Ava snatched the screen out of Aphrodite's hands, a cold sweat running down his face. He stared at the two Block-1s
"Extinction!? What? How!? And what've I got to do with it!?" he exclaimed,
"Show some respect kiddo." said Lin,
"You keep forgetting your place Ava," Rin added, "we're your superiors, so watch your tone."
"Shut up and just tell him!" Aphrodite interrupted.
The two tutted, "Some sort of signal is spreaded throughout the solar system. It originated on Europa, bounced off of Venus and Earth, and then made its way to Mars. The signal contained a virus, something we've decided to call the Heretic Virus, seeing as that's what Servs who are infected like to call themselves..."
"Heretics?" Ava muttered, that was what the Evos who were hacked by Ava-11 were called, "wait, is this some sort of hacking error? Was it done by-"
"You're a clever one. Yes, it's a hacking error, an extremely powerful one. A copy-AI but extremely basic in terms of its level of consciousness. It hacks everything, but in terms of its actual level of cognitive ability... well, it basically has none. Nothing but hate and disdain for Evos and Servs" said Rin, solemnly,
"So a super powerful copy-AI with no thought pattern made its way to Mars. Got it. And I guess you're going to suggest that the copy-AI is one of mine?"
"It most certainly is."
"Ava-11"
Lin and Rin didn't reply,
"I know that there have been eleven of me beforehand, so you don't need to keep that a secret from me."
The two looked at each other nervously, were they hiding something else?
"In that case the copy-AIs were probably made when Ava-11 was on Europa trying to find a body to hack, after his one started to decay." Ava grit his teeth, "this really is my fault. I left him on Europa, he's me."
"Wait, you're not responsible for what your copy did Ava," Sylvie chimed in finally, "you and Ava-11 are completely different people!"
"That's not true, if I were left on Mars, I would've done the exact same thing as him. So would you. Who wouldn't? Trying to cling on to life by any means possible. It's in our nature, isn't it?"
"...Well, it's still not your fault Ava." Sylvie said, he voice quietened, meek and defensive. Lin and Rin noticed Sylvie from the screen's camera. A quick look of shock on their faces. Perhaps it was because Sylvie had been hiding in the shadows for most of the conversation, there wasn't really much reason for them to be surprised about her presence. While Ava noticed this reaction of theirs, he decided to ignore it.
"I agree." said Aphrodite. "I'd hazard to say this isn't even Ava-11s fault. It's the copy-AI system at fault here. And the fact that it was used by a super powerful hacker. The system clearly leaves an imprint on things it hacks, even after deletion. And Block-2 hacking, with their strong affinity for emotion, must have caused a corruption."
"Whatever your opinions are," Lin rolled her eyes, "the virus has turned everyone infected into rabid monsters, murdering everyone in their path. It infiltrated our network and instantly took over several thousand Servs. The only way we could stop the spread of the virus was to turn off the network - which has now led to widespread chaos among Serv society. Lower level Servs now have no idea what to do, the block system is useless without any form of communication. Block-4 Servs are lost and unsure what to do without Block-3 and Block-1 Servs telling them what to do, society is collapsing. Lack of hierarchy will be the death of us."
"Every Hacker Serv of ours was taken over, so any chance of using hacking to fix the situation was stifled." said Rin, "all our Hackers are gone and the means to make any other Hackers are nil at the moment."
"So that's why you want me?" asked Ava "For my hacking ability?",
"No, at this point hacking is not feasible. You wouldn't be able to hack the several million Servs who have been taken over. Or the billions of Heretic Evos who are on their way to invading our planet too for that matter."
Billions? The virus had spread that far already!? "Then what?"
"We were intending on dissecting you Ava. Using your data to develop an antivirus, and then spread it via the network again." Rin shrugged, "You wouldn't have to worry, you'll have another body. So it's not too much of a-"
"No. Don't bullshit me." said Ava, "I'm not giving up this body. There's never going to be an Ava-13. I know how the copy-AI system works now. There'd still be a 'me' in this body. I'd still be here, right until the moment you killed me. The being in another body would just be an imposter, a copy who thought he was me," that was probably how Ava-11 saw Ava-12, like an imposter. No wonder he was so filled with hate.
"How selfish." Lin's eyes narrowed, "sacrificing the lives of millions for the sake of avoiding your own existential crisis."
Ava stood silent for a while. Was he being selfish?
He was. He needed to put things into perspective, all of a sudden he'd found out the copy-AI system had gone haywire and his entire race was on the brink of destruction. Millions and potentially billions of his fellow Servs would die.
He'd have to sacrifice himself. But it was a small price to pay to save their lives.
If he weren't a Block-2 he'd have gone along with this plan straight away. But, he was scared. He didn't want to die. Now that he knew what it meant to swap bodies, now that he knew that he'd stay in this body and die, and another version of him would be living on as Ava-13, simply imaging he was Ava-12. It was terrifying.
Ava could feel himself trembling. He really didn't have a choice did he? He clenched his fist to try and stop his hand from shaking.
Then he felt another hand clasp over it, a warmth that was clearly intending to calm him down.
"There must be another way," it was Sylvie, "another way to get an antivirus without extracting it from Ava. Can't you make a copy of him and extract the data from that?"
"The further away we get from the original copy, the less likely the antivirus will be effective. There's no such thing as a perfect copy during the copy-AI process."
"Hm." Aphrodite stood with her arms crossed, a contemplative pose, "so you want to dissect Ava's what exactly? What part of him?"
"We don't know how it works. We're..." Lin started talking, but then she paused,
"Spit it out."
"...collaborating." Lin spoke through gritted teeth, "with the Evos."
"You're what!?"
"A scientist named Schwarzschild. He's hiding in a hidden bunker on Europa right now, the other Block-1s are communicating him using a highly encrypted transmission but, he seems to be our only hope in creating an anti-virus."
"My-My father." Aphrodite whispered,
"From what we know, he needs all the contents of Ava's head. Dead or alive."
An awkward silence, all eyes were on Aphrodite and it was clear she was nervous about what she was going to say next. She sighed. "Well, I suppose I can help then." she shuffled nervously, "We-I do actually have something more useful than Ava. More useful than our Ava anyway."
"What do you mean?"
"Ava-11." Aphrodite coughed nervously, "I kept his head."
"WHAT!?" Both Sylvie and Ava exclaimed,
"For research purposes!" said Aphrodite, "I found his remains in the wreckage of the panel and, well, I thought destroying it would be a waste. I mean, how many super hackers are there in the universe? I'd be better at repairing you and Sylvie too if I managed to gain a better understanding too, right?" Aphrodite garbled out as many words as she could, she took a step back,
"Alright fine. Chill out." Ava could tell Aphrodite was getting hysterical, she was clearly worried he and Sylvie would get mad at him, "I'm not angry." nor was he surprised, Aphrodite was pretty twisted with this sort of stuff, so it seemed in character.
"But this is great, right? Ava doesn't need to die anymore!" said Sylvie,
"Right. If you take Ava-11 to my father, things should be fine." said Aphrodite,
Lin and Rin looked at each other again, this time with a look of dismay on their face, "This is perfect, isn't it Rin?"
"Very much so Lin. Even better than we'd hoped. You truly are a goddess Aphrodite!"
Their tone had changed completely, less resentful and annoyed. Aphrodite must have winned her over with her current revelation.
"Er, thanks. Well, I'll take Ava-11 off ice then." Aphrodite replied,
"But it'll be me transporting Ava-11" said Ava, "not Lin and Rin."
"What? You're going with me to see Mother Brain Ava!"
"Don't worry, I'll keep my promise to you, but I need to make this diversion. I need to make up for the sins of my copy." he looked at Lin and Rin, "and I don't trust other Servs with this mission.."
"Ava," Lin said, "that condescending tone will be the end of you."
"Whatever."
"Well, in that case I'm going with you too," said Aphrodite, "I-I don't want you leaving me on my own here. You need to keep your promise."
"What makes you think I won't?"
Aphrodite's lip trembled a little, "Just in case. In case you're only helping me because I'm a human. I need to be with you to make sure."
Ava sighed in response, "It sucks that you don't trust me but fine. As long as you stay in the ship it should be ok."
"Me too." said Sylvie, "I'm going too."
"Huh? Why?" asked Ava,
"I'm your Operator, right?" She smiled in response.