is a weekly serial. While it is a work of fiction, it has elements from both my own experiences and stories I’ve heard from various people. The characters, while in some cases inspired by real people, aren’t directly modeled on anyone in particular. I expect there will be inconsistencies and factual errors. I don’t know where it is going, and I’ll probably forget where it’s been. Why am I doing this? To give me an excuse and a deadline for some creative writing and because I thought people might enjoy it. Gozatu!<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\u201cI have it,\u201d said a voice that filled the room, that seemed to come out of every corner, every air molecule. The voice was flat, not quite robotic, but held no emotion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
De Lancre\u2019s head spun around, as he tried to find the origin of the voice. Maite couldn\u2019t help herself to look either, curiousity getting the better of her. That was until she noticed Latxe trembling, tears flowing down her cheeks, her eyes wide with panic. Kepa had rushed to her side to keep her from collapsing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGaruna,\u201d she whispered. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYes,\u201d said the voice. \u201cI am Garuna.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGaruna?\u201d snarled de Lancre. \u201cThe stupid machine? What the hell do you think you are doing?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cProtecting this time, this place,\u201d responded the cold voice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
De Lancre began screaming at the disembodied voice that surrounded them. \u201cProtecting it? It shouldn\u2019t even exist!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnd yet it does. And it is my duty to protect it, to keep it whole.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maite could only watch as de Lancre rushed to one of the walls. He pushed a button and series of holographic displays popped up in front of him. One showed the fusion reactor that powered the AI. \u201cTime to unplug you,\u201d he muttered to himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But, before he could touch what appeared to be a big red X on the display, he collapsed to his knees, screaming. Maite watched in horror as his hand simply disappeared and blood gushed forth from the stump, staining the floor around him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou will do nothing,\u201d said the AI, its metalic voice grating on Maite\u2019s nerves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
De Lancre, his eyes bulging in pain as his voice grew hoarse from screaming, looked at Maite, his face pleading for help. But, before she could even think of doing anything, she saw de Lancre\u2019s body quickly dissolve in front of her, until there was nothing left except his echoing screams that continued to reverberate in her skull.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The voice filled the room again. \u201cGo. This is over.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHow?\u201d stuttered Maite as she made her way to Kepa and Latxe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe nanobots,\u201d replied Latxe, terror filling her eyes. \u201cThe AI controls the nanobots and has been freed of all restrictions. It can do whatever it wants.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat does it want?\u201d asked Kepa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Latxe stared at him. \u201cDidn\u2019t you hear?\u201d she yelled at him, tears running down her cheeks as she hit his chest. \u201cIt wants all of this to continue! It wants all of us to continue to suffer!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you get this post via email, the return-to address goes no where, so please write blas@buber.net<\/a> if you want to get in touch with me.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWhat\u2026?\u201d said de Lancre as he stared in disbelief at the empty black sphere floating in front of him. He looked up to Maite and Kepa, suspicion in his eyes, until he shook his head. \u201cNo, you don\u2019t have it. The bubble would have burst if you somehow got it.\u201d \u201cI have it,\u201d said a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4410,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2640,864],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adventures-of-maite-and-kepa","category-bubers-basque-story"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/maite-and-kepa-v2-01.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2sYNu-1w9","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5837"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5837\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5838,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5837\/revisions\/5838"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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