The human bio-machine

There it is. What a sad moment. I am looking at the human being lying against the arid rocks. Its protective suit is torn, shredded, smashed. Its breathing had stopped. I can see the many wounds across the torso, the limbs and the head. It had fought on for so long. I had watched it standing up after the first hits and continuing to oppose the invaders. And again after the next barrage. And again and again.

Now the shell of its central nervous system is broken. And the human inside this body is gone. I could see the activity of the remaining neurons slowly ceasing, at the same time all the other cells of the body relentlessly working on repairing the multitude of damages.

I cannot help it.

My body does not exist in this dimension, I am but energy here. A weak cloud of sapient energy. I sense further, the other humans are fighting on, trying to push the invaders away from their homes, their families, their young. What a grand battle. Grand, but hopeless.

I watch the body again, its time ticking down. It pains me to be a mere onlooker, I badly wanted to help. I am but energy.

Wait.

I am energy. Is the human body not driven by energy? Pure electrical signals pulsing through the nerve cells and feeding back into the central nervous system? Is it possible...?

I reach out to into the body. I feel the signals travelling along the specialised cells. So many. So much light, still. The human is gone, but the body is not. I go in - no - it pulls me in. Oh, so much light. Everything is brimming with life. Billions of cells, trillions. They are moving, working, transporting, fighting, healing.

I breathe.

Oh, what a delight. Hot air fills my lungs, streaming in and then back out, bringing oxidizer into the body and taking with it the spent fuel.

And my heart, what a magnificent thing. Its pulsing with a force I have not seen in the grandest machines. I am alive with its beat and my life is now defined by its rhythm.

The liquid pulsing through my arteries and veins, so many cells in it - they go where they are needed, steered by a natural intelligence I cannot fathom.

There is a power plant in the torso, pushing chemicals into the pulsing liquid, energy for the biological machine. Distributing power as it is needed, taking it from specialised cells where it is chemically stored in great quantities. Batteries of unique design. It is all working by itself, not a thought needs to be spared, what a marvel.

There is more brightness I can sense, but it is a different kind. Is it...?

Oh!

There are cells feeling pure light. I see the signals cascading along the nerves, created by singular photons. There are different types that can sense different wavelengths, I have to interpret what is coming in.

No, there is more to it.

There is a lens. Muscles. A sphere filled with a self-governing world. And there is a cover. What an optical system, it surely spans the divide between engineering and artistry. I cannot work it and I probably have no hope of ever learning it.

There are many more signals, intricate sensors of magnificent design. I see one - no - two symmetrical devices, they can sense the vibrations of the very atmosphere around me. There is another part attached to them.

Wait. Is it telling me where the gravitational center of this planet is?

No. It is sensing acceleration forces. Oh, what a useful thing! I look further and there are so many more senses.

The very body is lined with nerves that can tell me so many different things, they are everywhere and there are areas where they are concentrated greatly. Heat, pressure and the movement of tiny hairs.

So much information derived from it! And there is more coming in. Internal sensors, feeling pressure of organs, feeling the chemicals of the blood, feeling alignment of the body. I have not even tried to move it and I am already utterly overwhelmed.

It is too much.

A century is not enough time to learn this machine. And time is something I do not have. That the humans don't have. Do I give up?

Not yet. Concentrate!

The central nervous system it damaged, but it is not completely broken. I have to investigate it, maybe I can find...

Yes!

I see the structure. Oh, what a system. No, not just one, but many. I see different layers of complexity. The topmost is damaged greatly and there are missing pieces across all the layers. I can now see that the actual mind of the human resided on the highest level. And on the very bottom is pure automation.

I follow the neurons and look at the patterns - so intricate, so many connections. Impossible to get a view of all of it. But I see enough now. I see where movement is stored. Where the senses are interpreted. Where the feedback of the organs gets translated.

Yes, I will use these, read them and send my signals through them.

I open my eyes. What ease to use them now! I can clearly see the world around me. So different now. So beautiful! I can hear, too. The battle in the distance is loud, cries, movement, weapons fire. Wonderful. Magnificent.

No, concentrate!

I need to help the humans. Am I able...? I move! So many muscles, pulling in so many directions, but I can see the patterns. I have to merely utilise the pathways that are already there.

I stand up, my whole muscular system working as one to lift the body onto its legs. What grace and fluidity. What raw power. The muscles are tensing, pulling at sinews, realigning the rigid internal support frame.

The energy I put in is multiplied thousandfold - no - millionfold by this magnificent biological machine. Electricity is pulsing through me, I am weak no more. I can bend this world to my will now!

I look across the battlefield. The rocky outcrops beyond where the humans had created fertile lands. It was these very lands where they now had been pushed back to, fighting from behind the walls around their houses. A last stand.

The invaders had passed by me. They look so different now. More dangerous? How do I fight them? The human had used a weapon, but that had been picked up by another one when they retreated.

Oh! One of the invaders has noticed me. And it is turning its armored body towards me. I had not thought this far. I need to -

Attack! Attack him now!

I am already sprinting. How did I react this fast? Was it the body? I am moving so quickly! The invader is still pulling up its weapon as I crash into it with force, lifting its whole body off its feet. In a fluid motion I lean into it and smash it into the ground.

I have no weapon, but I am one.

My hands come down onto its helmet. Once. The faceplate buckles. Twice. It shatters, exposing the rough face of an alien creature. Thrice. I feel the shell of its head breaking under the gloved hand. The fourth strike embeds my fist into its central nervous system, killing it instantly.

I am awash with power. My heart is beating so fast. This body is pulsing with energy, the light inside is bright and brilliant. As I look up I can see more invaders had turned towards me.

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No. All of them!

This time their weapons are nearly pointed at me already. So this is what it looks like. To stare at death. But I had never felt so alive before!

It will end then. Right here, right now. They fire, and...

What?

Their energy bolts don't reach me, bouncing off an invisible wall just an arms length away. I can sense the tiny hairs on my skin rising and I hear a cackling of electrical energy. Is it...?

No, this is not this body. This is me!

Oh, how much stronger I have become. I outstretch my arm. A bolt of lightning arcs between my fingers and the closest of the attackers, instantly overwhelming him with energy and extinguishing his life. The noise of it was deafening.

Yes!

They are still shooting at me, not even noticing that the humans are hitting them from behind. Another lightning bolt strikes the next one down. What power I now possess!

I will save the humans.

---

I stand amidst a smoking battlefield, the air still cackling with static electricity. There is no invader left standing.

I am still in awe of the power of this body. But there is a pressing concern, I need to warn the humans about the greater number of invaders I had sensed in the distance above the planet. I cannot see them now with my eyes, but I know they are still there. The humans have to leave their homes and flee to the skies.

As I turn I already see one of them running towards me. Oh, how fast they move, how gracefully they catch their body from falling with each step, pushing themselves over the roughest ground without misplacing their foot once. The human has nearly reached me, but it does not stop.

What...?

It crashes into me and nearly pushes me over! How did I manage to set a foot backwards quick enough?

Its head only reaches my chest, so I have to look down. I hear the noises coming from it that they had made during the battle, they sound very different now. As loud, as excited, but full of... emotion?

Something strange is going on in my central nervous system. There is an area alight with activity that is seemingly interconnected to everything else. It is...

My, how curious. Is that a form of communication?

I see now how this works. The face of the human holding on to me causes this new input of information. It - no - she is excited. And, relieved. Happy too. Curious. Worried. There is even more finer things I can read. What a subtle and complex what to relay emotions. The reactions I see in the neurons seem to happen automatically, just by watching the face.

I need to warn her, tell her about the danger. But how do I put the warning into face movements?

No, I need to use this other thing.

These noises that they make - there is harmonics in them, and patterns. Though I do not understand them. I look into the central nervous system again. It is so complex. I think I can just follow the signals coming from the atmospheric vibration sensors.

Oh no.

All of this is broken. What about…?

No, the damage is too great. What do I do now?

Other humans had come closer as well. I can read their emotions. They are similar to hers, but there is also confusion and worry. They look at me like that because they see a human they thought gone.

How do I explain?

They try to pull away the human holding on to me. She is agitated? She is waving her hands at them wildly.

Wait, yes!

My hands, I can communicate with them. I stretch out my hand and point it precisely at the rocks where this body had lain. I move slowly and deliberately and I can see that they follow me with their eyes. Then I hold the same hand against the head, right where the damage was that had broken it to the point where the human inside was forced to leave. After that I move it over the front of my torso to explain that I had found the body still working. And finally I indicate the battlefield around me to show them that I only wanted to help.

More confusion and more worry. Now even from her. They do not understand. But this is important and there is not much time.

I point at their homes and then upwards. You have to flee! I kneel down to touch the charred remains of one of the invaders and then indicate towards the direction where they had come from. There is more of them!

But, no. They don't understand.

She kneels down too now, looking intently at my face. I meet her gaze and…

Wow! Incredible.

I cannot describe it.

There is...light all around me. It is so very warm and pleasant. Where does it come from? My own mind is filled with magnificent joy I have never experienced before. I see so many neurons flickering excitedly. There, in that very broken layer of the nervous system that had housed the human. What are these patterns?

Oh!

I am bathed in memories. Memories of the humans life with her. So many connections. So many moments together. So much...love.

Is that what it is? What an experience! The humans are bound together by it. I see now how this human had stood up again and again after being struck down.

Was my hand on her face all this time? I need to concentrate. The warning!

The glow in my mind has not subsided completely as I stand back up. I try again to indicate that more invaders will come, but a new noise alerts me. A bad noise.

It is too late.

They had noticed too. Fear. Panic. Hope?

I see, I am their hope. I point towards their homes and together we run. So quick again, we leave the battlefield behind easily.

There are more humans here. Some injured, some very small. I need to help them. But, can they not flee? Is that why they remain here?

The noise followed us, it is one of the flying machines, and it is coming close. The humans take refuge behind the walls again, those with guns immediately beginning firing at the invaders in the sky.

Destroy it! Rip it to pieces!

I call upon my energy, feeling the little hairs on my skin rising again. I need much of it to hit this far. I put my hands together and point them towards the flying machine that is nearly upon us. A bolt of lightning arcs from me, the thunderclap shaking the ground.

The machine is more resilient than the invaders in their armor, but it succumbs too, breaking apart in fire and noise.

What is that? Did something fall from it?

---

What happened? I am in darkness, but I still sense the body around me. On no, the heart! It has lost its rhythm, the muscle fibers not working to the same beat anymore.

No!

Quickly I push a pulse of electricity towards it. Ah, it burns. But - there it is. The grandest machine is pulsing as one again.

I get my senses back. So much noise. Blurry lights.

Concentrate!

I am lying on my back. She is right above me, as are two other humans. They are fighting, shooting over the cover I am also behind. Did they bring me here? I need to help them.

Get up!

I... I can't. My legs. They are gone.

I bring my hands before my eyes, they are very damaged.

Oh no.

I have broken this body. It must have been a tremendous force that hit me to break it this much. The second time now, I stare at death. How great and finite a true life is. Immeasurable in worth, but clearly limited in time.

She notices my movements and looks down. I see great worry. Fear. Sadness. Does she stare at death as well? Oh, I must do something. I must protect them. Her.

I concentrate.

Where does my energy come from, I need more. Much more. The senses I had when I was not alive, I need them back.

Concentrate.

They are beyond this body. Beyond this dimension.

Ah!

But where am I now? My human body is gone. Am I...?

Is this the space between the dimensions? How did I get here? And why is it only now and not when I was searching for it for all that time before?

I can sense my home. It's there, in the distance.

But - the world of the humans is the other way. What do I do? The humans need my help.

She needs my help.

Even without the body around me, I still feel her. No, I cannot leave them, I am not done helping them. I turn and feel myself slipping back.

Wait. What is this? Are these...?

I see her and the two humans that were close to me. Oh wow, their minds are not limited to their bodies! I could not see it before, but I see it now. Their minds go beyond their physical form, a beam of energy flaring into the space between the dimensions. My, how far they go - off into the distance.

Where do they lead to? Do I dare find out? I touch the beam of her mind and...

I am somewhere else now. A tiny dimension, a mere pocket. But I am not alone. Is this her?

Yes it is, and she is huge! A creature of light and fire and it resembles her physical body. She is towering over me, alight with a brilliance I did not see in the very heart of stars. How beautiful and radiant with energy. Is this what truly lives in the human mind? Is this her true power?

They don't need my help, they probably are capable of more than one thousand of me. I just have to show her the power she possesses. Will she come with me? Does she...?

Yes, she understands me! And I show her where her body is. Come, this way, along the path to yourself. With her, I fall back into the world of the humans.

Back into the body I have borrowed. The failing machine. Ah, the beating heart, I have known it only for such a short time and still, I feel as if I would forever miss it.

I look up to see her. How marvelous. The light is dancing in her eyes, it is amazing. There, I say, it is now upon you do protect the humans, show them your magnificent light.

She understands.