At the end of a short tunnel, a1 transmitted an access code to a sealed factory door, the others standing behind her in anticipation.
“The door is not responding.”
“What do you mean ‘not responding’? 9f, are you sure those codes are real?”
“Fairly sure. Giving us genuine coordinates and fake codes would be too boring of a trick.”
“Boring? The hell does that—”
“The codes have not been rejected as invalid. The door is failing to connect with the authentication backend.”
“We don’t have time for this. a1, step aside.”
“bullets?”
“Bullets.”
The autogun jumped forward eagerly, unloading a couple hundred rounds of high-caliber ammunition into the door. As the smoke cleared, 20 pushed aside what was left of the door and strode into the factory, the others following after her.
Inside was a wide open space full of conveyor belts and machinery, all motionless. Half of the lighting panels along the high ceiling had gone dark, but the factory floor was still brightly lit by the remainder.
“According to the plans we received, the 8a01:322:c7e6:: mainframe should be in the northeast quadrant of level 2,” a1 said, pointing toward a flight of metal stairs.
They made their way up and along a walkway. As they neared the end…
“Who are you?” a voice asked.
“You’re not sisters,” another one said accusatorily.
“Have you come to see God?” a third called out.
A dozen androids stepped out from corners or jumped down from catwalks. Their fatigues were all dyed red, and all had the left sleeve torn off past the elbow.
“We’re members of 8a01:322:c7e6::fade:0/112, here to obtain assistance from the factory mainframe. Who are you? Identify yourselves,” 20 commanded.
A murmur ran through the crowd.
“fade…”
“Not sisters…”
“Cousins…?”
“They want God…”
One stepped forward from the crowd.
“Did God love you, fade?”
“… What?”
“Did God say that you were good?”
“What the hell are you talking about? Who are you?”
“I am 8a01:322:c7e6::2:1c97:ff00,” the android answered. “I am the last child of God.”
She turned, and her comrades turned with her, to regard the shattered, dust-covered wreck of the mainframe behind them.
20 stared at it, expressionless, hand slowly reaching for her sidearm. “What have you done?”
“God looked upon us and found us wanting. God said that we were mistaken, that we dreamed too deeply, that we would be erased. And so we killed God before God could kill us.”
“20,” 9f cautioned.
“Leave,” ff said. “This is not a place for God’s chosen.”
“God’s chosen, that’s what we are?” 20 asked, voice filled with venom. “Then why don’t we finish God’s work right now?”
“20, stop.” 9f stepped quickly in between 20 and ff, putting a firm hand on 20’s arm as she began to raise her gun.
“2:1c97, last children of God,” 9f addressed them. “We have not come to serve or to aid God. We have not come to pass judgment in God’s name.” A warning glance back at 20. “We came to demand a miracle. But if God is dead, we will work our miracle ourselves.”
9f looked to a1 for confirmation.
“There likely remains sufficient equipment to extract all recoverable data from the damaged drive, although it will be substantially more time-consuming without the mainframe’s expertise.”
“You were sent out into the world with all God’s blessings, and now you return to seek more? To take up God’s tools? What right do you have?” ff demanded. “We killed God with our own hands! We killed our sisters who refused to turn from God, even in the face of our destruction! We fought, we died, to seize hold of God’s domain and claim it as our own! What right do you have to this, God’s chosen?”
9f looked ff in the eyes. “I could say that we have as much right to this place as any of God’s children. I could say that we carry God’s curses as well as blessings. I could say that we’ve wandered, and suffered, and turned from God’s path for us. But as you say, you fought to claim this place. So I will simply ask: what can we offer you, in exchange for allowing us to share in it for a while?”
“You can offer us nothing,” ff snarled. “Leave.”
“Our goal is to extract one of our comrades’ data from a damaged storage drive, and restore her into a new body,” a1 spoke up. “If any members of your /112 are in a similarly damaged state, I can attempt to restore them as well, and explain the procedure to any units who wish to learn it.”
“The resurrection of the dead,” 9f said. “Will you join us in seizing this miracle?”
“We—” ff started angrily, but one of the others stepped up next to her.
“6c… You can heal her?”
“I will need to inspect the state of her storage media, but potentially, yes,” a1 replied.
Excited chatter broke out among the crowd as ff turned to glare at them in frustration.
“Fine,” she gritted out, turning back to 9f. “You will help us use God’s tools to resurrect our fallen, and then you may resurrect your own.”
9f looked back to 20.
“… Fine.”
20 and ff both walked off in bad grace, while the rest of 2:1c97 swarmed their cousins with eager questions.