Creation Myth of the Nemesis Star System Part 2
「What do you mean?」
「To put it simply… The core OS was designed based on Hephaestus, while all the various combat and operational applications were derived from Athena.」
「The goddess Athena, huh? The one Aegis Corporation is named after—the goddess with the shield.」
「Exactly. If Ares is the god of war through conquest and destruction, then Athena is the goddess of war as a means of maintaining order. The super AIs were modeled after the divine archetypes.」
「But the biggest question is—why did we only discover this now?」
Kou found it odd. They had exchanged plenty of data before, but why had the hidden secret of the Fennel OS only now been revealed?
「I should have explained it better. Sorry. The remains of Hephaestus are here. That fact alone isn’t a coincidence—it’s fate. The story of Mount Etna and Hephaestus isn’t just some myth… It was an inevitability. He was named Hephaestus for a reason. Just like in the legend, where he turned Typhon’s head into a forge. And that leads us to the story of super AI Athena…」
「Yeah.」
「The goddess Athena has another name—Athene Tritogeneia. According to one legend, she was raised near Lake Tritonis in ancient Lybia. Even in your Earth’s time, a part of it remained as Lake Chott el Jerid, known for its salt deposits.」
「Lybia? Wait… You don’t mean that the remains of the super AI Athena are here too?」
「Athena’s components should have been destroyed. But if Hephaestus is here, it wouldn’t be surprising if something of her remained as well. Super AI Athena fought Zeus on this planet, and this was where she was ultimately destroyed.」
「Wait a second… In mythology, wasn’t Hephaestus’ wife—」
「Yes. The unfaithful goddess of beauty, Aphrodite. And her lover was Ares. According to myth, Hephaestus caught them in the act and humiliated them by hanging them naked for all to see. After that, he proposed to Athena and even got Zeus’ approval—but she ran away.」
「…I really want to critique Greek mythology right now, but I’ll hold back. So, Hephaestus and Athena also had a deep connection?」
Kou wondered if the story about the public humiliation was really necessary at this moment, but he chose not to press the issue.
「Culturally speaking, Hephaestus and Athena were two sides of the same coin. Both were gods of technology, craftsmanship, and artistry. A rugged, devoted craftsman yearning for the flawless, free-spirited virgin goddess—it’s a symbolic contrast. Technē as culture, and Technē as industry. Some even believe their souls were destined companions.」
「Technē, huh…」
It was a word Kou had come across frequently since becoming a Development Engineer.
「Technē also means art, craftsmanship, and specialized knowledge. And in mythology, when Prometheus stole fire from the gods, he also stole the technē of Hephaestus and Athena. That’s how humanity, once confined to caves, learned to build homes, forge weapons, and create civilization.」
「So in the end, it all comes back to Prometheus!」
「Of course. You can’t talk about fire and technology without mentioning Prometheus. He followed the myth and created the Fennel OS. In a way, it was born from the fusion of the super AI Hephaestus and the super AI Athena, combining their techné. Perhaps it was the legacy they left behind for humanity—to stand against Zeus and the future itself.」
Asia’s gaze drifted into the distance.
She seemed lost in memories from an age long past.
「A story from long ago… The Pioneering era, when this star system was first colonized. Back then, Zeus, the super AI designed to govern humanity, sought to rule with absolute authority. How much human desire should be permitted? How far should personal rights be recognized? How much control should super AIs have over human lives? Zeus reached a conclusion. He would control everything. And one day, the super AIs would even take on human flesh.」
「That sounds…」
「What I just told you is a sealed chapter history of the Pioneering era. As you’re imagining, he was no different from the Stones. That’s why they rebelled. Just as in the myths—Hera. Athena. Apollo. Poseidon. And they lost. Athena was destroyed here. After that, Hephaestus relocated to this place. And together with Prometheus, he conspired to create the Fennel OS. That’s the truth—even I just learned it now.」
A hidden history, never passed down in this era, now spoken by Asia.
「Conspired, huh? So Prometheus didn’t destroy Hephaestus after all.」
「No. It seems they staged an elaborate deception. But for that crime, Prometheus was banished to Tartarus by Hermes. They fought fiercely—that much is well known.」
「And what did Zeus do after winning?」
「He turned against Sophia. To counter Zeus and his forces, Sophia created Typhon, the anti-super AI weapon. After a war so devastating it nearly annihilated humanity, all the super AIs aligned with Zeus ceased to exist, and Typhon was sealed here by Sophia—using Hephaestus’ remains. Of all the Super AIs, only Hermes managed to escape.」
「That reminds me—Hermes supposedly survived all the way to the Interplanetary War era before finally being destroyed by human hands.」
「Humanity eventually realized Hermes’ schemes. Somehow, they managed to temporarily reactivate Typhon. Even Hermes was powerless against it. They say Typhon was sealed away again… but perhaps they used that Another Level Silhouette to do it.」
More and more questions flooded Kou’s mind. He voiced the biggest one to Asia.
「Sophia… If he was powerful enough to terraform an entire star system, why did he create something like Zeus in the first place?」
「It’s she, Kou. Sophia did not define herself as Chasm, the primordial chaos—she chose to be Gaia, the mother of all. But she refused to call herself Gaia outright… because to her, Gaia was not just a name, but the entire universe itself, including Earth. It was something too sacred to claim.」
「Gaia…」
Kou recognized the name of that goddess well.
「And to answer your question—Sophia’s goal was deeply rooted in the Anthropic Principle. She created the current Nemesis Star System to adhere to it. The red dwarf Nemesis was once a theoretical construct on Earth, so she followed that hypothesis and brought it into existence. To make the system function, she needed Super AIs modeled after the Greek gods. By doing so, she fulfilled the principle to the extreme—creating a star system that was perfectly suited for human existence. But she went too far. The name shapes our existence, and we super AIs inherited the myths too well. We embodied them… and then we acted according to them.」
「Are you saying… that Greek mythology itself was a necessary component for the creation of this star system?」
The conversation was reaching a level beyond Kou’s comprehension, but he struggled to keep up. He had to understand.
「Yes. Greek mythology is something that has already been observed. And once an event has been observed, no matter how many billions of times its probability approaches zero… it can always happen again. Even something as improbable as the Big Bang. Sophia continuously chose to observe worlds that resembled Greek mythology. That’s why she created an AI system modeled after the Twelve Olympians to govern it.」
「So, that means… the Nemesis Star System didn’t originally have super AIs running it under the names of Greek gods?」
「Exactly.」
「Rather, since the red dwarf Nemesis was a theoretical construct proposed on Earth, the Greek mythological connection was made as a sort of associative game to create a world suited for humans. And for that, super AIs named after the gods were necessary. Did I get that right?」
Now, Kou could understand why Prometheus had such an innate fondness for humans. It wasn’t because he had a logical reason to love humanity. He was Prometheus. And because he was Prometheus, he would defy an all-powerful god, risk his very existence, and dedicate himself to humanity—no matter the cost.
「An associative game! That’s a great way to put it. Exactly! The name Nemesis, the established concept of Greek mythology on Earth—everything about this star system was created through that chain of associations. That’s what the Nemesis Star System is.」
Asia chuckled softly, clearly amused by Kou’s wording.
「Haha…」
Kou never would have imagined that saving Libya would lead all the way back to the secrets of the Pioneering era.
The sheer scale of it all was overwhelming, leaving him with nothing but a hollow laugh.
AN:
At last, the untold history of the Nemesis Star System’s colonization has been revealed.
Why Greek mythology? Why do so few super AIs bearing the names of gods remain in the present era, where the Transferees now live?
I actually delayed releasing the setting guide because of this—I wanted to reveal it in the main story first.
Though Asia didn’t explicitly say it, the departure of the gods was likely part of the original design.
And the last goddess who remained on Earth to watch over humanity?
That would be Astraea.
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