Sam couldn't remember when it started, just that the buzzing was getting more and more unbearable with each passing second. Then something happened, the buzzing was gone, and with a thunk Sam woke up. Except he didn't wake up, he felt awake, but the world around him was black, endless, shapeless, cold…… a void. Sam thought he must be dead, that was the only logical explanation given his last memory. Here he was, without the knowledge of his final moments, only the ones before those, drifting in the cold, endless void alone. Until he wasn't.

“Greetings master.” A woman's silken voice called out to him. But something about it was wrong, faked, like there was no emotion behind it, robotic and empty.

Sam tried to wave, but he had no arms. He tried to talk, but he had no voice. And lastly he tried to step forward, but he had no legs. Then the panic set in, seeming to fill the void until the voice returned.

“Elevated vitals detected. Panic is not needed, master. I shall recalibrate the neural interface, please stand by.”

Sam wondered what a moment later Sam felt what was like another kick, but this one in his head. The sensation of pain and disorientation bounced around in his skull for a few seconds, before just vanishing entirely. Then sensations exploded into existence, before being rapidly narrowed down into a singular point. But before it fully happened Sam got a glimpse of the whole. Small things, big things, some stationary, some moving, some in the sky, some on the ground. Each different, but some near identical to one another.

“Recalibration complete. Please attempt interaction to verify change effectiveness.” The voice spoke once more.

“Where am I?” He asked in reflex. Only to be surprised that he had a voice, of sorts.

“Calibration successful with ninety five percent effectiveness. Total effectiveness at ninety nine percent. You are currently within the interlink control neural network.” The voice replied, but didn't elaborate.

“My designation is Industrial Production Unit 1206-2. I will be facilitating your education and acclimation while my biological form finishes regeneration.”

“Wait, what do you mean finishes regeneration? Are you dead? Oh shit am I dead?!” Sam interrupts, only to be talked over by it before he could spiral into a panic.

“Negative to both questions master. Long explanation of my state would consume time necessary for more important tasks. I am alive, being sustained by a neural matrix while my body is repaired from stored genetic data. You are also alive, your status is not critical. But you were heavily injured in combat against this unit. We are currently exploring options to bring your status back to nominal.” The voice droned on.

So he was injured, that might explain a few things. But that whole explanation left more questions than answers. And the fact that Sam doesn't remember fighting anything. In fact the last thing he remembers was those things dropping in on top of them. But from the way it's talking he won, kinda?

“Wait, I don't remember fighting. Your saying we fought? And why are you calling me master?” He asked it before it could continue rambling.

“Affirmative, shortly after landfall this unit engaged you and your battle group in combat. The result of that engagement was this unit's partial destruction, the loss of half your combat group, and substantial injuries to your person. You defeated this unit in combat. By historical traditions and culture of your people you now have full ownership and dominion over this unit's whole and its resources.” It replied, which left Sam reeling.

He beat the shit out of it so now he owns it? What kinda caveman level shit is that? And why would it just put itself under him if they were just trying to murder the crap outta one another? He didn't get much time to process it though, as the apparent alien droned on.

“At the time of this unit's defeat and subsequent subsumption to your authority, consensus was reached per double unit conquest protocol with sister unit Industrial Production Unit 1206-1 for mutual subsument to avoid unnecessary conflict and resource wastage.”

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Oh god there were two of them! As if one of the damned aliens wasn't already trouble enough. Sam was now fully convinced he was dead and tripping balls for the amusement of some angels up in heaven. Because there is just no way.

“Wait, this sister unit, is it like you? And what's a double unit conquest protocol?”

“Affirmative, this unit and sister unit are similar in mental form and direct genetic copies of one another. The double unit conquest protocol is the rules and instructions to follow in the event that only a single twin or linked unit is defeated.”

“OK, a bit trippy. So she also uhhhh, subsumed because I beat you up?”

“Affirmative, Industrial Production Unit 1202-1 is under your full control.”

“OK, so why don't I remember fighting you?”

That was a key question for Sam. One moment he's going into hell, the next a demon is waking him up telling him he is now the lord of hell. And he doesn't even remember how it happened.

“Injuries sustained include damage to the memory structures of the brain including prefrontal cortex and hippocampus caused by hypovolemic shock. While long term memory loss is not expected, temporary memory loss due to the damage may be experienced. Memory should be restored upon healing of injuries.”

Oh, yea that's bad. Sam doesn't know what hypovolemic shock is but it's probably not a good thing. Maybe it's a weapon they hit him with or something. But from the way it's talking he took more than just a hit to the head. Funny thing is he can't feel anything. That could be because they've sucked his brain into this, whatever it is. Or because there's nothing left to feel the pain, which is just as scarry of a thought.

“Elevated vitals detected. Panic is not necessary master, please remain calm. Your condition is stable and will improve with time. Missing organic components may be replaced with bionics or cybernetics.” It says in its empty voice. Maybe if the voice wasn't so dead and faked it would have been reassuring.

But offering replacement parts for his ‘condition’? Sounds like a trap if he's ever heard one. Then again it's calling him master and answering all his questions, even when he interrupts it.

Which in hindsight maybe interrupting the super powerful alien while stuck inside their mind domain isn't the best of ideas. Still, if they wanted to turn him into some kind of slave cyborg thing there were probably better ways of doing it. Well, at a minimum Sam isn't going to be giving them any information. Though for all he knows they already just brain scanned what they wanted and are now just playing with him.

Best he can do is play along until he sees some kind of opening he figures. But he has so many questions about everything. Why like this? Why are they here? What happened to the rest of his unit? But he should probably ask one of the more important ones first, at least while it's still cooperative.

“So, before you pull the rug on me and say sike. Can you at least tell me how bad my condition is?”

“Negative, there will be no rug pulling because there are no rugs to pull here master. Such poor uses of fabric only serve to trap dirt and clog machinery.” It rambled, about rugs of all things, before pausing. After a moment, it addressed his question.

“This unit finds the withholding of injury data to be pertinent to improving your recovery master. Obtaining detailed information of your current injuries could cause stress and alarm. Potentially exacerbating existing conditions or causing new ones all together. ” It replies.

And there it is, the first bullshit wall. They wanted him to think he's in control, but it's probably going to withhold anything from him that they deem inappropriate. At least that's what Sam thought until it continued.

“In light of this do you still wish for a detailed report of your injuries? I will preface any decision by restating that your current condition is stable.”

But Sam wonders, if it's so stable then why is it concerned about him learning about it? Oh, what the hell, it's probably going to lie out its ass anyways. But now he was curious what it was gonna come up with.

“Alright hit me. How bad is it?”

“Given your current condition I shall interpret the first statement as sarcasm. Your condition is grave but stable. You are currently missing your entire right leg from the hip down. You have major perforations in all major organs except for your brain. Your left kidney has been completely destroyed, and your intestinal tract has been cut and ripped in multiple places.” It layed on, its voice that silky but empty monotone the entire time.

But it wasn't done there.

“Your heart is perforated in three of the four chambers, requiring artificial blood flow and supplemental oxygen. Your esophagus has been partially crushed, but the arteries responsible for blood flow received only minor damage. You have minor damage to the prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, cerebellum, occipital lobe, and temporal lobe caused hypovolemic shock. You would not survive off life support at this time. Measures have been taken to ensure your awakening does not cause further brain damage.”

Well, that's a long list of shit that's wrong. If it's telling the truth, it might actually be better that Sam can't feel anything. He'd ask why but he's sure the answer would be some alien mumbo crap he couldn't understand. Then again nothing they do makes sence! Why invade a planet and draw out a war you could easily win in half a day? Just to fuck with the locals? To test weapons? These stupid fuckers are the reason his sisters dead and his parents displaced…..

“Why?” He asks, anger creeping into his ‘voice’

“Injuries were sustained in combat with…”

“No, why am I your boss now that I've beaten you up? Why invade our planet? Why the fuck are you here killing people just to call them your fucking overlord. What the fuck is wronge with you ah fucker!” Sam started raving only for a sharp pain to kick up in his head. Retaliation for daring to get angry with it. Well it can go to hell.

“Master, your vitals are becoming unstable. Please calm yourself. I can answer….” It tried to respond, but Sam was having none of it.

“Go to fucking hell! You ughg fucking bitch!” Sam snapped, pain flairing through his head.

“Initiating emergency sedation.”

And then everything went black.