“The bears go bam babambam, bam babambam as they march on by, the bears go bam, babambam as they march on by~”
“Do you have to sing that right now?”
“The bears go bam,babambam as they march on by, all day lonnng~”
“Yeah, I probably should have seen that one coming.”
* A ‘conversation’ held within the second burrow, 2056
***
I watch in morbid curiosity as Sandra the Samoyed runs at the horde of Seven victims, growing in size with every step. As it reaches the group, it’s twice as big as before, looking almost more like a pure white wolf then the dog it was just a second earlier. It leaps, its claws extending out as it gracefully flies through the air, each one seemingly longer than my arm as they slice through their target.
[“Y’know, I have a question,”] Prism mutters over the call, [“Doesn’t the term ‘Android’ refer to a specifically humanoid robot? How did Emme get a dog from a catalog like that?”]
Achys sighs upon my head before she bluntly responds, “It’s the closest approximation to a word that doesn’t exist in the english language at the moment, namely a word to more generally describe robots based upon any high intelligence species. They are typically more advanced than drones because of this, since they’re intended to be accurate approximations.”
I pause at that. “...Wait, are dogs actually that smart?”
Achys leans down to look me in the eyes, a distinctly unimpressed look on her face. “Look at Sandra real fast, and you tell me.”
I raise an eyebrow, finding Sandra sitting on a pile of corpses while trying to lick her own ass.
“I sort of see your point, but then why do they count as androids?”
Nyvi is the one to reply, her honey voice surprisingly chipper as she explains:
[“The original model species for the HUND is an incredibly intelligent quadrupedal reptilian species called the Georae. They’re wonderful creatures, empathetic to a fault, incredibly righteous when they need to be, and they even rose to a class four civilization with a species that they symbiotically evolved with. They do tend to hoard items though, plus they have a bad habit of borrowing livestock from their sister species when they need a snack.”]
Ignoring the obvious bias in Nyvi’s tone, something clicks and I can’t help but chuckle. “So, dragon dogs.”
[“They would take offense to that, but… it’s not entirely inaccurate.”]
I shake my head in amusement as I approach Sandra, whose tail begins to wag up a storm as I do. The giant canine shrinks in front of my eyes until its head is back at arm level, so I give the dog a couple scratches behind its ears in reward for her hard work. Achys, to my surprise, flutters over to Sandra’s head, giving some scritches to the pup as well with her talons.
“I thought you were controlling them Achys, what does giving them affection even do for you?”
The jay scoffs as it says, “What made you think that? They each have nascent AI within their system to autonomously control them, so it just makes sense to reward them for hard work.”
“I just…” I sigh as I peek at the video feed on my glasses, then quickly look away, glancing around the massacre-filled clearing to find the next tunnel. “Never mind. How much further until the stairlock again?”
“It’s just up ahead, so don’t worry.” My AI gives me a funny look, then flies back over to land on my shoulder.
Are you okay, Emme?
‘Yeah, I just…’ I sigh again, running my hand down my face. ‘It’s complicated, and I don’t know how to describe it myself. It’s a new feeling for me.’
Tell me about it, maybe I can help you figure it out?
I bite my lower lip, then hesitantly nod. ‘I just, ugh, I’m such an idiot, you know?’
Yes, but I don’t see how that has to do with an altogether new feeling.
I shoot a glare up at the Jay, but admittedly the quip does make me smile a bit.
‘After my little um, moment earlier, I haven’t been able to shake myself out of this… slightly uncomfortable but yet somehow enthralling emotion. Everything about it reminds me of a less intense embarrassment, but then Prism’s words pop into my mind and I just… become all floaty inside.’
…A quick check through a decent chunk of the best human literature and I think I am aware of what this is.
I poke my bird, who giggles as she hops onto my head to get away from my finger as I intone, ‘And that is?’
I could tell you, but it might ruin the reveal for you. Are you sure you want to know?
I tilt my head, trying to figure out what she was being so enigmatic about. ‘I mean, yeah. Why wouldn’t I wanna understand what I’m feeling?’
Hm, I do wonder why humans avoid this as they do, but it’s a rather important part of your culture for whatever reason.
‘I’m seriously drawing a blank, why are you dancing around this?’
Hm, I wonder why~
I throw my hands up in the air, understanding the frustrating game Achys is playing. ‘Ugh, nevermind, I’ll figure it out.’
I’ll wait with bated breath.
Resisting the urge to wring the birds neck, I turn a corner to find a oh so welcome sight- The stairlock in all its apparently empty glory.
“Well, this is… odd.” I glance around the area, finding that there is seemingly nobody around. “Where the hell are all the people?”
[“Um…”] Prism’s sudden voice makes the floating feeling intensify for a split second before it falls back to where it was. [“Considering the possibilities, I don’t wanna think about it…”]
“I um, am with you on that. We should probably figure out the biomass thing now, huh?”
[“I honestly completely forgot about that, are you going to get one of those, pff, legendary weapons Nyvi mentioned?”]
Impulsively, I blurt, “Should I?”, which then makes me want to roll around the floor and scream.
Prism hums in thought for a few moments, then says, [“Honestly, seems like a bit of a waste of points for now, they sounded a bit expensive.”]
“I agree, Emme.” Achys flutters over to the side of the stairlock, extending a viral tendril into the terminal beside it. “Credit to Nyvi for finding it, the Class-I Biomass Cleaning catalog actually does seem surprisingly quite useful. Mainly, I want to recommend the SOAP box, a device that once activated will quickly spread a biomass consuming amoeba across the floor. It’s thankfully designed to not consume intelligent lifeforms, so you don’t need to worry about casualties.”
“What the heck does SOAP even stand for in this case?”
“Situationally Overpowered Amoeba Producer.”
I huff a little laugh. “That’s a bit on the nose.”
Prism giggles on the other end of the call at my retort, which lifts my heart surprisingly well. [“I mean, there’s a reason people force acronyms like they do.”]
I sheepishly grin. “Is it ‘cause it’s fun?”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
[“It’s because it’s entertaining to them, yes.”]
Nyvi chuckles as she says, [“There is a reason I adore people so much.”]
Achys gasps as the door to the stairlock opens, letting me walk inside. “Nyvi! I would never have guessed that you, of all AI, like people! My worldview has shattered, my day’s been ruined.”
[“Oh come off it, you old bird.”]
“Make me.”
There is a momentary pause, before Achys screeches on my shoulder.
“You bitch! I can’t believe you actually just did that!”
[“Plus one processor facility for Nyvi~.”]
“I was using that one for searching catalogs for BOTH of our Vanguard, I’ll have you know!”
[“Just requeue the job with one you have writing fiction or something, I don’t see the problem.”]
“Now you listen here you darn Orca-”
As the AI duo continues to bicker, I set the box down, then quietly breathe in as I tune them out and walk inside the door, listening to the airlock hiss as it begins its work. I yawn, stretching a bit before the door above me clicks open, sliding away to allow for me to begin my ascent. It’s weird to think, this is the last restricted stairlock before the floors where there are like, four times as many to make travel easier. I really have made progress in my climbing the reef, huh?
It’ll speed up a lot after this… Only a few hours to the fourth.
Till home…
My mind goes a bit blank as I climb up the stairs, eerily silent in comparison to the last two stairlocks I have climbed, the only noise the dull thump of my foot touching the ground with each of my steps. A slight chill makes me shiver, and I find myself newly aware of how much other people being in a stairlock heats it up. I hug myself before quietly, I habitually begin to sing.
“There’s a place for us… Somewhere, there’s a place for us…” I take a step, and a breath. “Peace and quiet… and open air… Wait for us, somewhere…”
I pause my steps, my voice wavering as what I am singing sinks in.
“There's a time for us, someday a time for us… Ha.” I run a hand through my hair, completely flabbergasted. “Time together with time to spare… Time to learn, time to care.”
No more words come out as a barrage of emotions swirls up through me, but yet, none are despair. There is true, complete silence now, no steps being taken nor words being spoken. Processing the change is a lot, but when I do I find myself with one word on my mind for what I feel.
Relief.
AND THEN, THE WALLS BREAK AWAY AROUND ME, THE WORLD FADING INTO DARKNESS.
----------------------------------------
When I come back to consciousness, frigid seawater rushes around, feeling like I have been hit by about seventeen hundred hover-trucks at once. I open my eyes to find my glasses are gone, then silently scream when I see something below me shift. Namely, the largest creature I have ever seen before in my life moves to look right at me with its bulbous, off-green eye.
The monster waves its gigantic fin, revealing more of itself to me as it floats away. It’s general body shape reminds me of an aquatic dinosaur I remember from when I was a kid and loved them, but this one uh, doesn’t exactly have a mouth like a Gar. No, this one has one with six fucking hinges, with what look like thorns covering nearly every inch of them. Speaking of thorns, there are what seem to be dozens, if not hundreds of incredibly thick briar vines wiggling around its flesh.
Oh good, you’re awake.
So, let me go over the situation real fast. The Antithesis seem to have acknowledged you as a threat and sent a heavy hitter after you, a Model Twenty-Three A. When it ripped the stairlock out, it also inadvertently crushed you, causing a lot more damage then the Viral module could possibly have prevented. I’d typically recommend you run from something like this, but since all of the bones beneath your neck are currently shattered, you barely have any blood, and you’re literally running on the paltry fumes the Viral module can recycle, we don’t really have a choice in that.
I attempt to open my mouth to speak, but Achys stops me before I can.
Don’t try to say anything, I’m serious that we’re in a bit of a dire situation in terms of oxygen at the moment. I’m going to do something, and it’s going to hurt you, maybe permanently, but it’s so that you can survive. Is that okay?
I don’t hesitate, rapidly moving my eyes up and down in agreement. No way I am going to die in this damned place.
Close your eyes.
I oblige, then hear a small crack before I feel something enter my body.
Followed immediately by hell.
My head immediately begins to swirl as my temperature begins to fluctuate, a sine wave between a raging inferno and freezing blizzard. In each passing moment, the changes speed up, until I am somehow feeling both at the same time. A thirst unlike anything I had ever felt dries my throat, just before it begins to feel like someone is drilling directly into every single one of my teeth. Reflexively I bite down, hard, and a thick liquid begins to flow down my throat. It brings much needed relief, yet also carries in its wake the worst of the changes.
Every muscle in my body contracts for a moment as my bones crack back into place, and I can feel every individual fracture reforming one by one. There is an utterly absurd momentary pain in my abdomen, followed by the damn thirst returning, causing me to bite down a bit harder. It’s only when my heart suddenly begins to beat so hard it feels like it’s going to burst through my chest that I realize it hadn’t even been beating before that. Finally, the changes stop, and I let loose the tension in my jaw as I slowly open my eyes.
I have to blink multiple times to make sure what I’m seeing isn’t a hallucination from the bloodloss.
“U-Um, H-Hey there, E-Emme. I-I’m so happy you’re okay.”
It takes me a moment to process what is happening, but when I do, I swear my heart feels like it’s going to stop again. Holding me tightly to her chest is a rather flushed Prism, sharing her warmth with me as she swims, her long tail fin swooshing out behind us. Honestly, what really has my attention is the four dots of blood on the girl’s utterly beautiful neck, and the incredibly distinct desire I have to suck everything I can out of her.
Breathlessly, I murmur, “Holy shit, am I… A vampire now?”
“M-Maybe? You have the fangs, a-at least. I-It’s um…,” Prism pauses, then quietly sputters out, ”P-Pretty… U-Um, C-cool. Y-Yeah, pretty cool, mhm.”
Now I flush a bit, looking at the monster chasing us as I whisper, “S-So, umm… Thanks for saving me...”
Technically speaking, that was me.
I don’t even respond to Achys, as I instead watch enthralled as the mermaid visibly brightens at my words, a tiny crooked smile stretching across her face. “Y-You’re very welcome, Emme. W-we uh, probably need to take care of this now though.”
“About that, can we even hurt that thing? It’s fucking huge.”
I flinch when Nyvi pokes her head out from behind Prism as she explains, “Theoretically possible, very difficult. You’re going to have to work together to get it done.”
I take a breath, then say. “First time for everything I guess. Achys, I need a weapon for underwater combat.”
Bah, that’s easy. How much do you want to spend on it?
“As much as possible.”
Now, that’s more fun.
Points Update!
Prism
Emmelyn
Starting Total:
2163 (2053+110) Points
1212 (1102+110) Points, 1 Token
New Purchase!
EA-Bionite Suite V-Beta: 300 Points, 1 Token
Class-I Hemo-restore: 5 Points
V-AI Patch: 100 Points
SOAP Box: 30 Points
Atlas-bar: 700 Points
Total Cost:
N/A
1135 Points, 1 Token (Covering 100% of costs)
Final Total:
2163 Points
77 Points
As Prism releases me from her grasp and shoots off, what can only be described as a somewhat small high-tech crowbar appears beside me, which I grab and pull close. A bit taken aback, I look down at the weapon incredulously as I ask, “Achys, I was expecting something a bit bigger.”
Don’t worry, this is going to work better in the water.
As the Model Twenty-Three quickly begins to approach, I prepare myself and mutter, “You better be serious about this.”
I’m a little offended, since when have I ever let you down?
I don’t answer as the dinosaur’s mouth begins to stretch open, it’s mouth pulling back as it does, becoming a vacuous maw before me. I wait until the last moment, then do my best to swim quickly upwards, barely managing to not be hit before I slam the crowbar into the monster’s head between two briars. A visible dent appears, and the monster jerks downwards, spinning as it loses its control and slams into the top of the tenth floor.
Not wanting to waste an opportunity, I dive downwards, but I don’t manage to reach the Twenty-Three before I see Prism suddenly appear out of nowhere, her cloak fluttering in the water behind her. A burst of rainbow light pierces through the slowly recovering alien’s side, before Prism does a sudden little rotation around the monster’s body, somehow dodging all the individual bramble vines whipping at her as she does. I smirk in understanding as I see the mermaid stab her weapon right into the side of the monster's head, leaving it behind as she slinks back into darkness.
Now with no close target to shoot for, many of the vines begin to weave together, forming a large pillar that then begins to rush at me. I tense my muscles as it comes, then swing the crowbar, parrying the hit and barely losing any momentum in the process. Unfortunately, the braid then splits apart, with each individual strand shifting to whip out at me. I clench my teeth to prepare for pain, only for my own tendrils, made of that same sickly white viral flesh that has been protecting me all day, to shoot out of my body and match each vine tit for tat, preventing any damage from occurring.
Willing myself forward with everything I have, as I pull back my crowbar for my hit, time feels like it slows as about three things happen seemingly all at once. I slam the crowbar directly into the harpoon Prism left for me, sinking it as far as it can go into the alien’s flesh. Second, I catch the mermaid in question quite literally poking the monster in the eye, perhaps as a distraction. The harpoon then, well, explodes, an absurdly bright light and wave of force knocks me back a bit.
That’s not going to be enough Emme!
I bite my lip hard, accidentally drawing blood with my new fangs, then rush at the stampeding alien as if I had no idea that it could absolutely crush me and break all my bones for the second time today. I get close without too much trouble, but then pause, as I have an idea I can use if I just time my hit right. I wait until most of its mass is parallel to the roof, then slam the head of the crowbar directly into its side. The Twenty-three, and the roof it slams into, crumple and are sucked straight into the central area of the floor- The space currently occupied by a humongous blob of SOAP. I watch in utter awe as the giant fish begins to disintegrate into the amoeba, and I just can’t help but mutter:
“Situationally overpowered indeed…”