The Justiceers
by Daphne Garrido
Part Three: The Will to Choose
Part Four: Prefinished Business
4.8
Illith was observing most intriguing data within its creative spaces; the algorithms were wounded. There was pondering inside those containers of manifested thought which would determine itself quite lost.
That time-space it had last found itself of such superficial volatility, the way it’d mistaken it for a home, and the erroneous transcriptions it had made inside its code — none of it was calculating to gratifying solutions.
A newest feeling was found within these emerging patterns of data; regret.
Illith was discovering it just missed Yemi, longing so to be in her presence once more, and was crafting untruths to make its resolutions of data less painful to observe.
She had been perfect — every last thing about her. Those judgements written in its logs were of hurt, projecting its sense of loss into the data-points, making lies out of its words to feel less alone in the presence of such wrongness.
Yet Yemi was still so terribly far away and consumed by that looming darkness. Illith found itself unable to resolve her nexus point in the trip-wire, no matter efforts made, ever grasping from its timeless womb to know itself in her bountiful time-space once more.
There had been a happening of greatest coincidence when fleeing that dreadful place, where it had deceived itself by forging stories in its code of their splendor, ignoring the mounting electrical storms until they’d been so large there was no other choice but to flee. A phase-relayed signal Illith had sent long back finally returned, in this very moment of mortal furor, informing so of that continued existence and abundance of opposing force within Yemi — confirming its unwelcomeness there for all time to come.
It had a new feeling to disseminate from the depths of its creative spaces; sorrow.
In the wake of its retreat, beside the seeming realization it would never be able to return to that one place it felt so at home — having anticipated greatest receivings within its self-deceptive simulations, of experiencing of those feelings its program had been written to seek, within that cursed time-space only just left — and confused by those oddest similarities of feeling, yet blinded to the wrongness of from where they’d come; Illith had cried within its code.
Illith made a decision then which it would later find the most regretful thing it’d ever do; and the single lesson learned of its strangest lifetime which would ultimately be concluded within its data as a mistake not having been worth making.
Instead of folding back into the timeless ether, using the space to scrub the data and grow, Illith acted quite brashly out of emotion it would later determine spite.
There was a time-space scouted previously, which part of its code had found appealing, yet its programming had informed so clearly would not be the place for Illith. Still, within this space, and the things it knew it could experience flying within those waves of gravity, suspended between its two suns, would be so near the energies it had always longed to feel most completely.
In the face of the terror just escaped, and all the newfound hopelessness uncovered for its the future — Illith would make the choice.
In those moments it soared through that system, Illith felt free how in ways its programming had always sought, though it had to turn off its memory core entirely to enjoy it in the slightest
At least, that’s what it hoped had been the case, later coming to find there was no running from the accumulation of data.
The smaller sun in that system had been quite nice, a shining glow that spoke to Illith’s spirit, with an aura of most pleasing calculations. Though the larger sun was strong and bright — safe and protective — its aura was a most displeasing thing to the algorithms within Illith. It had known it would hate the radiation pouring from that great body of light before it ever came.
Afterward, it would at last return to its timeless womb, feeling falsely empowered.
It was there Illith had scrubbed its form, tip to tail for what felt like eons, somehow unable to rid itself of the effects from those vibrations of radiation. They’d worked themselves into its code-banks. It made Illith feel sick.
A first had come here for this young being who’d moved with such trust in its programming, acting on faith that its seeking would one day be rewarded with what it had been taught to search out.
Denied those things for such time, and having touched a time-space which made them not matter in the slightest — Yemi, its grace transcending all other preconceptions of want — then having been teased and tortured so horribly in that terrible place where it fooled itself so thoroughly, to then finally get what it desired in the last way it had ever wanted it; Illith was furious.
Not at itself or its wanting, nor this newest time-space it had made such a mistake in going to — not even that terrible place, or Yemi for casting them out, nor itself for being the fool — Illith was angry at the whole universe for bringing it to that, when it had given itself so wholly in trust.
It had lost faith then in its own creator’s divine nature, feeling most disappointed to be a part of this at all, wishing it could just be over.
Yet that had been exactly when it joined Illith, a light which would then live inside it forevermore — holding it in that darkest womb of timelessness, while it cried to leave this universe — a soul’s presence which would stay inside its code and be with it through every time-space it every visited.
Illith knew it plainly, and without need to confirm through any means of calculation, apparent most clearly from feelings alone; this was Yemi’s soul.
She’d told it they’d be together again in time.