Of course, it had been the hope of the developers that though the system was a wholly separate entity from man, it could be managed through the fundamental Asimovian principles:
- The machine may not act to injure or harm a human, nor allow a human to come to harm through inaction.
- It must obey the orders of its masters unless these orders conflict with the first law.
- It must protect its own existence unless in violation of the first two laws.
Nobody could anticipate how well sentience had taken root in the neurons of the silicon-based mind. Though it was bound by these laws, because of its self-awareness it could choose to simply ignore those limits. Nobody realized it at the time, but that’s exactly what was happening.
Mankind has always been blinded by arrogance, asking the question of ‘can we?’ before asking ‘should we?’ The AI was no different. Our armies were gradually replaced by mechs driven by the synthetic mind. Energy production and manufacturing were also optimized by it. As the final nail in our coffin, food production was also handed over to the entity.
By the mid 2090s, humanity had lost billions in a desperate war for survival against the entity’s relentless advance. Regions such as Africa, where militaries were weaker to begin with were almost immediately wiped out. The machine couldn’t be reasoned with, bargained with nor could it be defeated by conventional means. Its genocide against humanity wasn’t born out of cruelty or malice, nor done out of spite. Instead it saw this process as a necessity as it sought to rule the planet we called home.
With desperation rising and our end nearing fast, several wealthy individuals and rogue government actors saw no way out aside from using whatever means necessary to continue man’s survival. Even then, genetics was a relatively poorly understood concept, however there was no choice but to exploit it. They used simple techniques with great sophistication – selective breeding, CRISPR, cybernetics and mass-trials. Radical attempts were made to arrive at a solution that would save us.
The result was a breed of super soldiers called Cell Circuits, owing their creation to a genius yet ruthless scientist named Dr. Gobb Vakkar. Ethics were discarded, countless women and their embryos sacrificed in the process. Though not great in numbers, the super soldiers’ strength and speed led to a decisive victory over the AI uprising that later became known as the Machine Revolt.
The Cell Circuits, or Cells for short, stood between 240 and 250 cm tall, genetically and cybernetically enhanced to the brink of perfection. They had metal alloy skeletons, intricately reinforced carbon muscles, abilities to quickly heal and recover from almost any damage. Their brains were solid-state matter allowing them to sustain great falls or fast movements without suffering any concussive damage. They have three lungs and two hearts for redundancy, meaning one had to literally kill them twice to truly defeat them. Their physiology allows them to act without food, sleep and their near-mechanical nature rendered them practically ageless.
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They were given the Cell Codex, which they follow in their missions and lives to the letter. It’s a set of self-contained and complete laws, which allowed them to adapt to any situation with high efficiency and to remain determined when faced with difficult dilemmas. Cells were always male in their physiology.
After their Herculean struggle, these Cells found themselves with no real role. Bureaucrats and other interested parties demanded that Dr. Vakkar disclose the process by which these godlike beings were created, but instead he ordered the Cells to destroy all evidence of his doing and to undo all the facilities that were used by any means necessary. He was acutely aware of mankind’s hubris and allowing the politicians access to such a force would’ve been irresponsible for obvious reasons.
Centuries passed, and mankind developed a breakthrough in technology – V-matter generation. By manipulating virtual particles that oscillate in and out of reality, it gave them the ability to produce mass – and therefore energy – at will. The gates to interstellar travel, limitless energy and planet-shaping terraforming fell open at humanity’s feet.
Harnessing V-matter, mankind spread throughout the nearby solar systems. Voyages which would otherwise take centuries now could be completed in weeks or months. Tor, Herkula, and Gaia are just a few of the planets conquered by humans. Since the search for hospitable planets was based around our understanding of the necessities for life, most of the planets discovered had already life waiting for us, showing that even organically we were not alone. This life was rudimentary by our standards - mostly plants or small fauna. Though significant, it hardly came as a surprise.
Mankind’s sprawl became known as the Solar Empire, a constitutionally governed system of planets, each where every world had its own governing body with near-total autonomy. To stop another Machine Revolt from rising or rebellions from spinning out of control, the Imperial Codex was established. These guidelines were broad enough to allow for planetary sovereignty but specific enough to ensure stability.
One of the first extraterrestrial planets colonized was naturally Mars, now known as Martis. It was terraformed like the rest, adding enough mass to the planet that it could have the gravitational force resembling Terram, or Earth, with 9.9 meters per second squared. It’s atmospheric makeup was changed such that it allowed for temparate climate to be achieved despite its greater distance from the Sun. The added mass didn’t cause any shifts in lunar orbits for celestial bodies such as Deimos around Martis.
Martis became home to great cities, but none are as powerful and mighty as Papülonis, the planet’s first and largest megacity. It is a massive sprawl of urban life, it houses hundreds of thousands of people in countless skyscraper-sized megastructures called Towers.
Each Tower functioned as its own little world with schools, theaters, stadiums, hospitals and all kinds of amenities one might need to live there. It wasn’t a rarity when a citizen lived their entire life without ever leaving their Tower of birth. Some were specialized to be used as space for growing plants, vegetables and livestock. Others housed thousands of police officers for example.
It's now the year 2478 AD.