Putting together the TUNI wasn’t so hard under CD’s supervision. The wiring was rather straightforward, and the bits that Elli and I didn’t understand were easily situated into their positions within the large plasti-steel box that was to serve as our ‘comms server’, whatever that exactly meant. It had its own sets of toggle switches and a keypad when we were finished with it, as well as a solar strip that we tore from an old calculation device and slotted to TUNI’s side as a power plant.
The moment we powered it on, the air in the workshop seemed to change, charged with the hum of something new, something alive. Elli and I exchanged a glance. This tech felt even older than old-tech. It was hard to explain, but there weren’t many techs that made themselves physically known when turned on.
“Is that going to give us away?” I asked, rubbing my hand over the raised hairs on my arms and getting a little shock. “It feels like witchery. Surely people are going to notice that something’s off when they all start getting electrocuted?”
CD shook his head.
“Congratulations, you've managed to follow basic instructions while simultaneously lowering my estimation of your intellectual worth. Its powerup sent out a blast of electromagnetic waves, but now that it is running, such phenomena will subside. Still, though the operational startup and expected running parameters are within the norm, it is time to see if your creation is more than a glorified paperweight.”
Ignoring CD's jab, Elli and I focused on the server. The keypad was more complicated than we were used to… a rectangle full of old tech runes and digits. Attached to it was a foldable view screen on which a green cursor blinked expectantly, waiting for input. It was overwhelming, looking at this device from some other time, sitting in front of us and put together by our own hands.
I shared a look with Elli.
“We, uh, CD, we really don’t know what to do next,” she said, taking one for the team.
We hadn’t planned this far ahead, not even knowing what TUNI would look like when completed, let alone what to expect once the server was operational.
“So what do we do now?” Elli asked, her voice a mix of anticipation and nervousness.
A mass of lines shot out from CD’s hologram, painting a blue box on the shop wall, filled with old tech words.
“This is a user’s manual for the device. Try out some commands to familiarize yourself with the system. I suggest you do not try to make the device order bananas, fire, or hides. It is not magic.”
“But you said—” I started, grinning, but his annoyed eyes stopped any further jabs. I shrugged, looking back to the softly glowing screen. “Can you translate that into modern tongue? I’m all for playing with this thing, but it might be nice to know what I’m typing instead of having to learn an entirely different language to run this thing.”
CD nodded.
“Of course.”
The blue box expanded, recognizable words appearing next to the old tech ones. I scanned through the list, quickly finding and inputting the ‘TESTING MODE’ command, then stepping back to see what would happen. Elli reached out her hand, grabbing my own and squeezing it firmly. The server hummed louder, lights flickering as it processed the input.
Suddenly, the room was filled with a series of beeps and the sound of something whirring to life. The server's screen filled with runes, displaying lines of code that scrolled faster than I could read. CD floated closer, its holographic form flickering.
“This bodes well. It would seem that the two of you haven’t wasted our time and created a giant rock with which to club your enemies. Marvelous,” CD remarked. “The TUNI system is operational. Now the real work begins.”
Elli giggled and grabbed me in a full-on bear hug, squeezing me hard.
“We did it, Al,” she whispered, a smile breaking through her earlier apprehension. “We actually reinvented old-tech.”
CD gave us a rare smile.
“This is just the beginning. You apes haven’t even experienced what it can do yet. It is time to start the chipping procedures.”
We headed over to another worktable, this one full of bits of scrapped plastics, crystal residue, and silver shavings. In the center of it lay the chips we’d pressed, incredibly peculiar trapezoids made of tiny silver circuitry, boneshine, and wiring that looked both awe-inspiring and terrifying.
”The chips should be functional. The monster crystal has hardened appreciably, and scans indicate a 95% chance that they will be accepted by your bio-processes without any signs of immune-suppressive response,” CD informed us, as I picked one up and turned it over in my hand.
“So, for this to work, we just put the chips in our ears and we can all talk to each other?” I asked.
CD chuckled.
“Oh, never did I know I could feel such sorrow over the fall of such a formidable enemy. No, we will use an implantation tool, such as those that your soldiers use to gain their powers. I suggest injection into the part of your shoulder near the nape of your neck, though it could also function if implanted into any aspect of your nervous system. The boneshine aspects will extend tendrils into your spine, thereby allowing your own bodies to broadcast and receive transmissions over long distances.”
Elli opened her mouth wide.
“Do you mean we will be psychic? Like, we can shoot each other dirty thoughts. Maybe even nude images?”
Her eyes lit up on me as she finished her question, and I felt myself flush slightly.
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“No, horny ape. You will still have to speak out loud. Just all of us connected to the TUNI network, while within its broadcasting range of 100 kilometers, will be able to hear and respond.”
I looked down again at the marvel of it. The components that made it work were so small, an absolute masterpiece of engineering. Yet it could traverse the laws of physics and allow us all to talk and converse from unthinkable distances.
This was going to be awesome.
“Think of them as a monster core upgrade for your mind,” CD said. “With these, you're not just human. You're essentially a network.”
Elli went over to a cupboard, rooting around noisily until pulling out an old and dusty implantation device. We’d gotten it from the black market some time back and promptly forgot about it since we didn’t actually know how the soldiers and nobles cored their own bodies. When she set it down next to the chips, a line of dusty webbing sailed off it, fluttering off the edge of the table and to the floor.
“That will not do, simians. The device will require a good cleaning, or else there will be a risk of infection.”
I peered at the device pointedly.
“Are you saying that there is a chance that this will kill us?” I asked.
“Only if you let your ape brains run the show,” CD shot back. “Get rid of the dirt. Soak the implanting tips with hard alcohol. Then, and only then, do you implant the chips.”
We moved ahead, following his instructions, wiping away the dirt and grime before soaking it in alcohol. When CD noted that everything was at the ready, I took off my shirt and Elli did the same, smirking as my eyes and pupils widened.
“Do me first,” I said, turning away and showing her my back.
“Any chance that was innuendo?” Elli asked.
“It is getting late, and I would like to test the efficacy of the chips before apes mate and make smaller apes,” CD chided. “Implant the chip and you can get back to your mating rituals.”
Elli took hold of the cleaned device, popping the chip into a slot in the top before pulling back a lever on its side. Now at the ready, she slid up behind me and whispered into my ear.
“Stay still, Al. It’ll be over in a second.”
“Yeah, I bet you say that to all the boys,” I retorted.
She chuckled, and I jumped slightly as I felt her press the machine against my skin. It was room temperature, but in my mind, a cold, electric anticipation coursed through me. I could smell the tang of the alcohol we had used to clean the device, and it revved up the feeling that CD was full of shit and that this was going to hurt.
A lot.
I heard a sound best described as ‘choompf’, a sharp burn like that of an ember lighting on my skin, then a strange tickling as the chip's tendrils wormed their way through my skin to reach my spinal column. It didn’t feel right, but the burn was already gone before it could really set in, and moments later, the squirming stopped.
“How was it?” Elli asked.
I opened up my mouth to answer, then felt it hammer shut as electricity coursed through my body, throwing me backward onto the floor where I went ramrod straight, every muscle Charlie-horsing in the hardest manner possible.
Elli’s words became panicked and garbled while my vision went blurry.
Had that bastard CD tricked me? Panic swam up my throat in the form of bile that burned at the back of my throat.
All at once, my muscles relaxed, and I rolled to my side, spitting and coughing. A rush of newfound clarity flooded my senses, and everything suddenly made so much more sense. I shot my eyes up to Elli, her bosom heaving as she sobbed over me, screaming for me to be okay, and I reached out a hand to still her.
“It’s okay,” I choked. “I’m fine. It works.”
“Does it?” CD asked, staring down at me, those same words echoing somewhere deep in my mind. A quick burst of thought told me that he didn’t actually have to do that; that he was just the electronic cylinder and that this hologram was a construction of light placed there for our comfort.
“Yeah, I think so. Talk again. I thought I heard your words inside me as well as outside.”
“The experiment has been a success. I congratulate you on your rise from simian to barbarian. Well done, Alaric.”
The words echoed inside me, and I nodded, grabbing Elli’s proffered hand and getting to my feet. I looked her over, seeing the tears still glistening on her cheeks, and I rubbed them off with my fingers.
“It’s a hard start, but it works well, Elli. And, I’m not sure, but I think it made me smarter?”
“Indeed,” CD confirmed. “To be honest, that wasn’t hard to do.”
We repeated the procedure, this time with myself implanting the chip into Elli and holding her hand tightly as her mind and the chip formed their connection. After she recovered, we sat for a moment, dumbfounded by the constant echoes of our words in our minds.
“Is there any way to stop this thing from echoing?” I asked.
“Or to get it to read people's most inner carnal thoughts?” Elli asked.
CD turned to the blue box, eliminating a great deal of it until he found the command Listening Distance parameters – All. A new light shot out, showing a symbol that translated roughly as “Outside of organic listening range” and Elli went to work finding the keys and typing the command in.
With a push of the input button, the echo was gone.
“Well, that’s a relief,” I noted, walking over to the TUNI unit. A quick glimpse at the shape and size of its box and peripherals told me that I could move the whole system under my bed. I picked it all up in one heap, moving it to my room. As I bent to put it under my mattress, Elli stopped me.
“Not a good place, Al. Just in case, uh, you know, the bed gets all shaky or something.”
“Barbarian impulses are indeed too unpredictable. It would be illogical to risk such a vital device to your possible nocturnal activities,” CD agreed.
Scoping the room, we decided to wedge it into one corner and drape it over with the ripped fabric of my torn cloak. It actually looked rather artistic when we were finished and stuck out as decoration rather than as some illegal old tech device that we’d built and were now about to set upon the world.
“Now that that’s done, care to take this thing for a spin?” Elli asked, raising a single eyebrow.
“Don’t mind if we do,” I replied with a wink.
We stepped into a day well darkened into evening, giggling like children as we jogged in opposite directions over the cracked old-tech and cobblestone fillings.
“Can you hear me?” Elli asked, now out of sight and almost certainly over the neighborhood hill.
“Yeah, I gotcha!” I replied.
“Good. Now I’ll be able to pester you whenever I want to,” she said jokingly.
We spread further, testing the range of the TUNI. My first stop was the bustling marketplace in the central district, where the cacophony of vendors and the aroma of street food usually overwhelmed the senses. There I tried to think of the smells around me and send them to her.
“Barbar, this is a communications device,” CD scolded. “Thoughts and concepts cannot be sent. At least not yet,” he added, words that made my new and enlightened mind tingle in anticipation of the next great technological hurdle.
As the night deepened, we found ourselves on opposite sides of the city, sending messages with no problems at all. It was at this point that Elli came up with an interesting test of the system.
“It’s hide and seek, but I’ve got to describe to you where I’m at every five minutes. Catch me if you can!” she said, sounding excited even over the TUNI.
I launched myself into the chase, jogging through old-tech, middle-tech, and new-tech districts, under sputtering lights of electricity, often broken and jury-rigged to burn monster gas. It was a game of talk tag, and though it took much of the night, I finally cornered her near the main gate. She smiled and skipped to me when I called her name, and we headed back to my shop, exhausted but delighted.
Entering the door, we saw CD standing there, waiting for our return.
“Sleep, barbarians. With TUNI up and running, I can be your ops manager. Tomorrow my words can lead you out of the city and into the battlefield without incident. And then the start of your ascension will truly begin.”