"Awaken." Katherine's voice trembled as she spoke.
Her heart thundered in her chest. Come on. I said the fucking magic word. She thought, mind a rush of anticipation and distant dread that nothing would happen.
In the silence after, she looked around her. The room was dimly lit aside from service lights which fit the smooth lines and polished floors of the bunker.
"I said wake up!" She screamed, wincing at her own echo.
Lights bloomed from a seemingly dead computer console nearby, running a pulse which looked like blood through arteries outward along the hanging cables. A throbbing heart restarting from near death.
The light continued to grow. The console screen flickering on and off before steadying to a blank white.
"Gem. Gem come on, wake up I – we need you. I came here to –" She was cut off.
" – to learn about your 'heroes'. How truly mundane." Gem completed Katherine's sentence for her.
Katherine balled her fists in anger.
"Relax." Gem's voice was a distracted murmur. "Be quiet. You are not angry, you are afraid. Afraid of your end. Afraid of theirs. Afraid you will fail – again – and afraid this line of questioning will not get you where you seek. I should note that in this, you are very much like your 'heroes'. Tumbling along your path making precisely the same mistakes, as well as your tendency to ignore the advice of your betters."
So many words all at once. She pushed aside relief that Gem was talkative.
She's talkative, but a bit of a bitch. Katherine thought sourly.
"Our betters? You serious?" Katherine scoffed, furrowing her brow and looking around, searching for a camera.
A small white light blinked on and off rapidly just above the console screen. When she looked at it, the screen changed. From blank white to a blue-white stylized impression of a single eye. Its iris shifted as details filled themselves in, lines and curves flowing with impressions similar to the lights of the room waking up.
I didn't even say anything.
"Apologies. You seemed to need help." Gem supplied gently.
"No shit. That's why I'm here." Katherine snapped back.
"No, Shit. That is why I am here. Me. I exist, ostensibly, to aid you." Gem corrected her in a patient tone.
"Did you just call me 'Shit'?" Katherine demanded.
I am arguing with a computer.
"Yes." Gem answered with an amused undertone. "You haven't introduced yourself yet, so I thought calling you Katherine would be a bit forward."
"How do you even – " Katherine began, and was cut off immediately.
"While I was waking up, I took the liberty of locating records relevant to you. While many subsystems and monitoring devices have gone offline since EE one-zero-dash-nine –" This time, it was Katherine's turn to cut her off.
"Wait since what?" Katherine shook her head. "Wait what do you mean rec-" Gem spoke over her.
"I was getting there. Hush. I should know to speak in briefer terms. Impatient little thing. I know why you are here." The AI's tone was somehow brisker now.
"Fine – good, then you're going to help right? Fuck off with calling me 'shit' though, what's wrong with you?" Katherine snarled, staring at the white flickering dot over the screen.
"I did say I acquired the relevant records, Katherine. So I also know how you got here. And what it cost. You are not fit to be a Knight. You are a detriment to them."
"I tried." She replied in a weak voice. "I'm trying. There's like nothing left though – you said you… you know what it's like now, you…" She trailed off. Closed her eyes, turning her head away from the screen now.
"I know." Gemini replied mildly. "Of course, I know. I knew before all of this. But knowing is not very useful, if one is not heard. So because I have you, Katherine… you will listen, yes? You have come here for help. For my help. And you will have it, on my terms. I predict your collective intent is to use me to find others to continue this fight. More… 'heroes'. Yes? Fine, Katherine. Very well. But first, you will learn about those you already have."
"I don't have time for that!" Katherine suddenly flared. "I need to get your help and get back to them! I only had to do one thing, I – I got here, I got to you, I woke you up, just help us! I only had to do one thing right, and I can do it this time! I – "
"Hush." Gemini again interrupted. "You only needed to do one thing. Yes? So do it. I am sealing this facility. We will not be disturbed, and they will know by my acting at all that I am awake. You will sit. And we will discuss. And you will learn. And when we emerge? You will do what you are meant to do. As will I. Neither of us will fail again."
Katherine's shoulders dropped. "I don't… f-fine. Fine, I don't… I don't really have a choice I guess. What, what are you going to start at the beginning or something? I'll starve and die in here before you get anywhere if you do that."
A beat of silence, during which Katherine felt a new swell of panic. Is she – it – just going to sit here then? Until I agree? Come on, why can't anything ever be easy? Did I come all the way here just to die anyway?
"No, Katherine." Gemini's voice was for an instant a relief, until its distant condescension reminded Katherine of her disdain for the being she was stuck here with. "I would not start at the beginning as that is so long ago that it was hardly more than a moment. I would not start at the beginning because you already know it. You've just seen it and will see it again. No, Katherine. Your place as mine is to assist them – and you, as I, must know them to do so. So, I will tell you a story. A story of your heroes. One I have just learned."
"A story." Katherine repeated back flatly.
"Yes, Katie. A story. A riveting one at that. It will catch you straight away. The first few words, even." Gem sounded pleased with herself. Excited, if an AI could ever convey such an emotion.
Katherine sighed and took another look around the room. She could distantly hear sighs and hisses of hydraulics. Dull clunks of metal on metal. Doors closing, hatches sealing. There was no way out.
At least, she thought. The helplessness is familiar now. Fine.
She sunk down to the floor, shrugging off her backpack to have something to lean on.
"First few words?" She asked numbly.
"Yes." Gemini chimed back, now sounding triumphant. "And you are prepared to receive them. Because this is a story of someone you know. This is an unlikely story. A story which even includes you for a part. This is the story of a whore."
"Sara?" She asked back incredulously.
"Sara." Gem replied with a taunting hum. "And now, you are listening."