The fragile, age worn, skeleton of a structure creaked and groaned in protest as Razer set down on its roof. He swept his eyes across the dim blue horizon, illuminated only by a pale, distant star. The crumbling edifices of decayed and forgotten buildings dominated his view for as far as Razer could see.
"Another tomb of a world," Razer muttered as his gut tightened in disappointment.
His gaze settled on a building far below him and he set into the air once more before gliding noiselessly down toward it. Gaping cracks marred the sides of the building, although whether the cracks were scars of war or just the result of long decay was impossible to tell.
Razer glided inside the through one of the cracks. Dim blue light filtered in to the building from the outside, creating columns of illumination and allowing him to see that he had glided into a long hall with an arched ceiling that loomed high overhead. Rows of shelves lined the walls, caked with dust that may have been books once.
He set himself down and listened but could hear not so much as the scurrying of vermin. Then, listening more closely, he could hear a soft hum, barely perceptible. He followed the sound down the decrepit, high arched corridor.
He came upon a flight of stairs and descended until he reached the landing, then paused when he saw a metal frame housing a slowly rotating cylinder. He all but jumped backward when the cylinder emitted a loud crackling spark before it continued its slow, pained rotation.
Some sort of generator, he thought.
Several thick cables extended from the generator. He followed the cables with his eyes: down the stairs and into another broad, high ceilinged hallway. Sweeping his eyes around the room he saw three other generators, all with cables linked to a single device at the room's center. He glided toward it.
The machine was covered with dust and debris that had fallen from the ceiling. Razer began to brush off the debris and could make out the surface of a monitor and a keypad. Encouraged, he kept up the effort until he could plainly see the monitor.
A set of incomprehensible, alien characters flashed across the monitor. Razer blinked. "I don't understand," he said, hoping the machine had a verbal interface. He activated his power ring and cast a cone of red light across the characters, hoping they might translate. They did not.
"What?" said Razer, surprised. The sequence ended then repeated itself. "What?" he repeated himself, growing frustrated, "I can't understand." His tone became despairing as the characters vanished and repeated once more. He scattered debris off the keypad but all of the functions were alien to him.
His jaw shuddered. He didn't know why but he knew this was crucial. The screen flickered and his eyes shot wide. He looked to the generators. They were slowing down, grinding to a halt.
"No!" he shouted and shot a hand out in the direction of the nearest generator, a wiry red-colored construct shot outward, stripping the casing off the generator before wrapping around and turning the cylinder.
The screen flickered again as its power supply continued to degrade. He glanced from generator to generator, trying to see which one needed aid the most. When he spotted one about to cease turning he lashed it with another construct to keep it moving and dared a glance back at the screen. A separate set of characters appeared, dominating the center of the screen. Then the monitor flickered once more and the characters faded into blackness as the other two generators failed.
Razer clenched his teeth and tightened his grip on his constructs, causing them to turn the generators he held faster in a vain hope to restart the machine. The blank screen continued to stare at him. He couldn't tell for how long he stared back in futile silence, all the while turning the two generators faster and faster as his anger built. Eventually the generators burned out. Razer exhaled heavily and released his hold on his constructs. The mechanical hum he had heard was completely gone, leaving him in utter silence.
He stared at the black screen, breathing in and out heavily, frustration giving way to rage until his fist was engulfed in lambent, red light and he slammed it into the screen. The impact obliterated the monitor but left him feeling hollow and unsatisfied. He collapsed in a heap by the broken computer amidst the piles of dust and debris.
"Seven years," he said as he let his head fall backward to slam against the computer terminal. "Seven long years."
He closed his eyes tightly, trying to remember her face. The task became more difficult every time. Seven years of searching. Seven years of longing. Seven years of false hopes. Seven years of isolation. Seven years of loneliness.
It was true he had help at first but that dwindled over time. Not many people were willing to entertain his request to find an AI who had devoured stars, taken lives and threatened to annihilate all organic life from the universe.
Razer couldn't help but smirk, "Life would be easier if we could choose the ones we love." He shook his head, still pained by the memory that it was his rejection of her love that had spurred Aya to her path of destruction. A path that had made it necessary for her to end her own existence in order to stop the horde of machines that shared her programming.
Razer suddenly clenched his fist, clinging to his resolve as he spoke, "I will find you. You found a way out. I know you did."
He leaned his head forward resolutely. He would keep going for as long as it took. Then he spied an object lying on the ground in front of him.
"You again," he rasped at the small blue ring staring up at him. He sighed, picking up the ring and examining it. "At least I know my company isn't too tiresome for you. I can only suppose you don't give up either."
He sighed as he turned the ring over in his fingers, shaking his head. "Why not?" he said to the blue ring before sliding it onto his finger, as he had done many times over the past seven years.
Razer hesitated. Clenching his teeth, he began to recite the oath, "In fearful day, in raging night, With strong hearts full, our souls ignite, When all seems lost in the War of Light, Look to the stars—For hope burns bright."
The blue signet of the ring began to shine as he spoke and flared brightly at the end of the recitation, an image was cast from the ring: Aya, as well as Razer could remember her. Her features were at once artificial but also delicate and elfin. The image wavered, a blue ghostly visage in the cold light of the tomb of a planet.
Razer found the image disturbing and reassuring at the same time. While he breathed easier seeing her face, it wasn't her. Aya was curious, kind and present. The image was only static.
"I won't forget," he promised, before slipping the ring back off tossing it to the side, allowing the image to fade. "And I won't stop searching." He looked around the dead room and sighed regretfully, "I only wish I knew what to look for."