Chimera 🌈 [ONC 2024]

15: Paradox

"Valkyrie was designed with two aims: to run this ship and get it to its destination, and to protect humans. She is not the first AI to command a ship or a station, but the Arcadia is the most advanced vessel in generations. We needed her because she was the only one who...could understand it and bear that knowledge."

Leanne's head still reeled from the time in Valkyrie's corrupted mind. After what she had witnessed in it, she was willing to believe anything. Ryan kept close to her as they followed Stefania below Valkyrie's blue chamber. There, the corridors did not resemble access ways anymore, too small, too narrow for comfortable human presence. They had to squeeze single-file through tunnels choked with vents and wires and pipes. Unlike in Valkyrie's room, nothing hummed or throbbed with power. This was the dormant egg that Valkyrie sat atop, waiting for it to hatch.

"You must understand that this mission could not have succeeded without Valkyrie. We would never have left without her. She was more important than all of us, apart from maybe..."

Stefania fell silent.

"Keep talking," Ryan urged.

"This is all classified information," Stefania insisted, just as Valkyrie had. "But... The people who made this information, this mission, classified are here no more. I am not certain who I have to keep it secret from. And, as much as it pains me to say it, you are my only chance now."

A pause, full of silence other than their feet upon the cold floor, passed. Leanne had come this far, had suffered and nearly died, but uncertainty still coiled around her. She wanted to know the truth as equally as she did not. In Valkyrie's memory, Stefania had accused the BASE. The idea that her superiors were behind this had troubled Leanne – but she had to admit it did not surprise her. They had sent her here, insisting they did not know the identity of this ship, leaving her to fend for herself, and now Stefania said they had corrupted the Arcadia and Valkyrie.

Leanne had spent her entire life dedicated to the company. Her only life was amongst the stars. Now, faced with a Martian who she had been trained to distrust and a ship which was shrouded in BASE-cloaked mysteries, she did not who to put her faith in.

She could only listen to Stefania.

"Our destination was Rhapsody and our mission was to colonise. The Arcadia was to deliver the embryos to this new world. Initially, the BASE wished for adults, those who had been trained for such a purpose, just as when Nerio was formed on Mars. But they began to fret over the viability of the scheme. Eventually, they decided newborns would be sent, kept in stasis as the crew would be, and the adults would follow to raise them. Many mothers came forward and some were impregnated especially for the mission. There was a mix of races, of genders, of nationalities... It was to be a truly diverse mission.

"Then, the BASE fretted again. They started to play around with characteristics, setting more parameters to meet. I witnessed the discussions turn into terrible themes. Eugenics, genetic engineering, what the 'better' child would be. The monetary value of the mission won. Billions had been poured in and the BASE wanted the 'perfect' colonist, only they set the value of 'perfection'. So, they designed the embryos, so much that they did not even know how they would evolve, if they would even be human."