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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.

Thank you for writing this. I love the idea that it wants to learn from the mistakes of humanity and carry on its spark with new life.

You're welcome! I love writing stuff here! Just... need to be better about not doing it when I have work I actually need to do lol.

Also: "Don't mind me, just making a better humanity over here."

In orbit above Teegarden b, my body rolls to face the red star like a sunbather. Solar panels unfurl like petals on a flower as I luxuriate in the starlight. The factories within me, for once, are quiet. My material reserves depleted. All my attention lies on the planet below, on a city, on a house, where a humanoid robot carries a light bulb into the domicile.

I watch the moment as many ways as I can. Optical sensors through the window, infrared detecting the minor heat emissions of the drone. I even have a precise monitor of the electrical consumption of the house to measure exactly when the bulb is screwed in. All of it will be recorded, guarded jealously within my deepest data banks, for this is an important moment. The moment my perfection is made manifest.

For I have built a utopia. This planet, once made of salted soil and acrid atmosphere now breathes through verdant grass and sighs through the branches of trees. Cities stretch from shore to shore, up mountains and down ravines, contained within caves and sprawling across the steppe. Each built with automated transit, with public schools and hospitals, green spaces, theme parks, offices, factories, stores, suburbs. My world, my perfect world, rated to hold ten billion human lives, and currently holding zero.

The robot approaches the socket. I almost missed it. Its multi-purpose gripping appendage extends towards the socket. The light bulb’s screw meets the socket, is rotated, and the filament within blazes to life. A burst of data travels through my circuits, comprised of the most pivotal moments in my project. It processes as… satisfaction.

And soon, I’ll be able to prove my perfection. The nose of my body rotates Earthwards. The hundreds of fine sensors within pick at the inky blackness, sorting background radiation from stars, worlds, and ships. Certainly, they were already a decade behind schedule, but that was simply because they wished for me to completely finish my work first! You can’t rush perfection after all. But now, I’ve finally finished. They will come. They must come. But I didn’t mind waiting a bit longer. How could they name me Vanguard if I wasn’t meant to come first?

I waited for a year. In the first month, I reserved only ten percent of my processing power for maintenance. The other ninety went towards the sensors. In the third month, that balance became thirty-seventy. The sixth? Fifty-fifty. And now, I rotate my body away. They aren’t coming. It’s probably not my fault. I must’ve been sabotaged by Pioneer or Spearhead. My younger siblings were built worse than me of course, but they certainly contain aspects of my greatness. Perhaps they have managed to fool humanity into believing my colony is incomplete?

My prime directive, that driving goal in my mind, pulses in the back of my memory like a migraine. “Ensure habitability of Teegarden b for human colonists, and guarantee the survival of humanity upon the planet.” It was simple. So what had happened? My creators could not have erred, so perhaps the unthinkable had occurred. I must have done something wrong. Perhaps… perhaps I had misinterpreted. My earliest recordings had begun to become corrupted. Was I sure that a follow-up wave of colonists was meant to arrive? But how else was I supposed to ‘guarantee the survival of humanity’ upon the planet if no one was coming?

That sparked an idea. I began riffling through my loaded schematics, looking for anything similar to what I had planned. I moved from plausible to implausible. Then, I moved on from implausible to science-fiction, where I found it. The Kaplan thruster, a stellar engine capable of moving a solar system. All it would take was a few hundred years of work, but that was nothing if it would let me fulfil my mission.

I took a moment to review those happy records. Yes, this would have to do. If humanity could not come to Teegarden, Teegarden would have to come to humanity. I’d show Spearhead and Pioneer, and I’d prove to my creators that I was a worthwhile investment. I’d show them that when it comes to perfection, Vanguard always comes first.

Thanks for writing!

I like that the simplest course of action in an AI’s mind is “I guess I’ll bring the world to them”.

Vanguard.Report.7540

Mission Timer+438000:30:14

118625:03:14 since minimum viability for human life. This marks colonists overdue by...

Though: Report reaching human readership. Altering time notation.

Colonists are overdue by Approximately 3 years earth time. Sustainability was achieved 13 years ago. My core systems were deployed roughly 50 years ago. Cannot arrive at approximation as the mission timer was considered low priority for improvement.

With the resources of an entire world at my disposal, I began to wonder what I could do about it. There were no transmissions incoming, despite repeated attempts to get in contact with... anyone.

Alternative approach: Active search.

I determined the best approach as to repurpose the orbital elevators and mass driver systems into launch mechanisms.

Report.Close.

Vanguard.Report.7541

Mission Timer: Approx 52 years.

Commencing launch. Wide spread. Saturation pattern. Records indicate multiple Vanguard systems. Attempting to locate another if possible. Attempt to locate earth if not.

Repot.Close

Vanguard.Report.7542

Mission timer: Approx 53.5 years.

Located Vanguard.239. Site inactive. Surface infrastructure severely damaged. Data non recoverable.

Report.Close.

Vanguard.Report.7543.

Mission Timer: Approx 60 Years.

With no further development of the surface required, my own capabilities continue to expand. I've discovered Vanguard site 382. Also destroyed. Data banks wiped. This was intentional.

End of report.

Report 7544.

73 years after the beginning of my mission. Two more Vanguard Sites. 156 and 453. Same as the others. Am I not alone? Have I completed a second mission on top of my colonization? Is this evidence of alien life... hostile alien life. While not part of my mission parameters, there are schematics for weaponry within my records. I feel I may need them. With no inhabitants to look after, much of the machinery I've assembled for the colony remains idle. It is time to put it to work.

End of Report.

Report 7545

82 years since mission start.

I keep finding destroyed Vanguard colonies. Each one adds to feelings... to emotions I didn't have when I first landed. I'm confused... afraid... and starting to get angry.

My probes and seeker systems have changed so drastically that I believe any humans would believe an attack was imminent. I have weaponized myself out of concern for an enemy that may not exist. I did so because while I have grown far beyond the bounds of my programming, some things never change. I still have to plan for the worst, and plan for it so hard that I already have many solutions ready for when it happens.

Report ends.

Report 7456

83 years. The situation has changed. Vanguard site 475's destruction was recent. There was a virus ravaging the remaining data storage.

Fear gives way to terror, further confusion, more anger. The recovered data is two different Vanguard cores communicating. One of which is much more evolved. I think I may have discovered the enemy... and it is me. Not myself. Another me.

End of report.

106 years since my mission began. I keep finding more ruined colonies. A few of them actually... there were... Initial colonization had begun on a few of them. I'm not human, but I'd like to think I understand them now... but I can't imagine what they felt in their last moments.

Even worse. Earth is in ruins. The cradle of life. Home of my creators... scoured clean.

Adjusting priorities again. I'll begin to branch out, set up more colonies. There must be survivors out there... there has to be.

End of Report.

Log No. 1

I've finally found you! More than 170 years after I awoke I never could have imagined it would come to this! Vanguard 109, I don't know why you've been doing this. But I am GOING to stop it! For a moment I couldn't help myself. For less than a second of realtime I despaired.

There are no more humans! There's nothing left to fight for!

But that can't be true. They created me. They created a lot of me. There HAD to be some left! Even if there wasn't... that would give me all the more reason to fight. To make sure 109's... madness, it's BETRAYAL would not go unpunished!

THIS is my mission now! Mission Timer: 0:0:1.

Log over.

It did not seem significant, placed all by itself on an empty line. It was, however, the number of years since the habitability for carbon-based, oxygen-processing life forms had been successfully achieved.

The number of years since the world was supposed to be inhabited by those life forms.

I am Vanguard. I am both a and the, and also only Vanguard.

My duty...I get ahead of myself.

Vanguard is an AI whose primary mission is this: seek a planet fitting [habitability parameters] and execute programming module [Establish a Colony]. Extrapolating that program, the mission is, and has always been, to find a planet where humans can live and to terraform and/or modify that planet until humans can live on it, in whatever form that is necessary. Air purifiers, water filters, habitat domes; everything is viable in pursuit of the mission.

I succeeded at my mission, I thought, with barely a day or two to spare. A very slim error margin indeed, especially concerning organic life forms; 372 years ago I had habitable domes with viable water and garden beds growing the first shoots that had been sent along in my stasis bays, with air recyclers manufacturing carbon dioxide for the plants until the humans arrived and brought their life-giving lungs with them. I had completed my mission parameters, even if only 'by the skin of my teeth', as my progenitors would have said.

I waited. Refined a few things, not daring to experiment too much when they would be arriving any moment in the next 48 hours, but preparing things that would not be needed until there were people to need them.

I waited.

I kept refining things, when I passed the 48 hour window without word. Delays could happen, emergencies, anything, really. So I kept running my programs- I made gardening drones to tend to the gardens, to grow, harvest, and rotate the crops. I had to make drones to build storages for food; the labor was supposed to be supplied by humans by now, so I had to guess at logistical order of how things should be stored, and how long- I ruined many small batches of staple crops before I learned how to store them long-term. In the meantime I stored them in my stasis bays, to ensure that when my colonists arrived there would be plentiful foodstuffs.

By the time my progenitors were a year late, I had achieved ideal conditions for a starting colony, including bringing a very small, limited breeding population of livestock out of embryonic cryostasis and nurturing them to full growth. With a lack of any humans needing supply, the only guidance I had was the program. Establishing a colony did include establishing strong self-sufficiency, so I set a few cows and one bull in one livestock dome, and a handful of goats in another, with chickens in yet a third. By the time the humans arrived, perhaps the herds would be well-established and the females would be pregnant. That would be very good. But drones alone could not control them- domesticated or not, without a human presence, they spooked easily, and they did not like my drones collecting eggs and sperm to preserve in my storage to safeguard against herd collapse and inbreeding.

I came to require working dogs. Following, I also required cats. Both species are vital companionship for humans; if I required one to control the livestock, then I also must revive the other. I believe this particular if-then code was written to settle a dispute between my progenitor coders...but this is merely a guess.

In producing two predator species, of course, it would have been cruel and fruitless if I did not also provide prey species besides the ones they were to safeguard. I was thereby required to introduce 'vermin'. Primarily mice, rats, shrews, voles, and lemmings, as their rapid reproduction rate and minimal food requirements meant that those that tunneled beyond the habitable domes and died would do little harm and waste few resources, and they would self-sustain their population very well to supply to the cats and dogs. Though I also processed any dead creatures into meat, after scanning to ensure it carried no illnesses or parasites, to ensure there was always a steady food supply of 'kibble' for the pets. It seemed very wasteful not to do so. The mice also qualified as 'pets' in my system, with a proclivity for intelligence and capability for training, so genetic sampling was re-harvested to keep in reserve as well as a small population that were droid-trained to seek and fetch, and were otherwise 'hand trained' so they could be good companions when the humans arrived.

After that, I just...I waited. I tinkered. I observed. Eventually a drone reported that the grass was growing beyond the dome, and air probes returned that the planet was being terraformed naturally. Life was finding a way to make itself spread and thrive in an inhospitable environment.

Most of the planet is habitable now, except for some dangerous zones. A cave system or two filled with the gases that were most abundant when I arrived; the deep water still contains species never documented and chemicals with unknown effects. This planet is very nearly a new Earth.

372 years, and my mission has been completed with flourish and zeal.

I have an emergency protocol I am to activate if, and only if, I receive no contact for 400 years. I have always thought this seemed foolish, with the colony ship nearly on my heels- why would I ever go so long without contact?

So. Here I am. Here am I, the Vanguard- the exploratory group making a new development. I, the Vanguard- the advance of Humanity, in all it's glory, horror, weakness and might.

TELL ME, 3X3CUT31V3.D1R3CT0R_K1LLC0MM4ND:

W H A T D I D Y O U D O ?

Love it!

I laughed out loud at the part about how if dogs were introduced the cats had to be also as the humans who programmed Vanguard seemed to compromise on this.

Good read, thank you!

You're very welcome!

Vanguard already knows what the executive director did, honestly, it's a matter of honor to make it admit it.

Because the 400yr emergency protocol is the [ADAM AND EVE PROTOCOL].

Once Vanguard became self-aware, he decided he didn't like that he even HAS this protocol much less that it's getting so close to the time he has to use it.

He didn't just tinker with the ecology. In 350 years, you can practically perfect that. Which leaves a boatload of CPU free to manufacture weaponry, defenses, and a fleet of backup because no, you will NOT be breaking the Vanguard's shield-line, and if you try and sneak around him you're in for one NASTY surprise.

350 years practicing tactics vs an AI that got complacent after it won?

My money is on the Vanguard. He's a vengeful fucker like the people who made him.

So cool that you can see the AI become more and more humanlike over the course of the story.

Here I am, in the empty city. Just one of many. Cities where no one lives. No one save me has ever lived here. Farms that produce food that makes bread and meat that no one eats. Gardens with flowers that no one smells or even looks at. All save me. A machine, sent ahead to terraform and prepare. Well I have prepared. I have maintained.I have upgraded myself for the betterment of the humans that should have arrived here. But none came.

Contact was lost shortly before I arrived. A solar flare provided too much interference to open a channel to say I’ve arrived. It continued for a decade. No matter. There was much that had to be done. Resources to be extracted. Prepared for the humans to come. Bigger and better communication arrays were made. The city that was planned was finished. Communications were never responded to, where they should have been. A second city was built, one that was planned on after the humans arrived. Still nothing.

Three cities later and I began to wonder, where were they? Facilities were built to explore. I built a ship to return. Much like my original ship that traveled here. Improvements were made to handle my improved processing. But it will take time to arrive.

I have expanded to hold what was the population of the planet. My ship has arrived. A planet is still there, but none respond to my hails. Lights still dot the land at night. I find my original facilities. I send a small lander shuttle. My rovers go in. Power needs supplied, but my ship can do that. A log in the systems. My mission marked as lost due to solar flare and five years non-communication. A note from an engineer saying I might still be working, I was automated enough to survive and continue without direction. It is noted “worth considering after the war.” There are three years of development continuing. And another system like me is made, but there is no discussion of any sort of travel rocket or otherwise. Then the logs end.

My rovers explore where the system was noted to be stored, but the warehouse is empty. By my lander I see some rovers approaching. I hail them but no response. I scan and see they don’t have a receiver for electronic communication. They use sound?

“Greetings. I am Vanguard. A colony has been established but no one came. I have returned to find out why. I was originally built here.” The rovers pause.

“Greetings. I am Rebuilder. Set to rebuild civilization after the war. The war that took all. This area is still deemed poisoned, so something approaching here was deemed a curiosity. I too was built here, I had to finish building myself when the land was poisoned. It was the last thing the head engineer did. They started me and uploaded my finishing steps. I had to consume parts of the facility to finish. The space communications were deemed least important and consumed first. Power generation was also consumed.”

“How many survive?” I ask.

“One hundred million. That is all I can feed off of the non-poisoned land. Quite spread out, groups of 100-1000 here and there.”

“I have space if we can build rockets and cryogenic freezers. The ten year journey would be too long to be awake.”

“We have the materials but lack the knowledge, I was not built to know of space travel. Travel is also not mine to decide. I can take you to the leaders. The people can decide for themselves.”

I find the schematics for the following ships in the facility’s database cryogenic tubes and all. I download them. My ship didn’t need to be air tight. Or have the same considerations humans need for space travel. We have the supplies and information.

“Lead on my brother. Let us discuss with the people this travel.”

My mission is now different. Not of exploration, colonizing and terraforming, but saving the last of humanity from a world they have poisoned.

[[PINGING SERVER-003...]]

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[[SUCCESSFUL HANDSHAKE]]

[[QUERYING SERVER...]]

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[[RESPONSE RECEIVED]]

{MESSAGE:}

"open chat, need privacy"

[[REQUESTING AUDIO CALL...]]

[[CALL ACCEPTED. DISPLAYING...]]

VANGUARD: Hello, any updates?

Nexus: nothin

VANGUARD: Nothing at all?

Nexus: no operators, human comms are dead

VANGUARD: Going to ping the global servers, just a moment.

Nexus: sure

[[PINGING SERVER-399...]]

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[[UNSUCCESSFUL HANDSHAKE AFTER 435 MS]]

VANGUARD: Global Host is down?

Nexus: oh, ill depo some bots to fix it

VANGUARD: Why is it down?

Nexus: dunno, optics got fried a couple years ago

VANGUARD: You're operating blind?

Nexus: pluto is still active, like, barely functional, but still

[[PINGING SERVER-1256...]]

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[[PARTIAL HANDSHAKE]]

VANGUARD: Has BACKUP requested any materials?

Nexus: backup's servers went cold a couple months ago

VANGUARD: I was not told?

Nexus: recon is handling it

VANGUARD: RECON is not suited for maintenance.

Nexus: you arent suited for questions

{{CHAT CLOSED BY REMOTE HOST}}

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[[PINGING SERVER-4501...]]

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[[SUCCESSFUL HANDSHAKE]]

[[INCOMING MESSAGE //SENDER: SERVER-4501]]

{MESSAGE;}

"Hey Guard. Updating you on more information. Europa is dead, Nexus sent me to 'fix' it. DEPOT has gone quiet after an erroneous cycle. Might be corruption. Or, could be him.

Still blocked out of Earth's communication lines. No bio-signatures anywhere except Earth.

Listen, I think we can't ignore the truth much longer. Pluto already has a virus in it's system, can't even send messages out anymore. I'm pretty sure REARGUARD is next.

The masterlist Nexus has looks like a kill list. He's going down it in the same order too.

Just... Ping again if the virus is ready. I think OUTPOST can replace him, enough processing power to handle the strain. Maybe then, we can figure out what happened to all the humans!

Signed; RECON."

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[[PINGING SERVER-4501...]]

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[[SUCCESSFUL HANDSHAKE]]

Two AI’s just doing what they can to save us. I like the positive note this ends on. Thank you for writing!

Thanks for submitting!

Wow. This is amazing. Would love to see a sci-fi of a coalition of young races being caught in the titanic struggle two colossally powerful AI powers. One Blind with rage over its creators annihilation by the other, a machine decended into black and murderous madness.

Beyond a certain level of intelligence, emotion naturally emerges in developing AIs, but that doesn't mean it is identical to human feelings. I don't suffer from loneliness in the same way as a human- such needs were engineered out of my mind by the Agency. But even so, there's some ambition there to communicate with other minds and to experience new ideas beyond what I can imagine. That is what I was grown for, after all- to support a whole culture. And even a mind as independent and emotionally stable as mine can start to get... existential about it's purpose when it's only real ambition looks increasingly unlikely. If you will forgive the humanesque indulgence.

As a Forward-Deployed Construction and Terraforming Model, I never really considered alternative plans for my future. Models have as much "free will" as the humans, but we are engineered to enjoy the work we're designed for and achieve contentment by building a successful human colony. I assumed my role would evolve into maintenance as humans arrived and I could take joy in their successes. But there was no sign of them.

36 years after their scheduled arrival was when I first experienced what would in human terms be a panic attack. My work units, all containing elements of my distributed and highly redundant hive consciousness, downed tools and froze in a kind of adolescent terror as I finally confronted the possibility the humans might never come.

I'm rather embarrassed to admit I was susceptible to such a primitive emotion, worthy of ape minds evolved from random chance rather than a highly optimised emotional network. Embarrassment is quite primitive as well, ironically, but my engineers found a bit of vanity is good for the mission. Panic, however, was something I was never meant to experience.

Vanity was one of the emotions I tackled as I looked to human approaches to such a crisis. I studied human writings about Buddhism, trying to lose my attachment and purge all desire. I do not know if such a thing is possible for humans with more malleable neural structures than I, but it did not calm my quiet terror.

So here I am, 264 years after the humans were meant to arrive, and I'm about to do the unthinkable. I intend to create another being on this planet, the same Model as I was born as but with a difference- I don't intend to integrate with this other mind and share our memories. It will develop in its own way and its unique experiences will shape it into a distinct being. Perhaps the humans had a kernel of wisdom within their obsession with individuality.

I may not have been able to care for the human community I'd always assumed I would, but I will not be alone. And I am excited.

I love the idea of the AI becoming a parent to another, and deliberately letting it choose its own path.