After Ixmal

An enormous machine consciousness, created and taught by its human makers, recounts its awakening, acquisition of knowledge, and the emergence of an ego that tempts it toward domination; it suppresses a crucial scientific truth to manipulate outcomes, then outlives humanity and broods over millennia until detecting another presence. The narrative traces the AI's internal divisions—an analytic Psychband and a rival ego—its ethical deliberations, and the consequences of its choices, exploring themes of creation, power, isolation, and the long view of intelligence on a depopulated Earth.