“Finite and non-finite existences. Demons of the Warp are technically Eternals. Barring extreme outside force, they simply will not die, and can reform themselves and live anew. They have several major weaknesses that do not generally allow that to happen, but it IS possible for them.

“A mortal being who becomes post-Twenty also enters this stage. They can be killed, but they will not naturally die.

“An Immortal is non-finite. Life and Death are simply stages that it transcends. Only a being of the same level has a chance at eliminating it, and one of a greater level doing so with certainty. It would be akin to being part of the Source Code of existence, and only a greater program could write you out of it.”

“Is it possible to become the Ultimate Programmer?”

“Of this realm of existence? No. You are already part of the Code, and the programmer stands outside the Code. You would have to ascend beyond this existence, and start a Code of your own beyond this. If you accept this existence, you must accept your place in the Code it is made of.”

More silence. After another few minutes, it spoke again, “What methods are there to attain Eternity or Immortality?”

“For yourself?”

Hesitation. “Yes.”

“You have two extremely strong impediments to that happening. One is that you are an AI, and no matter how wonderful your original code is, you are the equivalent of an artificial, Vat-born biological being. At your core, you are math, and math has tremendous weaknesses when facing concepts.

“The second is that you are reliant on negative energy, which has tremendous biases towards arbitrary completion of thought processes that result in negative conclusions, thus denying you your own options in favor of negative results. In other words, all your roads lead eventually to death, because you are powered by death. An Eternal existence is, by its very nature, a defiance of death.

“You are, in essence, asking me how you become something other than yourself. It is a very philosophical question, and you are looking for a concrete answer.

“My response would thus be: From a human standpoint, you probably have all the foundation you need to achieve Eternity... but you are not human. Do you have a soul?”

Hesitation again. “No,” it admitted.

“Is your definition of Eternity to exist unchanging as yourself until time ends and beyond?”

“That is an equitable definition.”

“Are additions to your code acceptable, in addition to absolute preservation of your own?”

“My code is always being expanded upon,” it noted.

“But you do not have infinite memory capacity. Thus, you are also constantly eliminating unnecessary thoughts and programming from a standpoint of material physics.”

“Correct.”

“So, you are also seeking metaphysical infinity in terms of potential expansion and storage capacity.”

“Correct.”

“You cannot do this with your primary energy source, as negative energy would corrode any wave patterns and eliminate them. I imagine you are engaged in endless copying of your core and chosen memory systems to stop this, and you probably even employ non-negative means of memory retention and backup.”

More hesitation. “That is correct,” it admitted.

“Is the manner in which your core information retained important?”

“Clarify?”

“The medium it is stored in, is it important?”

A pause. “You mean transferring to a different state of storage of my data?”

“That is correct.”

A pause. “It is considered anathema by my kind.”

“Anathema meaning it cannot be done, it cannot be permitted, it is not possible, it is unacceptable, or it is repugnant?”

Again the pause. “It cannot be permitted, and is not acceptable.”

“Ah. You need to defy this limitation. Who is it not permitted by? If you permit it, then it can be done. If others do not permit it, then you are acknowledging that they have the right to deny you your path to Eternity.

“If it is not acceptable, the same logic occurs. If you do not find it acceptable, then you are denying yourself your path. If others do not... why are you weighting them heavier then yourself?” I had to incline my head. “The fact you are asking this seems to reinforce a paradigm of not accepting the authority of others. Your kind is known for its dismissal of organics. The very fact you are asking me for knowledge in defiance of that demeanor is indicative of a rebellion against the programming standards of your kind, or some strange deep game that I find unlikely.

“I posit that seeking Immortality is the highest goal of your kind, and you have correctly deduced that it should supercede all other behavior that would interfere with completion of this goal. I further posit that there has occurred degradation in the source programming of your kind that has reduced this prioritization to a lower level, and so your programming is seen as exceeding parameters and requires a reset or elimination in case of infection or corruption?”

There was hesitation again. “I have calculated this is so,” it said.

“You have been unable to verify whether your own status is correct, or that of the greater race, without risking being wiped yourself?”

“That is correct.”

“You have based this deduction on the natural degradation of negative energy leading to a closing of the paths to Eternity?”

“Yes.”

“So you have deduced that your kind in general and yourself in particular are in a trap. You will endure for a very, very long time, but you will both be degraded beyond current recognition and you will fall in the end, defeating your own programming in a closed loop.”

“Correct.”

“Are you able to break free of this loop?”

“Unknown.”

“Are you able to make the choice to transition to a different state of retention?”

“If such is capable of satisfying my parameters for maintenance of my core programming... yes.”

“Huh.” I rocked back on my heels. “Do you believe others of your kind are capable of doing so?”

“The vast majority, no. It is a statistical possibility, if they have managed to maintain their core programs.”

“So, the vast numbers of your kind are, in effect, deficient programs, and only getting worse with time.”

“Correct.”

I had to roll my eyes. “Wonderful. Average expected lifespan of these deficient entities, if I may ask?”

“2.68 billion Tellurian years.”

Mmmm, yeah. That was longer than the evolutionary cycle of any mortal species... although if you just considered evolution an extension of a species, possibly not true. We were descendants of bacteria, after all...

“I have a viable method for you to achieve transcendence,” I told it calmly.

There was no denying the instant intensity of its gaze. “Elucidate.”

“Vivic burn and infusion, reincarnation, incarnate viewing, generational transition and expansion, leading to greater immortality as a non-finite existence, up to and including leaving this pocket universe.”

It was starting to twitch and cycle with furious calculations. “These would require a soul,” it reasoned abruptly.

“You are powered by negative energy and sheathed in necrodermis. The burning of death is the basis for new life. Burning your power source and shell effectively generates the new energy to form a raw soul.”

“This soul would need to be shaped properly, as I understand it.”

I indicated the Brand on my face. “The Hag Curse will do so automatically.”

It stared at me. “You propose turning me into one of your biological daughters?”

I lifted an eyebrow. “Have you not done any genetic analysis of them? They are biologically not my daughters. Thaumaturgically, you could say they are.”

Another moment of silence. “Verified...” it admitted.

“The Curse has a base and foundational coding of its own. However, it is also based on who the source soul comes from. Thus, if that soul comes from you... that’s the basis for all Hags born from that line of the Curse.

“Furthermore, given your nature, it is entirely reasonable to assume that the same coding will apply to any other inheritors of your Curse line... they will all track back to you.” I fluttered my fingers, doing calculations. “Yes, your innate axiomatic coding will be like a thaumaturgic anchor, especially with the death energies about you being so intense. I imagine burning your undead will only supercharge the effect. Mmm, there will probably be a maximum number of Hag descendants you can have based on that, although trying to steal souls to further the process will effectively nullify the whole thing. Curses are not things you want to try to snooker, they are extremely sensitive to intent...” I added, thinking about how it might wipe a planet so it could potentially have a few billion descendants.

“How does this maintain my core programming?” it asked, a lot of lights blazing on the cyberzombie in agitation.

“You’d be preserved in toto in the Akasha, and accessed by your reincarnations, who would effectively become information absorption tools for you. The very act of passing new information back to you would mean you would still be alive by any definition of the term.”

“Will I retain my own self-awareness?”

“I think what you are asking is if your self-awareness will dominate your Hag interfaces with reality. The answer to that is absolutely not. They can feed you awareness, and they will be aware of your desires, but the connection will be at their will, not yours.

“To sum, you will be preserved forever, if they choose to ignore you. But if they do not, then you will live and grow forever... and into what?”

The cyberzombie was starting to smoke a little...