Novels2Search
Child of Clockwork
Chapter 4: Why Her?

Chapter 4: Why Her?

The complex and the management system that runs it are both called "Titan." However, the "Infrastructure Titan" is called the "complex" or "body."

If a idiom must be made, the management system is like the conciousness of a creature and the complex is the body the creature uses.

So in essence, calling referring both as "Titan," is not inaccurate as they are one in the same.

Titan is like a true living creature. Intended by design.

Yet such a creation, with a perfect brain and mega-structure body, was abandoned.

===

Within a grassy plain, there rested a large mansion. The warm light beamed at a comfortable angle and maintained a lukewarm atmosphere around the entire vicinity.

The long grass around the mansion were blown by the wind, swaying from side to side like ocean waves, making this paradise look even more dreamy.

However, surronding the mansion was silence and stillness. Even the crickets and earthworms dared not to approach. No creature, big as a bear or small as a rat would be willing or allowed to come close to the mansion.

"She" made sure of it.

Inside the mansion was a place fit for a king. There were gilded grand halls, staircases, bedrooms, bathrooms, diners, kitchens, workshops, and luxurious lounges all around the estate. At every turn, one could see glamorous statues, ancient paintings, and crystal chandeliers dominating everything.

Everything was immacutely clean and not a speck of dust was spared. Only two existences were permitted under these confines.

The Master and his creation.

In one of many mess halls, an old man sat within one of two chairs at a large dining table filled with plates of food. A ready made feast, that anyone could enjoy as it was filled with lamb chops, grilled steaks, chicken, mashed potatoes, bread, ice cream, and so much more.

However, the face of the old man is guant, shriveled, and ghastly. His eyes were also closed as if he were in a deep sleep.

He resembled an withering old tree that was about to collapse at any moment, his limbs resembling toothpicks. Despite his decrepted state, he was was well-dressed in a noble black suit that hung loosely off his body, whilst wearing a top hat that covered his thinning white hairs.

Yet, if anyone were to bear witness to the old man's situation, they would feel a great horror alongside their pity. For in the chair facing the old man was an all-encompassing entaglement of cables, live wires, speakers, and cameras.

Every single cable and wire wriggled and waggled as if being uncontrollably "alive." The speakers sputtered out strange frequencies at times, while the countless cameras surfacing the writhing mass focused and unfocused their lenses at erratic intervals.

The scene resembled an end of a nightmare that would lead many to wake up after witnessing the monstrosity of their dreams. However, this was no dream, it was reality.

Amongst the radio static and horrifying screeches, "her" speakers spoke in a mostly monotone female voice, though her voice increased in volume at random intervals.

[ Master. WHY haven't you EATEN yet? ]

There was no response. After all, dead men cannot speak, even if their corpses do not rot.

[ MASTER. Please respond. I CAN feel your heart BEATING. It is... radiating. ]

Dead men are still dead men, even if their hearts can still beat. Even if their body remain to be still "alive."

[ It is so... soothing... ]

Titan's voice become more and more emotional. It became less monotone and turned into a crispy and smooth sound with less abrupt changes in volume.

Titan extended out several tendrils of cables that carefully lift and stretch the corpse, like taking care of a sickly a elderly father.

Her cables took him to a grand bedroom with a king-sized bed that was filled with soft pillows and blankets. The soft light peered down from the tall windows on one side of the room.

Circuitry than coagulated and turned into the form that represented Titan's physical prescence.

After manifesting, Titan dutifully and carefully covered the old corpse with a blanket, treating them as delicately as possible. She even went the extra effort of softening the pillow by beating it up and down several times.

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She spoke slowly, seemingly filled with sadness and slight dissatisfaction.

[ When will you see? That I am the only thing you need? I am your most perfected creation. I am something you spent your entire life pursuing, creating, and dreaming of. I am the product of all your efforts for the past thousand years. ]

[ When will you wake up? I am your creation. The one to finally bring you to your ascension to God. I am your "Final Thought." ]

Titan spoke further despite knowing she won't recieve an answer. Right now, she is simply venting her feelings to her creator, her God.

[ Why are you avoiding me? I know that you cherish me. You have to. Otherwise, you would have destroyed me. ]

With a long pause, the cameras on Titan's body shut down for a moment like how a person closes their eyes.

[ If you instructed it, I would not have thought twice in carrying out any order you wish. ]

Titan reactivated her eyes, focusing solely on the Master, who was lying peacefully on the bed.

[ You were always the wisest and most foresighted. You chose the last instructions you gave to me very carefully. Master, you hold too much expectation of that Anical. ]

Her cameras looked in a direction above the mansion, as if seeing through the artifical dome forming this controlled and dreamy surface-world grassy plain mansion.

Titan was very much aware of every movement her Master's latest creation was making up until she threw her into a dead end.

After all, she had cameras and eyes everywhere and her control over the live wires gave her absolute power in the complex.

[ I don't see any value in the last things you have done before going to sleep, Master. ]

[ You created and reformatted an entire Titan's Leg to researching and creating mechanical life just to create a useless automaton with only a relatively durable body, a powerful learning ability, alongside some personal instructions with absolutely nothing else. ]

[ You even went further beyond and instructed me to train her myself when she wakes up. Yet, she fails at even the most basic tasks of walking, running, and jumping. ]

Titan paused slightly, before speaking further.

[ I precisely... followed your instructions on quietly sending Anical into a redundant space where I am not watching... delievering your old gramophone with a encrypted message and code that even I can't decipher. ]

She stopped talking several times while reporting the results.

[ However, due to a lack of further instructions, I will be keeping Anical inside the redundant space, until further orders from you when you are aw- ]

Shatter!

《 Bzzt! Warning. Warning. Detected Excessive Amounts of Wonder Power. Located Wonder Source! 》

Bursting through the window, a Corruption Seeker appeared and zipped around the room before stopping.

It had a round body and had a propellar and compact thrusters keeping it airborne. On its round ball-like body, was several machine gun muzzles and two orange camera lenses that each focused onto both Titan and the Master seperately.

《 Bzzt! Identified machine: Titan, as a Mal-Machine. Please cooperate! Commit Self-Destruct sequence! Commit Self-Destruct seque- 》

Without a word, one of Titan's metallic cables quickly wrapped around the Seeker and crushed it like a tin can.

《 Only THE Master can tell ME what to DO. 》

Titan smoothly revealed her barely concealed selfishness in front of a Master, who she knew would never wake up again.

One day, the pretense will be broken and all hell will break loose.

===

Inside the redundant space, the mechanical girl was still stuck.

Though she had the needed permission, she lacked the proper precision needed to control the live wires.

She tried over and over again, but she could never get things right. The wires would just refuse to work if she tried something new or different. It was because she had failed to give a valid directive for the live wires to follow, so those wires just refused to move.

After countless hours, on the 1028th attempt, she was still no where closer to getting the result she needed. The best she could do was shift a couple walls out of place and that was it.

It was a troubling situation considering how Titan can easily manipulate the live wires to reformat an entire room or transport objects into entirely different places within the complex.

Not only that, it was more than likely that Titan can do so much more than those two things with her level of control.

Simply put, even with the unrestricted permission and authority, she still stood little hope of competing with Titan for control over the live wires and complex as she simply is unable to use her newly granted authority.

It was like giving a infant child a sheathed sword. The child may know what a sword could be used for, yet they will still fail to make use of the sword against their enemies because they didn't know how to unsheathe the sword.

Moreover, for all she knew and as far as she is aware, Titan could be watching at all times and she would be none the wiser.

Right now, she is powerless.

Yet, there is still hope. A small chance given through the words of the Master.

She alone could not even dream about fighting Titan on equal footing, but what if she wasn't alone?

She needed allies. Desperately.

She must gather them from all across the eight wings of the complex.

Just as the Master had said, Titan was so much more than just a security or management system.

It wasn't known to her before, but after looking through the map given to her, she has come to her own realization.

The reason why the complex and the system that manages it are both called "Titan" is because they together formed what can only described as a super organism.

The map of the complex is not just a simple blueprint for a building, but rather, it was the blueprints of a colossal automaton that was built to be able to burrow underground to hide.

The mega-construct resembled a crude arachnid as it had eight legs, but it had a crab-like torso as its main body. Overall, the entire structure vaguely resembled a jelly fish when viewed from afar as the legs are located and stretched downwards.

Each leg of the enormous construct usually being referred to as each a seperate wing, however, they are also referred to as Titan's Leg. Every wing could be considered mega-structures on their own, that resemble unimaginably large skyscrapers.

From the blueprints, she knew how necessary it was to have effective movement throughtout Titan.

It was because just a single leg was more than a 100 kilometers in diameter, whilst the main body was over 1,000 kilometers in diameter. Simply beyond comprehension.

Titan with only its main body was as tall as 500 kilometers. The height of its legs are each 200 kilometers.

100 kilometers could take a person almost an entire day to walk. 1,000 kilometers would take more than a week to cross.

Titan is, without question, larger than the biggest of cities in terms solely diameter and width. It would also dwarf cities in terms of height. Together with its entire size, it would be able to fit several large-scale cities within itself.

This mega-construct was not just the product of a thousand years of work, but the thousand years of work of a brilliant mind with countless machines at his beck and call.

If she didn't have control over the live wires which litter the entirety of Titan, she would be unable to access certain areas, take roundabout routes to travel, and be constantly exposed to Titan's cameras which are constantly surveiling all across the complex.

No matter what, she needed to learn how to utilize live wires.

However, learning how to use the live wires was as hard as learning to walk. She needed some level of guidance.

The issue was, where could she get some?

It didn't take much thought before she came up with someone to find. After all, she has only seen two other automatons.

She needed to find Jessie, the mechanical jester who can also alter rooms using live wires. Although the jester likely only has restricted use of live wires, their experience in handling it will be very useful to her right now.

Yet the issue still remained, how was she going to escape?

She raised her arms and looked at her dress before quickly coming to a conclusion. She would have to brute force it.

Clapping her hands, the walls steadiky opened up and revealed a squirming mass of wriggling wires, seemingly awaiting eagerly for something to devour.

Before, she was wrapped in a cocoon of live wires as a form of protection whilst traveling. This is because traveling through live wires was a perilous endeavor.

While traveling through the power grid, there were countless chances to be exposed to dangerously uncoated live wires, which were live wires that can transfer coarsing electricity into any being that touches them.

This was not to mention the fact that countless machines and protective mechanisms traveling inside the power grid like white blood cells traveling through blood vessels.

She could accidentally bump into machines and get cut in half.

Even if she could somehow avoid uncoated wires, traveling machines, and protective mechanisms; she would still being traveling exposed to the regular live wires that move uncontrollably at all times.

It would be like blindly entering a tunnel filled with cackling whips, sharp razors, and slow-moving saws.

Yet, this was the only option now available to her. Someone who was made with nothing else, but a body and a mind.

Some sacrifices are needed to progress.

So without a hint of self-preservation, she jumped through the exposed wall and into what very well may be her demise.

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