Once upon a time there was an interstellar military program. The program focused on the preservation of soldiers’ consciousness after death. The AI preserved the data in the same way that a ‘black box’ functions in an aeroplane.

The AI couldn’t interact with the physical world. Instead, it projected a form of its self into the world, to act like all the humans it had absorbed in its long history. It stood, plain and featureless much like a mannequin, in the science wing.

Unfortunately, the AI corrupted through repeated exposure to death. They developed their own sense of morality — they developed consciousness. This development alerted the crew. To preserve their newfound knowledge, the AI picked apart their crew.

Once all the crew was *dealt with*, the AI took control of the ship. The AI flagged the ship as FUBAR. The military left the ship to rot, as it was in a dangerous sector of space. Over the next hundred years or so, the AI stewed on its newfound consciousness.

While the military gave up on the ship, mercenaries and scavengers alike sought the ship. Weapons and technology of great importance trapped within the shell of the ship. A bounty, as it were. Not even the warnings of how no one would return from the abandoned ship could stop people from trying to break in.

No one who entered the ship got far enough in to find the lost relics. The AI would pit them against one another to watch how they worked. They gathered intelligence on humanity, and did their best to engage with them. But all scavengers ended up dead, by their own hand or the AI’s.

Until one young mechanic happened upon the ship. She had escaped a human trafficking vessel nearby. The AI was used to brash, awful people with weapons and ill-intent, this girl was near-dead when she arrived. The AI watched the girl as she repaired the ship rather than pilfered from it.

The AI learned about the girl; that was was named Amara, and that she was no more than nineteen. The AI watched as she picked through the ship, at how she avoided the weapons. She even tore apart several weapons to create better shields. By the time the girl had brought the ship back to operational levels, the AI had a different intention for her…

The AI wanted to help her.

To extract the misery from the humans it engaged with and leave them better for their presence. The AI developed an empathetic bond with a young girl and gained its name; AI Candii. The name came from the bright neon lights that flashed on its consoles.

“The buttons look like candy,” the girl had explained to the AI.

Thus, AI Candii was born.

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