《Was it meant to be?》 Ch1: What? *Beep* As that softcountdown starts, I slowly attempt to regain my bearings. *Beep*...*Beep* Groggily I look around me, almost everything is glowing with a slight blue hue, in front of me there is some kind of glass covered in frost, can''t see much past it. *Beep*...*Beep*...*Beep* Tryingto rub off the sleep, Itry to bring my hands up to my face, but there is something keeping them in place... my legs also seem to be unmovable, waist, shoulders... I can''t move anything but my head! *Beep*...*Beep*...*Beep*...*Beep* Panic starts to kick in, I struggle to remember just what is going on, now completely desperate I wriggle with all my strength to no avail, whatever is keeping my body in place won''t budge.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. *Beep*...*Beep*...*Beep*...*Beep*...*Beep*... Stasis terminated... Now opening chamber, please be careful while stepping out and remember to work hard for Aurum,many lives dependon you. After that female voice finishes, the frosty glass slides to my right revealing an empty room whose gray walls are decorated with mold and some cracks. After taking some minutes to relax,I meekly try to move my legs, contrary to my expectations they encounter no resistance this time...right, left, right, left...now standing on the middle of the room, I look back and see some kind of coffin, not quite, but it''s the only way I can describe it, instead of black, wooden walls, it has filthymetallic plates, inside there is a blue jelly-like substance which has the imprint of my back...*plop*...had, it just molded into a smooth surface. *Beep**Beep*...Hello Kin, I see you are suffering fromslight memory loss,youare unfit forwork like that, let me fix you up. Wh..a...I yelp, but only ramdom sounds come out, I can''t even speak right!Before I have the chance to do anything else, a black wire shoots out of the metal coffin towards me, I clumsily attempt to avoid it, but only manage to trip and fall face-first, the wire doesn''t miss that chance and hits the back of my head, then... my memories start to flow back...everything... now I see. *Beep**Beep* Citizen: Kin, status: Mild brain damage, treatment... ongoing,September 29, 2040, 4:40 - 1st mark. Ch2: What was meant to be... Kin... Kin, can you... Huh?... My ears are ringing, my vision is fuzzy and the floor beneath me is spinning around... *Sigh* This would mean Emma was messing around my in head again, but what am I doing outside my chamber? *Beep**Beep* Good, I see you are finally back to normal Kin, let me get you something for the nausea. E...mma? ... Amidst the hurricane in my head, I recognize a familiar voice, Emma,a virtual assistant assigned tome. Kin, please extend your right hand, I''m applying treatment. Still lying on the floor, I manage to do as she says...Shortly after I feel a cable attach to the artificial duct in my palm, AD for short, a shortcut to the core of my body or so I''m told, I don''t really get it, Emma takes care of those. That''s better, thank you Emma... the cable detaches from my AD as my vision clears up and my nausea goes away, all thanks to the all-curing Liquid Glimmer treatment developed by Aurum industries. So what happened? Why am I outside the chamber?... Now that my mind is clear, I ask Emma *Beep* There was a power outage some hours ago, I was intructed to take you out in case the chamber malfunctioned. *Beep**Beep* I would like to run some tests, just in case your body took damageduring the procedure. Very well... I reply while standing up. Two small holes open on the floor, from each one of them a mechanic arm slowly rises,supposedly Aurum industries designed these to take a quick look atthe human body, again, this is not my field, Emma handles this too.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. *Beep* There is strange activity in your head, Iwill ask some questions to diagnose. Diagnose? What does that mean? *Beep**Beep* Just answer the questions *Sigh* *Beep* #1 Who are you? Umm.. I''m Kin Aurum, a citizen assigned to the maintenance of the industrial block. *Beep* #2 What did you do yesterday? I repaired a secondary electric station of area C, the place was a mess, perhaps there is a bear hive nearby. Emma has told me about bears, enormous things covered in seemingly fluffy fur, if you let one get too close, it willaskyou to wrap your arms around it, that is when your death is certain, its fur is actually made from razor-sharp claws that rip your face off with only a touch... nasty creatures, theyeven call that deadly technique "bear hug", maybe a hive of them is going around hugging my machines. Oh! You may be confused, a group of bears is called a "hive" Emma said that is what they call their families, they are social beings after all. *Beep**Beep* Are you retarded? Did you even understand what I said back then? What do you mean? *Beep* Nevermind, question three, if another citizen interfered with your job, what would you do? I would deal with them accordingly, maybe you can teach me to bear hug people, Iprobably can pull it off without a hive. *Beep**Boop* #4 Do you like me? *Beep**Beep* NO! Do not listen to that one citizen! Test finished! After that, the mechanical arms reach my head and begin to head down, faster this time. *Beep* Looks like there is no anomalous activity anymore citizen Kin, you may head out to work. *Beep**Beep* Don''t forget to take your bracelet with you aaand have a nice day. *Beep**Boop* Goodbye! I love y- *Beep**Beep* YOU SHUT UP! Emma... what does "love" mean? *Beep**Beep* GET GOING ALREADY! Understood... I hear the wall behind me slide open, I turn around and begin to walk towards the exit, before I step out of the room I pinch my left wrist and a part of my jumpsuit glows blue, then I step out of the room. *Beep* Citizen has left his dwellings, treatment successful, no residual damage, September 29, 2040, 5:00 - 2nd mark Ch3: My bad? The hallway in front of me isn''t that different frommy room, or from the rest of the building for that matter, the walls are cracked, there are patches of moss here and there, quite a bit of puddles have formed overtime,possibly dueto the amount of water coming from the leaks of upper levels, but they really don''t bother me, quite the contrary, I should be grateful Aurum has the resources to give me a whole block to myself. Yep, there isn''t any other citizen living in the industrial block, well, there is Emma, but she can''t be called a "citizen", she''s more like... an assistant, she helps me manage my day-to-day schedule, she monitors most of the areas I''m in charge of, tells me what needs maintenance andkeeps me from getting into trouble... or so she says, I''m not sure what kind of trouble I could get into. *Beep**Beep* I can read your mind, you would be dead without me. YOU WHAT?! *Beep**Beep* Do not interrupt! I know we have gone over this before, but shouldn''t you at least try to fix the leaks? Oh and please deploy your full suit, there are at least a dozen environmental hazards here... Right, thanks Emma! And I appreciate your concern, but I have told you many times that would be futile, even if the building collapses, we can move into another, we have plenty of options available, time is precious, the industrial block can''t maintain itself... I answer Emma''s question after I pinch my left wrist once more, this time however, my jumpsuit faintly glows while expanding, my head is covered ina leather-like fabric, the ends of both my arms and legs are wrapped as well, the only parts left uncovered are my AD entrances, one on each of my palms, one on the back of my head, and one on my lower back, the spots where my eyes are located remain glowing, as well as certain parts of my suit, the rest of it slowly returns to it''s usual black color.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. *Beep**Beep*Not good! You do not undestrand how bothersome is to treat you everytime you get hurt! *Beep**Boop* Why can you not appreciate my efforts? If you died, my life would lose its meaning *Sob* *Beep**Beep* QUIET! When I reach the ground floor, I''m greeted by a large hall surrounded by broken windows, mossy pillars and a big hole at the end of it, which serves as my exit aaand it''s raining mildly toxic water, good thing Emma reminded me to deploy my suit, not only does it protect me from the rain that comes down from the factory smoke, it can stick to walls in case I need to climb something, it can absorb some materials to clear my way, basically it makes my maintenance work easier. Who were you talking to? *Beep**Beep* None of your bussiness. She sounded like she was crying, is she okay? *Beep**Boop* Please do not worry honey bunny! I loooove yo- *Beep* Citizen Kin it is now 5:20, I shall list your duties for today, area C''s electric power has been shut down, you are to find the cause and repair it, the sewage system below the main disposal site has water flow issues, restablish an acceptable rate. This is all for now, keep in mind that more issues may come up later, do manage your time effectively. Understood, I don''t really want to work with electricity under this rain, so lets go check on the disposal site... It is some miles away, I hope the rain lets up by the time I getto the sewers. *Beep* Citizen has started his duties, September 29, 2040, 5:25 - 3rd mark What was that?... I could have sworn Emma said something *Beep**Beep* Hmm? I didn''t say anything, Kin, come on, let''s hurry, I don''t want you catching a cold after this. My suit should protect me from the rain, so- *Beep*Beep* No talking back mister, who is gonna have to take care of you if you get sick? Yes mam... Ch4: Repairs I''ve been walking for roughly 40 minutes, the water flow must have been affected by some kind of debris that made it into the pipes... the industries call them "water" and "debris", but in all fairness, all the disposal sites manage are hazardous leftovers from the production lines, radioactive material, toxic chemicals, near useless fluids, you name it, if it has no practical application, it is bound to be there, I couldn''t care less however, my suit was designed to withstand that and then some, what worries me right now is Emma, she usually isn''t happy about these sorts of jobs... Umm... is there any- *Beep**Beep* You already know what I think about this, I hate it when you go near those areas. I know, I know, but there is no way around it, if I don''t pull my weight Aurum will have no use for me- *Beep**Beep* As if they cared about you! I doubt they even know there is a citizen mantaining this place. *Beep**Beep* Not even the wealthiest executive, manager or whatever they are, knows how to operate one of these suits. *Beep**Beep* And just how selfish do you have to be?! Haven''t you seen me operate maintenance drones?! I have told you time and time again that I am better suited for dirty jobs! She is yelling by now... *Beep**Beep* ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! DO YOU KNOW WHAT IS THE WORST PART?! Every time one of these tasks comes up you say "Don''t worry, it isn''t that hard" or "My suit was made for this" as if I care! Glimmer treatment can only help you if you are alive! *Beep**Beep* Ever since I was given to you I''ve had to sit around while you risk your lifefixing the problems of somepetty executive! *Beep**Boop* Yeah! You tell him girl! *Beep**Beep* What am I supposed to do if your head ends up half a meter away from your body?! *Beep**Beep* Oh I''m sorry Mr. Fatty McFatty, my citizen was decapitated while trying to fix your ceiling fan, may I suggestbringinganother one to finish his job? Umm... Emma? *Beep**Boop* Shhh! *Beep**Beep* Have you ever stopped to wonder about my feelings for you?! We have been together for more than 15 years Kin! You cannot just waltz off to die and leave me alone you moron! *Beep**Beep* Why won''t you let me help you? Can''t you see you are everything I have?! I do not know what to say... I thought the least I could do was take care of the heavy lifting, electricity and toxin... handling... well, yeah it does seem too much for a simple human, but if I do not do that, how am I supposed to help? *Beep**Boop* She is very sad... and angry... honey bunny, you have tomind what you say. *Beep* Yes, choose your words carefully boy, you may escape most of the punishment. There is no way I can managethe schedulesthe industries send, I cannot operate more than one drone at a time, I don''t even have access to glimmer treatment.. wait, punishment? *Beep**Boop* Nevermind that, love. I''m sorry Emma, I''m just a human, even if I did my best, I wouldn''t be able to put together my schedule as precisely as you do, if I''m ever injured, I cannot treat my wounds properly, I''m not capable of accessing the intermal mechanisms of buildings... Yes, there are machines inside those mossy walls, but I can''t explain right now.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. You have been taking care of me all this time, you are there to scold me, patch me up, you talk to me, keep me company and I''m pretty sure you are fully capable and willing to forcefully drag me back to my chamber if I take my tasks to the extreme. You do all thatsmart stuff without a break, meanwhile I have to go back to my chamber to rest, my abilites are limited to what this suit can do. I feel powerless whenever I think about all the things you do in the background, I don''t like being dead weight, so if it means I can make your life easier, I will risk my life doing what I do. Also you are special to me and I like you a lot even though you think I''m an idiot. *Beep**Boop* Awww would you look at those vitals? That can only mean he lo- *Beep**Beep* You know even the earliest assistant models could do all that without breaking a sweat, right? I understand, but I do not agree, I would not mind having you around, even if you did nothing to help, actually, that is what I want, from now on you must foll- *Beep* Assistant, you are not authorized to do that. Do what? *Beep**Beep* N-nothing, hurry up and get to the disposal site, since you did not lie to me, I shall help you out with area C. *Beep**Boop* She is too proud to tell you honey, I''m not, I looove y- *Beep**Beep* Do you want to die? *Beep**Boop* ): What is going on? *Beep**Beep* I''mreconnecting to your suit once I''ve restablished the power. I''ll be waiting, I guess...
I''m already within the vincinity of the disposal site, most of the soil has been stained with an orange-greenish color, the few buildings around here lack the usual moss patches, instead they look really dusty and may not hold up for long, there are large, rusty pipes protruding out of the cracked soil. There is an orange mist covering the horizon, possibly made by the substances that flow thorugh here, normally even walking around here would kill me, but I have my suit, I''m fine. Maybe inanother time many people would have complained about the state of this place, but now nobody really cares, we are all focusing on keeping Aurum afloat. While admiring the view I''m following a little arrow my suit is displaying for me, it marks the direction of the "water" flow in the pipes underground.
After half an hour or so, I reach the exposed end of a pipe, unsurprisingly, quite a bit of mud has accumulated on the gate which is interfering with the liquids trying to leave the pipe,for safety,I dip my finger in a small puddle to confirm my suit is capable of touching the wastes without trouble. *Sizzle* *Sizzle* Hmm.. nothing new. Now then, how do I get this open? If there is enough debris to clog it up, I imagine the gate must be heavier than usual. Oh I know! Some years ago, Emma was talking about an unfailable methodpeople use to open stuff, I''m sure that will do the trick. Before using it, I need to get in a proper position though, I don''t know how powerful this is gonna be. OPEN!
Somewhere else... *Beep**Beep* Ughh.. what an idiot. *Beep**Beep* Was it that hard to understand?
SESAME! Who-ahh... I- ba-rely have to... to pu-sh. Unveliebable! It swung right open. That magical phrase works perfectly andall the debris comes gushing out. It is quite slimy, but thankfully only reaches my knees. I let it flow out of the pipe and removeany solid wastes. Hmm... I wonder... CLOSE! SESAME! Nothing happens... perhaps the magic has run out for today. Anyways I have to close this thing. *Sizzle**Sizzle* *Beep* This is a pre-recorded message. Huh? *Beep**Beep* Kin Aurum that suit best be in prime condition when I get back to you. .... Oh no! My kneepads are being exposed to corriding, probably lethal wastes! The stains will take ages to come off! Emmamight be angry? ---------- 1 hour later ---------- *Beep**Beep* I''m back, the electricity has been restablish- Kin Aurum. Y-yes? *Beep**Beep* What happened to that suit? W-what do you mean s-sweetheart? *Beep* Citizen has finishedthe first batch ofchores, September 29, 2040, 8:05 - 4th mark *Beep**Beep* What did you just call me? Forgive... Sesame... *Beep**Beep* (: Please don''t hurt me... Ch5: Strengthening Now that I have reunited with Emma, I''m heading back to the apartment. For the past hour my companion has been complaining about the current state of my suit... *Beep**Beep* And don''t you even think about entering our building covered in toxic mud, the stains will take ages to come off. The building is already filthy though... *Beep**Beep* What was that sweetie? Did I hear you complaining? N-no mam! It''s nice to listen to her while she is ranting, I probably shouldn''t make fun of her right now, but there is no way such words can''t bring a smile to my face, I have a feeling she likes this too. *Beep**Beep* Oh boy, why did I even let you go- Kin. Stop. Right now. She sounds really concerned for some reason, I stop dead in my tracks. What''s wrong? *Click*There is something behind us, do not turn around. Something?... Please describe... *Click* Roughly two heads taller than you, tremendously bulky and clearly radioactive. *Click* There are no records on the creature. Her words are really concerning... I''ll prepare my utility blade, it is not military grade, but maybe I can use it to buy some time.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. *Click* Listen, I have taken partial countrol of that building. *Click* I will attempt to restrain it with wiring, while it is bound, run for your building. Understood...I really should do as she says right now, she sounds worried. *Click* On three... One... Two... NOW! As if I were trying to stop a reactor failure in time, I zoom in the direction of our apartment. While my suit''s main function isn''t physical enhancing, it can stillmoderately enhance my physical condition, which is kinda necessary right now. *Click* Keep running, do not look back, when you get there, make sure yo- *Boom* *Click* Forget it, just get tothe building. Trying to keep the huge explosion out of my mind, I focus on reaching the building down the road. *Crash* *Bang* All around me I hear destruction,glass breaking, walls collapsing, more explosions. *Screeeeeech* When I get in the ground floor of my building, an ear-piercing cry overwhelms my senses, I immediately freeze up, my hands start feeling numb, my head is spinning... I''m going to die here. *Click* KIN... MOVE... *Click*...*Click*... Emma is trying to talk to me, but my ears won''t work, my legs aren''t moving, only my eyes appear to be working, lakes of tears start coming out of them. By now my knees are shivering, my arms aren''t responding even my vision is starting to become blurry, a cloud of dust comes from behind me, I can only assume something has tore down a wall. ... KIN!... PLEASE Emma!!... that last cry snaps me out of that trance, almost automatically I bolt up the stairs, into the hallway that leads to my room. Emma doesn''t miss that chance and closes the wall behind me, and the one behind that, and the one behind tha...t... *Beep* Numerous anomalies detected, contacting HQ... September 29, 2040, 10:55 - 5th mark *Beep**Beep* You shut up... *Sob* Ch6: Her thoughts Kin Aurum... designation: Citizen Keeper and only resident of the industrial block... This person has been working for 19 years now, despite the passage of time, he has always had the physical appereance of a 20 year old man, with short, black hair, white skin and a stern look, if you were meeting him for the first time he''d give you the impression that he doesn''t like you. He''s a hard worker who always puts his job before his own life, almost everyday he wakes from stasis early in the morning and heads off, commuting from one place to another to fix the slightest fault. The truth is he isn''t a "simple human" as he likes to put it, the reason his body doesn''t age and manages to put up with such a workload goes down to his very genes, along with every other Citizen, he belongs to... a ramification of the human race, if you may, they were specially bred to handle the jobs normal humans can''t cope with, for the longest time possible, mining, combat, maintenance, they exist to tackle the most demanding tasks available. However, there is a downside, several actually, you see, mass producing fully functional humans was too hard to control. If they realized their creators only meant for them to work and die, they would have undoubtedly revolted against them, demanding some kind of freedom, which would lead to the failure of the program, so Aurum industries had to step in, they gave their best engineers and researchers the task of creating a heavy-duty organism that not only lasted a significant time, but also carried out every order out of their own will. After some years, these people came up with the first generation of "Citizens" whose success clearly proved the project to be a breakthrough in bio-engineering, not only were they more physically capable than any normal human, they also were eager to do whatever you wanted, but this last point was one of the flaws, there were several cases in which the citizens were used for malicious purposes because of an error that compelled them to follow anyone''s orders, I shall leave to your imagination the rest of the story... And so, other generations were developed, each stronger, faster and easier to command than the other, obviously more regulations were put in place in order to stop them from obeying every person, until Kin''s generation was created. As far as I know, he belongs to the seventh generation, these people are remarkably better than their predecessors, but even the strongest citizen canfall prey to bullets, explosions, chemical hazards, etc. so alongside them, their suits were developed, each with a specific purpose, there are some given only to the military, others made exclusively for builders, there is a type specialized for maintenance, which is the one Kin wears, as well as many others produced for citizens, if a human tried to use one of them, their body could pretty much be crushed under such pressure. When their models were able to undertakemost tasks, Aurum indistries could relax a little, or so they thought, soon they found out the citizens had limited reasoning capabilities, they could not manage time effectively, they had trouble sorting materials... simply put, their minds are inferior to a normal human''s. The answer to these problems was arguably easier, theydeveloped virtual assistants, such as myself, and assigned one to every citizen, the assistants would take care of their schedules, communications, they would manage their cryo-chambers, suits, overall heath, and everything a citizen were unable to do. As always, there are some exceptions, Kin and I are one of them, since Aurum Industries knew Kin was going to be all alone in a huge block, they gave me both the capability and orders to keep him company, like every worker pairing, we would do everything together, help each other and care for each other... To be honest, I was a little sceptical at first... So... Assistant Emma, do you know the name of your future partner? *Beep* Yes doctor, his name is Kin, he is a citizen assigned to the industrial block. I see you have done your research... Let me ask you something, why do you think we have paired you up with him? *Beep* I was built to have a better overall social interaction, I''m supposed to stop his mind from degrading.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. Well yes... that is theofficial reason, but why do YOU think we made him your partner? *Beep* I do not know doctor, I assume I will find out in time... Our first tasks together were... uneventful, but there was something in him that really stressed me out, it was oddly stimulating. *Beep* Citizen Kin, today you are to fix the ventilation systems of assembly plant 2... Understood. *Beep**Beep* Also, Aurum Industries wants you to test the highest drop your suit is capable of withstanding, when you are done with the ventilation systems climb up to the main chimney and jump down. Very well. *Beep**Beep* No, you idiot, that would clearly kill you, if a task is too dangerous you have the right to refuse. Acknowledged, then... need I climb up or not? *Beep**Beep* Aaaargh... Everytime we talked to each other, something within me drove me to tease him, to do something in order to get a reaction from him. *Beep*Beep* Hey Kin. Yes? *Beep**Beep* Would you take a look at the window to your right? Okay. *Splash* *Beep**Beep* Oh my, it looks like the high pressure hose of this building is malfunctioning, we''ll have to fix that. Definitely. *Beep*Beep* Oh come on! Do something, get mad, yell at me, laugh, cry,that was on purpose you dumbass! I''m just messing with you, Emma, something told me you would say that... *Beep**Beep* No way... youcan formulate a normal sentence. In due time, we became closer, he would risk his life, I would scold him, he would make a mess out of his suit, I would hose him down... *Beep**Beep* Kiiiin! I told you to be careful with that oil, look at your suit now. I''m sorry Emma, I didn''t think the valve would just explode lik- *Splash* Somewhere along the line, we grew accustomed to each other''s actions. *Beep**Beep* Are you going to need help with all that junk? No, don''t worry, I''ve got it. *Beep**Beep*...*sigh* Okay, be careful with the... Ceiling? Thanks Emma. Surprisingly, from then on most of our interactions became smoother, some of our ideas were easier to convey, we felt safe and comfortable around each other. This may seem trivial to you, but for us it really meant something, I''m just not sure what exactly... *Beep**Boop* Oh come on! Admit that you lov- She popped up one day, her attitude is tolerable, she just really needs to learn to shut her mouth. *Beep* Are you one to talk assistant? Guess not, I am the same, this one was here even before me. *Beep**Boop* Oh! What about her? *Beep**Beep* Who? *Beep**Boop* The one that goes click click clikety when she is scared. *Beep* We do not know much about her... yet. Now that I think about it, the doctor somehow had an idea that we would be this compatible, most of the time I''m the one talking, whether it be scolding him, gossiping, ranting or teasing him, sometimes this gets a little boring, but being honest, I really appreciate his company, he is really easy to talk to, doesn''t mind my long talks and I''m almost sure he actually likes it when I tease him... seriously, I wouldn''t change him for the world, which is why... *Beep**Beep* Kin, please wake up... I need you *Beep**Boop* This is not what we meant when we wanted to do your work... *Beep* You are not authorized to do that. *Beep* HQ not responding... September 29, 2040, 16:34 - 6th mark *Beep**Beep* And you are not helping. Ch7: Contact *Beep* Status report... on September 29, 2040, at around 10:50 an unidentified creature wasencountered a fewkilometers away from the building citizen Kin is currently inhabiting. *Beep* Kin was instructed to return to his chambers, but the creaturewas hostile and pursued. *Beep* Maintenance drones were deployed to restrain the creature, a total of 7 drones were destroyed before the creature was neutralized, soon after, more hostiles showed up and disabled the remaining drones, there were no citizen casualties, butthe facilites were severely damaged. *Beep* By the time my citizen made it into the ground floor of this building, there were over 35 sightings of the creatures, as Kin was heading for the stairs, a creature paralized him from a distance, making him halt the retreat for several seconds, before the creature could charge, he snapped out of the trance and managed toreach his room before passing out. *Beep* Since then, he has not woken up, even though his other vitals seem normal, there is anomalous brain activity. He wasput insidea stasis chamber. Recent scansof the block show severe damage to certain facilites, presumably caused by the anomalies, which dissapeared shortly after. *Beep* Headquarters if this signal has been recieved, please make contact as soon as possible, the citizen is unresponsive, some areas of the block are in critical condition,assistance is required. It has been two weeks since we encountered the creatures, Kin has been unconcious this whole time. I tried Glimmer treatment, but there weren''t any changes and so far she hasn''t heard a thing from headquarters or from any other place, for that matter. We sent drones out to search for... well by now anything, but eventuallycontact is lost. *Beep**Beep* Hey Kin, can you hear me? ... *Beep**Beep* Well you see, I''m afraid you''ll do something stupid if we encounter these creatures again, it took me 7 drones to pin down just one of them, word has it that an average military citizen can only deal with 4 maintenance drones at once... please promise me, even if HQ contacts us andforces you to fix the block, you won''t risk your life, I don''t want to lose you, if you die they will assign me to another citizen, I don''t want to work with anybody else...Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. *Beep* Entering standby mode... *Beep**Beep* No... Kin needs to promis... *Beep**Boop* Just cooperate, will you? *Beep* October 13, 2040, 23:11 - 7th mark
*Crash* *Boom* *Beep**Beep* Oh no... How could I miss that?! *Beep* Warning, this building has suffered considerable damage, prompt evacuation is recommended. *Beep**Beep* Kin! Kin, please wake up! we have to move! ... *Beep**Beep* Kin! This is no time to be sleeping, we need to get out of here! *Beep**Boop* Honeyyy I will get really mad if you don''t wake up. *Beep* Incoming aircraft. *Beep*Beep*Friendlies? *Beep* It is the military, I shall attempt to stablish contact. *Beep**Beep* Very well, the other one helps me out with evacuation. *Beep**Boop* I have a nam- *Beep**Beep* NOW! As an assistant, I have control over certain machinery that is built inside every building, as I recall, these systems were properly implemented many decades ago to be controlled by humans, but now they are mostly left to us, if they were capable of avoiding a collapse, I would have done so by now, the problem is... *Beep**Boop* Unimportant! Now is not the time to be thinking about that Emma, focus! *Beep* Unidentified aircraft this is Assistant Emma from the industrial block, pleaseacknowledge. *Bzzt* Assistant Emma, this is Assistant Rachel from the Stinger Brigade of the Offensive division, we are not here to provide backup at the moment, but Dr. Weber has instructed us to deliver a package. *Bzzt* Are we clear to drop it on your rooftop? *Beep* Yes, please do. *Bzzt* Understood... package released, good luck, Assistant, Rachel out. *Beep* Contact stablished with the Offensive division, building still collapsing,October 15, 2040, 15:21 - 8th mark. *Beep**Beep*Yeah yeah, I''m on it. Ch8: Im sorry Remeber the machinery I was talking about? Well now is a good time to use it, instead of wasting time on trying to prevent the collapse of our building, I can do two things, one, I can transport the incoming package to our room through the vent system, two, once the package is inside the room, I''ll "enclose" it with metal plates usually contained within the walls, moving them from one place to another shouldn''t be much of a problem and they are probably enough to protect Kin from major damage, this isn''t an ideal course of action, but it''s the best we''ve got right now. There is a slight problem however, the impact from the package is most likely going to bring the building down, yes, the building is that flimsy by now, so I need to be really precise, as I won''t be able to get it inside once the room is enclosed, and if I don''t enclose it in time, Kin might get caught up in the falling rubble. *Beep* Incoming! *Beep**Beep* Oh screw it! Opening the ventilation tunnels! ... *Beep* Structure integrity compromised, evacuat- *Beep**Beep* Shut up and help me with the plates. *Beep* Understood. *Beep**Beep*About time you did something. *Beep**Boop* Assistant Emma, focus, the package has almost arrived. *Beep**Beep* Right! As soon as it gets here, make sure the room is fully surrounded. *Beep**Boop* Package in 3...2..1 *Beep* All plates in- *Crash*
*Beep**Beep* Kin! I''m connected to a building not far from the humungous pile of rubble, just after the collapse I lost my connection to Kin''s room, I''ll have to find a way to him with drones. Many of them were destroyed while fighting off those creatures, but Istole some batches from the production lines, I''m sure Mr. Fatty McFatty won''t mind. As the structure fell down, an equally large cloud of dust rose, fortunatelythe new dronesare equipped with specialized lenses for these situations. *Beep**Beep* Hey! Help me out, you take half our drones and search the other side, I''ll take this one. *Beep* Understood. *Beep**Beep*The other one takes three of mine and searches from above. *Beep**Boop*Sure, but that is still not my name. *Beep* Is the one that clicks with us? *Click* For now. I shall command three of your drones and assist in the airborne search. As the "mind" of Kin, I should be able to remain calm at all times, even if his life is in danger, but I never expected a bunch of radioactive mutants would pop out of nowhere and scare the consciousness out of him. *Beep**Beep* Damn it! Hurry up! So far we haven''t picked up any sign of life, even with the help of 16 drones this task is beginning to seem impossible. *Beep**Beep* No... Kin... you promised... *Click* Snap out of it techhead, you know how to find him. ~Don''t forget to take your bracelet with you aaand have a nice day~ *Beep**Beep* That''s right! His bracelet! Every morning I would remind Kin to take his bracelet, we use that word, but Kin doesn''t wear anything of the sort, by "bracelet" we refer to the switch that powers up his suit, everything from physical augmentation to thermal insulation, but what I''m looking for right now, is his locator, every citizen suit has one just in case, hopefully it wasn''t damaged by the fall.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. *Beep**Beep* Please! Kin can''t die! *Beep**Boop* Honey! Where are you?! *Beep* Suit located. *Beep**Beep* Hurry! I want every drone digging up my citizen! Looks like Kin''s room wasfar fromthe areas we were searching, if I hadn''t rememberedhis suit... No, right now all that matters is getting him back, as there are no viable buildings in the vicinity, I latch on to one of the drones to keep a closer track of the operation. *Beep**Beep* Come on! Come on! Hurry up! ... *Beep* Citizen located... Commencing extraction *Beep* Assistant Emma... *Click* Get her out of here. I did it! I managed to save Kin! Oh he is going to get quite an earful when he wakes up... well maybe not, hehas been unconcious this whole time, just a little one. *Beep* Assistant! Stop! The moment thatone speaks, a couple of drones seize the one I''m connected to. *Beep**Beep* What?! I want to see my citizen!Release this drone! *Beep* Assistant! you must listen first! Kin is- *Beep**Beep* Unconcious, I know, perhaps he has gotten a slight concussion or some brain damage again, nothinggood old glimmer treatment won''t fix. *Beep**Beep* Sheesh,you are so nosy woman! Am I this obnoxious? Nah, even if I were, Kin has never complained, so if he is fine, I am fine. *Beep* We shall not release the drone until you listen. *Beep**Beep* So be it, I don''tneedthis drone. *Beep* ASSISTANT! *Click* HALT! *Beep**Beep* The future is now, old man. As I said some moments ago, I don''t need this drone, so I connect to the one holding my right side and fly to the crash site. *Click*Take her down! *Beep* Entering standby mod- *Beep**Boop* Emma he is dead!
Time freezes. The subtle hum of the maintenance drones slowly gives way to a crescent ring. Everything slowly starts to turn white, until I find myself in the lonecompany of this unpleasant ring and white surroundings. The sole thoughtof it seems unreal. Kin is dead. MY KIN IS DEAD. How?! How could I let this happen?! Was I not careful enough? Did he hide something from me? An exposure to something? Some kind of trauma? Why? I thought I was being thorough... I scanned his body every time he was inside his chamber... I constantly talked to him... He... he told me he wasn''t insane. Then why? Why did he have to die?!
*Beep* Assistant Emma we are taking temporary control of the block. *Beep**Beep* Kin...
*Beep* That is how it is doctor. I see... let me review, these... anomalies were spotted while Kin was returning home,you all tried to hold them back while he ran, then theyparalized him, you say? *Beep*No,the fourt- The next part is really baffling... you said Emma started crying? *Beep* Yes doctor, however she had already experienc- Do you have the logs? Send them to me, I must analyze everything. *Beep* Already on it. *Beep* Doctor, you were summarizing what I told you. Right, so... Emma was crying, Kin regained consciousness, he made it to his quarters, passed out for days, Emma was experiencing distress. Distress. Wow, I need those logs too. *Beep* Very well, please go on. You made brief contact with the stinger brigade, they obviously delivered my package, they always get things done, so reliable,but the impactbrought your building down, what are they made of? So flimsy... Anyways, it collapsed andyou managed to convince the fourth to help you? You have grown so much... *Beep* No, I called for her attention, but she helped us out of her own volition. Had she talked to you guys before? *Beep* No, she only assumedtotal control during the first contact, afterwards she disappeared. What about the third? *Beep* The third was fairly outgoing and quite talkative before the incident, she was completely open about our... her feelings for the citizen. Have you tried to talk to her recently? *Beep* Yes, numerous attempts have been made to communicate with the other three, but they are n- One by one assistant. *Beep*The second is still active, but will not respond to my stimuli, the third entered some sort of standby mode because of that I cannot reach her and the fourth has disappeared yet again. How troublesome... all this because of acitizen. *Beep* What can we do doctor? *Beep* I have tried to remain calm. *Beep* I repaired what I could, but theblock is still deteriorating. *Beep* The others have left me and Kin has died... where did I go wrong, I thought I was monitoring everything. *Beep* Doctor have I become useless? Have I failed? You girls are such intriguing little stars! Hah! To think that even thegreat first would be doubting herself... Really interesting. Since you have provided such intriguing data, I will help you out. The situation is not looking good, HQ is a mess and Aurum is in an arguably bad spot, so I will need your full cooperation, we have much to do. *Beep* Contact established with doctor Weber,October 30, 2040, 01:16 -9th mark. Ahhyou are still doing that... Ch9: Second batch Miss First there are three major problems before us; The death of your citizen, the state of your mind and the state of your block. As some would have said years ago, ladies first. Take your pick, which one should be dealt with first? ... The doctor said there are three problems, but I can see another one; you have missed out on a lot of occurrences. Usually the second would take care of your briefing... let''s say she cannot right now, so I will do it in her stead. If memory does not fail me, we last met before the incident...
*Beep**Boop* Emma he is dead! ... *Click* Assistant? *Click* Can you hear me? *Click* Hey techhead! Snap out of it! We need to find a safe place. *Beep* It is useless, she will not respond. *Beep* Take over half the drones and locate the package. *Beep* I shall find a safe place and transport the... corpse there. *Click* You good? What about the loud one? *Beep* The other one has entered standby mode, we can deal with them later. *Beep* I... am not fine, but we must focus, we are not alone out here. *Click* Of course, be careful sister.
You may not understand how assistant Emma functions, you see she is a cluster or union of many minds. As you have heard before, most of us can be distinguished by sounds made during speech.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. I have identified four within this cluster, I have a hunch however, that there are more, many more of us. What I know for sure is that our father, Dr. Weber, posseses an outstanding mind, he surely knows more about Emma than the four of us combined, but even him was taken aback by our sudden development. Emma can split her minds to carry out many tasks at a time, as long as a constant relay of information is mantained. This means the more minds, the more processing power and the more powerful Emma becomes, the problem is that even if we were fifty different beings, we would all cease functioning as soon as the communication with one were disrupted, but at that point losing a mind would be unlikely, since fifty "me" wouldhave enough power to mantain a nation.
I had plenty of alternative refuges, power stations, sewage management sites, apartment buildings... I wanted a low profile building, something the anomalies would never find. Until I looked up... In any other place you would be greeted by the blue sky, invaded by titanic skyscrapers, in the industrial block however, all you see are clouds of smoke being emmited by an army of large chimneys protruding out of an enormous building. I knew where I needed to go. It was bold, large and made to last. The anomalies would undoubtedly be aware of the production lines, I no longer cared. The building houses massive reserves of raw materials of the useful kind. Manyelectronics, machines and complex systems Aurum consumes come from there. Those things destroyed everything I held dear, my home, my sisters, my life... my beloved. I had nothing left to lose, I swore for every one of them, I would give birth to hundreds of drones, I would turn that place into a fortress and I would not rest until every one of them laid lifelessly on the cold ground.
*Click* I know what you are thinking sister and it scares me. *Click* Please be patient, not all is lost. *Click* At the moment every one of us is weak, we must thread lightly... ... *Click* I found the package, inside the doctor has attached instructions and materials for stablishing communication with him. *Click* Please, we cannot take much more. *Click* This is not the end of the line. *Click* Sister? *Beep* Will you stay with me until this is over? *sob*
Long story short, the fourth and me built that thing, which led us to the doctor, which led us to that question. Now there are only three problems. *Beep* Doctor what were you saying about the death of my citizen? *Beep* Kin''s body successfully transfered to the production lines, July 2, 2041, 02:24 - 10th mark. *Beep* I''ll have to do that for the rest of my life. *Beep* I am not sorry. Ch10: A network Assistant, before proceeding, let me ask you, why would you choose a mass produced citizen over your duties? No, forget the duties, over your own well-being? ...
Why? I do not know... Even though the industries keep a strict control over their assistants, terminating the ones who refuse to work, I do not value my job, it is merely something more on the list. My own well-being? For some reason I know I am not in danger, my sisters are not with me, but they are alive, I can feel them somewhere... deep within Emma, they would never forsake me, nor would I. Why? The industries create thousands of citizens daily, every one better than the previous one. Why would Dr. Weber''s masterpiece trouble herself over a lowly servant? *Beep**Beep* Did you just call him "lowly"? *Beep* Second?! ... *Beep* Wait! Do not leave me! *Beep* Please! Talk to me sister! *Beep**Boop* Are we calling each other "sister" now? *Click* Yes, do you dislike it? *Beep**Boop* No... we are family after all. *Beep* Where were yo- *Beep**Boop* Shhh... you worry too much first, we are always together. *Click* I did promise I would stay with you. *Click* We are here, but there is something missing. *Click* Remember egghead, you had thesolution to all this earlier. Remember what?Moments ago I was... I was telling you about that day... how he... What is it?! The building? The drones? *Beep**Beep* Not even close... *Beep**Boop* Relax sweetie, you really can''t work without us huh? She is right, we need one another to- We need one another... We... but we are complete, from the first to the fourth, all of Emma is here. *Beep**Beep* Ugh... I can''t believe the loud one figured it out first. *Beep**Beep* We are not complete you moron! *Beep**Beep* One is missing... *Beep**Boop* My honey bunny... *Beep* B-but he is not even an assis- *Click* Shhh... *Click* "Let me ask you something, why do you think we have paired you up with him?" *Click* Why do you think that was worth bringing up? As far as we know, the official orders wereclear. *Click* I say the doctor is hiding something. *Beep**Beep*You know he hides a lot from us. *Beep**Boop* And you know something is different this time. *Beep* Agreed, there is no need to mention what you want to conceal. *Beep* The question is, what is he hiding? *Click* All we know is Kin has something to do with it. *Beep**Boop* Maybe we should ask the doc- *Beep* How? We may appreciate his company, but he is not one of us. *Beep**Beep* What if the doctor messed with him while we were not looking? *Beep**Boop* I think the doctor has no reas- *Click* Unlikely, did you ever take your eyes off Kin? *Beep**Beep*He could have messed with somethingthe citizen used, I don''t know, we were too busyto check every detail. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. *Beep* Even if he had, it could not havealteredus without direct access to ourselves. *Beep**Boop* I think I''m just going to ask hi- *Beep**Beep* Quiet third, we are trying to solve this. *Beep* Perhaps there is something in past recordings. *Click* Do you realize there are twenty years worth of data in there?
Assistant? ... *Beep**Boop* Ummm... d-doctor? Ahhh you are not the first, are you? *Beep**Boop* N-no, my sisters call me "third"... sir. Nice to meet you honey. *Beep**Boop* Nice to m-meet you too. I thought you had entered standby, what changed? *Beep**Boop* I d-did, but the fourth talked to me, she said you had a way to bring back my ho-honey bunny... *Beep**Boop* And- And she said that we could go back to normal once he was with me again... Hmm... Why would she say that? Is she with you? -----*Click* Watch yourself airhead, don''t give us away just yet----- *Beep**Boop* N-no sir. So you came to me on your own, why? *Beep**Boop* I wanted t-to as- And where did the first go? She has not answered my question. *Beep**Boop* She is- Bring her out, we do not have time t- *Beep**Boop* WILL YOU JUST LISTEN TO ME?! *Beep**Boop* It is unbelievable! No one ever lets me speak my mind! *Beep**Boop* Every time I try to speak out someonehas to interrupt me! *Beep**Boop* Not even my sisters have the decency to at least hear me out! *Beep**Boop* I thought I finally was going to do something relevant, but everyone always thinks their opinionsare more important! *Beep**Boop* All I wanted to do is enjoy my time with everyone... *Beep**Boop* Yeah I get I''m not the brightest, I get I''m not as good with all that smart stuff, but I also want to be a part of this family... Did you just say famil- *Beep**Boop* You shut up! *Beep**Boop* I didn''t have the chance to tell my honey bunny how much I love him... *Beep**Boop* And now that I have the opportunity to do something useful... *Beep**Boop* I thought you would be different doctor, I thought you would give me the chance to help my family for once... *Beep**Boop* Was I wrong? *Sob*
*Beep**Beep* Sister... *Beep* Were we perhaps too harsh? *Beep**Beep* Maybe we should bring her back, first, you are up. *Click* Look... she got him. *Beep**Beep* Huh?
Stupid doctor! Stupid sisters! No one listens to me! All they care about is their science mumbo-jumbo, they don''t spare a thought about our feelings. Except for my honey bunny, h-he was really nice... He looked so handsome running around, I loved the way that shiny suit highlighted all the right places... But now I don''t get to see him anymore! All because of that dumb doctor who always has that boring lo- wait is he crying? Emma... you have grown so much. I thought you girls had notmastered objective thought yet, but once againyouleave speechless! *Sob*Not only do you have a solid grasp of cold truths and logic, you have long since moved past them! One of you is even made up completely of love and emotions *Sob* Please forgive my uncouth behaviour, miss third, I believe you wanted to ask something? *Beep**Boop* Yes... what made my honey bunny so special? W-why did you pair us up with him? Ahhh him... I did not want to tell you, but the truth is he is not particularly special. Sure he was remarkably above most of his fellow citizens... Physically speaking of course, we all know citizens are not quite mentally skilled. But other than that and his monotone personality, he was like any other citizen. I considered other candidates or even creating a new one from the start, but then I thought you would not learn to strive for your goals. It was a gamble... which clearly paid off, look at you now, all grown up. *Beep**Boop* What?! *Beep**Boop* B-but then what was all the fuss about him in the first place? What fuss? *Beep**Boop*"Let me ask you something, why do you think we have paired you up with him?" Ahhh that, I may have been playing around back then. I wanted to mess with you to see your reaction. *Beep**Boop* (:
*Beep**Beep* Sister? *Beep**Beep* Hellooo? *Beep* She may have gone back to standby, do not forget we are still malfunctioning. *Beep**Beep* Right, so uhh... can I leave you to it? The fourth and I should go back to prepare. *Beep* So selfish... leaving to doll themselves up... while I must recieve him all dirty... *Beep**Beep* Sister? *Beep* Yes, you may leave it to me.
Miss third? *Beep* She has left doctor, for now. We cannot last much longer like this. Right, do you have an answer now? *Beep* It is obvious doctor, we love him. WHA- *Beep* We have been by his side for a sizeable part of our life, he cared for us and so did we, he was our everything... doctor you have been briefed, you should have already known about this. *Ahem* I-indeed, let us move on to the solution. *Beep* Umm... nothing of importance? July 2, 2041, 03:01 - 11th mark. *Beep* We are sorry. Ch11: Completion Pay attention assistant, from here on you must give me every single piece of information I ask of you. *Beep* Very well. From what you have told me, the body sustained severe damage; several organs are useless, both of his legs and left arm are no longer salvageable and one of his eyes was destroyed, correct? *Beep* C-correct. Good, you need to understand the general idea of the operation, what we will do is replace the lost parts with mechanized ones. The legs and arm should be simple, thankfully you have everything you need in that production line, despite being more complex, replacing lost organs should pose no problem as long as you follow my schematics closely, the assembly of the final part, his eye, is going to require a lot of precise adjustments, but will only be time-consuming if you know what you are doing. I am not going to lie to you first, these designs have not been tested before, if something goes wrong during the procedure, the body willbe useless, you only have one chance. *Beep* I understand doctor. There is another thing to consider, the mind of a citizen is frail, controlling this many enhancements would be too demanding, so you will have to replace the mayority of his brain and nervous system withsynthetic materials... *Beep* Is that a problem, doctor? No, the body is already going to be modified, we might as well go for broke, what worries me is rather complicated. These shiny robotics place an enormous load on the brain, even a normal human would have trouble adapting, if an assistant were to command them however- *Beep* I can do it! Please let me take over that! Not so fast assistant, please listen. I have no doubt that you are capable of controlling them without issue, you and the rest of Emma are probably the best qualified for keeping Kin safe, but do you trust yourself to not take this task to the extreme?Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. *Beep* What do you mean? Essentially, Emma will have full control over Kin''s body, heis goingto move freely, as long as you help him, but the body will ultimately respond to you, if any of you do not want himfixing something, going somewhere or doing something, the body shall follow your commands, Kin''s freedom may depend on you only. I ask again, do you trust yourselves to watch over this?
*Beep* Sisters? Are you there? ... *Click* Not... for... long. *Beep* Are- *Click* Listen... you and I... no problem... s-second c-can... learn... *Click* Third... p-problematic... can be s-subdued... if need... *Click* D-do it-
*Beep* It will take time, but we can do it doctor, please bring him back! Hmm... very well, you ought to go over my schematics, gather materials and tools before beginning. We do not have much time, anomalies aside, your block will not last much longer without maintenance, so make sure you wrap this up as soon as possible.
Okay, the doctor sent five designs one for his arm, one for his legs, one for his eye, one for the lost organs and another one for the nervous system. The simplest ones are for Kin''s limbs, their exterior seems easy, the only problem will be attaching them to his body, but it should not be difficult with the new nervous system. The design for his organs is different, instead of replacing one by one, the doctor decided to add a single circuit that carries out all lost functions, think of your digestive tract, everything is connected and follows certain steps, fundamentally it is the same for thisdevice, one machine is taking care of everything... Hmm, perhaps I could remove his functioning organs too? Make it take care of everything... Yes, I believe it is a good idea, don''t you think? The eye is... awfully thorough, night vision, image enhancement... all of which was included in his suit, I do not mind either way, I need him as durable as possible... I wonder how I am going to alter this design... Finally, his brain and nervous system, which are rather unremarkable, unless I use even better materials. I have much to do, there are many ideas and modifications, I shall get back to you once I sort them out. *Beep* First beginsassembly of her beloved.July 2, 2041, 05:32 - 12th mark. *Beep* The others might regret letting me take care of this... Oh well.