“I think Scripps didn’t tell you what to do when his body finally couldn’t hold on any longer before he died.”
Lin Xi murmured.
As he whispered, Hal's movements became somewhat stiff—its analytical system was clearly working frantically, trying to understand what Lin Xi was saying to it.
It stood there blankly, and after a short pause, it answered Lin Xi—but compared to its previous fluent, almost human-like responses, its reply this time was quite mechanical.
"Error - Error data - Unable to read - Unable to read -"
Its electronic eyes are flashing wildly.
Lin Xi's words caught in her throat.
At that moment, the only sound in the entire central control room was the repetitive mechanical electronic voice of Hal.
Sensing Lin Xi's feelings at this moment, Xavier slowly approached Lin Xi and gently took her cold fingers in its hand.
Lin Xi could feel the silent comfort coming from Xavier.
Also due to their mental connection, Arthur and Noah seemed to sense something. The two different creatures, seeing Xavier approaching Lin Xi, quickly moved towards her... but Xavier secretly kicked them away from behind.
The infighting among the alien species would have always made Lin Xi feel somewhat troubled in the past, but at this moment it seemed particularly...warm.
Lin Xi knew it was strange to think this way, but looking at Hal not far from him and thinking about everything it had experienced over such a long period of time, Lin Xi actually felt a sense of luck.
After all, no matter what he went through, he would never be alone. Xavier would always be by his side, as would Arthur and Noah... and even in the distant future, with more offspring and more families... barring any unforeseen circumstances, they would all be with him.
Lin Xi lowered her eyes and looked at Hal with pity.
The Providence Project was the largest project of the entire Age of Exploration, and it almost completely drained the human and financial resources of a powerful nation.
Perhaps this is precisely why, from any perspective, neither ordinary humans nor a single artificial intelligence can accomplish such a task.
Lin Xi could easily guess what those scientists had done back then.
When HAL was created, people added certain self-evolutionary and self-adjusting functions to HAL in order to cope with the possibility of losing contact.
Then, the worst happened. For nearly 300 years, HAL was trapped aboard the Providence, and through a series of accumulating programming errors without any intervention, it eventually…
In the end, I became a person.
Although Hal doesn't have a real body, it already possesses everything a human has.
Human sorrow, human despair, and the madness unique to humans...
Thinking of this, Lin Xi turned his head thoughtfully to look at the miniature holographic projector beside him. At the end of the projection, Scripps' pale face was forever frozen three hundred years ago.
Scripps, who left a message on the Helios, Scripps, who longed for death, disabled most of HAL's detection capabilities on the Providence, and even induced HAL to disable its advanced attack methods...
"Actually, that's yourself."
Lin Xi said with a sigh.
His words undoubtedly gave Hal a severe shock. Hal, which was already deeply mired in malfunction, suddenly trembled. It stared stiffly at Lin Xi, and then slowly shook its head.
“You’re just… spouting ridiculous fantasies… I know perfectly well… I know Scripps is still here… He’s always been here…”
Did Hal even realize that he was repeating something he had already said before? Lin Xi wondered to herself.
In reality, he simply looked at Hal and repeated the same words he had already said.
"In the same universe... there can only be one queen insect at any given time."
As she spoke, Lin Xi's eyes gradually turned an inhuman crimson.
Tentacles.
Mouthparts.
Scales.
wing.
They appeared overlapping on his body surface, then vanished in an instant.
In the end, Lin Xi returned to his original human form, which was also his most perfect mimicry.
"...But I am already the mother of the alien species."
He said.
A cold, inhuman light flashed in her red eyes.
“I began my transformation when I was a child… and by then, Scripps was already dead. That’s why I am here. The ‘Scripps’ you’ve been trying to capture is actually your own consciousness; you… you want to die.”
But the program and Scripps's dying orders ensured that HAL, the core system of the Providence, could never, ever "die."
If HAL were merely a computer system devoid of any human emotions or independent consciousness, it would likely have continued to operate according to its instructions until the Providence was completely destroyed—which might have taken thousands of years.
But Hal was not such a foolish and lucky "life".
It could only endure this incredibly long...despair and pain.
Until the appearance of "Scripps".
...
"You're just telling some boring lies."
Hal said, word by word.
"Scripps is dead. Why not face reality? Why... why not look behind you?"
As Lin Xi spoke, she raised her hand, her fingertip pointing behind Hal...
In Hal's perception, those meticulously tuned life support devices were actually already dilapidated, like scrap metal. Even from a distance, it was clear that they had ceased to function long ago.
On the platform surrounded by life support devices, Scripps's original remains were even more broken and unrecognizable, with only fragments of grayish-white bone remaining, their surfaces remarkably smooth.
In this huge control room, there was actually nothing there.
In the corner there were some broken bones and scales, probably from alien larvae that had hatched here many years ago.
However, without a normal mother insect, they simply cannot grow up.
Over a long period of time, they eventually decayed until only brittle and thin remains remained, looking no different from dust.
There's nothing here.
This place is nothing but a graveyard, a desolate cemetery.
There is only Hal here.
Of course, Hal doesn't think so.
Hal turned around following Lin Xi's finger and quietly looked behind him—Strips's desiccated corpse was still lying there.
Yes, its captain did appear unusually weak, but under the control of the life support system and special medicine, Scripps' vital signs remained within acceptable ranges...
The only problem is probably this: when Hal looks at Scripps, layers of date error warnings from the system will obscure his view.
But that was a trivial matter, and Hal, as usual, sent those reports into the unresolved junk database.
Of course, Haldane admits that the number of error reports was indeed a bit too much, and perhaps some data should have been deleted when it transferred all its data to the lifeboat's independent system.
But... when exactly did so many reports with incorrect dates accumulate?
This question lingered for about a fraction of a second before Hal quickly deleted it.
The most urgent task is to leave this place and get my plans moving forward.
Once Lin Xi dies, Captain Scripps will regain the surging and eternal life force he possessed as the Mother of the Alien, and he will completely shed his current extremely weak state.
He will live on... he will live on forever...
However, Lin Xi, who had already arrived at the central control room, was indeed in some trouble.
Hal thought calmly.
The three alien creatures beside Lin Xi had become exceptionally powerful; they seemed to have transitioned from their weak early stages to a long and powerful growth phase.
To make matters worse, Lin Xi's conversation with it also took a considerable amount of time (Hal didn't understand why he made such a mistake).
Hal could clearly feel his cognitive abilities weakening, and he had almost completely lost control of the Providence.
Right now, the only thing it can control is probably this dilapidated android body.
Hal carefully examined his body. This android was produced by Del Corporation, so even though it was a service-type android, it still had some basic weapons built into its body... However, these basic weapons would consume Hal's already limited energy.
But now that most of its control has been removed, even just this one android body is enough...
Hal's arm twitched slightly, as if it were about to move, but then it froze in place.
As if possessing magic, Lin Xi "teleported" to Hal's side before Hal could even make a move.
At that moment, his arm was resting on Hal's shoulder.
They look just like ordinary humans, with pale and delicate arms, yet they exude the same intense pressure and power as those mechanical warriors specifically designed for combat.
Hal could hear his body creaking under the immense pressure. His remaining logical feedback system told him that he should remain still and appear submissive to Lin Xi.
This choice helps it survive.
Hal didn't have many options.
But at this very moment, Hal found himself struggling uncontrollably.
It felt as if a high-voltage electric current was coursing through its body. It strained to stretch its arm, trying to pull the laser weapon out of its abdomen. But the next second, its arm was severed at the elbow.
The android's arm slammed to the ground, rolled limply a few times, and a few drops of dark red viscous fluid oozed from the interface—it was the lubricant that had long since spoiled…
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