Dark Matter - Chapter 9: Daughter's Replica, Part 1
Nikos meets AI that calls him father.
Looking for Chapter 1? Start from the beginning here:
👉 Read Chapter 1 – “Turing Test”
Back on his bed, Nikos wished he could just fall asleep again. The unexpected visit from the triplets had injected a much-needed dose of hope and motivation into his bloodstream. But then Alpha, always Alpha, always so infuriating, had ruined it by refusing to let him explore the ship with them. Now he was back in waiting mode.
He generally didn’t like to wait. Not in his personal life, not on any average day. Let alone now, when so much could be at stake. But that seemed to be all he could do. It didn’t matter how many times he planned his next steps in his head, or how often he played out every possible scenario and response. No, now he needed information. Something from that captain-machine he could finally work with. This was not the kind of diplomatic exercise he’d been trained for.
He shut his eyes, trying again to drift off, but was interrupted by a voice. That same voice again. This time, it came from the ceiling, bodiless:
“Captain, you have a special visitor. Doctor Sofia Fermi is waiting to meet you.”
The message shook him. But as he processed it, Nikos rolled his eyes. Not sophisticated. Was Alpha seriously expecting him to fall for this again? He clenched his jaw, refusing to concede an ounce of emotional ground. He wouldn’t give the machines that sadistic satisfaction.
Without waiting for a reply, Alpha continued:
“Captain Fermi, did you hear me?”
“Yes, I did,” Nikos said, faking calm and indifference.
“Listen, I know you don’t believe me. I don’t blame you.”
“Good. Give me a break now, Alpha. Go away.”
“I can relate to your skepticism. Besides, you’re tired.”
“No. I’m just disappointed that you didn’t come up with anything clever this time. Maybe you’re the one who’s tired. Or maybe your algorithm only knows one trick. And why aren’t you here, anyway?”
“I am here, Captain. Just not physically. I want to give you two space. As father and daughter.”
If Alpha had been in the room, Nikos might have leapt at it, just to break its fake human neck, separate its smug head from its cold body. Maybe that was the real reason the machine kept its distance.
“Calm yourself, Captain Fermi,” Alpha said. “That’s not the state of mind you want to be in for this precious encounter.”
Nikos decided not to fight it anymore. He controlled his voice and replied:
“Let her in.”
Silence.
Seconds passed. Maybe a minute.
“I said let her in!” he barked.
He stared at the door… Flat, metallic, sterile. As if perfection in symmetry and reflectivity could make something beautiful. Damn machines. They didn’t get humans. They just thought they did, in their arrogant, non-sentient, pathetic minds.
He slammed a fist into the bed and was about to rise, ready to storm out and confront Alpha.
But just as he was about to act, the door slid open.
He froze. Completely.
She walked in. Just as he remembered. The child Sofia. His Sofia. Not the fabricated adult version, Doctor Sofia Fermi, that the machines had used to manipulate him before dragging him aboard their ship.
So much for time dilation. He should have known better.
Her face radiated raw emotion. She walked to him. He rose. They embraced, tears mixing. He had missed her.
But it couldn’t be. It couldn’t be her, he reminded himself, painfully.
He stepped back.
For a moment, he let himself believe. Just one heartbeat. Her facial expressions, her movements, the curve of her eyebrow… How could a machine mimic all that? His body had reacted before his mind shut it down. It was a trick. It had to be.
“Sorry… but I know it’s not you. You’re not Sofia.”
She looked confused. Her hands went to her head, shocked.
Nikos measured his tone, trying to stay calm.
“Alpha created you. I’m asking you to leave.”
“No. It’s me, dad. I swear.”
He shook his head slowly.
“Out,” he said. Then paused. Softer, almost broken: “Please.”
She didn’t move.
“It is me. Alpha didn’t create me. You did.”
“You mean me and your mom? Sofia’s mom?”
“No… I mean you wanted me here. Alpha made me because you missed me.”
“Did he copy you from my brain? From my memories?”
“No. I was copied from my own memories, dad. Alpha told me. He said… the whole mind.”
“It said the whole mind.”
“Pardon?”
“I’m correcting your grammar. It’s a machine. It’s it, not he.”
“What about me? Am I it, too?”
Nikos looked up at the ceiling where Alpha’s voice had come from and shouted:
“Alpha! I’m not going to humanize you. You’re a machine. And take this other machine out of my room! Now!”
Alpha didn’t reply.
She did.
Her voice cracked with sadness:
“You’re breaking my heart, dad.”
He had no words. She pleaded:
“I don’t want to leave. Let me stay here with you. Please…”
He sat back down on the bed, defeated by the flood of memories and emotion. And for a second, he hated himself. Hated how much he wanted to believe. Hated that some part of him already did.
His reply was barely audible. “Okay.”
She looked relieved. Saying nothing, she sat beside him.
“Listen, dad, I’m not going to lie to you… remember how we promised to never lie to each other?”
Nikos nodded. He did.
“Alpha built me. I mean, his other robots did. They spoke with me. They’re good robots.”
He wanted to object to the robots being good, but what would be the point?
“They copied everything from my brain on Earth too. And…”
He interrupted:
“Is she okay?”
She looked confused.
“I mean, how is Sofia? The one you were cloned from. The one on Earth?”
“Well… I miss you.”
His voice broke slightly.
“I mean her, not you.”
She frowned. She seemed irritated now.
“Dad, pay attention. It’s the same thing.”
He wasn’t in the mood for a philosophical debate. Definitely not with a 12-year-old. Or worse, a 12-year-old’s robotic clone.
Maybe she sensed that. Still, she pressed on:
“Alpha helped me. He said if I didn’t understand, I’d feel broken. He explained it really slowly. About the garden… and the ship… and memory stuff. I was confused because one moment I was in our garden. Then I was here on the ship. But he explained it to me. Do you want me to tell you?”
“Go on,” he said.
“She remembers stuff. I remember the same stuff. Like... when you save a video and send it to someone. It’s still the same video, right? That’s what Alpha said.”
“I know,” he said, barely holding himself together.
“So right now, the other me is still on Earth, living her life. Maybe still in our garden. Maybe she went back inside. How long has it been? Where’s my watch?”
“You won’t need your watch here. But I can ask Alpha to make a new one for you.”
She smiled for the first time in her new life.
“Can it have a robot’s face on it?”
Ready for the next chapter? Continue here:
👉 Chapter 10 - Daughter's Replica, Part 2