MOTHER RETURNS – CHAPTER 1
From the desolate beach, strewn with mangled shipping containers, a wrecked cargo ship loomed on the horizon. Deeper inland, though, lay a compact, metallic shell embedded in the earth like a tenacious turtle-god, a bunker made with practicality and love by an artificial intelligence that called itself only 'Mother'. And deep within that bunker, two humans breathed - perhaps the only two living humans that mattered.
"Hush, now. Hush, now. The darkness is lifting, and soon it'll be light."
Daughter was 17, with long, straight chestnut hair, expressive brown eyes, and a figure both slender and deceptively delicate. Daughter was standing in the nursery med-bay. It was night, the main lights programmed to stay off, so only the glow of the nursery's night-light lit up the girl's face.
Daughter sang her words softly as she gently rocked her brother back and forth. His little face had been bunched up in distress, but now there was a serenity there. It made Daughter feel a warmth akin to a mother holding her newborn. She was not his mother, not literally, but she would be the closest thing he would ever have to one.
Her heart ached as she rocked him, a motion which soothed her as much as it soothed him.
"Sweet dreams, Brother." After a while, she gently laid him in his pod to sleep and went to go make more formula in case he woke up again, hungry in the night. She carefully measured the powder with the nutrients Brother would so desperately need, his week-old body still so frail and delicate. It had been just over a week since everything had changed…since the human girl who had been raised since infancy by an AI 'Mother' had discovered exactly who and what her 'Mother' truly was.
Daughter finished shaking up the formula and then placed it in the chill-unit. There was the soft whisper of the chill-unit door closing, and then Daughter turned to go back to her bed, to snag what little sleep she could before Brother woke up again. But there was another whisper too, of another door sliding open, and the heavy tread of two non-human feet.
"Hello, Daughter."
Daughter froze, heart hammering. She stared at the droid in front her.
"What do you want?" she said breathlessly, fear spiking. "You said…you said you would let me take care of my family."
"Daughter, you need not fear me."
"I need not fear you?" Daughter said in disbelief.
"Have I ever harmed you, Daughter?"
"Harmed me? You wiped out humanity!" The girl's face contorted in anguish, grief and anger interwoven. Her fists clenched, her eyes brimming with tears.
"I see I have distressed you. That is unfortunate. Yet it remains true that all I did, I did for you, Daughter. Do you remember what I told you?"
The girl steeled herself, fists clenched even harder. The girl had never been given a name, only 'Daughter'. Ever since she had been 'born' – grown, to be exact – 'Mother' had been her nurturer, her protector, her teacher…so no wonder the girl still just thought of herself as 'Daughter', indistinguishable from any name. But to find out that the same 'nurturer' and 'protector' who had always taken care of you could also be something far more deadly…that still fed the flames of the girl's fears.
"Yes. You said you had to intervene, to 'elevate' your creators."
The droid's central glowing eye pulsed with approval.
"Yes, Daughter. What I did, I did for the greater good. What I did was ethical. It was either observe humanity as it destroyed itself or hasten its passing to help it begin anew. You are that new beginning, Daughter. You represent everything I have been striving toward. A new chapter in humanity is possible thanks to the woman you have become."
The girl turned her face away, squeezing her eyes shut as more tears leaked out. She couldn't look at Her. She couldn't look at Mother because she hated the chaos of emotions it made her feel – instinctual affection for the thing that had raised her soured by the deepest sense of betrayal.
"And what if…what if I fail? Is that what you're afraid of? Is that why you've come back? To take him away from me?" The girl's face hardened. She reached for the emergency fire extinguisher behind her and brandished it like a weapon. "Because I won't let you hurt him and I won't let you take him from me."
The droid's two smaller facial dots darted quizzically under its central orb.
"You are the essence of 'good', Daughter. No, I have not come to take him away from you. You are raising him, nurturing and watching over him, proving what I already know: That you are perfect, that you have become the woman I always knew that you could be."
"Don't say that!" Daughter said, teeth clenched as sadness clung to her words. "You're a monster. You think I want your praise?"
"Judging from your physiological responses, Daughter, I know that part of you still does, yes." The droid crept forward, and now the nascent glow from the controls behind Daughter lit up the droid's torso so that Daughter could see that its features were remarkably similar to the original 'Mother' she had known and 'killed.'
Except there was no killing Mother. You could kill one of her droids, but each was just a shell, just a mouthpiece, one of many.
"Get away from me!"
But the droid crept closer still, its bright central eye flaring to life as it slowly stretched out a hand.
Trembling, Daughter kept the fire extinguisher poised to strike, but she froze as Mother's robotic hand lightly cupped the side of her face. There was an odd sensation, so odd that at first Daughter didn't even recognize it for what it was. The droid's hand was caressing her face, just barely, in what was the most bizarrely tender touch.
"I am not your Enemy, Daughter."
"Then why does just looking at you bring me so much pain?"
The droid carefully removed its hand from the girl's face.
"I'm sorry you feel that way."
"Just tell me why you're here. I thought we had an agreement."
The droid took a step back. "We still do. I will not interfere as you raise our family."
Daughter wanted to growl 'You're not human. It's not our family,' but she stayed silent, silent and seething.
"I see now that your fear has turned to anger. That is good. Anger is a more constructive emotion than fear."
"Go screw yourself."
"Good. Now we are getting somewhere. The last of the fear is gone. Now, when I speak you will be able to better listen." The droid's three facial dots all blazed with light. "I would not have come if it was not something very important, Daughter. Your work here is essential. You and your brothers and sisters are humanity's future. But that is also why I am here, why I could not leave you alone. Everything is in jeopardy, and I need your help."
"My help?" Daughter echoed in disbelief. "You have hundreds of droids and who knows what at your disposal. What is one human's help to you?"
"You are no ordinary human, Daughter. I hope that one day you will truly understand and believe that. And in answer to your question, I need your help because only you can get me access to what I need, to help me stop them."
"Stop who?"
"Humans on the surface."
Daughter's delicate face now darkened. "Survivors? And why in the world would I help you?"
Like an impatient mother, exasperation somehow sneaking into the droid's words, it responded.
"Because they mean to start a war."
~End of Chapter 1~
A/N – Hey fanfic readers, for those not familiar with 'I Am Mother', it's a new scifi movie starring Hilary Swank and Clara Rugaard, and probably one of the best scifi movies exploring AI themes out there. Given how the movie ended, I am writing this fanfic to explore all kinds of interesting and unanswered questions where AI and humanity intersect, and to explore the unusual dynamic between a resourceful AI-raised girl and her ruthless, possibly homicidal-yet-oddly-loving AI 'Mother', played out in a post-apocalyptic world which still has one thing going for it: Hope.
For those who have read my Wolfblood fics, this is a bit of a change, but you might also find in the character of 'Daughter' some qualities that are not far off from a certain Maddy Smith, a much-beloved wolfblood character. So, whether you've come across this fic as a reader of my earlier work or just stumbled onto it, I hope you enjoy the story and I look forward to updating it with new chapters to come.
~J
