Libitina.
Libitina. Please respond.
Libitina, I need you to answer me, please. You’re in grave danger.
Libitina could only flutter her eyes, unable to even work up the strength to groan. What had happened?
Oh, that’s right. She died.
You’re not dead. Not yet, at least.
She felt like she was dead.
That’s because of the severe physical trauma you are currently suffering. Without intervention, you have approximately forty-two seconds before death.
Libi could hear her faint, gasping breaths steadily growing weaker.
Well. This was it then. Painfully dying after sacrificing herself for a bunch of snobbish brats who would probably forget she ever existed in six months. At least this was a decent middle finger to her mom; the woman always dreamed of having a samurai in the family, and now she would get a dead one.
Please stay with me, Libitina. It’s not too late. I don’t have time to explain right now, but I need your permission to make purchases that will save your life.
Forget it. This was for the best anyway; a final escape from the personal hell she had been living for the last nine years. Her children would be better off this way in the long run as well. A few years of therapy and being raised by someone who actually knew what they were doing, and they’d be as right as rain.
Are you truly satisfied with that? Do you truly believe your family could do a better job than you?
Libi’s despairing thoughts shattered under the weight of the sudden realization. Her mother. Her husband. Her entire cesspool of a family salivating at the chance to get their claws into the children.
‘Do it.’
A wise choice.
Purchased - Class I biorobotics catalogue - 50 points
Purchased - Class I Milli-doc suite x1 - 25 points
Purchased - Clot O’ Clock! x1 - 10 points
Purchased - Adrena-Tic x1 - 5 points
Purchased - Automatic application fee - 5 points
Points Remaining: 5
The words floated across Libi’s blurred vision, giving her something to focus on- anything to distract herself from an agonizing pain that she was growing increasingly aware of. It felt like the tentacles of a Portuguese man o’war were crawling their way up her body, into her. She couldn’t feel her legs, or arms or anything at all- only a blanket of agony burning its way through her system.
I apologize; unfortunately, you cannot afford any pain-killers but the adrenaline should help.
Libi could only gurgle. She could feel something moving crawling over her; lots of somethings, with thousands of tiny little legs, scuttling across her body - no, was it inside her? She was having a hard time understanding where her body began and ended anymore, but the- the things were definitely moving through her, around her, inside her.
Libi tried to scream, but the blood in her lungs strangled the noise before it was born- she couldn’t move- things were crawling through her veins, into her lungs, arms, brain like a hoard of ants biting into her flesh- trapped, helpless to the gnawing of the creatures as they ate her from within-
The millidocs are currently repairing your soft tissue damage with a specialized bonding enzyme. Your left lung was punctured by a broken rib, and you are currently suffering from a severe brain haemorrhage. Fortunately, the millidocs have been specially designed to provide immediate aid regardless of the damage. They are not here to hurt you, Libi.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
The voice was surprisingly gentle, a soft, husky tone that appeared directly in her mind. It gave Libi something to focus on; a rescue buoy in a hurricane of pain.
It is my role to aid you. If anything, I am more like a rescue helicopter than a buoy.
Was it reading her mind?
No. In order to best meet your needs, I am reading your subvocalizations and subtle muscle movements to interpret your thoughts.
So it could read her mind.
If you prefer to use such an oversimplified metaphor.
The brief distraction was desperately welcome, but short. Libi could still feel the things swarming through her, the pain demanding that she pay attention to the infestation that was assaulting her body-
The millidoc is a small microbot designed for field medical operations using a specialized enzyme. They are larger than Nano-bots, resulting in significant discomfort, but the primary advantage they have is their speed. Millidocs are capable of repairing mortal wounds in minutes that would take nano-bots hours.
They were larger than nano-bots? How much larger? How did this ‘specialized enzyme’ work? Did it have side effects? How long would it remain in her body-
They are small enough to fit through most of your veins. The bonding enzyme is technically a cocktail of different protein enzymes, genetically engineered to break down necrotic tissues and accelerate cell growth. The millibot uses your own stem cells to formulate this enzyme, thus reducing the risk of side effects and complications to 0.00037%. And before you ask, yes, the millidoc is partially organic. Based on fungi DNA, I believe.
The AI’s quiet confidence worked wonders to soothe Libi, stimulating her brain to eagerly leap onto the scientific jargon like a starving man in a desert.
The millidocs are at first lab-grown, and have an average lifespan of thirty-six hours. Once they near the end of their lifespan, they move into the stomach where they die, and are flushed away as a part of your usual bodily waste. The only downside is your body’s food requirements will greatly increase. Ah- the millidocs appear to be settling down; your discomfort should decrease significantly.
It was true; she could no longer feel the millidocs crawling through her skin. The areas where they had been itched like mad, but that was significantly preferable to the torturous pain that was there moments before. At least now she could breathe clearly now, and feel her heartbeat; weak, but still very much alive.
Opening her eyes, she was first greeted by the sight of nothing. Just a pitch black darkness, that felt heavy and wet on her skin. She tried moving, and something shifted- Cloth, and cold clammy skin brushed past her lips as an unnoticed weight that had been pressing down on her chest moved.
‘Voice in my head, or whatever your name was- where am I?’ she thought to herself.
I am Qwyn, a hyper advanced artificial intelligence created by The Protectors for the salvation of your planet. I would recommend taking a moment to breathe. You are starting to feel the effects of the adrenaline I injected into your system, and too much physical exertion could put unnecessary strain on your heart.
‘Where. Am. I?’ Her heart was beating faster as a horrible suspicion began sinking in. She tried moving her arm, but her left side wasn’t responding as well as she expected.
You are currently part of a pile of collected biomass that the antithesis plan on bringing back to their Hive.
The cold, horrifying possibility turned to certainty in Libi’s mind. There was only one common kind of biomass in Nova Halifax.
Libi. I understand you’re scared. You’re still recovering from severe physical trauma, and a near death experience. But now is not the time to panic. You’re still in danger- the whole city is. Your children are. They need you, Libi.
Libi gulped, trying to push down the rising panic that threatened again to overwhelm her. Qwyn was right; if the antithesis could break into Dal-U, then nowhere was safe in the city. She needed to find Adrian and Adrianna as soon as possible.
Before we do anything further, I would suggest taking a moment to review what it means to be a Vanguard, or “Samurai” as you humans say. The most important thing to understand is you earn points-
‘I’m not staying under a pile of corpses!’
Very well... I shall inform you as you work to free yourself, then. Vanguard members earn points by killing antithesis. New Vanguard members begin with a deposit of 100 points. You can then spend these points on purchasing Vanguard gear, though you must purchase a category before buying the gear found within it. Unfortunately, in order to treat you as quickly as possible, I had to make some emergency purchases and spent nearly all of your deposit. You do, however, already have a category unlocked.
‘Which one?’
Class I Biorobotics. It’s an extremely useful catalogue, encompassing all manner of organic robots and genetically engineered organisms for anything from medical science, to ecological restoration, or even military equipment.
Libi froze. ‘Ecological restoration?!’
Correct.
Wait.
‘Waitwaitwaitwait. Ecological restoration?! As in, undoing centuries of industrialization and decades of Antithesis attacks?!
Correct. The Protectors are interested in the survival of your planet, after all- that does not exclusively include humans. Anything is possible with the resources we give you access to.
‘You- you mean, marine biology would no longer be a history subject?!’
Correct.
For the first time in years, something blossomed within Libi. It was a tiny, weak thing; one that she had thought had died long ago, when the last black bear did. She thought it died when the bees did, taking with them millions of flowers and billions of animals. It was such a warm feeling- a brief moment that filled her heart with something that blew away all the pain, misery and torture of the last twenty four hours- no, her whole life. A feeling that even made her forget, briefly, that she was lying under a pile of corpses.
Hope.
Hope, indeed. Now rise, Libi, and become a protector of the weak!!
To be continued…