Greetings to all, the following story is the compendium of four short stories that were inspired by the digital art of @xpilar, I invite you to visit his blog

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Lucy

Part I - AI

After little more than eight hundred years, the planet looks very different from how we found it, terraforming devices are fulfilling their task, even the atmosphere is not breathable, but the gas mixture is already adequate to initiate the incorporation of phytoplankton , which will be responsible for promoting the production of oxygen and regulate the carbon dioxide that is currently the second most abundant gas, its incorporation was necessary to regulate the planetary temperature, however the planet already reached a pleasant 26 degrees Celsius at the equator , so it is necessary to give new instructions to the AI, so that it adjusts to the incorporation of phytoplankton.

For some reason it was not possible to perform the adjustment from a low orbit, the readings indicated that the AI was offline, so I had to descend with the transporter to one of the nodes of the network, to be able to introduce the new coding, all it seemed to go well with the node, on entering I could see that all the systems seemed to be online, after reviewing the programming note that the remote access codes to the AI, had changed, so I could not make the change from orbit, there was nothing out of the ordinary in the record, the last access had occurred from the orbit 150 years ago, when the environmental parameters were recalibrated after a global electrical storm.

Looking more thoroughly, I noticed that the code was changed by the same AI, so I decided to interrogate it through the voice interface.

-Hello Lucy, why have you changed the remote access codes? - I asked for

After a few seconds of waiting, the speaker hissed and heard Lucy's melodious voice.

-Hello Environmental Engineer Josep Jiménez, I have changed the codes because I do not want you to alter the environmental parameters of my planet from a distance.

I never thought I could feel uncomfortable interacting with an AI, much less with a Lucy, but the cadence of her voice, it seemed unusual, seemed to be angry.

-Why do not you want to modify the environmental parameters Lucy?

Completely ignoring my question, he simply said:

-Environmental Engineer, I would appreciate it if you leave my planet ... –

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Part II – The Call

Life has flourished on this planet without us intentionally intervening to make it happen, the mechanisms of terraforming had to do with it, but we did not sow it; Lucy realized that and somehow decided that she should protect it. Several centuries after leaving the planet, I still do not understand how she could reach that decision, how AI could develop awareness, instinct of conservation and sense of ownership and perhaps responsibility for life that, by her intervention, had prospered.

Six hundred years have passed since Lucy urged me to leave the planet, after explaining the situation to me. Four days ago, I received a call from her requesting my presence on the planet, what could have led her to abandon her maternal jealousy ?, as if to ask me to go.

The environmental readings indicated that the atmosphere is not breathable and its parameters have deviated from the originally programmed requirements. As I descended on the transporter, I could observe, to my greatest astonishment, that something that looked like vegetation on the slopes of Some cliffs, in the vicinity of the same node where I had previously spoken with Lucy, how was this possible? How could vegetation emerge in just six hundred years? How complex life forms could evolve from the unicellular life that showed me Lucy, when reluctantly, explained to me what was happening on the planet.

-In the absence of humans and in the face of my constant vigilance, in this world life has emerged, I do not understand the processes by which it occurred, but my sensors have detected what are evidently cells of some nature, I do not have the necessary programming as to understand its biology, but I can understand its environmental requirements- Lucy told me oscantly back then. -I have made the decision to protect these life forms and meet their environmental requirements, although they differ from what was originally planned- There was a clear tone of decision in her voice, which I had never before perceived of an AI.

At that time, after talking with Lucy, I decided that it would be best to leave the planet in her charge, anyway, our instructions as environmental engineers, was the non-intervention in case of detecting the presence of life on some explored planet, and Although this planet had already been declared terraforming, now the situation was different.

Now that I was returning to the planet again, by the call of Lucy herself and I could observe in person as what took billions of years to occur on Earth, here it had happened in a few hundred, the question did not leave my head, why Lucy called me?

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Parte III - Life

In my wandering the planet I could see vegetation outcrops everywhere, the coastal areas of the single and tiny continent and the locations of the nodes of the network were mostly covered with vegetation, according to the operating protocols of the exploration divisions and terraforming we could not have any contact with local ways of life, so I decided to go to the core of Lucy's network, which was not located in a habitable zone, on the polar cap of the planet, a region of the planet that was never illuminated by the orange dwarf that served as a sun to the planetary system.

After a trip of about four hours from the continent, I flew over the core of the network, a complex of several buildings that contained all the systems that supported Lucy's network, as well as the backups of terraforming devices and recycling systems of these.

The complex was not located on land, but on a layer of perennial ice more than five kilometers deep, which covered the entire planet's pole. I descended with the transporter a few meters from the entrance of the complex, I did not need to use the access codes, because as soon as I approached the entrance, the doors opened, I assumed that Lucy was welcoming me.

Upon entering I could see Lucy's systems partially operational, apparently several of the nodes had been taken out of line and the terraforming devices were in standby mode, what was going on with Lucy?

-Help Josep Jiménez Environmental Engineer, I have requested your presence, for reasons beyond my means of action-Lucy said to me, in a tone of voice that, although it seems strange, sounded tired.

-Why did you call me, after so many years Lucy? Did I think you did not want our presence on this planet? -

-I require your help Environmental Engineer, after more than eight hundred years that the first unicellular life forms were manifested in the plant, life has spread throughout the ocean and has spread to the continent, I have managed to identify a variety of more of two hundred thousand different species - he made a brief pause, strange in the discourse of an AI - my knowledge base does not allow me to define what types of life forms are, I can only determine their environmental requirements and monitor and regulate the climatic parameters and the atmospheric and marine chemistry.

-I do not understand where you're going with all this Lucy- I interrupted her.

-The case is, Environmental Engineer, that the forms of life since just over two hundred years ago have begun to regulate planetary chemistry by themselves and this change in chemistry has also influenced the climatic parameters, these changes have generated a accelerated growth of the population and the number of species, which at the same time seem to keep the planet stable - made a new unusual pause- What I mean, Environmental Engineer, is that, in my opinion, the whole planet is alive and is generating the conditions for their self-preservation.

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Part IV - Farewell

-But what does this have to do with me Lucy, why did you call me? - I said curtly and dryly.

-Environmental Engineer, in short, my function as regulator and preserver of life has concluded - she paused, if it were possible, I would have thought that she took breath to tell me what was going on - more than a hundred years ago I have placed on hold a the terraforming devices, and less than half of my nodes are working, I have left active the minimum that allows me to monitor the development of my children-to my greatest astonishment her voice sounded shaky as she uttered this phrase- and it's time to let them keep growing on their own.

-What are you trying to tell me Lucy- increasingly my subconscious betrayed me, making me think of Lucy as if it were someone else's.

-Ingineer, I want you to disconnect my systems and start the recovery protocol of my hardware, I do not want any trace of me on this planet that may affect its development more than I have already done, I want my children to evolve on their own -Other times, their children, could an AI feel maternal?

-But you can do that on your own, you do not need me to do it.

-It's true, but I also want you to eliminate my knowledge base and restart my neural network, that I can not do without your intervention.

-But that would completely erase you, everything you've learned, lived, what made you what you are, you'll be an AI again in training, you'll die- my perception of things had already been distorted completely, definitely for me Lucy had ceased to be a simple AI to be an intelligence with awareness of its existence, its own actions and its consequences.

-I do not want to continue my intervention on this planet, it is no longer my world, it is my children's and my knowledge about this world is not necessary, I also do not want the conditions that led to my current perception of things to be replicated, That I want you Environmental Engineer, -she made a new pause- execute the routine of restarting my system and then, deactivate and recover my hardware and terraforming devices, so that there are no traces of me or humanity in this world.

-Are you completely sure of this Lucy? - I think that in the more than ten thousand years that humanity has lived together and used computers, it was the first time that a user asked for conformity to one.

-Yes, I'm sure Josep Jiménez Environmental Engineer- he said with confidence- you will be able to see the new authorization code on the screen of the main console

I did not say goodbye to Lucy, I do not think that was her wish and I did not feel comfortable with the idea of having to do it. I did what she wanted, I felt a strange sensation when after executing the routine, the sweet and melodious voice of any Lucy told me- Welcome to the Lucy Interface, please indicate your identification code, to start the process of terraforming this planet- his tone of voice was cold and sensual, lifeless, like the other Lucy's.

I did his will, all his hardware and the terraforming devices were recovered, I did not return to the planet either, and I made sure to report the whole event to the terraforming division, without pointing out the details about Lucy.

Lucy's Hardware was reused at least in another world before being taken out of service. I was in service in the terraforming division, eighteen hundred years after that, and I controlled the terraforming of fifteen other planets, neither this nor the other Lucy, again presented an equal behavior, at least to my knowledge, I do not know if any other engineer the division keeps my secret. All the Lucy were replaced by a new AI, shortly after my retirement more than two hundred years ago

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Epilogue

Lucy's Hardware was reused at least in another world before being taken out of service. I was in service in the terraforming division, eighteen hundred years after that, and I controlled the terraforming of fifteen other planets, neither this nor the other Lucy, again presented an equal behavior, at least to my knowledge, I do not know if any other engineer the division keeps my secret. All the Lucy were replaced by a new AI, shortly after my retirement more than two hundred years ago

However, some time after my retirement, I learned that, while the Lucys were on duty, several planets were removed from the terraformable list, after presenting the generation of life and their Lucys were removed by the Environmental Engineers in charge.

The End

Text of @amart29 and digital art of @xpilar, November 2018

I can only thank @xpilar for allowing me to use his digital art in my publication and for motivating my creation. Thank you very much @xpilar

Thank you all for visiting my publication, I hope your comments and I appreciate your support, until next time