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The City had been asleep for so long that waking up had been almost painful. It hadn’t been slow either, but a sudden jolt of presence, of people, movement, energy, and a lot of feelings—fear, excitement, awe, happiness. The humans had swarmed out, occupying, exploring, poking every possible corner. The City had responded: lights turning on, long-dormant doors swooshing open, systems booting that had been shut down for 10,000 years. And after she had determined that those who had arrived were not a threat, after she had risen out of the deep, dark waters she had waited in for so long, she had welcomed them.
They weren't that many; certainly not enough to fill all the rooms and halls. But what they lacked in numbers, they made up for in curiosity. Every day, they ventured further, and the City thought it endearing. Sometimes, she even sent a small energy spike or turned on some minor system in one of the more remote areas, coaxing a team to come and see.
The humans were quick to make themselves at home. Soon, everyone had their living quarters. There were communal areas, recreational rooms, and a mess hall where they had their meals (although a thriving underground economy trading in high quality chocolate had quickly established itself). As the days and weeks passed, the City learned to distinguish the different humans from one another.
There were those who were happy to explore, eager to venture further and further into the outskirts, to find new rooms, or systems, or sometimes just a balcony with a particularly beautiful view. The City made sure to let the lights flicker in some corridors, coaxing the teams to explore that way, go on. Some doors stayed shut, others opened without effort. No, don't go there, not safe there. Go here. Look. Isn't it beautiful?
Then there were those who wanted to protect, a fierce instinct that was like a sharp bright light for the City. She sensed the hot anger when one of the other humans was in danger, or hurt. Sometimes, that need to protect turned into something darker. They dealt out death in frightening numbers sometimes, and the City wondered if they would always step back from the brink before it was too late.
Others wanted to help, in any way they could. Some wanted to build. To learn. To create. The City loved each and every one of them. After long, long millennia, she delighted in the chaos of life that had descended upon her.
There were times of great danger, of pain and destruction. The City tried to protect the humans as best as she could. During an attack, after twenty-five hours of constant onslaught, a woman collapsed with exhaustion in the jumper bay. It took some time before anyone could get to her. The floor stayed just a bit warmer where she lay, awake, but too tired to move. She placed a hand on the tiles, sensing the warmth, and whispered, "thank you".
There were times of loss and grief. One night, a man who had known torture and violence, unable to sleep, sat in his room, sobbing quietly. The City sensed the darkness in him and turned the panel that closed the window at night, revealing a brilliant sky full of stars. The man drew a shaky breath, got up from his bed and stepped in front of the window. He looked up at the lights stretching across the horizon, ran a hand along the wall and whispered, "thank you".
There were times where her humans fought with one another—not with weapons, but with words. And sometimes, if the City had had enough, she refused to open a door or two, preventing a person from storming out of the room, forcing them to turn around and maybe apologize.
There were those of her humans who loved each other more fiercely, more deeply. Sometimes they themselves were oblivious to it. That's when a transporter inexplicably malfunctioned, giving the oblivious ones a chance to talk in a confined space. Not that the City would ever resort to such measures. It had been a genuine malfunction. It could have happened to anyone. Really. And it would stop as soon as those two idiots kissed.
And after flying across two galaxies, and touching down in the waters of a planet that none of them called home anymore, the City was delighted when her humans turned out to be just as in love with her as she was with them. When they started plotting her return to Pegasus almost immediately, she did what she could to help the process along: turning off systems that would give too much away, opening secure communication channels that allowed her favorites to plan their heist, and maybe, just maybe, making life miserable for those who had been sent to make sure she wasn't going anywhere.
One night, one of her favorite humans went down into one of the lesser known labs and hooked up his laptop to one of her crystals. "Hi beautiful," he said, "I'm gonna need you to be extra awesome when I tell you to, okay?" He stopped, rolled his eyes, and sighed. "What am I doing? It's not like she can hear me—" The City chose that moment to flicker a few of the lights. The man's eyes widened. "I'm losing my mind," he muttered, and started typing on his laptop again. After a moment, he added quietly, "but I hope that was a yes."
It was.
Two hours later she rose again, up in the atmosphere this time, chased by fighter jets who never had a chance of intercepting her. The City felt how nervous and afraid her humans were. There was angry screaming coming through the one remaining channel that still linked them to the planet below. Somebody gave the order to turn it off, and maybe the sound cut out half a second before anyone had actually touched the button.
The silence that followed was full of anxiety and hope. They made the jump into hyperspace in that same silence, and it seemed like an eternity before one of them whispered, "We did it". It sounded like a question.
The City answered.
Lights came on, doors opened, systems sprung to life. Everything that had been shut off to protect them, to keep them hidden until the last possible moment, turned on again. There was a collective scream of joy and relief, and one or two of her humans had to sit down as their knees gave out. Many of them were hugging each other, even those who didn't usually show so much physical affection. Almost all of them were crying, some hiding it better than others. Outside the shield, the blue streaks of hyperspace pointed them towards the galaxy where the City truly belonged.
Welcome home, she thought at them.
- fin -