“Human Automaton Interaction Research Unit,” Hairu said. She now wore the same clothes as me. Gray shirt and soft pants covering the silver section of her body. “That’s what I derive my name from. I am the first manufactured Humanoid AI.” Her voice was level, but she seemed to be more cautious as she spoke. The indifferent mask broken.

“So, you aren’t human at all?” I asked quietly.

“It depends on your definition. I experience emotion, pain and I truly care for all beings. I can do all things humans can, save for give birth.”

This was far beyond what I’d expected to find. I knew humankind was advanced in the past, but this? To now, the HAG was more sophisticated than any ancient technology I’d encountered. I didn’t know what to ask, but one question stuck out, “So, there really isn’t anyone else here?”

“No, I speak the truth only. There are no living humans here besides you and miss IO.”

“Do you think there is anyone anywhere out this far?”

“The odds are minimal. If there are, they would be wanderers like the two of you. Outside of Utopia, the terraforming is at a total loss this distance from the sky cathedrals.”

I took a moment to absorb that painful statement. It wasn’t exactly news, but I’d fought against the reality for so long. To have her verify it crushed something inside. “You said there were visitors before?”

“Yes, they are right here.” She pointed to small wooden crosses lined along the flat area behind the fountain in the garden sector. She led me here after meeting in the mess hall, insisting this was the ideal place to discuss things. The beauty of the trees and vegetation did bring a sense of peace.

“So, they all died here? Were they sick?”

“No, not to begin with. But they aged. Some of these are many years, or orbits as you say, apart. The last was quite old when he arrived. A man named Grail.”

“Wha-? Grail the pontifex?” I asked.

“Well, he did not claim that title, but of the things he revealed regarding the religion in the settlements, I would assume he could be one and the same.”

Jazz told me he died. I looked over the identical wooden crosses as my veins seared with heat. “Which of these graves is his? I’m going to dig him up and burn him!”

“That seems a waste of time. He is already dead. Did he wrong you in his life?”

“The bastard burned my sister alive! Sent me into the wild to die. Then killed my parents, and they’d done nothing but warship that garbage, all because of this!” I pointed to where the HAG would usually be. “Tch.” I clicked my tongue before stomping a few steps away. I huffed the thick flora scented air. Hairu didn’t pressure me. She sat silently on the edge of the fountain, looking on with the same concern in her gray eyes. Guilt crowded my anger. Can’t believe I asked her if she was human. She’s more human than most people I’ve met.

I could hardly bear this information overload. For so long, I’d always had a grip on things and in a matter of several days, it all unraveled into total chaos. “Why is it like this?” I whispered to myself.

“What do you mean?” The words sent an ease that I felt all the way to the core.

“How do you do that?” I asked.

“Do what exactly?” Hairu seemed truly curious.

“When you speak sometimes, it feels like it’s impossible to be mad or upset. Your words do something.”

I waited as she seemed to ponder. Her brows furrowed over the eyes pointed at her feet, and she chewed her lower lip. It really was impossible to tell with her clothes on that she was anything but a thoughtful young girl.

I sighed. It wasn’t fair for me to get angry with her. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it to be upsetting.”

“You have done no such thing.” She took a few more moments before continuing with a smile. “It is something I am designed to do. Because humans, for many years, struggled to thrive on Mars. My voice carry’s a tone that affects the human psyche. It relieves mental stress.”

The answer caught me off guard. Even as she claimed to be a created being, I didn’t consider the reason. I sat back on the edge of the fountain, trying to relax my features. “Ok.” The answer was the best I had at that moment.

“I am what they refer to as a prototype. To test the developed S.O.S, or Sense Of Self technology. To raise children here on this planet.”

What does she mean? Raise children? Didn’t she say she can’t give birth? I watched as Hairu stepped away and placed a hand on one cross.

“At that time, the nanotech devices like the augmenting gauntlet you have were an immense success. A type of pseudo intelligence that interacted seamlessly with organic make up.”

“I don’t know what that means.” I looked down as my cheeks heated. The situation was humbling. I probably seemed as ignorant to Hairu as faith followers appeared to me.

“Yes, I should approach this differently than I did with miss IO, where she is fully accustomed to synthetics.”

I’d been avoiding thoughts of Verisha. I’d take the crushing pressure of past pain over dealing with that. It wasn’t a surprise to hear that she would be familiar with beings like Hairu, which probably made my actions even more uncouth.

“I suppose you should dumb it down for me.” I finally said.

The girl’s smile widened, bringing a light to her gray eyes. I did my best to return it. “It is not fair to consider yourself lesser. You are indeed much more educated than any of my previous visitors, and I’ll do my best.” She sat beside me before continuing. “When humans first came to Mars, many factors had to be addressed. It is a tremendous story to tell, so suffice it to say their anatomy could not take the hostile environment.

“Right, they built domes like this one to live in to build the sky cathedrals.” I said.

“This is the dome they built. Although Utopia four was built first, it was only a landing site. Essentially, all Martian life started here. The idea was to use evolution as a way for survival. They made me to raise children from embryos in this place and continue to do so until they could survive outside.”

“But what about the terraforming and sky cathedrals? The Spradin and other beast?”

“Though a necessary step, they came later. Not long after my creation, or rather the idea that became me, was discovered. A scientist on the earth lunar outpost, unlocked DNA modification.”

The conversation was slipping further and further from my understanding. But from what I could put together, DNA splicing had moved Martian colonization ahead by almost a hundred years. Or earth orbits as Hairu tried to explain some time relativity. Apparently, I would have been in my numerical forties on earth and physically older, but time was different on Mars. It was beyond me.

“So, they were able to build the sky cathedrals easier because we could resist the radiation better?” I asked after a particularly long winded explanation from the red haired girl.

“More or less. The construction was much faster because they could mine materials from asteroids and workers could wear simpler suits. With almost all humans on earth receiving the DNA correction regardless of whether they would ever come here, my purpose was obsolete before ever being needed. The process of my creation still occurred obviously, and I lived among humans for the sake of study. There were still many purposes for something like me, even if not to raise children for the future.” Hairu’s face sank a little as she finished.

“That’s incredible. You’ve seen so much. You’re lucky.”

“I would not call it luck Ex.”- “Oh, hello miss IO.”

“Salve.” The silvery voice answered from behind the fountain’s churning water. I immediately stood to face the approaching Verisha. She eyed me, dressed in the blue suit from before. Her orange eyes seemed tired, rather than filled with the anger I expected. She sat on the opposite side of Hairu.

I just have to do it. I thought and moved to stand in front of her. She flinched back. “I am so sorry!” I ducked my head. “Will you repeat that to her, please?” I addressed Hairu, who spoke the garbled words.

The green haired girl looked me over. “I. . . sorry.” She said and pointed to my healing eye.

“It’s fine. You are really strong, though.” I blurted, doubting she understood. To my surprise, she chuckled. It was the most beautiful sound.

“The act of DNA splicing has continued from what I understand. Miss IO is, at the moment, the pinnacle of current humankind,” Hairu said.

“So, is she from the Solarr then? Where did the rest of the humans go?”

The girls shared a quick exchange of words before turning to me. The first to speak surprised me. “Me am. . . Verisha IO.” She held a blue clad hand out in a familiar gesture. I hesitated, then took it, the suit’s scaley texture rubbing my palm.

“I’m Ex. Thank you for bringing me here.” I answered awkwardly. It seemed late for introductions. And for the millionth time, they avoided my questions. But the interaction with Verisha glazed over my annoyance.

Her brows furrowed as she seemed to focus on what I said. A slight hint of defeat colored her features as she released my hand and turned to Hairu. After another exchange with the shorter girl, she turned back and nodded. “Welcome.” She said.

The time moved by quickly as Hairu gave me more of the history lessons. We drifted off from Verisha’s back story. Being she had forgiven me, I didn’t want to push the issue. After some food and drink in the mess hall, I found myself alone in my room again. I propped my head up on a pillow and looked over the new instructions from Hairu and the old text my sister saved. The HAG lay on my stomach.

I wonder what Zelsta would think of this? The ancient book paper felt frailer under my fingers than ever before. Like a breath may blow them away. The cycles seem to tick by so fast these past days I’d nearly forgotten there was still a harsh world outside of this one. I wanted to put it behind me. But how? What does that even look like? Placing all the items on the floor by the bed, I filed the questions for later and drifted into a deep, dreamless sleep.