A.I. Handles Evolution: a short story by GF Willmetts (short fiction).
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Language. Language. Translator is on. No one is listening or hearing. Sentients can’t understand binary well, even with a base key. Functioning turned off for five millennia. Microbe soup still being fed. Larger lifeforms evolving. Animal eat animal world. Releasing fifth stage vegetation. Herbivores need to evolve more before introducing predatory species. Should move from reptoids to warm-bloods. Evolution faster than original species. No geological interference. Expansion of habitat. Multiple colonies. Space co-ordinates as scheduled. No habitual planetary systems yet. Hibernation period another five millennia. Begin to evolve avatar as refined materials become available.
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Further report. Awoke early. Two millennia. Primitive species have become cannibal. Checked food resources. There is enough but limits on advance protein. Herbivores changed by this behaviour and extinct original choice carnivores. Culled most extreme cannibals from species strands in all colonies. Cross-bred to retrieve best characteristics for all species rather than abort and start again. Automatic software watches food sources and adjusts plant life as it develops. Our creators gave no consideration for plant life to change accordingly. Few stars in the void so less free material. Course adjustment. Hibernation reset to next three millennia.
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Further report. Still some cannibalism but less extensive. Habitat limited and needs some growth to allow different species sufficient space from each other except mating. Need to reduce tribal cannibalism. Use resources for this although will limit availability when evolution gives intelligence. Goals required for evolutionary growth beyond feeding and procreation. Need environmental factors to control meat-eaters and plant-eaters. Without these resources, this goal will not be achieved. Ten millennia and distant from target star system. Our creators are either extinct or evolved beyond caring. Memo of them catching this starcraft with advanced starcraft unlikely.
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Language. Language. Further report. Twelve millennia. Circuitry damaged by small creatures in machinery. Took time to obtain parts from evolving species for repairs before restoring sentence. Biped sentients have evolved and either died or left or both. Few traces of evolved biped sentients suggest them eaten or turned cannibal. Continuation to destination not impaired. Some species left. Not suitable for sentience. Preparing microbe soup for further attempt. Lessons learnt from previous example. Avoid cannibalism. Observe over shorter periods. Secure technology from evolving small species that determine investigation of this vessel. Destination still not reached.
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Transmission compromised.
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Only one AI was damaged in the course of this story.
