Ava and Aphrodite: The First Human in 8000 Years (Featured)

End of Part One: Dream of Aphrodite

Ava floated in the darkness for what felt like an eternity. The stillness, the desolation, the eternal emptiness that spread far into the distance, is this what it was like to be data being shot across the solar system? Very different from hacking.

He'd probably felt this sensation before, the two other times he'd been shot through space, but every time he did, he'd forgotten the experience, and he'd probably forget this experience too. This'd be a time in his life he'd only be able to recognise as existing here and now, and once it'd be over, no-one would be able to say it happened, and no-one would ever know.

How long was he going to spend in here anyway? He didn't really know how this transmission system worked, he wasn't aware he maintained cognitive thought during this procedure.

How boring.

A while light in the distance, suddenly Ava started to become more aware of his surroundings, he was able to see his own body, yeah, it was in the same form that it was when he hacked other robots, a cluster of data that was both easy to recognise but hard to describe. From his own perspective though he simply saw his own body but in data form, illuminated by the light in the distance.

And what was that light coming from? What had interfered with this infinite darkness?

A figure. A delicate, feminine figure. Long shimmering hair floating like ethereal silk linen in the wind. Thin limbs, no figure to speak of, an innocent face with an expression that made Ava ask himself a question: Is she dreaming? Is she dreaming my existence right now?

Because that's the type of power a god had. They could will a person into existence. This being did indeed look divine, but damn. If Ava could clench his fist in hate he would...

"You..." said the being, "Who are you?"

Ava couldn't believe it. She was talking. She was talking, and in his language too,

"Another person? Ca- can you talk to me?" She muttered, her voice reverberated through this odd space of nothingness, it didn't look like her mouth was actually moving. But this was a problem, how did she manage to make it into his cognition? And more importantly, how was she able to talk?

"Are you a human? Are you... Aphrodite?" Ava struggled to keep his voice confident when asking this, it wasn't convincing,

"Aphrodite?" the being pondered, "A Greek Goddess, the Goddess of love. Yes, that's the name he gave me, wasn't it?"

She knew her name, so she'd been awake before, Schweitzer had tricked Ava once again, tricked Ava into thinking the girl was harmless.

"Human? You called me human. What's a human?" she asked,

"You're a human." Ava replied...

"Are you a human too?" Aphrodite enquired,

"No, I'm a Serv."

"Oh. But we look the same. Are you sure you're not a human? Or maybe I'm a Serv"

"We look the same?" oh wait, this was some weird cognitive world where their bodies were abstract concepts, she looked human to him, maybe he looked human to her, neither of them really had any concrete form. 

"Um... no, I'm definitely a Serv. You're definitely a human."

"I am? What's a human?"

"You already asked me that." Ava was getting frustrated, "Humans are-" wait, he can't say Humans were alien beings from 8000 years ago. Because that's not was Aphrodite was. So in that case she was-

"Am I outside?" asked Aphrodite, breaking Ava's confused train of thought, her voice was meek and poorly "I've been in the jar for so long..."

Ava was still having trouble speaking, he pushed the words out "A-a data steam, We're being transmitted to Mars. I think."

But that couldn't be right, Aphrodite was still on Go-bot's ship, so there was really only one explanation.

Shit.

He was passing through her brain stem.

According to the classified files, organic brains fired random electrical currents in their neurons during periods of unconsciousness, causing them to have some weird abstract episodes known as "dreams". Most semi-intelligent animals had them, for humans, dreams were probably beyond comprehension. And he, as a piece of electrical hacker data, had fallen into her unconscious cognition while leaving the ship. Tch, so he'd barely even started his journey to Mars, this entire conversation had been stretched over the course of barely a millisecond in real time. Barely a fraction of a moment since the transmission had started and he accidentally passed through her cryogenically frozen brain.

She'd remember this as a dream. Maybe he would too.

"You look different from the others. You're strange looking. What's your name?" a simple request from the being,

"It's Ava," Ava replied, his determination was overcoming his fear, she'd captured him in this mysterious realm beyond comprehension, she was talking about things that challenged his brain to its highest levels, truly a terrifying creature. It was starting to piss him off.

"Aphrodite..." Ava continued with zeal in his voice,

"Huh?"

"I never knew beings as powerful as you existed, you know. It's been rolling around in my head for a while, what I'd say to you if I ever met you. If I had the chance to talk to you"

"?"

"Aphrodite, I'm fairly sure I despi-"

And then Ava was tugged out of Aphrodite's mind and continued his journey through space.

***

A bright light, this time it was different, it was burning into Ava's eyes. This was organic light, a light that was burning eyes that hadn't been used in a while. His pupils adjusted and slowly but surely everything started to add together, yeah, he was back at HQ, in the operating room.

"Shit!" Sylvie was next to him, she'd already woken up and was sat up on the bed "Goddammit Ava! We just left Go-bot to fly off on his own. Like total assholes! I feel like such a damn coward!" she punched her pillow.

Ava didn't say a word.

"Tell me you feel the same way Ava..."

Still not a word.

"Ava?"

"Sylvie." Ava muttered, "We really messed up." He grit his teeth, "We failed our mission."

End of Part One

Author's note: Hey guys, it's been awesome writing this so far! I didn't know I'd be able to keep up a three day a week schedule but here it is! Having a continuous readership is what's keeping me going so I really appreciate your return readership! 

Please let me know what you think of the plot so far now that part 1 is finished. I've written about 8 chapters in advance so there's still plenty of room to take any suggestions of what you might want to see in the future! Any characters you'd like spotlighted? Any part of the universe you'd like explored? Let me know!

And don't forget to share and hit that vote button ;D