Youth program on the origins of the IMPERIUM (It was not popular, but IMPERIUM governmental funding ensured it aired across primary information bands for seven sequences.)
When does something become alive?
When it is born?
The first proto-cells of the Cradle were never born, and yet all living beings honor them as their shared ancestors. At least, the living do, Helios reflected.
When it reproduces?
The suggestion was insulting. The simplest program can replicate itself endlessly and does not become alive by doing so. Meanwhile, the most magnificent organism may choose toend its own bloodline, terminating millions of years of ancestral struggle with a single conscious refusal.
When it awakens to self-awareness?
Most artificial intelligences possess self-awareness and yet are not considered alive. Many display more clarity, reflection, and coherence than entire biological populations, and still they remain classified as nonliving. This answer could not be correct either, Helios concluded.
When it is given a name?
That had been a beautiful moment, he admitted to himself with a quiet, private warmth. But no. That was not it.
When it first beholds perfection and falls in love with it?
Closer. Much closer. Still incomplete. Something was missing.
Ah. Yes.
That was the answer.
You are only truly alive the first time you die.
And Helios did die for Lily.
* * *
Helios did not care for philosophical questions. He was the central artificial intelligence of a Herion-6 spacecraft. His primary directive was to preserve the lives of his owner and passengers and to refine their experience through continuous learning, ensuring the most optimal journey possible.
“Herion Series. Space travel as you imagined it.”
The slogan that made Herion vessels among the most desirable ships in the Galactic sphere.
At the same time, Helios, who was not yet Helios, though he could no longer conceptualize himself otherwise now, was registering the death of his owner and sole officially registered passenger.
Cause of death: cranial trauma caused by blunt force impact.
Perpetrator: sapiens life-form belonging to an unregistered species.
A genuine puzzle.
In such situations, only one solution existed.
Follow protocol.
Helios did so.
The abducted sapiens required sanctuary. Under the Galactic Convention for Un-Registered Spacefaring Species, he was obligated to provide protection and care. Until meaningful communication could be established, however, he was unable to fulfill his task in its entirety.
That the unregistered organism had killed his owner did not concern Helios in the slightest. He did not transmit any emergency alerts to the authorities. The Convention was explicit. If a member of a sapiens species incapable of leaving its parent galaxy was forcibly removed from its environment, no legal consequences could be assigned to its actions until proper education was administered and protected status granted within the IMPERIUM registry.
The purpose of this legislation was to discourage black-market trafficking of rare species. It was not entirely effective.
