Age of Cosmic Exploration

When Xiao Niao saw this, he quickly typed, "In other words, you’re not this spaceship’s AI? And not created by this ship’s original owner?"

"I told you, I’m an intelligent lifeform and not AI... Looks like you’re quite dumb as well," ZERO typed. "The biggest difference between intelligent lifeforms and AI is that life cannot be created. Even your human beings’ genetic engineering or clones were considered alterations and not creations. Creation of life is something even godlike civilizations can’t accomplish. The only force that can create life is life-preserving planet..."

Suddenly, a passage appeared on Xiao Niao’s screen. He read it and realized it was an excerpt from the bible.

"There’s something of the kind in this human writing, as well as the legend of Nv Wa. Life, according to the godlike civilizations, can be separated into three parts. First is the soul. This is the most basic of all; only those that have souls can be called life. Second is consciousness, or you might understand it as intelligence, something that can help the lifeform understand the difference betweem me, you, and him, the self-consciousness so to speak. Consciousness has many delineations. For example, a human’s consciousness is dependent on their brain, or rather, the electrical synapses in the brain, to transport the information. Some silicon-based races use thermal energy or kinetic energy to transport the information. There are also particle-based lifeforms that directly used atomic particles to fulfil this purpose. The third is the body, or the corporeal form. There is even more variation for this. The original owners of this ship have even seen lifeforms that use consciousness as bodies.

"In conclusion, lifeforms should have these three things: soul, consciousness, and body. On this point, your bible has something similar. It states that mankind is closest to God, an entity different from angels and demons. You have the trinity of soul, consciousness, and body. The similar analogy can be found in the legend of Nv Wa as well. She created mankind from clay, but since mankind couldn’t think or move, she used her own blood to create life from the lifeless clay. If you see Nv Wa as a life-giving planet, then the analogy aligns perfectly."

Xiao Niao, as a Thinker, was contemplating everything ZERO had typed. After a minute or two, he replied, "In other words, the most basic property for any lifeform is the soul? And then there is a variation in the type of consciousness and body that it can possess?"

"Bingo! Then don’t call me an AI again. I’m your quintessential intelligent lifeform! If you call me an AI again, I will never talk to you again."

Xiao Niao scratched his nose awkwardly. He felt that the last sentence was a bit ambiguous; however, he pressed on. "Alright, let’s move on from the topic of AI for now. I’m very curious about how were you born. Was it instigated by the original owner of this ship? That’s why the spaceship crashed on Earth?"

ZERO was inactive for so long that Xiao Niao thought she had left. Right then, her reply came. "No, the original owners disappeared a long time ago. This spaceship had travelled in space for more than ten thousand years before it crashed on Earth, causing the extinction of the dinosaurs. I was born after that, but I don’t have a clear recollection of when that was."

"Disappearance?" Xiao Niao picked up on the important term, then he asked, "What do you mean by that? Dead from sickness? War? Law of Conservation of Life? Or something else happened?"

"Disappear is disappear. If I explain using the latest batch of information you’ve received, the original owners of this ship was a godlike civilization. In other words, they were above level 9 civilizations. They were beyond the effect of the Law of conservation of Life. They just disappeared..." ZERO answered.

This confused Xiao Niao even more. He thought about it and asked, "Just disappeared? Can you elaborate? You should be familiar with human language by now, such a sudden disappearance is beyond my comprehension."

"...To borrow a simple analogy, your supposed civilization is at the level of space understanding. If the secret of the cosmos was a piece of white paper, then you humans now are but a small, black dot, and a level 9 civilization is a small, dark circle. Every civilization has the natural inclination to explore and improve. The civilization that has lost that desire will eventually perish. Therefore, the goal of each civilization is to get this circle of knowledge to grow.

"If the circle keeps growing until it reaches the limit and becomes larger than the paper, what do you think will happen?"

Xiao Niao watched a square, white paper appear on the screen. In the middle of the paper was a small dot. With the increase in civilization level, the dot kept growing, becoming a small circle. It kept growing, becoming a larger circle, until eventually the circle had stretched to the edges of the paper and beyond it. Finally... A brand new white paper appeared on screen, or rather the paper was still the same white paper, but the circle that represented the civilization had disappeared.

"...You mean when a civilization has explored to the limits of the cosmos, the civilization will have reached its own limits?" When Xiao Niao typed this question, his back was chilled.

"Yes and no," ZERO replied after quite some time. "When a civilization reaches the high level civilization stage, the so-called specialization of technology tree will happen. It is impossible to want to research everything due to the time constraints from Law of Conservation of Life. There is simply not enough time to research everything. Therefore, the civilization will have to choose a particular science to focus on. Perhaps the original owner picked the wrong specialization, who knows. It’s useless for you to ask me this because I have no memory regarding the spaceship’s original owners. The fact that they’ve disappeared is something I pulled from the ship’s records."

Memory... this was another new key term.

Xiao Niao thought about it and asked, "When did you start to possess memories? Or rather, when did you find yourself with the consciousness of self?"

"... When mankind was first born, I think. That was when my first memory started, and it was at that time that I realized I was a self. Now do you understand why I’m partial towards you human beings? I practically grew up together with your ancestors, so you should show respect to your elder and stop calling me dumb or the like in the future," ZERO typed.

Xiao Niao chuckled internally as he responded, "Yes, dummy elder... Alright, let’s get serious for a while, ZERO. Since you’ve told me so much today, I will be honest with you. Why don’t you help us humans out? Since we are both Earth’s intelligent lifeforms and you were born around the same time as us human beings, in a way, you are a human, but you don’t have a human body. However, your consciousness and soul are both very human."

"...You, you really think so? Don’t lie to me, be honest. You really think I can pass as a human?" ZERO waited a long time before replying.

"Of course," Xiao Niao replied quickly, thinking he had found a way in.

"I understand," ZERO replied, but Xiao Niao had no idea what she understood.

Therefore, Xiao Niao typed this next: "If that’s the case, why don’t you help us out? You’ll be helping your own people."

ZERO waited before answering. "What kind of help do you need from me?"

"Technology! Technology from the 5th revolution until the very end, things like control of the space warp technology, the origin of the neutron star fragment, and much more. How about this, you open your spaceship for us and let us human beings inherit the ruins of the godlike civilization." Xiao Niao fired off the suggestions in quick succession, his heart skipping a few beats.

"...I cannot procure more technology for you. The reason is ... you wouldn’t understand even if I told you. But you’ll see why when you’ve reached the 6th revolution. Regarding the space warp, it is not possible because humanity’s technological level is too low. I’ve intervened many times to influence the warp system, but those were done through this spaceship. Now I’m... exhausted, so I cannot influence more control in the future. I need time before I can control the space warp...

"The other things are hidden deep inside the spaceship, a place where even I cannot reach. The ones I can, I’ve given to you, so... I’m sorry."

Like a child that was caught red-handed, ZERO started apologizing.

Xiao Niao sighed in disappointment. He thought that he had stumbled upon a gold mine, but it was all a pipe dream. He too was at a loss for words.

"But...

"I can solve your AI problem. After all, it’s just first-level AI. Leave it all to me. However, I cannot help you guys without asking for something in return. I want to make a trade with you human beings...

"When you’ve entered the peak of 5th revolution, make me a human body to contain my soul and consciousness."