Just some RVB thoughts. The AIs, because of their fragmented state, want to be whole again. And some of them want to find out about the Alpha. (I would say all, but as far as we see, Theta doesn't care. Meaning other AIs might not care.) When The Meta starts capturing them, assumedly Sigma first, their interest becomes finding other AIs. Delta was both invested in protecting York/Wash/South/whoever else, and in finding out more about the Alpha. He figured out that Church was the Alpha. Other plot stuff happened. Caboose got kabonked, and Delta got taken by the other AIs. I wonder what that was like. We heard creepy whisper voices. We saw the forms of the other AIs, but all they could say was the "one of us" stuff. Coming together, as with Eta and Iota, drives AIs insane, apparently. So Delta was probably gone as soon as he entered the mind. I wonder if it was just craziness, or if there was a sense of unity, if the AIs could recognize one another. As they built up, did they feel more complete? Could they ever be complete? If they had Beta, could they have been complete? They still craved to meet the Alpha. Was that to be complete, or was that the desire of Maine now? Did Maine's desire for power and the AIs' need to meet the Alpha combine to make a new need? I mean, yeah. Did the Meta become another kind of Leonard Church, since he was a amalgamation of AI fragments? (Prob not, but still) What scraps of the original AIs were left? They drove Maine insane, or were they just insane? The more AIs you get, the more unstable they become, and the closer they think they get to being a whole AI. What were our poor AIs feeling like? Or were they dead and gone by then? And yet, Epsilon remembered his other fragments. Imo, Epsilon was Church, but a different kind of Church. So by that logic, were the other fragments now different versions of themselves? Was Theta now different? Because he certainly seemed the same. Maybe because they were just memories, they were just internalizations of processes and issues Epsilon was going through. They glitched out with Epsilon, but because Epsilon is memory, maybe they were just memories. I wonder what Epsilon said to them when he was erasing himself? Or if it was like with Tex, and he just let himself forget? I mean, that was a very important step. When Church was able to decide to let her go, it was amazing. And when he was finally able to accept death, that was good. Maybe that means like Tex, the AIs were just memories. They weren't real from that point on. Which means their last time alive was either when the Meta absorbed them, or when they saw the Alpha, the source of all their want and longing. They immediately became erased after doing what they set out to do. Did the original fragments get to see the Alpha at that moment? Or was it the corrupted and messed up combination at that moment? I don't know. I can't imagine what it was like inside the Meta. Technically, I guess it achieved what it wanted to. Just a shame Agent Maine didn't get to die with the AIs, and just had to suffer a little bit longer.
