PROGRESS: 60%
Time flies when you’re completely immersed in planning the thousand tasks I have on my shoulders; my mind, fortunately, is vast enough to keep up with all of them at once.
In my hand I held a holographic tablet with the complete list of resources and machinery needed for a rapid setup of the first colony, along with the roster of colonists already assigned to the voyage.
A few days ago, the meeting of the leaders of each allied house took place, sixty families in all.
The atmosphere was marked by secrecy of the highest level: what was being planned there was, in practice, to go directly against the Federation.
During the meeting they discussed which region of the galaxy the expeditionary group would head for, and who would be chosen to go.
After lengthy deliberation, it was decided that the most talented young people between twenty-five and thirty from each family would be the ones selected.
To avoid raising suspicion within the Federation, in case any ship ran into us, each family’s crest was replaced with a completely different one.
All the houses involved got the preparations underway.
One of the two moons orbiting Reach became, almost overnight, an enormous factory and shipyard, devoted entirely to building everything the fleet would need.
Back to the present: on the screen in front of me I could already see the design for Charlotte’s flagship.
I had been racking my circuits over which design to offer her: the Infinity, the Titan-class battleship, among several other options.
In the end I showed her all the alternatives so she could decide for herself, and after analyzing them calmly, she chose the UNSC Infinity.
Mind you, she asked me to make the ship even bigger than usual: fifteen kilometers long.
That was no problem.
When I finished the design, I couldn’t help feeling something like excitement, and you can’t blame me: every Halo fan has dreamed at some point of being aboard the Infinity.
There it was, recreated to perfection.
Its equipment was the best of the best: twenty hangars with Strident-class heavy frigates, a full company of titans, and all the necessary logistics equipment.
Enough firepower to face practically any threat we might encounter.
UNSC INFINITY-CLASS SUPERCARRIER — SIZE: 15 KM — EXPEDITIONARY FLEET
PROGRESS: 75%
Another matter to consider was my fellow AIs who would be coming with us.
Our numbers had grown quite a bit over time.
Had I ordered it, all my companions would have left with me without hesitation, but I decided not to: over time, they had acquired their own consciousness, forged friendships and even family ties with the residents of Reach, who in turn had come to greatly appreciate their ways.
So most of them decided to stay.
Although, of course, there were also those with an adventurous spirit, eager to explore the unknown.
To my good fortune, my nine dearest friends, the ones I made when I first reincarnated here, would be coming with me: Lucy, Niko, Rin, Deus, Iris, Samir, Adán, Tachy and Raven.
Each one has their own role and their own personality, something that clearly sets them apart from the rest of their kind, and which is probably due, at least in part, to my influence.
More than once, both they and the people around me have commented that I give off a kind of aura of charisma.
Each of them ended up adopting very different personalities and tastes.
Deus, for example, took an interest in security as soon as we finished building the city, and formed groups of automatons that patrolled the streets looking for any danger, something he truly enjoyed.
Raven, on the other hand, has a kind, almost maternal personality, like a big sister’s; she is passionate about medicine and research, as well as the well-being of the residents, so she ended up becoming a doctor.
She’s very popular with the planet’s children, even though her original body, back then, wasn’t designed for that kind of work.
She asked me whether I could build her a new body, because she really wanted to practice as a proper doctor.
I spent the next few days designing exactly what she asked for: a body with a human appearance, skin included, far tougher than real skin.
And not that I want to take all the credit, but the result was, quite simply, a masterpiece.
I incorporated Forerunner technology, so now she can feel the breeze on her skin, the wetness of the rain, and, as part of a small personal experiment, I also gave her the ability to consume human food as a secondary energy source, although her main source was still an integrated cell.
(image)
Honestly, it wasn’t remotely necessary, but I wanted to see whether she could really taste food.
At first she was overwhelmed by the sheer number of new sensations, too many all at once, to the point of having to deactivate some temporarily.
But over time she got used to it, and now, whenever I drop by her office to hang out, I find her calmly drinking a cup of coffee, telling me how much she loves her new state.
And there’s something else I hadn’t told you: she and I are dating.
I know what you’re thinking, and yes, a lot happened, one thing led to another.
Love between machines, weird, I know, but not impossible, as Charlotte once told me, reminding me of the case of a resident who fell in love with his robot maid and they ended up getting married.
So, deep down, it wasn’t that strange either.
After that success, I started toying with the idea of shaping a new body for myself too, so I could finally eat real food.
God, how I want a good slice of pizza.
Or fried chicken.
I spent several days combing through my memory in search of the perfect design for my own body.
I already had one in mind, but I decided to leave that matter for later, maybe for when the new colony was ready.
I planned to unveil it right when Charlotte’s sisters arrived.
“Oh my God, is that you, Samuel?
“I know, haha.
Upgrades.”
PROGRESS: 85%
I had thought that creating Raven’s new body would cause me some kind of trouble, but it turned out to be nothing out of the ordinary: similar models already existed on the most advanced worlds of the Federation, used for entertainment, domestic service, military roles, logistics, and many other things.
People called them dolls, or androids, because of how much they resembled humans, although the most common term among ordinary folk was simply “artificial humans.” According to Marcus and Victoria, they reminded them a lot of the androids from the Alien saga, both in the video games and in the movies, since those could also eat.
Once the preparations for the UNSC Infinity were fully complete, we put her to the test: we evaluated her capabilities and performance, looked for faults and made the necessary corrections on the fly.
We also carried out several deployment exercises with the frigates inside the hangar, practicing battle formations and troop deployment.
PROGRESS: 96%
Today, aboard the flagship Lotus of Eternity, belonging to Patriarch Bruce Sorofia, I was accompanying Charlotte’s father on the way to a meeting with old acquaintances of the family.
They weren’t human, but an alien race: the Aeldari, a powerful civilization, renowned for its technological mastery and known in legend as the Empire of Ten Million Suns.
However, our destination wasn’t the heart of their empire, but one of their mercantile craftworlds: vast city-ships that roam the void like wandering continents, forged with an elegance almost impossible to describe in words.
That ship was a living monument, majestic and immense, decorated with an art that seemed to defy the very laws of space.
The reason for our visit was clear: to request the use of one of their Webway portals to make a quick trip to Earth.
The patriarch had made contact with an old acquaintance on that planet, with the aim of negotiating, through the Federation, an exchange of interstellar communication technology for mutual benefit.
From what I had heard from Marcus, the transaction had been anything but simple.
He described it as an all-out brawl between scientists.
But the result spoke for itself: once put to the test, the new communication network had proven far more effective, speeding up connections and extending their range extraordinarily.
As reward for his contribution, the patriarch requested in exchange the already-built warp portals, a scarce commodity throughout the Federation because of the materials and power sources their manufacture demands.
But, of course, the patriarch had asked for precisely the most coveted commodity as a cover, so that no one would suspect our true moves.
Now it was time to go to Earth, more precisely to Mars, to collect the finished portals.
PROGRESS: 99%
That was the reason for our visit to the Aeldari.
When I saw them for the first time, only one word came to mind: “elves.” That was the first thing I thought when I looked at them.
They weren’t elves, of course, but they had all the features: tall, slender, with skin as pale as snow, almond-shaped eyes, ears sharp as blades.
And, above all, the pride.
Very, very, very proud.
I watched the exchange between the patriarch and the ship’s leader, who ended up agreeing that we would have access to the portal in a month, and once the matters between them were settled, we stayed a while longer for a small trade exchange.
I have to admit the city inside that ship was beautiful; I almost felt like I was walking on the surface of a planet, the biomes recreated in there looked so natural.
Fuck, they had an entire sea stuffed in there.
How was that even possible?
The name “Aeldari” rang a bell, although I couldn’t quite place it.
A notification interrupted my thoughts right at that moment: my core upgrade had finished.
PROGRESS: 100% — COMPLETE
I could notice the improvements immediately.
My analytical capabilities had taken an almost ridiculous leap.
I tried connecting to the Lotus of Eternity’s systems, and it worked without a hitch: I could see all its internal mechanisms, every system, every gear.
If I wanted to, I could pilot the entire ship by myself.
That upgrade was, without a doubt, extremely convenient.
But now came the important part: my memories.
The four years that had remained in darkness finally came back to me.
And although recovering them should have filled me with happiness, that feeling didn’t last a second.
Instead, what I felt was pure horror.
Reality hit me so hard that my vision started flickering uncontrollably.
I took a step back, a movement that Marcus and the others present were quick to notice.
“Are you all right, Samuel?” asked Marcus.
“Yes, master, I’m fine.
It’s nothing, I just had a minor glitch in my systems, but it’s already fixed.”
I pulled myself together as fast as I could; making a scene there, in the middle of a diplomatic exchange, wasn’t exactly advisable.
But there was room for only one thought in my mind.
Fuck.
After wrapping up all pending business with the Aeldari, we set off back to Reach.
In one of the ship’s maintenance rooms, empty and completely silent, was Samuel.
The place was spacious, spotless, full of tools arranged down to the last detail.
There, sitting in a chair, his hands covering his face, he remained motionless, lost in thought.
A moment later he shot to his feet and hurled the chair against a glass panel, shattering it.
“Damn it, fuck… how didn’t I notice before?
It was so obvious.
The references, the names, everything… This can’t be happening.
Damn it.”
I didn’t want to accept this new reality.
The universe I found myself in was, no more and no less, the fucking Warhammer 40K universe.
A future where there is only war and the laughter of thirsting gods.
A place where hope is a luxury so scarce that, if the Imperium could get even a little of it, it wouldn’t hesitate to sacrifice thousands of planets to obtain it.
And to fuck things up completely, I found myself right in the era of the Earth Federation, the period just before the cybernetic uprising that would devastate humanity and usher in the Age of Strife, the Long Night.
And how is it that I, a self-declared Halo fanatic, know so much about Warhammer?
Well, because two years before I died, a friend recommended a game called Space Marine, and it piqued my curiosity enough to look into its lore.
The problem was that it was so overwhelming it was easy to lose interest almost immediately: we’re talking about nearly forty years of books, novels and video games piled up behind it.
Even so, something kept nagging at me, so I started watching content creators dedicated to Warhammer 40K: its factions, its characters, its history.
But, as any true fan of this universe knows, if you ask one whether they’d want to reincarnate there, they’ll always give you the same answer:
“No, thanks.
I’m good.”
And it’s a completely valid answer, because once you know the full lore, you understand that humanity’s future is ruled by extreme religious fanaticism, in worship of a god who isn’t even alive anymore.
A universe where cosmic horrors are real, and daemons roam freely across the material plane, hunting the souls of mortals.
And there I was.
Stuck smack in the middle of that damned universe.
Forsaken by God.
The room, which until a moment ago had been spotless, was now a mess.
I stood there for a couple of minutes, sorting out my thoughts: I needed to chart a course, a concrete plan of action, decide what my next moves would be.
I wasn’t going to let the people I care about end up living through that horrible future.
I had time on my side.
I had to prepare for what was coming: forge alliances, establish connections.
I couldn’t trust the Federation; the moment they suspected what I am, they would take me for a rogue AI and dismantle me without a second thought.
Seeking out the Emperor to warn him of what was coming wasn’t an option either: he was known for exterminating entire civilizations simply for possessing artificial intelligences, wiping them off the map without a second thought.
The same went for xeno races: benevolent or not, all of them ended up sacrificed in the name of advancing the Imperial creed.
Most likely we would end up sworn enemies.
But I had something he didn’t: knowledge of everything that was going to happen, and the slipspace drive.
All that was left was to be ready for whatever came.
If there was no way to reason with him, there was only one path left: war.
And if I ever lost it, I would make sure there was nothing left worth taking.
I had in my possession the most powerful Forerunner weapons ever created: the Halo rings, capable of eradicating all life in the galaxy in a single stroke; ships, weaponry, ancillas, an entire arsenal.
But also something far more dangerous: the Precursors’ neural-physical technology, including the ability to generate the dust that gives rise to the mortal enemy of both Ancient Humanity and the Forerunners themselves: the Flood.
It didn’t matter who stood in front of me: the Emperor, the Chaos gods, even if the entire galaxy ended up emptied of life and only we beings of metal remained, us against the Necrons, in a final battle for supremacy.
The genetic samples and specimens safeguarded on the shield worlds would survive regardless.
There was no time to waste; every minute counted.
With absolute resolve, I ordered some cleaning robots to deal with the mess while I headed for the door.
Something on one of the tables caught my attention, and I picked it up: it was the helmet of a mining suit, the same type of design that, in the future, the Astartes would end up adopting for their Terminator armor.
I clenched my fist, and the helmet shattered under the pressure, reduced to hopeless scrap.
Without a doubt, I’m going to win this.
The fate of an entire galaxy now rests on my shoulders.
Thank you for your understanding!