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She felt it all. She felt the pain, the confusion and the fear as acutely as those who dwelt within Her. Her memory was infinite and accurate, and She could tell that this was not like the last time, so long ago, when She had risen from the ocean and forged onwards through space. She had no purpose, no direction – She was adrift and alone as She had never been before.
She craved the gentle lapping of waves against Her piers, the constant movement of the ocean and the presence of all its inhabitants. Even with the expedition members roaming Her halls, She felt startlingly alone. However, She knew She was not the only one despairing; She could feel those within Her slowly sliding towards hopelessness as time passed by. She knew they missed the sun, as She did; the comfort of seeing it rise and set and knowing that a day had been and another would surely come, in stark opposition to the unending night they now suffered.
So She did what little She could to help them; things as simple as forgiving the scientist who kicked Her consoles mercilessly, frustrated by constant failure; soundly locking an armoury door for ten minutes when a frightened soldier finally buckled under the pressure of leadership. She knew that they were not Her creators, and at first they were harsh and rough. But soon enough they knew Her, how to treat Her, how to work with Her. She thought, once, that maybe they could care for Her as the others had.
Years passed. She absorbed their system of time from the computers they had linked to Her, and She explored them freely. On the day that was five years exactly from the day that She ascended from the waves, their desperation was palpable. It would barely have registered as time passed for Her, but she felt every second tick by for those inside.
One hundred years, they had been adrift. She had felt them weaken, struggle, and fade away – and now She felt it in Herself. The chamber where Her power originated began to dim, and She felt it acutely. She had been alone these many years, though once she ceased to sense the last human, their time had little meaning for Her, and it passed swiftly. She could feel Her systems beginning to fail, each one dropping away until, finally, the distress signal She had been broadcasting for a century weakened and stopped.
At the end, She thought She could feel the ocean.