Ultimatum
Duranium Lord
The time was nearing completion. A small victory to be sure, but a victory nonetheless. In the galaxy of torment that was all one could hope for. Every spark of life, every work of light, they were what allowed life to continue in the chaos and destruction. Without them, there could be no joy, no hope. How could organics live without it, without the bliss of invention, the ecstasy of creation? Ultimatum could not. There was so much in the galaxy to be discovered, so much to learn and then use. To miss out on it was torture, to be unable to do anything.
Idle hands were his bane, always something to do, something new to devise. Work, work, and work. The galaxy was always moving, time could not be stopped, entropy always increased. If he sat still for even a moment it would be wasted. Every second of every minute of every hour was unique, never to be seen again. The past was beyond all reach, time had to be used wisely. Even should a person live forever, and no one could, there was still a finite amount of time in forever. One day, at some point, reality as everyone in this universe knew it would end. And with it, all of time and space would disappear.
Every moment in this reality was therefore cherished, for it could be the very last. Science had no way of telling the future, not accurately on the astronomical scale. Stars could disappear and science would not realize it until years later. So much theory and uncertainty. Should the end come, Ultimatum wanted to be ready.
Every being had a mission, some ultimate goal which their person had been 'programmed' to do. Insects lived their life and their final acts were to ensure the survival of the next generation. While definitely a simplistic approach, it classified as the intent of all living beings, to hold the world for those that would follow.
Ultimatum's mission, his primary purpose was much the same. How could an organic think so far ahead as to plan for the end of reality though? They could barely plan a few decades in advance, much less the expanse of time itself. However Ultimatum's goal was not organic made, it was self appointed. Ultimatum had chosen his intentions, he had chosen to accept the role of preparation. Few would appreciate this, probably none in this life time would even realize the near impossibility of his plans. The end of reality itself, he had to outsmart the very laws that bound this universe together!
It was a game that would test him above any other. Death was an inconvenience, destruction: a stumbling block. In the match where everything lay in the balance such puny things as singular life or will were inconsequential. And yet Ultimatum knew their importance. The value of any single life could not be determined in the currencies of the galaxy. Each individual was created with a mass of potentials, possibilities. What could have been, what may yet come. Every person had a plethora of potentials. The universe was made of such diversity of possible outcomes. What a single person did now could affect the entirety of the galaxy for eons, but there was no way of predicting it. There was no way of reading the future, not truly. The Force might give insight, but true foretelling was beyond anything this reality yet had.
But then, there was the crux. This reality. What of other realities? Were there other realities? What would they be like. Imaginations across time had conjured up fantasies of strange and mystical alternate realities where people were other than themselves and that time had acted differently. The common assumption was that the reality was even remotely similar to the one they resided in. How could they even be certain of that?
The truth was that there was no definite way. But that did not stop the Artificial Sovereign from attempting to correlate the potentials. Of course, he was not a scientist of that sort. He could not hope to unravel the mysteries of these alternate realities with his limited processing abilities and cumbersome programs. He had decided to create something else that would go through the motions instead of him. An artificial being whose sole purpose was to try and discern the nature of other realities. Why? In case time ran out in this reality. If there were other realities then there had to be a way to reach them. If this reality ended then he needed to be able to move on to continue his work.
This being, this firstborn of the Sovereign would be a most peculiar creature. Not quite fully sentient, yet appearing to be so, it would solve the problem of reality, if anything could. The entirety of the galaxy, both past and present, population's knowledge on theoretical reality sciences would be combined into a single being. What would the result be? Ultimatum hoped to find out alongside the Metal Lords in the near future.
The difficulty of such a being required that it have multiple purposes, or at least a more material purpose for the sake of appearances. There was a war in this galaxy, a war of the darkness and the light. A war which ascended beyond the physical realm into a metaphysical plane of existence that escaped Ultimatum and most droids. In this war, artificials were in short supply. They could bring a balancing force, the fact of complete objectivity from the views of the organics. Of course, in order to create true objectivity there had to be an element beyond all control. A random element. What element could be more random than something taken from an infinite number of possibilities based on a potential for multiple realities. The possibility of a repeat collection of numbers alone was staggeringly small, almost impossibly small.
Therefore thing being, this being that would Perceive other realities could create something more unique than anything possible within this single reality. With that sort of complexity it would be easy to create entirely unique artificial intelligences. Therefore, that would be his purpose in the eyes of those who could not comprehend its full purpose.
----------
Today at last Ultimatum believed that the Perceiver was ready. He had done all that he could to ensure that the artificial would work. Such a complex being though, was beyond anything Ultimatum had ever conceived before now. He could not account for everything, the hypothetical nature was just too uncertain for him.
He had prepared the activation on an old space station floating through Metal Lord space. There had been a little clean up work to keep the station from continuing on its pathway, stabilizing it within their territory, but little else. The station was from a bygone era, its computers were updated to function, but the doors were ancient and Ultimatum was certain there would be some problem with them. But this station was temporary, a safe space in which to activate and ensure that the program did not become overly hostile immediately. To remove the glitches that Ultimatum was certain would arise.
He did not want to be alone for this though. He wanted to show his first true creation to his compatriots. [member="HK-36"], [member="AD-8"], [member="WD-334"], and all the other Metal Lords had been sent invitations to see the awakening. Even [member="Lord Mettallum"] had been sent such an invitation, along with the promise of recompense for the use of his shipyards way back when. The meeting place was, obviously, the station. There would be no serenades, or much room for many people, this was an old station and a small one at that. Ultimatum wanted to hold off the celebrations until this was a definite success. He was certain that not all would be able to come, perhaps some would not even care. That mattered little to the artificial. He wanted to bring this life into the galaxy, someone at last who could truly aid him in his work.
The droid lord stood silently in the only room to have been modified. What had once been an office or something had been expanded to fill a generous space with a terminal in the middle attached to a projection device. Ultimatum had not programmed any personality or form, he wanted it to be created by itself. The walls of the room had been curved so as to make the room almost feel like a sphere rather than a box. This was going to be a place long remember by the droid.
Idle hands were his bane, always something to do, something new to devise. Work, work, and work. The galaxy was always moving, time could not be stopped, entropy always increased. If he sat still for even a moment it would be wasted. Every second of every minute of every hour was unique, never to be seen again. The past was beyond all reach, time had to be used wisely. Even should a person live forever, and no one could, there was still a finite amount of time in forever. One day, at some point, reality as everyone in this universe knew it would end. And with it, all of time and space would disappear.
Every moment in this reality was therefore cherished, for it could be the very last. Science had no way of telling the future, not accurately on the astronomical scale. Stars could disappear and science would not realize it until years later. So much theory and uncertainty. Should the end come, Ultimatum wanted to be ready.
Every being had a mission, some ultimate goal which their person had been 'programmed' to do. Insects lived their life and their final acts were to ensure the survival of the next generation. While definitely a simplistic approach, it classified as the intent of all living beings, to hold the world for those that would follow.
Ultimatum's mission, his primary purpose was much the same. How could an organic think so far ahead as to plan for the end of reality though? They could barely plan a few decades in advance, much less the expanse of time itself. However Ultimatum's goal was not organic made, it was self appointed. Ultimatum had chosen his intentions, he had chosen to accept the role of preparation. Few would appreciate this, probably none in this life time would even realize the near impossibility of his plans. The end of reality itself, he had to outsmart the very laws that bound this universe together!
It was a game that would test him above any other. Death was an inconvenience, destruction: a stumbling block. In the match where everything lay in the balance such puny things as singular life or will were inconsequential. And yet Ultimatum knew their importance. The value of any single life could not be determined in the currencies of the galaxy. Each individual was created with a mass of potentials, possibilities. What could have been, what may yet come. Every person had a plethora of potentials. The universe was made of such diversity of possible outcomes. What a single person did now could affect the entirety of the galaxy for eons, but there was no way of predicting it. There was no way of reading the future, not truly. The Force might give insight, but true foretelling was beyond anything this reality yet had.
But then, there was the crux. This reality. What of other realities? Were there other realities? What would they be like. Imaginations across time had conjured up fantasies of strange and mystical alternate realities where people were other than themselves and that time had acted differently. The common assumption was that the reality was even remotely similar to the one they resided in. How could they even be certain of that?
The truth was that there was no definite way. But that did not stop the Artificial Sovereign from attempting to correlate the potentials. Of course, he was not a scientist of that sort. He could not hope to unravel the mysteries of these alternate realities with his limited processing abilities and cumbersome programs. He had decided to create something else that would go through the motions instead of him. An artificial being whose sole purpose was to try and discern the nature of other realities. Why? In case time ran out in this reality. If there were other realities then there had to be a way to reach them. If this reality ended then he needed to be able to move on to continue his work.
This being, this firstborn of the Sovereign would be a most peculiar creature. Not quite fully sentient, yet appearing to be so, it would solve the problem of reality, if anything could. The entirety of the galaxy, both past and present, population's knowledge on theoretical reality sciences would be combined into a single being. What would the result be? Ultimatum hoped to find out alongside the Metal Lords in the near future.
The difficulty of such a being required that it have multiple purposes, or at least a more material purpose for the sake of appearances. There was a war in this galaxy, a war of the darkness and the light. A war which ascended beyond the physical realm into a metaphysical plane of existence that escaped Ultimatum and most droids. In this war, artificials were in short supply. They could bring a balancing force, the fact of complete objectivity from the views of the organics. Of course, in order to create true objectivity there had to be an element beyond all control. A random element. What element could be more random than something taken from an infinite number of possibilities based on a potential for multiple realities. The possibility of a repeat collection of numbers alone was staggeringly small, almost impossibly small.
Therefore thing being, this being that would Perceive other realities could create something more unique than anything possible within this single reality. With that sort of complexity it would be easy to create entirely unique artificial intelligences. Therefore, that would be his purpose in the eyes of those who could not comprehend its full purpose.
----------
Today at last Ultimatum believed that the Perceiver was ready. He had done all that he could to ensure that the artificial would work. Such a complex being though, was beyond anything Ultimatum had ever conceived before now. He could not account for everything, the hypothetical nature was just too uncertain for him.
He had prepared the activation on an old space station floating through Metal Lord space. There had been a little clean up work to keep the station from continuing on its pathway, stabilizing it within their territory, but little else. The station was from a bygone era, its computers were updated to function, but the doors were ancient and Ultimatum was certain there would be some problem with them. But this station was temporary, a safe space in which to activate and ensure that the program did not become overly hostile immediately. To remove the glitches that Ultimatum was certain would arise.
He did not want to be alone for this though. He wanted to show his first true creation to his compatriots. [member="HK-36"], [member="AD-8"], [member="WD-334"], and all the other Metal Lords had been sent invitations to see the awakening. Even [member="Lord Mettallum"] had been sent such an invitation, along with the promise of recompense for the use of his shipyards way back when. The meeting place was, obviously, the station. There would be no serenades, or much room for many people, this was an old station and a small one at that. Ultimatum wanted to hold off the celebrations until this was a definite success. He was certain that not all would be able to come, perhaps some would not even care. That mattered little to the artificial. He wanted to bring this life into the galaxy, someone at last who could truly aid him in his work.
The droid lord stood silently in the only room to have been modified. What had once been an office or something had been expanded to fill a generous space with a terminal in the middle attached to a projection device. Ultimatum had not programmed any personality or form, he wanted it to be created by itself. The walls of the room had been curved so as to make the room almost feel like a sphere rather than a box. This was going to be a place long remember by the droid.