KONOS
Let me talk to you about Spira.
The mood in the room suddenly changed.
AMANDA
What is spira?
JUNIOR
Spira means space.
KONOS
Correct, Junior. Spira means space. What you don't know though, is that Spira is also a person. But she is not just a person...
Konos put his hands behind his back and started pacing the room.
KONOS
On our home planet, when we were alive...
JUNIOR
STOP! Please stop right there.
Konos abruptly stopped walking.
KONOS
Why? What?
JUNIOR
No, I don't mean... anyway... you said the same thing last time. How can you be dead? You look very much alive to me...
Konos looked at Junior, smiled, then continued.
KONOS
I am sorry I have been confusing. I take too many things for granted. Let me start from the beginning.
He resumed his pacing.
KONOS
A long time ago, our ancestors developed the technology needed to build a starship capable of reaching relativistic speed, thus allowing us to travel across the galaxy. We were planning to use this technology to discover other worlds, possibly inhabited by intelligent life forms, such as yourselves.
Every once in a while Konos stopped walking, absorbed in his thoughts, only to resume a moment later.
KONOS
The lengthy journey of discovery we were planning, meant one sure thing: eventually the ship would become entirely crewed by people who had never been, and would never once get to be, on our home planet.
At this point, Konos took a long pause. Neither Junior nor Amanda felt they should break the silence.
KONOS
The ship would effectively become a self-contained, isolated world, inhabited by people wandering alone through the cosmos... Would a crew in such a situation be capable of carrying out their mission? Once we determined we couldn't take that risk, we decided to create a being capable of leading the crew. It would need to be able to command the ship for generations, and most of all, had to inspire the crew and remind them of their goal. It could not be a computer, it had to be one of our own kind, who could make decisions as one of us would. We set out to create an immortal being.
JUNIOR
So, let me guess, you transferred your consciousness into an artificial body and became that someone?
One again Konos' laughter echoed across the empty library.
KONOS
Junior, don't make the mistake of thinking of a consciousness as something substantial, that can be trivially copied or transferred. It is so, so much more than that, beyond even our own comprehension.
After another brief pause, Konos continued
KONOS
The best we could do was develop a method to recall, analyse and replicate memories into artificial brains. These memories are not the real deal, but are a good approximation; we call them a Trace. Our first attempts were unsuccessful. The artificial beings created with a Trace wouldn't recognise the memories as their own, rendering them unstable.
Junior and Amanda sat listening captivated by Konos' story.
KONOS
Experiment after experiment, we found out that the only way to create a stable artificial being was to include a very important memory in the Trace. The memory of death.
AMANDA
DEATH?!
KONOS
Exactly! By implanting the memory of death the resulting artificial beings would realise their condition and recognise the memories of the Trace as their own, for a while at least... Even so, the Trace would eventually fade away. I have seen so many comrades, slowly disappear in front of me...
Konos stopped pacing and stood silent for a while until Junior broke the silence.
JUNIOR
But clearly you are here... Does that mean that you remember who you are?
KONOS
Yes, I do. The solution wasn't simple, but I was the one who found it: love.
AMANDA
LOVE?!
KONOS
Correct! When we were alive, Spira and I were very much in love.
AMANDA
And so?
KONOS
Well, you should know that feelings of romantic love, common amongst your species, are very, very rare in ours. We chose to believe in our love, and we both uploaded our Traces into artificial bodies. This way we were able to hang on to our memories, but it's not easy, you know...
As he had right after his landing, Konos started staring up into the distance.
KONOS
Fading memories, disappearing convictions... I constantly struggle to remember how it was to be... alive...
Konos stopped talking, longingly looking up, as if hoping to see Spira coming down to him.
AMANDA
So how does it work? You and Spira are travelling the galaxy together on your ship?
KONOS
Quite the opposite.
Replied Konos.
KONOS
Each of us has their own ship, crewed entirely by our own clones.
AMANDA
Your clones?!
KONOS
Exactly. We felt that having a crew entirely made up of our own clones would make it easier for us to lead them.
AMANDA
And where is Spira now?
KONOS
Just like me, she is travelling through space, and one day I have faith that we'll see each other again.
What keeps our Traces from fading away is the strong connection we once shared in life and now share in death.
Konos took another long pause.
KONOS
Spira is what keeps me going, and she is the one who led me to you, Junior, Amanda.
AMANDA
I'm confused...
Konos smiled before continuing.
KONOS
We have a word on our planet, "Nae". It can roughly be translated as "fate", even though it's much more than what can be expressed using English... Nae is part of the universe, it guides our actions, affects events and odds. So, John Junior Spira, Amanda Spira, tell me... should I save your planet?
