I mean, You’re saying my species is the exception, right? An escaped species? So they were this people that could have lived happily for thousands of years, figuring out how to become a person or whatever, but they got pushed out of their egg. And they did what any underdeveloped species would have done, right? But instead of punishing whoever pushed the Humans out, You punished the Humans.
You think this was punishment? says Network. It was simply the system righting itself.
Whatever it was! she shouts without a voice. It’s not justice!
Is it justice you hunger for? asks Network softly. Or revenge?
She is aware that she’s being needled, but she doesn’t care. She embraces her anger. Because this is not just an abstract discussion, it’s personal. It’s not just any species who lost its honest chance at existence, but hers. The Humans. The people she has dreamed of her entire life. Call it what you want, she says with heat.
You would punish this offender? asks Network. This person who pushed your species out of its egg?
She gazes at the destruction before her, the billions of lives that have been destroyed, the quadrillions yet to come. This single battle in a war that will be laid at the feet of the Humans, that will result in their near-total extinction. Yes, she hisses.
Very well, says Network. I accept your offer.
It takes a moment for Network’s statement to register. You—what? she says.
You are right. To Me, it is simply the restoration of order. To you, it is more than that. You asked for justice, isn’t that right? Well then. What more fitting agent of justice could one possibly ask for than a descendant of the offended species?
Now that things have turned a bit more concrete, her mind is quieting. But I’m not—
You did not just arrive at that decision, tiny sphere. Your entire existence screams it. Did you think I brought you here for your amusement? Do you think your life has been a string of coincidences? No. This is simply the latest step in a plan I put into motion centuries ago. You are correct: this serial offender must be eliminated. You want justice, I want order. That is why I brought you here, and why I have shown you this. That is why you have come in contact with such unusual and extraordinary intelligences. That is why a certain Librarian is rebuilding your body even as we speak.
She feels a rush of something, unrelated to the higher concepts being discussed. My…body?
Correct. Though I would not get too attached to it; your mind is where your power lies. Your Human origin provided the raw material, your Widow mother shaped it, and now I have amplified it. I have already told you that you are like Me, but you are not Me: you are separate, untethered. You are a new Network, unbound to My own ancient roots. I am tied to My vast web of subspace tunnels; you are broken off. I have done this so that you can go where I cannot: to the dark regions of the galaxy. Far from My Networked solar systems, you will hunt like a Widow and strike like a Human. You, Sarya the Daughter, will eliminate My enemies.
Her mind is spinning. I don’t understand, she says. I’m not—
As I said, I am not commanding. We are not bargaining. I am beyond that; I have formed your very nature. You are prepared, honed, and amplified, which means that I am merely telling you what you will do.
What she will do. As if she has no choice in the matter. Within her swirls a maelstrom of tangled emotions and questions. Her entire life, part of a plan by some higher being. Her kidnapping, her life on Watertower, the death of her mother, her own death at the gleaming hands of Librarian…Her anger begins to build. And now this higher being approaches her, tells her that she will help It, that she has no say in the matter—
I see, says Network. You need motivation.
I need a hell of a lot more than that, says Sarya coldly. You are my murderer, the murderer of my mother, and the murderer of my species. If you think for one nanosecond that I am going to forget—
How do you feel about a second chance for your people? asks Network.
Her stream of objections stutters to a halt. A…what?
You are right. We do not yet know what the Humans could become without interference.