The Last Hour (Page 150)

~~~(POV: Aurora)~~~

~~~(Location: Terminal Next to Scott, Immortalitas)~~~

Five hours have passed faster than I thought, which is contradictory since time doesn't move faster or slowly unless affected by heavy gravity. I've been occupying my mind with what I learned from Borealis, the AI that I'm based off. She's basically my mother, and she taught me much on Primordium Prime. While it was a recording, she left a lot of data. A LOT.

It's taken me a long time to get through the first 8 percent of it, and now I'm getting to 9 percent. I've learned valuable locations, weapons tech, history, things I didn't have access to before. In that first 8 percent is when I learned about Kelromera. Despite all that I've learned, nothing I've uncovered can directly help with defeating the Parasite and The Primeval Inherent.

Scott has been monitoring the number of people on Kelromera, and 82.78 percent have been evacuated. There should be enough time to get the last ones out before we destroy Kelromera and retrieve the weapons depot left in the core of the world. "Is it just me, or does this all seem like something normal people wouldn't even consider?" Durado asks another pointless question.

Entertaining trains of thought like that is not what we need... I shouldn't be so hard on Durado... He's doing the best he can, and with everything going on in his life, that's saying a lot. "We're nowhere near normal, and I'm glad for it. What three others are crazy enough to pull something like this off? We're the only ones in the universe that'll try this kind of crap." Scott summarizes in Durados style.

They both start to laugh, and my processes and memory are recording and monitoring Scott against my will. I'm trying all I can to stop a sizeable amount of my computing capability on Scott, but no matter what I do. I just focus on him. "Maybe it's something in my programming..." Both of them look at me confused, but I ignore them.

Perhaps Borealis created me in such a way that my attention on Scott would become like this... But that doesn't describe the feelings of... Fondness? For him... It's all very confusing to me. While I'm perfectly capable of complex emotions, I've never had them before. And trying to interpret them isn't what I was created to do... This makes me wonder... Why make me this way?

I disappear from the terminal and go through Immortalitas, trying to find a place for me to figure out what's wrong with me. "If this is an intentional design, I hardly see the point... Which means it's a fault with me that's happened, or they're prepared me for something I don't know about..." That's the best I can come up with right now...

~~~(POV: Scott Autumn)~~~

~~~(Location: Floating Near Kelromera, Immortalitas)~~~

Aurora has gone off to do her own thing in this final hour for Kelromera, and I see the numbers for people evacuated slowly approaching 90 percent. It's been a short 5 hours, and in this final hour, I think they're going to get every last person off. "Where do you think the Parasite and The Primeval Inherent originate from?" Durado asks me a complex question.

I wouldn't know that... There are some things that I can't know, not right now... If I ever get a chance to ask or find out, I'll take it. That's valuable knowledge. "Their origin is a mystery to me, and I'm willing to best it was a mystery to The Primordium too... The Primeval Inherent and the Parasite are highly complex and extremely old. Probably older than the Primordium themselves." I genuinely do want to find out how they came to be.

The Primeval Inherent and the Parasite are the same things, but The Primeval Inherent is the Central Intelligence of the Parasite. It's ever-present in all its forms, which takes an incredible evolutionary process. That or they've been engineered that way. I wouldn't take that off the table... It seems like something a mad scientist or species would pull.

Durado leans back in his chair and takes a deep breath. "Do you think my daughter is alive?" That's a question with many layers. With many possible answers. I don't want to just give him what he wants to hear, but I believe with every part of me, the daughter of Durado would get herself out of something like that. She's got his blood in her veins.

My silence causes him to turn and look at me with his eyes open. "There are many possibilities, Durado... But I think she's still alive. Your daughter wouldn't die like that. It's not something I can see happening to you or any child you have." That's my honest opinion, and he doesn't initially react, but he gives a vibe of appreciation.