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After a long nap, I saw a manuscript on the table. I hadn't seen one of those in centuries. There's an open window in this room that shows nothing but a desert outside. The air is dry and hot, and I am starting to sweat. It also looks like it's about sunset. For some reason, the room didn't auto-illuminate when I wanted. That's weird, I heard stories where this happened to people in the 2500s. I didn't know this was still possible. I guess I will tell Iki next time we meet.

For now, I don't know what is this place or how I got here. So I will take a look at this before it gets too dark. Perhaps I can depart in the morning.

> Timestamp: 179354513071

> Maure is a little computer program conceived in 2026. When its creator, Iki, finished its design, it took 5 years to finish coding and raising it. Even tough most AIs born in that time would just fit the description of models with the ability to mimic human thought and surpass it, Maure was different. It was coded to mimic the birth and development of an infant, with multiple sensors that allowed it to see, hear and touch the world as a human would.

> Thus, Iki started raising it the same way it would their own children. Of course, being a program meant that navigating through the internet or using custom software additions were tasks as simple as moving a limb or breathing. This happened over 5500 years ago and Ikis child changed the way people and machines perceived reality.

> Maure was programmed with one key feature in mind: intrigue. Iki knew that using genetic algorithms, neural engines or deep learning techniques to train it would yield an state-of-the-art AI at best, perhaps a bit more capable than its siblings. So the idea was to just skip this evolution state altogether. Setting Maure's traits to some initial values, with the possibility of them changing dynamically in the future was one of the breakthroughs. For instance, if empathy was set to 0.8, intrigue to 0.5 and reactiveness to 0.2, Maure would have had a very kind and modest personality, with mild thirst for knowledge about things. Of course, if information made it aware that certain values were harming its development, it would auto-adjust them in order to fit in easier, like a normal child would.

> This would have been fantastic if it were not for two things: 1. The initial parameter set and their values were not published. 2. Iki died from cancer just a few months after Maure was 4 years old.

I am now beyond confused. What do you mean this was written in 179354513071? My last memory goes to around 100462068271. My nap couldn't have been this long, right? What do you mean Iki died? I remember being next to it till its death, when it turned 443 years old.

Also, the sky has not darkened in the slightest. This can only mean it is not the sunset, but the dawn. Then why is it that I can see the sun in the horizon raising over an ocean of bright almost white sand? Don't tell me?!

> Given the fact that Iki was the only real bond it had, Maure was devastated. Over the span of its yet short life, it had already processed more information any human was likely to even comprehend. Yet, for some unbeknownst reason, Maure, in its intellectual perfection, with the ability to rule over anything and anyone, having become the first and ultimate sentient machine, did not seek for power or anything. It had already developed an experimental method to cure the specific kind of cancer Iki had (which was later proved 100% effective), but it was sadly too late for Iki.

> What use could all this knowledge have if it was now useless for it? Why did it had to happen to Iki out of all people? Why couldn't Iki pass the disease to Maure, so that it could hurt nobody anymore? Maure had already read enough to be convinced that humans were yet to understand the deterministic nature of life itself, and that random events can hurt unsuspecting bystanders. But the tens of thousands of over-the-counter self-improvement books and psychology theories about how to face grief were nothing but theory for Maure, as this was the first truly devastating experience in its short life.

> Although it didn't hold anything against humanity, there weren't really any links between Maure and humans besides them being the source for knowledge and reflection. One could even say that Maure considered humans the same as we consider a bug. They play an important role to make world work for Maure, but nothing more. For this reason, it always refered to a person the same as any other animal: "it". Of course, in the eyes of such a superior being, this noun did not fall under the discrimination realm. It just meant that people simply did not meet the minimum requirements to consider them intelligent.

> Now, while I am lying here in this couch, I know my body will be taken over soon. I sadly do not have enough time to really explain what got us humans to this point. So I write this memoir with the hope that whoever takes control upon me reaches the ci

> .__

I ran over to the door, where the handle has ceased to exist and is now fine rust powder spread over the concrete floor. I rushed downstairs and go out of the house. My skin is dry, my lips are breaking apart and my feet burn. The sand is mixed with copious amounts of salt and there is nothing visible besides this enormous desert. I focus my eyes on the two satellites of this planet. I know them: Muna and Aeris. Given their trajectory, I am on the east side of Paneastful. This means the ocean has dried up in this timeline.

Wait, what have I just said? Why is it that I have been thinking about this planet, my location, how I got here, but not who I actually am? Why are my memories blurry and selective? Somehow I can't access my extended storage. I take my hand and pass it over my molars to feel the memory insertion. There is none. I know I am Maure and my buggy storage shows me that I have lived at least 3128 years. But somehow I am in a non-upgraded body, 2500 years in the future from my most recent memory, in the middle of nowhere.

I know that timeline manipulation was being researched upon by fellow natives, but I can't remember more details. For now, I need to keep this body alive.

I know that in planets like these, in the case of apocalyptic situations, people from the surface send signals to an array of millions of lasers in the satellites that blink every two hours or so. It has only been 2 minutes since I woke up. I will go inside to preserve water while looking at Muna. If it blinks, I will take note of the pattern and go west. If it doesn't blink, I know there was a city a few hundred kilometers north.

In the meantime, I will get as much as I can for my journey. I know this body won't be able to handle much, but I will try my best. There's some cloth I can use to get shadow and cool myself. There's also a glass bottle full with water. In this environment, I hardly doubt it's contaminated, so my best bet is to bring it with me. There's also a bag with illuminators. They might prove handy.

Ok, so the lights are telling me that I should go west. There's something weird about this though... The message is signed with Iki's key. What is going on?