Act 8: Message

Fine dust, barely visible to the naked eye, poured out of the cigarette package and started levitating mid-air, right in front of them. A blinding beam of light shot out our the small box, illuminating all the flying particles in various colours.
"W...what is happening?" Spes asked with a stuttering voice, hiding behind Silus' back and grabbing onto his coat.
Without answering, he only pointed towards the dust cloud which, gradually formed itself into the head of a beautiful woman in her mid-thirties. Long blond hair floated in the air, moving up and down like the tides of the ocean. Bandages covered half of her facing, hiding her true beauty underneath it. Big dark rings under her eyes suggested a lack of sleep in the days prior to the recording. A tired smile showed on her face.
Silus stood as if he were frozen without a single word leaving his mouth.
"Ehm, test, test. Okay, it seems everything is working." The mouth of the oversized head in front of them moved in perfect synchronization with the words coming out of a small speaker inside the cigarette package. "I hope that the day where you have to see this will never come honey. Because not only would that mean that we lost the war, but also that you started smoking despite me always saying that you shouldn't pick up my bad habit." She chuckled. "I still feel guilty for bringing all this pain..., all this suffering to the world and its inhabitants. And even though I would like to say that I feel guilty creating the three of you, it would be pointless, because we all know that I won't regret it and that I love my work over all other things. So, there is no point in lying. All I can do now is take responsibility for the mess that I have created and solve it with my own two hands. After all, I don't want to be the one responsible for the extinction of the human race." The grin on the woman's face disappeared. "I left you this message because there is still hope. It is still possible to bring back the world to how it used to be. With all of its beauty and ugliness. But you are the only one who can do it. Out there in the city is a child with the name Spes who is searching for you. She is the key to reviving the human race. Find her and sneak her into central, the rest will happen on its own. I prepared some maps of the building just for this case, so you better don't go rushing in head-on first as you usually do. It's up to you now Silus, go and save humanity. I love you." With that the face hologram crumbled down to the ground, adding to the already present dust in the room.
"No, don't leave me!" Silus reached out his hand to where the face floated just a few seconds ago. He looked at the last cigarette, which was still lying in his hand and put it back into the box.
"Are you not going to have your last smoke?" Asked the voice inside his head.
"No, I feel like I might forget her if I do..."
Silus felt something pulling his coat down.
"What did she mean with, she created you three? Who is the third? And she was the one responsible for all this, your wife?!" Spes' eyes were wide open, staring right into his.
"It's exactly as she said." Silus sat down on the squeaking bed. "My wife was the creator of the first ever, fully functional AI system. The first one was Zero, a prototype, I'm sure he told you that story. The second one was me, in a desperate attempt to revive her dead husband. At that point, my wife was unstoppable, curiosity had taken the better of her. So she created one more AI, without a body and barely the ability to feel or think freely. But therefore she had the ability to develop herself further than anyone else."
"Central..." Spes whispered.
"Yes, central. She soon enough developed a business by selling mechanoids with the bare minimum on AI functionality as cheap labour and gained so on immeasurable power. By that time my wife realised what she had done, but it was too late. Central had gained its own consciousness and started the war you already know about."
Spes looked out of a hole in the wall, pointing towards a giant skyscraper, far higher than any nearby building, overlooking the whole city.
"Are we going there?" She asked.
"It's our only hope if we don't want to be on the run for the rest of our lives, so... yes, we are going there."