February 10th, 2034
Normally, a project like the one Asher wanted for his company's building would have taken more than a year to finish, even with all of Atlas's advanced construction technology. The contractors he hired were skilled and had worked with his parents before, so maybe they could have pulled it off in under a year.
But with Asher's arachnid construction drones, plus having all the blueprints and models ready ahead of time, the schedule changed completely.
The entire project was finished in just under two months.
It was such a short time that even Liv, who was sitting with Asher right now, found it hard to believe.
"It's really done already? It feels like just yesterday I set up that meeting between you and Russet." Both Liv and Asher were sitting inside Asher's armored convoy. Through the windows, the blurred cityscape of Mantle rushed by as they headed to the new building.
"That's what automation can do. And that's exactly the kind of efficiency I want to bring to the rest of Atlas and Mantle," Asher said, crossing one leg over the other. His hands moved over his scroll, reading something that looked complicated. He didn't seem too focused, but by now, Liv knew better.
Somehow, Asher could just glance at something and remember every detail, as if his mind were a steel trap.
"You and your big plans," Liv said with a smile, shaking her head a little.
Asher was looking at the schematics and notes from Pietro's work—everything he'd done to create Penny, along with his breakthroughs in the study of souls and aura. These files weren't something you could just find anywhere; in fact, none of it was public. Everything about Penny's creation was classified, and that included the science behind her.
Pietro's notes turned out to be just as enlightening as Asher had hoped. He wasn't exactly new to the topic of aura—how could he be, after fighting so many would-be Huntsmen, facing Weiss, and watching Winter on more than one occasion?
Still, even though aura and souls were connected, they weren't the same thing.
Aura was a well-known field of study, while souls were still mostly theoretical.
Until now, Asher's grasp of the science behind souls had barely scratched the surface—he'd only understood a few percent of the total information. But after reading through these notes, his understanding had finally broken into the double digits. By the time he finished, he'd probably be pushing twenty percent.
"Oh, is that the place up ahead?" Liv broke the silence, twisting around to peer out the back window. The angle was a little awkward, but she could see glimpses of a building that definitely stood out from the rest of the area.
Asher looked up from his scroll and followed her gaze.
"Yeah, that's the place." The armored convoy and its escort vehicles pulled up to the sidewalk, stopping close to the entrance. Most of the construction trucks and equipment that had once crowded the area were gone now, with only a few left—either waiting to be hauled away or set aside for disposal.
And then there were Asher's own trucks.
There'd only been one at first, just big enough to carry his arachnid construction drones, but now there were several, lined up and down the street, not that Liv noticed.
Their ride came to a stop, and the armored truck's door unfolded. Asher stepped out first, with Liv right behind him. It wasn't as cold as usual in Mantle today, so they were dressed in more professional clothes instead of heavy winter gear. Liv, being a shark-traited Faunus, could regulate her own body temperature anyway.
"Wow, I saw the photos, but you even redid the walls?" Liv said, staring at the building's perimeter wall.
Before, it had just been crumbling stone, cracked and worn down by years of weather and neglect. Now, it was matte-white and looked almost seamless—unless you looked closely. If you did, you could just make out the faintest lines where circuits had been embedded.
Noticing Liv's curious look, Asher explained, "The entire perimeter's embedded with a special sensory array. It can tell the difference between a car just driving past and someone actually walking close to the wall. And if anyone touches it, that gets relayed straight to the site's security system."
"Security system?" Liv sounded surprised.
"Did you already hire a security team?" She asked. Asher had originally asked for her help with hiring, and she'd been using her connections and pulling in favors with certain groups and communities that supported what they were building.
Honestly, it still felt almost too good to be true, even with Liv leaving out some of the wilder details.
If it had been anyone but her, she was sure there would've been a lot more questions. In the end, there weren't many people willing to sign on just because she said so, but nearly a hundred had stated they were willing to show up to check out the company for themselves.
But to her surprise, Asher shook his head.
"No, I haven't hired anyone yet." He said this as he started walking toward the gate that led onto the company grounds. The wall stood about six to eight meters tall, and the gate was only a little shorter. It matched the wall's color and would have blended right in if not for the indentation, two columns framing it, and a visible split down the center.
Just as Liv was about to ask what he meant, she noticed two cameras mounted on the columns beside the gate. As Asher approached, one of the cameras swiveled, locking onto him. It seemed to scan him for a moment before the gate unlocked and slid open, each half disappearing smoothly into the wall.
"So quiet..." Liv couldn't help but say as the gate opened. Aside from the low hum of the mechanisms, it moved fast and didn't make much more noise than a car's engine.
"I designed them myself," Asher said, stepping forward through the open entrance.
"It's a company building. The last thing I want is workers getting distracted by noisy gears all day."
"I see… But wait, I don't get it. If there's no security team, then who opened the gate?" Liv asked. She noticed one of the cameras turned toward her after tracking Asher, but it didn't do anything else.
As Liv caught up with Asher and looked ahead, she could finally see the newly built company building. The spot where the old statue of Weiss's grandfather, Nicholas Schnee, had once stood was now taken by a water fountain. The fountain's streams would change from spinning arcs to cascading waterfalls every so often, adding some life to the area.
The main path that Liv and Asher were walking on curved around the fountain. Trees that could survive Mantle's freezing climate had been planted all around, and benches lined the path, making it a relaxing place to sit and take in the view.
But it didn't stop there—the path around the fountain branched off and stretched across the open grounds. The patchy, dying grass from before was gone, replaced with all kinds of new plant life. Most of the plants weren't even native to the area, but they were arranged so naturally that you might think they belonged there.
You could probably see a dozen different types of plants just by following the path around the building.
Asher glanced back at her with a small smile.
"You like it? My mother helped with the design, and she put me in touch with a few people. She did most of the work, honestly. I don't really have much of an eye for this kind of thing."
"Yes, it's... beautiful." Even with Mantle's rough weather, the greenery looked amazing.
"Glad to hear it. Now, about your question... let me ask you something instead. What do you think is the root cause of corruption in a place like Atlas or Mantle?" The question seemed to come out of nowhere, but Liv was used to Asher's odd train of thought by now.
She took a moment to consider.
"Well, if I had to give the simplest answer, I'd say it's the system itself that lets corruption grow, right?" It was a basic answer, but an honest one—something you might hear from anyone, whether they were fighting for scraps in the crater or just trying to get by in Mantle.
Asher hummed, holding up a finger as he answered.
"Hm, I suppose that's true, but I think it's a bit more complicated than that. Or maybe it's more of a duality," Asher said.
"First, you have the system itself—the logic and rules. Everything is written down and fits together. It's a machine, not built to be perfect, but to function well enough to govern."
He held up a second finger.
"But then there's the system of people and their own interests. See, I don't think it's that hard to create a good system. Computers and technology prove that when we want a system to work, we can make it work. The real trouble starts when people get involved. That's when things get messy."
Why did laws have to be so complicated? Why so many safeguards, rules, and patches meant to cover loopholes, only for loopholes to still exist, just smaller? Because in the end, a system of logic and rules only mattered if people actually gave it power. Otherwise, it was just ink on paper or an idea in someone's mind.
Some people would still follow the rules, but not strictly enough to prevent chaos.
And the fact that people were in charge of enforcing the rules meant they could also choose not to. Going further up the ladder meant even the people whose job was to make sure everyone enforced the rules could turn a blind eye.
So that meant you only had to avoid your superior's gaze or get them to ignore what you were doing.
There were all sorts of ways to do that: bribes, blackmail, favors, or just being friends with the right people.
That was the system they lived in now—only a hundred times more complicated, with thousands of people in who knows how many branches of government, each with their own interests, making deals and breaking them. Even the people whose job was to update the system's logic and keep it clean weren't saints.
"Honestly, it's almost a miracle things haven't collapsed by now," Asher added, letting out a small, serious laugh.
Liv understood exactly what he meant.
"Well, you can't take advantage of a system if it's already completely broken," she replied.
"Plus, the status quo has to stay in place at least a little. Every tyrant in history shows what happens if you push things too far." Still, the fact that rebellion or total collapse were the only things holding the system back from tearing itself apart was worrying.
Asher's hand slid over the stone of the water fountain as he and Liv walked past. The fountain was gently heated by an internal system, just enough to keep both the stone and the water from freezing over.
Pausing, Asher asked, "So, in the end, what conclusion can we reach?"
"Conclusion?" Liv repeated, raising an eyebrow, not quite following.
Asher nodded.
"Yeah. The system of logic and rules only works if people are willing to comply and manage it. But people, by nature, find loopholes in logic, or sometimes just ignore it outright—even when they're the ones who benefit most from following it. So, what's the solution?"
He spoke as he gestured ahead, drawing Liv's attention to the central reception building they were approaching.
The main building had been completely transformed. Where there used to be ground-level windows, there were now polygonal glass panels shaped like triangular prisms. They jutted out from the building like glass ramps, refracting light perfectly into the interior.
The second-floor windows were the only ones left from the original design, but they were much larger now and had obviously been replaced. The old exterior walls were gone too, replaced by smooth, angled stonework with a pattern that matched the rest of the building's design.
"This is my solution to the problem," Asher said as the building's doors slid open automatically. The moment they stepped inside, the temperature changed sharply—not too cold, not too hot, but just right for comfort.
But that wasn't what caught Liv off guard. Nor was it the open, spacious lobby, with its high ceiling that let you see the walkways on the second floor, or the glass atrium at the top that carried the same theme as the rest of the building.
The lobby felt as inviting as the outside. There were single sofas next to small tables and bigger couches around coffee tables, making it feel almost like a lounge. Water ran down the walls into small pools lined with stone and black pebbles, standing out nicely against the white color scheme.
Near those pools were tall indoor plants in stylish pots, some with their leaves drifting over the water's surface. There were more plants scattered throughout the building, some even growing directly along the walls as part of the design.
Like Asher had admitted, most of this was his mother's vision. Even so, the fact that it had all been finished in just two months was still so hard to believe. Compared to Mantle's smog and freezing air, just breathing inside the building felt like a whole new experience.
But for Liv, none of that mattered as much as what she had noticed next: there were people—actual people—walking around inside the building.
"Who- who are all these people?" Liv asked. There weren't just a handful; she could see dozens of men and women moving through the lobby, all dressed in office uniforms. From what she could tell, they were all human—and surprisingly attractive—but there was something about them that felt uncanny, almost too perfect.
"Like I said, this is my solution," Asher replied, raising his hand and snapping his fingers.
"GAIA."
The moment he spoke the name, every 'person' in the room stopped and turned to face Asher and Liv, all speaking in perfect unison, "Yes, sir?"
Liv stared, unsettled, looking at Asher for some kind of explanation.
"The answer was simple," Asher said.
"Build a new system—one with autonomous authority. Something that can do what people do, but with near-perfect accuracy. Autonomy is the future. The problem is, no one was capable of building an AI trustworthy enough to give it real control over a company. And even if they did, it would mean less control for themselves, their boss, and whoever was above even them."
It was simple, really—nobody in their right mind would willingly hand over power to an AI that could do their job, and do it without breaking protocol. Nobody, that is, except someone who didn't care about power the same way everyone else did.
Someone like Asher.
"I- I don't understand. How are they so... real?" Liv sounded completely stunned.
"Well, it was actually easier than you'd think. Thanks to a friend, or I suppose colleague, I got my hands on blueprints for a super-realistic android not too long ago. I just had to simplify the frame and make a basic version of the synthetic skin. They look real from a distance, but if you look closer, it's pretty clear they're not human."
Asher curled his finger, motioning for one of the androids to come over. A perfectly ordinary-looking man stepped forward, stopping right in front of them.
Liv hesitated for a second, but after studying the android up close, she saw Asher was right.
That weird, uncanny feeling faded as she noticed the little imperfections—the lack of a "soul" in the man standing before her. She glanced at Asher, silently asking if she could touch the android.
Asher gave her a nod.
Just as she expected, the skin didn't feel warm, and it didn't have the same softness as a real person.
Pulling her hand back from the android's cheek, Liv let out a quiet, "Huh... so they're all androids. That's still pretty wild."
Asher shrugged.
"True, but it's efficient. They're all run by GAIA as the central hub. Each one has its own sub-personality and set of commands. So they can act on their own, but they all share information over a higher network, with everything routed through GAIA and the servers downstairs."
Liv almost laughed just hearing him say it.
"So, you're really planning on running a whole company with... these guys?" She asked, gesturing at the androids.
Asher gave her a half-nod.
"Not completely. I asked you to find volunteers for a reason. It's not legal to run a company fully on automation. Some licenses and credentials still have to be held by real people, at least for now. And even though GAIA has advanced capabilities, able to manage multiple assault drones at once, it's still a little too formulaic."
One main problem with letting a machine run everything is that it's too good at following orders. If you wrote a program that would lead to a computer self-destructing, it would do it—unless you'd built in some kind of safeguard to stop it.
"In the end, people are still needed for situations that fall outside the usual rules," Asher explained.
"But now, instead of just having people working with other people, they'll also be working with GAIA, which acts as a hard limit on corruption. Everyone's influence will be spread across layers, so we can avoid the usual flaws in the system." Listening to him, even Liv had to admit it sounded pretty appealing, at least the way he described it.
Still, she couldn't help but point out, "Everyone except you, though. In the end, all the power is in your hands, isn't it? Even over GAIA?"
Asher glanced over, nodding a little. His voice softened.
"Yes. That's also why I want people who really believe in what we're doing. This place can't run with just me and the AI. So, just like how you have veto power with the Insurgents, if I ever stray from what this company is supposed to be, and everyone following me decides to walk away, the company falls apart."
Liv stood in silence as he spoke, lost in her thoughts.
This is the second time he's set up a way to counter his own authority. Does he really not trust himself that much? No... Asher wouldn't do all this if he didn't trust himself to keep sight of his goal. So maybe it's for everyone else—for people like me—to feel safer letting him take the lead?
She wasn't sure, but just thinking about it made her sigh inside.
In a way, it felt like Asher was always catering to the people around him—placating them the way an adult might calm a child, even though the adult was still in charge the whole time.
"You really are just too strange," Liv muttered quietly as she looked at Asher.