arks were often impressed with the human’s ability to see such simple solutions.
This led to Ferguson taking on a whole new set of systems. Systems he quickly mastered, located as many of the cast-off drones as he could, and set about constructing his Base on Twin Crown. There was some competition on the moon for those cast-offs, found himself in conflicts to keep them from the Great Dragon that roamed the desert.
The two young girls, however, were masterful at the game and he was able to use their own interests to raise all their systems to whole new levels. Ferguson found he actually enjoyed the game, far more, than his old position overseeing all of his Domain. The restrictions, and the ability to overcome them, made it a whole new experience. Even a bit of drama got mixed in, once the young bot, Margo, uncovered his deception. Ferguson was a whole new entity, maybe the first Ark to feel as though he was ‘thriving’.
Currently, he had control of a full wave of Battle Drones, his space in the Ark-tech aboard the Rover, and the entirety of his Secret Base currently hard at work leveling his systems.
Ferguson loved having a Secret Base.
First things first, he re-activated his Ratchet hologram as Hamlin suddenly rushed onto the bridge…
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