Raptor One – Chapter 71
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Landing on the ground with as less force as possible I walk over to the grounded Viking and sit close by to relax a little.
“Zu, how’s the mission?” I ask Zu, who is leading my pack right now.
“Oh, White, we are done with the second rail connector, we are on the last damaged rail connector, the girls are working on it while we keep guard, but something is making me worry.” Zu gives me a heads up.
“Da, what's the problem?” I ask Zu, my ears twitching in nervousness.
“We got some strange movement after the Primal Nidus incident, Most of the Primal zergs in the area moved out after taking a more protective stance.” Zu answers my question.
“I also heard sounds of howls, most howls and roars sounded different from the Primal zergs.” Su’zu also reply, something he don’t do that much.
“Understood, I'm feeling things are about to go south, I'll send the drones for recon just in case, I want immediate reply in case of hostilities.” I send out orders while calling the Delta sisters.
“Roger.” I get a reply from Zu.
I don’t need to wait much before four drones line in front of me, so I close my eyes to connect with the girls.
I manage to connect but I feel super bad in AI mode as my form glitch and stutter badly, while I was trying to compose myself four small girls appear and run to me, but Sigma appear and stop the girls.
After a minute I barely manage to get into a somewhat talking state.
“Gi- g-g-g-g-g-g- Girls, I need yo-o-o-o-ou to recon zone 0,1,3. Don-n-n-nn-n't open fire on pri-i-i-i-i-imals, the re-e-e-est is weapons f-f-f-f-f-ffff-free.” I struggle to talk to the girls, my intentions are sent to Sigma first so she can filter and solve any errors in it before sending my patched up intention packet forward.
The girls nod but seem very stressed at my status, showing much reluctance before leaving, Sigma also give me a worried look before we leave.
Sigma try to say something to me but our connection cuts off and I'm thrown back into my body, completely paralyzed, my mind itself blacking out and returning as my body spasm on the ground.
When I resume consciousness I find myself hooked into many cables, I try to move but fail because my body don’t respond, my vision is blurred and my hearing compromised, but somewhat functional.
My white eyes contract and expand at the strong light shining in intervals on each eye, this happen for some time before stopping.
Soon i feel a jolt of electricity on my neck, packets of data enters my mind, after some scanning I open it and find some instructions on what to do.
I cross check the instructions with my knowledge databank and find out that it does match with the Artificial Intelligence recovery protocol.
I decide to follow the instructions.
“*A.I.R.P Pack opened.*”
“*Reboot Protocol Initialized.*”
“*Entering Root Data.*”
“*Servitor Protocol Activated.*”
I find myself in a completely digital world in the form of a glowing orb, a cube looking drone materialize besides me.
“Servitor Fully activated. Host, please follow for better startup operation.”
I hear the.. Servitor bot say before it started moving somewhere, stopping some distance away, waiting for me to follow.
Moving comes to me almost naturally, remembering me of the time I came to this new reality.
Following the servitor bot I reach a giant floating orb.
“Host, this is your Core Processor, please configure it into working order. Proceeding can’t happen before the step is complete.”
I look at the core, my core, after looking for some seconds, lost in thought I find myself in another place, this time it looks like the lab I was first found and rescued, the servitor bot materialized besides me again.
“Please choose one of the races. Warning. Choosing a race as core can and will lead to errors further ahead.”
I hear the servitor bot in silence before asking.
“What are the current Core Protocol.”
“Current Core Protocol are shown as the host Avatar.”
The servitor reply, making me look at myself.
I get surprised at looking at my old appearance, the hands, the big frame, the me who lost everything and was left to rot...
The human me... Exactly myself, in all it’s sinful unglory.
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I look up and see the row upon rows of races, from the famous walking toasters, also known as Protogens to the Militaristic Lastree, there’s also the Human looking Maldacht, Parasite porters with incredible powers and capacity.
I walk by the rows of races, each in their own augmentation pod before standing before one that I know very intimately, the Avali.
I stay there, looking at the curled form of the Avali, it’s appearance identical to the one I currently use, I don’t think twice, I should have abandoned my human form and mentality long ago.
“*Core Protocol Updated.*”
I find myself in front of the giant floating orb, this time however it’s releasing a much better aura.
I look at myself and find I'm back into my very own Avali form again.
“Host, please follow for the next protocol.”
I hear the servitor bot say beside me and I follow it as it flies upward, the feeling of passing by a barrier wash over me before I find myself in a new place again.
This place looks like a high tech hospital of Avali design.
I get out of the augmentation chamber, it’s liquid and cables disconnecting from me as I walk out and follow the glowing line which leads me to a rehabilitation chamber.
“Please move into the treadmill.”
I hear the servitor bot say and stumble into the treadmill.
After a lot of checking and configuration I am released from the treadmill, this time moving like I was born am Avali.
“Please move into the Sensorial Check.”
I hear the servitor bot say again and move into the exoskeleton looking apparatus.
After being locked in place and my blurred vision covered I find myself looking at a lot of Sensorial data configuration, each with a test for optimal result.
*Eyes: 0%*
*Ears: 0%*
*Mouth: 0%*
*Maximum Total: 500%*
I’m met with various sliders, all related to each feeling, but what got my attention was eyes, ears and mouth.
The max percentage must be under a total of 500%, with 0% being standard augmented Avali status.
After giving the sliders a lot of tries I found out i can also give negative numbers, so I tested more, but what I ended with was...
*Eyes: -50%*
*Ears: 600%*
*Mouth: -50%*
*Maximum Total: 500%*
With this setting I ended up looking like a very rough and feral yet absurdly perceptive Avali, my voice can no longer leave without a growl and I can see only half of what a human can, but the tradeoff is that if sounds exist, I can hear it.
Seeing that the modification did not change much about me I hit accept, the modifications now permanent.
Before i can adjust myself to the new way of feeling I find myself overlooking a giant orb the size of a sun.
*Root Data Reformation Complete.*
I hear the servitor bot say before deactivating and disappearing into packets of data that fell into the giant orb, my core.
Closing my eyes and feeling my core I feel that three fourth of it was now okay, but before I started to repair the rest I felt a connection.
*Sigma Scarlet as been reconnected to external port*
*Mate’s Link Restored*
I hear my own voice as Sigma walks out of the darkness, stopping beside me.
“Privet Sigma.” Is all i say before focusing on the repairs of my own core.
“Sorry, White, I tried to alert you but I was too late.” Sigma say with a frown.
“Niet, not your fault, I was a mess to begin with.” I reply back.
I can feel her frown at me as I work at repairing the remaining errors.
“Don’t you find me unhelpful?” Sigma ask me after some time.
“Niet, i know you, you where am administrator, not a secretary.” I say, looking at her.
“Different from your serious and upright sister.” I continue after we lock eyes.
“Yeah, I think it’s time I get back to work...” Sigma say unsure of herself.
“I have your back, don’t forget yourself, move on while still being yourself.” I say and smile.
Sigma jumps and swirls before folding her arms on her back, a smile can be seen on her petite looking face, the feeling of depression around her nowhere to be seen anymore.
I look at Sigma in her full smiling glory, a tomboyish girl with bronze skin, blue short hair and cyan eyes, I can feel the energy radiating from her, I smile out.
“Let’s go?” I ask her.
“Let’s go!” She gives a energetic reply, a hand up in the air while the other holds mine, pulling me back to the edge between my core and the darkness.
As both of us disappear into the darkness I feel myself jolt back into my own body, while I was still feeling dizzy I feel a flashlight pass by each of my eyes, the bright light forcing me to close my eyes as I try to move my body.
I feel the sound of snaps close to my ears making each ear twitch and follow the noise in response, my struggling getting more intense as I feel myself restrained by something.
“Don’t worry, you are safe for now.” I hear a male voice, my new acute sense of hearing giving lots of information about the person and the surroundings where I am located right now.
I relax my body, not because of the words of the male cyborg but at knowing I'm inside the bullet train with my pack surrounding me.
“What happened?” I growl out a question.
With my senses reset I find myself in a somewhat strange situation, but the feeling disappear as fast as it appeared as soft footsteps reach my ears, the owner is soon revealed.
“How are you feeling? We found you having a seizure and bought you here.” The tone, the feeling, the softness, I feel a multitude of emotions after hearing Zu talk to me.
Including her emotions.
“Don’t be worried Zu, I just had a very bad system crash, thanks for the care love.” I growl out in a soft tone.
“It’s good that you are okay, but your condition was very bad, you would be stuck in a loop of crash and boot due to your jury rigged core system, I got rid of it by inserting a new data packet with our latest AI version.” The male cyborg say before continuing. “Thanks for the help, if it wans’t for your rescue I would be dead right now.” He say, and I finally understand why.
The guy is just a torso with a head attached, his neck was patched up and repaired, now he stays locked in a external node of the train infirmary where he can control many extendable arms, each with a function, from medical to mechanical repair.
“It’s good to see you good and about, as a medic my moto is to save, Semper Fortis, Semper Fidelis.” I growl out and get quiet.
“Right now that you are ok now I'll let you resume your task, we are running out of supplies and things don’t seem to be good outside.” The male cyborg say before I feel the harness keeping me in place release, dropping me back to the ground.
I slowly get up and stretch after opening my eyes, I don’t seem to see that far even in good conditions, but what I can’t see I can hear with pinpoint accuracy and even know who’s the owner of the sound if I have the knowledge.
I walk for my bulky power armor behind my pack, Li’luk and Li’lak is performing last minute repairs and maintenance.
I stop close to Zu and give her a kiss to the lips, ears open for all the sounds she makes as I deepen our kiss, feeling her heartbeat fasten and the low moan she release with a small gasp as I end our kiss before smiling, my smile coming out feral due to how I was made.
“What was that for!?” Zu protest weakly on my chest, I can feel she’s really happy and aroused despite her words of protest.
“I just missed you.” I growl out in a low voice to her ear before separating and moving forward.
I chuckle as I sense her shudder due to the micro sounds it makes.
As I pass by Su’ra and Su’zu I’m received with a salute before they both place a hand on my shoulder, both having a big smile.
“Welcome back, Captain.” Both Su’ra and Su’zu say before letting me walk forward, following me along with Zu.
Stopping in front of my power armor i give it a single glance before focusing on the Li sisters.
“Hey hey! Boss, welcome back! The armor have been restocked.” Li’luk say after placing her tools back and jumping on me for a hug.
“Hello boss.” Li’lak say with her small voice, a smile on her mouth as she finish looking at the armor. “The armor is fully operational and ready for combat.” Li’lak say while giving her sister the stink eye, making Li’luk laugh and release her hug on me.
I shake my head and get ready to suit up.