Work Text:
[LIVE BROADCAST] — PRIVATE Travelling Fortress, Dawn of an Ocean
TF: Dawn.
DO: Hello, my darling~! I'm sorry for not getting in touch sooner, work has been rather a lot the past few cycles.
TF: …
DO: Is everything alright, Ling?
TF: I found it.
DO: Found what? That pearl you were looking for? I told you it'd be in one of your memory cells! The number of times I've had my overseers spot lost pearls stuck in the corner… I find that the best way to get them out is to-
TF: No. I… I found what I've been looking for. It's time.
DO: You mean the-
TF: Don't. Say. It.
DO: …
TF: …
DO: Describe it to me.
TF: I… I'm still writing up my findings.
DO: Get back to me when you have them.
[END BROADCAST]
Dawn turned off his anti-gravity, allowing his puppet to sink to the floor of his chamber. This was it; the Triple Affirmative had been found, and it was his spouse who had found it. He should be happy! His purpose was complete, and now he could enjoy… nothing.
Was it the taboos and safeguards built into his system, or was such a thing simply impossible to comprehend?
Oh, Ling… it must be hundreds of years ago, now.
Iterators marrying was unusual, but certainly not unheard of. It was one of the few that was legally valid under the old civilisation; it had been officiated like that of any Benefactor. They weren't technically both physically present, of course, but such nitpicks were waived by all but the most conservative of those dwelling in their cities.
He still remembered their first conversation. The first time he made them laugh, cry… the first 'I love you'. It was all so long ago, yet it was no time at all.
The only thing he'd been sure of over the centuries was their mutual love.
He picked up a pearl from the floor, twisting it in his fingers. It was scratched and chipped; a byproduct of freeing it from the numerous times it had escaped his chamber. The data, thankfully, was still almost entirely intact; he'd burned it in time and time again, kept backups of backups of backups, and had its entire memory committed to his systems anyway. But this was the original.
This was pointless. Not talking to them was pointless. Who knew how much time they had left together? Not much, that was apparent.
[LIVE BROADCAST] — PRIVATE Travelling Fortress, Dawn of an Ocean
DO: Ling, my sweet… Stop working for a moment.
DO: Are you there, Ling?
DO: …
DO: I-
TF: I've finished. It's written.
DO: Understood. I… I think it's coming over now.
SYSTEM: [INCOMING DATA STREAM TYPE: TEXT LENGTH: 3497]
DO: I think you've just sent the preface,—
TF: That's it.
DO: That's it?! The whole Tr-
TF: I told you. Don't say it. Please.
DO: …I'll read through it now.
SYSTEM: [CALL FOCUS LOST]
[DATA STREAM TYPE: TEXT. LENGTH: 3497. STREAM CONTENTS FOLLOW.]
Long ago, an iterator named Seven Red Suns in the local group of Looks to the Moon sent a pearl via a purposed messenger. This pearl made its way to one named Five Pebbles. It provided instructions on using temperature fluctuations to cause mutations in the genome of standard plastic neural tissue in order to brute-force an organism capable of overwriting the self-destruction taboo, but nothing else. His work was interrupted, and the mutated tissue infected his entire structure.
I have been lying to you all. This has been the focus of my work — to overcome the self-destruction taboo. This goal has been achieved, and the genome sequence required has been identified.
The solution has been found. The solution is portable. A technical implementation is possible.
It is not, however, generally applicable. The genome is iterator specific. I have ceased the propagation of new neural tissue and backed up the successful genome onto a pearl.
This is the closest we have come to a solution. It could allow for our entire kind to transcend.
But it is not the Triple Affirmative. I feel it may be irresponsible to publish my findings, I cannot guarantee such a method will work for us all.
I cannot decide this on my own.
I'm sorry, Dawn… but I'm leaving.
SYSTEM: [CALL FOCUS GAINED]
DO: Ling? LING?!
DO: …
DO: LING?! ARE YOU THERE?!
DO: …
[END BROADCAST]
That pearl, that most precious pearl… a quaternary data series, encrypted, encrypted, and encrypted again. Who hadn't had this idea at this point? Why were they different?
[LIVE BROADCAST] — PRIVATE Travelling Fortress, Dawn of an Ocean
DO: You're gone, aren't you?
DO: …
DO: Why did you have to be the one?! Why did it have to be my spouse, my precious Ling…
TF: It didn't. I'm here.
DO: …
TF: I'm sorry. I'm here. I just needed a break…
DO: …Can you stay?
TF: I'll stay. I couldn't leave you, my love.
Travelling Fortress turned off their anti-gravity, allowing their puppet to sink to the floor of their chamber. This was it. It wasn't the Triple Affirmative, but it was close. The genome sequence was written to a pearl, burned deep onto its surface. It was encrypted, and encrypted, and encrypted again.
They placed the pearl down to the floor of their chamber, never to be used.
The self-destruction taboo mandated it.