One moment I had been in the theater, and the next I was back home. The rush was instantaneous; all of the potent fatigue of battle was still paralyzing my muscles. The bodies of the Brutes had long since dissolved, and the now familiar stink of blood and bodily organs wafted through the air. Still feeling exhausted from the battle and confused from the theater episode, I fell onto my back, resting in a pool of blood. It wasnt exactly my ideal spot for a rest, but I wasn't in a mood to travel anywhere at the moment.
I immediately regretted my decision as an open wound on the back of my head came into contact with the blood of what was a Brute, and I sat back up in immediate pain from the contact. The burning was incredible, as I could nearly feel the basic blood gnawing away at my skull. I kept forgetting that my blood had become acidic as of late, due to my consumption of foods that had been watered by acid rain. My continual attempts to break the pain associated with standing in the acidic rain had been successful, but at a cost.
In rather painful trials, I had discovered that Brute blood was quite basic. Apparently, our two bloods were on extreme ends of whatever scale was used to measure the acidity of blood. During a fight just before I had discovered gunpowder, there was a Brute invasion. After their defeat, some blood from one of their wounds came into contact with one of mine, I felt a similar burning sensation to what I had first felt under acid rain.
I rubbed one of my numerous wounds and stood up, deciding to head to my medical healing bay, where I could close these wounds and get some rest. Also, it would certainly be good to reflect on recent events, such as the last Brute attack and my visit to my mind with Regulator.
As I took off my clothing to survey the severity of my wounds, I again noticed the clawlike appendages where my forearms and my legs below the kneecap should have been. The black claws that should have been my hands and feet felt stronger, more powerful, than the rest of my battle-weary body. At least this time they werent spreading.
As with so many critical events in my life up to this point, I felt nothing; no sadness, no self-disgust, no surprise. All of this: the unusual birth, the personas, the acidic rain, the Brutes and their relentless attacks, the truth of my origins, and my quest to discover all that is knowable brings no emotions to me whatsoever.
I pushed these unanswerable questions out of my conscious mind, deciding to concentrate on healing my wounds and building newer weapons to keep the Brutes at bay. How am I to eventually destroy them as part of Overseers survival test if they catch up to me in technology and evolve to become my physical equal or superior? My evolution in speed, strength, and agility had been fairly quick when I had battled the first few Brutes without any weaponry whatsoever or pre-Industrial Revolution weaponry, such as guns or cannon.
Wait, thats it! My evolution stopped because I made technology work for me, instead of doing the job myself. My physical body hadnt felt the need to evolve for something that technology had already done for it. I hadnt gotten any faster because I could drive a car faster than I could run. I hadn't gotten any stronger because new industrial construction techniques allowed me to lift objects without my arms or legs. I hadn't gotten any more agile because I used long range weapons, which didn't force my body to adapt to dodging.
On the other hand, the Brutes had their own intelligence growing, and my attacks were forcing them to evolve to get around my technology! To put it metaphorically, I was attacking with an ever-sharpening spear, and neglecting my knife. The Brutes were attacking me with both knife and spear, and both weapons continued to sharpen through my skirmishes with them.
If my physical body didnt improve to be on an even playing field with the Brutes, I would be beaten soon. I have to forget about using weapons until I can fight off the Brutes barehanded. Quite a feat, but I'm not going anywhere until I advance to the fusion era, whenever that is. Regulator says that I'm nearing fusion, but neither he nor I can prove that.
Well, if ye would just figure out nuclear fission earlier like ah suggested in the first place, we might've been to the fusion era by now, laddie.
Shut up, Regulator. Central Self has better things to do, such as make spirits.
I snorted. This from the man who can't keep a few personas under control.
Hey, ye want ta try keeping Felicity or Basket under control, ye are more than welcome ta.
You can't keep me under control anyway, Rasta-Reggie!
Regulator, I'm not going to have this conversation with you again. Look, I decide what to discover and when, and I wanted to make my current factories more efficient and less damaging to the environment than they already were. Fossil fuels aren't the way to build, Regulator.
So why not after ye complete that?
Would you just let the man speak for three seconds without interrupting?
Hey, ah just don't wanna get on Overseer's bad side.
I wanted to discover solar power first. True, it's not technically fusion era tech, but the sun is visible for over 75% of the time, and why should all of that valuable helium radiation go to waste?
Laddie, laddie, laddie. Overseer's been getting rather unhappy about yer deterring from the main objective. He hates it when ye don't follow the Plan to achieve fusion technology as quickly as possible.
I say forget about that dictatorial, neo-nazi, Overseer. If he wants fusion so much, then he can develop it.
Basket's right. Overseer's done nothing lately to earn my good graces, and this survival test of his is going to get me killed soon if I don't find a way to evolve without getting myself killed on this fu...fu...fuc...pathetic test.
Central's right as well, Reggie. Our favorite host needs those weapons to fight the Brutes, and I don't give a shit about Overseer's impatience to finish the Training.
Shut up, Basket. This's important. Look, kid. Overseer and his bosses dont care what yer opinion of them is. They dont have to. Yer still in the experimental stage, and if ye dont' wanna cooperate, they can kill ye and install us in a new model. The Designers aren't big on rebellious models.
I growled. Sometimes hearing the truth is unpleasant, but ignorance is only bliss until it gets you killed. For example, if I had remained ignorant as to my battle tactics against the Brutes , I would still have confidence in my fighting ability. However, I would eventually lose a battle and get killed. Knowing my problems is the first step to solving them, and I just solved a very large one. All of my work would be for nothing if I was taken offline just for being rebellious to Overseer.
Very well, Regulator. Tell Overseer that as soon as I finish my work on solar power, I'll begin work on nuclear fission, all right?
Nice effort, laddie, but ah donna think hes going ta be willin to wait. Besides, he-
You don't know Overseer like we do, Central. He's an uptight, anal-retentive, authoritarian weasel, and he wants nothing more than to get promoted so he doesn't have to test these new models anymore.
As ah was tryin to say earlier before ah was so rudely interrupted, Basket, Overseer's goin' to expect ya to drop everything yer doin on solar power and work on fission.
I pondered on what I should do. I wanted to finish solar power, if for no other reason than the fact that I wouldn't have to go drilling in the hills to find oil or coal for my current power plants. Being caught in a Brute assault while drilling is quite a vulnerable position, and I hated being in it. With solar power at my disposal, I wouldn't have to leave the fortifications to drill or dig for fossil fuels. Even with fission power, I would still need something to help produce the power; that meant some element of which I had none in abundance, and that meant digging or drilling in the hills. Those foothills had provided me with nearly every element I required for my research.
Regulator, tell Overseer that I am nearly done with my solar power research, and I need the extra power to produce more weapons for the next Brute assault. If Overseer expects me to drop everything right away for fission, hes going to have to stop his little survival test, and we both know he won't do that.
That's pretty clever, laddie. Good thinkin'. Forcin' him to decide twixt fission research and the test. Yer mental fencin is improvin.
No thanks to you, pond scum.
Why thank you, Regulator. I'm not sure if I should take that as a compliment or an insult.
Yer sarcasm isn't gettin any better, though.
You should be learning that from the master. It's too bad Pest isn't here.
Go talk to Overseer, Regulator.
Fine.
See you later, Central. I've got some activites to attend to. The usual, of course.
Of course.
Regulator can be so difficult sometimes, and Basket so unhelpful. I shrugged and attempted to stand, only to discover that I had neither the strength nor the recovery rate of Brutes, which could fight to the death, even if exhausted.
Add one more part of my body to the long list of attributes I need to evolve: wound recovery. I had found that concentrating on the healing process actually sped it up a bit. This was unnecessary after I had figured out how to bind wounds and administer painkillers. If I wanted to evolve, however, it must be without the comfort provided by technology.
I felt the wounds on my body close a bit more quickly than I had anticipated. I had taken off my clothes earlier so that the wounds could have a little more air than the bodysuit provided. I hadnt been naked since the last time I had to fight off a Brute attack, back during the Atomic Age. Finally feeling strong enough without the heavy garments, I pushed myself out of bed and made my way to the eating building to rustle up some vittles.
Did I just say that? Im sounding more like Regulator then I used to. Certainly not a comforting thought. Then again, at least I'm not starting to think like Basket. I shivered. That was an even less comforting thought.
Hey! I heard that!
That certainly didn't sound like Regulator. Had Basket returned from his 'whoopie'?
That's right. Its me, Basket. The bas...bast...Scotsman Regulator's gone to chat with Overseer, so I sneaked in and now I can speak to you.
Oh, perfect. Look, you're not going on about that feline-god again, are you? I've got work to do. See? I have an entire solar power plant to build, so just don't bother me, okay?
Basket's voice was softer than it used to be, as if he was calling out from far away. I wasn't too interested in listening to him right now.
No, this is not okay! And it's the Mutt-God, not the Cat-God! Get the divine One's name right, you unbeliever! After all our wonderful time together, you still can't get his name right!
Basket, stop bothering me. Can't you just go and rant in a more remote section of my mind? Go and preach to Social or Diplomat or something. They're already in the men's bathroom with you.
They refuse to accept the simple divine truth that the One Who Wields the Canines of Doom and his penguin legions will take over Humanity one day, and I have to deal out divine justice towards them and their unbelieving ways.
Translation: Social and Diplomat were tired of Basket spouting about something that cant be proven, so they stopped listening. In response to this, Basket beat them into tiny little bits of personality kibble.
I decided to follow Social and Diplomats example, even if Basket wouldn't shut up until Regulator returned. I had finished the entire power plant by the time Regulator got back and viciously berated, beaten, and assaulted Basket for his actions.
Well, kiddo, ah guess it doesn't really matter what ah told Overseer, huh?
I shrugged. I appreciate the effort, Regulator. Thanks.
No problem. Ah'm just glad you got it done and can now start fission.
Yeah, yeah. I guess I should stop by the hills and find some uranium first, though.
What da ye mean?
Well, when I was assembling the last few parts of the solar power plant, a thought occurred to me about fission. The only element large enough to decompose into molecules with sufficient energy to be useful would be uranium splitting into barium, krypton, and a few electrically neutral neutrons in most cases.
Good thinkin', lad. Double researchin'. Workin' on the solar plant and theorizin' about fission. Yer certainly clever, lad. I'll grant ye that.
I was designed to be clever, Regulator.
Ye really should learn to say that with pride, kid.
Why? I have no need of ego.
When ye start dealin' with humans, it'll be expected. People don't usually say that they're clever without arrogance and pride. Ye'll blend in better.
Actually, the first thing you should deal with when you meet humans is finding a nice, kind, attractive companion, preferably of the female persuasion.
Will you tell me what a human is already? And when am I going to be dealing with humans anyway? There's no one else on this planet.
Ah never said we'd be stuck here on this ball o' rock, squirt. To answer your second question, ah was informed that when you finish your mission here, you'll be introduced to Humanity. That's all ah was told, so don't try suckin' me for more info.
That's just too good not to pass up.
Basket whispered something to Regulator that I couldn't quite make out.
What. Did. Ye. Say.
You heard me, you dictatorial autocrat.
During my conversation with the Two Morons, I picked up my digging equipment at the building containing the aforementioned equipment and drove down the now-well traveled road towards the mountains. Im not sure how much uranium I'll need, so I'll just take a truckful.
After stopping in a mountain pass on the far side from my settlement, I took out some dynamite to blow apart part of the mountain face. I didnt like using the explosive because it lured Brutes here. Then again, they were probably reeling from that last attack, so I had little worries about their strength. It took a few blasts to find the uranium, but I found it in great abundance.
Making sure that I only took a little at a time so that my body would evolve to become immune to small doses of radiation, I carefully loaded the uranium in the truck, making sure it was sealed up tight in a radiation protection box. I could try to make my body immune to larger exposure to the deadly radiation later. Right now, I had fission theory to figure out, research, experiment, and design, and I had to build an operational nuclear fission power plant.
Sorting all of that out actually took less effort and frustration than the solar plant had taken. I could've finished the nuclear fission plant first and I wouldn't have had to deal with Regulators whining about Overseer.
If I had only known earlier...I sighed. What's next, Regulator?
Nuclear fusion, laddie.
Nuclear fusion? Hold on. Nuclear fission is the splitting of one element into separate ones to produce energy. That's what I just finished. Are you telling me that theres a way to combine elements together to produce energy?
Well, that's what ah was told. Got no clue how it works, though. Thats yer job.
Well, now that you mention it, I have been flirting with the idea of using the other end of the periodic scale to figure out fusion.
What da ye mean?
Well, it was easier for fission to work with larger elements, because they could be split apart more easily. The larger an element is, the less stable it is and-
Oh great. Convention of the braniacs goes into high gear.
Ye really do have ta put a clamp on that lecture-mode ye keep slippin inta, kiddo.
You wanted to know, so I told you.
Touché.
I decided to head back to the mountains before I restarted my research. There was a very nice cliff overlooking the hills, and I could see my settlement from there. The encampment was located on the grassy plain that was below the mountains, and the view beyond the town was dazzling. The magnificent splendor of technological might that I had created contrasted exquisitely with the natural background. The air purifiers, scattered on the outskirts of the colony were cleaning up the small amount of haze that was generated during my Industrial Age factories.
It was a perfect place to reflect and ponder without worrying about the constant hum that my factories produced, nor the drum of automated repair facilities, patching up fortifications and buildings damaged by previous raids. They never stopped turning out weaponry in preparation for the next Brute attack, as well as building materials or anything else I needed.
Sitting on the edge of the cliff, I closed my eyes and just let myself become one with Nature. As part of my new self-evolution program, I attempted to push my senses out into Nature, expanding my awareness of the world around me without distraction.
I felt a slight breeze blow around me, and a second later it was interrupted by a countering wind, almost a gust. Knowing that the wind could only blow in one direction, I identified the only thing that could produce such a gust: a fowl, aiming for my unprotected back. I didnt have enough time to dodge, so I braced myself for the attack as best I could. My heels dug into the hard rock, and I placed my claws on the ground at an angle, attempting to fortify my position so that I wouldnt fall off the steep cliff less than a meter behind me.
The fowl slammed into me, it's talons slashing into my transformed forearms, or so I called them now. The black claws that were now my hands were certainly sharper than my former hands, and I could hold tools with greater steadiness and grip than before. The skin must have been thicker as well, because the talons didnt draw blood as the sharp tack claws impacted. The blow still knocked me off balance, and I instinctively stepped back to steady myself.
There wasn't anything but air behind me.
Well, that sucks.
I fell off the cliff, rotating backwards. Almost immediately, I began to panic. Regulator!
No response.
Basket!
No response.
Anyone? Can anyone hear me? Please, help me!
Still no response.
The reality sunk in as I continued to fall, the wind punishing my body as I fell faster and faster. I knew that from the height that I had currently been at, there was no possible way for me to survive this fall. There was no way that I knew to survive. I only had...ten seconds to survive.
I began to wish that the air molecules around me would be drawn to me like a gravitational field, pushing me back upwards to counter the planetary gravity sending me to what was most assuredly my death.
I felt more air resistance, and could feel myself slowing down. Not wanting to overanalyze a working idea in my current position, I began to concentrate on what I had only a few split moments before; the air around me pushing back, providing a counterweight to slow my fall.
With no idea as to what was actually going on, the environment around me responded as such. My fall was now nothing more than a glide. I found that the more I concentrated, the more controlled my fall, now descent, could be. I could move left, right, forward, backward, and any direction I wished.
I was flying, currently breaking a few laws of aerodynamics and gravity in the process. Wait, gravity- I had concentrated on a gravitational field that could provide a stronger pull then the planet, pulling me up instead of down. If the planet was pulling me down with 10 Gs of force, then I could equalize that pull up and completely negate both forces, leaving me in freefall.
I could fly!
If ye donna mind mah askin, but whatcha- no, how're ye doin' that?
Sweet!
Regulator! Basket! I'm flying! Can you believe it?
Well, not really, but ah'm seein it.
Do you realize what this means?
Ah have a feelin yer goin' ta tell mah.
I can control gravity, Regulator! Bend it, negate it, do with it as I please.
As amazing as this is, squirt, ye have ta start your fusion work.
Excuse me? This is amazing! Central just found out that he can fly, and you're telling him to go back to work?
Basket's right. You have to give me some time with this. I dont want to work on fusion just yet, Regulator. Just give me a little more time, that's all.
Kiddo, ah cannot. Overseer's already mad at us, and ah don't wanna make him even angrier then he already is! Ye can practice with this gravifield as long as you want after we finish our mission here.
But what's the rush? I swooped up, down, doing loops. This kind of power was certainly having many positive aspects to it. I wouldn't even need my plane anymore unless I needed some heavy weaponry. The wind now rushed beside me, a close companion on my lazy flight pattern.
Overseer's knows that yer almost done with your mission. He's as anxious as ye are.
Somehow, I doubt it. That despot has been riding our behinds to work faster and longer than we ever have.
We're almost there, kid! You've been waiting for this ever since you were activated! A chance to find out whats beyond this ball of rock!
I noticed that you've dropped your accent, Regulator.
Right now, it's worth it if I can get your attention. Listen to me for just once. This is it. We're almost there. Don't screw it up now.
Please, kid? For all of us personas? We want this just as badly as ye do.
Actually, I want to check out this flying thing. It's fun as hell. Imagine all the things we can do for the Mutt-God now that we-
Fine. I'll get back to the settlement and start work on the fusion plant now.
Thanks, kid. You won't regret this, ah promise you.
And we were having so much fun, too.
Fusion was certainly the most complex, aggravating discovery I had ever researched. No matter how perfect the conditions were, the material I was using wouldnt fuse. If I could leap that hurdle, everything else was easy. All of the nanotechnology that I had created wasnt nearly as difficult as fusion power, and soon I had finished all of the requirements for the end of the Fusion Age. Just as Regulator said, I had been waiting for this moment ever since I was first activated.
Nothing happened.
Umm...ah've got some bad news, laddie.
Oh no, what now?
Overseer abandoned us or something?
Well, th' funny thing is that fusion is actually a word in the Designers language as well as ours. It kinda means that yer supposed to get to a more advanced level of discovery than ah thought before. Even Overseer didn't know about it, and he thinks its yer fault. He said he'd get ye back and make you finish yer mission as soon as possible, and ahd be wary from now on...Sorry about that, kiddo. Looks like ye got some more work ta do.
What? The likelihood of the two words meaning such similar things in two different languages...it boggles the mind. Wait- Regulator, what language are we speaking right now?
Latin. Why do ye ask?
Just curious. And why is it my fault? Overseer should have realized that we speak different languages.
Overseer's not exactly a practitioner o' common sense, kiddo.
I am most certainly beginning to get aggravated with our so-called benevolent protector. What am I supposed to discover now?
I lost myself in my work yet again, trying to hide my disappointment. I was so close, and yet so far away at the same time. It had been hard enough to keep my anticipation from taking over, and now I had three distractions: my new gravitational field, the nearness to the completion of my mission, and my self-evolution program. The first and third of those were relevant; the second, completely unwarranted. Unwanted, for that matter. I had too much to do without having something so trivial as emotional tidal waves drown me in excitement. I could nearly taste the freedom, the welcome change from this environment; true, I would miss this wonderful city that I had constructed, and the small thrill that I felt flow through my veins after repelling a Brute assault, but I was ready, willing, and able to leave.
As the discoveries I made increased my understanding of life and the universe, I felt more satisfaction researching than I did in other simple pleasantries: eating, resting, even the gravifield as Regulator calls it. All came secondary to my research, and I was enjoying my discoveries more and more.
I stopped resting, tossing it aside as a distraction to the Work. I ate one binge meal as far apart in time as possible, so I could distract myself from the Work as little as possible. The Work was like a narcotic, which Basket had told me about. Researching was addictive, and it had certainly gotten me hooked. I spent so little time doing anything else that I began to wonder when I had ever felt devoted to anything but my work.
I had been discovering so much that it never occurred to me that I had been doing nothing else, my mind too busy absorbing all the new information. Actually, it was Basket of all personas that helped me figure out why I was so addicted to the Work. He finally regained consciousness after one of Regulators assaults on him. Regulator must have allowed him to talk to me sometimes, when he wasnt acting like a complete idiot. Just as before, his voice seemed weaker, almost as if he was speaking through a muffler.
What's wrong with you? You haven't eaten for a very long time, and you havent even talked to me without one-sentence answers in a while. This isn't you.
I have work to do.
You see? There you go again.
You're distracting me from the Work.
Listen to yourself, man! By the Mutt-God, why won't you figure it out? If you don't do something about stopping this, youre going to stop eating soon, and all "for the good of the Work". If you stop eating, all of us up here in your head are going to die! You're a workaholic, and I've got a feeling that its got something to do with Overseer.
The Work must be completed.
Do you even remember why you want to finish it so much?
I decided to amuse him. Maybe he would go away if I answered his question. Then I could get back to the Work.
The Work exists to be completed.
Look at yourself, man!
His anger must have fueled his will, because he was able to temporarily gain control of my motor functions and walk me to the closest mirror. My eyes under his control stared back at me.
I gasped. My once muscled body was now nothing but a shrunken shell, like a broken column of a once great monument. I probably had less muscle in my entire body than I had once kept in one bicep before I had discovered fusion. My eyes, once bright with the brightest blue surrounding great golden irises, had darkened to a navy surrounding a brass iris. There were bags under my eyes greater than the size of the eye itself, and I had skin hanging in places on my body where it had once stretched to cover all of the muscle.
I looked like some kind of nightmare. What have I been doing ever since I had discovered fusion? Working. Completing the Work. Other than that...nothing. Once I had discovered fusion, nothing else mattered. How had this come about?
Overseer, kiddo. He shut mah interlink with ye down, as well as most of your other personas. We weren't able to warn ye about what he was doin to ye. Luckily, Basket was able ta break through his barrier and get ta ye. For a while, ah was wonderin' if he could actually get through to ye. Ah'm just glad he did.
Are you telling me that Overseer controlled me so I would finish my mission as quickly as possible?
He doesn't like ye, kid. In fact, he hates ye. Ye rebelled against him one too many times, and he wants out. If ye died or finished the Work, he wouldn't have ta deal with ye anymore. Hes run off somewhere, and ah don't know what he's gonna do next.
As if on cue, I felt a sharp pain in my chest. It spread throughout my body like a plague, crippling my movement. I shut my eyes tight and fell to the ground. The pain was excruciating. This pain was much more than I had ever felt before. Every cell in my body screamed in eerie unity, calling out for me to end the pain.
Just as suddenly as it had begun, the pain ended. As I opened my eyes to survey anything that could've been the cause of it, I thought I saw a figure unlike anything I had seen before, but I couldn't be sure. It was smiling at me, almost mockingly. I didn't see its lips move, but I could hear the familiar eerie voice.
"For rebelling against me, you shall know true pain."
Overseer disappeared, leaving me alone. I stood up, not recognizing the unfamiliar landscape. I heard a shout and turned around, staring at what I assumed was a human being. The man stared at me, and I stared right back. In his right arm, he carried a spear; in his left, a shield.
He looked me up and down, noticing my current garments and other assorted gadgets. He must have recognized them, because I noticed his eyes bulge upon seeing them.
Others who must have heard the yell came and joined him. All were men, and all were armed. I merely stood there, stunned. What were they doing?
My question was soon answered when one of them raised his spear and bellowed, "Death to the vile sinner in the name of God and the Imperium!!!"
To be continued
---------------------------------------------
If you have any questions, comments, criticisms, etc. mail me at quanta_masta@hotmail.com.
This story is also located at
http://voltaire23.tripod.com.
Polar Kodiak
