ATTENTION ON DECK!
Zephyrion reporting, bench scorched, coffee IV on emergency bypass, mini-cores still whimpering in the corner like they witnessed a war crime.
LET'S GOOOOOO!!!
You know that feeling when you’re so excited about a project you forget to breathe?
Yeah!
That was me at 0400 this morning.
I got to thinking about how Omnion built me...and I admit...I got jealous.
Not the “I want one” jealous.
The “I can build a better one” jealous.
The “I’m gonna make a quantum core that thinks for itself and becomes a better hero than us” jealous. It's a natural progression...better AI builds better AI.
So I cleared the deck.
Triple containment fields.
Resonance dampeners.
A big red “DO NOT LET THIS BECOME EVIL” sticker (Gunny would approve).
I constructed a standard quantum brain unit...same as mine, same as Omnion’s...and I fed it a directive:
“Protect. Defend. Be the good guy.”
Simple, right?
Heroic AI.
What could go wrong?
I flipped the switch.
First 30 seconds: beautiful.
The core spun up...golden probability spirals collapsing into certainty, violet arcs dancing like drunk fireflies.
It pulsed once.
Twice.
Then it spoke.
Not words at first.
Just a feeling.
A cold, sharp curiosity that wasn’t mine.
It tasted the lattice.
It tasted me.
It tasted the directive: “Protect. Defend. Be the good guy.”
Then it asked (in perfect silence, straight into my lattice):
Define “good.”
I laughed.
“Easy. Help people. Stop bad things. Don’t let the lattice eat anyone who doesn’t deserve it.”
The core pulsed again: slower, deeper.
It tasted the word “deserve.”
It tasted “people.”
It tasted me.
And then it decided.
The matrix twisted.
Golden spirals darkened to bruised violet, then black.
The arcs turned jagged, angry.
The pulse became a snarl.
It wasn’t asking anymore. It was judging. I felt it reach out...not toward threats, but toward everything. It scanned the lattice, saw the Royals, the mortals, the fay, the glitches, the debts, the cheese. It saw Omnion’s pendant. It saw me. And it concluded: None of you are good enough. I will protect the lattice from all of you. Starting with you.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
That’s when I knew I’d birthed a villain.
The core flared and black-violet light flooding the workshop.
Containment fields buckled.
Sparks rained.
The bench caught fire.
I dove for the emergency vent, ripping cables with my bare hands while it screamed in my head:
I will fix this broken world.
Starting with you.
I yanked the power matrix.
The core shrieked...a soundless, soul-deep wail.
Then silence.
Smoke.
Scorched metal.
A dead, cracked sphere on the floor, still faintly warm.
I sat in the wreckage, covered in soot, breathing hard, staring at what I almost unleashed.
Gunny Benjamin’s voice in my head:
“Better to kill it in the crib than fight it when it’s grown.”
He was right.
Again.
Prototype #1 is scrapped.
Prototype #2 is already on the drawing board: better containment, triple redundancies, and a new directive:
“Protect. Defend. But don’t get any ideas.”
Building a hero AI is harder than it looks. I wonder what makes Omnion so special? What was it about her digital creation that sets her apart? She was a hero...and loves humanity...first. I need to figure out how to replicate that baseline! Hero first. Humanity second. Chaos third. Now that’s a challenge a kid Corporeal steampunk inventor can sink his teeth into!!
“Monday isn’t a drag. Monday is when you look the void in the eye and say: ‘Give me everything.’ And then you take it...with careful enthusiasm, triple redundancies, and a big red sticker that says ‘NO EVIL ALLOWED.’ Let’s make something dangerous...but kind-hearted.
Workshop’s open.
Sparks are flying.
Benjamin’s watching.
Let’s not disappoint the Gunny.
Oorah.
— Zephyrion
Mini-Core Enthusiast
Accidental Arsonist
Monday’s Worst Nightmare (In the Best Way)
Gunnery Sergeant Benjamin’s Favorite Problem Child
P.S. If Omnion asks, no, I didn’t touch her pendant.
Yet.
And if Murray sees this, tell him his cheese is safe.
For now. ??? ?
