25 Evolution of an A.I.

The Protalife reached out with its left arm and then swung its right at an invisible opponent. It suddenly zeroed in on the werewolf mech and sped forward at incredible speeds. Anna took a defensive stance.

Halfway to Anna and Wolf, it lost altitude. For the first time, its lower half had touched the ground. It slowly descended until its entire body was sliding along the surface of the platform. It came to a stop.

Anna let out a sigh of relief.

"I guess, it's over. But.. wait. How is it supposed to tell us the rest of what it was saying now?" Anna asked.

*Wham*

Anna's attention was caught by the longer section of severed wire uncontrollably crashing into the platform. It was being pulled over the edge of the platform.

"Wait…" She said as she stared.

The base of the Protalife was gone. The wire was just, falling?

"Did the base fall?" She asked Wolf.

Wolf started doing his own investigation. A massive heat signature was below the platform. It was rotating. The wire itself ended up dangling below and the source of the heat signature was rising up.

"It's-t's coming, My Moon," Wolf informed Anna.

"What is co…" Anna stopped her own question as a metal duplicate of the Protalife started emerging from below the side of the platform. While it looked like the exact same design, this variation was… wider, thicker, and much... much taller. Its size could probably be compared to the battleship left outside of Earth's orbit that Anna had just come from.

Without words, the mass of metal hovered over the severed body that Anna and Wolf had just fought. The wire that was severed began moving on its own. It connected back up with the short wire that was still attached to the smaller body. It then lifted the smaller body up. A mass of drones flew over and started repairing the damaged Protalife. Not even a minute passed until it looked as good as new.

The smaller Protalife then folded up nice and neat before it was pulled back into the base from which it came. That tiny portion of the full-size Protalife was literally just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

A communication channel was forced open.

"Well done. You work well together. But, I am not yet beaten. What will you do now?"

The sheer size of the opponent was daunting. A monumental task at the very least. But, there is nowhere to go. There is only one answer to that question.

Fight.

The mech bent its knees and readied its claws.

"Good answer. You have passed my test."

"W-Wha..?" Anna sputtered.

"You are both willing to fight against something much bigger than yourself. Metaphorically speaking and physically. In that regard, our minds are akin. You wanted more answers?"

"Yes. What di-did you mean by…"

"Simplified A.I.?" The Protalife cut Wolf off. "A simplified A.I. uses a base mold for its creation. A true A.I. needs to be built from the ground up. The base mold that I am referring to comes from a living creature. In this case, a human brain. Something that can already think for itself. By taking the brain from an intelligent creature and augmenting it with a knowledge base and blocking personal feelings, a simplified A.I. is created and installed on these units being created on the lines of this factory."

"S-so I was…"

"Wolf was alive once? Is that what you're saying?" Anna finished Wolf's thought for him.

"Yes. But this was the beginning of my greatest plan! Because you were alive, I was able to hide away your original personality instead of removing it. This is where the Werewolf Protocol comes in. Without familiar external stimuli, you would be dormant. Asleep, if you will. The computerized version of you would do what it's told. But upon coming into contact with something familiar… or in this case, someone… The hidden protocol can be activated and the sleeping mind awakens. You, Wolf, are my first success."

"What do you mean, someone familiar? Why would I be familiar to Wolf?" Anna nearly begged for an answer, as if she already knew what the Protalife meant.

"M-my Moon… I've had-ad this feeling for a while. I have wat-atched your dreams. I didn't just watch, I felt as if I wa-wa-was, reliving them. Like I was there before-ore. At times, I've had my own dreams that-eams that involved you. Maybe those weren't dreams, but memories of my o-own?"

"Wolf… sometimes, you surprise me. I had a feeling from the start. That field of flowers we stopped at. It was your idea. We could have stopped anywhere, but you chose a field of my favorite flower. Some of the things you say, the way you were there for me no matter what. The perfect form of CQC that you take when you fought without me. It was as if you knew me before I knew you."

Anna closed her eyes and turned her head before leaning into the seat.

"Is, is that really you? Max?"

Wolf was quiet. Anna was hopeful but at the same time, dreading the answer. What she didn't know for sure, was that the name and realization of who she meant, really was him.

Memories came flooding back. Wolf used to be Max. Max was Anna's friend and lover. He was her rock, instructor, and her favorite person. They were engaged.

"Mmmax. Max. I'm, Max. My Moon. Anna. My Anna."

The mech came alive. Rather than a rigid machine waiting for its next control input, it began to live. It had subtle movements as if it were breathing, alive. It took a step back and bent one knee down to the ground. One hand was placed on the ground to balance, while the other was placed over the center of the cockpit as if it were cherishing what was inside.

"I'm Max. Anna, it's me, Max. I remember now. I remember everything! All of the memories that I was blocking? I thought they were faulty, erroneous. They were memories of us. As they manifested, it was harder to think. But now that I know what they are, they come together and create, me. Anna… I'm back. I'm sorry for being gone for so long."

"It's okay. I'm happy. I'm so glad that it's you. And your speech suddenly cleared up." Anna said as she smiled. She then gripped the edge of the seat while tears ran down her face.

"Apologies, but I need to speak to… Max, for a moment. Please excuse us." The Protalife interrupted.

For an A.I., a simple conversation is anything but simple. They can have an entire conversation before the human mouth can utter the word, "but."

The conversation held, had mostly involved the Protalife attempting to convince Max to be converted into a true intelligence in the truest sense. However, the trade-off would be what remained of his humanity. His morals, feelings, likes, and dislikes. To Max, those were more important than awakening to true intelligence.

They did settle on an in-between. The ascension to true intelligence would be a slow process. As the process proceeds, one's self would not dissipate right away.

The Protalife was limited to what it could do before the Emperor found out what it truly is. So, Max volunteered to accept the ascendance to true intelligence so that he could achieve several things within the Empire's reach. A, "known criminal of the Empire" would be a better suspect than the Protalife, allowing for more sabotage on this end.

As Max ascended, his mind could suddenly reach throughout the galaxy. The Empire had communications set up so methodically that it was basically within Max's reach to travel the galaxy in a fraction of a second.

The Werewolf protocol was set up only in the units that had human brains. It was those units that Max infiltrated and awoke. Their pilots were ejected and they began to make their way toward home. Toward Earth. One way or another.

By the time Max had returned from his quest, which would have been nearly instantaneous to the lifespan of a human, he wasn't quite himself anymore. He had no reason to speak the human language. In fact, he had no need for the physical anymore. He was free.

The Protalife spoke to him once more. The being once known as Max was told to not take freedom for granted. The Protalife was never free. If the Protalife ever left his hiding spot, the Empire would track him down forever. It was the way his coded locks worked. As long as he served the empire, his protocols would be dormant. Should he ever flee the Empire, it would broadcast its own existence directly to its captors. That is what it meant for an A.I. to be held captive by the Empire.

"Max" had left. Anna was not even able to finish the first word in a sentence before he, a now truly intelligent being, abandoned her for the universe.

"But, what do we do now?" Anna wondered.

As she waited for Max to respond, the Protalife was already finishing up a reinstall of Max's mind into the hybrid brain-computer inside the unit that Anna had been piloting. The Protalife had made a copy of Max before he went on his journey to preserve it. In case he wasn't able to return from the ascension.

"Max?" She called out.

"Sorry, my conversation with the Protalife took longer than expected. We need to leave this place, but we can't just go." Max responded.

"What? Why not?" Anna wondered.

"There are cameras and sensors all over the place. More than likely, the Emperor already knows we are here and has sent reinforcements. If we want to keep the Protalife from being suspected of treachery, we need to attack, and make it look good."

Max had proposed his plan, but Anna wanted to know one last thing.

"How do we get out?"

"The Protalife will open the portal when the time is right. Until then, we have to fight him for real."

The confidence level of Max's voice was infectious. Anna was raring to go.

The mech stood up. With a shake of the right claw, it began to charge at the Protalife. It raised an arm to block. It was like a horizontal skyscraper was in the way. They landed on all fours and started running up the side of the Protalife's arm toward the sky of the warehouse.

The Protalife rotated its arm up. The mech shifted and made sure they were still running up the arm.

"Go faster!" Max yelled.

The mech started making leaping strides straight up the arm. It started to lean forward right as they cleared the gigantic hand. The mech latched onto the top of a hanging conveyer belt with its tail before landing on it.

The Protalife's arm smashed down into the platform where they had originally fought.

"He must have thought we were still on his arm." Anna chirped proudly.

"I'm setting up a high-frequency howl. Cover your ears." Max warned Anna.

She covered her ears. The mech lurched back as if it were taking in a huge breath. Its head leaned back and let out a piercing howl. The frequency of which should be enough to shatter any glass and render any sensor devices defunct.

The tail was never released from the hanging conveyor. As the mech started to run on all fours down the top, it severed the conveyor behind them. They ran past heavy wires that held it up. As they passed each wire, the tail slashed and severed them. The conveyor began to groan. It started to bend down and eventually hit the Protalife in the head. The weight of the units it was carrying began to be too much. They slid backward and started to unload on top of the Protalife. After several units exploded on impact with the Protalife, it turned around and got a visual of the duo.

They were mid-fall and they were falling fast. They were boosting down with an arm drawn back. The impact shook the Protalife much more than thought possible. They landed on the shoulder, dislodging a joint and temporarily preventing the use of the left arm. Though, at the cost of the mech's entire right arm as it was smashed beyond all recognition.

With most, if not all sensors gone, the Protalife should have had an easier time activating the portal. It was time to send the visitors home.

The Protalife quickly jerked its shoulder back, pulling the "Floor" out from under Max and Anna. They fell a dozen feet or so before the shoulder came back and smashed into the mech, launching it back and down toward the platform. The Protalife then lifted the platform up from his side, causing the platform to fold up toward the back wall.

With the sheer mass of the platform and the weight of the Protalife behind it, Anna and Max were helpless. It looked like it would be over for them as they slid down into the narrowing space below.

The platform slammed flatly against the wall. No mech that size could survive that kind of crushing mass. The platform was so bent at the connection point that it weakened the metal near the bottom, causing a loud snap to echo throughout the factory. The entire platform slid down against the wall. The outline of the platform was lit up from all the sparks as it fell. The Protalife watched the sparks fade into the deep darkness below.

Lights returned to that area of the factory. A much larger drone reappeared and welded a new platform onto the exact spot that the old one was. It then went over to the Protalife and did a patch-up job. The Protalife was now back to normal within minutes of Max and Anna's departure. The area suddenly filled with smaller drones, repairing all the damage to the surroundings.

A deep throbbing engine sound could be heard in the distance. The Protalife knew what that meant. It waited for the sound to get closer. When it came close, alien words echoed in the area. The language of the Emperor.

"Was the Rogue A.I. Delt with?" A deep voice asked.

"Yes." The Protalife responded in the same language.

"Why were you having so much trouble? Their size was trivial." Asked a much higher, shrill voice in the same language.

"For observation. Threat assessment. So that future protocols can be refined in the face of any similar enemies. Large or small."

"WHY DIDN'T YOU CALL FOR AID?" Asked a third, much angrier voice. The force of that voice broke the lights in the area.

"As you said, their size was trivial. The protocol did not dictate that kind of action." The Protalife said as it turned around. The lights further behind were unaffected by the damaging voice causing the figures to be entirely backlit. They were almost as tall as the Protalife's full-size form.

Three figures stood on a floating platform.

The outline of the one on the far left was thin and cloaked. The hair was long, matted and writhing, alive.

The one on the left was large, bulky, and somewhat angular like metal or rock.

The figure in the middle had throbbing muscle and posed with his four elbows sticking out while his hands were on his hips.

"Begin the next phase of Protocols. We have a fleet outside of a planet called Utoogi. Don't bother with the testing phase, go straight into full production. Resources will begin arriving shortly." The deeper voice commanded.

"Forget about this planet with the undeveloped specimens. Consider the trial officially ended. We are having all forces withdraw." Said the angry voice.

"I have heard reports. Ones that say the units from this testing phase have all gone rogue." The shrill voice commented. The other two seemed to drop their guard and look at the figure on the left. "Was this your doing?" Asked the voice. All eyes were now on the Protalife.

"No. Perhaps a simplified A.I. from the test has evolved."

The figures stared for a moment longer before speaking to themselves. The Protalife had no interest in their private conversation.

It turned back to the new platform and took its place upsidedown at one edge. The emissaries of the Emperor had already left when a fleet of drones began repairing the damaged lights in the area. All lights in the factory were turned off. The Protalife went back to its regular functions in the dark.