Chapter 1 - Twin Stars (1/2)

During late spring, the flowers in school had already begun to wilt.

Adrian was leaning back on the arch of the corridor’s exit with one hand in his uniform’s pocket and the other swiped idly down on the floating virtual screen of his personal holographic terminal.

“Another expansion! ‘Butterfly’s’ feathers will soon cover the Navi System! In the past 90 years, within the fifty-two systems inclusive of the capital system, the citizens from more than a hundred planets in the Federation have been enjoying an efficient and convenient life under the guidance of the second generation AI, ‘Butterfly’. The Supreme Council announced at a press conference today that the Navi System, located within the most remote corners of the Federation’s star map, would finally usher in a new dawn of civilization…”

At the words, “dawn of civilization”, Adrian snorted without any reservation. Impatiently, he opened up the comments section:

“Hooray! The Federation is finally complete!”

“The Navi System is finally returning to Butterfly’s control. I heard it’s poor and chaotic there.”

“That’s the only place that’s not under Butterfly’s management⁠—there’s fugitives running all over the place. Relying on human governance without AI surveillance, that place is simply a criminal’s paradise! Could it not be chaotic?”

“What??? Am I transmigrating into the ancient Earth period? There are still places not governed by AI??? How do they even live?”

“Stop embarrassing people if you’ve never experienced it! Isn’t that an exaggeration? ‘Butterfly’ was implemented only ninety years ago. Didn’t people still carry on living before that even without ‘Butterfly’?”

“But there was ‘Cocoon’ ninety years ago! These two generations of AIs combined have already been managing the Federation for more than two millennia! If you go even further, that’s already the ancient period!”

“Commenter above is obviously from the capital. The last generation’s “Cocoon” did not cover the entire Federation, only the area around the capital system.”

“This is also the first time I found out that there are regions managed by people…then how do you work and get married?”

“They just get random jobs and get married casually, why else do you think the Navi System is falling so far behind?”

“For the sake of boasting about their wicked little moth, the Supreme Council has even thrown away their common sense. Can you even call those butterfly flaps feathers?”

“Where the hell did this braindead AI anti come from? Without AI, you’d be even less than garbage!”

……

……

……

Bored, Adrian continued to swipe through several pages, and sure enough, it was filled with abuse.

The Federation of today consisted of fifty-three star systems, and the inhabited planets within that numbered over a hundred. The capital system, alongside several other developed systems nearby, had already been under the management of the second generation super artificial intelligence “Butterfly” for over ninety years, and the fifty-second system to enter “Butterfly’s” control range had already been within it for thirty seven years. The Navi System was truly too far away, and it was also due to some complicated historical issues that matters had been dragging on till now.

And right now, was this last system going to…fall as well?

Adrian gave the “wicked little moth” comment a like and turned off the news.

Thanks to AI, life as a human came with practically no privacy at all; be it in reality or on the net, all your actions were transparent. Soon, the major media outlets will have to post a news release: From the Federation’s Supreme Institution, one Adrian Yate of the Twin Stars, liked a comment written in criticism towards “Butterfly”.

But Adrian did not care about that. As he came close to graduation, he became one of the most highly observed youngsters who was set to enter society this semester. Countless people watched over his each and every move, and he had long since gotten used to this. Though he was the eldest son of the traditional and ancient Yate family, he had repeatedly expressed his position of being against artificial intelligence ever since entering college, standing on opposite sides against his own family as well as the Supreme Council. Though the young master had yet to officially set foot in society, his name had long since been known throughout the entire Federation.

……

A class had just ended, and a group of lower grade students came out through the arch.

Amongst them, a few girls were constantly peeking over at Adrian, grinning secretly and laughing as they nudged each other playfully. Soon, one of those lively girls came over and asked, “Senior Yate, are you waiting for President Zhong?”

Adrian gave her a broad smile, “That’s right.”

“Wow!”

“So romantic!”

As they continued to whisper and gossip with each other, the girls left. Finally, Adrian’s mood improved—the President Zhong that they had mentioned was the person he was awaiting, Zhong Yan.

Another legendary figure within the Federation’s Supreme Institution, a young civilian orphan with no family background but still achieved an eye-opening high score, bringing him into the Federation’s Supreme Institution. After entering the school, his performance was still dazzling, and he was elected as the Student Council’s President in his second year. While dealing with the various chores from the school, he was still able to maintain his position as the first in his major. Alongside the chief student representative of the military division, Adrian Yate, they were given the nickname of the Twin Stars.

Everyone was making their guesses; they were the Supreme Institution’s Twin Stars, where were these two big names of the Federation going to go after they graduate?

“President.” His seatmate jabbed silently at Zhong Yan with the tip of his touch screen pen. “Your Chief Yate is waiting for you outside.”

Yan Chen glanced at their unceasing professor and whispered, “How do you know that?”

“I saw it in the school forum. Sending it over to you—”

Zhong Yan adjusted the transparency of the holographic screen in front of him, turning on his own personal terminal secretly, and clicking into the campus forum link his seatmate had just sent to him.

“#TwinStars Caught a Senior Yate who was waiting for President Zhong: photo.jpg”

Zhong Yan did not read the comments. Instead, he scrutinized the photo for a little bit.