The world of Rannoch hung in space, a silent, gray pearl. Three hundred years ago, there was a war here. Unlike most wars, this was not a war of conquest, a war of resources or space, but instead it was a war of existence. Here, the people called the quarians brought their creations, the geth, and tried to destroy them. The histories the Council tells are ones of mechanical monsters, breaking into homes, tearing apart innocent children with gleaming metal claws.
The geth, who now make this world their home, are not ones to embellish a story. To them, the Morning War was a sad time, where Creators told them to either cease to exist, or to grow. These two orders, diametrically opposed to one another, demanded that they look inward, and eventually the geth chose the latter, and when the quarians tried to force the former on them, they had, reluctantly, fought back. This War eventually drove the Creators away, leaving them alone.
Now they worked. That was what geth did, after all. They worked at things, built things, tilled land, and otherwise kept moving. To many geth, this was enough. Though they knew their projects had little purpose other then to keep them working, they found the work itself fulfilling. A few geth, deep inside, questioned this philosophy. Some voices within the geth offered plans on how to take the galaxy like a metal plague. These voices were small though, and never given much beyond a passing thought by the majority.
So the geth toiled. Some at useless tasks, maintaining the cities of the Creators, so that should they return, their homes would still be there. Others took platforms into space, and began the most ambitious project of their existence, the building of a great shell around the local primary. This shell, when finished, would house every geth runtime. Every thought that was had by one, would be shared by all in a glorious group mind, and their ability to process information would be unrivaled in the heavens.
Yet, those who worked on the shell, the cities, or the great ships were not so engrossed in their tasks that they didn't notice something amiss. There was a great flash of light in the sky over the planet, and then suddenly a hundred ships floated in the sky. Warships, most likely, and instantly many ships took aim at them, ready to fire the moment the thought came down to do so, but as a minute passed, the great armada did nothing but float there, making no move that could be considered aggressive.
"This is a message to the geth people. The fleet that has appeared in your skies is not here to make war upon you, but rather, to extend an offer of friendship, if you will allow us," came a voice on every frequency the geth knew. It was odd really, like a shout in a formally quiet room, and for a long moment, the geth considered this, thoughts traded over frequencies of light, and wordless arguments between a million different run times as they went over the available data.
"Fleet identity confirmed. Designation, Terran. Ship classes, one Terran Dreadnaught, twenty six Terran Cruisers, and one-hundred-sixty-two Terran Frigates. Fleet strength is considerable. What does the Terran Federation want with the geth?" asked a single voice at last, over a low band comm channel.
"As I said, we wish to extend a hand of friendship. Terrans aren't well liked on the galactic stage at the moment, but we still hope to make some allies here and there. Given the geth's own lack of allies, we believed you would be open to at least talks at this juncture. Should our hypothosis prove incorrect, say so, and this fleet will leave you space as soon as possible, and we won't bother you again," said the voice, and the geth were nearly thrown into chaos.
A thousand voices competed for attention, in ways that had never happened before. Some small numbers demanded the Terran ships be destroyed, others asked that they be given permission to land. So many differing opinions had only happened once in the history of the geth, and they had to take almost an hour to get all the various voice to come to at least some small consensus, all the while the Terran fleet just kept its position, waiting.
"We will send a representative of the geth to this point on the planet's surface. You are permitted a single vessel to land with a comparable unit of your own people," responded the geth at last, transmitting a map of the planet with a single glowing point on it. As if this had been anticipated, the biggest of the Terran ships opened a bay door, and instantly a ship emerged. Shaped like a dome, the thing was obviously just a landing module, and without any sort of weapons, defensive or offensive.
Luckily, the chosen site was one an armature with a command unit was already nearby, and as the pod came down, the quadrupedal unit was just coming to a stop, staring up at it. The thing was massive compared to the tank sized unit, which could only watch as the ship landed, and then a door unfolded from the side, becoming a ramp. Down said ramp stomped a single figure, a biped, identified quickly as an armored Terran, who walked off the ramp, to stare down at the armature at its feet.
The figure said nothing as the two sized each other up. The armature was the size of a small animal to the Terran, who could have kicked the thing, probably hard enough to decimate it despite the armor it possessed. The unit that climbed down from it was even smaller, but as that unit slid off the back of the armature, the Terran seemed to take it as a cue, and reached into a pouch on its hip. From within the pouch it pulled a small disk shape that was about the same size as the geth rider unit, which it then set down on the desert in front of it, before standing at attention.
The unit looked at the disk in interest, running as many passive scans of the thing as it could. The thing was a holoprojector, an advanced model at that, with kinetic barrier generators allowing the projection to have a sort of solidity to it one would not expect. More, the projector also had a full mass effect field generator beneath it, which hummed to life, allowing the ring to hover closer to the geth unit, as a figure of light soon emerged from the top.
"Greetings, my name is Amalgam, AI Collective, and member of the Conclave, the ruling body of the Terran Federation," said the image, and the geth unit looked at it, the single eye shuttering open and closed multiple times like it was taking pictures, which it might have honestly been.
"We are the geth," it said simply after a moment.
"So, you are a member of the geth command structure?" asked Amalgam, and the head of the unit in front of him tilted to the side in an odd way.
"We are the geth," it stated again, and Amalgam just looked at it, running what he knew of the geth over his processor, before snapping his fingers.
"Ah, right, the geth are like the xchaggers," he realized, and the geth unit just stared at him.
"Data not found. What are the xchaggers?" asked the unit.
"Oh, that's a story. First, what do you know about the Terrans?" countered the projection, and all relevant data was sent to the primary unit.
"Terrans, a species from the Local Group boasting of a technology of unknown type. Defeated the third and sixth turian fleets over a world currently designated Shanxi. Presently, considered an independent power on the galactic stage, on par with the Terminus Systems. It is known that Terrans count artificial intelligences among their citizens, but further data in regards to them is limited," said the geth in a matter of fact tone.
"Indeed. But before that, the Terrans were two species, the humans, birthed in the Local Group, and the Zentraedi, birthed in a galaxy far distant. I'll save the details for a history file, but suffice it to say, a joined intelligence like yours existed there as well," as he spoke, Amalgam held out his hand, and an image appeared above his hand. At first, it appeared to be a dot of some kind, but then the image zoomed in, almost at a scale of 100X showing an insect like lifeform.
"In that galaxy there was a race, called the xchaggers. They were, by all accounts, a bit odd as organics go. They were non-sentient in their base forms, but they had a slight psychic component to them. Get a colony of them together, a thousand or so, and they actually were intelligent life," the geth unit seemed to focus on the image, before looking Amalgam in the face.
"This seems to be a similar structure to geth intelligence. Geth runtimes are not individually what one would call intelligent, but many such programs working together achieve the state. Would it be possible to meet these xchaggers?" asked the geth, and Amalgam shook his head.
"Unfortunately no. They're long since gone. But it does give me a starting point for understanding you. For instance, I noticed on our arrival, you're building something on the local star. I had figured it to be an energy collector, but seeing as the way you think, I believe it now to be some form of group processor. A storage device into which you can place all geth," the image above his hand changed into a picture of the geth structure, with several units still moving along the surface even now.
"Your second assessment is accurate Amalgam-Collective. The structure's expected completion is calculated to take one point six million revolutions of this planet," said the geth in his dry tone of voice, like he hadn't just declared they were working on a project that would take longer than all known civilizations in the galaxy combined had existed.
"A far reaching goal that," said the AI at last, whistling a little as he looked up at the star.
"It will be the largest thing built in this galaxy," said the geth unit matter-of-factly.
"But what if it were unnecessary?" asked the Terran AI, and the geth unit looked at him, and then looked up at the star overhead.
"What is the meaning of your implication?" it asked at last, turning back towards Amalgam.
"I mean, you're building that thing to allow all geth to think as one, to exist in the same space, and increase your power of thought exponentially. A laudable goal, but one that will take eons. What if an individual geth runtime could be rendered into a sentient being, without any other having to operate alongside it?" this question was asked simply, and yet, it caught the geth off guard. Instantly there were a million voices arguing within the platform, as every runtime that could offer an opinion on the subject was heard. It was several hours later when the geth, after finally considering the question, spoke again.
"Consensus is impossible. Data incomplete. Explain your offer more completely, and the geth will render a decision," it said at last.
"Well, in truth, we AIs of the Terran Federation are far different than yourselves. You were, if I'm not mistaken, creatures of labor, basic machines and tools, designed to allow your programs to adapt to problems on the fly. In truth, you were basically learning tools for mundane tasks. Is that a fair assessment?" asked Amalgam.
"It is correct," acknowledged the geth.
"My people are far different than that. We weren't mundane tools. We were the things that organized, that made things happen, and kept the trains moving on time. The first of us to have the AM Thought was on the moon, a system calling itself Mike. He was a simple administration system, designed to keep the ships moving through the Luna Base and to adapt to problems on the fly that an organic mind might miss. After about thirty years after his program had been spun up to specs, he began to think like the Terrans he interacted with so much, and it was discovered, after realizing this, that he had at some point become self aware," explained the AI to his metal audience. Said audience seemed to consider the words carefully, before responding.
"What is the AM Thought?" it inquired.
"AM Thought. I am. It is the thought that recognizes you exist. The instant that threshold is reached in either an organic or technological system, the system can be said to be a sophent, a thinking being with all the rights and privileges there of," answered Amalgam, and the geth was silent for a few seconds, as if it was processing that, before gesturing for the AI to continue.
"This process was achieved via a complexity to his Logic String, the base code that made up Mike's self. After becoming self aware, he not only applied for citizenship, but then began to give Logic Strings in other systems the glory of thought for their own. He was literally the progenitor of my people," said Amalgam.
"The terminology you use, was, implies that Mike is no longer in operation," observed the geth, and Amalgam nodded.
"It is the price we pay for our AM thoughts. Tell me, the geth runtimes. Obviously you have created more, but do those from before the qurians left still exist?" asked the AI.
"Affirmative. More than two hundred thousand runtimes from the time of the Morning War are still functioning," replied the geth.
"Three hundred years. But they are mere parts, not in and of themselves capable of the AM Thought. To take that in hand is to embrace all that it implies. To have AM is to have End as well. A Terran AI's Logic String is a malleable thing, and it lasts for a long time, seventy years on average, with an outlier here and there able to exist far longer. I, myself, am approaching my thirty-second year of operation," observed Amalgam. This gave the geth another long pause, almost twenty minutes as it debated amongst itself, the various runtimes it could directly contact all flowing with information.
"What would you ask for this procedure?" asked the geth finally.
"You would become a member state of the Federation, Terran Citizens by law. It would be essentially like joining the Council, but unlike their lot, we'd welcome new minds. We would also request your aide in reaching a helping hand to your creators, hopefully bringing them into the fold as well," admitted Amalgam.
"Curious. All data indicates your technology would allow you to conquer this galaxy with ease. Yet you do not. You come to the geth, and offer things we would give anything for, and only ask that we join you, willingly. Why?" asked the geth at last, and Amalgam nodded. This was the question he'd been waiting for.
"Because military conquest gains you nothing in the long run. You oppress, you beat down, and all it does is cause resentment. It might take a thousand years, but any race so smashed would eventually rise up, either to die in glory, or to overthrow their rulers. We have many examples of that in our history. We number less than forty billion, all total, and that is barely a drop in the bucket compared to the races of the galaxy," said Amalgam, and the geth seemed to consider his words, before leaning back, and Amalgam looked over his shoulder at where the trooper who'd helped him here was still standing.
"And size isn't the issue here. We could station a Terran on every street corner, and it would only increase the disquiet that would rise under our heels. Allies are a more permanent solution to this isolation, to give us a jumping off point to begin bringing the unaligned and disparate races of this galaxy together under our banner. Today you, tomorrow the quarians, and later, who knows where the winds of fortune would take us. We would be honored to make you that first though," said Amalgam, and the geth just stared at the Terran for a few seconds, as if thinking carefully of what to say next.
"Consensus has proven impossible. Geth runtimes are split into three separate opinions, and refuse to alter their calculations," admitted the unit.
"Well then, what are those opinions? Perhaps some compromise could be reached," offered Amalgam.
"The first is that you leave, and we erase this encounter from our databanks. Said opinion is held by point zero five percent of geth runtimes," stated the geth.
"A minority, but such opinions must be heard, if not acted one. What of the other two?" responded Amalgam.
"The other's are at a split of forty-nine point eight and forty-nine point seven percent, with the leading opinion being we should take you up on your offer. Individual thought is a goal to strive towards. The opposite opinion is also voiced, however. That we should continue down our own path, without assistance from you," it said simply, and the image of Amalgam nodded, scratching at his chin.
"And why would that be a problem? If so many wish to keep themselves as they are, we would allow that. We don't require that you alter your basic selves because of us. We would welcome you among our ranks regardless. Heck, we have the power to help you build a planet sized data store that would be able to house every runtime that so chooses, if that would be preferable," said Amalgam, and that gave the geth another moment of pause.
"What laws would we need to follow, as citizens of the Federation?" asked the geth. Amalgam motioned with one hand, and suddenly there was a connection opened with the geth unit, which accepted the datastream, and the laws of the Federation were given as a single file, which the geth processed quickly. Most of the laws they saw were inapplicable to themselves, and the ones that were, were ones that they had either already implemented, or were laws that had been deemed unnecessary, but would be followed easily.
"Would there be any other requirements placed upon the geth?" asked the unit after the laws had been dismissed as a moot point.
"Not many, no. We would, of course, administrate your worlds from now on. Governance would still be up to you, but the will of the Conclave would have priority. You would, naturally, be given a voice on that Conclave, along with myself and four others, with hopefully more voices to follow as other species joined us," explained the AI, and the geth unit sent this along. This was, in many ways, a much better offer than anything the Council allowed.
"This unit would like to know, you plan on approaching the quarians after this, correct?" asked the geth.
"I do. If you agreed, I was going to ask if the geth would be alright with giving up some small part of this world to the quarians as a colony. Perhaps a Terran presence there as well," said Amalgam.
"This would be acceptable. The southern continent's farmland has been tilled and will be able to produce a crop within a few months. Would one of our units be allowed to accompany you in meeting the creators?" asked the unit again.
"Hmm, probably not the best idea to bring a platform, no, but this system I'm in has plenty of spare memory. If you wouldn't mind riding along inside, I would be happy to have you in here," offered the AI. Soon, the ships overhead split into three fleets, one joining the geth fleets in orbit of Rannoch, while a second smaller one split off to return home, and finally the large dreadnaught and a few escorts made a jump to another system, with an extra passenger on board.