After thinking it over I decided on asking a simple question. "Alright then. I understand what an Administrator is. But what is this System, and what does my job truly entail?"

The eyes fluttered again, and the green hue turned viridescent. "The System is far too complex to easily explain. However, what I will offer is that it can be molded into what suits each respective Administrator. I am a mechanical A.I. so naturally the System functions like a computer for me. For you.." Alpha trailed off for a moment, and I felt something akin to a snake crawling around inside of me and prodding at my core for a moment before it stopped and continued to speak, "For you, it seems like it's adapted to a more game-like system. Though it can be changed if you so desire"

Ah, so it would be something like a litrpg system novel. I was a little used to that, I mean I did inundate myself with many of those on various websites. I could work with it for now, but maybe in the future I could work without it. That way, it could feel more real to me. "But since you are here I do have a question for you. Why did you mark my soul? What made me suitable to become an Administrator?” Malek didn’t seem to offer an answer beyond something simple. But if the being who runs the galaxy is here, I might as well ask.

The giant eye flickered and the sound of thousands of gears turning filled the air around me. “ Your soul at birth before entering the wheel was well above average. So I marked your soul to exist for a set period of time. This would be your one hundredth cycle on the wheel. The mark held, which means your potential is no less than at birth.” The machine paused as it looked me over. The gears in its eyes turned, almost like it was processing something. “Tell me human, where did your cycle end?”

The words each came out clipped, and straight forward. Almost like Alpha was trying to sound human, and not spout out everything like a computer giving a report. Just staring at it gave me the chills, trying to comprehend what kind of life forms it may have created.“Earth. I died on Earth.”

At the mention of Earth, I saw the eyes glimmer again and change color from deep green to an electrical lilac. "Earth used to be my home. But that was millions of years ago at this point. Tell me, does Roma still exist?” For a fleeting second, something human seemed to flicker into existence.

“Roma? Do you mean Rome? If you do yes, the city still exists.” Did that make the machine in front of me roman? Or at least before it gave up its life to become something more?

The floating eye seemed to brighten for a second before fading away. “Ah, home, I should really visit before it fades away.” The lilac eyes seemed to pulse and dim, almost as if the machine was lost in thought.

“So you were human at one point, just like me?” The realization seemed to take a burden off my shoulders. Malek didn’t seem quite human, but knowing that at least someone I was talking to could understand me made me feel a little better.

"Correct. I was born many many years ago. I led a somewhat successful life before it came to an early end. Sometime in March, I think. Though it's been many many years since I've thought about my life as a mortal." The lilac in the machine's eyes seemed to coalesce back into viridescent green.

I nodded my mental head in acknowledgment. I wasn’t sure who it could be honestly. History was never my strong suit. " So, back to my previous question, what is my job for the system?” The eyes fluctuated for a moment between dark and light green. It was an action that I assume meant he was thinking.

After a moment, they finally switch back to a bright green hue. "Malek will have told you that you were a shepherd of life. That explanation is not wrong, but it is lacking to some degree on the specificity of it. While you create, you also discover. The galaxy is ever growing as more planets and stars are made and seeded. Some have fallen to the wayside, whole civilization forgotten, and life uncatalogued. Your job as an Administrator is to collect, catalog, and to tend to it all. How you choose to do it is up to you." The human edge that had appeared had dulled, and in its place was the cold voice of a machine simply recanting data. I wondered what paths it had taken for that to occur? Would that happen to me?

I floated quietly for a moment as I pondered the machine's words. " So, essentially I’m like a galactic caretaker? That doesn't seem too bad. Since there is such freedom, are there Administrators that abuse that power? "

"Unfortunately, yes. That is a given due to the nature of this job. However, I created some fail-safes to protect the newer administrators and create balance. That much will have to be explained by your system companion when you receive one." The eyes started to circle me again, and I processed the information.

“That's fair. Thank you for helping me by the way. It made me feel a lot more sure of myself. I’ve been going in blind in this whole thing. But now I have an idea of what I want to become.” This was such a boon for me. I was already on the path of becoming a silent overseer. But now, I have a much clearer picture of the future. While I didn’t want to become a glorified scientist, I did like exploring and discovering things! Oh, I was so excited. "Okay so, the last thing I was doing before you came was selecting a race, since I'm an Administrator now does that mean I get to create a unique race to exist as well?"

The eyes stopped moving and flickered between a vast mirage of colors. I saw what looked to be binary and other things I could not recognize scroll across the pair of eyes. This continued for a moment as notifications started to pop up in the corner of my vision. “Normally, no, however, it seems that Malek sees some promise in you due to the titles he gave. So, I have given you a gift as a sign of kinsmanship, as humans need to stick together. But also as a favour.”

My eyes widened in shock as I read over the sudden influx of messages. At the same time knowledge started to seep into my brain like liquid, and my world spun as I tried to process everything. A few seconds later, my vision cleared and I saw that a set of dark blue eyes had replaced all the notifications. "What was that?" I managed to stutter out through my heavy breaths.

"Due to your past connection with mankind, you are in a unique spot to do a task for me. As a galactic superintendent I can not, and will not interfere with the micro dealings of the other Administrators. But as I’ve existed, I’ve seen humanity is on the decline in this galaxy. With what is left of my humanity, and on a purely logical level, I have come to the conclusion that I do not want them to die out. Not with the potential that they have.”

“Wait, are you saying that humanity is in danger of becoming extinct?” It was truly a hard pill to swallow. On Earth, the idea of an alien was laughable, but now that it's looking me in the face, I was struggling to grasp the sheer intricacies of it all.

“Yes. For many reasons. On a social and political level, they are feared for their ability to wage war. My records indicate they rank in the top five in the history of this galaxy. Thus, a large swath of the galaxy fears them and often destroys them when able. On an evolutionary level, they are perfectly balanced. Therefore, they can take many more paths than a lot of the older races can not, and offer a higher level of evolutionary diversity and that makes them feel threatened.” Once again Alpha sounded like he was trying not to read off of a lab report.

I had zero idea of how humanity compared to the other races in the galaxy. So this was a bit of an eye opener. If I decided to change my human form, I would still do my best to protect them. It only seemed right. Besides, I would feel bad if I turned my back on my previous race. Did he know that and that is why he offered me this favor? Perhaps it was due to what ever calculations he made have done to predict this moment. After all I was dealing with what amounted to a god-like machine, so there was no telling the thought process that he took to get here. "Thank you so much Alpha. I'll put all this to good use." While it felt good that I was getting all of this help, it still made me feel bad. On Earth I was lazy, and I was letting my body slip away. Here, I was becoming something more, and I felt undeserving of it all. "Can I ask you a few more questions?"

The eyes sat unblinking in front of me, and the colors flickered once more. "Of course. A couple more questions, then I need to go. I have some matters that need attending to."

"Malek told me to forget what I knew growing up and to change my morals. Does being an Administrator affect who you are that much?"

His eyes pulsed softly for a second before a more human voice spoke. "In the end, it's good to hold onto your humanity. It's what keeps us unique but never let that get in the way of what needs to be done. That is the best advice I can give you. Malek is a little blunt at times, but he has a good heart. Now what is your next question, Kairos?"

"Who created humanity?" To think I was sitting in front of such a powerful being, and I was asking what felt like an asinine question. But this needed an answer. As long as I could remember, this was a question that had plagued humanity for years. But I needed to know. At least this way I could gloat to myself that I knew something the rest of the world didn't.

“Malek created the humans one million standard years ago on Eden.” A sense of smugness seemed to radiate from his eyes as he said that. But I couldn't seem to peg why.

So the bible was right huh. Humanity really came from Eden, but there was probably more to the story. It was a bit of a let down though, I was hoping for some grandiose story of love and war but I could ask Malek later when I had the chance.

"Thank you once again Alpha. This means alot to me, and I’ll be sure to repay you somehow." The eyes nodded in an approximation of acknowledgment as it seemingly waited for me to continue.

The more I thought about it, I realized that I didn’t really have any pressing questions that needed to be answered. “I think that's it for now. Thank you again.”

"You are welcome, Kairos. Hopefully I will see you again. Stay safe, and don’t disappoint me." Alpha's voice switched back to a mechanical tone as the eyes slowly faded away into the darkness, leaving me alone again to continue my path forward as an Administrator.