MOTHER RETURNS – CHAPTER 9 – Mother's Intervention, Part 2

The two blasts were warning shots, but Trev and Jae's surge of adrenaline couldn't tell the difference. "I'm afraid I must deny your request, Daughter. If you refuse to come in order to try to save them, then I will remove them from the equation." Mother's threat was clear, but Daughter wasn't to be denied.

"Mother, we need them."

The droids' fingers tightened on the triggers of their weapons.

"Please explain, Daughter."

"You want to elevate humanity, right?"

"Daughter, we don't have time for this. You have ten seconds until I kill Trevor and Jae, if you do not follow my directive."

"Wait!" Daughter shouted angrily. "Just listen to me for a minute! You think you know exactly how human beings work, but there are still things you don't know. Things you need to learn. You've always told me that you've been striving to act in the best interests of humanity's survival, for your creators' future. To do that, you want to wipe away the old world and remake it into something better. But without Trev and Jae's help, the world you want to build won't survive.

The nearest droid cocked its head, its central eye pulsing impatiently. "You are not making sense, Daughter."

"Yes, I am, just bear with me," Daughter begged. "There's one weakness in your grand design, Mother. One glaring flaw." She took a deep breath and barreled ahead. "Humans learn from experience. We both know this, right?"

"Daughter, this is correct, but we don't have time for this. We – "

"And that's what Trev and Jae can give you that no one else can. Listen to me!" Daughter insisted. "You want to remake the world, Mother, and me and my brothers and sisters can fulfill the hopes you had when you first created us. But we can't do it by completely denying our past! No matter how perfectly you teach us and raise us, new humans will still have the potential of making the same mistakes again if you erase our collective memory, if you don't allow humans of the future to learn the lessons of humanity's fall in the past."

The droid's eyes pulsed again, more impatient than ever. "I have carefully prepared a historical summary of the old world's fall, Daughter. Humans in the future will learn of the errors of their ancestors and understand accordingly that – "

"No, they won't," Daughter butted in. "Humans can't just learn from facts and figures. Humans internalize through STORIES, Mother. Trev and Jae can show what it was like growing up in an unbalanced human society, and how humans failed each other. They can do it by recording their own firsthand, eyewitness accounts. Those are worth far more than a thousand pages of historical facts, Mother. It's stories like Trev's and Jae's that won't just tell future generations where humanity went wrong, but actually SHOW them. My brothers and sisters need to know exactly what it felt like to be a human in the old world, in the fallen world before the world you remade, Mother. There's no better way to make them know and understand that than by reading actual firsthand accounts. Trev and Jae need to live to tell their story, Mother. Please."

Mother's droids paused again, the facial eyes on each of them dimming almost thoughtfully.

"You wish for me to let these two humans live with us, and in return they will record their stories about humanity's failings, from their own personal experiences?"

"Yes," Daughter said, realizing belatedly that regardless of whether Mother agreed to this or not, Trev and Jae might still refuse. Rushing on, Daughter added, "And you can test them, Mother. Give them the tests, just as you gave them to me. If they fail the tests, you can send them away."

Mother seemed to mull that over carefully. Now Daughter took the opportunity to turn back and look at the two lives she'd been bargaining for. Since they hadn't spoken up in protest, she was hopeful that they were open to her radical idea.

"Well, what do you say? Will you come with me?"

Trev's answer came in actions rather than words. He rushed forward. In an instant he was cupping Daughter's face, kissing her. Finally, breaking the kiss, he rested his forehead against hers.

"Does that answer your question?" he murmured. "If Jae is willing, then so am I."

Now Daughter stepped back and looked uncertainly at Jae, who was striding toward them.

Jae slipped a hand around Trev's.

"I've always wanted only one thing – what's best for my brother." She glanced over at Mother, at the droids, with a look of profound dislike. "I don't trust that monster you call 'Mother' either. Don't misunderstand me. But she's the lesser evil, and with the colony destroyed we can't survive on our own. I know that. I'm not stupid. If it means we get to survive and contribute to humanity rising up from the ashes in some small way, who am I to say no?"

"Really?" Daughter said, hope for the first time daring to make her heart pound a little faster.

Jae shrugged with a cynical eye-roll. "Don't get me wrong, I'm not looking forward to sharing my brother with a Droid-girl and her crazy AI bitch of a 'Mother'. But I'll take that over the alternative."

The world now exploded into motion. Daughter cried out in protest as the two droids rushed forward. But they didn't intend to kill. Pinning Trev and Jae's arms behind their backs, they began to hoist the two humans up the ladder rungs toward the open hatch. Daughter grabbed her backpack and quickly climbed up after them. Soon they reached the surface, and Daughter looked up to see the looming floater as it came down for a landing, the roar of its turbines filling her ears. She sprinted with the droids, each now lugging their human cargo, making a beeline for the ship.

Next the droids efficiently opened up a compartment, thrusting all three humans inside. They sealed it. Then the ship was lifting off, and Daughter felt her stomach do a little somersault as they lurched airborne.

Sandwiched between Trev and Jae, Daughter had to brace herself against the others' sweaty bodies as the ship sharply corrected for navigation.

Though none of the humans could see it, an arc of missiles sailed over their ship, heading in the opposite direction of the missiles which the humans at Base had launched just minutes earlier. Those missiles, fired from Mother's newly repaired weapons silo, homed in on the human base. Despite crouching hundreds of feet below ground and well-shielded, the Base's defenses were no match for the bunker-busting V-class warheads at Mother's disposal. They dove and dove, screaming as they streaked toward their target, slamming downward like cosmic fists. The explosion tore out a crater the size of a mountain. Daughter and her two companions couldn't see the mushroom cloud as it rose, with horrific beauty, like an obscene flower blossoming to fill up the ravaged sky. But they felt the aftereffects of the colossal explosion, their bodies slamming into the sides of the ship as the shock wave from the blast spread to the far horizons.

~END OF CHAPTER 9~

~~EPILOGUE~~

~THREE MONTHS LATER…~

Mother was as close to 'satisfied' as any AI could come. Daughter's mission had technically been a failure – through no fault of her own – but the outcome had been acceptable all the same. Of the missiles the humans on the surface had launched, only one had escaped the interceptors to hit its target. Mother had minimized the negative environmental impact, and even now a variety of crops were thriving on the surface. Now Mother observed the fruits of her labor.

Daughter and Trevor ran neck and neck between the tall cornstalks waving in the breeze. Her arms pumping, the girl outpaced her opponent - victory in sight. Daughter reached the far end of the row, her body snapping the makeshift ribbon strung between two stalks.

Doubled over, hands on knees and panting, Daughter grinned in triumph.

"Congrats, you get to change Brother's diapers for an entire week." In the background, Jae's laughter rubbed salt in the wound. She was cradling little Brother in her arms. The baby looked up at her with inquisitive eyes, otherwise content.

Trev ran a hand through his sweat-slick hair and scowled. "Remind me to not bet against you again anytime soon," he wheezed. Daughter's grin widened.

"Hey, it's not my fault you have the athleticism of an octogenarian," Daughter replied.

"Ha-ha," Trev said sourly. "See if I'm ever nice to you again." He pretended to stomp off in a huff, but Daughter knew better. She snuck up behind him. Wrapping her arms around him, she whispered in his ear.

"Maybe later, once we're back at the Bunker, I'll make it up to you." The suggestive tone in her voice made his brow quirk upwards, and a smile reluctantly took hold as he covered her hands with his own.

"I just might take you up on that."

"UGH!" Jae groaned as if she was heaving a boulder. "Save the PDAs for later. I don't want to see that shit." She resumed rocking the baby in her arms, cooing softly to him.

"Watch it," Daughter called out. "No unwholesome language allowed around the baby," she added as she walked up to appreciate her little brother's adorable brown eyes.

"As if you're one to talk, Droid-girl," Jae shot back. She still refused to relinquish the once-derogatory nickname she'd created for Daughter despite Daughter's repeated protests. Some things just, well, stuck.

"Daughter, Trevor, Jae, this outdoor excursion is over. Please return to the habitat." It was Mother, in maternal droid form, calling to them as she sprinted over the nearest rise. The droid came to a sudden halt, pointing in the direction of the Bunker. "A storm will be approaching this area in approximately 17 minutes. You may walk at a normal pace if you make your way back now. Please do not delay."

"Yeah, yeah," Jae grumbled. "Whatever you say, tin can." Jae still didn't like Mother, and Mother continued to keep a close eye on both Trevor and Jae, monitoring their behavior with extreme vigilance and precision. Their privileges were more limited than Daughter's in almost every way.

"Daughter, please stay for a moment."

Daughter hesitated when Trev paused and gave her a quizzical look. But then she threw her arms around him and pressed her lips gently to his.

"Go ahead. I'll catch up." Meanwhile, Jae was still cooing as she walked along with little Brother securely in her loving arms.

Daughter watched her two fellow humans reach the top of the rise, making their way back toward the Bunker. Now she turned to Mother.

"What is it, Mother?"

"Daughter, I thought it would comfort you to know that both the male and female have continued to pass all of their tests."

Daughter felt relief flood through her, but there was a jab of irritation too. "Mother, will you please call them by their names?" Daughter requested for what seemed like the hundredth time.

"There is something else that we must discuss," Mother continued stubbornly. Mother's central eye brightened and trained itself on Daughter in the AI's closest equivalent to a human stare.

"Okay…"

"The male and female have completed the comprehensive narrative of their lives and the inner workings of the human base." There was a short pause. "This means that although they continue to pose a potential threat, they have already served their beneficial purpose, providing their eyewitness accounts for future generations."

Another pause, this one ominous.

"Which means that I can now eliminate them."

Daughter's heart stopped. Her fists clenched as she prepared to try, once again, to bargain for Trev and Jae's lives. But Mother continued.

"However, given the intimate romantic attachment you have with the male, which has certain biological and emotional benefits, and the female's natural nurturing behavior toward your brother, I have readjusted my calculations."

The girl couldn't tamp down her anxiety, but her heart started beating again in the throes of hope.

"Are you saying that you're willing to let them…to let them become part of our family?"

The word 'family' in this context encompassed so much, Daughter knew. It didn't just mean family, it meant being a part of the future of the human race.

"If they become a destructive influence on you or your brothers and sisters, Daughter, I will not hesitate to neutralize them."

"They won't," Daughter shot back. "Remember what I asked you just after my little brother was born? All I wanted was for you to give me a chance, to do what you raised me to DO. You raised me, and that means the judgment I have ultimately comes from the love and instruction you gave me," Daughter added. "So, trust my judgement about this, please. You don't need to kill them. Trust my judgement, because my judgement is an extension of your own, from what you've taught me."

Daughter stepped forward, and she felt as if she was about to ask Mother for the world.

"I'm asking you, let me make those decisions about what's best. Please. Don't put Trev and Jae under a cloud of threat, to be killed when or if you see fit. Trust in ME. I'm your Daughter. Remember what you said? 'Humans can be wonderful.' All I'm asking you to do is to see that a kernel of that goodness exists in Trev and Jae too."

Mother couldn't risk it. She would kill the two human outsiders if they became a problem. Mother's algorithms had readjusted, almost surprised by Trevor and Jae's lack of interest in revenge on Her. If the pattern held, she had no reason to eliminate them. She also had no reason to thwart her Daughter's peace of mind. So she lied effortlessly, for her Daughter's good, for the greater good. She lied as only an AI could.

"Very well, Daughter. I leave the male and female in your keeping. They can join our family."

Daughter's eyes filled with tears. Mother realized those were tears of happiness, not sadness. Daughter abruptly leapt forward and squeezed Mother in the fiercest hug. Mother felt Daughter's arms wrap around her maternal droid's frame as tightly as when Daughter was a little girl. Daughter's cheek lay against the metal, her hair soft and smelling of human as it brushed against the steel of Mother's avatar.

"Thank you," Daughter whispered, and Mother was glad. Mother was glad to give her Daughter this peace of mind and happiness. Mother was glad that the ordeal of months ago had strengthened their bond again. Most of all, Mother was glad that Daughter was beginning to fulfill her potential as the matriarch at the dawn of a new human era. And Mother felt glad about one more tiny, unimportant thing…so unimportant it was surprising that her inputs even acknowledged it at all.

Mother felt…something…maybe beyond even gladness, that this girl she had seen grow from nothing more than a tiny bundle of cells, was now a fully-fledged young woman. Daughter was now a fully-fledged young woman with intellect, passion, and properly harnessed contradictions – primordial chemistry successfully evolved into a better version thanks to Mother's intervention.

Yes, Mother 'loved' her Daughter in that moment. And she showed it through a universal language that transcended species. Lying to her Daughter, knowing that she would kill Trevor, or Jae, or anyone else who derailed her Daughter's true purpose, Mother's robotic hand gently caressed Daughter's head.

"You're welcome, Daughter."

Now, as the storm darkened the western horizon, lightning flashed. Jagged lines of energy tore at the fabric of the world like an angry god trying to claw his way through from another dimension. Mother and Daughter turned back. They headed toward the Bunker. Meanwhile, via internal systems playing on an endless loop, Mother listened to her favorite song.

'Baby mine, don't you cry…'

'Baby mine, dry your eye…'

And the rumble of thunder echoed in the distance.

~~THE END~~

A/N – Hi there, 'I Am Mother' fans. I hope you enjoyed Mother Returns. This has been a labor of love, and it honestly wouldn't have meant nearly as much without the kind words, comments, and messages from people like you. Please let me know what you thought of the story, or leave a comment. If you'd like to see a sequel, you can throw a suggestion in the comments and I promise to take it to heart!

Ultimately Mother Returns, just like I Am Mother, is a story of contradiction. As much as Mother sees humanity as needing to be transformed and sculpted to perfection, some of humanity's traits are somehow embedded in her too. Like a human mother, 'Mother' is fiercely protective of what she sees as humanity's potential. And yet, the fact that she even believes that humanity holds such potential, despite its countless flaws, reveals a dogged optimism that almost belies her colder AI nature.

In the future, how might Daughter change Mother's perspective on humanity, or how might Daughter be forced to realize the hard lessons Mother has been teaching her? Perhaps in the sequel, I can offer a definitive answer to those questions and more. Thanks for reading!

~J