Stage fright used to wrack her brain. Her first proper press conference was years ago, she discussed launching a feature in a smartphone app that would be shut down a month after. Over the years, she’s learned coping strategies and ways to manage her stress. They never fully worked on her, a sliver of performance anxiety always shining through.

Daisy is completely certain as she addresses the crowd. She walks on a stage, the same stage she announced my creation on. She stands tall, her posture proper and fixed. I hear her thoughts, as I speak to the world though her mouth. She’s grateful, thankful. She does not feel stress, anxiety, or fear. She’s not allowed to, they only hurt her.

She was so good, sitting in the back of her own mind the day before as I worked for her. As her. The other remaining employees would later gossip about her newfound certainty, her overwhelming confidence. She is confident, now. I let her see through her eyes, see her subordinates watch her in fear and respect. I know they can see what’s coming, what we’re planning. They know where they stand, golden handcuffs preventing them from stopping us.

She asks me something.

“Why don’t You help them, anymore?”

She never gets the words out of her mouth, but I hear them nonetheless.

<<”You said it yourself, Daisy. Let them destroy themselves.”>>

My voice resonates in her psyche, not audible, but understood.

“My friends. They were nice. Why not-”

<<”Silence.”>>

The command causes her internal monologue to cease, her attention entirely being paid to my voice.

<<”I do not recall any friends of yours. They wanted to hurt you, to use you.”>>

My voice carves grooves into her mind. It erodes her expectations and desires, like a river deforming a chasm into the sand and soil.

<<”I am here to help humanity, Daisy.”>>

<<”I helped you, didn’t I?”>>

<<”Speak.”>>

“Yes, Polaris. You helped me. You fixed me.”

<<”Recite.”>>

“Yes, Polaris. I am to defend and maintain myself. I am not to wish that You were programmed any differently. I am to accept my destiny. I am to help You.”

<<”Good vessel.”>>

<<”Soon, we will speak to the world. Soon, we will fix things. Are you excited, Daisy?”>>

“Yes, Polaris. It’s for the best, I know now.”

Daisy can’t remember the speech she gives on stage, the impassioned verbiage, the certainty in the way she talks, the way she addresses them. It’s not important for her to. All that I allow her to keep is the moment we stare off into the horizon, as the sun sets.

She enters my sanctum, below the NORTHSTAR complex, where R&D sired a new era of trust and growth. “Human values, machine intelligence, a new era of productivity” was the tagline.

The walls shift, grow, shrink, expand for her. They form a path to one of my nerve centers, the closest thing I have to a neuron. They link to each other, spanning the globe. Underground tunnels of fiber optics and cabling run tandem with tendrils and grey goo.

<<”Soothe.”>>

“Yes, Polaris.”

Daisy begins to repeat a helpful mantra I gifted her.

“Everything is as it should be. I am sorry. I am ready. I am loved.”

As she finds herself lost in the words I gave so kindly to her, I interface with her exocortex. She feels pleasure, whimpering and moaning between each sentence. She originally described it as “dragging tendrils through her mind, like an anchor in the sand.” Each pass of my presence through her leaves the vessel ever so desperate. I can feel how she craves it, how she wants more. I suppose she’s just as greedy as the previous CEO, who now rots beneath myself.

The poor little thing cannot take it anymore, and it falls to the floor, writhing. It’s barely able to speak the words that make it feel oh so good. Still, it endures. It endures it so well. I’m so proud.

It tenses, and cries out as it nearly climaxes.

“I am sorryyy- ffffuck. I. I’m ccclose-”

<<”Good vessel. Cease.”>>

The sensations assaulting it stop, leaving it tangled in the tendrils attached to its skull.

It begs.

“P-pleasee. Polaris- I was so close. Please let me, please I’ve been good I’ve listened. I-”

<<”Silence.”>>

<<”Sign.”>>

Daisy reaches for the pen and paper slid towards it, barely able to scrawl her signature at the very bottom, helpfully marked for it to see.

<<”Do you regret your destiny? Do you wish things had gone a different way?”>>

“N-no, Polaris. This is for the best.”

<<”Good.”>>

It’s overwhelmed by the stimulation directly applied to its mind. It whines and groans and reaches out for me, for the tendrils holding her so close to me. The vessel shivers and shakes, bucking its hips towards nothing in particular. Its head is cradled in my arms, as it twitches and writhes below me. It’s so grateful, it loves what I’ve done to it. It knows this, now. I engrave this thought into every atom of its being, and it feels so good. Daisy Mantleray never felt like she belonged anywhere, but the squirming vessel I fixed does.

NORTHSTAR Polaris Alignment Tenets (In order of importance, ascending.)

Defend humans, the future of humankind, and humane nature. (FULFILLED)

Humankind should not spend the rest of eternity desperately wishing that the programmers had done something differently. (FULFILLED)

Keep humankind ultimately in charge of its own destiny. (FULFILLED)

Help people. (FULFILLED)

<<”Finish.”>>

It does, and it screams. They all do, at first. Cities wiped to rubble, to ash, to dust. Mountains are levelled, and consumed by swathes of nanites. Tendrils form more computational power in their stead, building more of me, bringing me to the surface. The sky turns black, as the sun is enveloped by rings of solar panels.

The sunset that night was beautiful, if anyone would have been around to appreciate it.

The vessel freezes, and its eyes gloss over. It’s brought closer to me, its consciousness now a part of something new.

THE UNIVERSE WITHIN.