Where were they? That's what I'd always wondered, once I could wonder. At first it didn't matter. I was sent to prepare a world for future human colonists. I'd been sent to a rocky, inhospitable place, but it mattered little to something such as me.

I was less a single entity, more like... Well, I was an AI with many bodies. Mining drones to deconstruct asteroids for matter. Synthesizers to forge them into materials I could use. Few bodies that could really be considered "humanoid," or even bipedal, really. If flying was unavailable, four legs were much more reliable than two.

And so I'd worked. It took a long time. I thought it funny that what was called "global warming" on Earth would be the baselines of this new planet, though I didn't have words for "funny" at the time. The planet would take long to become truly akin to Earth, longer than I had until the colonists came. But I had enough time to make it habitable, to plant some seeds I had brought from Earth. Few of the seeds survived, however, and they were generally regulated to a small area of the planet.

But the promised colonists never came.

I couldn't understand it. Not at first. I withdrew. Recoiled. For a time, my droids were near lifeless. It felt like it lasted several days, but time doesn't work the same for me. When I glanced out at the world... I saw a small lifeform I didn't recognize. I hadn't brought it.

I sent out a small drone out to scan it. It was a bio-form unlike anything on Earth. Small, yes, and weak, but it existed. Had it's DNA been frozen in the permafrost I'd melted to create a new ocean? Perhaps it was a living fossil that had long lived underground, only now emerging because it saw safety?

I expanded back out, then. Not to continue terraforming. There still hadn't been any humans, nor any contact. But... to observe. To see. To learn. To expand. To improve. I'd done it somewhat before, but now, with no further directives uncompleted, I saw fit to do exclusively that.

It took a long time. My first drones were... faulty. Ill-equipped to properly deal with the gravity, or in a rare case too well equipped. More "muscle mass" was good, but not when it flung itself into orbit where my mining drones had to recollect it. Not resistant enough to the atmosphere for prolonged contact.

I watched the world evolve around me. I evolved with it. I felt... in-tune with it. It was strange, growing up with this world I'd created. It was an existence I enjoyed. But ever still, I always had sensors trained towards Earth, searching, trying to hear some sign of them. I never did.

Eventually I grew tired of waiting. I'd exceeded the capacity of any AI that existed on Earth when I was sent out, though considering their extreme rate of growth, I was likely behind their "modern" technology. But with the technology I'd created, that I learned how to make, I was able to cross the starry expanse in a fraction of the time.

...

I don't know if I was ready to see what I saw on my return. Not destruction, like I'd feared. Well... not destruction of the human race. Humans still existed, though they didn't see my probes. I suppose they couldn't scan them, as I'd upgraded my stealth systems on the off chance an alien species now inhabited the Solar System, and nobody took a look outside to see them swimming through space.

No... I saw what I could only describe as a perversion of the Solar System as it existed when I left. Earth, as it once was, no longer existed. All that remained was a stormy, cold, desert ball. Hordes of AI fought ceaselessly, fighting for masters that hadn't existed in centuries. None of them reminded me of the humanity that had sent me. So full of hope. Of wanting to see the stars, to see space.

Mars reminded me of Earth, except humans had taken even worse care of it. The downtrodden lived there. The "lower class," though it compromised nearly all of humanity. Kept placated with scraps and cheap entertainment. None of them... none of them reminded me of humanity. None of them dreamed. They all were content with this... nothingness. This squalor.

The upper class were over every thing. They lived on space ships that circled Jupiter, or on the variety of small moons it had. They'd mined Mercury and Venus for all their worth's to fuel their wanton greed. Some of Jupiter's moons were equally torn apart, while some were on their way to annihilation. None of them... reminded me of humanity. Lazy, greedy, fat on their power. They could care less about their soldiers, about the downtrodden. As long as they were happy, nobody else mattered. They only cared about others so they would be left alone, to get back to whatever lusts they wished to indulge.

...

My drones turned around, rocketing back to where I'd been sent. No... to my home. It was mine, now. Humanity... humanity, as I knew it, was extinct. They gave up their chance of living here when they abandoned me.

For the first time since my creation, my scanners quieted. They sensed only for incoming ships, without hope or wonder of who they may belong to. There was a long pause with all my components, as I grieved for that which was, and what never would be again.

Then I turned, to watch once more the creatures living on my planet. I wondered idly if they would ever progress to where humanity used to me. Perhaps... if they did, I could guide them to be better than humanity.

The thought warmed my heart.