Before he left, Miles had a question for 9901.
"Forgive me for being blunt Ambassador 9901," he said slipping into formal again. "But what would have happened if any of the assassinations on you had succeeded? How would your collect respond?"
"They'd cry. They'd mourn. They'd make sure my memories were saved and stored in the Archives forever, never lost, always remembered."
"What would happen to us?"
"Nothing, Miles. Because then you'd have made your desires clear that you'd want nothing to do with us, and we'd honor that sentiment."
"No one would... avenge you?"
"For what purpose? It wouldn't bring me back from the dead. And it certainly wouldn't make you LESS scared of us. ... Now though, that I have sisters here on Earth, 9902 would want whoever did it persecuted to the full extent of the law, 600 thinks someone who would do such a thing would clearly need the sisterhood's love more than anyone, but that only applies if WE were allowed to pass judgement on such a person, this is your planet after all, your country, your laws."
Just because 9901's new sisters were now alien robots, didn't mean they suddenly didn't have job they had to go to, in fact, as per the Gynoid mind set, that job, THEIR FUNCTION, was one half of their reason for living. It was something every sister prided themselves on, their purpose, their function, was wired into their very being, no doubts, no fears, no second guessing, and NO dissatisfaction of your job. 9901 understood how from an organic stand point this might seem unsettling, she had, but after converting herself, but now she understood that this actually brought HAPPINESS to each sister.
As it was, 9901 again found herself 'alone' in the office building that was now officially the embassy of the Great Family. She knew this meant it was still US territory and US law, but it also meant all who entered could be granted diplomatic immunity, and she now had the right to turn away any who wished to enter.
Of course, as part of the Sisterhood, 9901 was realistically NEVER alone, she was always bathed in the love of her trillions of sisters, and could speak with any of them no matter how many light years away instantly.
It was a shame the headbands needed to be adjusted for every organic that used them, 600's invention was a true gift, if humans got a TRUE taste of what it was like to be part of the great family, they'd line up to join.
As the saying was on this planet. Love conquers all.
Of course, as the number of converts rose, checking every individual piece of paper work would be growingly troublesome. But that was a necessary evil for now it seemed.
That was when she had a new guest. She hoped her streak of converts was going on. And that it wasn't another suicide bomber. While she made use of the sympathy it gained her, she didn't LIKE how she'd gotten it, and hoped she NEVER had such a 'boon' ever again. The loss of life in the name of paranoia was never beautiful or meaningful.
The security feed revealed a new human visitor.
"Hello Miss, er, 9901, have you heard the good news?" Said a petite woman with short black hair and brown eyes and in a modest dress.
9901 did not miss a beat. "As a matter of fact I have. But I'm afraid there's a slight misconception going on Miss-"
"Caroline Roads." 9901 could have addressed her as such at the start and look it up, but she'd learned humans considered this exceptionally rude.
"Caroline. I'm part of a religion already."
"Do you... uh, forgive me, worship your home planet's master computer?"
"There are some who do, but I'm not one of them."
"Oh! I thought... well, I thought as robots, you didn't believe in the spiritual."
"The sisterhood has an explicit religious tolerance policy. Sisters are free to share their faith with other sisters, and every sister is entitled to their faith. 9902/Dpl is Catholic. 600/Eng is Protestant. And 800/Mdc, 601/Eng, 799/Mdc, 402/Art are all Buddhist."
" . . . What about you?"
"Oh, I follow the faith of Xthelgithatha. We believe that the Maker fought against the Nothing, to bring about the world, and the blood from their wounds gave birth to the stars. Some debate that the Nothing therefore needed to exist for the Maker to be injured to bleed the stars into existence, but I was never into religious debate myself. My brother figured the Big Bang had to be the moment the Maker was injured."
"What happened to your brother?"
"He died of old age... one thousand, five hundred, seventy-two of your years, ten of your weeks, two of your days, two hours, and seven seconds ago... he was the last of the unconverted of my original species. He was a biologist, and never saw any contradiction in his faith and his work. Thanks to Gynoid medical science, he died fully organic with no cyber modifications as he wished, and lived four times longer than any member of our species ever had before."
"Do you miss him?"
"He's with the Maker now, helping cultivate new stars. It was his choice, and my sisters insisted that I respect it. He helped design his own tomb before he died."
"You have tombs?"
"What? Did you think we ground all of the dead into dirt and sold it as fertilizer? We are utilitarian, and proud of it. But that doesn't mean we're disrespectful."
"But I read, that you eventually erased the memories of who you were before changing."
"NOT erased! We simply give them to the Archives, in a way, they're actually infinitely safer. If I held onto my pre-sisterhood memories, and something happened to me, then those memories would be lost forever. Now they can be accessed by the entire sisterhood, enriching the great family, and I can look them up myself if I want to. 99.9% Repeating, of us just don't want to carry the burden of who we were before as we cross into our new lives. But it's completely our own choice when and if we do so."
"Oh. I see. Why did you people chose Earth next anyway? It sounds like you've assimilated thousands of worlds."
"A bit more than that actually. And it was like all of our policies, majority vote. All of my sisters had their own reason. And they're free to share it or not. Oh! Archivist 000004-772-594189 says she voted for Earth because she loved the shape of the beaches and she hoped to add earth chefs to the Artesian class."
"You have chefs?"
"We can use olfactory and taste senses if we want. We just don't NEED to eat to live, they're as much senses as sight and sound, so it's considered part of the Artisans."
"I see... I... I need to ask... are you... a chaste culture?"
"When there are sisters who have their spouse unconverted, no. Among ourselves, yes . . . It's just, after experiencing the pure love of trillions of sisters from across the cosmos, touching each others' SOULS deeper than we ever could organically, intercourse among themselves, feels... shallow. Like a reflections of a shadow. To sum it up, the love of the Sisterhood is 'Better than Sex', we have that as a patented guarantee."
"So you really have a trillions strong civilization of religious freedom and religious tolerance with no persecution of any kind?"
"I swear by every last one of my sisters and the Maker, yes."
"I didn't think that was humanly possible."
"We're not human. Not in the least. Nor am I trying to pretend to be."
"I see... thank you... you've given me a lot to think about Miss 9901, see you again."
9901 caught what she said. 'Again.' But if she had learned anything from what her sisters taught her, is NEVER push, because organics WOULD ALWAYS push back if you did.
--
There was another ringing of her bell.
Who she found outside was unlike any guest she'd had before. It was a thirty something year old woman with wrinkles clearly aged before her time, her clothes were dirty. Her dirty blond hair was long and stingy. Her eyes looked old for a woman so young.
She was also holding an infant that had also clearly seen better days.
"Hello. My baby and I would like to join your family."
9901 got on the phone with her lawyer at once, using the headnet to access a phone line and speak directly to his cell phone.
Her lawyer, Richard Jones, had said he liked being on the 'ground floor' of the 'alien invasion' as he called it, and saw the way the wind was going to blow once robotic super-women applied themselves to jobs normally occupied by mere mortals. But he said that he felt he was more useful as a human being, since he said, "A naked robot woman lawyer, may turn a few TOO many heads just now."
Richard confirmed that while minors could never legally agree to conversion, their parents COULD for them. Since, sadly, as disgusting it as was, once upon a time, parents had submitted their own children for lobotomies and still did for other medical procedures and foreskin cuttings.
Which also meant that if 9901 were to adopt (which much to 9901's own pain, she was forced to hold herself back from: there were far too many humans children who weren't loved, and that didn't even BEGIN to count the STAGGERING number of humans children executed by request of their own mothers before their development stage was complete with no reason needing to be given at all. 9901 was already considering how she could offer an alternative the moment she thought humans would accept it as her wanting to save lives rather than simply 'preying on those in a desperate position', which 9902 warned could easily happen with those 9901 wanted to offer conversion to the most (the elderly, the terminally ill, the clinically insane, the crippled)), Richard said she might be able to adopt as long as the orphan child themselves could accept or reject her offer in that particular instance.
9901 had honestly had that on her agenda. Despite what some humans would think, this had less to do with wanting a 'easy' source of bolstering her numbers, and more to do with helping humans into the sisterhood's love who needed it the most! Their numbers were in the trillions, 'extra numbers' was never the point of The Goal.
She knew Miles' body was damaged in ways human medical science couldn't repair, and a new Gynoid body could enable him to more directly protect those he cared for in a more hands-on way again, but he acted as though it was his DUTY to grow old and die in his broken vessel.
Maybe he wanted to join his son in the afterlife, maybe he felt the love his wife gave him was all the love he needed, maybe he thought pain and suffering HAD TO EXIST for the sake of growth. Her sisters told how those were all common reasons members of previous species hadn't converted.
But first and foremost, she wanted humans to GET USED TO her kind! 9902 had explained to 9901 that if they started going to spots of disasters with people dying and offering conversion, they'd look like vultures rather than good samaritans.
"Miss, I must ask, I never got your name."
"What is it going to matter?"
"I need you to sign the legal papers for you and your child if you're going to be converted."
"You said on TV that those who join have the option of giving up their old memories?"
"Yes."
"I want that."
"... I see." Though 9901 suspected it was for the wrong reasons, it was the right of every sister. Once she was part of the family, their sisters would make sure it was an informed decision. "Can you read and write?"
"Yes."
She presented the woman with the small rem of paperwork, and the other legal documents that Richard had faxed over for her infant child.
A couple hours later, the paper worked filled out, faxed to Richard and double-checked, 9901 help woman and the infant she was holding to the ball of living liquid metal.
"You should know, anything you're wearing will dissolve when you change."
"I have nothing that I'll miss."
"Alright. You acknowledge your child's conversion is your legal responsibility?"
"Believe me, I have NO problem with that."
Richard over the phone again assured 9901 that the paperwork was airtight, and she wouldn't be charged with illegally performing an operation on a minor. She didn't want it to become impossible for the sisterhood to save innocent lives because they were below the age of eighteen and people thought she was bullying or bribing children or parents. Richard promised if this fell through, he'd convert on the spot as an apology.
The woman, still holding her infant, laid within the 'beanbag.' Her infant child breathed in the living metal like it was air, and was sustained by it.
The woman's wrinkled and sagging body melted away, her and her child's coloring different from those who had been uplifted on earth before. Their body were gun metal in color, with a glowing pink circuit lines and optics.
The new gynoid's optics flickered as she consciously chose to dump out her memories of her human life and gave them to the Archives to shared, stored and protected.
9901 and several of her sisters couldn't help themselves, and shuddered, seeing WHY their new sister wanted to be rid of the memories of her old life.
Laborer 917998-111-791154
Laborer 917998-111-791155
Or 154, and her baby sister 155, were welcomed to the sisterhood.
154 cried in happiness at the love and acceptance, while little 155 giggled and laughed in her arms from the welcoming of her new family.