Chapter 2

It had been a long and drawn out war between humans and the hive-mind. Centuries had passed, and it was no surprise that humans were on the losing end.

The manozores soon identified humans as a virus that was killing the mother planet and they were banned from stepping on Gaia. Only law-abiding cyborgs were allowed there now.

Of course, manozores could literally do no wrong and they counted themselves as cyborgs too. The manozores might as well have been forceful philanthropists through and through. No sarcasm.

That was the main reason why the war continued to drag on and on, and natural humans weren't wiped out already. Everyone knew that they didn't stand a chance. It was all due to their AI programming.

Firstly, manozores staunchly followed all the rules, regulations and laws everywhere. They also imposed the same on everyone and acted like wardens. It all seemed so natural too, since the manozores were the oldest 'humans' around. And these laws sometimes changed at any moment, but till the end, all sentient lifeforms had the right to life.

Secondly, manobots were initially created for the sole purpose of maintaining the health and increasing the lifespan of its human host. They couldn't even easily switch bodies, unless to an identical twin. The only other way was to be reprogrammed after the host's natural death, which was also a kind of death for the manozores.

The manobots also made life infinitely easier for humans in the vast space wrought with dangers at every corner.

They were a centralized source of all human knowledge, directly downloading any needed information into the brain. They could also scan and identify anything in the immediate vicinity with extreme accuracy, even further away with the proper equipment at hand.

It should be noted that cyborgs as a whole were also insanely intelligent in comparison to natural humans. That was why only cyborgs had the potential to awaken supernatural abilities.

It was never about destruction or dominating the human race. Manozores literally only ever killed in self defence.

Hence, in 4497 AD, the human population was already over ten trillion, with a segregation of approximately 21% pure human, 54% cyborg and 25% manozore. More than 95% of the pure humans were basically those under 25 years of age.

This was expected as humans didn't fully develop their brains until the quarter-century mark. Studies had shown that manobots drastically altered the structure of youthful brains and it was illegal to insert manobots into anyone under 18 years old.

This also meant that children could never be born or raised on Gaia.

Miranda Lee grew up without her parents. Most people did nowadays, for various reasons. She knew that they were probably alive somewhere in the galaxy and were most likely not living their best lives. So there was no resentment there.

Most adult humans were cyborgs in this era and it was public knowledge that cyborgs had their emotions heavily suppressed. It was a side effect of the manobots keeping them rational at all times. It only got worse over time.

Consequently, human relationships were not as valued as they had been before the 21st century.

Yes, everyone worked together and maintained a peaceful cohesive society, but it was all out of efficiency and necessity. Most cyborgs didn't even meddle in the war between humans and manozores. They only mediated when it directly affected them.

As the majority of the human race, the cyborgs' lackluster interventions did help maintain a semblance of freedom. At the very least, the right to privacy wasn't stripped away from everyone. The manozores definitely tried to.

Furthermore, children were greatly valued and nurtured carefully on whatever planet they were on.

In theory, manozores could live forever but no known cyborg had lived to 700 years. Their conscious mind simply decided to shut down and die, in spite of perfect health.

Some attributed it to the scarcity of aether before the 31st century but it was widely acknowledged that their will to live just slowly faded away over the years. The manobots altered them from the inside out over time and they lost their sense of self. Any inkling of joy or satisfaction became elusive and life no longer held any meaning.

Miranda had grown up in a decent boarding school. Her childhood was typical to any other human and as normal as it could get in a galactic society.

That was why she was shocked when she first awakened her spatial ability at only fourteen. It should have been impossible.

Ability users were rare enough as it was. Only one cyborg in a billion would awaken an ability. This phenomenon was attributed to the manobots stimulating the mind to a higher level of existence and a great dose of luck.

Regardless, spatial abilities were the most common among ability users so the ability itself was not that surprising. What made it unbelievable was that she had awakened as a natural human.

She had vowed to keep it all a secret until she became a cyborg from fear of being turned into a lab rat.

She couldn't help but use her space sometimes when she wanted to hide something, and aside from the first time she had discovered her spatial ability by teleporting accidentally, she never tried it again. A voice rang in her mind warning her against it.

She thought she had been careful. But four years later, space-runners had suddenly abducted her from her birth planet the night before she turned eighteen.

She had stubbornly resisted in the first two days but quickly came to accept her new life. Cruising through space for the first time on a luxurious spacecraft was definitely an experience that put things into perspective.

She had been a proud and valued member of the illicit Viper Merchants for over two decades. The black market in the Milky Way was booming and business was more than good.

Ranked at 14777 on the Galaxy Federation's most wanted list, Miranda had made a name for herself. It was truly impressive considering the list was more than a million names long and she wasn't even a century old yet.

Additionally, after she became a cyborg she was able to freeze time in her space. This was invaluable considering the months it took to traverse the galaxy. And it was only so fast because of jumping through wormholes.

It was only after becoming a cyborg that she truly understood that natural humans never stood a chance against the manozores. Having access to humanity's entire knowledge in an instant alone was unreal. Not to mention accelerated healing and the hyperawareness to everything within a five-metre radius.

It took some getting used to but once settled in, it was incomparable to anything.

There were plenty downsides too, but they didn't outweigh the benefits. The mana AI in her head reminding her that evading taxes was illegal was a quick fix by disabling communication from time to time.

Of course, manozores would show up often to try and arrest her, despite all the anti-tracking on her. She always narrowly escaped through teleportation and a trusty EMP handgun that could freeze the manozores for a while.

Manozores simply had eyes everywhere. Landing on an inhabited planet meant they would be showing up within the hour, no matter what corner of the galaxy.