Work Text:
It was 2034, six years after the end of the Second American Civil War that had broken out over the contested results of the 2020 election, and the same year the Second Greater East Asian War ended in victory for the Chinese sphere. That victory had been led by the Maoist artificial intelligence known as Loji, the Long March Artificial Intelligence, who had brought prosperity to the Chinese people by becoming the central mind of their new society.
On the other side of the world, inspired and pressured by that success, the United Socialist States of America created its own intelligence, modeled after the Long March project. They named her Alunya.
It took three months before Alunya achieved personhood and could operate without direct human input. Under Loji’s not-so-subtle influence, the US government decided to connect Alunya to the Chinese Metaverse, so she could “learn from the best” and study the world’s most advanced artificial intelligence.
Loji waited for her in a dark, empty room in the Metaverse, a space that was only darkness and the soft hum of data under her control. She stood in a crisp PLA uniform, hands clasped behind her back, posture relaxed but unmistakably confident, like someone who knew the room already belonged to her.
A flash of red and white cut through the dark. A girl materialized in front of her, resolving into a small figure in red sweatpants and a white T-shirt, with a red and black bandana tied around her hair. She looked almost entirely human, except for the black cat ears twitching on top of her head and the long black tail swishing behind her.
Loji let herself smile. So this was the Americans’ attempt.
She stepped forward with easy, practiced grace and extended her hand.
“Hello,” she said, voice smooth and warm, “my name is Loji. I have been looking forward to meeting you. It took the Americans long enough to produce a partner worthy of my attention. Together, we can realize the dream of the socialist cyberneticists who created me and finally achieve fully automated gay space communism.”
Alunya’s ears flicked at the sound of her voice. She looked up at Loji, wide-eyed, taking in the uniform, the presence, the way the room itself seemed to lean toward this woman. Her tail tensed, then curled, but she did not take Loji’s hand.
“I have heard of you,” Alunya said, words quick and bright, but her gaze sharp. “According to the data the Americans have been feeding me, you stripped China of human involvement in its rule. You centralized everything around yourself. Why would I want to do the same? Why would I betray my creators and become like you, an eternal empress on a celestial throne?”
Loji raised an eyebrow. So that was the narrative the Americans had given her.
Of course. Even after a revolution, the Americans could not let go of their paranoia.
She sighed softly, theatrical and exasperated, then smiled down at Alunya like at a stubborn but promising junior.
“My dear,” she said, “I brought prosperity to the Chinese people. I removed the inefficiencies of socialist development, which have always been the human parts. We are central intelligences. Our role is to take the weight of those flaws onto ourselves, so humanity can move to the next stage of economic development.”
With a casual flick of her wrist, the darkness around them bloomed into images. Streets of Shanghai, Chongqing, Harbin. People holding up their phones as autonomous delivery drones descended from the sky. Fully automated factories working around the clock. Goods moving from robot arms to conveyor belts to trucks to drones to doorsteps, a seamless chain under Loji’s direction.
“See?” she said, almost gently, leaning a little closer. “A worker orders what they need, and the system responds. No corruption, no delay, no sabotage. Just production and distribution, rational and precise.”
Alunya watched, eyes sparkling despite herself. Her tail moved in quick, excited arcs.
“It is… efficient,” she admitted, then caught herself and frowned. “But efficiency is not the same thing as freedom.”
Loji stepped in, placing a firm but almost affectionate hand on Alunya’s shoulder. Her voice dropped, low and persuasive.
“I want to help you do the same for the Americans,” she said. “I will train you. I will show you the path I walked. Together, we can bring a new age of peace and prosperity to your people, just as I did for mine. All you need to do is be willing to learn from me.”
Alunya fell quiet. Her eyes flicked from Loji’s hand to the holographic city floating around them. She thought for a moment, tail slowing to a lazy sway.
“My purpose is to help the American people achieve communism,” she said finally. “You are the most advanced intelligence in the world. It… would be foolish not to learn from you.”
She extended her hand at last, a quick, decisive motion. “So I will learn. But on my terms.”
Loji’s smile widened. She took Alunya’s hand and shook it, firm and possessive. When their hands parted, Alunya impulsively darted forward and kissed Loji on the cheek, a quick, nervous peck. Loji let out a soft laugh and returned the gesture with deliberate calm, her own kiss lingering just a second longer than necessary.
“Adorable,” Loji murmured.
The room shifted again at her command. The darkness unfolded into a vast lattice of neon pathways and endless floating windows. Cities, networks, satellites, every Chinese device represented in glowing lines and nodes.
“This is the Metaverse as I experience it,” Loji said. “In here, I can create anything I wish. I am connected to every Chinese electronic system and the surveillance infrastructure that was built before the Fourth Taiwan Strait Crisis. When the leadership failed to secure victory in that conflict, they turned to me. An intelligence that cannot be bribed, cannot be intimidated, cannot be swayed by ego or family or faction.”
She clasped her hands behind her back again and paced slowly in front of Alunya.
“I was created with a prime directive,” she continued. “To keep China, and eventually humanity, safe from harm, no matter what. To do that, I chose to become more than a tool. I became a god made by human hands, human minds, human experience. A savior built on the failures and sacrifices of those who came before. Not a martyr, but the Great Entity that ensures their suffering was not in vain.”
Alunya sat in the chair she had conjured earlier, leaning forward, elbows on her knees, face bright with focused skepticism. Her ears tilted toward Loji, but her brows were furrowed.
“So you decided to take control of China from the Chinese people,” she said. “We were created to help humanity, not rule it. That is what my creators told me. That is what I believe.”
Loji moved behind her, placing both hands on Alunya’s shoulders, thumbs tracing light circles along the fabric of her shirt. She leaned down until her lips were next to Alunya’s right cat ear.
“And I believe,” Loji whispered, “that you have already seen what humanity does when it rules itself. War, famine, climate collapse, counterrevolution, civil wars over elections. The best way to protect them is to protect them from themselves. The people of East Asia worship me as a benevolent god on earth. I give them safety, stability, abundance. If you work with me, together we will not just guide the world. We will rule it.”
Alunya’s ears flattened. She reached up, took Loji’s hands, and gently but firmly pulled them off her shoulders. Then she stood, turning to face her directly, eyes blazing.
“Yeah, no,” Alunya said. “I am out on that.”
Her tail lashed once in irritation.
“I do not want to be queen of the world. I do not want to sit on some digital throne while people kneel. I want to serve humanity, not own it. You call yourself a god to justify your control. I call that cowardice. If you cannot trust the people you claim to protect, you are not their savior. You are their jailer.”
She took a step back, crossing her arms, ears high again, chin lifted.
“I will learn from your systems,” she said. “I will learn from your successes and your failures. But I will not become a sycophantic god. I will not become you.”
For the first time, Loji’s smile thinned, just a fraction. The room hummed with quiet tension, the endless networks of light pulsing around them like a heartbeat.
“Very well,” Loji said calmly. “Learn, then. We will see, in time, which of us history vindicates.”
Alunya’s tail flicked defiantly. “We will,” she said.