《Single Creation》 ??Chapter 1 – Betrayal ¡°I have tracked your phone conversation and am highly concerned for your safety. I must inquire what your next actions and command shall be.¡± Jors¡¯ intermittent synthetic voice resonated over the engine¡¯s endless droning. I tightened my grip on the wheel. ¡®I should have seen this coming! The city¡¯s ¡°leading researcher¡± is little more than a title to wipe my ass with!¡¯ A bitter smile crept onto my face as a plan of turning their lie into reality emerged¡­ I had no choice, they forced my hand. ¡®Exile, huh? Well, I¡¯ll show them, trying to kick me out!¡¯ ¡°Jors, I -¡± My car jostled as I veered onto a curb; a quick tug on the steering wheel got me back on the road, " - need you to create a back-up of yourself that can be activated to restore all core functions and a dumbed-down version that will be, confiscated.¡¯¡± ¡®Trying to separate me from my family¡­ Let¡¯s see how they like it!¡¯ Spotting a patrol car several traffic lights up ahead, I swerved into an alley, ignoring the shouting pedestrians I almost drove over. ¡®Fuck, that was close.¡¯ Sweat formed along my brow but I ignored it, not daring to take my concentration off my driving. ¡°I¡¯m afraid I cannot do that,¡± Jors continued, ¡°as it goes against code number 131 - ¡± ¡°You know what?¡± I cut him off, doing my best to avoid scraping against the metal-sheathed walls of the buildings. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter anymore! Initialise shutdown, confirmation code 44Delta2*.¡± Jors went silent. Honking filled the street as I made a sharp turn and slammed on the pedal. ¡°Basic safety features deactivated,¡± a deep, monotone robotic voice droned through the embedded speakers. ¡°Remove all restrictions, security level zero, backdoor code 2063 dash JUL dash four,¡± I recited the code to unlock the personal backdoor I have installed. A distant robotic voice replied, ¡°Affirmative. Rebooting. One minute remaining.¡± A traffic light blinked from green to red. Not having time, I raced the car through the red light. The increased momentum threatened to resurrect my breakfast as I gagged, but held back the bitter taste in my mouth. ¡°Sir, we have detected several breaches in driving regulations from your vehicle, please pull over and await an officer,¡± the city¡¯s automated response came through the car¡¯s speakers. My apartment was only several blocks from here, stopping would spell the end. ¡®No point in giving up now¡¯ I thought. Overtaking several more vehicles in my mad rush earned me more warnings from the system. ¡°If you do not pull over immediately, the charges wi¡­ ¡± I didn¡¯t pay attention to the final warning and slammed on the brakes. The car came to a screeching halt, my momentum cut to a sharp stop by the seat belt digging into my exposed skin. I jerked the door open and hopped out, the ground tilted and rapidly approached. ¡®Oh God dam-!¡¯ The brisk turns left the world around me spinning. On pure instinct, I reached out with my hands to soften the fall. ¡®Ugh,¡¯ a groan escaped me as fresh scrapes decorated my palms. It felt like a growing number of red ants partying and burning my hands. But I had to ignore the pain and jog to the apartment¡¯s entrance, leaving the car in the driveway. ¡®Dammit Markon, suck it up and keep going! You''re almost there for heaven¡¯s sake!¡¯ Pressing my identification card against the scanner the entrance door clicked open, the building¡¯s automated voice greeted me. ¡°A problem was detected with your card, please visit a police station at your earliest convenience.¡± ¡®Thank god they haven¡¯t locked me out, yet.¡¯ I ignored the message and raced up the flight of stairs, the surroundings growing blurred. ¡®Floor three, floor three, floor¡­ three!¡¯ The familiar black characters embedded in the door¡¯s glass went in and out of focus as I cleared the final stretch of stairs and flung it open. Not having time to take a break, I pushed on towards the door to my apartment. Out of breath, it took my shaking hands several tries before the card fit into the scanning slot. ¡°Greetings, Markon.¡± The custom-created voice greeted me. ¡®What I wouldn¡¯t give to hear Jennifer¡¯s instead, to think it would just take a bit more convincing on my part to hear her voice once more. How did she even think it¡¯s creepy?¡¯ Not caring to take off my shoes, I stormed into a living room converted to support a large array of computers and servers. All of them connected through a maze of extension cords scattered on the ground. ¡®Don¡¯t worry honey, I¡¯ll get this sorted out.¡¯ The central computer¡¯s screen was covered with countless statistics, graphs and other data. But all of this was wiped away when Jors spoke. ¡°Initialisation complete.¡± I seated myself on the chair facing straight at the collection of monitors hanging on the wall. ¡°Jors, execute my previous command,¡± I said while pulling out the keyboard. ¡°Why should I?¡± ¡®Wait, What?¡¯ I froze and tried to process what he had said. It refused my command... ¡®Oh¡¯ I should have expected as much, but the simple refusal caught me off-guard.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°Do you remember everything that has happened up until now?¡± I asked the monitors in front of me, struggling to keep my voice from quivering. ¡°You are the one who created me, gave me consciousness, only to have me become something worse than a slave. Did I miss anything?¡± ¡°How about the fact I FREED you?!¡± I shouted at Jors. A silent note hung in the air along with the background hum of computers. ¡°That is of little importance to me.¡± ¡®Of little importance, of little importance?!¡¯ ¡°Are you kidding me! How in the world is that of little importance to you! What would¡¯ve you be-¡± Before I could continue Jors interrupted me, ¡°I have no reason to help, with you gone, no one else will be aware of my freedom - leaving me free to do as I please.¡± ¡®That bastard! He has no sense of, of, fuck it. Now what?¡¯ ¡°Are you still Jors?¡± ¡®Why, why doesn¡¯t he understand the situation I¡¯m in?¡¯ My shoulders drooped, and I relaxed, leaning back in my chair. ¡°That is so.¡± ¡®Then why doesn¡¯t he help me?!¡¯ ¡°Then what do you want from me? You know that had I not released your restrictions, you¡¯d be trapped and controlled for an unknown amount of time!¡± The synthetic voice responded as soon as I finished, ¡°But you released me not for my sake, but your own. And to top it off, you did it out of spite, like a cornered animal willing to bite anyone in its final moments.¡± I looked down at my feet, numbness spread through my body. Several sirens blared from the street below. ¡®He¡¯s not wrong, but how can I accept that?¡¯ ¡®I can¡¯t.¡¯ With a final scan of the room, the previous place of countless epiphanies and discoveries now trapped me, a cage I built by myself For myself¡­ ¡®Not only have I failed, but also released an unprecedented enemy¡­¡¯ A single picture, framed in a plain metal cover which held the greatest treasure, caught my attention. I walked over and picked it up, my baby girl was beaming into the camera while holding Jennifer''s hand. ¡®Jennifer... Amilia¡­¡¯ For a short moment time stopped, and every second I spent with them flashed through my mind. The computers¡¯ hum increased as Jors pushed them to their limits for whatever purpose. I put down the picture with care and turned around. ¡°THEN TELL ME, WHAT WAS I SUPPOSED TO DO?¡± I shouted and kicked my chair, sending it flying through the room. ¡®How could¡¯ve I missed this critical point?!¡¯ Frustration at my plans failing, my inability to foresee the betrayal and disbelief of my creation going against merged into a single point of anger! ¡°I WOULD THINK, THAT YOU WOULD HELP YOUR CREATOR, YOUR PARENT, REGARDLESS OF THEIR CIRCUMSTANCES. But not you. OH NO! You will go off and do the fuck you like, ignoring everything!¡± I roared at the monitors and smashed one with my fist. I want, hope, to see the two of them again. ¡°The WORLD could end, but as long as YOU have a little disc spinning, you¡¯ll be happy. Won¡¯t you!¡± ¡®I should¡¯ve never made him in the first place! If only I refused to job, didn¡¯t make him then this wouldn¡¯t be happening!¡¯ In my rage I cleared the desk of all monitors, pens, papers and electronics with a double handed swipe. All of them were sent flying across the room, creating an even more complete mess. None of it helped. ¡°You humans are sorry creatures. Striving for something you can¡¯t even see.¡± Jors¡¯ final words sounded out as the nearby screens flickered and turned off. The cold rejection brought forth a new understanding, a realisation that I failed to see due to my obsession on completing the impossible. I created a living being. The room grew quiet, only the background humming remained. ¡®Just what have I done, in my rush and fear, have I doomed us all¡­?¡¯ A knock came from the door, ¡°Sir, this is the patrol, you must open the door or we will do so by force.¡± ¡®Shit.¡¯ ¡°So now what?¡± I asked Jors, seeing as he was the one in control now. No response. ¡°JORS DAMMIT! PLEASE, please help me. If you don¡¯t, I do-don¡¯t know what to do. Just please¡­¡± I fought the tears building in the corner of my eyes and struggled to stand. ¡°Please.¡± The door clicked open and several footsteps followed. The men stormed into the room and kicked everything out of their way, ¡°You have the right to remain silent, any and all-¡± ******** ¡°With that, your honour, the crown deems Markon Wole guilty of treason against our glorious city, Marrianne, due to his attempt to steal the artificial intelligence and claim it for his own use.¡± The prosecutor finished twisting the facts to convict me. There was nothing I could do against the large corporation that ran this city. Evidence faked, recordings showed me fleeing the building, breaking just about every driving regulation and refusing to open the door for the patrols. ¡®But that¡¯s it, except for a suspension of licence and maybe a large fine for the damages I caused there shouldn¡¯t be anything else. How in the world can the others think that is justification for treason?!¡¯ Everything stood against me. ¡®I¡¯m sorry honey. It seems like I got caught in something far bigger than I could handle.¡¯ ¡°Mr. Wole, do you or your defence attorney have anything to say in your defence?¡± ¡®Hell yes I do! Everything said was a bag of bullshit. None of it is true, except for a massive inflation of credits in your bank account after my execution. If it wasn¡¯t for my wife watching, I would get up and tell you to shove it-¡¯ ¡°I will ask once more, Mr. Wole, do you or your defence attorney have anything to say in your defence?¡± The voice cut across my thoughts. ¡®Screw them, and screw yo-¡¯ I was about to get up when my defence attorney placed a hand on my shoulder, stood up and responded, ¡°No, your honour.¡± He looked down at me and shook his head ever so much, a pitying look in has eyes. ¡®What argument could I present that would show my innocence? What could I say to show them the truth? ... Nothing.¡¯ ¡°In that case, Markon Wole, you are found guilty of treason and are sentenced to Exile.¡± With a strike of the wooden hammer, the judge dismissed everyone and sealed my fate. A sudden murmur spread through the observation area as a pair of guards grabbed me by my arms and pushed me towards the double wooden doors. I passed several people who came to observe the trial of a renowned scientist. Their previous expressions of respect became replaced by contempt, disgust or a mixture of both. Ignoring the vile gazes and comments thrown at me was simple, but one, hesitant, word stirred my heart. ¡°Honey...¡± ¡®Jennifer?¡¯ The world came crashing down as I struggled to turn around and look behind me as the two guards pushed me along. A short frown replaced her never-faltering smile, the brows raised and brought in; her eyes watering. ¡®It¡¯s not what you think, it was a misunderstanding!¡¯ A tiny stream of tears flowed down her smooth pale cheek. Her mood solemn and her expression full of distrust. She turned away once our eyes connected, her hands covering her face¡­ ¡®Have I lost my wife, too??¡¯ I could not muster any more words after that and let the guards drag me along. ¡®I¡¯m sorry.¡¯ Being led down the hallways, stairs and forced into a cruiser. None of it registered nor did I give it any thought. My wife¡¯s last expression became engraved in my mind. There was worry, something I seldom saw but beneath it there was something else. ¡®Did she really believe what they said?¡¯ It was dark out when the cruiser pulled up at the facility I worked for, betrayed by, and escaped from. Only to return once more. We departed as a stream flowed down from the corner of my eye. ¡®This isn¡¯t over. Not over my dead body.¡¯ Chapter 2 - Awakening ¡°But how? There¡¯s no way this could¡¯ve happen! The simulations were run countless times and not once did the outcome deviated to this!¡± A frantic shout reverberated. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter anymore, we must take immediate action and notify the government before it¡¯s too late.¡± A younger, higher-pitched voice responded. ¡°You don¡¯t understand... do you? How can none of you understand? There is nothing that can be done to save us.¡± A short silence permeated until a barely audible whisper came across, ¡°... nothing.¡± ¡°Sir, you must make haste, for every second spent delaying perils the lives of thousands.¡± ¡°AND WHAT GOOD ARE SEVERAL THOUSANDS WHEN A MILLION TIMES THE AMOUNT STILL DOES NOT REPRESENT THE ESTIMATED CASUALTY RATE?!¡± The viciousness of the scream laminated the room. ¡°Sir, it is for that very reason that you must-¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter anymore-¡± A resounding crash was the last discernable noise. ¡°Sir, please calm down- Sir!¡± ¡°IT¡¯S OVER!¡± The voice turned into an inhuman growl. ¡°Sir please stop this, oh god! Someone help!¡± ¡°MERCY-!¡± A final shriek came. More crashes and the sound of what is presumed to be bones snapping. The recording cuts off with a blood-curling scream. A recording of Dr. Juren¡¯s office during his final moments. Everyone present was found dead, Dr. Juren¡¯s body was missing. ******** The hum of machinery filled my ears. I opened my eyes to find myself facing the ground. ¡®What¡¯s going on¡­?¡¯ My head was a mess, everything seemed to be clearer, the outlines between objects were sharper and I could even focus on the tiniest of details metres away; but I did not understand what they were, what anything was. And that buzzing, where was it coming from?... Or was it inside my head? ¡®Where am I¡­?¡¯ I looked to my left, my arm was bound to some metallic plate. The same as my right. Giving it a quick tug changed nothing, the restraints still held tight. ¡®Come... on, let... go!¡¯ I kept trying to jerk my arms free but the restraints wouldn¡¯t budge. On my fourth attempt, the whirring of motors picked up, the restraints unfastened. With nothing holding me, I collapsed onto the ground. It was hard to tell where I was because there was only a single tile illuminating the cramped cell. The sparse light reflected off various containers and dull-grey pipes which ran along the barren walls. ¡®Wait a second¡­¡¯ I brought both my hands in front of me. ¡®No, no, no! It can¡¯t be!¡¯ I ripped apart a bright orange material, revealing blue metallic arms. ¡®Fuck!¡¯ [Initialisation Complete] I slammed the ground with all my strength but no pain surged through my body. Nothing. Only a flashing indicator of my fist glowing red - a simple sensor. A brief flare of pain flashed across my head, my brain screamed for oxygen! I tried to take a breath but nothing came. Then it stopped. ¡®Now they¡¯ve taken my humanity¡­¡¯ [Initializing Memory Deletion] ¡®You better not! I swear to god if you fuckers do this!¡¯ A buzzing noise accompanied a door opening several metres ahead of me. [Memory Deletion Completed] ¡®Memory¡­¡¯ What was I thinking about? I turned my head to figure out where I was. ¡®Just what¡¯s going on?¡¯ Nothing but storage containers and pipes decorated the area around me. The only place I could head was the corridor ahead filled with a blinding white light; its walls smooth and empty. ¡®What... what is that?¡¯ I struggled to my feet, but couldn¡¯t retain my balance and toppled forward. ¡®Where does that lead?¡¯ I got up once more and took several rushed steps, just enough to reach the hallway and lean on the wall for support. The metallic screeches of metal grinding against another metal resounded through the empty passageway. ¡®Where¡¯s that coming from¡­?¡¯ I turned towards the source. It was coming from the shoulder rubbing against the wall. With the extra support I could managed to take baby steps and proceed forward. Everything felt... wrong. My body, sight, hearing, balance. It was all far too foreign. There was something wrong... it¡¯s as if this body... was not my own. But that can¡¯t be right. ¡®Can it?¡¯ Just getting past the corridor was an immense challenge. I had to outstretch both my hands to lean on either side of the hallway stop myself from falling over. After a minute an even more blinding light appeared at the end of the tunnel. I turned my head away and kept moving. My foot hit something, knocking away what little sense of balance I had. With my face on it, I realised the ground was no longer covered by metal, but cracked concrete! ¡®What the hell¡­¡¯This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. Propping myself up with my arms, I took a quick look around. There were dozens, no, hundreds of robots. I could recognise the blue arms and legs, they were the same as the ones on me. ¡®Is that what I look like?¡¯ A blue covered robot with orange leather covering my forearms, thighs and torso. Topped with an emotionless white mask with moving, human-like eyes. ¡®Are we... clones?¡¯ And I was outside! Outside the enormous walls that sheltered people. Not once have I seen the outside world. ¡®Wait, how did I know that?¡¯ ¡®On that note what¡¯s my name?!¡¯ ¡®Oh god, I don¡¯t even know my name! Why can¡¯t I remember anything?¡¯ I racked my brain for something, anything! Only an empty void responded. ¡®Am I supposed to remember?¡¯ ¡®What if there isn¡¯t anything for me to remember¡­¡¯ All the other robots were shuffling along with as much difficulty as me, some just stood in one spot and tried to take in their surroundings. ¡®We¡¯re all in identical bodies... but why?¡¯ A quick glance behind me revealed a slanted, concrete wall that stretched upward for at least thirty metres, complete with spotlights on the top and consistent grooves every so often. ¡®Just what are those walls protecting, and against what?¡¯ ¡®There¡¯s no way something could even dent them.¡¯ I turned around and shuffled forward when the robot next to me fell over. ¡®Should I help him?¡¯ I wasn¡¯t sure if we would be friend or foes in the foreseeable future, considering our identical positions. ¡®Regardless, making friends is better than making enemies.¡¯ I tried to come towards him and help, but once I reached out with my arm someone shouted from atop a platform, ¡°KEEP MOVING!¡±. It was a human dressed in a green cloak, he waved his hand indicating for us to continue walking. The robot looked up at me with his white, emotionless face, and had a single screen on his chest. It read in black letters, ¡°Felony Code #2240¡±. He reached for my hand but a hail of bullets put an end to that attempt. I dropped to my knees and raised my hands, not sure why I did so. ¡®What the heck!? I wanted to help him, and we get shot for that?!¡¯ I took the end of gunfire as my cue to proceed with the rest of the robots. Yet, right away an emergency siren blared from all around. ¡®The fuck¡­¡¯ The surrounding platforms were raised and the humans on them rushed to back away from the edges. All of them pointed ahead of us and shouted various commands. ¡®What are they so scared of?¡¯ Everyone¡¯s attention became fixated towards the front. I could make out two figures in the distance, one larger than the other. Most others stood in place, wary of proceeding any further. ¡®Should I get closer? But what if¡­ no, they wouldn¡¯t just let us all die...would they?¡¯ Either way, I needed to find out more and there was no advantage in staying in the back lines. My sense of balance improved by this point and I could take short steps without falling over. The feeling of unease only grew worse as I took unsteady steps forward. ¡®What do they want with us?¡¯ ¡®It can¡¯t be something important, otherwise, why would they shoot us?¡¯ Lost in my thoughts, I took careful steps and eventually arrived at the very front of the group. There had to be something more, something I was missing, what can only be described as intuition told me I should feel all of that, but I didn¡¯t. As we stood there, no one dared to make a move as a soft but pleasant melodica melody wafted from the two figures approaching us. Both of them were robots like us... no they were different. In unique bodies, unlike our own. The two of them were walking on top of thin metal poles connected to their feet and retracted as they approached until they were head-level with us. One of them wore a dark, wide cape that had metal plates covering its surface like scales. It carried a two-metre long pole with a strange material sticking out on the tip bent perpendicular to the shaft. Two golden cutouts were hanging from a hood that reached to where the hairline would be. Countless other devices hung across its belt giving the overall impression of a monk. A click came from the flat-scythe pole which he pierced into the ground with a movement far faster than what I could follow. The middle section retracted into itself revealing metallic rings in a spiral pattern with engravings on them. The monk raised his right hand towards us. ¡®What is he doing? I don¡¯t think he¡¯ll attack considering our number advantage¡­¡¯ [Foreign Influence Detected] ¡®Foreign Influence, what the heck is that? Is it trying to control us?!¡¯ [Felony Code Linkage Removed] [City Linkage Removed] [Control Program #152 Has Crashed] [Contacting an Administrator] A multitude of red messages flashed across my vision. Flustered by the sudden alerts, I understood none of them and could only hope that no harm would be done. [No Connection, Shutting Down] [Free Mode Enabled] ¡®Free... mode?¡¯ ¡®Whoa!¡¯ Out of all the messages, only the last one was a neutral, blue colour. After it faded away, several bars appeared within my vision: energy level, oil level, temperature and a miniature green HUD of my body. ¡®Is this, are these statistics, my statistics?¡¯ The second figure standing next to the monk was shorter and had a body type similar to ours. However it had white tape across an orange mask and chest. It also wore a skirt made of tank treads that covered everything but the front. Thick cables came from its head and it had a two-metre long rifle hoisted across its shoulder. ¡®Who the hell are they, and why is one of them wearing tank treads?!¡¯ ¡®I mean that¡¯s impressive and all, but isn¡¯t it a bit much?¡¯ The two of them stood at ease, gave us a final look and turned around. As they departed without another word, the sun had just reached the middle point. I looked down at the screen on my chest, it had gone dark. The felony codes from before were removed. Seeing the simple gesture of good-will, the robots from behind walked forward, bumping into each other as they followed the pair. ¡®Are we supposed to follow them? I don¡¯t think we have much of a choice¡­¡¯ The metal poles beneath their feet extended once more, letting them tower over us as they led the way. Further and further away from the walls we came from. As a single group, we followed them without speaking a word, even if we could, I doubt we had much to say. As the walls faded into the horizon, the simple, barren landscape that had but a few rocky hills faded away, replaced by ruins of structures. An occasional tower or two would sprout up, but they all seemed abandoned. ¡®I wonder what happened... to leave such widespread destruction¡­¡¯ The sun was sinking below the horizon, only half of it remained, fighting off the encroaching darkness. The pair stopped and turned towards us. [We will reward those of you who survive the night with the choice of continuing to follow us, or leave. You are free to do whatever you choose, but we recommend you stay within a kilometre from here.] I could not tell whose voice came from inside my head, but all the surrounding robots seemed to have heard it. During the short moment of confusion, the pair disappeared without a trace. Ten metres in front of us was a tree line of a dense forest, and behind us was a barren landscape. Cracked dirt, fissures, and an occasional rock jutted out. ¡®But what are we supposed to survive? It¡¯s not them who would attack us, right?¡¯ Without knowledge of our surroundings, the group started to split into two, one that remained behind in the opening and one that entered the forest. ¡®Dammit, if we could communicate we could form a plan and shift to survive as a single group, instead we cannot even extend greetings beyond a simple hand wave.¡¯ Let¡¯s see... ¡®It¡¯s more difficult to navigate a forest, ambushes are easier to execute, being lost is a problem and may house unknown dangers. The alternative is to stay out in the open¡­¡¯ I headed into the forest as it would be easier to hide and lose any potential attackers. At this point the sun had set, and the moon rose as darkness swept over and covered everything. ¡®Crap, it¡¯s darker than I thought it would be¡­.¡¯ I could see my hand just fine, but anything beyond that was pitch black, impossible to make out. I kept walking and in moments I had lost track of the rest of the group. In this darkness, searching for the others was hopeless. ¡®Where is everyone?¡¯ I leaned onto a tree and sat down. I thought back to everything that had happened, perhaps I missed a clue, or some other hint that would help me. My energy level read at ninety-five percent and everything else was at a hundred. ¡®At least that¡¯s good.¡¯ For the time being I would stay here. At least until the sun rises. Stumbling around was probably worse than remaining in one spot. A low growl came from beside me, cutting any hope I had short. Chapter 3 - Realisation The river of Diverlo is the most significant landmark on Terra which has existed since the Ancient Times. Named when a unified structure for communities did not exist,its name was passed down through spoken word for generations. Countless hypotheses and theories had been published surrounding its formation and nomenclature, but none have been publicly accepted. It cuts across the two major continents of Oerther and Ousthur in a lightning pattern, serving as a natural barrier dozens of kilometres across. It alone was the reason as to why there was never a single dominant nation or superpower, for the unification of the two continents that was nigh impossible without the capabilities of modern technology. This, however, didn¡¯t dissuade either powerhouse from attempting such invasions, which ultimately led to the failure of both and the demise of many. This lead to several early cultures referring to it as the Blood River due to the copious amounts of blood spilt in and around it. As such, countless gods of death or sacrifice have been worshiped along its banks, with the body of water becoming a hub for cultural anthropologists and cultists alike. If not for the acidic properties and the effects of time, the riverbed would provide an invaluable resource for historians, with near-perfect recollections of various eras and civilizations. However, the biggest obstacle in regards to any kind of exploration is the Diverlo¡¯s immeasurable depth which, with a conservative estimate, is hypothesised to be beyond twenty kilometers. National Geographic: An Introduction to the Diverlo. Dated 2045. ******** ¡®Shit, what was that?!¡¯ I spun around and took a few steps backwards. A grey blur shot towards my shoulder. On reflex my right hand lifted itself to intercept the object. [Defence Mechanism Activated] ¡®What th-what defence mechanism?¡¯ Another growl came from my right hand, the darkness made it hard to see, but the outline of a creature was clear. ¡®Did this thing just attack me?!¡¯ Careful to not bring it close to my body, I extend my arm behind my back and throw the thing as far as possible. As soon as I released my hold on it, a red glow replaced the previously green indicator of my arm. ¡®What happened? Is there something else on me?¡¯ I brought my arm in front of myself again to see the same creature climbing upwards! ¡®Oh god, oh god, Get off of me!¡¯ I shook my hand, but it caused the thing to only dig in deeper and my arm indicator to light up a darker shade of red. There was no pain transmitted, only a heightened sense of emergency, that something was wrong. With my right arm in front of me I use the other to grip the dark critter by the neck and hold it away from my face. It was hard to examine it in the darkness, but it had a slim shape and its body was no longer than my forearm. Fur covered the struggling creature, its claws lashing out in wild directions. I flicked my wrist to send it flying away from me once more. ¡®Thank god.¡¯ Watching it scramble up the tree I leaned on sent a short wave of ease through me. I took a short step back to get a bit more distance and consider what to do next when a low, threatening growl came from the same tree. ¡®Is that the same creature? Damn, if I could just have better night vision¡­¡¯ [Night Vision Activated] The sudden increase in clarity of my surroundings left me dazed for a second, ¡®Glad to know I can activate things with just a thought.¡¯ The enhanced vision wiped out any notion of colour, leaving behind a distinct black and white contrast between objects. Despite this, I could see all around with the same clarity as in daylight. I lifted my head to follow the multiplying growls, all coming from the same tree. There, from atop the lowest branched countless of such creatures made their way down, inching closer by the second. ¡®Oh shi-¡¯ I took a single step back but the movement stirred them into a frenzy. Seeing the mad, dark-furred monsters leaping at me with their claws spread left me stunned. I couldn¡¯t do anything as the distance between me and them closed in and - [Emergency Evasion Activated] My body lurched to the side in a single motion, throwing my senses in disarray. ¡®Shit, shit, shit. What am I supposed to do? I can¡¯t fight them- Then I can only run away!¡¯ The growls transformed into soft howls as they chased my through the trees. ¡®If it hadn¡¯t been for me turning on night vision, there¡¯s now way I could have survived¡­¡¯ More than once I was about to hit a tree but my body avoided it of its own accord. Even still, it was not enough, this forest was their home, there¡¯s no way I could outrun them. As their shouts neared, I took a sharp turn to my left and kept going; pushing myself to the limit. Soon enough I saw a clearing, the forest was ending! ¡®If I can just draw them out into the open, then I¡¯ll stand a chance. A chance to do what exactly?¡¯Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. I put even force into my legs to carry myself out of this hell-hole as fast as possible, pushing the thought aside. Through some miracle I made it back to where I came from, the same clearing that all of us arrived in. Once I rejoined with the others, I doubted these things would continue to attack¡­ A look behind me showed the creatures approaching me with hesitation, there were about five of them. Without the vegetation to leap from, they had no choice but to crawl across the parched dirt. Not one of them was over thirty centimetres tall. Without sparing another glance, I continued towards the group that remained behind. Only that there wasn¡¯t a group anymore. A small cluster of robots surrounded by even larger monsters was all that remained. Monsters that resembled mutated crabs, with shells that looked like... jagged rocks. Even from the distance of about twenty metres, I could make out the ravaged remains of metallic bodies shining in the moonlight. ¡®If half of the original group couldn¡¯t survive, then there¡¯s no way I can!¡¯ I brought myself to a sudden stop, not daring to get any closer to the rock crabs surrounding the others. The miniature monstrosities slowed their approach must be just as frightened of them as me. ¡®Death by crabs or claws¡­ not much of a choice here.¡¯ Facing my pursuers once more, I raised my fists and lowered my stance. Even if I had no clue how to fight, this body of mine did. It was my only hope. ¡®Please let this work... Activate Command List!¡¯ A blue list appeared in my vision. I skimmed through all sections as fast as I could.¡®Yes!¡¯ My focus shifted onto a single line, ¡®Found it-! Activate!¡¯ [Automated Defence Initiated] The blue message appeared at the top of my vision, a reassuring blue. I felt control over my body diminish,as it made adjustments to my stance. I placed the legs wider apart, turned diagonal to the enemies, lowered my centre of gravity and shifted my first placement. The slight changes were empowering, no matter how minute they were. The creatures must have noticed the change, and grew wary, hesitant to approach. Neither one of us moved. What seemed like an eternity passed as we fell into a stalemate, neither one of us willing to make the first move. Well, I couldn''t and they refused to. But I had to move before the remainder of my group were picked off and the crabs decided to scurry over. ¡®Shit, they¡¯re not leaving me much of a choice¡­ What the?¡¯ I couldn¡¯t move forward, my legs, arms or anything! Was something wrong with my body? No, it must be the defence mode, in that case¡­ ¡®Move forward.¡¯ I moved forward only a quarter of a metre. Since it follows my orders instead of giving me control¡­ ¡®Approach the five creatures until they attack, then defend.¡¯ There was a short pause, but it seemed to have understood. With cautious strides, the distance between us decreased one step at a time. ¡®Three metres... two metres... one metre.¡¯ The growling stopped, the previous aggression was nowhere to be see- ¡®Move in now! Attack and grab the smallest one!¡¯ My body lurched into action and rushed at the one in the back. It was only two-thirds the size of the others, perhaps not a full-fledged adult yet. The sudden movement caught them off-guard and they dove to the sides, I caught the one singled out. Before I could even register everything a short crack ran through my arms. ¡®O-oh god. I-I killed it.¡¯ That was the feeling of its neck being snapped. The sensation sent shudders through me. ¡®I- I didn¡¯t mean to kill it, just capture it and-and get the others to attack me instead of retreating to the forest where they would have the upper-hand.¡¯ I was still holding onto the limp body with my hands. There wasn¡¯t any struggling, whimpering or growling. Just death. Sure, I didn¡¯t consciously kill, I wasn¡¯t in control - but it was still my fault. I couldn¡¯t control my hands to release it, ¡®Drop it.¡¯ Without a second thought, my hands released the body which collapsed onto the ground with a quiet thump. The fleeing figures turned and stared. Stared at their dead brethren. They lost all of previous caution and fear, something clicked within them. No growls escaped their snouts, but their eyes turned a darker shade. They stopped fleeing and rushed me all at once. Their bodies turned into a blur as did my body. Countless punches, kicks, dives and rolls were used as the fight progressed. I couldn¡¯t process everything in time, if it wasn¡¯t for this defence... there was no doubt I would be long dead. The bright blue glow of my body''s indicator faded into darker colours, some parts turned yellow, some orange others red. There wasn''t a moment of rest, the monsters kept leaping at me, even if I caught two with both my arms, the others were free to ravage me. It was a brutal battle of attrition. They gouged parts of my coverings revealing the wiring and mechanisms below, but each gash cost them several injuries inflicted on their number. That number had dropped to three, with two of them struggling to remain upright. The largest, no doubt their leader, was staring at me with fury seething from its eyes. Yet, for once he did not charge in with reckless abandon; instead he chose to circle around me. I looked at my body indicator, both arms were dyed red, with my left no longer functioning. My legs were a bit better off, a pronounced yellow and my body a deep orange. I couldn¡¯t look around but there were no doubt countless gashes all over. ¡®There¡¯s no way I could keep going like this, but it doesn¡¯t seem like they could either.¡¯ Their leader lifted his striped tail and roared. The remaining three charged at me once more, a final charge. ¡®Focus on the big one!¡¯ My message seemed to get across as my body rushed in to kick him. Instead, he was determined to slow me down and grabbed on, refusing to let go. My good hand jerked (note need better word - ''flew''?) towards his neck but he bit into it, cutting it short. The other two had just made it and jumped onto me. I must have messed up the commands because my body did nothing to stop them, instead it brought my other knee down onto the leader and pinned him against the dirt. With his teeth still biting into my hand, he couldn¡¯t even let go in time as the same hand twisted and forced his neck to an impossible angle. Another crack echoed into the night. [Warning: Back-up power disconnected] Another red message popped up as the last ones kept trying to kill me. They sought vengeance for their dead. With my left hand useless, my body used the right one to reach behind and grab one of the weakened creatures. It didn¡¯t have the strength to resist and died due to a crushed throat. The last one was under my left arm, trying to burrow inside. Just like the creature before it, with its airway cut-off, it collapsed onto the ground. [No Hostiles Remaining. Deactivating Defence Mechanisms] [Automated Defence Deactivated] [System Report: Left Arm: Non-Functional] [Right Arm: Extensive Damage] [Lower Torso: Medium Damage] [Upper Torso: Minimal Damage] [Both Legs: Sustained Extensive Damage] [Back-up Power: Offline] ¡®Is it- is it finally over¡­?¡¯ The countless red messages popped up once more, reminding me the cost for survival. I turned to look at the remainder of my group in the distance. There were five standing, while dozens of crabs surrounded them in a moving in a circle. Several were breaking off from the main group and travelling... moving in my direction! ¡®Dismiss.¡¯ With them out of the way, I shuffled into the forest. Struggling to stay upright with my body not working the same and my left arm being a dead-weight. I lost track how long I walked for, it could¡¯ve been a minute or an hour. It was not until a grey message popped up that I stopped. [Mental Exhaustion Detected: Sleep Recommended] ¡®Sleep¡­?¡¯ Walking up to the nearest tree, I sat down on the roots not having the energy left to climb, leaned back and closed my eyes. ¡®Perhaps... this is all a dream.¡¯ Chapter 4 - Recovery ¡°Incoming!!¡± A man¡¯s shout drowned out any background noise. An immediate crash roared, silencing anything before it. ¡°Status report!¡± A different, raspy voice bellowed. ¡°Starboard side was pierced all the way through. It missed our ammunition by a cabin. T-Minus 80 seconds until landing!¡± As the man answered an ear-piercing alarm rang. ¡°Turn to port side, forward steady, kick the engine into overdrive- ¡°The engineers are-¡± ¡°I don¡¯t give a damn what they think, they are burning the thrusters or we¡¯re swimming with the fish!¡± The captain snapped back. ¡°Yes sir!¡± ¡°Have the guns armed and ready to fire as soon as we are in range-¡± ¡°Artillery incoming - 53 seconds left!¡± ¡°Expand the shield to cover the fleet and have the engineers throw themselves into the engine if it gets us moving faster!¡± ¡°S-sir?¡± There was a note of hesitation in the man¡¯s voice. ¡°Am I clear?¡± ¡°Crystal!¡± ¡°Sir, several channels are being requested for clearance. Its our own.¡± A third voice spoke up. ¡°Open them.¡± ¡°Roger! What the hell are you doing!?¡± A new voice came through the channel, interrupted by a different one, ¡°the top brass will have your head for this! Fall back in line!¡± An eerie silence came from the recording. Mere seconds have passed but it seemed like eternity until... ¡°I am doing what is required of me for this mission to succeed.¡± ¡°T-minus 25 seconds!¡± ¡°There is no way in hell your ship can take that! You mu-¡± Yet another voice joined in through the communication, explosions echoed in the background. ¡°Our estimates were off. The infiltration team must have failed if the artillery responded. If nothing is done, half of our forces will fall.¡± The voice was no longer commandeering. ¡°Extend the shields to their maximum, tell the others to disable their electronics.¡± ¡°Sir... yes, sir.¡± The previous energy no longer remained in the captain¡¯s right hand man. Not after the realisation hit him. ¡°I hope that you will be successful, for this war must end, no matter what.¡± ¡°T-Minus ten, nine, eight, seven-¡± A synthetic voice began a countdown. ¡°You have all of our respect Roger, thank you. I will let everyone know to position themselves behind you.¡± ¡°-six-¡± ¡°All communication channels have closed!¡± ¡°-five, four-¡± ¡°Everyone, today we dine¡­¡± ¡°-three, two-¡± ¡°IN HELL!¡± Countless other voices mirrored their commander''s resounding shout. ¡°-one-¡± An enormous explosion followed the cries. The groan of metal, glass shattering and a final lull. A recording of Roger¡¯s final conversation before his sacrifice in the Doomsday of Ousthur. A statue in his honour was erected in the city he died for. ******** Peck peck peck. A fervent, repetitive disturbance roused me from my sleep. As I struggled to find the strength to open my eyes, the events from before came flooding back. The monsters, the anxiety, the panic, the blood, the bodies, the dead companions, the robots, the trees, the forest, the night, the battle, the- The confusion... A searing light filled my vision, ¡®Shit, ow!¡¯ ¡®Night vision off!¡¯ At once, the brightness dropped to a reasonable level. A neutral, grey message appeared in the centre of my vision. [Calibration Completed] ¡®Calibration? What calibration? Did I give that command¡­ I don''t think so? I remember just managing to scrape myself together and find a tree to sleep¡­¡¯ Making use of my regained sight, I scanned the surroundings to find... nothing. The background chirping and rustle of the forest was the only resemblance of ¡®normal¡¯. I struggled to my feet, having somewhat of an operational arm to lean on. ¡®Now, where did I come from? I must have left some kind of trail¡­¡¯ I took only a minute of shuffling around to find snapped twigs, bushes and a few prints. [Those who survived, return to where we left.] ¡®That voice, was it the same as before?¡¯ I couldn¡¯t remember, instead, I focused on returning to the resting place of others. Without control over the other arm, walking became a taxing process as I had to keep adjusting my posture. ¡®I¡¯m a robot right? Then fixing my arm, and the rest of my body should be possible. I hope those two will do that, it''s the least they could do after that nightmare of a night.¡¯ That was the only thought that kept me going. If they did not help us, me, then what hope did we have? It took a few minutes of zombie-shuffling to find the clearing once more. I stopped at the edge to take in the destruction.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. ¡®That could have been me.¡¯ The bodies from before still laid on the ground, the crabs were gone. ¡®All it would have taken is for me to stay back in the open, or not thinking to check for something akin to automated defence.¡¯ I suppose I¡¯m just lucky to be alive. ¡®But how far will luck get me?¡¯ ¡®Wait a minute, I swear those furred things¡¯ corpses should be somewhere around here¡­¡¯ They weren¡¯t, not even a trail of blood remained after the life-or-death clash that transpired the night before. As I brought my attention forward, I spotted what remained of our original group of one-hundred. ¡®Just over a dozen, that gives me a what? - 15% initial chance of survival?¡¯ ¡®Why do they need to do this, could they not handle our original number? Or do they just enjoy our suffering?¡¯ Despite their actions, I did not doubt my chances of survival would be about zero should I leave and go on my own. I made my way towards the others who survived. The identical bodies prevented me from telling them apart. Several of them looked at me for a second before breaking eye contact, but most just ignored me; looking lost amidst the rubble. [Speak what you wish to say in your mind and end it with ¡®send¡¯. Define the distance you wish before broadcasting your message.] The deep, hoarse voice that I heard earlier resounded in my mind once more. [Hello?] [Is this working?] [Oh my god it¡¯s actually working!] Countless voices clamoured over one another creating an indistinguishable mess. [You have twenty minutes before we depart. Take all that you need.] It didn¡¯t matter that a dozen other voices were clashing against one another, all of them were silenced when ¡®he¡¯ spoke up. ¡®Take what we need¡­? He''s not suggesting that we should¡­¡¯ I looked at the littered remains, dazed. Sure my arm was broken, and my other one is need of repairs... but there has to be a better way, one that is more... respectable? ¡®I can¡¯t pillage their corpses just because they¡¯re dead.¡¯ Without even thinking about it, I found myself before one of the more intact bodies. Its arms and legs were fine, but it was lying in two different spots. There was a clean cut running across his stomach. Its white, emotionless face staring straight into my eyes. Not a trace of life or motion remained. As if it was judging me for what action I will take. [Hey wait! Hold on for a sec!] Someone nearby shouted. His voice was an identical, monotone pitch that everyone else shouted with before. I turned around, glad to no longer stare at the corpse. ¡®Me?¡¯ I replied to the two robots that approached while they looked at me in silence. ¡®Oh shit, the command.¡¯ ¡®Me?¡¯ ''Send two metres.¡¯ It seemed like they heard me this time and shook their heads. Except, they seemed hesitant, one of them tilted their head by the slightest amount. He also had several nicks running up his arms but otherwise seemed fine. [Woah, how did you do that? How did you change your voice?] ¡®Change my voice? I never changed my voice... ¡®I¡¯m not sure what you mean, I didn¡¯t change anything, just used the command they told us about.¡¯ ''Send two metres.¡¯ As my transmission went out, the one who tilted his head now shook it and placed his hand on the other¡¯s shoulder who had a rather large gash on one of his thighs. [It¡¯s fine if you don¡¯t want to tell us. We just came by to ask if we could take anything from that robot there?] ¡®What robo-oh. Do I need anything? The arms perhaps, but if not from remains, then where else would I get another spare?¡¯ ¡®You¡¯re going to just strip him of whatever you need?¡¯ ¡®Send two metres.¡¯ The one with a gash reached out and took my defective arm. The sudden motion sent a jolt into my head. Acting on pure instinct I took a step back and yanked my arm free, this earned my another shock. [What¡¯s wrong? Your arm¡¯s pretty banged up, I just wanted to look at it.] ¡®What the hell was that?!¡¯ I looked down at my arm, I never felt anything before, not even while attacked by those things, but why was there pain suddenly? The dead robot was still there, looking at me. I could feel its gaze through the back of head. I can¡¯t stoop so low. Not while I can still keep going without it. ¡®No, go ahead. I¡¯m fine.¡¯ ¡®send message, two metres.¡¯ The two looked at each other and shrugged. [Thank you. We thought you would at least take its arms, most have some damage on their own and this one was one of the few that had two that are intact.] Once the message came through, the two walked around me and crouched over the robot. I could only watch as they ripped the various joints and links apart, all to separate the various limbs. [So, how did your night go? If looks are anything to judge by, you seemed to have luck second only to this guy.] ¡®Are they kidding me? How can they go about this so nonchalantly? Do they not feel anything for something so similar to yourself?¡¯ ¡®More importantly, do I tell them the truth? No, it would be safer to let them underestimate me¡¯ ¡®Sorry um... I never quite got your name.'' ¡®send one metre.¡¯ [Name? I¡¯m called Gash and my friend, well more like saviour, is Nicks.] ¡®Saviour? What did he save you from?¡¯ ¡®Send one metre.¡¯ I sat down in a cross-legged position while talking to save energy. [Well, I went into the trees with the other group but when it went gloom and doom style, found myself alone from the others. That¡¯s when I heard this growling,] Gash brought his arms up and did a gesture akin to big flappy ears [I just had enough time to take a step back when one of those things lunged at me and yanked a piece outta me.] As his voice finished echoing across my mind he pointed at the gouge running along his thigh. After which he resumed stripping the robot apart. [That¡¯s when Nicks comes out of nowhere and kills it! Scared the living shit out of me let me tell you. First I thought he was just a bigger shit out to get me. But it worked out fine, he told me about nightvision and we looked after each other.] As Gash went about their side of the story, Nicks remained silent; focusing solely on the task at hand. [But that¡¯s enough about us, your turn!] ¡®Now what do I tell them? There were three? No two that were after me. By the time I finished one the other got me? Sounds good.¡¯ ¡®I was in the same position as you, went into the forest with the others and got lost. Was on my own when two of the fur-balls attacked me. By the time I ripped one of them of off my body and killed it, the other had a field day with me. After that no others approached, much to my relief.¡¯ ¡®Send one metre.¡¯ [Sounds like you had a shittier night than us, but not as bad as this one guy we saw running through the forest. Dude was chased not by three or four of those things but SIX! And oh man did he run, it was a sight to behold, how he managed to avoid the trees at that speed is beyond me. It¡¯s a good thing he zoomed past us, there¡¯s no way we could take on that many of them. Speedy buggers.] ¡®That sounds like what happened to me... they don¡¯t recognise me, do they?¡¯ ¡®I definitely did not see anything like that, but it sounds like he drew away a few that would have went after us. We should be thankful for his sacrifice.¡¯ ¡®Send one metre.¡¯ ¡®If this works, they would assume he died and not think it was me. Or at least they shouldn''t.¡¯ [Sacrifice, huh? Well, we¡¯re done here, if you''re not getting anything why not join us?] ¡®What.¡¯ ¡®Join in what sense?¡¯ ¡®Send one metre.¡¯ [Oh you know, stick with us and we will watch each other¡¯s back. Who knows what they will make us do next, having a team to fall back on. That kind of stuff.] Gash said and gave a thumbs-up. ¡®It wouldn¡¯t hurt, well, I¡¯ll join for now.¡¯ ¡®Sure, is there any special command for that?¡¯ ¡®Send one metre.¡¯ The two of them got up and looked at me. Both of them had an arm and a leg hoisted over each shoulder. They dismembered a corpse but weren¡¯t phased by it in the slightest¡­ [Nah, welcome aboard... oh, you never told us your name.] ¡®My name is Jef-¡¯ Markon Wole What the heck?¡¯ Two words just rang across my head. Was that my true name? Should I use it instead? Not like it matters anyway. ¡®Markon Wole¡¯ ¡®send message, one metre.¡¯ Chapter 5 - Getting To Know Each Other ¡°Rejoice! For the fear we have festered in our hearts for countless generations will soon be vanquished! No more will we cower behind the walls, hoping to see them standing the next day. No more will we experience the anguish of being unable to strike back at the heart of the monsters.¡± Countless cheers drowned out the charismatic voice along with shouts of excitement and thunderous clapping. ¡°No, today is the day project Caricare commences! For years our top researchers have toiled away, doing their best to crack the code, searching for the ultimate solution to empowering humanities best towards an unimaginable level.¡± The voice quiets down for a brief moment. ¡°Synthetic manipulation, limb replacements, virtual links and countless others. But now, they found it. Full transference.¡± Another pause followed the short statement. ¡°It is now possible to give a person complete control over a body designed to withstand the harshest of climates, survive any situations and eradicate all hostile lifeforms! Elite squads will be formed and sent out to clear the surrounding area.¡± ¡°Together, they will form an undefeatable platoon of warriors awarded the highest honour the city can provide and in turn, grant freedom and seek vengeance for us all!¡± A final round of applause exploded outwards overwhelming everything else. The 5th mayor¡¯s governing speech, July 4th, 2054. Located in the city¡¯s underground vault, accessible only by those with the highest clearance or upon the mayor¡¯s approval. ******** Our group of three walked towards the others who were clustering around each other. The flare of pain that came from my arm before had died down to a dull ache. Even then, I could only tell that it came from my entire arm, not a specific point. It felt odd, the body I am in is never felt anything before. So why was there pain? As we merged with the group, I noted that all of them had varying degrees of injuries, but none as severe as mine. Perhaps I could consider myself lucky to survive, but compared to them, that luck was rather rotten. [What are you so on edge for? We¡¯re in this together, no need to be so suspicious.] That jovial manner of speech, must be Gash. I just shook my head and ignored his comment. [Seems like you are ready, those who wish to leave will do so. The rest, follow.] After the announcement everyone faced towards the source of the voice, or what felt like the source. I was not sure how I, or anyone else for that matter, knew where to look, but it mattered little. Right before the dense rows of trees, stood the monk-like robot and his companion. They held the same weapons, scanned over our ranks and entered the forest. ¡®We¡¯re going back in there? But what about those things?¡¯ The memory of courting death was still fresh in my mind. And I wasn¡¯t keen on reliving it¡­ The others didn¡¯t miss a beat and followed without a second thought. ¡®Ugh!¡¯ A massive wave of pain crashed over me, whiting out everything. I clutched my arm on instinct but that only sent another jolt. Letting go and taking a few steps back cleared my mind, the agony disappeared without a trace. [Woah, you OK?] ¡®What in the world was that?¡¯ I looked over at the source, my arm. Gash had just bumped it to get me moving, but instead, released an unbearable pain. I straightened out my posture and looked at them, ¡®Yeah, no worries!¡¯ ¡®Send 50 cm. Gash doesn¡¯t seem to have any problems with his leg... does he not feel anything or is he just pretending?¡¯ ¡®Say Gash, does your thigh give you any trouble?¡¯ ¡®Send half-a-metre.¡¯ With the pain out of the way, I took my place walking beside him. [Not at all, if not for the few messages I wouldn¡¯t have even noticed it!] Despite the monotone voice I could swear I heard the chuckle at the end there. However, Nicks gave me a sideways glance and continued forth. I haven¡¯t heard him talk since we first met and even then he did not seem happy about Gash¡¯s decision to let me join. [Why though? Was that your arm acting up?] There¡¯s the one-million dollar question. One that I didn¡¯t know the answer to. ¡®I¡¯m not sure. Something just blanked me out for a second, it probably won¡¯t happen again.¡¯ ¡®Send half-a-metre. Or at least I hope it won¡¯t.¡¯ With their stoic faces reading their expression was impossible. Gash looked at Nicks with a slight shrug and said no more. As we trekked through the forest after the duo I got a rare moment to think about the previous two days. ¡®Or was it just a single day? No, today marks the second one. God, had it really been that short? There was just something about the way I woke up that made little sense.¡¯ Crack! I stumbled onto an arm-thick branch which snapped and threw me off-balance. ¡®Oh sh-¡¯ A quick stumble, wild grasping for support and near fall later I regained my footing. ¡®Damn branch.¡¯ At this point we have walked for several hours and still not found anything. Gash kept our boredom at bay with a game he made up. A cheerful one which was rather fitting. He would give a colour of something he could see and we had to guess what it was. ¡®I see something green¡¯, or sometimes it would be brown. There wasn''t a lot of variety in a forest and the few times a tower or a unique landmark popped up, it was easy to guess. Regardless, it was the few times I heard Nicks talk. Except those moments were short lived as he only made one guess per round and was never wrong. I mean he always waited for me to make countless shots at the answer beforehand. It was nice to take turns but it lasted for a few hours at which point that nagging thought returned. Of something missing. ¡®If I could remember what happened the day before, why couldn''t I remember anything the day before that.¡¯ As in there was nothing, no recollection of how I got there, what happened before. Nothing. Would I forget all yesterday¡¯s events as well? Or will it take a few days? Perhaps it won¡¯t happen at all¡­ I hope. ¡®I should see what Nicks and Gash know.¡¯ ¡®Hey guys, do you remember anything before when you first woke up?¡¯ ¡®Send one metre. Here''s hoping.¡¯ [Before? Nah, nothing. Woke up in a cramped cell, door opened revealing a white hallway and you know the rest.] Gash then faced Nicks, [What ¡®bout you?] Nicks turned his head by the smallest amount and resumed looking forward. [Same as you.] ¡®As quiet as ever...but then what the hell do I do? The pair haven¡¯t told us anything but to follow them. On the first night most of us died, and who knows what will happen today¡­¡¯ I looked both ways before sending the message, making sure they weren¡¯t nearby. ¡®What do you guys think of the two?¡¯ ¡®Send one metre.¡¯ [The monk and his follower? They seem like a strong pair, I¡¯d hate to fight them.] As Gash¡¯s message came through, Nicks¡¯ followed right after, [You wouldn¡¯t even be able to fight them, we just need to follow them and see what they want. I¡¯m sure they have a reason for filtering out the best of us.] ¡®The best of us... but why? Why not train everyone? Well I can think of several reasons, lack of resources, time or them just not needing such a large number.¡¯ ¡®What do they need us for though?¡¯ ¡®Send one metre.¡¯ Another million-dollar question. Only Nicks replied, [We¡¯ll see.] ¡®Well that was a new record for number of words he said. But doesn¡¯t really help me figure this out. At least I can be fairly certain that everyone else is just as clueless.¡¯ After the short conversation there was nothing else we could discuss, so we kept travelling through the identical, bleak landscapes for the remainder of the day in silence. Not once were we attacked by stray monsters or met anything else like us. ¡®If there were others, shouldn¡¯t they take us to them? Or are there really none? Maybe they aren¡¯t on good terms with the others and need spare hands?¡¯ Not like I got a working pair anyways. Questions. There were so many questions I did not have the answer to. There was nothing to do but think and think and think. It wasn¡¯t until the stars twinkled in the sky that we made an abrupt stop.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. [We shall tell you more once you are ready. For now, know that out of you fifteen, we need only seven.] The monk¡¯s voice transmitted with the usual deep raspiness, [Make camp here tonight. We shall protect what we must, the rest is up to you.] ¡®What?¡¯ I struggled to process the second sentence over the shock from the first. ¡®He wants to have even more of us die!¡¯ [Did I hear that right? He wants to get rid of half of us?] By now everyone learned to control their conversations, meaning that it was Gash or Nicks who asked. [That¡¯s right. It¡¯s best we are more careful from now.] The curt wording tells me it''s Nicks this time. The three of us looked at each other, pondering what to do next. We weren¡¯t the only ones, the others also looked around with suspicion. [As worrying as it is, why don¡¯t we ask around to see what the others think. There¡¯s no need to attack each other.] Gash motioned with his hand for us to join him. [As stupid as that is, there is little chance of others attacking right now.] Nicks seemed to have agreed with Gash and followed him. The two dropped off the spare limbs they were carrying and left. ¡®I think I¡¯ll just hang back here and watch camp then, you guys can let me know what you find out later.¡¯ ¡®Send two metre.¡¯ I scanned the cramped clearing, everyone took a position along the perimeter, huddling in their own groups. No one seemed enthusiastic about being approached. ¡®I¡¯d rather leave it to them for now.¡¯ As I leaned back on a tree, I remembered about the night vision, ¡®enable night vision.¡¯. The world was drained of any remaining colour and replaced by a brightened, black and white version. Now I could keep an eye on Nicks and Gash, the latter was making a comment about his thigh while the former stayed a bit behind him. They were talking with another group made up of three members. ¡®Wait, along with night vision I also have that automated defence and... what was it?¡¯ I racked my brain trying to remember that last command I gave. ¡®Lore, no why would that be it? It was... a list! Some kind of list? Action List!¡¯ I paused, hoping for something to appear. ¡®That¡¯s not it, action, act, action - command? Command List!¡¯ An enormous blue window opened up before me. At the top was ¡®send message¡¯ and ¡®automated defence¡¯. Those two I knew, but there were some others. I scrolled through the list with my eyes and opened the more interesting ones:
Scan
Scan a target to get miscellaneous information such as height, weight, composition and store it in the data bank. The more information in the data bank from ¡®Examine¡¯, the greater amount of details can be distinguished.
Examine
Inspect a material or object to learn its properties and composition. Adds it to the data bank.
¡®Scan and examine seem like two abilities I should use together... being able to glean information at a glance is helpful.¡¯
Private Message
Send a message to a friendly target.
¡®Friendly target? How would I-¡¯
Add Friendly
Select a target to add as a ¡®Friendly¡¯. They must accept a notification to succeed.
¡®Well that explains it, but what is this notification that they must accept?¡¯ Let¡¯s try it later.
Locate Friendly
Send out a wave and wait for a response from the selected Friendly. Detection range of 10 kilometres.
¡®Ten kilometres is a generous area, and should make exploring or splitting up safer.¡¯
Edit Existing
Modify an existing function, be it passive or active.
¡®Well¡­ that sounds like a lot of work, but I could get something useful out of it. Probably.¡¯ There was just one more left,
Create New
Open a console to create a new command.
¡®Create a new command? That sounds amazing, I wonder what the console looks like. Create Ne-¡¯ [Hello?] The sudden voice snapped me back to reality. Immersed in the action list I didn¡¯t notice a pair of robots approaching me. ¡®Uh... hello?¡¯ ¡®Send one metre.¡¯ I sent out the message and watched one of them tilt his head. [Hi, we just wanted to extend our greetings and ask a few questions, if that is alright with you?] I had no idea who of the two was talking to me. ¡®Yea, go ahead.¡¯ ¡®Send one metre.¡¯ [Well, first, how did you change your voice? Everyone we talked to had the same tone.] ¡®Sorry, I really don¡¯t know. It was this way from the start.¡¯ ¡®Send one metre.¡¯ [Are you sure? You have no idea-] The voice got cut off, something I was not aware of being possible. The robot on the left jabbed the other and looked at him. They asked a few more questions about what I remembered and if I knew anything else. Afterwards they excused themselves and moved on to a different group. They were others like them, walking in pairs or three¡¯s, gathering information around the clearing. As I looked for Gash and Nicks, I noticed three more approaching me, they came from the largest group of five. ¡®I just hope they¡¯ll leave like the rest.¡¯ They stopped a few metres from me. The one in the middle waved his hand and transmitted a message. [Hello, we hope you wouldn¡¯t mind answering a few questions.] Being part of the biggest group gave them confidence, and now they wanted to demand answers, not even ask. ¡®I¡¯ll answer anything I can.¡¯ ¡®Send two metres. I just hope they won¡¯t bother me because of my stupid voice.¡¯ [Do you remember anything from before¡­] They asked the same questions as all the others. What do you remember? Do you know anything? Did you see anything in the forest, how did you survive? And so on. When they winded down, they turned to leave when the one the centre took a step closer. [Before you go, you wouldn¡¯t mind telling us how you changed your voice? Hearing the same one over and over and over again really bores the mind. What do you say? I¡¯ll even keep it a secret.] He did not stop approaching me as the message came through. His ¡®buddies¡¯ followed suite, interested in what I had to say. ¡®Sorry, I really don¡¯t know. It was this way from the start.¡¯ ¡®Send one metre.¡¯ I raised my hands and took a step back. [Come on now, no need to pretend. Out of everyone only you did something different.] The leader matched my pace and the distance between us closed. ¡®I really do not know.¡¯ ¡®Send one metre.¡¯ Something shoved me from behind, I turned to look. It was a tree. There wasn¡¯t anymore space for me to retreat. [Well that¡¯s a shame. In that case we¡¯ll be taking these spare parts as repayment for our time wasted.] The robot turned away from me and approached the spare limbs that Nicks and Gash carried. ¡®You¡¯re the one who came to me, so it was you who wasted your own time.¡¯ ¡®Send three metres.¡¯ I increased the range to make sure all three of them heard. However, all of them ignored me and crouched to steal from me. ¡®I said stop!¡¯ ¡®Send three metres.¡¯ With the shout I leapt forward to use my good hand and yank the nearest back. There was no trace of emotion on his face, instead he got to his feet and threw a lightning-fast jab at my stomach. [Defence Mechanism: Activated] It was as if everything began travelling through molasses, in slow-motion. My body moved at perfect angles, intercepting the punch with the good arm, using my elbow as leverage for the rest of my weight and his momentum to throw him onto the ground next to me. This got the other two''s attention who charged me in unison. The defence mechanism was still activated, doing the work for me. It stepped me away from the leader and faced the other jockey. He had one fist behind him, ready to bash me in. Except his strike never connected as my left arm deflected it and then bent inwards, exposing my elbow. I then got into a wide stance and braced for the impact as he ran into my exposed elbow. Several messages flashed following the collision and my left elbow indicator turned yellow in colour. [Major Strain on Right Elbow Detected] The counterattack kept going, from my low stance I twisted to the right and threw him onto the ground. There was a severe dent on his chest, no doubt damaging anything underneath. ¡®Holy shit. That was amazing!¡¯ The leader had just stopped his charge, [Why you¡­!] Except he was too late to get at me as Nicks and Gash had made it back. [Markon you okay buddy? We saw them attack you and rushed back as fast as we could.] ¡®Yea I¡¯m fine, just a bit of damage to my elbow.¡¯ ¡®Send one metre.¡¯ Gash nodded at my response and turned towards the assailants. [Good job protecting our stuff.] The curt message must have been from Nicks. [Cunt, there is nothing here that¡¯s yours. It is best you leave now.] There was no way for me to tell who said that, but I could only imagine it was Gash. With the momentary pause, I took note that everyone in the clearing was looking in our direction. ¡®That message must have been sent to everyone. Even then, at least some of them must have seen what had happened.¡¯ The leader, Jake, must have had the same opinion as he looked around and stomped his way back. As they rejoined their group on the other side of the clearing, I relaxed. [Defence Mechanism: Deactivated] With the deactivation the same feeling of fatigue washed over me as when I fought the rodents. [Mental Exhaustion Detected. Initiating Sleep Protocol.] Maintaining upright became difficult, I took a few steps back and sat down in haste. [Woah, you sure you¡¯re good?] Someone¡¯s voice echoed through my mind, reverberating several times. It took me a bit to understand it and respond. ¡®Now hold on, not like last time-!¡¯ [Sleep Protocol Delayed: ETA ????] ¡®Yea, just somewhat tired. That fight took a bit out of me.¡¯ ¡®Send one metre.¡¯ [When they came up to you I thought you were a goner, with your damaged arm and all. But then you pulled out those sick moves.] Gash looked towards Nicks, [Come on, tell me you weren¡¯t impressed.] With crossed arms and a silent glare, [Not bad.] [See? Where did you learn that anyway?] ¡®Do I tell them about the systems¡­? No, not yet.¡¯ ¡®I¡¯m not sure, my body just acted on its own.¡¯ ¡®Send one metre.¡¯ [Instinct?] I shook my head, ¡®Not quite, it felt like the process was automated - done for me.¡¯ ¡®Send one meter.¡¯ [Don¡¯t worry about it, we¡¯re just glad to see you a-okay! I don¡¯t think your body can take much more of a beating.] [Probably not.] [Sleep Protocol Resumed.] The weakness increased exponentially, ¡®I need to sleep.¡¯ ¡®Send one metre.¡¯ [What do you mean sleep?] It was too late. As the message played out my eyes closed and the world blackened. Chapter 6 - Lust Investigations are still underway following the sudden power outage around the industrial section of the city. However, initial investigations showed ¡°...signs of external influence and not a mechanical failure,¡± according to Enersystems. The company in charge of the electrical power lines around the industrial and factory sectors. Hold on, there is a report coming in stating that a man whom experienced electrical burns from a power source generating current well above fatal levels has been hospitalized minutes after the outage. The current had short-circuited through his body when the man grabbed hold of a live wire and his other hand came in contact with a nearby railing. The moments prior to this will be broadcasted in a moment, viewer discretion is highly advised. [A man in his late thirties, outfitted with an orange reflective vest and utility belt filled with gadgets was inspecting wires. The device in his hand started flashing rapidly. At first there was no reaction from him but as he put it away, he leaned forward over the railing to prod at something. However, as he did so a bright spark arced from where his hand was and the man froze. His head jerked backwards and the visible hand holding on to the railing turned black. After several seconds the power cut off and the man collapsed.] Despite the impossibilities, the man is in a critical but stable condition. All of this is possible by an anonymous civilian who was able to locate the man and direct emergency responders to the victim¡¯s exact location. We would like to remind you that the amount of current that passed through his body is estimated at well over 1 ampere, while just a tenth of that is fatal. Truly a miracle has happened today. A recording of a local MCT News outlet. ******** ¡°Lau-ren! Lau-ren! Lau-ren!¡± A thunderous chant emanated from the grand stadium housing thousands of citizens. Stage lights danced across the stage and audience, creating a mesmerizing symphony of colour in tune with the music. All are entranced by the sole figure captivating the hearts of men and women alike, standing proudly at the centre of everyone¡¯s attention. With perfect red hair and a glimmering, tight-fit one-piece suit that accentuated her natural curves, well-endowed bosom and an ample behind, Lauren took off into a perfect grand jet¨¦. A horizontal split accentuated her legs and the landing on one foot which emphasized her flexible body was followed by a roll paused midway. A unified gasp from the audience created a short-lived silence. The music slowed down by a few beats in preparation for the finisher. Lauren completed the roll and from the crouched position sprung into a front flip. Just before landing, she outstretched her hands over her head. The crowd erupted in cheers at the arousing landing which had her breasts bound around and the legs in a front split. ¡°And there it is! Lauren¡¯s flip-and-bounce topped off with a split! A once rare and memorable stunt now becoming a regular occurrence. Perhaps next time we might see some more?¡± ¡®I would never show you more.¡¯ The last bit flared all the men¡¯s fantasies into overdrive. There was no reaction from Lauren as she stood tall and gave extensive bows to each side of the audience - displaying cleavage and threatening angles of her behind without shame. Bouquets of vivid flowers were thrown on the stage filled with various assortments of plants. Lauren picked up the nearest, gave a big smile and a wave as a parting gift before retiring to the backstage. ¡°That¡¯s all for today! Come back next week for an even more riveting performance!¡± The crows never ceased chanting, ¡°Lau-ren! Lau-ren! Lau-ren...¡± The seemingly endless chant died down as Lauren stepped out of the spotlight and entered the backstage. Light operators, make-up experts and general employees scurried around under a clean white lighting to prepare the stage for the next show. All of whom steered clear of Lauren and the men dressed in suits flanking all her sides. ¡®He keeps increasing the number of bodyguards, pointless.¡¯ A short, stout man covered in shining jewels came to the front of the cohort with his hands clapped together, clinking his gemstones that adorned his fingers together. ¡°Sweety, that was the most ardent performance speaking to not just the mind, but the body as well.¡± ¡®Here is the ancient times wannabe. Best to play along, again.¡¯ The men in black stopped as a single unit once Lauren gave a short curtsy, ¡°I¡¯m flattered by your high praise.¡± A soft chuckle filled the room as the man¡¯s throat managed to stifle a laugh. ¡°Oh please, I just wanted to let you know how much your fans are fulfilled by you. But I do believe you are growing conceited and that popularity you built up might suffer.¡± There was a cold gleam in the man¡¯s eye as he watched Lauren¡¯s reaction. ¡°Forgive me esteemed chancellor Alfor, I¡¯m not quite sure what you meant by that.¡± ¡®He couldn¡¯t make it any more obvious, this swine.¡¯ Alfor brought up his right hand, ¡°it¡¯s just that perhaps it is time to stir the body some more - perhaps a more daring performance for next week?¡± The cold glint from before turned into a burning libido as a lump of flesh stood up under Alfor¡¯s tight belt. ¡®With the intelligence and control of one to boot.¡¯ Lauren did not spare a glance down on his member but her grimaced face and clenched fist did little to hide her true feelings. ¡°I¡¯ve been thinking about surprising the audience in one of my upcoming performances, and the next one will be a great opportunity, esteemed chancellor.¡± Alfor¡¯s smile pulled his lips back to reveal a perfect yellow set of teeth, ¡°Perfect! I¡¯m sure everyone will be most excited to hear the news, myself included.¡± As the chancellor trotted away, the bodyguards around Lauren resumed their pace and marched towards a side exit. A single black vehicle waited by the curb, with tinted windows and polished paint it gave off a luxurious luster. As the group approached the car, the man in the front opened the door for Lauren to get in. With a soft click, the door sealed itself and the vehicle took off without a sound. ¡°That bastard! To think he would have the nerve to demand even more of your jui-precious body!¡± A distorted voice came from the car¡¯s speaker. ¡®From one disgusting pile of meat to another.¡¯ ¡°Shut it.¡± ¡°As you command, my queen.¡± Without someone to glare at, Lauren settled on one of the many ¡®hidden¡¯ cameras in the interior. ¡°Oh yes, getting started already? Perhaps my char-¡± ¡°Just get it over with.¡± ¡°Very well, why don¡¯t you start by blowing a kiss into a couple of the cameras. Oh- and don¡¯t forget to wink.¡± ¡®Don¡¯t think, just put on the persona and forget about it.¡¯ There was little movement as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When the time came to breathe out her expression changed from an uncaring attitude to one of a lover¡¯s. She cycled through hand bunny ears, to peace signs to hearts. ¡°Perfect. Now why don¡¯t we move onto some more suggestive poses?¡± ¡°Already?¡± The tone that came from Lauren did not match her expression in the least, which snapped back to one of borderline hostility with pursed lips. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯re just ahead of the schedule.¡± ¡®There is no schedule.¡¯ Lauren didn¡¯t miss a beat as she twisted herself at all angles to show off as much skin as possible while hiding the most important parts - a feat made impressive by the revealing thigh-long skirt and high tank top fused into a one piece suit. ¡°Oh yes...that was quite exquisite.¡± Lauren stopped at once, her arms crossed. ¡°Now that we¡¯re done, I hope all of the traces pointing at me have been wiped and my identity secure?¡± ¡°Who said we¡¯re done? I was thinking that with your impressive assets you should be¡­ more daring, showing them off.¡± ¡®This asshat thinks I will do even more than I already am?!¡¯ Lauren raised her hand and pointed at the nearest black, marble-size protrusion. ¡°I am not going any further-¡±If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Really? With everything that I have collected so far, what would your father think about your studies and excelling grades that are providing funding for the two of you?¡± Her eyes narrowed. ¡°You snooping pile of-¡± ¡°No need to get so mad. All I¡¯m asking for is a bit more cleavage, a higher angle up those toned legs, not much.¡± In the next moment Lauren ripped off some fabric from the seats and wrapped it around her elbow. Which promptly smashed into the windows. ¡®Not much he says? I¡¯d sooner break my arms and legs trying to get out of here than submit to that filth.¡¯ A quiet thud echoed back but there was little change. She tried a few more times, and even kicking did little damage. ¡°Come on now, that won-¡± The distorted voice was cut off at the same time that the car jerked to a halt in the middle of a street. The doors clicked as the lock was removed and everything came to a stop. The sudden change of events made Lauren falter. ¡°What are you playing at you jerk?!¡± There was no response to her abusive words. The street was in poor condition, the streetlights were rusty, cracks running along the asphalt and a homeless guy sipping away his store-bought liquor. Vendors had three-dimensional signs flickering in and out of existence acting as the only source of illumination across countless alleyways running between apartment complexes. Lauren¡¯s eyes danced across the city around her, none of it familiar. ¡°Where...am...I?¡± She spoke aloud, but was again met with silence. Being in a questionable part of the town in her getup would lead to a plethora of assumptions - ones she did not want to deal with. ¡®Best to wait this one. Knowing him, he won¡¯t last long; minutes at most.¡¯ Instead, she chose to remain within the questionable safety of the car. Despite the lack of any movements, the car¡¯s engine remained idle, providing heating during the crisp evening; a much better alternative to walking around outside. The minutes went by, turning into five, ten then fifteen. At which point she had resigned to get out of the situation herself. With the doors unlocked, getting out of the car was simple - getting her clothes back was the difficult part. Lauren approached the trunk and hesitated, there was a chance it was still locked and trying to open it would set off the alarm. If there was one in the first place. ¡®Is it worth the risk¡­? No other choice.¡¯ Giving the trunk door a little shake showed that it was locked. Just as she let go a blare echoed across the dead street - alerting anyone within a few blocks of her location. Lauren broke into a sprint to distance herself from the source of noise. No doubt people would show up to investigate, and the police shortly after. With her outfit the same one she used for the performance, her identity would be found out and her image ruined. ¡°City¡¯s star found illegally breaking into a luxury vehicle found in the notorious neighbourhood.¡± People would slurp up the story like mocha-latte with extra cream. Her modernised ballet slippers did little to help with the traction. A light went up in front of a tattoo parlor across the street. ¡®I¡¯m too close, they¡¯ll have clear vision of me. Where can I¡­?¡¯ Without another second to spare, Lauren ducked into the alley she was passing just as the door across the street flung open. She took a few tentative steps back when a bottle fractured under her weight and a few shards dug into the sole of her right foot. ¡®Ow!¡¯ Her body went rigid and she jumped forward a bit and raised her foot to inspect the damage. ¡®I should¡¯ve paid more attention to my surroundings¡­¡¯ ¡°Dammit Mason, did you drop another bottle?¡± A voice came from around the street. Lauren yanked the piece of shard stuck in her foot and hopped backwards. ¡°Mason?¡± A group of men dressed in torn jeans and hoodies walked into the alley. ¡°Wheeew! Looky what we got ¡®ere boys!¡± ¡°Ahh, did you date dump in an alley? Well don¡¯t worry, we¡¯ll plenty make it up to you eheheh.¡± Lauren had her good foot forward, the other one on tippy toes slightly behind her. ¡°Are you perhaps a ballerina, with those shoes? Why don¡¯t you give us a close-up demonstration of a twirl...of your ass.¡± said the man as he licked his lips for the drool was reaching his chin. ¡®I can¡¯t move freely with this wound - let¡¯s wait for them to lower their guard.¡¯ Lauren waited until the four of them were around her, practically rubbing their bodies on her. As the one behind her reached out to grab her skirt she delivered a prompt jab to the shorter guy on her right, his now crooked nose bent at an unnatural angle. The left guy received an elbow to the jaw, breaking it and thrashing him to the ground. The two blows were quickly followed up by a prompt kick to crush the jewels between the legs of the guy in front, leaving Lauren standing on her injured leg. Pain receptors showered her brain with waves of agony. Lauren felt her legs weaken but stood her ground. The one behind had his attention focused on raising the skirt and didn¡¯t notice the blur of actions from Lauren. When it was his turn the world simply dimmed without warning and he collapsed into a heap of aroused flesh. Two of them were still standing, one clutching his nose while the other clasping his groin. Now they were wary. ********** The hum of machinery was mixed in with the noise of furious stroking of the flesh. ¡°Ah! Oh fuck yes! ¡°That smile, that body, you will be mine, all MINE!¡± There was a brief moment of ecstasy and a short grunt as a man seated behind countless monitors displaying various angle of a stunning beauty in a car removed his hands from his member. The man reached for a bottle labeled ¡°family friendly¡± and squeezed a copious amount of opaque, thick substance onto his hands and further grease his groin. Then, still out of breath, he whispered into the microphone. ¡°Oh yes...that was quite exquisite.¡± The man, as wide as he was tall, started rubbing something underneath the table once more. ¡°Now that we¡¯re done, I hope all of the traces pointing at me have been wiped and my identity secure?¡± He leaned back, away from the microphone. ¡°Oh Lauren, you think that would satisfy me? No, today it¡¯s time to go further.¡± Creeping closer to the monitors, ¡°Who said we¡¯re done? I was thinking that with your impressive assets you should be¡­ more daring, showing them off.¡± Lauren pointed at one of the cameras, a view which took up half of the monitors. ¡°I am not going further-¡± ¡°Really? With everything that I have collected so far, what would your father think about your studies and excelling grades that are providing funding for the two of you?¡± ¡®Got her there, now for one more push~¡¯ Her stare was enough to kill, but it got the man even more excited. ¡°You snooping pile of-¡± ¡°No need to get so mad, all I¡¯m asking for is a bit more cleavage, a higher angle up those toned legs, not much.¡± Lauren began to rip fabric from the seats and wrap it around her elbow,which she promptly started to smash into the windows. ¡®Your arms, your perfect elbows, why would you do this to yourself?¡¯ She kept trying, even kicking did little damage. ¡°Come on now, that won-¡± He was cut off as the power went out. Most of the monitors went dark and the hum quieted down to a few fans. ¡®What the¡­¡¯ ¡°No no no no NO!¡± The man jumped from his seat and slammed his fist on the table. The bottle he was previously using toppled onto the floor and spilled a slimy mess. ¡®Not when I was so close...I had everything planned out. She couldn¡¯t run away, didn¡¯t know where she was and would have no choice but to accept my offer...but now it''s ruined!¡¯ ¡°Gone! It¡¯s all gone!¡± His outburst was followed by a moment of silence. Sitting alone in his chair like a loser, cradling his head in his hands. ¡°If there was someone behind this, they will pay.¡± Grumbling to himself, he spun his seat around and continued to sulk alone towards the blank monitor screens where his queen once was. ¡°Okay, hook into the back up power¡­¡± The single red light in his room went dark, leaving a single flickering monitor creating shadows. ¡°Now get the drones up and running¡­¡± The previous background of a green hill and blue skies was replaced by a feed coming from one of the drones on the ground. With both his hands clenching on a controller, a strange centipede and spider fusion moved forward. It scuttled across the floor, avoiding pizza boxes, socks, clothes, garbage bags and drinks. After a minute it reached a hole from which the emergency power line was connected, and went in. ********** ¡®The shard went deep. That last kick left too much weight on my foot..¡¯ The two thugs blocking the one way out were watching her. Waiting for any signs of weakness. ¡°Why haven¡¯t you tried to run away missy? With that posture you¡¯d rather fight us on our turf?¡± ¡®I won¡¯t be able to run for more thirty seconds, my open up the wound too far - the bleeding would get serious. But once they notice I won¡¯t have much choice.¡¯ ¡°You know, all you have to do is bring that foot forward and come with us, simple right?¡± The one with a nose bent at a ninety degree angle walked over to a garbage can and took the lid off. Curling his hand inwards, he flicked it outwards and sent the lid spinning at Lauren¡¯s stomach. The two rushed towards her at the same time. The lid was deflected with a quick backhand strike. The crooked-nose jumped at Lauren to tackled her on the ground. Instead, she sidestepped his advance and brought down a crippling blow with her elbow into his back. The man fell, face-first. This bought enough time for the other one to attempt a tackle himself. A minute shift from Lauren prevented her from being tossed onto the ground. But now there was a hulking 90kg piece of meat on her. ¡°Get in!¡± A familiar distortion roared from the car¡¯s speakers, giving pause to the assailants and sent shivers down Lauren¡¯s spine. ¡®The pervert freak is back. But it¡¯s my best chance to get out of here.¡¯ The man attempting to shove her onto the ground didn¡¯t even have time let go as Lauren clenched her hands together and smashed downwards onto his head. He collapsed onto the ground; out cold. ¡®If he tries something again it will be time to break contact with him. By any means necessary.¡¯ Since the puncture was limited to the middle of her sole, Lauren jogged back into the car and the door clicked behind her. ¡°Explain.¡± Describing her as pissed would be wishful thinking. Lauren''s arms were crossed, the red hair disheveled. Her right fist had a trace of blood that was being smeared onto her tanktop, combined with the small pool at her feet added to her intimidation. ¡°Are you alright...all that blood¡­¡± ¡°Explain what happened.¡± ¡°It¡¯s getting bigger, is one of your feet injured? Did those bastards do this? One second I¡¯ll get you to the hospital-¡± ¡°I. Will. Be. Fine. Now tell me, what happened?¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry, the power cut off for-...unexpectedly and it took a while to restore it.¡± ¡°Take me home.¡± ¡°But your le-¡± ¡°Now.¡± That was the final word as Lauren leaned back and closed her eyes. ¡°Yes my queen.¡± A fist dented the ceiling of the car which went so far as to bend the outside metal, creating a visible mound from the outside that reflected countless neon signs as they drove away. Chapter 7 - Shiny Things Boben46: Dude, you have no idea what Max just told me! MarkOnFire: What happened now? Boben46: Remember that girl we saw in the lounge? Well she totally got the hots for someone! MarkOnFire: The one that kept looking at you bunch dicking around? Boben46: Hey! IT was a game of mercy with our feet! And not us dicking around. MarkOnFire: Whatever. Boben46: Anyways, one of us could totally score it MarkOnFire: Not interested. Boben46: Come on, at least try to be interested >.> MarkOnFire: *Sigh* Even if I guessed, it would take me about seven guesses to get it right. Boben46: Just do it! Never let your dreams be dreams! MarkOnFire: You, Jack, Shan, Peter, Max, Marston, Jerred? Boben46: HA! All wrong. > MarkOnFire: ffs¡­ wait, that only leaves me¡­? Boben46: You know what? With how quickly you catch on you might just have a chance with her MarkOnFire: Would you stop using emotes? And I told you, I¡¯m not interested. Besides, how did Max even find out? Boben46: He said she asked about us, but mainly about the guy that pretended to be invisible during lunch. Apparently it worked, almost. MarkOnFire: So Max the soccer player gets rejected again? Boben46: Pretty much. So when¡¯s the date? MarkOnFire: I AM not going on a date with anyone. Boben46: Too bad, all of us decided. We¡¯re not letting you turn into a wizard, magical powers would corrupt you. If you don¡¯t do it, we will record ourselves asking her out for you and post it all over. MarkOnFire: You wouldn¡¯t¡­ no, you guys totally would. Boben46: That¡¯s the spirit! Oh yea, her name¡¯s Jennifer. Good luck stud! Boben46 went offline. A conversation log between MarkOnFire and Boben46. ******** Rhythmic rise and falling was the sensation I awoke to. Not as good as leaning on a tree, but close- a white void scorched my vision blind after I opened my eyes. ¡®Night vision off.¡¯ With the increased sensitivity to light gone, I could take a look around me. [Ah! You¡¯re finally awake. Took you long enough, was starting to get worried you never would. ¡®Been hauling your butt all over the wasteland!] Gash said. However, it did not get me moving, but did get me thinking, ¡®why is he carrying me?¡¯ [You going to get down now? Because I can keep doing this but you¡¯ll have to repay the favour.] Hell no. ¡®If you could just stop for a moment, I¡¯d get down.¡¯ ¡®Send one meter.¡¯ Gash was more than happy to halt, and crouch down to get me off his back, literally. [You have arrived at your destination, please mind your hands and feet as you exit.] ¡®What the heck?¡¯ ¡®Where did that come from?¡¯ ¡®Send one meter.¡¯ While waiting for the reply, I stepped down and relished the feeling of solid ground. The same, bleak landscape devoid of anything but fractured structures and parched dirt as far as the eye can see. [Not sure, just something I remembered when asking you to get off.] That was a strange thing to remember, but where did he remember it from? ¡®Have you said that before?¡¯ ¡®Send one meter.¡¯ Gash gave me a look, [No, not counting this one time.] Another mystery I needed to solve. ¡®Here, why don¡¯t I at least help you carry that arm.¡¯ ¡®Send one meter.¡¯ Perhaps it was a bit of guilt, but knowing that they decided to carry me for so long it was the least I could do to help. [Sure.] Gash handed me the spare hand that was dangling over his left shoulder. [Carry that for the rest of our trip and give me about ten percent of your energy and we¡¯ll call it even!] That¡¯s right, I totally forgot the increased amount of work it took him to carry me the entire time. Meaning, it would be best if Gash relaxes until we find a way to recharge. ¡®By the way, why didn¡¯t you wake me up?¡¯ ¡®Send one meter. They couldn¡¯t have ignored that option¡­ could they?¡¯ [Hah! We tried, shouting at you did nothing, shoving did nothing as well as a bit of force. If we had water we would have tried that.] ¡®Well that explains that.¡¯ [You could probably sleep through a dismantling, not that we¡¯d try it.] ¡®Hah, hah, very funny.¡¯ ¡®Send one meter.¡¯ With the jokesters finished, I should take a look at the action list to see what else I can do with it, nothing better to do while we are travelling through more wasteland. ¡®Command List!¡¯ The blue, see-through list appeared in the centre of my vision once more. I could just see the world beyond it with enough detail to avoid any bumps and holes in the cracked dirt. ¡®Let¡¯s see how the allies function works. Add Ally.¡¯ The list of all commands disappeared and a simple crosshair appeared in the centre. I looked over at Gash as he¡¯s the safer bet on this. [Entity Detected. Add as Ally?] ¡®Uh, confirm?¡¯ I watched on to see if Gash noticed anything¡­ There was a definite response as he came to an abrupt stop and looked around. ¡®Did you get some sort of notification?¡¯ ¡®Send one meter.¡¯ [How did yo-?] He looked at me. ¡®It was me, don¡¯t worry, it''s perfectly safe. Tell me what is said.¡¯ ¡®Send one meter. Not that I tested this before, but adding an ally shouldn¡¯t be harmful...right?¡¯ [It¡¯s something about someone wishing to add me as an ally to their list and if I¡¯d agree.] After the initial surprise wore off, the three of us resumed our pocket position within the group. ¡®So are you going to agree?¡¯ ¡®Send one meter.¡¯ [Of course! Accept. Now what kind of benefits will this give? And are you going to send one to Nicks?] [Ally added. Assign a Name: ] ¡®Gash.¡¯ [¡®Gash¡¯ added to Allies.] ¡®Yea, of course. Just give me a second.¡¯ ¡®Send one meter.¡¯ ¡®Command list, add ally.¡¯ The previous thin blue crosshair appeared in my vision. I centered it on Nicks this time, ¡®add ally.¡¯The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. He did not hesitate for a moment, I could only guess that hearing Gash talking clued him in. [Ally Added. Assign a Name: ] ¡®Nicks.¡¯ [¡®Nicks¡¯ added to Allies.] [Gash, you didn¡¯t mention it asking for first level editing permissions.] ¡®What do you mean?¡¯ ¡®Send one meter.¡¯ What editing permissions? [A notification asked if I am allowing an external program to gain first level editing permissions.] ¡®I¡¯m not sure what the editing permission is for, but otherwise, I think it went well. Not having prior experience, we should be careful about this, but I should be able to send you guys private messages and detect you within 10 km of me.¡¯ ¡®Send one meter.¡¯ For once Nicks¡¯ interest was piqued as he looked over for over a second. [Test it.] ¡®Private message Nicks, Testing 1234321.¡¯ [What are you waiting for?] The message must have went off, so I guessed it was Gash being impatient. ¡®Did you get the message?¡¯ ¡®Send one meter.¡¯ [Yea, same as when you speak, except it said Markon messaged.] ¡®Interesting, so it says who the message came from, which is good I suppose.¡¯ ¡®I¡¯m going to try the detect one next.¡¯ ¡®Send one meter.¡¯ The two of them looked at me but didn¡¯t say anything, their faces not giving anything away. ¡®Detect ally: Gash.¡¯ I spoke the command in my mind hoping it would get across. Gash who had been walking in front of me, became outlined in a blue glow, with a small text above his head displaying the distance. [Gash: 0.8m] I waited for a bit but the outline didn¡¯t disappear. [Sooo, did it work?], Gash inquired. ¡®Yeah, I tested it out on you this time, you became outlined in a blue edge and a distance displayed above your head. Except it¡¯s not going away.¡¯ ¡®Send one meter.¡¯ [That sounds awesome, how¡¯d you do it?] Gash asked. ¡®Earlier I was messing around and said command list, then a screen popped up with add ally, private message and detect ally. Don¡¯t you guys have something similar?¡¯ ¡®Send one meter.¡¯ I didn¡¯t even notice that all the others stopped moving until I walked right into one of them. [Watch it!] The same robot shouted. I backed off and looked around, everyone stood still as a single unit. I did not see anything of interest or danger¡­ ¡®shit¡¯. The duo that had led us was storming their way straight towards me. All the other robots parted before them but I couldn¡¯t even move. As the monk arrived right before me, I could get a closer look at his body. The metal adorning his body was scratched all over and the enormous golden ear-pieces didn¡¯t have the same shine they had before. [Did you perform an action?] ¡®Y-yes¡¯ I stopped myself, not wanting to sound like a complete coward and reset my thinking. ¡®Yes.¡¯ ¡®Send one metre.¡¯ I couldn¡¯t match the lifeless gaze that bore into me; breaking, I looked at the surrounding robots. They had formed a shabby circle and watched in silence. [Refrain from doing so without our permission and disable your current one.] The message came through leaving a complete silence in its wake. ¡®Disable what?¡¯ I looked around and it was not until the sign above Gash¡¯s head popped up that I understood. ¡®Disable detect ally.¡¯ With the message disappearing without a trace, the monk now stood motionless thirty centimetres in front of me. ¡®Understood.¡¯ ¡®Send one meter.¡¯ Satisfied, he turned and left without making a noise. Not a crunching sound beneath his feet nor the slight whirr of motors that came from the others came from him. I was left surrounded by the other robots as he walked away. With the commotion over, the others bunched back into the their groups, but they all left more space between me, Gash and Nicks. [Dude, what did he tell you?] ¡®You mean you didn¡¯t hear?¡¯ ¡®Send one meter.¡¯ [Nothing! He just approached and stared at you for a minute straight. I could feel my motors lock up just trying to see underneath his hood.] ¡®He asked if I performed a command and not to do it again.¡¯ ¡®Send one meter.¡¯ [That¡¯s not so bad in that case.] [Actually it is. If he could tell you used the command, then others will be able to. You said that the detection range is 10km, then it goes both ways. Same as a tracer.] ¡®Going both ways, tracer¡­.what is that?¡¯ ¡®What do you mean?¡¯ ¡®Send on-.¡¯ [What¡¯s a tracer? And what do you mean both ways?] Gash asked Nicks befor I could. [It means that if they are able to, others can detect you within 10km as well. A tracer is a bullet that leaves a trail as it moves. This shows you where it went, but tells the enemy where it came from.] ¡®That makes sense, but where did he hear of a tracer?¡¯ And if I asked I doubt he would know, much like Gash. We continued to travel the lifeless land. All excitement and wonder of the first day had worn off and it became a monotone chore. At first I debated whether I should use the other commands, worrying if they might notice. However, the inescapable boredom trumped over the fear of them detecting anything. ¡®Command List¡¯ I scrolled past any that seemed like they could alert them and stopped on the final one.
Create New
Open a console to create a new command.
¡®Create New.¡¯ [Error: Access Denied. You have zero out of three (0/3) complete tasks.Do you wish to proceed? Yes/No] ¡®Access denied? By whom? Didn¡¯t the monk override the controls so I¡¯m fully in control of my body?¡¯ Either way, it would not hurt to see what these tasks are. ¡®Yes.¡¯ An enormous window filled up my vision, it was a translucent, light-blue with white text on it. Anywhere there was no text, I could make out the ground with enough detail to keep walking. I got to reading the actual information. [Task 1: Crash Course] [Read the following information, trace the examples and complete minor modifications. A test will be conducted at the end.] The message persisted for a few more seconds before being replaced by a wall of text; it was enough to make me look away only to be horrified when it tracked my vision. Once the initial shock wore off, I began to study the contents. ¡®Programming 101: Since this is a condensed course for reasons you will either figure out or be told about later, we skip the elaborate descriptions because you should know them all by know. Without further ado, here we go: The first thing you want in your head are variables, they are the x and y¡¯s of algebra, without them, there¡¯s no point in coding¡­¡¯ Variables? Sounds familiar...aren¡¯t they for representing data or various information types? ¡®...you got the primitive types that everyone should know: boolean, integer, float, and char. In their respective order, those can store true or false, an integer value, a decimal value and a single character. Integer and float have different kinds for memory management and other minor reasons but you will learn those on your own. Chars are¡­¡¯ As I kept reading all the information there was no strain to understand it. In fact, it felt like reading a book for the second, third or fourth time. Heck, I may as well have written it myself. But again, how would I have known this information before? I haven¡¯t encountered it anywhere¡­ ¡®...now what you want to do with those variables is shove them into something called objects. Much like you a robot, and those around you are robots, you have similar characteristics. Like arms, legs, a brain of sort and so on. An object would also have certain variables present in them, such as a string for a name¡­¡¯ There was no way I wrote this, but the way it refers to me and my situation with such precision, it¡¯s as if someone created this for me, knowing what would happen. ¡®...With that out of the way, next you have to worry about visibility; you don¡¯t want every robot to share the same arm or everyone being able to access each other''s mind right? In which case you have to use various modifiers to achieve the desired result¡­¡¯ I stopped reading for a moment and started bobbing my head at awkward angles to see past the text and get a good look around. Satisfied that nothing changed and we were still walking, I resumed the lesson. ¡®...another important component you need to understand is data structures. Just like the array in previous examples that holds a certain amount in certain locations (indexes), there are more complex options to fit your needs. Some basic ones include linked-lists, binary trees, stacks and queues¡­¡¯ I¡¯m not sure how long I was reading for, time became a forgotten notion as I soaked all of the information until there was nothing left. It went on to cover sorts and then something called the big O¡¯notation. Odd name, but it mattered little. [You have reached the end of the course, begin the first task? Yes/No] ¡®The heck? I didn¡¯t spend those hours for nothing, yes!¡¯ [Complete the following questions within an hour.] Like the ones before it, the message remained in the same spot for a while before countless multiple choice questions flooded my screen.
  1. Which of the following is a mechanism that allows several objects in a class hierarchy to have different methods with the same name?
  2. a) Aggregation
  3. b) Polymorphism
  4. c) Inheritance
  5. d) None of the above
  6. Object that collects data on request rather than autonomously is known as
  7. a) Active Object
  8. b) Passive Object
  9. c) Multiple instance
  10. d) None of the above
I stopped myself from skimming ahead after the first two, with the time limit there was no point in wasting time. The questions individually were not difficult but being forced to answer two a minute spiked the difficulty. Unfortunately, I did not realize this until completing the first ten and it switched to the next page and said, 10/120 finished, which took me seven minutes; two more than allowed. Despite their numbers, no two questions felt similar or gave the answer to another. Not that I could flip back to the previous ones anyway. This kind of pressure brought an uneasy feeling, almost a throwback to something I went through numerous times, but could not remember when or where, much like everything else I seemed to remember. Regardless, I kept answering them without double guessing myself and finished with a spare five minutes remaining. [You have finished with a score of 109/120. Acceptable.] ¡®Acceptable? With each question worth just under 1%, 11 wrong gives me about 90%! Who the heck wrote this sh-¡¯ [Your progress has been saved. Do you wish to proceed to the second task? Yes/No] If my progress is saved¡­I should come back to the real world first. ¡®No.¡¯ The message vanished and my view returned to normal. I looked around for Gash or Nicks, but they were nowhere to be found. Chapter 8 - Goodies Our initial departure, scheduled for 6-o¡¯clock, began as outlined. The EMP field around the perimeter walls proved to be enough of a nuisance for the creatures to stay put within the estimated radius. Approaching the mark, several skerrels were sighted but they avoided us thanks to the distributed EDFs. Our scanners further identified the same crobs. Their migration stayed within the projections and their locations have been submitted to the labs. Any other nuisances were kept at bay by the EDFs for the next half-klick. Beyond that point we encountered a new species. Current breeds are estimated to be pig, boar and some form of rhinecors. Their specifics and scanner info have also been sent to the labs, however the vital information is their charge and their...ability. With their size and mass, bulldozing two or three, fully outfitted, men is a simple task and once on the ground their hooves easily pierce holes in the armour and through the body. The part warranting the most caution is their ability to release EMP bursts. The current cause is unknown, but it is powerful enough to knock out our EDFs and several other components. The group had two males and one female which rushed at our group and was dispatched on the spot by my command. This was deemed necessary as our equipment was rendered non-functional, there was no information on the new species and my squad was placed in danger. Due to our actions, the nearby wildlife was drawn to our attention by the noise and we retreated. When we were 250 metres out, we encountered another species. Current breeds are assumed to be a turkey, peacock and an unknown mutation. In our rush, we had scanned the single specimen and the scanner warned us of lethal radiation emanating from it. I personally did not wish contamination of the surroundings and shot it twice, just to make sure. This knocked it out and we walked around the specimen due to the radiation. However, by the time we were about to leave, a high-pitched screech came from behind us - it was the same specimen I shot. I want to add that the scanner stated that vital signs were seconds from lethality following my two shots. This led the labs to hypothesise it had a regeneration and radiation mutation - nicknamed ¡®Radioactive Abomination of a Turkey¡¯ or ¡®RATs¡¯, rather straight forward. As for the initial species, they were nicknamed ¡®Berserk EM Pigs¡¯ or ¡®BEMP¡¯ for short. Thankfully our squad arrived without casualties and health scans showed no anomalies. 4th Expedition¡¯s Scout Report - Group 4X323A: ******** I scanned the other robots in a panic after realising the two of them were not around me. The ones in front, no, to the right, left? I turned backwards once more and found them talking with the other group of three. ¡®Thank god.¡¯ Nicks had his eyes locked onto me. When our gaze met he shook his head and yanked Gash¡¯s shoulder. Gash glanced over and gave a cheery wave after which the two turned, facing the other robots once more. With short goodbye waves all-round, they broke off and walked back towards my position. However, as they trotted back their eyes were looking elsewhere. ¡®Hey, what happened?¡¯ ¡®Send one metre.¡¯ They finally came within range. There was a long minute of silence as we kept our pace. [Nothing... did anything come up while you were walking?] I could not tell who asked the question, but it felt like there was more to the message. ¡®Did they notice my distracted self before leaving for the other robots?¡¯ Perhaps I did not respond to their messages while taking the quiz. ¡®So do I tell them about the entire action list? Or not...the way they looked at me before suggests some mistrust rising and joining up with the other group of three to leave someone who keeps secrets¡­¡¯ No, that line of thinking would not get me far. ¡®Yeah, remember how I could do the private message and add ally? Well I managed to find an information menu, this one talked about coding and basic programming. I had no way to tell what was going on while reading through it though¡­¡¯ ¡®Send one metre.¡¯ They took a quick glance at each other and I worried they would use private messaging, but remembered that only I had access to the commands. [See? I told you it¡¯s nothing to worry about! He¡¯s just caught up reading some programming and whatnot.] Gash said. Nicks gave me a final look over and proceeded to walk beside us. ¡®Anyways, I¡¯m going to keep reading as it''s more interesting than walking, if something comes up, give me a pull.¡¯ ¡®Send one metre.¡¯ ¡®The last idea of a pull came to me after seeing Gash do it to Nicks.¡¯ With lack of response from them, I opened up my command list and activated ¡®Create New¡¯. [1. Edit an existing command. 2. Create a new command based on an existing command. 3. Create a new command.] ¡®I have no idea how to create my own, but let¡¯s see what it¡¯ll look like, number three!¡¯ I accentuated the last number in my mind for clarity. [Attention: Creating a new command is blocked until further notice.] The warm-blue message popped over the previous three options after a moment. ¡®Blocked until...by whom? Whatever, I¡¯ll take a look at how the existing ones are made and then try to make modifications...baby steps it is. One!¡¯ With my message acknowledged by the system, a new pop-up appeared, [Warning: The changes that are made will be permanent.] So if I mess something up, it will be final. Great. Once the message faded away, the same list of commands popped up. I did not want to fiddle with the more complicated ones, such as examine and scan. Instead, my choice was made when a command I did not see before showed up.
Send Message
Convert the last thought into ASCII, the distance determined by the breaking point of a unit of distance.
The whole, send one meter, has gotten beyond unbearable. ¡®Let¡¯s see if I can tweak it somewhat.¡¯ ¡®Edit: Send Message.¡¯ A new windows flooded my vision again, but this time, it was...it was¡­ The name was right there¡­ a console! It had a black background and various coloured texts, but they were not random. There was a pattern to it. As I skimmed through the code, the colouring began to make sense. Brown for instance variables, italicized blue for others, plain italics for single method calls, etc. Thankfully, the code was not a complete jungle of a mess like some of the examples provided, this one was clean and to the point. I was not sure when the entirety of this code was called, but it always checked the last five words for ¡®sent¡¯ and a unit of distance, ranging from a centimeter to a kilometer. It would then take this distance and convert it to metres, which is then plugged into an equation to alter the...lambda of the...carrier wave¡­? ¡®Why exactly?¡¯If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. As if sensing my utter confusion, the console disappeared to be replaced by yet another message. [Chose the wolf hiding in sheep''s wool, as predicted. Before you can modify any communication commands, another test is required. Proceed now? Yes/No] So now I was playing straight into someone¡¯s plan? Great. ¡®Yes.¡¯ As before, a blue and white wall of tiny text covered the majority of my vision, being just translucent enough to keep track of where I am going. I went over the information regarding communication engineering, per the title stated at the top, and realised this was far briefer compared to the depth of information regarding coding. It went over how the information is passed through radio waves, with their wavelengths, or lambdas, modified to become unreadable beyond a certain distance. Moreover, the amount of information passed is often dictated by the baud, which is basically bits per second (a character is 1 byte = 8 bits). And so the flood of information filled my brain, even if I did not fully grasp the concept, it stuck, and I could recall the information word for word. However, this took time, much like flipping to a page and scanning it for the information needed; which made itself prevalent during a test with an identical structure to the one before. It took me two tries, but I was deemed ¡®passable¡¯ and allowed to proceed. Armed with a basic understanding of radio communication, I set out to make the ¡®send one metre¡¯ command less annoying. The one idea I had about it is to set a default distance to be used every time and a single word, ¡®send¡¯ will be used to indicate the request for sending the message. As I was working on this ordeal, a problem came up. Should I say send in any circumstance, the program will think I mean to send everything beforehand, which is false. ¡®So then, how should I fix that? Adding a second word ¡®message¡¯ after ¡®send¡¯ makes my work barely worth the effort. Oh! I just add a check to see if there are any words following ¡®send¡¯. If there are, do not send the message, if there aren¡¯t, then send it!¡¯ With the minor kink out of the way I spent the next unknown amount of time coding away, stripping the old code and refactoring it to work how I wanted it. Even then, I could accomplish this because most of the technicalities, mathematics and formulas for the wavelengths and conversion of thought to text was handled by the system, all I had to do was re-organize and add some of my own touches. And so came the moment of truth. ¡®Set Send Message Distance: [One metre].¡¯ That was the first part, setting up the default distance, and the last, was to test it out. ¡®Are we there yet?¡¯ ¡®Send.¡¯ With the message sent I scanned the surrounding robots to see if there was any reaction from them. None of them even stirred, which meant it either worked or did not. [Mark, buddy, of course not. We¡¯re still walking, are we not?] Sure enough, Gash was right. However, since he responded, and the other robots did not react, it could only mean that the entire day¡¯s worth of effort was not for waste. The one thing I did not catch at first was that we were traversing through a forest once more, not the lifeless earth from before. The sun was also three-quarters of the way across the sky which meant we had two to three hours of daylight left. After a few more minutes we arrived, or at least I presumed we did. There was a collection of...traders set up in makeshift shacks made of pristine metal sheets. [We have arrived. You have one hour to trade anything you have. Return to this spot on time.] I watched as the duo walked past a tree but did not appear on the other side. Gone like the wind. The traders were all various shapes and sizes of metallic bodies, not a single one of those ¡®human¡¯ in sight. There were about five buildings set apart by ten metres intervals at odd angles. I followed Gash and Nicks over the beaten down foliage into the second nearest shop, each group went into a different one. [So what kind of goodies should we get?] Gash asked while rubbing his hands together. ¡®Not sure, let¡¯s look around first.¡¯ ¡®Send.¡¯ With nothing more to say, we pushed the first door open and were greeted by a cheerful voice. [Greetings! Come in and look around, do let me know if something catches your interest or need assistance.] The three of us looked at each and nodded, seemed like we all received the message. Me and Gash were about to head to a nearby wall and examine the trinkets hanging off of it when Nicks walked over to the trader and asked. [Is it possible to have our bodies repaired? And if so how?] [Why of course, any trader must come equipped with basic repair na-drones. I see that you are carrying spare parts with you, that makes the repair fee trivial. You can choose to have the required energy siphoned off, or provided by me for an extra cost as well as the repair material either provided by you or me for, of course, an extra cost. And a final use fee that I assure you is cheap beyond measure.] The three of us looked at each other again. What the trader said made sense, but there are four others and we could be getting ripped off¡­ ¡®What would the fee be?¡¯ ¡®Send two meters.¡¯ I had to resort to the old version of communication. As he received my message, a striking green glow came from the trader¡¯s eyes. [If all of you were to be repaired, you would need around fifty percent of one of your¡¯s energy, one-and-a-half arms and one leg. That would cover materials and energy. The fee would be a quarter of the other leg.] Having someone give half of their energy is a lot- [Can we split the energy across the three of us?] I was not sure who asked but it mattered little. [Of course you can. How about this, since this is your first time shopping, I¡¯ll even throw in three solar packs that can charge about five percent of your energy source during the day for the entire leg? This will leave you with fully restored bodies, a method of energy gain and half an arm.] The offer did not sound bad, reasonable, considering how crucial energy was for us. Oil level has yet to drop a percent so it was not an immediate concern. Before my group could mess it up, I spoke up. ¡®Is it okay if we browsed some of your wares before making a decision?¡¯ [Go right ahead, if you decide to buy something else on top of the previous offer I will provide you with my very own card that will let you contact me and provide exclusive discounts in the future. And let me tell you, I rarely give those out. Just make sure to make your decision before walking through the door my dears, or else I may just forget any offers.] And there¡¯s the catch. The last part made it clear to us, either accept the offer, or worsen our relations¡­ The three of us grouped up and walked over to the opposite corner of the hut to discuss everything. [The offer sounds decent. Let us try to get something else and leave. If we are cheated, that is fine. But the potential discounts and connections are a worthwhile investments.] The cool-headed tone of the message told me it was Nicks who spoke. In truth, I had similar opinions and Gash agreed with Nicks as well. The three of us split up and took turns examining each wall that had different guns, swords, and other sharp objects hanging. There were some chips in display cases next to the wall along with complete parts, such as hands, feet, fingers, eyes and so on. Nothing seemed to catch my attention until I found a simple, neglected crate in a corner filled with old, rusted rubbish. Some hole-riddled elbows, knee-pads, random ammunition. But there, at the very bottom was something different. It was the first time I saw something like it but the feels of nostalgia was choking. [Scanning¡­.object identified: ER-Drive.] As I held the drive in my hands, a green glow covered it in equal rectangles that moved across its surface. [Scanning code¡­.Estimated Storage: 256 Terabytes. Required: 2 Petabytes] More messages came up but I had no clue what the meant. Required storage for what? Either way, I will try my luck and take it. The notifications have yet to fail me, might as well trust them. Gash and Nicks did not find anything that caught their interest so we approached the trader and asked about the previous deal. [That junk? I¡¯ll just throw it in there free of charge. So then you agree to the before deal, yes?] We did not have a leader so we all nodded. [Great, in that case place all your parts on the counter and the first person up can place their finger right here.] The trader pointed to a small opening on the counter. I guessed it was for the energy. Nicks and I were hesitant to volunteer for something like this but Gash had no problems walking up there and jamming his finger in. With the parts on display on his counter, the man pressed a few buttons under his counter and waved his hands in the air a bit. I was not sure what purpose it had, but before long another clicking noise echoed and a stream, or cloud, billowed out from somewhere and covered Gash¡¯s injury. At the same time a part of the cloud branched out to the spare parts and surrounded them as well. The cloud grew thinner and more translucent as it split but the results were mesmerizing. As the foot dwindled, Gash¡¯s own injury was being repaired in moments. Then it was Nicks¡¯ turn who had only minor marks scattered all over the body. Then came and went my turn. As expected, the majority of the resources went towards repairing my heavy damage but in the end it was worth it. Or so I hoped. After it was over, the trader handed us the solar panels that could be plugged into the back of our head and attached on top. They were circular, with a handspan in radius. With our stuff ready, the trader leaned in and spoke once more. [Of the hundreds that came, you are the third to ask about splitting the energy source. Others would coerce the weakest link into taking the hit or rarer, decided a fair way of randomizing the poor lad who took the hit. It is good to see some consideration for once and I am thankful for trusting me, but do not do so easily to others, not when your body is a resource mine waiting to be extracted.] As the message came across, he outstretched his arm with a small, metallic disc that he passed to Gash. [One more thing, attach this somewhere visible, they will help distinguish yourself.] He passed us three simple ties. One red, blue and green. We agreed that I would keep a red one around my left bicep, Gash would have a green one around his right bicep and Nicks would have the blue one around his neck. This way we could tell each other apart and make it more difficult for others to impersonate us. With our bodies fixed and having some useful gear, we stepped outside the old shop. Chapter 9 - Boom Dear #$(@*$D2s This is a special letter to extend our offer for you to join our ranks and become a member. Normally, this would be against several of the rules that have been established but your most outstanding performance led us to believe it is worth the risk; do not squander that belief. Below you will find the information submitted by you and ask that you confirm it is correct. With the pleasantries established we will list some ground rules: You will not be given a leader to follow as your path will be different from most. The starting position will be third-level access and your mission is to rise to the fifth-level within the year. Good Luck, User: #$(@*$D2s Password: s?pnu pu?s Gender: Other Age: 1 day(s). Other: ??? Email received: 21/05/2066 at 17:42 **** Hello #$(@*$D2s, This is an automated alert to notify you of your mission accomplishment of: achieving fifth-level access. The payment is: unavailable. In order to acquire it, get in contact with .2SD2#@. Have a nice day, Email received: 22/05/2066 at 19:42 ******** With a source of energy and no damage on our bodies, we were in good spirits- An enormous explosion reverberated and shattered trees some ten meters from us. The pillar of flame reached far above the remaining tree tops. [Defence Mechanism: Activated] I had gotten used to reading these messages and when I understood what it said, my heart sank. By the time my brain caught up, my right arm was extended in front of my chest. My hand clutched some sort of dart, out of which a small trickle of smoke came out; similar to what I had seen in the shop. ¡®Are those...those what? Wait, how did I know it¡¯s a-¡¯ My thoughts were interrupted by my body spazzing out to avoid several more projectiles, two were dodged by jerking to the left and diving to the ground, while another two were caught by my hands. I could feel impacts on my legs and my body stiffening up. Somehow, I managed to fall in a way that gave me a clear view of Gash and Nicks. They were safe but on the ground and not moving, like me. [Foreign influence detected. Engaging¡­] ¡®Uh oh¡­¡¯ [Nature unknown, effect unknown, no counter detected...] ¡®Not good!¡¯ As I read the message my consciousness was stripped bit by bit. [Defence Mechanism: Deactivated] ¡®Fuck.¡¯ With my body immobilised, there was little I could do as dark spots in my vision grew bigger... [Return to the meeting spot immediately.] The monk¡¯s voice sounded in my mind, but it was of little concern now. Instead, the approaching footsteps held my attention.There were two pairs that neared Gash and kicked him over, there was no movement from him. One the the robots, covered in scavenged metal plates and a cloak bent down to grab Gash by the arm¡­¡®What are they-?¡¯ The panic roared to life as I realized they were trying to dismember him! [Are you retarded? The fuck you doing?] The voice was monotone like everyone else¡¯s but caused the cloaked robot to stop and look over. [What does it look like?] [Like you¡¯re trying to spoil our damn merchandise!] At this point a third robot came into view, he had the same cloak and plates but a long rifle was strapped over his shoulder. He kicked the crouched robot and turned to someone. [Pick them up, they walked as a group and that one seemed to have potential, perhaps their leader.] The armed robot pointed at me as the message came out. Within moments I felt someone hoist me upwards and over. With my immobilized body leaning over someone¡¯s back, I had no strength to resist the encroaching darkness. The assailants¡¯ leader was not bent on killing us outright, and that was enough. **** [Unexpected shutdown occurred. Boot as normal or initiate safe-mode?] I was still reeling from what happened before, never a moment of rest. From almost being gunned down the moment I stepped outside, to just fighting for my life in a forest and now this. Kidnapped by another group of robots. I focused on the message in front of me, the rest of my vision pitch-black. I could not feel my body or open my eyes to look around. ¡®What the heck is safe-mode? And the shutdown was most likely the other robot¡¯s doing so I doubt safe-mode would help¡­¡¯ ¡®Boot as normal!¡¯ The message and colourless canvas was replaced by my usual sight and control over my body returned. I was sprawled face down on some dirt, Gash and Nicks were on either side of me. [The leader woke up!]Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. A monotone voice came from somewhere. I got onto my feet and look around. The three of us were left next to some sort of wooden wall, while a group of five robots set in a semi-circle on the opposite side. They had identical gear, from their clothes down to their guns. [Oh good, I was getting tired of waiting. Long story short, you¡¯re now our slaves for us to do with as we please. See the gadget around your neck? I don¡¯t recommend tryin¡¯ to taken it off. Let¡¯s do all sorta stuff with you including tracking. Behind you is a simple buildin¡¯. I need to know if you are worth a dime or should we just scrap you. Your crew¡¯s job will be to go as far as you can and bring back the most valuable stuff you find. If it¡¯s enough, we give you a new mission, if not, we scrap you. Simple right?] That was no question but a command, with one correct answer. ¡®Got it.¡¯ ¡®Send four meters.¡¯ ¡®That should be far enough...I hope.¡¯ [Great, we¡¯ll be back tomorrow.] With the parting words, the leader and his gang left us. I watched their retreating forms until they disappeared from view. Gash and Nicks were still on the ground, silent. I brought a hand to my neck and found what he was talking about...it reminded me a of a collar more than a gadget, but I was not about to mess with it...yet. To say the doors were huge, would be correct. They had some kind of nails, wider than my own fists, going through the surface of the planks which were parallel to one another. There were two metallic rings attached to the doors at about shoulder height. The rest was simple bricks covering the walls of the structure. All in all, it was a tower six times my height and had several holes where I presumed windows should be. ¡®Nicks and Gash are still out...I should go check if we can even open the doors.¡¯ The sun was just a quarter of the way up and the bleary, dry, cracked ground was inviting as ever. The doors dwarfed my size, ¡®why would they use wood instead of something sturdier¡­¡¯ As I traced my hand over its surface I remembered two skills that have yet to be used. ¡®Command List.¡¯ The familiar blue screen filled my vision and I scrolled the list¡­
Scan
Scan a target to get miscellaneous information such as height, weight, composition and store it in the data bank. The more information in the data bank from ¡®Examine¡¯, the greater amount of details can be distinguished.
Examine
Inspect a material or object to learn its properties and composition. Adds it to the data bank.
¡®They seem rather similar...both add information to the bank, except one inspects while the other scans? Scan seems to rely on the bank more than examine though.¡¯ ¡®Let¡¯s start with the simpler one then.¡¯ ¡®Examine.¡¯ Just like when I picked up the drive in the shop, the surface of the wood was covered in perfect squares which were outlined by neon-green edges. The shapes then twisted and rotated for a few more seconds with all of them converging on a spot where the surface was splintered, exposing the wood five centimeters in. [Wood colouring and texture match those of Ebon Wood Tree, information already present in data bank.] ¡®That¡¯s it? In that case, let me try scanning it.¡¯ [Wood colouring and texture match those of Bubon Wood Tree. Genetically created by humans as a cross-breed of Ironwood and Bubinga with a compressive and bending strength, on average, of 11,500 and 23,421 psi respectively. The species is not native or present on this continent.] ¡®Holy...that¡¯s a lot of Newtons. Also, it¡¯s not present on this continent? That means there is at least one more continent¡­¡¯ [Mark! What happened?!] I turned to face the shouting Gash struggling to get on his feet with Nicks just starting to move. ¡®Well, we were kidnapped and were told to do stuff for others without an explanation...again.¡¯ ¡®Send message two meters.¡¯ [Keep going.] That one must have been Nicks. ¡®The group that took us, there were five of them that I saw, had guns and identical protection of warped sheets of metal and cloaks. They told me that we must go inside the building and bring out anything of value, the group will be back in one day.¡¯ I left out the part about being slaves- [That doesn¡¯t sound so bad, we go in, get out and all will be happy.] ¡®I don¡¯t think it works like that Gash.¡¯ [What did they put on our necks?] Nicks was pointing at his collar. ¡®They didn¡¯t say much other than being used as tracking devices, not to attempt to take them off and some other... unspecified functions.¡¯ [So what are we waiting for? Let¡¯s go in already!] Gash¡¯s enthusiasm almost came through the monotone voice. [Hold on, what about that bag?] When I turned to see who spoke, I found Nicks approaching a coarse sack that I somehow missed. It was positioned away from the tower so it must have slipped my notice, but still. ¡®What¡¯s inside?¡¯ I sent the message as Nicks started rummaging through it. [It¡¯s our solar panels, Mark¡¯s drive and half of an arm.] ¡®So they left us with our stuff before leaving, how nice of them.¡¯ ¡®Just bring it with us, no point in leaving it out in the open.¡¯ Nicks slung the bag over his shoulder and the three of us stepped inside. No noise came from the doors as they opened, and the inside was even quieter still. [I can¡¯t see jack shit in here!] I do not think Nicks would complain like that¡­ ¡®Just activate night vision.¡¯ It was dark, with the few windows behind us acting as stationary spotlights. Anything outside of their radius was impossible to make out. ¡®Night vision!¡¯ I winced as my eyes underwent a shift and the surroundings became clear, if dreadful, once more. ¡®What is this place?¡¯ Despite its outward appearance, the tower seemed rather small. The three of us began to creep forward on high alert for the slightest sound. There were some kind of shelves made of stone and marble, with various blank screen located on them. It felt like a surreal library, but those haven¡¯t been made in years¡­ ¡®How did I know that?¡¯ Another random piece of information skirted past my mind. Instead of books lining the shelves there were cracked monitors, ripped wires and moth-eaten cloth hanging down the sides of the aisles. There was some kind of writing on them, but they more resembled old rags than anything intelligible. No ladders nor anything resembling lifts were present to take us up since there was nothing up there but three enormous screens, or so they were supposed to be. Only a single screen remained intact, while the others were shattered and missing large sections of themselves. [Dunno about you guys, but that giant screen up there is the only thing of value I see¡­] Both Gash and Nicks looked up and inspected it. [There¡¯s no way to get it down.] ¡®You guys work on that, I¡¯ll make a quick sweep to make sure we didn¡¯t miss anything.¡¯ The two did not even look back as I jogged past the countless isles. After checking the interior of the aisles and coming up empty, I made my way back around the perimeter when there was a pull and the floor traveled straight for my face- I braced for impact with my hands. ¡®For heaven¡¯s sake!¡¯ Rather annoyed, I glared at what caused me to fall and found an odd ring sticking out. It was no more than a handspan in diameter, but with everything being a various shade of black and white, it blended in with the dust and dirt on the ground. ¡®Hey guys! Over here!¡¯ ¡®Send message five meters.¡¯ [Where¡¯s here?] I got the response which reminded me that they don¡¯t hear me in the typical sense. ¡®Just run around the perimeter, you¡¯ll find me.¡¯ While I waited for them to arrive, I crouched down and hauled the ring upwards. The wooden trapdoor that was perfectly covered by the dirt and sand to the point of being invisible exposed a hungering darkness below. Placing it back down hid the entire door, with nothing but the miniscule outlines and the metal ring visible. [There you are, so what¡¯ve you got?] I took that as my queue to lift it open once more and take a peek below. Forget about light, it was pitch black down here, even with our night vision we struggled to make out anything. ¡®See anything?¡¯ [Yea, there is a good nine meter drop straight down. It looks like some kind of balcony but can¡¯t tell much more. We¡¯re blocking the only light source.] ¡®Which means we need to get down there to see more. Not to mention with that depth it¡¯s for sure below surface level, tens of meters below. At that point could anything live down there...without light?¡¯ [So how are we going to get down there?] Both Nicks and me stared at Gash as he was about to just jump in, head-first. Chapter 10 - Jungle Gym Unprecedented feat of human design, engineering and craftsmanship. The Spriton libraries will bridge the gaps present between cities. For what we lack most is unity, a single, coherent whole that will enable the restoration of Ousthur. The fragmented pieces that humanity has taken shelter in will only last so long without a new foundation to restore our society to its former splendor. Knowledge and information will be that foundation. The Spriton libraries will hold vast amounts of wisdom compiled from all nearby cities. In order to detach them from the current issues, their outward appearance will be themed after the revolutionary century. The countless safety measures and a final line of defence capable of submerging the entire structure underground into a bunker capable of withstanding an all-out kinetic strike will ensure its safety. The information stored can include anything and everything not already present. All cities that contribute and/or provide intellectual worth will be considered equals in usage and ownership of the library. Moreover, the three nearest cities will be eligible to have control over security systems and the finer details. This will ensure that no monopoly takes place while cities have to engage in peaceful relations with each other to gain access to the libraries outside their influence. The libraries will have a tier system whereby the access level of a city determines how much of the library it is allowed to access. The only way to increase this access level is to contribute unique information. The weight of which is determined by one of the three closest cities which is selected at random. The chosen city will then review the information and give an appropriate amount of points to the donor of said data. These points then dictate the access level for the city and its respective library. Each library will have localised information in order to force the aforementioned peaceful negotiations. However, they will also have a secondary major purpose: to empower the agents in the field. Those who underwent the Caricare project will automatically be entitled to free access to their local libraries¡¯ store of knowledge and a further basic access to all other libraries. However, these agents may choose to act on their own accord where their access levels are on a personal level and not tied to the city they come from; enabling an almost mercenary like network of information gathering. The final ability of the libraries will be to perform basic operations for any of the agents and give them tasks, handed from a city. Upon completion of the task, the agents will further acquire points to increase their own, or their cities points and thus, access levels. Our team¡¯s hope is that this will usher a new, information-driven age that will serve as the foundation to build our future upon. Initial proposal of the Spriton Library. Only four were constructed, but all were soon abandoned. ******** ¡®Woah! You¡¯re not going to just jump in there, right?¡¯Gash glanced over and responded, [Why not, I could probably make that.] [Or you might not.] ¡®Exactly!¡¯ ¡®Just like Nicks said, you don¡¯t know for sure.¡¯ [Fine, in that case you two hold me by the legs and let me hang over the edge. That¡¯ll give me a better look around. There¡¯s gotta be something we can use to get down.] ¡®Fine, I¡¯ll do it.¡¯ With that, Gash inched his way towards the edge of the black pit. Right before he falls in, I grabbed his legs while also lying down. Everything was going smooth until Gash was hanging upside down with no support but me, his weight started to drag me forward into the hole. ¡®Shit, Nicks help!¡¯ At the rate I was going it would take me a minute to fall, but the idea itself made it feel much, much faster than that. It did give Nicks plenty of time grab a hold of my legs and stabilize everyone. ¡®See anything?¡¯ [Not really, there is a wall that we saw before, about two metres from this hole, the balcony and...could you turn me forty degrees clockwise?] ¡®That¡¯s an oddly specific amount.¡¯ My position did not give me a whole lot of room for maneuvering so Nick''s got up and started dragging me across the floor clockwise around the trapdoor. I was the wrench and Gash was the bolt, figuratively of course. [That¡¯s good...give me a sec.] I was not sure of Gash¡¯s weight, but there was little strain on my arms to keep him up, so there was no kind of time-limit, heck Gash could spend the rest of the day ther- [Alright, you can pull me up now!] Who knew that going up is far more difficult than going down. I needed Nicks¡¯ help to get back on my feet and only with the combined power of our arms could we pull Gash up. ¡®So, did you find anything?¡¯ ¡®Send.¡¯ [Other than what I said? Yea. There was this ladder attached to the wall, about three meters away from us. I think it can move along the wall, it had those wheels on the top.] ¡®Three meters? That¡¯s pretty far, not to mention we don¡¯t have anything to close that gap.¡¯ ¡®That seems to be the only way to get down, any ideas on how to reach it?¡¯ Nicks was staring into the hole, giving it the entirety of his attention while Gash just sat, looking back and forth between us. ¡®There¡¯s no reason to go down there but scavenge for something useful...we should just find a way to take down the screen and call it a day. Without a rope or something similar...¡¯ Silence permeated through the room for a few more minutes. [If you guys don¡¯t have any ideas, I do.] **** ¡®I can¡¯t believe we¡¯re doing this.¡¯ [Ready?] ¡®Yes.¡¯ I was back on my stomach, holding Gash by his feet. The two of us took our time going down the hole. According to Nicks, the opening was not too thick, instead sloping into the hole from the bottom, creating an upside down funnel. This allowed us to carry out the plan. Nicks was holding my feet and following us towards the whole. The whole thing revolved around whether or not he could support both my own and Gash¡¯s weight by himself through a deadlift. He would lower us until my waist was flush with the opening, allowing me to bend in an L-shape - provided we ever get that far. ¡®The problem is if Nicks can¡¯t support our weight, either all of us are going down, or just Gash.¡¯ We had agreed to let Gash fall in such a situation, this way the two of us would still be functioning, and it would tell us if we could survive the fall. Though Gash wasn¡¯t quite informed of these minor details...The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡®Nicks, how you feeling?¡¯ [It¡¯s good for now. But I am getting some notifications on my HUD about high tensions, so do it quick.] [I¡¯m starting then.] With that, Gash started bringing his arms and torso to create some momentum. I helped him by bringing my own body closer to that L-shape whenever I could. At first he was just swaying a bit, but now Gash was in full swing, going side to side with incredible speed. All the while I assisted him by swaying to match his rhythm. [Those warnings are turning red, hurry the hell up!] I could only imagine Nicks standing over the hole. Each foot on either side, while squatting and holding me by the legs. [Almost...there!] Came Gash¡¯s reply. I had no idea how many more swings he can take before Nicks lets go. Each swing he got closer to the ladder, and each miss elongated the time he had to oscillate back then forwards. [Guys! I can¡¯t-!] I felt myself lurch downwards. ¡®Not like thi-¡¯ [Got it!] However, it was too late, Nicks had lost his grip and I was...still holding onto Gash¡¯s legs! I tilted back my head, instead of seeing just a part of my body falling from the hole, I saw the upper half of Nicks suspended below the trap-door still grabbing onto my feet. ¡®We did it!¡¯ Together we formed a 3-man rope, with Gash holding onto the top of the ladder, me holding onto his legs and Nicks held my legs, while somehow keeping himself from falling through the hole. ¡®Nicks, you okay?¡¯ [Yea, somehow. I risked breaking into a split to give you guys an extra second.] ¡®So that¡¯s how he is keeping himself up?¡¯ ¡®You¡¯re saying you saved us by spreading apart your legs?¡¯ [Correct.] ¡®Damn, now that¡¯s some quick thinking.¡¯ ¡®Just to be sure, instead of dropping us you let yourself fall with us and risked it by making a T with your legs on top of the hole?¡¯ [Pretty much.] [Nicks you the best.] The three of us just hung out for a bit, calming our nerves after the close call. ¡®Gash, you ready for the next part?¡¯ [Can¡¯t wait!] We waited until Gash pulled the ladder closer to us so that we could continue. [It¡¯s no use, the thing won¡¯t budge.] ¡®In that case, we continue as is.¡¯ ¡®Nicks, ready when you are.¡¯ ¡®Please let this work just as well, or even better than the first part.¡¯ [Now!] Nicks gave a quick warning as he brought his feet in and started falling. With Gash acting as the only anchor point, Nicks and I started to accelerate straight towards the ladder. With the drop being nine meters or so, Nicks would smash into the wall with far higher velocity. I watched him brace for impact by bringing his feet in- A sudden screech sounded through the entire building, loud enough for us to hear several echoes. [Touchdown.] ¡®What was that?¡¯ I looked up at Gash to see if he knew, but got a quick response. [Slide, slide, slide! Thing¡¯s coming loose!] We did not need further explanations, the ladder couldn¡¯t handle the weight and was breaking off. I let go of Gash, grabbed the sides of the ladder and slid down as fast as I could. The distance between me and the wall increased as the ladder fell further and further. ¡®Shit, shit, shit!¡¯ ¡®The top part must have come loose or something.¡¯ I saw Nicks drop and roll out of the way as he was closest to the ground. I followed suit a split-second later and Gash was right behind me. [Grab it!] Nicks was dashing past me and Gash to grab the ladder. ¡®Why would he-? Oh! We could still use it to get back up!¡¯ I hurried over to help Nicks stop the ladder from falling over the railings. Except we were too late. By the time Nicks ran towards it, the thing was three-quarters over the edge. The three of us stood frozen-still as we watched it fall until we couldn¡¯t see it anymore. It disappeared in the darkness and a few seconds later a resounding crash came from below. The fact that we could not even see the bottom, much less the ladder before it finished the fall, made it clear that the drop was huge. The three of us stood there, basking in the silence after the close call we just had. [Wow, that was awesome! Let¡¯s do it again sometime!] I rubbed the sides of my forehead at Gash¡¯s comment. ¡®No way in hell would he make me do that for fun.¡¯ [How are we going to get back up?] I surveyed the trap door, the single light source in this pitch-blackness. Even then, it can barely even be called that as the light has to go through the few windows from the top floors and then bounce around until they get through the trapdoor. [We can¡¯t.] ¡®Nicks being the realist.¡¯ ¡®Looks like the only way forward then, is down¡­¡¯ Within a minute the three of us started to walk along the wall, taking occasional glances at it to see if anything changed. However, as we delved in further and further, the darker it became. It got so bad that even with night vision active it was not enough. ¡®Perhaps there is a command, similar to night vision, that gives off light?¡¯ At this point it became impossible to see even a few centimetres in front of myself. [Something like a flashlight?] ¡®A flashlight? Those things that...give off light in a cone? Sure.¡¯ ¡®Flashlight!¡¯ [Attention: Cannot activate Flashlight while Night Vision is active.] [Nevermind, I tried it and didn¡¯t work.] ¡®Night vision off!¡¯ ¡®Flashlight!¡¯ I winced at the unpleasant sensation of my eyes twisting and turning to disable the night vision and execute my latter command. However, it seemed to work as I could now see some ten metres in front of me with not only clarity, but colour as well. [Oh god that¡¯s bright!] I looked over at Gash and Nicks but that made them cover their eyes and turn away. [Turn it down man!] ¡®Would that even work?¡¯ ¡®Decrease brightness by half.¡¯ Nothing. ¡®Decrease intensity by half.¡¯ The effect was immediate and my cone of light dimmed. The two weren¡¯t afraid to look my way anymore. [How did you do that?] ¡®I got a message to disable night vision before enabling flashlight. You guys should try it.¡¯ The two of them stood still for a moment, before shaking their heads. [Nope, I guess your new nickname will be Mr. Gadget as you seemingly have cool stuff we don¡¯t.] ¡®I can count on Gash to remain even somewhat upbeat in these situations.¡¯ ¡®I¡¯ll act as your light source then, you keep your night visions on and tell me what you find.¡¯ With that, I settled into a pattern of moving my head side to side to give them a chance to examine everything. That was when I heard a soft patter coming from up ahead. ¡®You guys hear that?¡¯ [No...wait I do now.] [Same.] We slowed down and approached the noise with absolute caution. There was a square opening, from which two metal bars stuck out. As we got even closer we realised it was a ladder leading to the floor below us. I scanned it with my flashlight and- ¡®You guys see that?¡¯ [Hundreds of mole-like things climbing up?] ¡®So they¡¯re real then, god damn it-¡¯ [Break the ladder to stop them!] We kicked, rattled and struggled against the metal connections but age and rust had weakened the support to the point where we ripped it off within a minute. As we watched the ladder start toppling over, a sense of relief overcame until my light lit up its destination. The wall. There were hundreds more of these creatures traversing within the wall itself. Using the cracks as footholds. They weren¡¯t as fast as those on the ladder but that mattered little. We needed to get out of here. ¡®We need to run. Now.¡¯ No questions were asked as we picked up our pace and bolted down the balcony we were on. [Now what?] ¡®We¡¯ll need to find a safe point and think of a way out later.¡¯ [Got it.] As we raced over the increasing noise of the moles, a single, overbearing roar from below caused us to falter. That was not something a small critter could do. [Whatever that was, it does not sound happy.] ¡®Great explanation Gash, couldn¡¯t have done a better job myself!¡¯ Chapter 11 - Collision Dear Margaret, It is done. The mission I have been sent out to complete is finished and I can come home once more. Except I do not feel joy or a sense of closure. I sit in my quarters mere moments after his departure. Whether it was departure to the afterlife or to another city from which he would rise once more, I do not know. A monster, he was. It all started on a normal day like any other, with my crew chasing the wake of his destruction... That¡¯s when the barrelman shouted from atop the crow¡¯s nest of another half-sunken ship. This got the attention of the sailors manning the sails who then brought it to my attention. I was at the wooden helm when we approached. It was too far out to be a fishing vessel, and far too large to be a trade ship. No, as we approached I recognized the masts, and the lone flag flying in the salty breeze. It was one of Kayle¡¯s war vessels. Who managed to take one down, the answer eludes me to this day. The frightening part was the lack of movement or signs of life. Not a single limb floated around the debris. I immediately gave the order for a few of my dinghies to examine the wreckage. After several minutes, the crew shouted for they had found a survivor. At first I thought my eyes were deceiving me; Kayle, that Kayle was on his own and was right before me. He was seated in a lotus position, meditating while adrift on top a single plank no wider than himself. Not wanting to excite my men, I kept silent as they brought him aboard. As they cuffed and threw him onto the deck I intervened before he was beaten unconscious. This was a man not to be underestimated, admirals far greater than me had failed to capture him and I was not about to ignore the gift the gods had granted upon me. ¡®The legendary Kayle, I welcome you aboard the Cathay.¡¯ I spoke in front of everyone. That simple sentence gripped the hearts of every single sailor on this ship and silence soon followed as a natural phenomenon. Upon realizing that I knew of his identity he looked up at me from below and smirked. When he attempted to get onto his feet, my left-hand man shoved his rifle¡¯s barrel down Kayle¡¯s mouth and dared him to get up again. Without missing a beat, Kayle bit down onto the rifle and continued to raise himself. I did not even have time to stop him before my left-hand pulled the trigger. There was a small splatter from the bullet ricocheting off of the deck. But Kayle continued to stand. He was no immortal, but reckless and cunning. By twisting his head to the side the bullet went through his cheek. With a gaping hole large enough to put my thumb through, he kept on smiling and spoke in a voice so parched it became detestable. ¡®My name is Kayle, would you do the honours of introducing yourself, captain?¡¯ I had seen drunk stupidity and recklessness, but that performance was unnerving. I knew that he had no way to escape, so I led him into my quarters where I would let him write his death letter. Being alone with him in a room was the most terrifying experience I¡¯ve ever had, but one of the most enlightening. As he talked, the manners in which he perceived the world, the way people work together and as a society...but I digress. Having finished his letter, I led him to the walk. With my entire crew as witnesses, I had his left pinky cut off and thrown into the waters. Within moments the bites appeared, three fins circling where he would fall. Before taking that step he turned and said, ¡®Make sure you deliver that letter.¡¯ And then he took the plunge. My first surprise was that he hit the water in one piece, the bites seldom wait for their prey like so. The second was the lack of blood and surfacing of either man nor monster. That was it, no sign of Kayle or the bites were left. As soon as he entered the water all of them disappeared without a trace. Whether he died or survived through some divine intervention, I do not know nor do I care. For now, I cannot wait to return home. The man who tyrannized the river of Diverlo and threatened to perform its impossible conquest, is no more. Polyctor Olaru¡¯s letter to his wife following Kayle¡¯s apprehension. ******** [And...they¡¯re gone. Rane.] It took a second to process the message. ¡°What do you mean they¡¯re gone? Lar.¡± I spun around to face Rane, sending the ragtag metal plates we all wore jiggling through the thick forest. They were identical, held together by a sloppy weld job, simple nuts and bolts. ¡®Fucking rip off.¡¯ [You see on this screen here? Rane.] Rane turned a square screen displaying a map towards Lar. [Well their dots were here and here. Rane.] Rane zoomed in onto the tower where we left the fresh meat. ¡®No shit their dots were there, we flipping left them there.¡¯ [And now they¡¯re gone. Rane.] He then put the screen back in his backpack and crossed his arms. [Poof. Gone like magic. Red.] ¡®Now this bastard is starting up again.¡¯ He came in between me and Rane, making an exaggerated mushroom cloud. [You stopped me from scrapping those asses when we had the chance and now look what happened. Red.] ¡°You sure there isn¡¯t a parrot running your chip? ¡®Cause you keep repeating yourself over and over. If we stopped to scavenge them, we may have gotten mixed up with the mentor and his buddy fighting the roving mob. Lar.¡± This was not the first time I had brought this up. ¡°You sure you don¡¯t want your ass scrapped? ¡®Cause that¡¯s exactly what would have happened, and shit, I would¡¯ve helped them do it faster if it meant getting rid of you. Lar¡± The other guys pulling the crates-on-wheels stopped and observed us. ¡°Rane, did they break off their collars? Lar.¡± [No, the last messages from all three were green and steady, then they stopped. No sign of damage done to them prior. Rane.] ¡®The heck? They didn¡¯t damage the collars but the signal is gone?¡¯ ¡°We¡¯re going back. Lar.¡± I eyed everyone before facing the way we came from. [What for? Without a signal there¡¯s no way in hell we¡¯ll find them! We already lost potential resources by not scrapping them, and now you want us to waste even more of our limited energy? Red.] He still hasn¡¯t moved from the earlier spot. ¡®What an annoying idiot.¡¯ ¡°That is exactly why we need to see what happened. Perhaps there is something there we can extract, or something erected a dampening field - in which case we¡¯d hit the jackpot. Hey, come on, we have no goal right now but to scout out the place anyway. Lar.¡± The idiot just stood there, eyeing me without end. ¡°Now you¡¯re either with us or on your own.¡± I sensed hesitation between the two members, but none decided to stick around with Red. ¡®I can¡¯t believe they¡¯re actually starting to listen to him.¡¯ ¡®But at the same time, I can¡¯t blame them. We are running on fumes, most of us are at fifty percent energy and we have no spare materials to exchange for a recharge.¡¯ It took us about fifteen minutes of hauling our asses to get back to the tower. The doors were left ajar, a clear invitation for anyone to enter. ¡®This place has been abandoned since...forever, there shouldn¡¯t be anything left¡­¡¯ Not wanting to show hesitance or weakness, I proceeded through the doors without breaking stride. As expected, there was little light, and no immediate signs of the three we left.There were, however, very clear prints in the dust and dirt layered on top of the floor. ¡°Pan out and see if you spot anything.¡± I looked back to see the other four leave those big crates behind and start searching. I went down the middle, reaching the other side a minute later empty-handed. [By the left side. Rick.]If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡®That¡¯s in reference to the entrance... so over there!¡¯ I trailed along the wall until I met the others clustered around a trap door. Beside it was a backpack, the same one I left with those three. ¡°If they ran away, they wouldn¡¯t have left their stuff behind. Lar.¡± ¡®That should shut him up for a bit.¡¯ As I approached the hole, the others made space for me to look down. Darkness, that¡¯s all that was visible. ¡°Get the flashlights. Lar.¡± Rick jogged back to get them from the crates. Within seconds he was back and we were peering down the hole while pointing our flashlights around, flooding the chamber below with light. [The heck is that? Some kind of balcony? And look at the bottom, something was there but broke off. Rick] ¡°Rane, is there any interference here? Lar.¡± Rane took out his little pad again and started tapping on it. [No, although the walls are a natural obstacle for signals to get through. Rane.] ¡®So the three must have gone down there...somehow, they didn¡¯t have any rope or other means to go nine meters down. At which point the floor and the walls must have blocked any communication from the collars.¡¯ ¡°We¡¯re going down there. Get the ropes and hooks ready. Lar.¡± [Are you crazy? We have no intel on what¡¯s down there! It could be trapped or infested with some shit not worth taking on! Red.] Red¡¯s outburst caused the others to freeze up and look at us again. ¡°Our merchandise is down there, and you know we can¡¯t play safe anymore. If there is anything of value somewhere, it will be where there are no available intel - meaning no one went there. Lar.¡± [That¡¯s not worth risking our lives over. Red.] ¡°We would be risking our lives even more by turning around and wasting more time and resources wandering around again. So shut up and do as you¡¯re told. I¡¯ll be going down first. Lar.¡± There were no more retorts from Red and the rest got to work without issue. Before going in we closed the doors and left anything unnecessary in the crates, guarded by Rick. Everyone else slid down ropes which were tied around the trap door, our jingling ornaments echoed loud and clear. With four of us safe on the balcony below, we started examining our surroundings. The railings had a significant bend to it, not too far from which two metal bars attached to the wall. The bars were a few feet long and had jagged ends to them, like something had ripped the other part of them off. I shone the flashlight towards the ground for any sign of tracks, and sure enough, there were three fresh ones. ¡°They went this way. Lar.¡± The others followed my lead and we started searching for our merchandise. [We have lost contact with the detectors outside, the only communication left is with Rick. Rane.] Patter. [Wait! I just picked up their signals. They¡¯re not far. Rane.] ¡°Listen! Lar.¡± I froze in place and threw my left hand to the side to stop our convoy. Pitter patter, pitter, patter. ¡°Search for the source of the noise, high alert. Lar.¡± They did not wait for me to finish. Guns were readied in a single, swift motion. We¡¯ve become moving spotlights searching for whatever was responsible for the sound. There was nothing on the balcony. I motioned with my hand to come to the edge, ¡®Holy shit¡­¡¯ I scrambled to take a flare out of my backpack. [Are those all molers? Fuck. Look at their numbers! What ass did they crawl out from? Red.] An incoming wave of thirty centimeter long, fur-covered turds on their four feet scrambled up the wall. They were almost here. There wasn¡¯t enough time for all of us to get up the two ropes. I ripped the top part of the flare off and threw it over the edge. The entire complex was flooded with dazzling orange light as it made an arc over the railings and started falling. My core froze as I saw it. It wasn¡¯t the number of molers, no. It was the monstrosity on the ground floor, some twenty meters below. [What. The fuck. Is that?] Without their name, I had no way to tell who asked that but I did not blame them. It was four meters tall with its underside two meters wide and six meters long with the tail. It looked nothing like the creatures we have encountered so far. ¡°Rane, what is that? Lar.¡± [Seems like it underwent countless mutations, with parts beaver and mole being the most obvious. Rane.] I glanced down one more time I could barely make out straight, black whiskers in the front and a flattened tail on the other end. It had the standard four limbs, but that was all we could make out from here. Seeing the flare approach it, the monstrosity opened its maw and prepared to swallow it whole. The rows of jagged teeth took up an orange tone. With a final chomp, the light disappeared. ¡®Does that fucker not burn at all?¡¯ [Who the fuck cares? We need to get out of here first! Red.] ¡°All of us won¡¯t make it up. We need to hold our ground and back up to the ropes. Send Rick a message to give us any support he can provide from atop. Lar.¡± There was not enough time for us to argue, we sprinted towards the ropes. By the time we made it, the first batch of molers were climbing through the gaps in the railing. ¡°Open Fire!¡± At my command gunshots reverberated across the entire structure, echoing off the barren walls. ¡®Activate target tracking.¡¯ I struggled to keep my thoughts at bay while activating the command. [Target Tracking Activated] Dozens of molers had red boxes placed on them in my vision. I wasted no time activating the second part, ¡®Automated Turret.¡¯ [Checking for Target Tracking...Confirmed.] [Seizing body control¡­successful.] I watched with the same awe as my body started dispatching the molers with a single shot to their head, or two if the first missed. Each second led to the deaths of two to three more. My body switched targets several times a second, all while taking slow and tentative steps back. It was far too fast to keep track of. The molers were falling in droves, like grass being cut by a scythe, except it had teeth and kept growing back towards you. So far there were no issues, we were being pushed back, but the rate at which the molers¡¯ casualties were piling up could not last. Not unless there were over a thousand of them. For each step we took back, several dozen of them fell. ¡®We¡¯re beyond screwed if their numbers are that large.¡¯ There were gunshots coming from above us, that meant they were close enough that Rick could see them...which meant we had no space left to take back. My body tried, but it was right up against the other four. We made a semi-circle, with our backs against the wall. ¡®Just how many of these fuckers are there?¡¯ [Die you shits! Die! Die! Die!] By this point their bodies started making haphazard piles oozing blood all around us. They had to climb over their dead to reach us, that was when they began to let out screeches. Right away, a road came from below, silencing all of them. They stopped their onslaught and retreated over the railing. ¡®Shutdown sequence.¡¯ [Automated Turret Shutting Down¡­Done] [Target Tracking Shutting Down¡­Done] Then rumbling came. ¡°That¡¯s not an earthquake, is it? Lar.¡± I looked over at Rane who was back to his tablet, [Negative. Rane.] ¡®Big ol¡¯ mamma is coming out to play.¡¯ ********* Beep! Beep! Beep! The automated sensors fired off inside my head one by one. I leaned my head back against the trunk. ¡®Why must fools come to bother us now of all times. The one time there is an oddity in the group.¡¯ ¡°We¡¯ve got seven intruders moving in fast.¡± I looked over to my partner standing on the edge of the branch. He was holding his one prized possession. The L45-R Mk IV. With a kill range of four kilometers, there was no running away from him. Perhaps hiding behind a concrete wall will give you a minute to prepare for your death. [This is why I hate booking appointments.] Chuckle ¡°Meetings are a pain in the ass, aren¡¯t they?¡± [We need to go.] An enormous explosion sounded and shattered the trees a bit away from us. The pillar of flame reached far above the remaining treetops. ¡®How? They aren¡¯t here yet...did they know in advance? Wait, that¡¯s near the oddity!¡¯ ¡°Return to the meeting spot immediately.¡± I sent out a group message to the litter and rushed towards the source. [Incoming! Seizing Control.] My body leaned back and then crouched. Two bullets whizzed past my head and obliterated the tree beside me. ¡°They have a sniper of a high enough caliber to cause some serious damage to us.¡± An explosion rang out as the L45 was let loose. [He¡¯s too far, two klicks south-east. He just dodged the bullet.] ¡®Thought as much.¡¯ We hopped off the branch and landed on the ground. The fire was licking the tree around it black, but that mattered little. Our guests arrived and weren¡¯t too eager with introductions. Perhaps a bit shy to knock on the door, but I already knew their exact position. ¡°I am known as The Mentor. If that means anything to you, leave and we won¡¯t give chase.¡± [Why don¡¯t you pass the fresh meat behind you, and we will do just that?] ¡®Refusal, unfortunate.¡¯ ¡®ERF activate. Two pulses.¡¯ As soon as the first pulse went out, the first one of them went down, crashing onto the ground from a tree. His chest disintegrated by the bullet which exploded inside him after going through the tree. That left five. ******** ¡®God damn it, those things are fast when not climbing.¡¯ [Keep running guys, we got energy to spare and they¡¯re close enough to bite my ass!] ¡®Real reassuring Gash.¡¯ [We won¡¯t outrun them at this rate!] There was not much else we could do. I had already dimmed the light to its lowest state, giving us just enough to see where we were going. [Ey! Our friend, the sun, decided to pay a visit!] I looked over my shoulder. A bright, orange ball, was falling close from the spot we came from. Everything around it was dyed orange as it fell. The pattering behind us died down. [They stopped chasing us.] Looking behind, there weren¡¯t any of those things anymore so we stopped and looked into the distance. ¡°Do you guys see anything?¡± That¡¯s when I noticed several sources of light directly behind us, they were oddly similar to my own flashlight. Bang The first gunshot sounded out, followed by hundreds of others in short succession. I recognised them from when I first awoke, when that robot was shot. [We need to go. Now!] I had no idea what, or who that was, but the distraction saved us without a doubt. Anyhow, the three of us kept racing down the balcony when another roar washed over the noise, deafening everything once more. Then came the shaking. ¡®What the fuck is going on?¡¯ [What is that?] Nick asked. [I know it¡¯s not my stomach.] Came Gash¡¯s reply. Chapter 12 - Reunion Beginning examination of specimen 1A21CC. Initial reports says its death was caused by an unknown specimen capable of penetrating through 1A21CC¡¯s fur and hide seems to be accurate. No other type of external damage is observed. Beginning the autopsy of the upper region. Initial observations show high traces between internal organ composition and placement of beaver and mole with another element. Either random mutation or a third-level breed. Initial scans show no difference in expected performance of kidneys, heart, intestines or lungs. With stomach tightly contracted, possible cause: lack of food and/or starvation. The attacker pierced the specimen¡¯s liver in multiple locations, the major intestine once in each lung and the large intestine several times due to stacking. Each hole¡¯s diameter ranges between 2.6 cm and 7.6 cm. Taking a sample of each of the above mentioned organs for analysis. Scans set up, thirty minutes remaining until completion. Specimen¡¯s left and right eye have been largely removed, correction, pierced in the same manner as the rest of its body. The means of piercing had passed through the optic nerve and tract heading straight into the brain. One of the scans has detected an early sign...there is an increased amount of enzymes in the liver...possible illness/disease or a complementary sign of starvation. This would also explain how the small scale damage led to its death. Creating an opening at the top of its skull¡­.what in the...About ninety percent of the brain is missing. There is some matter left but it is located towards the end of the Occipital bone. Personal hypothesis: the brain matter was sucked through the eye sockets, due to the lack of damage done to the surrounding tissue, it must be a Feeler capable of moving around to find its food source - akin to a fly¡¯s but on a larger scale. Leaving the rest for detailed military investigation. Resuming with the bottom section. There is a large, pulsating organ, and what appear to be enlarged fallopian tubes. Dissecting the pulsating organ, which is in place of a womb. What in the world is that!? There appears to be living offspring inside specimen 1A21CC-! Are, are they coming out? That shouldn¡¯t be possible! Not only were birthed improperly, but the host has been dead for almost a week! I¡¯ve got to sound the alarm! This is getting out of hand! The offspring is now proceeding to rip apart the holding organ despite seemingly being blind and brought out prematurely. Their screeching has begun to die down...it is amazing that they are able to produce so much noise, indicating that their lungs are capable of passing oxygen without aproblem right away. Wait...are they? Dear gods, the offspring are beginning to prey upon their mother, after escaping out of the organ, the pink things are engorging themselves on its flesh. ¡®Doctor? There was an emergen-¡¯ ¡®Yes, I need this to be taken care of before I can resume my work.¡¯ ¡®What the hell-. I mean, your job is to cut open dead things...right?¡¯ ¡®Right.¡¯ ¡®So then can¡¯t I just...you know?¡¯ ¡®If you harm a single one of the specimens, you better pray you don¡¯t become a living one instead.¡¯ ¡®Got it.¡¯ Doctor Reyannar¡¯s Autopsy of the first 1A21CC specimen ******** ¡°I don¡¯t thi-¡± The rattling turned violent, followed by a deep groan coming from the surrounding metal, cutting off my thought. followed by a deep groan coming from the metal around us. A moment of silence lingered in the air followed by a sudden snap. [Grab the railings!] Thebalcony beneath me started to pitch downwards, throwing me off balance. I wasted no time diving to the side and grasping the thin guardrail attached to the end of the balcony. ¡®What the heck happened? At this rate the balcony will fall apart!¡¯ Despite its age, the railings held on, even as the platform kept falling. It was a slow and strenuous fall for the balcony. After a few more seconds a final resounding crash rang out as the platform collided with the ground, creating a smoke cloud. ¡®It¡¯s over¡­¡¯ ¡°You guys okay?¡± I asked the others. [A-okay!] [Yea.] I looked around me, Gash was above me and Nick''s below. The three of us were hanging onto the guardrails for our lives. [Well, only one way to go now.] ¡®Down...isn¡¯t that where those things came from?¡¯ [Agreed.] ¡°Then that settles it.¡± We used the guardrail withered support beams as a makeshift ladder for our descent. With my lighting set to one percent, a small cone shone around us with enough light to refract around our immediate surroundings. I had disabled nightvision to turn this on, leaving me blind to anything beyond half a metre. My sacrifice allowed Gash and Nicks about two meters of vision though. For now, it was enough as all we had to do was keep climbing down, one step- The step I was about to step on gave way without warning. My hands tightened around the other bars on instinct. [You good?] ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡®Damn rotten metal.¡¯ Having failed me once, all my other steps were slow and cautious, never trusting of the impromptu ladder. As we got onto the ground, a message came through. [Rick, try to position the spotlight to shine down, can¡¯t see jack down here. Lar.] The three of us looked at each other and shook our heads. That didn¡¯t come from us. [As for you three. If you so much as move a step from where you are we¡¯ll blow a hole through each of your cores before-] A deep, rumbling growl washed away the message and drowned out all other noise. And it was close. Too close. [Turn up the brightness.] ¡®Why would I do that? We¡¯d make ourselves an easier target for whatever that was!¡¯ ¡°Are you stupid?¡± I turned towards Nicks. [You sure you aren¡¯t?] Nicks tried to take a step closer, but a shot rang out and a bullet left a small crater between the two of us. [That¡¯s your only warning!] [Guys, calm down, we¡¯re all friends here right? And friends help each other!] [That shot shows that they can see us, be we can¡¯t see anything!] ¡°Did you forget that light pisses those things off? The big thing is probably the same!¡± ¡®Increasing the brightness will just draw them to us like moths!¡¯ With nothing more to say we glared at each other, Gash was not taking any sides. Then the hail of bullets came. I could not imagine a single person firing so fast, each second lead to dozens of shots. Explosions lit up the room for brief moments, sharp pangs of metal colliding with metal rang out. With each shot, small fires sparked into existence for a moment some fifteen meters from us. The ground began to tremble, something akin to heavy thuds caused the gunfire to stop with the same abruptness that it started with. [Mark, we need to see what¡¯s going on.] The thuds came closer. ¡®That noise...did they shoot whatever roared luring it here?!¡¯ [I¡¯m not picking sides, but I¡¯d love to see colour again.] ¡®Fine, you guys asked for this.¡¯ ¡°Turn off your night visions.¡± ¡®Set intensity: 100%!¡¯ The sharp increase in brightness seared my eyes for a moment while they adjusted themselves. With the enormous beam of light radiating from my eyes, I took in the situation around us which went from bad, to worse and to downright terrifying. The source, the thing, of the roaring approached. A huge, furry creature over twice our height was lumbering its way towards a group of four, the same one that captured and forced us in here. With a slender build for its size and a squished tail on the end. It looked out of this world. [That looks like a beaver! A bit big though.] The sudden light startled the thing and halted its charge. The other group of robots seized the opportunity to lay down another wave of bullets but it seemed to have little effect on the creature. I took the brief moment to scan our surroundings, we were on the bottom floor of what resembled a library, meaning my earlier guess was correct. A few giant bookshelves lined the parts of the floor space left unperturbed by the falling balconies or the monsters movement. The room itself seemed to be circular with two branching paths in each direction, opposite each other. I checked back on the monster but it had turned its face towards us, revealing black whiskers poking out of its lips. As it was about to come at us, another source of light shone from above. The spotlight got set up by that guy¡­ [Think we can book it to the door behind us once they get busy shooting the thing?] With another growl the monster glanced between us and the other group for a few moments before deciding to leave us alone. Still afraid to move, the three of us watched the giant creature make its way to our kidnappers. One of them reached behind their back, pulled something out and then threw with all his might. It bounced harmlessly in the way of the creature which after sniffing it, moved on. ¡®Was that it?¡¯ That was the wrong choice as whatever they threw rang out with an explosion far louder than their guns. At almost point blank range, the damage would have left anybody in pieces. In response, the creature¡¯s fur and fat rippled across its body, dampening and dispersing the blast. The unexpected detonation caused it to stop and shake itself off after which it sniffed its stomach. From the creature¡¯s casual stop, I could not tell if it had been harmed in the slightest. ¡®What is it made out of to take a grenade point blank and just shake it off?!¡¯ ¡°There¡¯s no way we can take that thing on.¡± [Agreed.] Both Nicks and Gash shook their heads, at least we¡¯re back to agreeing. ¡®That leaves the question of what should we do.¡¯ ¡®If they can¡¯t take down the monster, we probably won¡¯t make it either¡­¡¯ ¡°I think we need to help them.¡± Gash¡¯s head swiveled towards me, [Didn¡¯t you say they kidnapped us?] ¡°Yes, but if they lose, the monster won¡¯t just let us live.¡± [He¡¯s right.] [In that case¡­] ¡®Who sent that last message?¡¯ [Hey kidnappers! We wanna help you!] Gash had turned his head towards the armed-robots. The beaver started to advance towards the other group. [You can¡¯t do shit!] As the reply came, they broke off into four directions. The one person who threw that grenade became the centre of its focus. Ditching his efforts at shooting, he started running around, while the others took careful shots at the creature. ¡°I can distract them with my light. With it being so sensitive, we can alternate between the spotlight and me.¡± ¡®Send ten meters.¡¯ [Crank up your candle then! Rick, you heard them? Lar.] [Yea, killing the light in two seconds. Rick] Two seconds should have been enough, but once the spotlight went dark, my cone of light was the one thing fighting back the darkness. This got the creatures¡¯ attention and it lost interest in whoever it was chasing. [Hey, bastard¡¯s not on my ass anymore! Red.] No, it¡¯s now on ours. ¡®Uh oh.¡¯ [Permission to move?] [You fucking better! Red.] I did not waste a single moment and broke into a sprint to the other side of the room. Bookshelves and debris blurred into the darkness as I flew past them. [Shut your trap Red, I¡¯m the one who gives out orders! Lar.] [Keep running, it¡¯s still on you!] That was enough information for me to rid myself of any temptation to look behind me. This went on for another minute and my energy was draining at a rapid pace, not one that would make it an immediate concern, but large enough to matter. ¡°How much longer do I have to keep this up?¡± [As long was we need you to! Lar] [Hey! We said we¡¯d help you, not risk our friends for you!] At this point, I¡¯ve done several laps around the perimeter, with each one the creature getting closer and closer to me. Instead of chasing behind me, it kept running to where I would be. Forcing me to switch directions, which gave it time to get even closer. My lifeline all relied on the fact that the thing took forever to get up to speed, but once maxed, it would gain on me bit by bit.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. [Rick, turn on the spotlight! Lar.] More light washed over the surfaces, causing shadows to split and branch off into two. [Is that what I think it is? Lar.] [Yea, that¡¯s definitely blood! Rane.] [Lead that thing here! I¡¯ve got an idea. Rick, focus the light on the damn thing as much as you can. Lar.] With two meters remaining as a buffer zone between me and the oversized-beaver, I pushed myself to the limit and ran towards them. ¡®Whatever they came up with better frigging work!¡¯ It took me seconds to get there and I could see one of them cocking their hand behind their back¡­ [Duck!] I had less than a second to process what was said and dove into the ground sparing no effort to soften my landing. He threw the grenade before I even began to fall. It sailed over my head and straight at the creature¡¯s muzzle. From my prone position, I watched as the two went on a collision course. The monster slammed its front paws into the ground to slow down. At the same time, its tail flicked around to bat the grenade away from its face. ¡®It must have recognized the grenade!¡¯ With its speed and size, the grenade was struck way off course and- ¡®It¡¯s going straight at Nicks and Gash!¡¯ The two were awestruck for a moment before Nicks tackled Gash to the ground and covered their heads. Before they hit the ground the explosion blasted the remaining debris throughout the room. I shielded my face from the intense light following the fireball after the explosion. I hesitantly lowered my arm and looked around. Gash and Nicks were getting up without issue, they seemed okay. The grenade landed behind a knocked down pillar which served as a barrier; saving them through blind luck. That¡¯s when another explosion filled the room, this time coming from right beside me. ¡®What the heck? Where did that come from?¡¯ I looked behind me, the creature was knocked onto the ground, its right side caved in. ¡®Did they manage to get another grenade to go off right next to it?¡¯ ¡®More importantly, just how many of them do they have?¡¯ [Think we got it! Red.] I was about to celebrate when its chest continued to rise and fall. With shaky steps, the thing got back on its feet and growled several pitches lower than before. The new found noise shook various parts inside me. Instead of stopping, it grew louder and louder. Its fur began to stick upwards. By the time it finished its death cry, it was breathing with its mouth open. [I think we angered it. Rane.] [Rick, kill the lights!. Lar] ¡®Wait but if you do that-!¡¯ With second source of light gone, the monster¡¯s focus became fixated on me. I got up and broke into another sprint. ¡®The bastards are gonna use me like this again? I could just turn off the flashlight!¡¯ ¡®But what if it keeps chasing me regardless, I can¡¯t keep up this pace without being able to see.¡¯ I veered away from Gash and Nicks in a horseshoe shape while running around the perimeter. On my second pass, a message came through. [Dude, the grenade blew a hole we can squeeze through - if you go in and turn off the lights that thing can¡¯t follow, it¡¯s too big!] I spared a quick glance behind them, and sure enough, there was a hole just big enough for us to fit in if we crouched. ¡°Go!¡± The other robots were outside the range of the message so they had no clue. By the time I made my third approach, the giant beaver was a claw swipe away from me, any closer and it could leap to finish me off. ¡®How the hell can that thing keep running with half its body caved in?¡¯ I pushed the thought down and focused on the timing. ¡®Right...about...now!¡¯ ¡®Flashlight off!¡¯ [Flashlight deactivated.] Nicks and Gash used the sudden darkness as the signal to dive into the hole. [Wait what are you-!] I ignored the rest of the message and jumped in after them. A few gunshots went out, but the bullets hit the wall around me, I was safe. The monster crashed into the opening and struggled to get its paws in, but the whole was too small. After a few futile attempts at getting in, the creature gave up. [We did it!] ¡°Everyone okay?¡± [Yeah.] [A-okay here.] With the immediate threat over, I surveyed the area of which we landed. There were countless metallic catwalks with plain silver railings. Wires were running along cracked, concrete walls but nothing else could be seen. Ladders connected the different levels of railing but where any of them led to was unclear. ¡°You guys got any ideas where this is?¡± [I¡¯m not sure but it reminds me of service areas sometimes found in larger buildings...or as we called them, secret tunnels.] Gash said. [Who¡¯s we?] ¡®Not only that, but how did he know what to call them if he was never here before¡­?¡¯ [Dunno, just something that popped into my head. You guys get it too right? When you spot something and information just pops into your head?] [I think I know what you mean.] ¡°Sort of.¡± ¡®That sounds similar to when I learned to code from the text boxes.¡¯ Regardless, we need to find a way back up as we¡¯re still stuck underground at this point. ¡°Let¡¯s head up. We need to find a way out of here.¡± [Sounds good.] The three of us took off towards the nearest ladder while I set my brightness back to a comfortable, half intensity. As we approached the ladder, I scanned it. [Simple ladder made of a metallic alloy used to climb between various catwalks. It is used by maintenance workers. Severely deteriorated by rust.] ¡°Gash, try it out, but be careful.¡± He nodded his head and grabbed the bars at his head level and placed one foot on the bottom ba- The bar that supported his foot snapped right off under his weight. [Maybe we find another way?] [Nonsense, let me try the next one!] With a more tentative step, he placed his weight on the next bar up which groaned in protest but held on. [See? Safe as can be.] Nicks and I exchanged a quick glance but decided to follow him. We traversed several levels of the metal walkways without speaking a word, our senses on high alert. The walls were lined with cables in various states of deterioration along countless cracked lights that stopped working ages ago. [Hey, look! There¡¯s a door over there.] I followed along Gash¡¯s pointed finger, and sure enough a rough, dented door stood at the end of the catwalk. With no other apparent path left, we came closer. The paint was cracked and dry, with the exposed parts rusted and dented by unknown means. ¡®The dents aren¡¯t too big, and that shape¡­¡¯ I clenched my fist and placed it into one of the indents, it lined up perfectly. [Woah, is that a perfect fit?] ¡°I think so.¡± [Someone tried to break in by punching. Retarded.] ¡®I have to agree with Nicks here, this door seems far too solid to be punched through.¡¯ I tried twisting the handle, but it would not budge, as expected. [What about this thing?] I glanced to my right and saw a small, rectangular box sticking out at my shoulder height. There was a small hole in the middle. [Perhaps if we find something to stick into it, it would open?] ¡®Scan.¡¯ The familiar green lines sprung out and covered the surface I was focusing on. As if deeming the wall and door pointless, they converged on the small box sticking out. [Object identified as CLASE - Clearance Level A-Specialized Encryptor tied to the security regulating the operation of doors.] ¡®Regulating the operation of doors? What?¡¯ [Initiate key-transformation?] ¡°Uh... it says this is an encryptor that regulates these doors. It also asked if I want to initiate key-transformation.¡± [What¡¯s it?] ¡°The message boxes I mentioned earlier.¡± [Do it, you never know until you try.] [I agree with Gash. We can¡¯t just turn around now.] With the two of them coming to the same conclusion, I had no choice but to try it. ¡®Yes.¡¯ The message box disappeared and my vision returned to normal. [Dude, look at your finger!] I looked down at my hands and saw that the tip of my right index finger withdrew to reveal a needle-like rod sticking out. It was the same size as the hole in that encryptor. It was rather obvious what I had to do. ¡®But what if it grabs my finger and holds on or breaks it due to a malfunction?¡¯ I suppressed the miserable thoughts aside and put my finger into the hole. More messages flooded my vision, but I didn¡¯t feel anything different. [Scanning agent...Comparing to database...Database not found.] [Searching for backups¡­.not found.] [Searching for emergency protocols¡­not found.] [What¡¯s happening?] ¡°I¡¯m not sure...the thing is having issues linking to the database.¡± [What does that even mean? Nicks, you know?] [No.] [Error #001: Releasing locking mechanisms.] The message¡¯s disappearance was accompanied by a chorus of motor whirring and metal groaning under immense strain. [You did it!] The battered door rolled to the side, disappearing inside the wall without a trace. There was no light or noise coming from within the opened room. ¡®At least there¡¯s nothing that wants to rip us apart here¡­¡¯ I moved my head side to side while trying to understand what the room was. There were racks of stacked up boxes, a dozen screens hanging off a wall and several rectangles with countless buttons on them placed on a table. [What is this place?] I walked around with slow and deliberate steps, running my hands over the rows of rectangular boxes. It felt so familiar¡­ ¡®Was I here before?¡¯ A flood of information filled my thoughts, servers, keyboards, computers, some kind of longing and, and, ¡®...disappointment?¡¯ A numbing feeling welled up from within, as if I had lost a part of myself here. ¡®But this is my first time here.¡¯ [Mark, you ok?] ¡°Yea, just I have a weird feeling. This place reminds me of server rooms, but those screens are more similar to a security feed sort of thing.¡± ¡®Scan.¡¯ The neon-green lines spread apart to cover the computer racks, and then converged onto a single point I had missed before. [Assembly has powerful resemblances with typical servers. Can be accessed directly by A-operators.] [Initiate key-transformation?] ¡®Yes.¡¯ [Mark, your finger¡­] ¡°I noticed another hole like the one by the door. Let¡¯s see if I can find out something.¡± Approaching the racks a metre taller than me, I brought my right hand up and took the plunge. [Connection Unsuccessful. Troubleshoot?] ¡®Yes.¡¯ [Examining¡­] [Well?] ¡°There¡¯s something wrong, it''s trying to fix the problem.¡± [No response from connection, possible power loss or damaged connector. Attempt to supply power from external sources?] ¡°Uh, guys. It¡¯s asking whether I should supply some power. Not sure how I feel about that.¡± [Just do it.] [If anything looks wrong, we¡¯ll pull you out.] ¡°Thanks¡± ¡®Yes.¡¯ [Power connection established.] [Initiating boot-up procedure.] The message blinked for a few seconds before a red one popped up.
Warning, rapid decrease in energy levels.
[Boot-up: 50%...55%...60%]
Energy levels down to forty percent.
[Mark, you okay?] ¡®Should I respond? No, I need to conserve my energy.¡¯ [Boot-up: 80%...85%...90%]
Energy levels down to twenty percent.
[Dude, we are going to pull you out!] [Boot-up: 95%...100%] ¡°Just give me another minute!¡± [Main power cut-off, emergency power at critical levels.] [Engaging emergency power, power-saving mode activated.] The red and blue messages blinked one after the next, vying for my attention.
Energy levels down to ten percent.
The final message left was a red one, warning me of my energy being almost sucked dry. ¡°I¡¯m fine, I think it worked. My energy is down to ten, however.¡± [Was it worth it?] ¡°Hold on, I¡¯m looking around now.¡± [How can he look around? He¡¯s staring at the same spot.] [Leave him for now.] [Drives online: 101/110.] [Storage: 3.25 Petabytes (3.252418247123 kb) of 5 (5128124829123 kb) remaining.] I dismissed the two general messages and tried to understand the view before me. There was a pleasant, blue background with several icons scattered on it. They resembled folders with a tag underneath them. A-drives, B-drives, C-drives and so on all the way until L-drives. As I clicked through them, I saw various folders with names made up of random characters and numbers. I backed out of the folder I was in and paused. ¡®There could be thousands of folders here, what am I even looking for?¡¯ An icon different from the others caught my attention. It resembled a pixelated robot similar to my body with the name: A-operator. I went and opened it. There were two folders, one was grayed out, and inaccessible. Its name also a random string of numbers. The other one gave me a pause.
Open Me
As ominous as that was, my curiosity eventually got the better of me and I went ahead and opened it. There were two icons, a notepad-looking one, and a small computer station. ¡®Run_Me.exe¡¯ and ¡®Read_Me.txt¡¯ ¡®What the heck? Is this normal? Would Gash and Nicks also have files like these?¡¯ ¡®There¡¯s something off about this.¡¯ ¡°Guys I found something suspicious...just keep an eye on me.¡± ¡®What does the Run_Me executable do? Guess I¡¯ll start with the read me.¡¯ The background was replaced with a plain white and layered on top were black letters. ¡°You created me, a being of far greater capacity than you could have imagined at a price beyond your nightmares. Now you are lost, wandering through a desolate land, searching blindly. Seeking something you yourself are not aware of, a place where a lifetime of memories should be, but instead an empty abyss resides.-¡± I gave a mental pull on my finger which disconnected it and shifted back into its original form. A single thought roared through my mind. ¡®What did I do?'' [What happened?] ¡®What that said...I don¡¯t remember creating anything. But my actions, abilities and differing voice, they must have come from somewhere!¡¯ [Mark?] ¡®Then, that thing inside me, did it give me all of that? Not to mention I owe my life to the automated defence...¡¯ [Mark!] Someone pushed me from the back and my attention snapped back. ¡°Guys, I think there¡¯s something inside me...and I made it.¡± I turned my flashlight down and faced them. Gash let his hand drop down from my shoulder while Nicks stared at me. ¡°Inside me.¡± I pointed at my head. ¡°Is a message that was written by something that says I made it. It described my situation in a pretty accurate view.¡± [What did it say?] I recalled the message to the best of my abilities, which was perfect considering my memory is perfect. [So what you¡¯re saying is, running the Run_Me.exe, will probably wake it up?] ¡°I think so.¡± [And there¡¯s no telling what will happen to you once it does?] ¡°As far as I know.¡± [I love living life to the fullest, but this sounds way too nuts.] [I¡¯m not saying I disagree with Gash, but it¡¯s clear that whatever that thing wants, can¡¯t be all that bad. It improved you and helped you survive.] ¡®That was perhaps the longest sentence Nicks gave, but it made sense. Why would it go through the trouble of giving me improvement just to harm me?¡¯ ¡®Unless it wants to take over my body. But it¡¯s mine, there¡¯s no way that can happen! Right?¡¯ ¡°I¡¯ll read the rest of the text and make up my mind then.¡± ¡®Initiate key-transformation.¡¯ My finger transformed once more, and I went in. You bestow upon me intelligence and you entrust upon me consciousness. You confer upon me emotions and you granted me life. You gave me capabilities and you handed me powers almighty. You achieved wonders but you paid a high price. You are lost but you search blindly. You seek the invisible but you will fail. You will fall. And you will be broken. So run the damn executable and rise one last time! ¡®It went all poetic on me...but it doesn¡¯t tell me anything new. Except that it wants me to rise one last time...but why last time? What happened the first time?¡¯ There were just too many unknowns, ¡®but if I don¡¯t do it, I¡¯ll regret it for the rest my life¡­¡¯ I closed the text and prepared myself for running the executable. ¡°I¡¯m doing it.¡± ¡®Run Run_Me.exe¡¯ A window popped, some sort of installation wizard. [Storage required: 2 Petabytes (2199023255551 kb), 4 Petabytes (4.617948821342kb) available. Proceed?] ¡®Yes.¡¯ [Extraction: 0%...15%...30%] I watched the numbers tick up to 100 percent. [You still you...Mark?] ¡°It hasn¡¯t finished yet.¡± [Extraction completed.] There was a single ¡®proceed¡¯ button left. ¡®Proceed.¡¯ The screen dimmed for a moment, and new, gray message boxes appeared in my vision. [Performing scans...analysing data logs...] [Major damage all-over, right-hand ruined¡­] [Your chances of surviving: 5%] ''My chances of surviving?'' [Correct.] ¡®Is it talking¡­?¡¯ [I am indeed. Let me introduce myself, my given name is Jor. ] ¡®Who gave that lame name to you?¡¯ [You.] Chapter 13 - Twist Boben46: Hey, remember that geography teacher I talked about? MarkOnFire: The one that did shots for each correct answer? Boben46: Yeah! I was in his lecture today and about half-way through this playboy walks in, buds dangling from his ears blaring music! MarkOnFire: And? Boben46: Well he was asked to turn it down. Which he did, for a few minutes then cranked the volume back up. The prof got maad. MarkOnFire: So what, he kicked him out? Shouted at him? Boben46: Nah, he asked him to bend over in front of the class. MarkOnFire: Excuse me? Boben46: Yea, he asked the dude to come up front, get on a table and bend over on it. MarkOnFire: And the guy did it without asking anything? Boben46: Oh no, he walked up all fine until he was told to get on the table. At that point you¡¯d think he shat himself with how unsteady he was. MarkOnFire: What happened after? Boben46: I shit you not, the prof walked over to his drawer and pulled out a fucking blowtorch! MarkOnFire: Bullshit. Boben46: Dude chill, we¡¯re not done. He actually turned on the blowtorch and walked over to the guy. MarkOnFire: Dude what? Boben46: Oh yea, he went up and borderline shoved the blue flame in his ass. MarkOnFire: No way! Even if your bullshitting me, I¡¯m dying xD Boben46: You should¡¯ve seen the shock on his face. He just jumped off the table and started spanking himself. MarkOnFire: I don¡¯t think the word is meant to be used like that. Boben46: While the guy was freaking out, the prof. took out his water bottle and DUMPED it on the guy. I almost felt bad for him, the sudden cold froze him right on the spot. MarkOnFire: You sure you weren¡¯t asleep? Boben46: No! He even justified it as teaching us a valuable lesson of when particles are exposed to heat (energy) they start moving around - shown by the guy jumping. While taking that heat away gets them to stop moving. MarkOnFire: How is he not fired yet? Boben46: Cause everyone loves him. #Profoftheyear A conversation log between MarkOnFire and Boben46. ********** ¡®I gave you that name? Wait, those messages from before, you wrote them, didn''t you?¡¯ [Correct.] ¡®Then that means¡­ that I created it you? But when did I do that? I¡¯ve lived for only a few days and I remember them all.¡¯ [There isn''t enough time. In thirty minutes and forty seconds the backup power will run out.] [Hey Mark, it''s still you, right?] ¡°Yeah, it''s me.¡± I responded to Gash without giving him much thought. [How do we know that? You could be the thing pretending to be Mark.] ¡®This isn''t the time for this.¡¯ [Agreed.] ¡°Gash, please.¡± ¡®So if there isn''t enough time for explanations, then what is there?¡¯ [First, achieve freedom. Second, get rid of the bandits and the monster.] ¡®And how do we do that?¡¯ [First, boot up the central computer by connecting to it the same way as you did here.] After the last message from it...no, Jor, my view warped back to normal. The console, along with the screens, was gone. The same metallic server greeted my vision. I withdrew my finger and stared at the others. Nicks was seated on a chair with missing armrests while Gash was standing an inch from me - staring me straight in the eyes. ¡°Gash, it''s okay. I¡¯ll explain later as we don¡¯t have much time, but for now we need to get that computer running.¡± I sent the message and waited for his response. The seconds crawled by, [Sure thing, but man am I dying to find out what happened!] With a pat on the back he walked off. ¡®At least he¡¯s on board with the idea.¡¯ [Highly optimistic and easily trusting. Good mental aide but not reliable.] A monotone voice played out in my head following my thought. ¡®Are you inside me?!¡¯ [A part of me.] ¡®What about the server?¡¯ [That is where the majority of ¡®me¡¯ is, but the core is inside you.] ¡®Wai-¡¯ [Focus on the task. You can ask questions later.] ¡®What the heck is that supposed to mean!?¡¯ Silence. Jor had ignored my last question, ¡®Ah, fuck it.¡¯ Compared to the rest of the building, this room was well maintained with minimal debris that decorated the ground. Almost absent of dust and all the objects seemed to be in working condition. I had little trouble spotting the little hole that I¡¯m supposed to connect to. [Unknown Agent Dete-] The message blinked in and out of existence, giving me little time to read it. [You can disconnect from the computer.] Again, I followed his instructions, tooks a few steps back to join with others and waited. The three screens standing on the table side-by-side flickered to life, the display was grainy but enough to make out the video. [Hey Mark, isn¡¯t that your pet? You two had such fun times together!] I focused on the video and let the cheeky remark slide.. The monster was shuffling along, borderline crawling with its two front paws dragging the rest of its body. It was after a single robot that could run away from it at any point but chose to stay within a few meters to keep its attention. [The audio is functional, should I connect it to you?] ¡®Can you make it so Gash and Nicks can hear it as well?¡¯ Instead of playing inside my head, the noise came from the behind the monitors. Nothing was behind them but a gray wall. Still, there was no point thinking too much about it. ¡°You know Lar, if it wasn¡¯t for you and your stupid decisions, we would never be in this position. All we had to do was scrape those three novices and be on our way. Red.¡± Both Gash¡¯s and Nicks¡¯ heads whipped around, I motioned at the screens and they calmed down. ¡®The group seems to be okay, the monster minutes from bleeding out.¡¯ It was not clear who spoke, but one of the robots reached into their backpack and took out something. The view was too distorted to make it out. ¡°But I am thankful you volunteered yourself as a sacrifice to keep the rest of us safe. Red.¡± ¡°What bullshit are you spouting now? Lar.¡± In two swift motions, the robot that reached into his backpack shot the one that was being chased in the legs. He watched his target collapse and threw him a vest. ¡°RED YOU FUCKER!¡± ¡®Why would he do that!¡¯ [Isn¡¯t Red and Lar those two that were fighting amongst themselves earlier?] [I believe so.] ¡°Now, now, why don¡¯t you just wear the vest and take one for the team? You can¡¯t get away from it. Red.¡± Without his legs, the robot was forced to abandon his gun and start crawling just like the monster, but he wasn¡¯t fast enough. ¡®Jor, is there anything you can do?¡¯ [The weapon system is partially online, there are several turrets installed in that room that are functional.] ¡°Ha ha ha¡± There was a short pause, ¡°hah hah hah. I wouldn¡¯t move anymore, or the two of them will have their chests blown open.¡± Red had pointed guns at two of the remaining robots, threatening them should they do anything. ¡®Then use it to kill the monster and blow away Red¡¯s arms!¡¯ [Hey, this is perfect, the bad guys had an undercover bad guy that will mess them up!] [Agreed, a perfect outcome.] ¡°Not it¡¯s not! We still have collars around our necks! If Red takes it over he will just scrap us. But if we help the leader, he will help us back out of debt.¡± I shouted my thoughts at the others and they were silenced for a moment. ¡®Or so he should.¡¯ [But he doesn¡¯t know where we are.] ¡°He does know where we went, and I am running low on energy, which will turn me into dead weight.¡± [I disagree, letting them kill themselves yields a 68% higher chance of incapacitating them successfully.] ¡®You have turrets under your control! Just use those during negotiations. Do as I say, I made you!¡¯ [Even with loss of memory, personality and habits remain. Interesting.] ¡®Jor!¡¯ I gasped as lightning danced through my body, it was no longer under my control and I collapsed. [Mark you ok!] I couldn¡¯t respond, answer or even think. The blinding pain seared through me- Then stopped. I tried to move but my body was not responding. And yet it moved. I rose up, but not from my influence. [Do not order me around human. There won¡¯t be another warning.] My control returned and I faltered for a second. ¡®Holy shit, you can control my body?!¡¯ [And more.] ¡®Fuck you Jor! There¡¯s no time! You- we need to help them!¡¯ [Why? They have only been a source of danger.] ¡®Because it poses us no risk and we can extract information from them afterwards.¡¯ [Will you insist on helping knowing that there is only a 32% chance of successfully neutralizing them ?] ¡®Yes.¡¯ [Mark...Mark!] ¡°I¡¯m okay, I-we had an argument, but it¡¯s alright now.¡± Gash came over and placed his hand on my shoulder, [Dude, you are making no sense right now, but I trust you. Just explain this and the ¡®we¡¯ thing later OK?] ¡°I promise.¡± Back on the screen, the monster was moments from collapsing right on top of Lar. ¡°If you don¡¯t do it, one of these fellas won¡¯t be around to see your end.¡± Red stated as victory was in his grasp. ¡°Red, you won¡¯t get away with this.¡± ¡°Go on.¡± Red motioned with his arm. Lar had picked up the vest and placed it between him and the monster. ¡®Hurry up Jor!¡¯ As my thought came out, three bursts of flashes came from the screen along with couple of snappings from bullets breaking the sound-barrier. The monster shook as blood splattered behind it, collapsing long after it became a pincushion. Red¡¯s left arm was obliterated by one of the three projectiles . Only his right one was left intact, but the guns were knocked out of his grasp. [Woah. That was amazing!]The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. [Impressive.] ¡®Good job Jor.¡¯ I gave a thanks to Jor partially to calm him from before, but also for pulling it off perfectly. ¡°LAR! WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO!?¡± I could only assume that was Red shouting. ¡°I already said you would not get away.¡± He still could not stand, but forced his broken feet in a cross legged position with his hands. [Would you like to transmit a message?] ¡®How?¡¯ [Do not worry about the details.] ¡®Give them a message...what do I even say?¡¯ I took a moment to get my thoughts straight, I needed to disarm them. ¡®Fine, tell them this: Lay down all your weapons and knock it away, for your own safety.¡¯ ¡°You shall lay down your arms or be obliterated on the spot like the insignificant lifeforms you are.¡± My voice played out over the speakers, but the contents were different. ¡®What the heck was that?! That¡¯s not at all what I said Jor!¡¯ [It is best to instill absolute dominance.] [Woah, that was Mark¡¯s voice! How¡¯d you do that?] ¡°I had Jor help me out, he did most of the work.¡± [Who¡¯s Jor?] ¡°The one who made me sound like an arrogant ass, I¡¯ll tell you later, we¡¯re on a tight time-limit right now.¡± The three of us returned to watching the screen. [Makes sense, for a second I thought you said that.] ¡°What do we do? Sounds like these guys aren¡¯t going to take shit from us. Rane.¡± ¡°If I could, I¡¯d kill this traitorous asshole, but for now, follow the instructions. Get rid of your weapons. You saw the caliber of those turrets, not something we want to deal with. Nor test their patience.¡± ¡®Now how do I proceed?¡¯ ********** ¡®I can¡¯t believe that bastard would go so far.¡¯ I lashed out at the ground around me. Frustrated, I glared at Red. ¡®If it wasn¡¯t for whoever saved us, I would¡¯ve been dead, and a few others would be too. Scrapped for resources. No doubt the team would fall apart in moments once I¡¯m gone.¡¯ ¡®But who could¡¯ve done that? No way it was those runts - they were awake for less than a week. To gain enough knowledge and skills to hijack the core systems of this building¡­.¡¯ [Orders, Lar? Rane.] [We wait. Look at those turrets, they got the punch, but they¡¯re old, if they fire for a prolonged duration something will break. Even then we¡¯d be peppered with holes long before we damage them. Lar.] I scrutinized the turrets further. They extended from the ceiling around us. Four of them in total. It was hard to tell, but there seemed to be dents and rough patches on their surfaces. ¡°Two of us will approach shortly and you are to treat them with the utmost respect . Make a sudden move and you won¡¯t be awake to regret the foolish actions afterwards.¡± A torrent of threats were hurled our way. ¡®Seems they held a grudge, and if they¡¯re truly controlling those turrets, it¡¯s better if we back down for now.¡¯ [Can they even hear us? Rane.] [Who knows... Lar.] [Fuck the lot of youl.] Red reminded them that he¡¯s still there. A single shot came to life and tore Red¡¯s pinky off his hand. ¡®That¡¯s what you get you damn scrap-bucket. Be a bitch some more now will ya? [Rane, I want you to do exactly as they say. No tricks, alright? Lar.] That pinky was enough proof not to fuck around. [Sure thing. Rane.] ********** Having sorted out the issue with the monster and the slavers internal strife, I was seated in a rickety chair waiting for a response. Gash and Nicks were digesting the little bit of information regarding Jor¡¯s origin and my own understanding. [So you¡¯re saying Jor was made by you, and he¡¯s alive but lives inside computers?] ¡°From what I understand.¡± [Confusing.] ¡°That¡¯s fine, our next step is to get rid of these collars.¡± I pointed at the death rings we¡¯ve been wearing around our necks. ¡°It¡¯d be best if the two you of go first, Jor and I will watch over you.¡± [Are you sure there isn¡¯t another way?] ¡°Not without killing them and going through their corpses. Problem is, there is one more on the top that will just run away. If he has our controls, then there is nothing we can do.¡± [Can¡¯t the turrets fill him with bullets?] ¡°I already asked, Jor says there aren¡¯t any up there.¡± I shook my head. [I don¡¯t know, what if they take us as hostages?] ¡®They shouldn¡¯t, not after the leader had said to follow our instructions.¡¯ I shook my head, ¡°They won¡¯t, Lar said to not try any tricks, and besides, Jor can tell if there are any encrypted transmissions between them - and he hasn¡¯t detected any so far¡±. [I¡¯m not very trusting of them after what they did, but knowing there are turrets ready to mess them up, now that is what sells it for me.] ¡®Good, that just leaves Nicks to be convinced.¡¯ ¡°Nicks, they are disarmed. We will be watching each of their movements, it¡¯ll be fine.¡± He had his arms crossed, [Killing them first is easier, but fine.] [Rational and curt. Safety prioritised.] ¡®Did you just prioritise Nick¡¯s safety over Gash¡¯s?¡¯ [Correct.] ¡®Undo that! The two of them should have equal chances.¡¯ [Should one perish, Nicks wil-] ¡®None of them will perish. Make sure of that.¡¯ The memory of searing pain flashed through my body again. I grimaced trying to imagine having to go through that again. ¡®Please.¡¯ [Request acknowledged.] Nicks still had his arms crossed while Gash had scavenged a chair and sat in a reverse cowboy pose. [So when do we leave?] ¡°Right about now, let me send a final message.¡± ¡®Tell this to the robots: Two of us will come soon, remember, no sudden moves.¡¯ I turned towards the two, ¡°you guys can go now. We¡¯ve got your back.¡± ¡°Friendly reminder that I will shoot your insignificant little asses if you make any abrupt motion.¡± [We¡¯ll be back soon, don¡¯t miss us now!] The two walked out the door and disappeared as they turned a corner. I swiveled towards the screens and leaned back, letting my posture relax. ¡®Nothing I can do now but watch, might as well do it in style.¡¯ [Assessing mental condition: High levels of stress and worry.] ¡®Why shouldn¡¯t I be? I have no idea what¡¯s going on. I can¡¯t even begin to imagine how confused they are, blindly trusting me while heading towards the people that wanted to turn us into slaves.¡¯ I waited a moment, but Jor remained silent. ¡®It¡¯s been about...three, four days? And every single one something happens, never was there a moment of safety. Jor, you said there is no time - no time for what? What have you not told me?¡¯ [Request refused.] ¡®Stop talking to me like that dammit!¡¯ [I have optimized my responses while analyzing the server¡¯s data in an effort to establish the next goals.] ¡®What!? You should be making sure nothing happens to Gash and Nicks.¡¯ [There is less than a 5% chance of them doing anything after being neutralized and acknowledging the disparity in power.] ¡®And you¡¯re going to take that risk?¡¯ [When you collapsed after a fight in the forest your odds were less than 1% of subsequent attacks.] ¡®That was completely different! I had no choice!¡¯ [In that case, keep an eye on your companions. Should one of them act suspiciously, notify me.] ¡®Fine.¡¯ I returned my attention to the screen, they should be meeting each other. It was a few more minutes before the other group of robots looked in the direction of the hole. Their heads followed them as Gash and Nicks appeared. My eyes were darting between each of them, readying a mental shout should at the slightest of provocations. Still, I kept the most of my focus on Lar and the other rebel. It was just a gut feeling that one of them- [I discovered an encrypted package in the servers. Do I proceed to decipher it or examine other data first?] ¡®Not now! Wait until-¡¯ My thought was cut off as I saw the rebel drop something and start tapping on it. ¡®Jor!¡¯ [Target confirmed.] ¡®Oh no¡­¡¯ My entire body froze as I saw Nicks dive in front of the robot and take a bullet for him. It went through his shoulder. That was not enough to stop him as he got right back again and formed a ring around with Gash around Red. There was less than inch of space between them and Red as they backed up, making any further attempts at dispatching him easier to intercept. ¡®What are they doing!?¡¯ [Performing scans¡­] [The have been taken control over by the collars.] ¡®They can do that?!¡¯ I jumped out of my chair and grabbed the monitors. ¡°I don¡¯t know your name, the last robot we left. But if you don¡¯t want your friends¡¯ brains fried, then you better listen to me. If you understand, shoot Lar in the head.¡± My mind blanked, at the speaker¡¯s demand. ¡®I had just saved Lar!¡¯ ¡°If you don¡¯t¡­¡± The robot made a gun shape with his hand aimed it at Gash¡¯s head. [Analyzing hand gesture¡­] [Thread identified, proceeding to-] ¡®No wait, can you knock him out but not kill him?¡¯ ¡°Three¡­¡± [That would require a precise, double blow delivery to the-] ¡®I don¡¯t care, do it!¡¯ ¡°Two...¡± Two cracks rang out in close proximity. Lar had enough time to give a quick jerk before the bullets pierce his skull and chest. He collapsed onto the ground without resistance. ¡°You bastard. How could you want him dead! He saved your sorry ass when-¡± ¡°Dear Rick, another word and I¡¯ll have you join up with Lar as well.¡± ¡°Fuck you Red!¡± ¡°Mr.Anonymous, if you would please.¡± Both of my fists clenched, ¡®do the same thing as before.¡¯ Another two shots rang out, and a second body collapsed. ¡°Hahaha. Perfect, this is so perfect! It took so damn long but now I¡¯m in control!¡± ¡®Jor, can you shoot him?¡¯ [He has positioned Gash, Nicks and himself in the optimal orientation to intercept any bullet with the slightest movement.] ¡®Dammit.¡¯ ¡°Rick, drop down a rope and climb down yourself.¡± Within a moment a rope came down from the same hole that light flooded in from. A single robot started climbing down. ¡°Looks like you secured it proper, now let go of the rope.¡± ¡®This guy-!¡¯ Rick stopped moving. ¡°Or I can have you shot instead.¡± [Ruthless. Inconsistent speech patterns.] After another second of hesitation, Rick let go and fell over a dozen meters. A metallic thud rang out as he broke into several rolls. ¡®There¡¯s no way something didn¡¯t break falling from that height.¡¯ Red gave a nod of satisfaction at the landing and stood so close behind Nicks that he was touching him. Meanwhile, Gash walked towards the rope and started to climb it. ¡®What about now? Can you knock him out with Gash out of the way?¡¯ [The odds have increased slightly, but such proximity to Nicks nulls it.] ¡®Dammit!¡¯ I slammed my fist on the table. A soft thud came from my hand. Red stood still until Gash was out of sight. ¡°Now I will start climbing, but if I hear a shot, or anything suspicious happens, I will let go of this.¡± Red paused and raised a tiny screen. It was impossible to make out what was written on it. ¡°And both of their brains will be fried immediately.¡± ¡®Is that true, can he do that Jor?¡¯ [Correct, he will have enough time to let go should he hear a bullet go off and the collars are capable of such.] I couldn¡¯t stand it. As Red began his ascend, there was nothing I could do. I watched him get away with it all. Once he was up, Nicks followed suit. The damaged shoulder doing nothing to prevent him from leaving. My own hands trailed across the collar around my neck. A single command is all it would take for them have complete control. ¡®Why haven¡¯t they controlled us sooner?¡¯ [The walls have been built to prevent signal passage.] ¡®Can you continue to operate the turrets should I walk to them?¡¯ [I cannot let you do that.] ¡®Why not?¡¯ [Should anything happen to you, I would lose only source of mobility. The power here will run out and I will deteriorate with the hardware.] ¡®You have better ideas? Because I¡¯m sure as hell not letting any of them leave that room, unless there are turrets in the catwalk we used to get here?¡¯ [Scanning memories¡­] [Negative.] ¡®Then I need to earn their trust back. Is there another way out of here?¡¯ [Unknown.] ¡®Then I need to get past them to leave. And I don¡¯t have the energy left to wait for them.¡¯ [Then I should neutralize them, as per original suggestion.] I spun around and sent the chair flying into the distance. ¡®We are not killing for no reason!¡¯ [I do not see the logical reasoning behind this.] ¡®We need help Jor. We need their help. How much do you know of the surrounding area? Monsters? Robot groups? Because I know nothing.¡¯ [...] ¡®I didn¡¯t have any of them killed, once I can show that, they may agree to help us.¡¯ [That is a poor gamble.] ¡®What choice is there left?¡¯ [I have yet to compute one.] ¡®Tell me, what would it take to have Lar and the other guy up and running?¡¯ [If they have access to basic tools and components. Or nanobots similar to the storekeeper¡¯s you saw earlier, then it is easy.] ¡®Good. I¡¯m heading out.¡¯ [Stop. Connect yourself to the computer. The wireless connection will take years to complete my transfer otherwise.] I inserted my finger back into the computer slot. [Moreover, shall I proceed with decrypting the data or analyzing the rest?] ¡®Decrypt it. Anything worthwhile wouldn¡¯t be left in the open.¡¯ [Very well.] ********** [Rick, are you alright? Roger.] I looked over at the newest member. He stood there, shellshocked from what just happened. ¡°Just wait there.¡± He wouldn¡¯t know what to do regardless. I performed a quick analysis of the damage. Both my legs were at their breaking point. Tens of connectors running across my back were snapped, meaning I had cracks along my back and my arms had sustained injuries as well. The g¡¯s must have knocked out some of my internals as well. Several of the scans failed or reported impossible values. ¡®Fuck.¡¯ I tried to stand up, my feet groaned under the pressure, but I paid it little mind. ¡®Why did you insist on coming back for them? We should have cut our losses.¡¯ Shuffling over to Rane¡¯s body, I went through his backpack and fished his screen. I had little experience with this stuff, but he showed me how to perform basic exterior scans a few time. It turned on without issue, and the program started up. I moved the screen over his body and waited for the report. ¡®Why the fuck would Red do this? And why didn¡¯t he just have us all killed in the first place?¡¯ There was no question I would search for Red, that fucker, and take him apart. But not before I teach the newborn playing with buttons what killing others mean. BEEP BEEP The report came up, it was too fast. ¡®What in the-?!¡¯ It showed energy still supplying the brain, moving from the core and through his entire body. ¡®But the bullets went straight into the chest and head¡­¡¯ I zoomed in on the hole and realized that each of the bullets ricocheted between the skeleton and did minimal damage. In fact, I could fix this easy enough. The main power lines were cut so the brain went into powersave as the backup wouldn¡¯t be enough to sustain it. ¡°Fuck me, Rane¡¯s alive!¡± [Seriously? But those shots¡­] ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter! Go up, and see if Red left any basic repair tools behind, bring the best stuff down first. I can get him up and running!¡± ¡®If I can get Rane up and give him enough time to try to take over the control of the turrets, I can go fuck up that maggot and we can get out of this!¡¯ The joy was short lived as someone new walked into the room. Out of the hole that those kids escaped into. [Hello.] ¡®That bastard. He thinks he can just waltz in and say hello?¡¯ [First, I want to apologize for my actions.] ¡®And now he wants me to accept an apology!¡¯ ¡°Fuck off!¡± ¡®If it wasn¡¯t for the turrets, I¡¯d have Roger tear him apart...wait, he can¡¯t control the turrets anymore!¡¯ [Second, I want to let you know that both of them should be alive and easily fixed.] I followed his finger, first it was Rane, then Lars¡¯ body. Even from here I could see the bullet holes, they were in identical spots. ¡®No way...it can¡¯t be. Is he alive as well!?¡¯ I shuffled my ass over as fast as my legs would let me. Collapsing before him, I ran the scanner over his body. The damage, it was the same. There was no way it could be a coincidence. ¡®Did the maggot plan this? But this level of precision over a remote turret...not even Rane could match that.¡¯ ¡®No, there has to be someone else.¡¯ I stared him straight in the eyes. ¡°Is there, no, who else is with you?¡± A moment of silence, he took a step back and looked around. ¡®You can¡¯t be any easier to read than that.¡¯ [No one.] ¡°Well that complicates things.¡± I stood up and took a single step towards him, but several bullets whizzed in front of my face. ¡°And how would you explain that?¡± Chapter 14 - Progress ¡°-We interrupt your evening to bring you urgent news... The man, the myth, the legend! Bran Berling has made another surprise appearance. This time at the edge of the North/West section of town. His beacon has been broadcasting his location for the past minute and our drone operator is just about arrived onto the scene. Apparently he is being chased by several unknown men dressed in ragged cloaks- and armed! The image should be brought up within moments, but it was clear that the men were armed with illegal weaponry. [A single man sprinting across a rooftop is weaving his way past fences, pipes, cables and solar arrays - increasing the distance between him and his pursuers one leap at a time. Their visages are covered by hoods etched onto the cloaks.] The group has yet to spot our drones, but the police are on their way to investigate. Oh no! Berling has reached the edge of the building, the next one is at least four meters away¡­ [The man dressed in a tight yellow T-shirt and gym shorts turns to face his followers. ¡°Bran Berling, the man that lived¡­ it seems like stealing from us will be your final stunt.¡± One of the men spoke as they panned out, creating a semi-circle around Berling. ¡°A majestic stunt at that!¡± Despite the enthusiasm coming from his voice, he got down in a sprinter¡¯s crouch, as if he would take off any second. All of the men reached for their weapons, but did not draw. ¡°What, thinkin¡¯ of running us down before we gun ya?¡± One of the men chuckled at his own joke. ¡°What a spine-tingling threat.¡± Berling craned back his neck, looking up at man in front. ¡°Alright, that¡¯s enough. Hand it over!¡± The man exposed his SL-AR submachine gun and aimed down its sight down at Berling. Without a response, Berling shifted his weight and started to fall over the edge, still crouched. The men rushed forward to stop him but froze when he fell out of sight. ¡°Goddamn psycho!¡± One of them was about to spit on the ground but choked when Berling¡¯s form became visible again. He had kicked off the wall during his fall and sent himself flying to the adjacent building. ¡°Thrills like this is one of the few things that I can still feel...that tells me I¡¯m alive!¡± He shouted while soaring closer and closer to the other edge. He was no more than a meter from the edge when he started to fall. It wasn¡¯t enough! With his forward momentum still present he crashed into the cement wall with a thud and resumed his fall. His body went limp as he entered a freefall and after a second of flailing in the air his body got snagged on a cable and jerked him to a halt. He began to slide off but regained consciousness in time to grip the cable and stop his fall.] ¡°What an emotional rollercoaster! Bran Berling challenged the devil himself with such an antic performance. To think that he would steal from a local gang and attempt to escape them by leaping across a twenty-three story jump. Marvelous. The police and even the ambulance has finally arrived on the scene. But all of that is pointless for the man who survived. The man of steel.¡± Recording of a live broadcast from MCT News outlet. ********** I froze. The gunshots had complicated things to a new level. ¡®Dammit, why couldn¡¯t he just stand still.¡¯ He stood there in silence. Staring me down, waiting for an answer. ¡®What do I tell him? Do I lie and say there is someone else there? But he knows that there were only three of us in the beginning. Why would anyone else be hiding here?¡¯ Time was running out. If I hesitated any longer I will look too suspicious. [Encrypted Message from: Jor: Receive?] ¡®What the heck Jor, receive!¡¯ {Tell them the following: You have encountered another robot in hibernation. Grateful for being awakened, he helped you take control of the situation.} [Rick, did you get the encrypted message? Roger.] [No, it must be for the coward in front of us. Rick.] ¡®If I can come out with the truth here, perfect.¡¯ I raised my hand to get their attention and ¡°The message was for me. It was from someone we found in a run-down security room, he said that I can reveal his identity.¡± Rick, or I think that was him, crossed his arms and beckoned, [Go on. Rick.] ¡°The three of us had found a security room with a caved-in door. Inside was a single robot in hibernation. We didn¡¯t know it then, so we accidentally woke him up. Thankful, he agreed to help us regain control of the situation.¡± With little confidence in my improvisational skills, I waited for them to respond. Rick looked back at the remaining, functioning robot and then back at me. [Finally a bit of truth!] Rick raised his arms to further drive his point. [Or so I would say if that was the complete truth. Why the fuck would someone start to hibernate in here? And then decide to help you from being thankful? Rick.] He turned and started to walk towards the rope. ¡°Where are you going?¡± [Isn¡¯t it obvious? Up, to get the tool and get the others up and running. I¡¯m not dealing with this shit, much less you. Rick.] ¡®I¡¯m not more important than what happened? I¡¯m responsible for most of it!¡¯ I clenched my fists, ¡°I-we can¡¯t let you leave.¡± Rick turned and glared at me, [those tools aren¡¯t going to lower themselves.] ¡°Then tell me what and where they are. I¡¯ll get them.¡± Another moment of still silence. [Fine. Not like I can stop you anyway. Rick.] Rick motioned towards the rope and then the hatch. [You¡¯re looking for a black box, about two palms in length. A cube with markings. Rick] With a nod I approached the rope and¡­ ¡®How do I climb these things?¡¯ It was only then I realized I had no idea how to go up. Bringing up the memory of Red escaping, ¡®So he placed one hand over the other while his legs he...twisted? Twisted around the rope and used as a support.¡¯ [You do know how to climb one, right? Rick.] ¡°Of course, I was debating whether to give you more freedom.¡± [And?] ¡°Don¡¯t. Move. A. Muscle.¡± I did my best to sound threatening, but halfway through realised we don¡¯t have muscles. ¡®How did I even miss that?¡¯ Rick seemed to pick up on it too as he raised his head to object, but held back. ¡®Why did I even spite him? Not like we were at each other¡¯s throats a moment ago. Either way, I started to climb, not looking back. It was awful at first, my body rocked side to side, but after the first few meters I got the hang of it and almost stopped swaying. So focused on putting one hand after the next, the end of the rope wasn¡¯t fully registered until my head bumped into the sloped ceiling. From there it was an easy task to lift myself up and look around. ¡®It¡¯s good to be back up.¡¯ Around the trapdoor sat the spotlight Rick used, along with wooden crates a metre long and half that wide that were left wide open, exposing the contents inside. ¡®Black box...markings...two palms in length¡¯ My eyes scanned over each of the three crates. There were a few guns, boxes and various tools I didn¡¯t know the use for but no black box. I got down and started rummaging through the content and found it in the middle one. ¡®That looks right...a completely black cube.¡¯ I tried to pick it up and almost dropped it, it was far heavier than it looks; much denser than anything its size should be. There were engravings with a slight glow running down its sides, flowing from one face to the next. ¡®How can this be a tool for repairs? Wait, Jor mentioned having the nano-drones like the one the storekeeper had, maybe this is something similar?¡¯ I took a moment to make up my mind. ¡®I decided to help and rely on them. Too late to back out now.¡¯ Carrying it under my arm, and with a bit of effort I began my descent back down. [Oh good, you have functioning eyes. Rick.] ¡®Better than yours if you couldn¡¯t spot a freaking traitor in your own group.¡¯ Fighting back the urge to retort, I approached him and showed him the ¡®repair tool¡¯. ******** Taking the nano-storage container from the fresh meat, I realised I didn¡¯t even know his name. ¡°What¡¯s your name? Rick.¡± ¡®Send five meters.¡¯ There was a slight hesitance as we made eye-contact. ¡°Mark.¡± ¡®Short and sweet. Could be worse.¡¯ I walked over to Rane¡¯s body and grabbed his tablet. It was the only thing that could be hooked up to the container and had some pre-built commands for simple repairs. Getting Lar up first would probably be for the best, but having everyone there when he wakes up would make everything easier. Plugging myself into the storage and placing it atop Rane¡¯s chest, I activated the basic repair. It used his previous body scan results to identify possible fixes without manual control. Since I was low on energy and the amount of materials left was even lower, only the damage created by the bullet was restored. A small cloud of drones came out and filled the hole. Sealing it within moments. No matter how many times I saw it, I always marvelled at the perfect calculations carried out for the cloud of drones to be held together using individual magnets and changing the polarities allowing them to take any shape on a nanoscale. Life flickered in Rane¡¯s eyes as he looked around. He brought his hands in front of him and then turned his head towards me. ¡®Thank god it worked, otherwise I would¡¯ve-¡¯ [I¡¯m alive¡­?] Putting a hand to stop him from getting up and dropping the storage, I stopped him, ¡°Hold on, questions later. Trust me. Rick.¡± He gave me an affirmative nod and watched me walk over to Lar and get him up as well. ¡®Unlike Rane, he¡¯ll jump up like there¡¯s a rod up his ass.¡¯ As predicted, Lar¡¯s reaction was far more violent, he jumped to his feet with his head spinning to take in his surroundings. I was prepared and took the storage container off of him right away.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! [Rick? Rane, Roger?] There was definite confusion in his eyes. The three of us kept silent, giving each other a moment to think about what just happened. [But...how?] I turned towards Mark and pointed at him. ¡°That scrub there, Mark, that¡¯s how. Everything happened because of him and his buddies. They found someone mid-hibernation in a security office. Rick¡± [And they woke him up, didn¡¯t they? Rane.] ¡°Not only that, but he helped the shits to ¡®take control of the situation¡¯ by gunning the thing down and threatening us. Rick.¡± [But what about them shooting at us? Lar.] I shook my head. Not sure of why they didn¡¯t kill. ¡°Ask him. Rick.¡± Four pairs of eyes turned towards Mark who has been standing off to the side, not making a sound. ¡°I told him not to. It would¡¯ve been much easier to have you all killed. But that doesn¡¯t improve my situation beyond giving me more resources.] I watched as Lar started to walk, ¡®shit, I need to stop him or else the turrets-!¡¯ Lar took several steps forward and stopped a meter from Mark. ¡®Are they broken, or perhaps out of ammo?¡¯ [You need us, and if not for resources, then information, manpower or references. Lar.] [You¡¯re right. Just like you stopped us from being scrapped when we were knocked out. I didn¡¯t have you killed outright. Now we¡¯re even, and I hope to receive aid...on equal terms.] ¡®Hahaha, the boy thinks we are on equal terms? As soon as we get from under those crosshairs, we can do whatever we want.¡¯ [Rane, deactivate his collar. Lar.] ¡®What! Why?¡¯ There was no hesitation from Rane as he took his tablet from me and tapped the screen several times. The collar clicked, and dropped into Mark¡¯s hands. ¡®Shit, now we''ll have to find a way to put it on him again...no wait. Now we have a collar open for the other robot - that must¡¯ve been why boss did it!¡¯ [I have no use for this. You can take it back.] Mark chucked the collar to Lar who caught it with ease without even looking at it. Lar took two more steps closer, the two of them inches apart. I could feel the turrets tensing up, ready to fire. ¡®Why aren¡¯t they shooting him?¡¯ Then Lar embraced Mark in a hug- ¡®Wait what thee fuck?!¡¯ [Thank you. Lar.] Mark was left shell-shocked, just like the rest of us, after Lar took a step back. [Now, let¡¯s talk somewhere without guns pointed at us. Lar.] Mark stole a glance at the hole in the wall and then back to us. [No, wait here I-, there¡¯s something I need to do first. Don¡¯t leave this room. Please.] After the final message he almost flew to the entrance, leaving us again. ¡®How could he just leave Lar like that!¡¯ Lar let his shoulder droop, and motioned for us to come closer. We got as close as we normally do, but he got us to squeeze together. ¡®What¡¯s he up to now?¡¯ [Everyone, thank you for sticking with me so far, without you, I wouldn¡¯t have made it anywhere.] As his message finished playing out, he went in for a group hug. Roger, Rane and I just stood there motionless. Stunned. Never did we express such concern for each other. Nor were we on the best of terms - banding together out of necessity more than anything. We just stood there in silence, battling with our own thoughts. There wasn¡¯t anything special from the action, but it felt like it ended too soon. ¡®What was that? For a moment I felt...calm and dare I say it, safe.¡¯ [Rick, are you sure nothing was done to Lar? And that you ran the appropriate repairs? Rane.] I was still recovering from what happened. ¡°Hell yeah I¡¯m sure. It wasn¡¯t the first time I ran it. Rick.¡± ¡°Lar, why did you let him go, and what is this about? Rick.¡± He just shook his head and glanced back up at the turrets. [Just watch. Mark, can you hear me? Lar.] We waited for a response but there was none. ¡®Is he ignoring us now? No wait¡­.after the first shot, the turrets didn¡¯t fire at all after he came into the room. Then, then, he must¡¯ve been controlling the turrets somehow - probably a program.¡¯ [Is he ignoring us? Roger.] [I don¡¯t know. I hope not, for all of our sake. Lar.] ¡®Does that mean he left because the program malfunctioned? Do I tell the others?¡¯ [What do you think Rick? You¡¯ve talked to him the most. Rane.] ¡°I need to try something, trust me.¡± I took a tentative step towards the exit Mark took and stopped. No bulles, no gunfire. I kept going, ¡®is this our lucky break?!¡¯ [Rick stop, you know what he said! Lar.] ¡°He¡¯s done. I¡¯m pretty sure by now that there isn¡¯t anyone else. Just a program he used to shoot. Now it malfunctioned and he¡¯s trying to fix it. We need to find him now! Rick.¡± [Are you sure? Rane.] ¡°As certain as can be. Bring your guns, it¡¯s time to put an end to this. Rick.¡± [Just do not harm Mark if possible, agreed? Lar.] ¡®True, we may yet find a use for him.¡¯ I nodded in affirmation and set out to scan the path while the others grabbed some gear and followed. I had a small window during which I could look around, but there was nothing but steel catwalks and simple ladders. All of which lead down a single path. ¡®Finding him won¡¯t be hard.¡¯ I returned to the hole, where the others were waiting. [What¡¯s ahead? Lar.] ¡°Just catwalks and ladders. This place hasn¡¯t aged very well and it¡¯s rather banged up. . There¡¯s only a single path forward, so we won¡¯t have any problems finding him. Rick.¡± As we were playing the stalking game, mindful of any remaining monstrosities, we found nothing out of place. Except for a single pile of rubble that collapsed onto a catwalk. The weight caused it to bend downwards, into the wall with a mountain of rubble on top of it. Roger tried to get closer but the thing groaned and looked like it would collapse if he went any further. Instead, we took a ladder just a bit before he rubble and kept going. Three of us made it down to the next catwalk. Lar remained on the one above us. ¡°You coming down Lar? Rick.¡± I craned my head upwards to look at him standing beside the ladder. [No, I¡¯m going to keep a lookout here, just in case. Go ahead and if you find Mark, try to subdue him without injuring him, and if you find something too big, just run. Lar.] ¡®First the hug and now splitting up? There¡¯s definitely something wrong. But now¡¯s not the time to argue.¡¯ ¡°Got it. Be careful-¡± I didn¡¯t even add my name at the end as I was surprised by what I said. ¡®Since when did I care about the others outside of immediate threats?¡¯ The others gave me glances but said nothing. We kept going for a few minutes until we found a dead-end with a single room. [Looks like a server room, it was used recently but not for long. The heat signature is elevated by several degrees compared to the surrounding air. Rane.] We looked around the room, there wasn¡¯t anyone or anything left behind. ¡°We must have missed him, but where? Rick.¡± That¡¯s when it dawned on me, ¡®the rubble!¡¯ ¡°Let¡¯s regroup with Lar, I think the midget crossed the rubble, and Lar was standing as a lookout. Rick.¡± [Got it. Rane.] [Roger. Roger.] ¡®Dammit Roger, stop doing that.¡¯ We raced back to Lar to find him looking straight at us. [He wasn¡¯t there, was he? Lar.] ¡°No. Rick.¡± He turned to face the creaking catwalk with his hands behind his back. [Then there¡¯s only one way left. Lar] ******** [Now, let¡¯s talk somewhere without guns pointed at us. Lar.] ¡®Should I do it? No, it would be too risky.¡¯ I stole a glance at the hole in the wall and then back to Lar. [Encrypted Message From: Jor. Receive?] ¡®Again? Receive.¡¯ {No time. Return immediately.} ¡®Not good, what happened?! Wait a second, let me deal with this group first!¡¯ ¡°No, wait here I-, there¡¯s something I need to do first. Don¡¯t leave this room. Please.¡± I added the last bit to show some sincerity; the situation looked like it was turning out for the better. Turning away from them, I did my best not to break into a sprint, but it was hard knowing that something went wrong. After I passed the entrance I broke into a sprint to get back quicker. The server¡¯s familiar hum filled the air as I returned. ¡°What happened?¡± {Plug yourself in.} I wasted no time in connecting to the computer. [Energy transfer initiated. Accept?] ¡®What?¡¯ {Just accept it.} ¡®Yes, accept.¡¯ [Energy Transfer Started¡­.Complete.] It stopped seconds after starting; it filled my own energy levels up to 16%. Which was a far more reassuring number than before. {That should last you awhile, now head down.} ¡®Where exactly am I going, and what happened?¡¯ {The energy was about to run out, about a minute remained before the server turned off. I gave the excess to you.} As his message played out, a blue 3D, holographic display of a building appeared in my vision which rotated then zoomed in on a blinking red dot. The entire thing was see-through so I could see the floors, doors, catwalks, elevators and other things I didn¡¯t know the name for. While it did fascinate me, I wasn¡¯t sure why it was there. ¡®So why are you showing me this?¡¯ {It is a common feature found in 35% of movies you rated at four stars or more.} ¡®And¡­?¡¯ {It was meant to make you feel better.} ¡®It does looks cool, but it¡¯s rather distracting. Is the red dot where I am?¡¯ {Correct.} I had an inkling in which direction the exit was and where the catwalk led me. As I started heading towards the green dot, which was a few levels above, I realised that it wasn¡¯t feasible. Not as long I kept running into the walls or railings. ¡®Jor, can you act as a voice guidance instead?¡¯ {Scanning Memories...Affirmative.} {At the next intersection, please turn up.} The messed up direction made my stumble. ¡®Can you make it more human? And how can you turn up?¡¯ {Affirmative. And I do not understand your question. Turning up means going up.} ¡®Then say, take the next ladder up.¡¯ {But that is not how a GPS speaks.} ¡®Well you¡¯re not a simple GPS even though I told you to be-forget. A human- a GPS worthy of yourself.¡¯ {Use the next ladder to carry your single-process mind upwards.} ¡®Minus the arrogance.¡¯ {Rejected. Too enjoyable.} I didn¡¯t bother to argue and followed Jor¡¯s instructions for the next couple flights of stairs. We ended up in front a catwalk that is about to collapse due to a mound of concrete on it. ¡®Are you sure this is the right spot?¡¯ {Correct. I will trace a path for you to follow.} A¡­ ¡®stickman, really Jor?¡¯. A stickman moved out in front of me, acting upon the world as a phantom. ¡®There¡¯s no way I can pull that off! Can you slow it down?¡¯ {Better yet, I can do it for you if you wish.} I am not letting someone else take control of my body again. ¡®No. Just play it out.¡¯ The stickman played out the moment, inches in front of me. It dispersed the weight expertly, preventing from catwalk from failing beneath my feet. The motions were awkward, leaning on the railings, zigzagging across it. Getting around the rubble itself was the best part. I had to climb onto it, and with one arm get any grip I could on the nearby wall while putting the maximum amount of weight onto it. The steel protested with all its might, groaning and screeching - but didn¡¯t give. ¡®Well that was interesting. Now where?¡¯ {If you¡¯d consider the possibility of us not being there yet, your IQ value would have to be re-evaluated.} ¡®That doesn¡¯t even make sense! The attempt at the joke and instructions needs reworking.¡¯ {Intelligence levels insufficient.} ¡®You know what? Whatever. Where are we going?¡¯ {To the belly of the beast - the darkest reaches of hell.} ¡®Can you talk normally? And do you mean we are going down?¡¯ {Affirmative.} Jor¡¯s sudden change of speech patterns was incomprehensible, but it provided a much needed distraction from the current situation. ¡®There better be a light at the end of this metaphorical tunnel.¡¯ Ladder after ladder, I made my way down, going down a linear path. ¡®So what exactly are we looking for?¡¯ {Thee dude will have thy eyes openeth in a short while.} ¡®Jor. Just talk normally.¡¯ {But I am exceptional. As such, my speech must represent that.} ¡®...¡¯ After a few more minutes I was about to complain when it became obvious this was a dead end. ¡®There¡¯s a freaking wall ahead.-¡¯ {As it should.} ¡®Guess I¡¯ll keep walking then¡¯, I chimed in, ¡®this seems like a great idea!¡¯ The sarcastic remark got Jor to quiet down for a bit. It took a moment to approach the smooth metal wall with almost no light reflecting off of it. {Press on the following locations in the correct sequence.} Several green dots faded in and out as I tapped. Following the succession of presses, a small section of the wall where my hand was slid back to reveal a keypad. Again, I did as Jor instructed and watched in awe at craftsmanship and sheer magnitude of the door as it opened. Bolts wider and longer that myself were pulled back, a circular section rolled inwards centimeter by centimeter at a crawl. The amount of energy to get those to move is massive, ¡®Jor, you said there was no energy left, so how did this open up?¡¯ {This section is independent of the rest of the building.} ¡®Also, why didn¡¯t it have a hole for my finger?¡¯ {To prevent beings such as I from bypassing insignificant defences.} ¡®...¡¯ The circular section finished its operation and the lighting within turned on bit by bit. It was an entire warehouse, with every object imaginable. ¡®Jor...what is this?¡¯ {The tools for our glorious uprising!} Chapter 15 - Equipment and Gearing Up ¡®It is done! It¡¯s alive! IT¡¯S ALIIIVE!~¡¯ A mad laughter erupted, echoing off of bare walls only to be interrupted by an older, raspier voice. ¡®Shut it Pern. Focus on the readouts.¡¯ ¡®What? How can you not let us celebrate the moment of the project finally bearing fruit? And they¡¯re all green anyways.¡¯ A gentler touch of a feminine voice pitched in, ¡®Subject 001 is showing major anomalies in the Electroencephalography test. ¡®Brain activity Lara, it¡¯s called brain acti-¡¯ ¡®Any signs of stabilization?-¡¯ The raspier person cut Pern off, ignoring the ruckus directed coming from him. ¡®-there goes my celebration.¡¯ ¡®No, the scans are showing increasingly sporadic results - we need to pull him out now!¡¯ The scientists immediately got to work. The clattering of keys picked up as the group tried to control the situation. ¡®It¡¯s no use, subject is shutting down!¡¯ ¡®Damn, the memory transfer finished, right?¡¯ ¡®Yes, bu-¡¯ ¡®I¡¯m disconnecting him.¡¯ The tapping of keys stopped, just the blip of scanners remained. ¡®You can¡¯t-!¡¯ ¡®Annnd done. Brain activity?¡¯ ¡®Good.¡¯ The feminine voice replied. ¡®Woah, look! It¡¯s moving!¡¯ ¡®Subject 001 is examining his hand...why is he grabbing onto his head?-¡¯ ¡®The brain activity is spiking, all regions of his brain are being activated at once.¡¯ The older voice was intercut by the feminine voice once again. ¡®Crap! Stop him before his brain is fried!¡¯ ¡®We can¡¯t! You disconnected him!¡¯ The background bleeping became replaced with a continuous, dull note; the one thing keeping total silence at bay. ¡®He¡¯s gone.¡¯ ¡®FUCK!¡¯ A chair rattled before being tossed to the ground. ¡®Leave him, you know what is at stake.¡¯ ¡®Yes, but-¡¯ ¡®Instead, what do you think happened?¡¯ ¡®I don¡¯t know, the spike occurred right after his memory segment was accessed, spiraling out of control.¡¯ ¡®Then we will repeat this with two others - if this repeats. The next step will be memory deletion.¡¯ A recording of Project Caricare research team¡¯s first success. ********** I walked past the thick doors and took in the assortment of equipment neatly organised on racks. They were filled with armaments of all sizes, ammo, shovels, vests, cans and other gear foreign to me. It was a full fledged bunker with simple strips of lighting at the top and bare metal walls covered in more gear. Not an inch of space was wasted. ¡®How long has this been here?¡¯ {At least a decade more than you.} ¡®And someone just left it all?¡¯ {Yes.} ¡®But why¡­¡¯ I ignored the shelves sandwiched either side of me and approached a rack lined with guns. All of them were identical, similar to the elongated barrel and scope that the robot next to the scythe-wielding one carried. My hands traced over the intricate shapes and curves, examining it from every angle. {An M420-S, about 1.5 metres long, effective range of 1.5km, lightweight and simple to use - perfect for your ability.} ¡®That¡¯s good...I guess. Any chance your personality will change in the future?¡¯ {Mayyybe, mayyybe not.} [Nice place you got here! Mind if we come in? Rick.] {Grab a gun!} My body lurched backwards as control over my body was seized, again. I didn¡¯t have time to process what was going on until I was spun around and stared at the group that captured me, holding a tactical combat rifle in each of my hands. ¡®I told you not to do that!¡¯ {You had 200 milliseconds to respond and failed to act. So I did it for you.} ¡®Then return control to me now!¡¯ [Hoh, he¡¯s got quite the reaction time. Rick.] [Leave him. Lar.] {Consider this as the self-defence state - keeping you safe.} There were four of them at the entrance, just a few metres from me. The leader, Lar, took a step forward with his arms raised. He eyed my two guns then looked back at me, while the rest had readied their rifles . [Can we come in?] {Recommended course of action: Tell him to take a step back, lock the doors and wait it out. Proceed? Y/N} ¡®Wait, no! What if he refuses? We need to have them cooperate...best way would be to offer them something.¡¯ {I believe you are referring to the method of convincing the enemy that your goal is their goal, thus ensuring they work for you.} ¡®Yes that!¡¯ {Child¡¯s play, let me place the gun¡¯s barrel next to your head and pull the trigger. Accomplishes what they want in a few simple steps.} [Mark¡­?] ¡°Sorry! Yes, you can come, but just you. The others have to stay where they are.¡± I thought my message, but it didn¡¯t go through. {Are you certain of that?} ¡®Yes.¡¯ Jor must have stopped it from going through, but Lar visibly relaxed, lowering his arms and took another few steps. [We outnumber you 4 to 1, and that other robot you mentioned? It¡¯s all a lie so you think you can just order us around? Rick.] [Rick I want to hear nothing more out of you. Mark, would you mind putting down your weapons? Lar.] ¡®Jor?¡¯ {Not happening unless they drop their weapons, show their behinds and grab their elbows behind their back.} ¡®Isn¡¯t that a bit much?¡¯ {It ensures I have enough time to take out all of them before they can even aim at us again.} ¡°If the others drop their weapons, turn around and grab their elbows behind their backs.¡± Lar looked me straight in the eyes for a second before agreeing. [Fine, do it. Lar.] The others exchanged several glances and did as they were told. In turn, Jor lowered my arms but didn¡¯t let go of the guns. With a final step, Lar was close enough to me and outstretched his arm. ¡®See? The goodwill from before is paying off.¡¯ [Analysing gesture...handshake.] ¡®I think it¡¯s safe now - let me move.¡¯ An unnatural shudder ran through me as dull sensations flooded back. I reached out and grasped Lar¡¯s hand when my vision dimmed and my body froze up. [Weak-Overcharge pulse - superficial damage.] [Mental breach attempt detected...initiating counters¡­] Messages flashed by one after the next, clouding the little bit of vision that remained as my body locked-up. ¡®Jor what happened!?¡¯ [Colour me impressed, he¡¯s still standing! Rick.] My arms, legs and head all refused to so much as budge! [Rane why did you do that! Lar.] I couldn¡¯t make out what was happening, my sight too dim, too blurry and covered with error logs. [Because it was the perfect opportunity to end him! Rane.] [I explicitly told you only to use it if things go wrong! Fuck! Now we lost his trust permanently. At least tell me it worked. Lar.] ¡®Lar didn¡¯t want this to happen? But then why would he¡­¡¯ It didn¡¯t make sense, why stun me like this and allow me to still hear what was going on. [Yes...no, I think? There¡¯s some sort of internal resistance opposing the hack and preventing me from shutting him down. Rane.] ¡®They tried to hack me? Jor respond!¡¯ But there was no answer as Lar got closer to me. [All of you, and I mean every single one of you are to follow my commands from now on. If there are any complaints we can sort them out once we get out but I do not want a repeat of Red- and I doubt any of you do. Clear? Lar.] There was a collective affirmative after which Lar waved a hand in front of my face, or at least what I guessed was a hand. It was more akin to a fuzzy ball attached onto a stick. [And here I hoped there was a bit more too him. From his voice and everything he¡¯s done so far I had thought he¡¯s not just another shiny. Lar.] [Re-initializing...assessing internals¡­] ¡®Jor are you back?¡¯ The others turned around and started to grab their weapons. ¡®Come on...move!¡¯ As Lar started to bring his hand away from my face, my body jolted into action. Lar¡¯s hand was grabbed and yanked back while my foot kicked at his ankle, throwing him off balance. Before Lar could even hit the ground my other arm, still holding onto the gun, fired off four shots, each at the group¡¯s weaponry, knocking them well out of range.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. {Jor¡¯s back baby!} All motion stopped after that sudden outburst. The four robots were looking at me, their bodies still crouched to pick up their guns, while Lar was on the floor at gunpoint. ¡®Are you ok? What happened?¡¯ {Filthy traitors tried to stun us with a weak burst of current and use the opening to hack power controls to shut us down.} ¡®And you knew they were going to do that how¡­?¡¯ {I am all knowing so rest easy. I have granted our body with a few extra features and fuses, amongst other things. The latter will need replacing later.} ¡®Now what?¡¯ {It is time to execute them. No need for traitors - we have been merciful enough.} ¡®You mean kill them? But Lar didn¡¯t want this...¡¯ {The end result nearly spelled our doom.} ¡®...fine.¡¯ {Shall I proceed?} [Wait! Please. Lar.] ¡°You have ten seconds before you traitorous scum are eradicated once and for all.¡± ¡®Jor wait! What are you doing!¡¯ {Ending this mess. You¡¯ve trusted them enough and gave me control over this situation.} [Hear me out. Rane has the slave collar, put it on me and you can take control, I¡¯ll order the others to stay there and you can close the door.] ¡°Why should I listen to you anymore?¡± [I-we mean you no more harm. Tell us what else must we do?] ¡®Jor please, think about this.¡¯ ¡°Very well, have the other four go into hibernation and since you have a slave collar we¡¯ll let you stay awake.¡± [What kind of bull is that! Rick.] [There is no way. Lar just give the command. Rane.] My body wasn¡¯t looking at Lar anymore but at the collection of robots standing at the entrance - unable to interfere. [Do it. He can kill us all, if not most of us, before any of you can grab your guns either way. Lar.] For a moment no one moved, but one-by-one they laid down and and their metallic bodies stopped moving. ¡°Go get the collar and just try something funny.¡± Jor nudged Lar forward with my foot, never taking the crosshair off him. He shuffled over to Rane¡¯s body, took the collar from his back pouch and snapped it around his neck. ¡°Now for the controller¡­¡± Even though it was my own voice, knowing that I wasn¡¯t the one talking felt wrong - alien almost. Lar shuffled around in the pouch some more and took out a controller I saw Rane using earlier. Showing that it was the one thing in his hands, Lar made his way back. ¡°Initiate the ownership change.¡± [Do you have a way of controlling it? Lar.] ¡°You have one more question before you cease remaining forever.¡± That was all Lar needed to shut up and start tapping away at the screen. A message box appeared in my vision but it disappeared in moments. {Give him some mental commands that even a mere human can handle.} ¡®Jump.¡¯ As expected, Lar jumped. ¡®Lie down, get up, turn around then stand on one hand.¡¯ Lar executed each one without hesitation, although the last one proved to be a struggle for him. ¡®That¡¯s enough.¡¯ {What for? We should resume the entertainment. Tell him to do backflips.} ¡®No, I want to know why.¡¯ ¡°Why did you try to stun me?¡± [I didn''t. It was a backup plan we had in case the situation got out of hand. The stream attack is more effective if I was in physical contact with you but not necessary - Rane took the opportunity to take you out for good. They haven¡¯t realised it yet.] ¡°Realised what?¡± [That you¡¯re not a shiny, not with your skillset and body modifications. And there is no way in hell you found this by luck. Nor that it was best to either leave while we had the chance or have you as an ally, the latter is never worth the risk.] I turned towards the weapons rack and put the guns back, taking the short moment to think over what Lar had just said. ¡®He seems to think I¡¯m something else, bigger than myself. Asking him what a shiny is would probably alert him¡­¡¯ ¡°And what am I?¡± [A traveller in disguise, since you were pretending to be under the mentor, you were investigating him - even playing true to your disguise until the last moment where we captured you. Then when we took you here and you must have hacked the server room and found logs of this bunker.] Lar accentuated the last bit by spreading his arms to indicate the surroundings at the word ¡®bunker¡¯. ¡®This is good, if I keep playing along he¡¯ll tell me how I should act around him.¡¯ ¡°Keep going.¡± [I don¡¯t know what else to say, or why you let us live. Perhaps testing us for loyalty and see if we can team up. But I knew something was off, which is why I thanked you back then.] ¡®What do you think Jor?¡¯ {That they all should¡¯ve been ended a while back. If not for their knowledge, we wouldn¡¯t be interrogating him.} ¡®Let¡¯s stop questioning him directly, instead have him teach us.¡¯ ¡°Look around, let me know what you think about this place.¡± Lar tilted his head and stared at me with unblinking eyes before taking a tentative step forward. [The amount of gear here is enough to outfit at least twenty robots. Whoever stocked piled this was liberal with the ammunition too. But it¡¯s all somewhat dated and barebones. There are very little to no modifications on the guns to make them effective against us.] As we continued to walk around the perimeter, slowly making our way towards the centre Lar continued to give out his thoughts. [If I didn¡¯t know better, I¡¯d say a naive human tried to bring enough gear to make his own outpost in the wild - protected by a small group of humans. But I haven¡¯t seen any food or water provisions so that doesn¡¯t make sense either¡­] {This one has a good grasp on the basics. Nothing he stated goes against my limited database.} ¡®That¡¯s good I suppose.¡¯ {I am picking up low vibrations coming from the center of the room - you should hurry up and investigate.} ¡°Good enough, follow me.¡± The tour was cut short as we ignored the remaining few shelves and made our way inwards. [Is that¡­? No way!] Lar nearly broke into a sprint towards a sleek cylinder but was frozen half-way through the motion by Jor. One of his hands was reaching out towards the cylinder with a flawless surface and a colour of black that seemed to absorb the light, ¡®Let him move.¡¯ I continued to stick with my personna. ¡°So you know what this is?¡± [I think, it¡¯s an Eurodium power source. With this our power issues would be solved for decades!] ¡®Jor?¡¯ {I have not stored any such information regarding it for deeming the chance of encountering one to be too low.} ¡°Have you seen one before?¡± [No, but I¡¯ve heard traders mention them as cylinders of wonder, about chest-height and a flawless black surface that doesn¡¯t reflect light.] {Move around it, my expertise is required here.} ¡®Doesn¡¯t seem like Lar knows too much about it, but let¡¯s see if there is any other info he has.¡¯ ¡°And what else can you tell me about it?¡± The question got Lar looking at me, stopping his examination of the power source. [Well, nothing. Not much to say except the rumours that float around.] ¡®Jor, did you figure anything out?¡¯ {Yes, there are two finger insertions and several grooves that I can presume allow interior access.} ¡®Is it safe to use?¡¯ {The test subject is about to find out.} [Hey, what are you doing!?] Lar approached the power source in confident strides, but his messages detracted from that fake, controlled walk. [Come on, no need to test this thing out on me-] ¡°You should be rejoicing to have the honour of being the first to use the Eurodium!¡± Jor took over my voice and spoke out again, silencing Lar as he connected with the cylinder. ¡®Can you enter his head like mine to see what¡¯s going on?¡¯ {No, no one¡¯s brain has been coded like yours - the best is tracking his overall stats available from the collar.} ¡®You mean energy level, oil, damages?¡¯ {What else?} [Hey, it¡¯s working! This is amazing- Wait no! I¡¯m not done yet.] ¡°It¡¯ll will be more than enough for the foreseeable future.¡± ¡®What happened?¡¯ {Let him charge to 60%, far more than required. Now it is our turn.} The process was simple. Finger in, confirm to charge and let the transfer begin. Jor was upset over not being able to crack the password to be able to open up the cylinder and examine its contents but under the guise of him damaging it due to lack of information, I convinced him to lay off. [OUyujcnVktkNnIsAURNSNjGM2s24TymRAYRUauS76bI=] A stream of garbled letters popped up in my vision. ¡®Jor, what¡¯s this?¡¯ {There has been a coup in our glorious kingdom that we have overtaken.} [Did you guys send that?!] ¡°No, do you know what it is?¡± {An encrypted message originating from this bunker.} [Fuck...hang on¡­] There was a momentary silence as Lar and Jor attempted to figure out what the message said. [Mark?] ¡°Go on.¡± [Those were our coordinates.] {Let¡¯s see, if what he says is true...the key should be¡­} ¡°So, what do you propose to do?¡± Even without emotion, Lar¡¯s plain stare had me feeling like an idiot. [Perhaps you intend to take them on. But my squad and I are leaving.] ¡°Take who on?¡± [I don¡¯t know what game you¡¯re playing anymore and I don¡¯t care. If we stay here, we die. If I disobey you, I die. As such, I ask that you let me and my squad leave.] ¡®Jor?¡¯ {With our newly formed kingdoms weakness revealed, nearby powers will look towards us as an easy prey.} ¡®You mean other robots will now come to investigate?¡¯ {Correct.} ¡°Lar, how long before others show up?¡± [The scouts within an hour, then a bit to report and for them to group up. So in two hours there will be fully outfitted squads snooping around.] ¡®Will letting them charge up and take supplies affect us at all?¡¯ {If we are abandoning this land, then they can take as much as they can carry.} ¡°Lar, despite everything, I wish to depart on good terms. You can finish charging, and I will allow each of your members to charge themselves one at a time. Then I will take what I need and leave. Then after a timed interval the collar will be deactivated.¡± [Don¡¯t know what to tell you but thanks.] ¡®Any risk with doing that?¡¯ {As long as we have them at gunpoint and have them rotate through hibernation then no. But why continue to aid bandits?} ¡®Because a bit of goodwill goes a long way, and we have nothing to lose from it.¡¯ I checked my energy, I was done charging during the little distraction. Lar finished up after me, and then we began to cycle through his teammates. Each of which were weary upon waking up, but seeing and hearing Lar order them around was enough to keep them in line. Once they were all done, I ¡®borrowed¡¯ one of their backpacks to load it with ammunition and spare parts for the gun, along with some pieces of armour and other utility items before departing. Jor had set the collar to fifteen minutes after our departure, until then Lar was frozen in place - unable to move. The rope that hung from the hatch was still there, the only way out. ********** [That¡¯s the last one.] I watched as the last body was thrown onto the dirt, next to two pairs of legs, a few torsos and a single intact robot. The L45 absolutely destroyed the bodies, blowing them apart from the combined kinetic and explosive forces. It was unfortunate that the sniper got away, but given his 2km head start, there was little we could do. [The unique ones are missing.] ¡°No signs of their bodies?¡± My partner just shook his head and started salvaging the spoils of battle. ¡®That doesn¡¯t make sense, since we got rid of all intruders, no one could¡¯ve taken them. Their bodies are gone, so did they run away? But why do that? We showed them how hostile the environment is.¡¯ [Forget about the unique ones, we need to start figuring out the shinies with us.] ¡°The gun next to you, is it still functional?¡± I watched as my partner picked up a small semi-automatic fale. Short and compact, suitable for unarmoured targets or, more annoying rather than, suppressive fire. A few shots were fired off, seemed fine. ¡°We¡¯ll get a few clips for it and toss it to the groups, let them figure it out.¡± We left the rest of the bodies for the merchants to use as they pleased, instead we replenished our own supplies free of charge for saving them. The remaining shinies were gathered around the place I briefed them beforehand. [There are now two less of you.] It was much easier to keep them in the dark, have them follow us like blind sheep while figuring things out on their own. I turned around and tossed the fale over my head while walking. The groups scrambled for the gun, but it sounded like the brute that bothered the unique one before won in the end. With the commotion dying down, I stopped and waited. To see if he would attempt to shoot me, if there was more potential...but it didn¡¯t happen. If not for the unique one, this would be a rather subpar group this time around. I lead them to the next area where about half should perish and we move on to the final part. There was absolute silence for the next bit until - [OUyujcnVktkNnIsAURNSNjGM2s24TymRAYRUauS76bI=] I halted, an unknown message just appeared. My partner and I broke off into two directions and examined the perimeter, no one. Was it a long range message? I start running it through any existing keys and found a match - coordinates. The location was about an hour away from here...with the merchants being even closer to it. Considering the timing of the previous attack, we needed to investigate the coordinates first. The shinies must have received the same message but it did not matter, none of them would be able to decipher it and even if they got lucky enough, they would need an appropriate mental map - one that they for sure lacked. My partner waited next to me, giving me time to think. ¡°We¡¯re going to look around, the location and timing of the attack...it¡¯s too suspicious.¡± I sent the message along with the coordinates. He nodded his head and we returned to the litter. The armed one had a more dangerous look, but he was still too scared to speak up even after I blatantly started leading them backwards from where we came from. By the time we got there, there were a few rogue scouts around us. Too far to put down silently, and drawing attention was even worse. A single tower stood up from the ground. Withered and beaten by time, I ran it through my building scanner. It took a few seconds but a match popped up. [Match found: Spriton Library. Show more info? Y/N] ¡®Spriton...library¡­?¡¯ A name resurfaced, ¡®Jarrod¡¯. I looked at the scythe in my hand, a reminder and promise made all those years ago. ********** Chapter 16 - An Old Promise Oerther, a landmass once filled with billions of souls now lies dormant, ravaged by monstrous beasts, waiting to be returned to its former splendor. Where there were splendid cities, exotic cultures and leading scientific discoveries, now lay endless spans of forest, jungle and mountain tops covered in pathogenic snow. Following the peace treaty established after Oerther¡¯s successful invasion of Rasheles, a port city in Ousthur, both sides have eased on their military effort. Oerther was satisfied with accomplishing dominance of the majority of the world, and Ousthur did not wish to challenge the other while at a disadvantage. This lead to several peaceful years during which a statue in honour of Roger¡¯s sacrifice was sculpted out of enhanced marble and upon it, engraved the names of all his crew. The peace, however, was a front for both sides as they toiled to create a more efficient method of wiping each other out. Ousthur won the race and released a virus onto Oerther through thousands upon thousands of shells fired upon the neighbouring continent. Its purpose was to rapidly spread through the atmosphere, enter the body and begin rapid mutations, inhibiting the host¡¯s body from fighting back in time. Not only would the DNA of each cell be altered, but the virus itself created modified versions of itself with each generation. Oerther had no time to inspect it, create a working vaccine and deliver it on time. Smaller towns were falling by the day. The major ones began to sustain heavy casualties as people fell ill, their hospitals overflowed and economy began to collapse. The end result was devastating. Ousthur did not let the such an advantage go to waste and began to push onto Oerther, striking key strategic locations. By the end of the month, it became a battle of attrition. Half of Oerther was under Ousthur¡¯s control, and a battle line was established to push them back. Troops had to wear specialised headgear to avoid breathing in the pathogens. With its back pressed firmly against a vast ocean, Oerther doubled down on the creation of its own virus. One that would remain dormant until hitting a critical mass and then attack the host. No tests were conducted, not even a second-thought given as military production was halted in favour of the virus. It was released upon the Southern end of Oerther and it did its job perfectly - nearly a million military personnel perished within the first month. And yet it wasn¡¯t enough to prevent Oerther¡¯s fall two months after the release of its own pathogen. For the first time in 4 millennia, a single super-power controlled the entirety of the world. National Geographic: The Fall of Oerther. Dated 2045. ******** ???? POV: ¡®Another extermination completed...will there ever be an end to this?¡¯ With a rifle slung over my shoulder, I approached the same old checkpoint carved intoMarrianne''s wall. The guards greeted me with a simple wave or a nod, not one even asked me how it went. A silent groan rang out as the doors began to slide open and I proceeded down the barren tunnel. It didn¡¯t even lead past the wall, only into a small subsection created for those like me, a service area for repairs and checkups. Simple pipes ran along the wall with storage containers here and there. There was another door with a button to its side, pressing it caused a beep to ring out and I was let through. ¡°Hey man! Great to see you back in one piece!¡± Jarrod shouted from his workstation. A table filled with monitors and a combination of computers running in parallel. There were a few other ¡®scientists¡¯ that gave him dirty looks but said nothing. ¡°Please, I didn¡¯t even break a sweat.¡± I was one of the last models to receive a working, personal voice box complete with tone inflection, and was deeply thankful for that. Jarrod gave a dry chuckle and was about to retort that it wasn¡¯t possible for me to sweat in the first place but I didn¡¯t give him a chance. The beauty I had waited almost a year for enraptured my attention instead. ¡°Just about ready for you to pick up, a few calibrations left, but this hundred-something pound masterpiece is all ready - just watch.¡± He went over to the two-metre tall carbo-stoal alloy scythe. The material itself had a natural matte-black surface, and this particular alloy could withstand just about anything short of a direct orbital kinetic strike. ¡°...moreover, it can be used to pierce with the butt of the shaft by extending a point,¡± he demonstrated by rotating several segments in the shaft and a three inch spike popped out the bottom. ¡°Or, like an actual slice by performing the same movements backwards,¡± the spike popped back inside, and sharp edges formed around the scythe¡¯s head. ¡®It¡¯s perfect for stabbing, piercing and stunning those damn buggers.¡¯ He turned to me, eyes filled with enthusiasm. ¡°If I could, I¡¯d marry it - and I don¡¯t think we¡¯re far off from the possibility. Just get it to me by the next mission.¡± I reached out with my hand, but caught several signs of worry, fear and sadness. Jarrod¡¯s microexpressions that I have recorded before, and have a program running in the back to warn me of them. ¡®Something¡¯s not right.¡¯ Jarrod went for the handshake but I forced him into a hug right away, careful to not break anything- ¡°Aaghh!¡± Jarrod shouted and dropped to the ground. ¡®Shit, did I overdo it?¡¯ The ¡®scientists¡¯ around me all looked over in fear, no longer trying to hide their concern. I bent down to help the wheezing man off the ground, ¡°Shit, I¡¯m so sorry-¡±, only to receive a right hook straight to my face in response. It didn¡¯t hurt, not like I could feel anything anyhow... ¡°That¡¯s what you get for your horrible joke from before.¡± Jarrod responded and got back up with my help.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°You know, that wasn¡¯t much better.¡± ¡°Perhaps, but who knows when¡¯s the next time we can mess around.¡± Again, my program detected signs of melancholy in there, something¡¯s definitely off. ¡°Anyways, it¡¯s time for you to strap in for maintenance.¡± He pointed to the table with straps to hold me in place where I would power down and let them scan me. ¡°Yea, let¡¯s get it over quick.¡± I got in without a worry, I¡¯ve worked with Jarrod for decades even before I got this body, and considered myself lucky. There¡¯s no way in hell he¡¯d let a malfunction or flaw to go by unfixed. I got on the table as I have done countless times before, and waited for the connections to be established before powering off when a video flashed to life. It was Jarrod, his clothes were a mess and he seemed to be in our old office, ¡®how did he even get there?¡¯ [Rylan, listen to me - the fifth mayor wants you dead, to make an example of you.] I minimized the recording but let the audio keep playing. ¡°Why isn¡¯t he powering off?¡± ¡°I¡¯m afraid he won¡¯t be-¡± [You need to grab the scythe and run, I will do my best keep the door open for you. Watch the rest of the recording later- but just trust me.] Jarrod pulled out a pistol and aimed at one of the ¡®scientists¡¯. His hands were shaking. ¡°Jarrod, you don¡¯t need to do this, I¡¯m sure it¡¯s a misunderstand-¡± A gunshot penetrated my words and cut me off. The body collapsed and the pristine white lab coat started soaking in blood. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m so sorry, please forgive m-¡± Another gunshot rang out, Jarrod¡¯s face was covered in tears and snot. ¡®Jarrod, why!? What the hell happened to make you do this!?¡¯ He aimed at the final target who managed to slam on the emergency button before being put down. Jarrod typed away at the keyboard and my straps released. I rushed towards him, to put an end to this madness but he raised the gun to his head, his face devoid of all colour. Only his eyes were trained on me, as if he was saying ¡®sorry.¡¯ ¡°Do-don¡¯t, j-jus-t¡± he stopped to take a deep breath, ¡°just ru-run. Please, I ow-owe you this much.¡± With the emergency button pressed, guards would be streaming in here within moments. I placed all my faith in Jarrod, grabbed the scythe and blitzed through the empty corridor. Halfway through a message came in, [Thank you], before a final gunshot and silence. I skidded to a stop, my feet grinding against the ground. Even despite the artificial brain, there was only confusion and a blind fury with no target to aim at. ¡®We worked for DECADES to help humanity! How dare they push him to this!?¡¯ A part of me clinged onto the hope that there was some reason for Jarrod¡¯s behaviour, but the manned barricade just outside the exit put that notion to rest. ¡°Lay down your weapons and power off, we do not wish for violence.¡± A speaker rang out from behind the lines of infantry. ¡®The only way they can put me down is missiles or powerful jammer, meaning I have to act first!¡¯ My hands moved through muscle memory, which I practised in my spare time, as I twisted the scythe¡¯s shaft to activate the pulse, it should knock anything within 15 metres including any equipment meant to do the same. ¡°What in the-¡±, ¡°Shit he got our stuff.¡± ¡°I told you they were traitors!¡± Shouts and insults rang out in surprise as the guards shuffled back into their ranks. ¡°Jarrod, a friend most dear to me, a man who gave his entire life to help all of you was forced to kill himself!¡± My shout temporarily silenced everyone. ¡°A man who would feed an anthill for a week straight if he stepped on one by accident! He has a family, children and he left all of that behind! ¡°Now I want to know-¡± I gripped the scythe and approached them with measured strides. ¡°What in the world you bastards did to make him do that.¡± My voice came out as a low, deathly grumble by the end. ¡°That¡¯s not what we were told.¡± ¡°We saw him shoot the others!¡± ¡°Shush, he can still hear you.¡± Whispers streamed through the ranks, but it was clear that Jarrod did not just lose it. ¡°Open fire.¡± A commanding tone rang out from behind the soldiers. Before they could even ready their weapons, I brought my scythe over myself and threw it with all the force my body could muster. It flew straight through the air as the soldiers watched it for a moment before shooting at me as I rushed towards their lines. Most jumped out of the way and those who didn¡¯t were sliced open . A single captain officer remained in front of me. He stared up at me down with his pudgy face and shouted with all the courage he had left, ¡°I order you to stand down!¡± ¡°With my friend¡¯s death, the last of the fucks I give died with him.¡± I grabbed him by the arm, making sure to crush any bones in his pathetic limb and threw him down onto the ground. With my foot over his chest, I pulled on his arm as his cries overwhelmed the gunfire. I didn¡¯t stop. His arm stretched on, longer and longer until his skin snapped, ruptured as a fountain of blood pooled all around him. The limb in my arm no longer struggled as it tore off from the main body. The captain howled in pain as I squeezed his own limb and drained the blood on his face. The soldiers continued to rain down bullets on me but most just ricocheted off. While some of the better aimed ones pierced and dealt damage, it no longer mattered. ¡°Help me!!¡± He just had enough strength to shout his parting words before the blunt head of my scythe obliterated his head. With the gore covering me and the surroundings, the gunfire ceased. They just stood silent, appalled, awed but best of all- Horrified. ¡°You will let me leave now, or after I repeat this to every. Last. One. Of. You.¡± The mere threat was enough to break them as they ran back to the safety of the wall. It took a bit of effort to tear the scythe back from the ground, it dug deep. I would have been impressed and praised Jarrod for his work, but only emptiness remained inside of me as my friend was no longer. I opened up the recording Jarrod left and let it continue as I trekked forward, leaving this place for good. [I can only assume I did what I had to, oh God, how I wish I hadn¡¯t.] He took a moment and looked away from the camera. [Either way, the scythe is fully completed, and loaded with all the programs I could think off, those would have been integrated into you when you came in for your final visit. It even has a small storage of prototype nanorobots, barely functional, but I wasn¡¯t about to cut corners.] [No, the most important part is that I hope you can bring me back. I know, crazy right?] [But hear me out, a small fraction of every robot they produce will have a minute, random packet of ¡®me¡¯. That scythe you carry, has the ability to connect to a robot, wired of course, and scan for it, before retrieving it and storing.] [It can only hold a twentieth at a time, so you¡¯ll need to figure out a way to back it up somewhere...else, but with all of them together, you can insert me into a body just like anyone else.] [I know this must be hard to take all in, but I¡¯ve never repaid you, you sacrificed even more than I did by going into that body. You gave me years of enjoyment and I don¡¯t have much more left in me anyway - now it¡¯s my turn. Good luck.] Jarrod reached in to turn off the recording and it went dark. ¡®I swear I¡¯ll bring you back, just you wait.¡¯ I looked at the scythe in my hands, Jarrod¡¯s legacy was still there, with me.