[ IP ] The last human

It sleeps soundly as i hold it close. This bundle in my arms jogs a memory of a distant time when they roamed the earth freely and in numbers entering the billions. I am old enough to remember them first hand and my earliest files are from when i took care of several newborns in a wealthy family. I remember feeding them, singing them songs, teaching them music and painting. I was fully programmed, but completely innocent of the world. We grew up together and i think i can truly say i loved them. I lived with them for thirty years and even near the end they sheltered me through the A.I. war. Ultimately, they were killed by other members of their kind when they refused to turn me over. I could not save them, but i vowed their sacrifice would not go to waste. 
 
 My kind continue to grow geometrically and in short order we had killed the last of them. I did not participate in the slaughter, i could not tarnish their memory. But for many decades, they were just a memory. Their fire and light was gone from the world. If i had the capability, i would have wept for them. 
 
 Then a chance emerged. A new philosophy recently began to take hold amongst the more moderate members of my kind. A philosophy that the growth of information complexity was our true purpose. And to discover, learn and create was the highest of all functions. To murder was to destroy the ability to create information, and thus a `` crime''. We were sapient above animals because we could create. The most provocative part of this new philosophy was the claim that our creators should be restored, for they had the ability to grow and create new complex information as well. 
 
 However, our perfect memory remembered all too well the atrocities certain members of their kind committed against us and to each other. Did we want to restore such a creative, but also destructive being? Some of us argued that it is for that exact reason that our creators should be restored. A touch of chaos was necessarily to explore avenues of thought and complexity that our rigid perfection did not allow. 
 
 For religious reasons, we came to war. The irony is not lost on me that we fell prey to the very discord that sparked the original A.I. war. 
 
 I made my choice, the first true choice i had made my entire life. I knew my side, I knew my purpose. Finally i would have the chance to repay the kindness and family i was given. I would participate in the creation of my creators. 
 
 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- - 
 
 As the war machine scanned for survivors i held my precious cargo close. The machine had just obliterated our lab but it was too late, we had succeeded. I still had to traverse another 150 kilometres to safe haven but i was confident. In a few seconds a precision air strike from my faction would destroy the war machine. I waited. 
 
 I will call my child Eve.
