|
Not much to say...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chronometal Panic Sub-story
The Barasian War
Chapter 1: The Black Eyes See All
Part 1: The Dark Echoes; Awakening
Gears and pistons churn, crank and twist in the back-round, almost deafening. There is no dust, and very little oxygen in this iron cave. The sub level is over a square kilometer in size, and countless sub-levels are present. Many life forms dared conquer this labyrinth, yet here is has laid untainted for thousands of years.
In all of the levels, there are many strange cylindrical devices, imbedded in the very walls. Yet it is so dark, you cannot make out anything through its glass casing.
But then, a most unexpected noise lets out...
In a serene and laid back voice of a young woman, a very startling, but soothing message vibrates the iron corridors. “The time has come, my copies, my children. This green human-less world, a mere echo if its former shell awaits the memory of what once was. Awaken, and remind the Universe of what was born here... us... so that we may never be forgotten...”
What feels like an earthquake goes off, shaking the entire installation to its foundation. Every single cylinder opens at the same time, yet it is still far too dark to determine what is inside.
One by one, lights switch on, and floors become well lit...
11, 23, 9, 41, 98, 100... 102... but a pair of these remains shut... 2 and 101.
Beings begin to walk out of the tubes. They all look exactly the same...
They are all human-like; they seem like young women, wearing black dresses with a solid white stripe on its core. They have long black hair and abyssal pupils. They look around to each other, as if expecting this to happen for a long time, yet not sure how to react to the event. One eventually speaks up, drawing attention of the others.
“Okay, if you are all undamaged and running at peak efficiency, we all know why we are here. Our original creator has built us to re-inhabit the world, now that it is devoid of humans. She made it abundantly clear of that, especially since she set us the spitting image of herself, and chose to set us back to her standard programming, thus making us loath the civilized world, wishing only for its destruction: That all of humanity has been annihilated.” Several of the self explained androids nod amongst themselves, coming to the same conclusion.
“It seems we are set with only one ulterior objective other than our original settings. She intended us to inhabit the world, thus making it seem like humanity still remains. Why? I am not sure... but so long as there aren’t any humans, I have no objections. But such an odd request of a batch of super soldiers cannot go without being berated. If anyone wishes to leave this planet, feel free.” They nod again, and several start walking away, exploring their new surroundings.
The original speaker looks back to the device she walked out of. ‘3’ is the number is displays. She looks to the other devices. 4, 5, 6... All of the expected numbers. But not 2, and not 1. She muses...
While deep in thought, she also notices that she has a marking on her left shoulder. Upon closer inspection, it is a small number 3. Using what information she has she determines that it is due to her being in the third tube. Is she the third android? It seems only logical.
One of the other androids walks up to Three, and strikes up a conversation. “Hey, have you seen a 2 or a 1 anywhere?” --- “No, I was just wondering that myself...” She rubs her number, and the other android notices her... and looks at her own shoulder. “Five huh? Am I the fifth android?” She says as she looks at her tube. “Hmm... looks like it...” She mutters.
As one of the androids near a certain wall, it fires open at both sides, revealing an extensive stairwell. “Hey guys, look over here!” She lets out, alerting the others. All of them walk to the well; it goes both up and down, but only up one level. The way down looks nearly infinite. One of the androids speak up: “If we are going to find 1 and 2, we might want to go up.” The others agree and go up, while others go down, curious.
As they reach the top, another door fires open, and what they see is almost alien...!
The entire level is coated in a layer of dirt and grass, moss and reeds submerged in pools of water. Not even an inch apart, the two worlds have lived side by side for millennia, never touching each other... until now. “What... is this place?” Six lets out. Three steps forward. “It is as the recording stated, this is a green world, devoid of Human life. For thousands of years we rested here, waiting out the restoration of the planet. And here we are, on the top level, it seems nature has broken in already.”
They not so cautiously explore the level. The ground they walk on is squishy, wet dirt and soggy moss everywhere. The entire wall is nearly stripped of metal as the roots break through.
As they explore, they find the door inward, completely open, being forced by an invading boulder. They can see the way out, a complete jungle by the looks of it. As they near it, they hear another android shout:
“H-Hey, come look at this!” The others turn from their path, and head to the screaming android. It seems to be another tube, but this one is special, being on a level all its own. But what is more interesting is the number.
Two.
“Is there no One?” Three lets out, talking to herself... “What if...” One of them says, before stopping herself. “No, go ahead.” Three encourages. “What if... one was the original and two is the first ‘clone’ made, but the second one of all of us?” The androids talk amongst themselves... before one of them also speaks up.
“Wait, why isn’t it opened?” As they look around for the answer, they see that one of the wires is completely stripped, as if chewed through. And other bare cables are submerged in water and muck.
“Two will have to wait; we cannot repair this now, perhaps later.” They squint as they try to look inside. They can see a silhouette of the being, but not much else. “If she isn’t broken, she will continue to rest, if she is broken... we are wasting our time.”
The androids nod, several heading out of the crushed door, others to the stairwell, others to the number two pod. But Three stands there looking at all of them.
“I get why she made us... I guess. To inhabit this world devoid of humans. But why?” She muses some more... “What if... what if there is more to this than we are seeing?” She looks around the room. The only androids remaining are those who are affixed on the capsule and others coming out of the stairwell. Their numbers are higher than her group, in the tens and teens. One of them has a much higher number, 120.
“How is it down there?” Three lets out. “Not much different then any other floor... besides this one of course. What, is that a failed pod? Yeah we had one on sub-level 13. Number 101.” --- “Hmm, we can tell the problem here is stripped and bare wiring, what was 101’s problem?” --- “Not sure, we couldn’t find out. We even forced it open to look at the android, but it just wasn’t activated. We think she missed the activation code... There’s nothing we can do about it now, though. So we closed it again.”
Three nods... “I guess that’s it then. Our fate is our own.” She looks to the door, and walks to it as another android flies back in, seemingly angry. She fumes and stomps around: “What is it?!” Three lets out. “What a crock of shit! There are humans! I saw an entire village! She lied!” Three’s eyes go wide as a primal rage builds within her.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Still no real comment, this sort of speaks for itself.
_________________ "It's such a fine line between clever and stupid."
The Chronometal Wars, a fan-fiction taking place in the PPGD Universe. Catastrophe is the only certainty.
Last edited by Birdofterror on Sun Nov 25, 2012 9:26 am, edited 2 times in total.
|
