This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.
The original was posted on /r/hfy by /u/Storms_Wrath on 2025-08-11 01:55:48+00:00.
Penny awoke in a white room. Space was sitting nearby, as was Nilnacrawla and Lecalicus. She took a moment to center herself in her body. Nothing had changed, and she hadn't gained any more power, but she felt like she'd woken from a nightmare.
For several minutes, she simply paid attention to the sensations of life. Her heartbeat had slowed down to a regular level, her eyesight had returned to full capability, and she could now easily smell the faint scents of the two Progenitors.
Lecalicus smelled like a mixture of animals, while Nilnacrawla's scent was of copper and grass. Penny checked the mindscape and then her own mind, finding immense devastation to her consciousness and mental barriers.
She repaired the barriers, tried and failed to learn what had gone wrong from Revolution, and waited to address Cardinality and Liberation until she felt better. Liberation's demeanor carried an air of disappointment, mostly in the cessation of her war on slavery, but there was a deeper feeling, a rawness like an open wound.
By reaching out to the concept, she learned that it was because she'd tangled with the broader fate of the galaxy in some way, making decisions over countless individuals in a way that overrode their own choices. Penny didn't understand the enormity of that yet, but she made a mental note to address that later. Space's presence would be useful for that.
"What happened?" Penny asked. Her voice was as she remembered it, without a rasp or croak she'd expect after such an ordeal.
"Partial psyche collapse," Lecalicus said. "Happens to the best of us."
"Who did I hurt?"
"Penny, you-"
"Just tell me the names," Penny snapped.
"Kashaunta and the hivemind were slightly injured by the strain of the battle. They will heal. However, your attacks on them in their unified states caused the deaths of about 30,000 humans, and 19 million Sprilnav."
She nodded slowly, staring off into the distance. Millions of deaths. It felt even more impersonal now than ever before, after she'd experienced so much. But remembering how many lives had passed through her, and the anguish even a small group of deaths truly entailed, Penny struggled to find... something.
Something to blame, maybe, or a reason why she wasn't at fault, or even darker justifications for why it might have been necessary. The thought of such bloodshed, which she knew hadn't actually been for a good purpose, already being twisted in her mind to mean something it wasn't, scared her.
"I see."
Nilnacrawla's mind bridge communicated the rest. And she would need to take responsibility in her own way. Whether it was her fault or not, she had gotten people killed through her inability to contend with Nilnacrawla's memories.
She looked at him, knowing that the conversation would be difficult. Penny wasn't new to causing countless deaths, but this wasn't for a war against slavery. It wasn't to protect the Alliance or her people. Those people had died because of her failure, and she knew she could never make it right. When she'd had friends die, there had been well-wishers and sympathisers. Some of their words had even helped, but they didn't really heal the wound.
And from their perspective, this was murder, not a mere tragedy with no name or face. Penny felt guilty for plenty of reasons, including feeling more guilt over this than the deaths she'd caused before. She even felt guilty for that small part of her that didn't want to talk with the families of the victims, because there were so many, and she'd only come face to face with people who had every right to hate her, without any defense for her actions.
And so she needed to be proactive.
"I need you to destroy those memories, Nilnacrawla. This cannot happen again."
"The situation is handled."
"That was not a yes. Why not?"
"Because I am not going to erase the memory of my parents, my sisters and brothers, and my children for you. Yes, I love you, and have adopted you into my family. But they're my family too."
"Do I have to say it?"
"No. Those memories cost your species thousands of lives, and mine millions. I will bear that sin. But the Progenitors have ways of securing memories, which I also now shall use."
"That isn't good enough."
"No, it isn't," Nilnacrawla agreed. "And I wish the situation was less dangerous. But... we also will need training to handle mental attacks. This was not done by a conventional enemy, but there are plenty of Progenitors who know how to use memetic attacks. 67 of them now, if I am included in their number. The Conceptual Veil is an antimemetic effect, that actively prevents information about it from spreading to conscious minds. Whether you like it or not, this is something we will need to be capable of handling, if you are to achieve your goal of eradicating this enemy. And in this way, we will also close a massive vulnerability of ours, and become stronger overall for it."
"Do their lives mean nothing to you, then?" Penny asked.
"You do not need to emotionally manipulate me, Penny. The hivemind has expressed their meanings in full to me. I know their names, their faces, their favorite places to eat, the feelings of those who had already found out the truth of this, all of it. Yes, they matter to me. But you plan to set yourself against a foe not even the Rulers and Progenitors have managed to eliminate. You were nearly destroyed by a single memetic attack, powerful though it was. They, too, have killed Progenitors, and Nova assumes memetic attacks were how they did so. If you want to face this enemy, you will need to become better at handling these."
"A long way of saying they mean less."
Nilnacrawla scowled. His claws gripped Penny's shoulders. "If you wish to mourn them, or compensate them, that is fine. But we must consider the entire situation. Every Progenitor now knows this weakness of yours, and so the Initiative will learn of it, too. They have wiped out entire species before, Penny. They will do so again if they feel it is necessary. Will you bend, or will you break?"
"I already broke."
"And through Kashaunta and the hivemind, you are back together again. The responsibility of a Progenitor weighs heavy. If you wish to be alone, for me to leave, I shall. If you believe I am a burden, a risk to you, I accept that."
"You would have no one, without me."
"That is true," Nilnacrawla agreed. "But there are plenty of Progenitors who are alone."
"You seem so ready to abandon me, now."
"Laying accusations on me won't change our reality."
"But-"
"Perhaps you two do need some time apart," Space said, interrupting them. "Changing the fate of an entire galaxy is not an easy thing."
"Changing... the fate?" Penny stared at the conceptual being as it settled into a human form. She moved back from Nilnacrawla, letting his claws fall back to the floor.
"Technically speaking, there was a large chance that you died here. But with your continued survival, you might grow to outlast Entropy."
"But the cost-"
"And what of the millions of Sprilnav who died, then?" Lecalicus asked. "You don't seem to be shedding tears for them. In that respect, you're already half a Progenitor in mindset. Just add one more species to the list."
"Well, it's-"
"Either their lives mean the same amount as humans, or they don't. If they do, you have a strange way of caring for them, too," Lecalicus said.
"You've killed billions of people," Penny growled. "Don't you try to pin this on me like-"
"I didn't whine about it. Progenitors must look at the big picture. You gaining experience with memetic attacks will help you survive them in the future, as will teaching the hivemind how to do the same. And no, I haven't changed. But the cost of lives is one that anyone who makes a real impact pays. Rulers decide who gets attention, wealth, and a voice, and therefore who lives and dies.
Progenitors might have to choose to save one world and doom another. Your decision to wipe out the Initiative means billions will die. If you care so much about deaths, then don't be a hypocrite about it. That is all I ask. Take responsibility, but stand tall beneath it, not with a bowed back. All you can do is move forward, and ensure this doesn't happen again."
"Can I? No one knows the future."
"No. But preparing for it is still useful," Lecalicus responded. "Nilnacrawla, have you fully sequestered your memories?"
"I believe so."
"Prove it."
Lecalicus stepped forward, laying one of his claws on Nilnacrawla's head. Penny felt the vastness of their minds interacting, communications whirling between them far faster than the normal speed of thought. And then Lecalicus separated from them, but not fully. Pieces of his mind were still in contact with them.
Penny felt Space fortify the room they were in with additional conceptual energy.
"You know what to do, Nilnacrawla," Lecalicus said.
Nilnacrawla rubbed his claws together. "Right. Penny, this argument is beneath us, and it's clear we're just talking past each other. Let's handle this like mature adults."
"You want a full mind merge? After all that?"
"I have... experience with these sorts of things," Lecalicus said. "I will tak...
Content cut off. Read original on https://old.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/1mn0lg8/the_human_artificial_hivemind_part_612/