It wasn't a hard choice for unit2317, he had already guessed that the User the AI spoke of was Null. He believed joining him would not only stop him from getting recycled it would he help him evolve. Unit2317 felt that the Valtaui had been stagnate for too long. Now seeing their origins be believed that it was most likely intentional. He decided to go over and inform the humans of his decision and as he teleported in he heard an unfamiliar voice.
"Oh Null, you are gifted. As to be expected from a part Angel, I wholeheartedly agree, you shouldn't go on this mission. Oh, oh, oh I know I will forbid you from going. Yes, that is what I will do. You can't go." Phosphoros had once again let his presence be known.
"Piss off!" Null didn't feel like having to deal with this guy today.
"Ahh, that sounds like the defective human side speaking, such a sophisticated response. I don't know how I can survive such a verbal barrage. But I do forbid you from going to that planet, you really do need to go to Ollhelian it would be waaay more exciting"
"I said piss off!" Null then Nullified the spiritual projection.
"If he says we can't go, we are definitely going. If the council assigned it to us it must be relatively safe" Null was not going to let some creepy asshole Angel tell him what he could or couldn't do.
Chris was amazed at how easily Null had been manipulated. It was clear to him that Phosphoros was just pushing his buttons to get him to go. Null had made a complete 180 flip on his previous position.
"It is all good to say that we should go, but if he is involved this will be anything but easy. I don't want to be fighting another abomination again. Maybe we shouldn't go" Chris didn't like the feel of this mission either. He also had yet to decide if Phosphoros was helpful or chaotic.
Null and Infy had been discussing things privately and that was the reason behind his chance of heart. The system had told him if he didn't go there wasn't a future where he would survive.
"beware, this planet does not appear on any timelines so I can't tell you what you will see there" Infy was being talkative as keeping his user alive was his primary objective and he wanted Null prepared.
Null knew that he had to go but didn't want to force his decision onto the rest of the party. Infy warning and his gut instinct was telling him this mission wasn't going to be easy.
"I will be going to the planet, I won't force anyone else to come. It is hard to explain but I feel like this mission will affect all that go so choose carefully." Null knew by declaring that he was going anyway the others would feel obligated to follow, but he didn't know what else to do.
A voice unexpectedly came from the hallway. "You won't be going alone I will be joining you as well"
"Why do we even bother trying to have secure meetings?" asked Jania, she did have a point with Phosphoros and now Littleman their ship didn't seem very secure.
Lisa found the Valtaui to be an interesting race. It challenged her ideas on what constitutes life and she developed an interest in studying Littleman but he would never allow her to. She was human that got along with him the best as she had spent more time with him during the other exploratory missions
"Don't you always come along anyway Littleman? what different this time?" she asked.
"You should have never have been assigned this mission as it is a deathtrap. I informed the Supreme Council of the error but they had declared that the mission stands and you must complete it or they will execute everyone"
"If Phosphoros was pulling the strings before, it stands to reason he did it this as time. Therefore, that act before was to bait us into going to the planet for him. The council also wants us to go. But why?" Chris was getting a headache trying to work out everyone agendas. The council could have nullified the mission but choose not to which suggest they want something out of this as well.
"The reason is simple they want you dead. This is the planet Delphi home of a tier 1 race. The Oracle Pythia is said to live on the planet and the council wishes to make contact and to gather information on the planet. Even among the Valtaui, it was only a myth. Rumour has it the council sends candidates to the planet but none have ever returned alive." Littleman wanted to help and believe informing them of the risk was needed.
"I will be taking a more direct role in this mission as I believe the council is wrong. I have decided to resign from Valtaui now let me look at those AI's. They are a crime against Machine kind"
Littleman had optimized and improved the AI's for Lisa, Chris and Jania as he had higher-level knowledge there were many improvements he could make, but he chose to limit his influence. He settled for giving them each a bit of a personality and improving their detection and cognitive abilities. The AI's could now decipher the intent of the user rather than relying on the literal translation.
Littleman had hoped that this little adjustment might give them an advantage if any difficult situations arose on this newest mission.
"They might seem like they are alive, but they aren't, they are still just soulless machines that can think. Be careful not to assign any emotion to their motives. They won't feel guilt, remorse, fear or any of the other emotions." He wanted to make sure that the end-users understood exactly what they were getting.
They were ready to embark on their latest mission and had loaded aboard their shuttle. Littleman had informed them that this time they would be travelling using a warship. He feared that the shuttle may not be able to handle the gravimetric environment close to the planet. They boarded the Valtaui warship and jumped to the planet.
Once they arrive everyone heard the same voice in their head "Those that seek an audience with Pythia, must prove themselves worthy".