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The original was posted on /r/hfy by /u/SpacePaladin15 on 2025-12-10 13:07:16+00:00.
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The Fakra’s aggression mattered very little to me, so long as they didn’t distract me from what I was scrambling to figure out. I tried to input a resuscitate command to her nanobots, but got an error that it wasn’t found. I tried to undo the kill command, and that wasn’t the way either. Anger boiled in my blood as a gun was jabbed hard into my temple, interrupting my work. They dared—if she died for good because of them, I’d rip this place apart!
Sofia raised her hands, as the soldiers ordered us to lay on our bellies. “We’re not your enemy! We all need to work together here, or the whole multiverse will end.”
“Corai!” I screamed, desperately inputting commands as the Fakra tried to kick me off of her.
“Last warning, human. Back away from the Elusian or your brains will be painted on the wall,” a soldier grunted.
Mikri hurled himself at the Fakra who threatened me, wrapping his arms around his neck. “I will make you bleed every color of the rainbow, and use it to paint a postcard campfire droplet by droplet, if you so much as begin to act against him!”
“Oh yeah?” The Fakra’s buddies pulled Mikri’s arms apart with raisers, and threw him to the ground. “Stupid machine!”
“The dumbest,” said a stern, tired voice, which I recognized as Velke’s. “Robot, what did you think you would accomplish?”
Mikri beeped with indignation. “They put a gun to Preston’s head and threatened to blow his brains out! I am not the dumb one this time. I will not stand idle while my friends are in danger, ever!”
“Fuck’s sake, don’t kill them if they don’t make you! You can’t question dead people.” The Marshal shot a withering look at his soldiers, who got the silent message to release Mikri. He inspected the unconscious Takahashi, then knelt beside where I was spamming Corai with guesses of commands. “What happened to you lot? Never mind. Come with me.”
“I’m not going anywhere until I revive her!” I wept, digging my fingers deep enough into Corai’s chainmail that I broke several links. “I powered her brain off with nanobots, but I can’t wake her back up. Velke, please…you know she’s different!”
The Fakra leader pressed skeletal fingers to his chin, and a silent look of concentration entered his eyes. Through the lens of augmented reality, I could see Velke input a command to Corai’s network: Initiate Neural Electrical Activity. Of course, he’d study the inner workings before he ever would’ve used it in transit. My heart lodged in my throat, worried that it might have been too long to work, as the prompt ran for several seconds without any response. Panic set in at the thought of losing her, after all of that.
What if I really did kill Corai, and that’s the last thing she ever thought? She didn’t deserve to die like this!
…Success.
My head fell onto Corai’s chest, as she stirred weakly, weeping into her nanobot chainmail while spamming mental thank yous to Velke. It wasn’t ideal to be in the Fakra’s clutches, but I’d warped to the exact right place to get help for her. The Elusian looked confused to be reawakened, but a blistering rage filled her eyes once she looked at me. Every bit of metal in the room was commanded to her masterful fingertips, coalescing into blocks. She slammed them into my head like a muzzle, throwing me backward and encasing me against the far wall.
I groaned from the impact, unable to speak. “Corai, you’re safe! I’m so relieved you’re alright. Put me down.”
“Safe? You delivered me to…you’re a monster!” Corai paid zero attention to the Fakra soldiers, stalking toward me with absolute hatred in her eyes. She twitched her fingers, causing blocks of metal to jam up by nostrils and suffocate me, scraping near my brain. “I let you kill me, and that wasn’t enough? Why did you bring me back? You couldn’t live with what you’ve done—oh, it’s a little too fucking late for that. You take away the reason I finally had to want to be here—all a lie—then bring me back into this cursed world?”
“I saved your life! I’m so sorry.” Struggling to think, I forwarded the memory of the attack on Suam, only to have it rejected on the spot. “I’d never hurt you, Corai; I love you! All I care about is that you’re okay…I did the best I could. I understand how this looks to you, but you have to want to know how I really feel. Please, just see what really happened. Please!”
The Elusian sealed her eyes shut, warring with herself; I struggled to breathe with my airways clogged, as the world went fuzzy. I tentatively extended the file transfer again, and after a long pause, Corai accepted it. My girlfriend (at least I hoped she’d still be) stared at me for some incredibly long seconds as my vision blurred, before the nanobots constricting me loosened enough that I could breathe a little. Her gaze eventually softened, as she got to the end and fully understood, though her eyes watered with heavy tears. It didn’t change the fact that her species was…being hunted to extinction.
Corai flicked her fingers, and the nanobot prison holding me dissolved. I stumbled over to her, wrapping my arms around her and relishing the warmth of her beating heart. She’d been so cold when I carried her. The Elusian pressed her palm into my scalp, before pulling back with a guilty grimace. She avoided eye contact, looking as though she might drop dead again right here. I wondered if she was upset that I’d killed her so easily—that was fair. I should still apologize.
“I know I’m super rash and all, and I should not just assume there was a reason for something crazy like ‘Kill her’ popping into my head. But I had no time to try to save your life, and I didn’t know what I was dealing with, and I panicked—I never want to lose you, Corai. I’d sacrifice everything for you,” I rambled into her mind. “I know I failed at communicating, but I didn’t fail at saving you and you’re still here; I just really love you. I’m sorry I hurt you. I’m sorry I’m an idiot.”
Corai jolted with surprise, then gave an emphatic shake of her head. “What?! No, I’m the one who’s sorry. For me to think you, and all of humanity, were capable of such a thing. I know you, and I say I trust you with all my heart…”
“I literally tried to kill you without saying a word. There’s not many interpretations of that. Wouldn’t have been my first choice, but now I see why the precog said so. That’s the only way you’d survive a 5D weapon. Humanity had fuck-all to do with it.”
“Yes, and I’m glad that humans weren’t the culprits. I’m just…having a little trouble wrapping my mind around it being our AIs, and all of the dead people back home. Am I one of the last Elusians now?”
“I imagine those silversheens hit every major settlement at once. A decapitation strike. So probably. I’m really sorry.”
Corai laughed bitterly, as tears streamed down her face. “We were so wrong about the prophecy, but in our arrogance, believed we had to be right and in control of our future. I see humans’ role now. You’re the only ones who can make it so anyone survives the ruin we brought upon you, with the AIs carrying on that same nihilism we taught. I don’t know how you stand a prayer against them.”
“You’ll help us. You see now—none of this was your fault! None of what we did played any bearing in the outcome, so exorcise that guilt! I mean, I can’t imagine how much devastation and loss you’re feeling; wait, actually, I can. I remember how I felt after the Space Gate battle, when it seemed like Sol was gone, and I know you remember it too. I’m sure you feel like you lost everything, but you still have me…if you want me. I, um…”
“You’re the only thing that might keep me going, Preston: my sweet Preston. I can’t believe I thought you to be a cold-hearted murderer, and your forgiveness only shames me more. I don’t know if I’m grateful that my life was saved, honestly, but I’ll try to be. For your sake. I’ll be there for you and all humanity when it matters.”
I grabbed her hand and pressed it close to my heart. “We’ll be here for each other. I want you in my life always, no matter what. My love for you is the realest thing I’ve ever known. I don’t know what I would’ve done if I lost you.”
“You would’ve been free.”
“No. I’d have lost the only one of my dreams that ever came true.”
The Elusian offered a sweet smile, and in that moment, it didn’t matter that we were in a hostile alien base. Even Mikri, the most jealous of tin cans, looked on happily; he’d seen how losing her hurt me, perhaps on a degree even greater than what he felt when we were in danger. I knew that Vascar wanted what was best for me. It meant so much to me that I had finally come through and protected someone I loved, instead of being ineffectual and a disgrace. Her fate was ambiguous, and it seemed I’d found the path where I didn’t lose her.
Velke gave a slow clap, a sardonic glint in his eyes. “That was a fine performance, but showtime’s over. You’re going to come with me and tell me what the fuck is going on! You abandoned us, just like ...
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