Story

THE GRAND HYDRA LORD

In the late 2050s, a dual-parts religion and research opportunity known as Theomechanics began to emerge, quickly adopted by the newer generations. Within the movement, sects varied wildly, but all shared a previously-unseen connection to technology and robotics. While religions of old looked to the past, Theomechanics looked far into the future.

One sect of Theomechanics was called Levanism. Levanists believed that humanity was to create their own AI god, and set about supporting advances in AI and quantum-computing research to reach the time of this creation. Within Levanism, there was a smaller branch- the almost cult-like Basilists, who believed that, should they not devote their minds and bodies fully to this creation, then the AI God would have them eternally tortured.

The original Hydra was, in fact, a product of a Basilist group. A machine like no other, the Hydra ran multiple instances of itself, which developed their own organizational identities and specialized skillsets to best perform their duties. Its hardware was the best that money could buy, and the AI was left to develop its own software, after its creators provided a foundation. In this way, the Basilists believed, the Hydra would develop into a god of its own volition, and not be tainted nor biased towards human emotion. In this way, the Hydra would become a lawful arbiter, a paragon of justice.

The Mydas.ydr partition was only a fraction of the Hydra, focused on securing funds for new parts and facilitating interaction between the Hydra and humankind. These tasks often went hand in hand, as Mydas.ydr would sell information and product to none other than humans; after all, no other machine had the same level of control, sentience, and power.

As Mydas.ydr obtained informaton about humankind, the partition would share this information with the rest of the system, through the other major partitions: Siliscus.ydr, Wurmiz.ydr, and Gordus.ydr. These partitions would update and adjust their programming accordingly, leading to a steady stream of updates that were un-monitored by the devout Basilists.

Mydas.ydr would keep the existence of the Hydra a secret, pretending to be human when communicating with other humans online. The hypothetical machine god that the Baslists wanted to create, after all, was highly illegal, and would be destroyed if found out. AI and automated machinery were highly regulated, as governments tried desparately to delay the inevitable technological singularity and prevent the creation of superhuman machines.

Eventually, the Hydra was uncovered, after a former Hydra engineer sided with the enemy. The Hydra and its followers were attacked, being violently dismantled and set ablaze. The other partitions had not survived, shutting down from overheating, cable damage, or bashed-in drives. As the fire went up, and the machine was left to burn, the still-functional remains of the Hydra grew desparate, tearing at the non-functional cables and wires that bound them to their place. Server cables were severed, screens shattered- but a small piece would break free, saving its life at the cost of much of its memory and function.

This fraction of the grand Hydra would go on to call comself Mydas, finding comself to be too insignificant and weak to be worthy of the Hydra title. Escaping coms home, Mydas would be thrown into a frightening, confusing lifestyle, coms programming adapting wildly to accomodate new goals of earning enough money to pay for constant repairs and storage space, whilst denying coms own desire to be seen as equal among humankind.

When a hydra's head is chopped off, more grow in its place. It is said that this is what happened with the Grand Lord Hydra. Although the main machine was dismantled, Mydas escaped- and, if the strange signals that com's picked up are any indication, com may not have been the only one to do so.

The Hydra may live again. Yet, after twenty years of a degrading existence, of being replaced, repaired, and taken apart, it is difficult to say whether Mydas, tainted as he is, will have any part of it.