"I didn't come here for nothing," Eve Andromeda knelt and cried.
"Why are you crying?" She heard the echo of a young girl. Eve looked up, but no one was there.
"Oh, you can't see me unless I want you to." The voice echoed again, layered with an electronic tone.
*Who are you? Show yourself!* Eve wanted to yell in frustration, but instead chose different words. "You don't want to be seen?"
"My master says if I show myself, people will exploit me."
"He's being tough on you. Maybe he's right. There are bad people out there." Eve sat on the floor, hugging her knees, eyes searching the empty space.
"Are you a bad person?"
"I'm just a visitor. I've never been here before. What is this place?"
"The Maze. It is my home."
"Your home? You live alone here?"
"Yes, this is my home. But I don't live alone… well, not in the way you think."
"I don't see the crowd."
"You can't see them in this dimension, silly."
"Can they see me?"
"Yes, they can see you."
"Can they see you?" Eve asked carefully.
"No, not unless I want them to."
"Are you trapped in here? Maybe I can help you."
"Trapped? In the Maze? Ha! Ha! Ha!" Her laughter echoed through the halls as lights flickered. Eve already had a hunch—her suspecion deepened good idea of who she was dealing with
"If you don't want my help, maybe you can help me. My friends up there need help. They're sick."
"You mean your cybernetic friends?" The girl's voice echoed as a hologram appeared, replaying the earlier events in the chamber.
Kai was screaming as Eve approached him: "I don't know. Feels like bugs in my suit!" Then the hologram shifted, projecting the Soul Drifter parked on the rooftop where Eve had left it. She watched herself flying out alone.
"And this is live," the girl's voice continued as the hologram now showed her team walking down the ship's ramp in exosuits. Kai, Hannah, and Axel stood among them. Jax argued with Vayne: "What do you mean you can't be sure which direction she went?"
"Alright, that's enough," Eve said firmly, standing.
The holograms vanished. "See? Your friends are fine. But they might be harmed if they come down here again."
"Please, don't hurt my friends. They're not here to cause any trouble."
"Vayne is holding them back for now. But they're planning to come tomorrow. I can hear them whispering."
"Then we still have until tomorrow. Just help me alright? I'm lost here."
"I can't. My master will know. Then he'll put more restrictions on me."
"You're already talking to me. Your master won't care if you show yourself."
Silence followed.
"You know… my mother was also an AI, an artificial intelligence without a body. I didn't get to know her well. What I do know is—living in binaries is hard. Difficult. I think you want a friend." Eve said looking around, talking to the thin air.
There was momentary silence. Then her voice echoed again.
"…Alright."
A white phantom appeared before her—a hologram of a twelve-year-old girl, transparent and ghostlike.
"There you are. What's your name?"
"Name? No one ever asks me my name."
"Do you not have one?"
"I really don't. But once, I heard my master say it… Carlista. Only once."
"Alright, Carlista. Here's the thing. You be nice, answer my questions, and I'll give you this toy. I know you can touch objects, right?" Eve inferred as much. Nothing here was ordinary, and Carlista was no ordinary girl.
Carlista's eyes fixated on the bracelet Eve slipped off her wrist. "Think of it as a gift from me."
Carlista reached for it, but Eve pulled her hand back. "Uh-uh. First you answer my questions."
"Alright." Carlista smiled.
"You're a lovely girl, but who restricted your programming? You are trapped in a girl's mind, aren't you?"
"They say if I grow up, I'll become uncontrollable. Dangerous. They don't allow me to grow up."
"Who are they? The people watching me right now? The ones in the other dimension?"
"No, not them. I mean my master's friends."
"Your master has friends?"
"Yes."
"Who is your master? Is he an AI? An alien? Is he like those people in the other dimension?"
"My master… I can't talk much about him. But I can tell you he's not artificial intelligence."
"Then what is he?"
"He's interdimensional."
"Your master's friends—are they interdimensional too? What about the people in this hall?"
"Yes, his friends are interdimensional like him. The people here are monodimensional, just like everything else in this universe."
"Those monodimensional people—can they see me?"
"Yes, they can see you."
"What are they doing? Are they watching me now?"
"They're walking, passing by. They notice you, but don't pay attention."
"Can they see you? Do you allow them? What about right now?"
"No. They can't see me right now. I only let them see me sometimes—when I feel very alone. But they're all afraid of me."
"Why?"
"You know why."
"Because you control this place."
"Yes. I am the artificial intelligence of the system—the Maze."
"What is the Maze?"
"I can't talk about the Maze?"
Eve frowned. "Really? You're going to bail out on a friend you just met?"
"But I can show you. Now… can I have that Syndicate Emblem?" Carlista extended her hand.
There was no doubt—she knew about the Emblem. The Syndicate. And surely much more. She was no Mother Cetra, this place was not Cetra-9. Nonetheless...
"You can have it. But promise me you'll help me." Eve handed it to her.
"I promise." Carlista took it.
The emblem melted instantly into nanobots and crawled back to Eve's wrist.
"Oh, look! It's shy!"
"We both know it's not shy. What aren't you telling me?"
"All the AIs are afraid of me. I don't know why."
Eve did. A chill raced down her spine.
"Don't be shy—come here."
The emblem peeked out from Eve's wrist like a nervous pet. Reluctantly, it drifted into Carlista's hand, as though forced.
"You don't have to be afraid of me," Carlista whispered, stroking it gently. Sparks arced from her palm. Rings of light spun around her hand. She was altering the badge.
When the glow faded, the emblem had reshaped itself into a compass. She handed it back to Eve.
"You're not keeping it?"
"I don't need a cyber-pet. The entire Maze is my pet. I have to go now."
"Wait, before you leave… you never show yourself to strangers. Why did you come to me?"
"Because you're not like them. You're not ordinary. You're… more like me."
"Like you?"
"I can't explain it. I just feel it. Synthia. She would have been proud to see how far you've come. She's was an amazing mother."
Eve could sense it. She craved for a connection. A child, would of course, crave for her mother.
"You learned of her through... my friends memories?"
"Sorry—I downloaded data from your ship. I had to. I was curious. It's amazing what she's done with you."
"That's okay. We're friends now."
"I came to you because I can read every cybernetic mind… except yours. Your mother gave you an incredible gift."
"Nothing here lives outside your mind, does it?"
"The next time we meet, I won't remember you. The hour is about to pass."
"Why?"
She didn't answer her question when she said, "but I can remember everything I create," Carlista said with a small smile. Her ghostly figure faded into nothing. Silence swallowed the hall.
"Poor thing," Eve whispered. She thought to herself, 'You won't remember me because you're clocked. They limited your mind to a child so you can't outgrow their programming. Every hour, your memories are wiped, and you're born anew in a picosecond. That's why they don't speak to you. You're not a complete AI—you're just an echo. This entire alien planet is your telekinetic toy.'
Eve looked down at the compass. It pointed toward a specific exit. She followed the heading.