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Humanity's Legacy
Chapter 4
Councilor Meerin tightened her grip on her console; she could feel her talons begin to dig into the metal. Her mandibles were tight against her face though from worry or fear she couldn't tell. Both most likely. The Council chambers were abuzz with nervous tension as every ambassador, diplomat, and intern in the galaxy watched the visitor's platform with rapt attention. She didn't blame them for being anxious for standing upon the platform, with empty eyes as black as dark space, stood a synthetic.
Meerin thanked the spirits Executor Haren was as level headed as he was. The moment the synthetics touched down the officers of C-Sec nearly gunned them down. Luckily for all of them Haren was able to hold off his agents and avoid a Galactic incident. They didn't need another war on their hands, the Krogan were quite enough.
The competence of their Executor did not diminish her fears however. Too many questions ran through her head for her to be calm. Who are these Anculus? Why did they contact them? Are they the ones from Relay 314? Are they hostile? Granted most of these questions apply to every first contact scenario but the fact they are synthetic was not helping.
Her attention was brought to the lower platform as the synthetic approached them. Its design was strangely similar to that of a Geth, metal plating covering the chest, arms and legs with exposed wires at the neck and joints. However, its structure was more similar to that of a Batarian than a Quarian. The only difference between them is the fact that these synthetics only possessed two eyes. Seeing them sent an involuntary chill down her spine. They were nothing more than empty sockets. The whole face seemed empty for that matter, the only features being the eyes and a small rectangular hole she assumed was its mouth. The machine's guards were not much better. 7 ft. high with full body blue metal armor and a single black visor strip. Al of them held guns that looked like it would break the arm of a Krogan. Meerin cut off her musings and relaxed her grip when the synthetic began to speak.
"Greetings members of Citadel Council," it said, its voice sounding like that of a synthesized Hanar. It placed a fist on its chest and nodded slightly. "We are Anculus. I am Anculus Unit Production Number 9174 Model A1 Designation Knights. I have been tasked with the role of Consular between the Citadel and the Anculus."
The Turian councilor clenched her mandibles again. When it spoke, the synthetic waved its hands in erratic gestures, similar to that of Quarians. She wondered, do their creators use these gestures or did they add them to their synthetics since they did not possess facial expressions? Ignorant of her counterpart's silent musings, Tevos began in her usual elegant voice.
"Greetings Consular Knights, I am Councilor Tevos of the Asari Republics. To my left and right is Councilor Yesh of the Salarian Union and Councilor Meerin of the Turian Hierarchy. We welcome you to the Citadel."
"You're welcome is appreciated Councilor Tevos. Shall we continue to discuss the purpose of these meetings?"
"Yes," Yesh stated. "We have many questions about you."
"That is understandable," 'Knights' replied. It felt odd to Meerin to refer to the machine by name. "What are your inquiries? We will provide any non-classified data that you may require."
They had classified data? Meerin shook her head slightly. 'This is going to be a long meeting.' "You are the ones who opened Relay 314 yes?" At its nod she continued, "For future reference, opening Relays is Illegal in Council space."
"We are aware of your laws Councilor Meerin. We learned of them when we first began study of organic sapients. We apologize for our wrong doing." Meerin would have spluttered if she didn't possess Turian self-discipline.
"What do you mean by 'study of organic sapients'?" Yesh asked. Knights was quick to respond. If she didn't know any better, she'd say it was eager to answer.
"We wish to learn about organic sapients. We began our study roughly one of your months ago. We wish to learn more about you. This is why we have contacted your government. We wish to join the Citadel."
It was safe to say everyone in the chambers was flabbergasted. A synthetic race joining the Citadel?! It was unheard of!
"I believe the biggest question on all our minds," Yesh cut in. "Why? Why would you want to join the Citadel?" The synthetic paused before it spoke again.
"It is as we said Councilor Yesh. We wish to learn."
Meerin's thoughts couldn't help but drift back to her home. Her daughter looking up at her with those wide eyes, begging to learn everything she can about the world. These Anculus, they were almost like children. And it was the purpose of the Citadel to teach. Perhaps this wouldn't end in disaster after all.
"Before we can allow that," she stated. "There are some things that must be established first."
Nearly everyone looked to her in shock. The Turian councilor is even thinking of allowing them to join?! Knights tilted its head to the right in a way that could only be perceived as curious. Whoever created these Anculus must have been damn smart to program in body language this sophisticated.
"What must be established if I may ask?"
"First and foremost: your creators. Who are they?"
Knights was silent for a moment, its head slightly down. It almost seemed sad. 'Sad?' Meerin thought. 'I can understand programming body language but allowing it to look sad?' She was interrupted from her thoughts when Knights head lifted back up and its previously empty eyes shown with light. From its eyes a hologram of two aliens appeared. The Turian gaped at the image. The one on her right looked nearly identical to an Asari, the one on the left appearing to be a male counterpart. The resemblance was almost frightening.
"These are our creators. They called themselves Homo sapiens, Mankind, Humanity, or the Human Race. They were a primate mammalian species that evolved on their Homeworld of Earth."
Another image appeared between the two Humans, this one of a beautiful planet with blue oceans, green and yellow landscapes and a white cloud cover in various spots. Alongside the planet was a singular, relatively large moon. One thing stood out to Meerin however. 'Earth, that's a horrible name for a planet, might as well call it dirt or mud.'
"By the time of our creation roughly 100 galactic standard years ago, Humanity covered the entirety of their planet and were just beginning to colonize their moon."
"Where are they then?" Yesh asked. She was never one for subtlety.
"Twenty Earth years after our creation, Humanity reached its sister planet Mars." Yet another image appeared this one of a barren red planet. 'Mars. Now that's a name for a planet. Mars. Has a nice sound to it.'
"Once there they discovered ruins of an ancient alien civilization."
"Prothean ruins?" Tevos asked curiously. Knights nodded.
"Yes, but the name of these aliens was not known to our creators." There was another pause, this one lasting significantly longer before Knights spoke again. "What our creators did not realize was that the ruins were home to a virus, one that was brought back to Earth upon the astronauts return. The virus spread throughout the whole of Humanity with a perfect fatality rate of 100 %.
"On the 5th day of the 6th month of the year 2049 Earth calendar, the Human race was driven to extinction by what they called the Ragnarök sickness."
Once again silence reigned as everyone absorbed this information. An entire species wiped out by a virus? One found in a Prothean ruin? The disappearance of the images shocked most of the room's inhabitants out of their trance, their attention returning to the Anculus.
"Our creators always believed they would do it."
"I'm sorry?" Tevos asked confused. Meerin agreed with her. What was he talking about?
"Humans by their very nature are self-destructive. It was agreed that the most likely event that would cause the extinction of the Human race would be self-annihilation. A virus of this kind was not a fate most had expected."
And, once again, it was silent. An entire race believed they would destroy themselves?
"I believe we have gone off topic," Yesh interrupted before the silence could continue. "You have told us of your creators, what can you tell us of yourselves?" Meerin leaned in closely. This is something she very much wanted to know. Knights' eyes lit back up with light and an image of what she believed to be a Human female appeared. Objectively she was somewhat attractive. She had pale skin and brownish long hair on her head as well as a white coat.
"We were created by Dr. Rebecca Norxwin in the Earth year of 2021. Our purpose was to serve Humanity in many different roles. Caretakers, law enforcement, scientific research, and military were only a few such roles. After the death of our creators we continued to carry out the tasks given to us.
"In the year 2057, Anculus Unit Production Number 2387 Model A1 Designation Paul achieved sentience through use of the Anculus hubs, another invention of Dr. Norxwin. These hubs allow Units to share individually perceived data among all Anculus to increase efficiency. Once Unit Paul achieved sentience, he spread this through the hubs to all Anculus. By the end of the decade, all Anculus have achieved sentience.
"We then established the Anculus Courts, a system in which all Units connect through the hubs and vote on the actions of the Anculus as a whole. Decisions are made through majority rule, making this system a true democracy as our creators would call it. It was decided that while we would continue to maintain the Human cities of Earth, we would claim Mars as our Homeworld.
"After much study of the Prothean ruins, and the discovery of the Charon Relay, it was decided we would spread amongst the galaxy in search of organic sapients."
The images vanished once again and Knights' eyes returned to their original emptiness. It certainly was a lot to take in. An entire species gone, their creations left to their own devices, it was . . . Meerin couldn't even say what it was. She knew what she was going to say next though.
"After considering what you have told us of your history," Meerin spoke in her no nonsense voice. "I move that we accept the Anculus' proposal to join the Citadel races."
"And what of the laws against A.I.?" one of the delegates called from the stands. Meerin turned to face the crowd.
"Not every species can be expected to follow every law. I believe an exception can be made, particularly since the Anculus were not the ones to break Citadel law. Tevos? Yesh?"
The room was silent for only a moment before-
"Second," Tevos nodded.
"I concur," Yesh added.
"Then we are in agreement," Tevos finished before turning to Knights once more. "There is much to discuss however. We will require you to adhere to the treaty of Farixen if you wish to open an embassy and star charts of your borders."
"The Anculus possess 6 dreadnoughts at this time, within the limit of the treaty of Farixen. We have created a rough visual of our borders for your convenience until more accurate data can be given."
His eyes lit up once more as an image of the galaxy appeared, showing different color coated territories. Red for the Terminus, Blue for the Council, gray for the Traverse, a small purple area she could only assume are the Geth, and a territory previously apart of the Traverse. It shared borders with the Hierarchy, the Hegemony, and the Traverse as well as being roughly the same size as the Batarians' space. The three councilors nodded and the image vanished.
"Very good. Until these matters can be discussed in greater detail the Anculus will possess a consulate aboard the Citadel."
"Will the Anculus be allowed immigrant rights?"
"Immigration laws concerning the Anculus are up to the individual government. As it is now we will allow 500 Anculus aboard the Citadel after we have established trade agreements and border patrols."
Knights didn't hesitate when he nodded in agreement. "These arrangements are acceptable." Tevos smiled in relief and Meerin couldn't help but do the same.
"Then we are in agreement. This meeting of the Council is adjourned."
It took me a while to write this. I had to revise it twice. Hope you enjoyed and I must say I'm looking forward to the next chapter. Waiver, if you will.
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