Deep in the bowels of the asteroid, great work was afoot, the robot lay reminiscing of past times, a synthetic longing for a homeworld that had long perished in the flames of hate.
Leaning forward on the console it placed a metallic hand upon the table, from the surface a series of cables and wires slithered forward to insert themselves in the folds of the limb. Then the robot's body jumped forward with a surge of power, its eyes shining brighter for a split second. Seizing full control of its vessel the metal creature cast its gaze upon the ships of its attackers. Seeing their feeble power and meagre excuse for an army it hacked the craft, unleashing a deadly virus that had shattered the minds of machines long before their species had even dreamed of life.
The virus soon enveloped the entire ship and the robot saw, it saw the horrors of a millennium, the breakthroughs and setbacks of a thousand civilizations, it saw, tearing through the data banks and information held in-store, saw an opening, a communicator which would provide the insight of its mission. From this one box it spread through the solar system, discovering secrets which none dared to speak, uncovering broadcasts from the other side of the galaxy, it lacerated the Kestle Command, listening to the bickering of the senate, decimated the Aquir firewall, gazing down from their satellites onto the water world below.
It penetrated the defences of a thousand civilizations but it did not destroy, no it did not take pleasure or keep information for conquest or revenge, and it did not seek out what remains of its creators or its once beautiful home, with the knowledge of the living and dead at its fingertips it searched, searched a million worlds, searched the ships of the mightiest leaders, scoured the broadcasts of the dead and the living.
Then it stumbled upon the collective homeworlds, with colossal power it diminished any defences they had, scurrying through databanks and servers which were held to be so great, that none but the almighty gods themselves could dare cast a wandering eye upon their secrets. It ran through the collective world in seconds devouring the immortality projects and their research with glee.
Once it reached and ravaged the divine orbiter and scanned the president's lavish office is finally understood. It grasped the terms of reality with a firm belief, of what it had to do, and what had taken place during the ages of absence.
The robot then removed its Deathstroke hand and laid in a solemn course, a direct path for the garbage planet.
It knew what it had to do, it knew what errand of death it had to fulfill, practically bred for the sole purpose, it had to do what eight of its brethren were designed to destroy, it had to deliver the legacy of its forefathers, bring justice and peace to its long-forgotten people, it had to kill the fickle human known as John Taylor and send him back to the fiery ashes of creation.
Have you ever wondered about the civilizations which plagued our universe, looked up into the starry night sky after sunset, the cold nipping at your frostbitten toes and wondered if you were looking at ghosts, seeing the dead walk by your window panes? It's a strange thought, how many die, how many perish in flames or simply fade away, their feats never to be
recognized, their livelihoods soon to diminish until nothing's left but a few floating remnants in the cold vast abyss of space. Well, what if when looking into the night’s sky one day you saw a faint light, one of many populating the clouds. In that light, was a species, long gone, long dead. One of those stars may just have been the grand utopia I now describe.
It was a vast empire, one of splendour, blissful power and palatial planets. An empire with an armada so great all those who dared to stand in its path would simply cry and beg them for mercy as they would gods for forgiveness. Their military power was able to dominate an entire galaxy and still enforce an iron fist. They made the collective, and all of the civilizations in the present day seem like a group of ruffians, backwaters and bloodthirsty barbarians.
They enforced civil rights, made cities and worlds so beautiful you would think you had landed upon the lands of deities themselves, and truly mastered technology. This was a species and empire that had played the game of life and won, they had shoved their cards into the once sneering face of god and cast all evil into the abyss. Their population was healthy and brilliant, their soldiers strong, brave and intelligent. Their youth humble and yearning to improve their goldlike society at all costs. There was no hunger, no rich, no poor, no homelessness, no racism, no prejudice, there was peace, a tranquillity like no other and immense respect for knowledge.
Their machines would build and terraform worlds within seconds, their robots served with an almighty grace and their scientists uncovered the secrets of the universe with a dedication like no other. Any visitor would question how an empire so vast, so well controlled and so magnificent came to even exist, and then they would get their answer, see the legions upon legions of dead, the backs of the diseased from which they stand, pain poverty and blood that the blissful society was built on. However, the end justified the means, for, despite a horrid bloodshot past, something truly great had been achieved.
Our tale begins in the bottom of a laboratory, one guarded with over a million robotic soldiers, a laboratory so grand it was like a city itself, a bustling academic civilization and the greatest blunder of history was about to take place.
In the core of the lab itself, the main testing chamber at the heart of a grand network, a scurry of scientists was to be heard, today history was to be made, today was the day a member of their divine species ascended from his physical body and into godhood. The chamber was a masterwork of time, its white walls carved and etched with gold, the array of computers and instruments populated by a bustling crowd of enthusiastic researchers, each one beaming with excitement and fear.
Over three thousand metal tubes intertwined to reach a giant glass containment room in the center of the cylindrical area. In the center of the chamber behind three heavy blast doors and a good twenty-four inches of reinforced glass lay a single member of their world. Inside the man's eyes were filled with plaguing remorse, yet also a dignified look of bravery and duty.
A mixture of sweat and hidden tears ran down his slimy skin. The gills on each side of his face breathed in and out sharply, blue eyes accenting his navy blue complex. He donned a white test suit, its short hair smoothed back to form a peculiar hairstyle. On the side, the Kalos
insignia of three stars shone brightly. Then with the wave of a hand from a supreme commander the room fell silent.
Two lead scientists walked forward and entered the main console room, all of those around them saluted with respect.
“Is the operation ready?” one asked a determined grin dancing upon his face.
A dazed underling soon responded with haste. “Yes sir,” she replied
“The disease has been loaded, all physical precautions have been taken?” he inferred.
“Yes sir,” she whispered.
"Cheer up Cadet, today we make history" he cried patting her on the shoulder.
Throughout the room they all awaited his orders, casting occasional glances at data readings.
Raising his voice he was about to shout an order when the man beside him threw out his hand and grasped his shoulder.
“What happens if it doesn’t work? The man will be reduced to a bumbling waste, his mental capacity dwarfed, and if it does, can you control him? What if the procedure addled his brain? The maze..”
The other cut in shaking his body from his colleague’s clutch.
“The maze is a gateway, a tool, a way for us to reach our full potential, a barrier that is meant to be passed,” he shouted.
“No, the maze is an organ, and you know it, a defect of a mutation, a byproduct of our evolution, a sneak peek at the future, if you use this organ to hop over the steps of life, who knows what could happen! the maze is a sign of growth, a few more generations and this all could pass, a few more generations and this could not be needed.” he barked waving his hand to point around the room.
“What would you have us do? Wait? Wait when the discovery of the century, the discovery of our species sits in our grasp, wait to rot and fade into the back pages of history when we could sit upon the highest pedestal and have future generations remember us as the heroes of the millennium?” he cried.
“You play dice with our livelihoods, all of the chance of fame.” he snarkily replied.
“I am a scientist, born and bred for this purpose, I will not let fifty years of work go to waste” he howled.
"Besides, you know that I am a careful man" he pointed to the apparatus next to the subject.
“I pity you if this goes wrong as you can not see your mistakes, blinded by your belief.” the other said.
“A maze is a tool and we are going to use it Our leader has approved of this procedure, children are waiting to wake up and see our success, we are going to use it to achieve immortality” he shrieked.
With that notion sprouted from his charismatic lips, he slammed down a gloved hand upon a massive red switch and a flurry of commands spread around the vicinity.
Those who gathered around sprung into action and prepared for the worst.
A cadet walked up to the glass and gave the person inside a thumbs up, he responded with a shaky thumbs up in return.
A captain then pressed his finger on a red intercom button and spoke into it, his voice coming out clear and crisp inside the test container.
“Doctor? Are you ready to undergo the procedure? It is not too late to go back” he questioned.
“No Sir, I am prepared” he responded, his voice quavered to give away the lie.
“It is with great honour that we salute you, today Doctor, your name will go down on the pages of history and be cherished” the man shouted.
Dressed in white fatigues he heartily drank a bubbling liquid from a crystal glass in front before continuing his dialect.
“We will begin in a few minutes, prepare yourself.”
All looked into the chamber and peered at the dead man’s corpse that sat inside. The tube slowly filled with a gelatinous liquid and a nozzle was robotically fitted over the man's mouth to form a steady supply of air.
Once the final switches had been flipped and computers readied, all three hundred watchers stood straight with a final salute. The man took one last sorrowful look at his friends before three seconds later a series of a thousand needles ejected from the robotic chair and entered his brain one by one. His piercing screams echoed across the lonely halls of the compound making all who dared watch the man flail in tantalizing agony churn with guilt.
After his brain had been prepped, a humanoid robot then stepped forward from its place in the shadows and placed one final analysis pad onto the man's head before taking a large needle and sticking it straight through the test subject's skull. It was an action that caused the lead scientist to reel back in horror, casting his eyes onto a gray water bottle in front instead of the disturbing sight.
"Interesting, the brutality that must be taken for progression?"
"Yes, Doctor" the other replied.
The two who stood in the elegant main control box conversed about the next steps.
“Is the vital monitor ready? Can we induce the maze?” a leader asked.
“He has been loaded with the enhancer, Governor Quil.” the other replied.
“Very good Doctor, prepare to go forward with the operation.” the Governor spoke hastily.
The last step was to be taken, the introduction of the maze, Quil then flipped a final purple lever under a button cover and a mysterious liquid flowed from a series of needles attached to the back of the test subject’s head.
They all stared intently at either screens or the subject, the man's body was now uncontrollably twitching a spasm which was toppled by the array of straps used to tie him down.
“He has entered the maze!” a scientist shouted after looking at a computer.
"I want constant readings, any sign of trouble and we inject" the doctor screamed.
“Body and vitals normal, doing brain analysis now” one howled.
“He is completing it at an accelerated rate, it is only a matter of minutes now” another screamed.
The operation had now begun, a series of alarms and beeps sounded, however one made a peculiar sound, a high pitch than the others.
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“What was that? master alarm for which section?” the governor asked.
Silence followed.
"Answer me, master alarm where?" he cried.
The group of scientists in charge of the station looked worried, a haunting fear showing in their eyes.
“Sir, something is wrong” one spoke nervously.
“What do you mean?” the doctor asked.
“His brain development, it seems... it's almost as if he is suffering damage, something is wrong, I can't explain it, it seems to have been induced by the serum.” the cadet replied.
“What does this mean?” the doctor inquired.
“When the operation finishes, whatever steps out of that chair is not going to be the lovable honourable soldier we know, his personality, it will have completely changed, not memories of course, but this is bad.” the cadet barked.
He leaped from the observation deck and stood behind the instruments, analyzing the readings.
The entire room heard this remark and all bathed in the silence awaiting their leader’s commands.
“Dr. Quinton, how much time until he completes the maze?” the governor asked.
“About two minutes and 14 seconds by my calculations,” she replied.
Spamming a pattern of buttons the doctor set to work.
“Erect a level 100 containment shield, one designed for atom regulation, we can trap him inside and hopefully sway him from exiting even in the fully modified form.
He then turned to his counterpart, do we inject the disease? If we do not do it now, it could be too late, his body is already shifting, his brain patterns are off the charts.” he questioned.
“Wait until he gains consciousness, we will have about an hour before he is believed to morph into full form, there we can see what kind of changes have happened, perhaps it is not as bad as we fear..” the other said.
They peered behind the glass, the fuzz of a containment shield could be seen now, a blanket of static surrounding its tubular prey.
Inside the man was horribly twitching, his face drenched with sweat, his body otherwise limp and lifeless almost as if he was a dead corpse being yanked by an invisible enemy.
“Sir, the maze, the serum is working too well, the transformation it has begun.”
The man stopped his flailing and lay still.
The string of words leapt from the doctor’s mouth before he had even heard the end of his colleagues' words.
“Inject the disease a few minutes after he gains consciousness, at my command”
"Inject what do you mean? It's working" the other cried.
The subject cracked lay flat, a single shudder sealing the series of movements. It tried to sit up but was held down by the thick plastic bonds which were tenaciously attached to the operating table.
The man cracked one eye open and glanced across the room, first still, peaceful and bathed in tranquillity, the effect of the maze’s defeat was not seen, he was simply a new man waking up for the first time. However from the moment the eyelids opened you could tell something had changed, he was no longer the man who entered that chamber, no longer peaceful, serene, and his emotions bulged with hate and despair.
His skin flaked and tore, disappearing into the air with a stream of flowing particles, slowly he began to disappear, molecule by molecule atom by atom he became one with the world around him. As this magnificent transformation occurred, blinding the eyes of the watchers with its beauty, the man let out screams so harrowing they chilled to bone, he thrashed and flailed in the binds, eventually ripping them out of the chair with an unforeseen strength. Sprinting to the glass, it stood and stared, glancing around the room at its colleagues, eyes bloodshot and impatient.
Its left arm had almost completely flaked away, a pile of dust sitting in the corner to mark the limb. As it watched its creators, looking down upon them with a mixture of glee and disgust, almost as would an egotistical king look upon its pitiful underlings, it knew what it had to do, it knew what errand of evil it had to fulfill, and it would enjoy it, it would draw pleasure from every last death, every scream, horror and cry for help, it would seal the fate of the universe in its grainy palm, destroy the secrets of the maze and rule the creatures that lived at its peril as a god would his disciples.
Those on the other side of the glass knew they had to act fast, every second could be a planet or solar system allowed to fall into its soon-to-be-tainted hand.
“Inject him with the disease! now!” the governor roared.
A scientist whacked his gloved fingers upon a red button and a robotic arm emerged from the floor of the test chamber, it scanned the area and analyzed the target. Moving at an insatiable speed it stuck a five-inch needle into the test subject's brain.
The creature had attempted to dodge but it was too late, the arm had gratified its purpose, suspending the man in perpetual animation the soon-to-be god reeled back in horror, a rhythm of twitches flowing throughout his slimy flesh. However just as the last of the disease was about to be injected the being did the impossible, it grabbed the metallic arm and bent it back, tarnishing the steel and causing wires to protrude outwards. The final few droplets in the needle would stay inside forever as it pulled the five inches out of its brain and cast the pin onto the cavern floor. Blood splattered out of the side of its head but it did not care, it wailed a petrifying shout falling onto its knees, now shivering and grasping its wound, the beast was rendered immobile, yet the morphosis was still in effect, just slightly slower.
“Oh god,” the doctor muttered
“The disease, a good portion is still left in the vial, you know what this means, we only impeded it, it will not have as much power and will still be able to conquer this planet at the least, but our new shields will hold it, we can contain it in the chamber and eventually find a way to kill it, how many more vials do we have left of the disease?.” the governor whispered.
“None…” he replied stepping backwards in fright, his face pale and weakening.
“None??”
“Yes”
“How long until it morphs enough to regain consciousness? how long will it take to produce the disease?” the other asked
“6-12 hours?, a full morph will take 24-48, we really don’t know, I have twelve in the backup chamber, we will simply have to inject them until we render it useless, production takes three days so we have to be careful.” the man whispered.
“Twelve that's fantastic, you had me worried for a second, quick we can send in a team of soldiers to repeatedly inject it, nothing will reach outside this project's walls you hear me” he shouted.
“Yes”
"Good" he sighed.
The doctor ran towards an iron storage locker in the far corner of the room, placing his hand upon the orange scanner he was soon granted access to and heard a satisfying hiss protrude in the room.
However when he peered inside the storage he did not see, the embracing glow of twelve swirling bottles of liquid. He saw empty shards of glass, each and every one broken and shattered into millions of pieces. Spinning around he then knew the mark of his fate, the creature had known of the disease it had known of its location in the storage when it dismantled its first attacker it knew exactly where to strike again. Bending down to his knees the man grasped at the shards of glass, tears streaming down from his quiet blue eyes.
They had only one option left, to accept defeat yet would they, defeat was never an option, it was a way out looked upon with remorse a word uttered in dark corners or bread out centuries ago, these were people about to defeat death, they would not go down without some sort of fight and so help them god if they were not to succeed.
A strange emotion flew by the eyes of every creature that stood, some fell back in astute horror, others thought of the loved ones they would never see again, and a few stood ready for a challenge, a feeling of sadness, yes, but it was beautiful in its vindictive state, an ideological feeling of courage and bravery that they could not fail their people, no matter how hard or no matter what the price.
The entire room scrambled to their computers, frantically typing, analyzing all attempting to pile together their intellect and find a solution to the daunting task, whether they succeeded I do not know, all I can say is they could not execute their plan.
The lead doctor himself, tears streaming down his cheeks placed a leathery hand upon one of the supercomputers, allowing the rest of the rooms close to two hundred scientists to try to find a solution deemed impossible, he only had 6 hours, his planet maybe 10, his civilization only a few days to live. He worked as would a possessed man, doomed to die but desperate to save the ones he loved, typing and calculating until his fingers ran with blood and his mind went
almost numb. Barking orders at the three other doctors who had lost hope he plugged a series of mathematical equations into the main computer system.
The governor having communicated to the military of the failure then turned to his co-leader, his eyes too bore the horrific sting of tears, tears not for himself, but for the legions of the damned who now waited to die in tantalizing agony because of his ignorance.
“What do we do? the militia will have around three hundred thousand troops within the hour, we already have sixty androids outside of those blast doors ready to fight, do you think an explosion would help?” he asked.
“No, no mortal weapon can kill him now it's too late, Even if we leave this laboratory, the disease will not help us, it limits his power, yes, but based on these readings he will still be strong enough to wipe all who stand in his path to oblivion, the disease will kill him, I designed it too, maybe not today, nor tomorrow, maybe not in a decade, or a century, the one thing we can do is stop him from finding the cure, once he wakes up he will have a projected three days where his body is still here, there we will try to slow him down. The disease limits how much of him can spread, and his powers, perhaps even makes him susceptible to shields, we have to try but first, prepare a failsafe,” he responded shivering, his white uniform slicked with sweat.
"For god sake Doctor, scrape the disease off the floor if you have to"
"I can't it's ruined" he stuttered.
"Do you have any more copies?" the other questioned.
"I have four located in our off-world lab" he sighed.
"Send an extraction team to retrieve it immediately" the governor screamed.
"They'll never make it in time" he breathed.
"I know, but we must at least try"
He frantically sent a message to command, awaiting a response.
"The failsafe is our only option now"
“Failsafe?”
“The one cure, the only way he can combat the regression of the disease is through c-52,”
“C-52, why according to our projections that gene will not show up for another millennium in our race”
"Thats not a solution" he cried.
“I'm not talking about us, I’m talking about the fate of everything, if he finds the cure he could rise to full power, become the true god his body yearns to be, and a God whose mind is bent and corrupt, it could be the end of life as we know it, we do not know his power, but whatever it is, it is sure to lay waste to the chronicle of existence.
We are dead, are children our dead, our families are dead and I am sure he will kill us all to ensure in ten years gods like himself are not naturally spawned from our species. What is the point of a God if he has no disciples?, if all are equal. The man inside that chamber did not know of c-52, but I am sure he will eventually try to find out how to fix himself, and with immortality, it is only time that stands in his way. Remember the Asteroids?” he howled
"What do those have to do with this?" the other questioned.
"Remember them?" he shouted.
“The ones filled with our history, the failsafe to preserve our legacy, yes I do, I wrote an essay in kindergarten about them,” he said
"This is no time for jokes governor" he hissed.
"Show it to me?"
“In this code, I have written is the commands, the mission, about thirty of those asteroids exist, far away from its grasp and well-hidden enough it will take years for him to find, I’m sending a message, an order to find all c-52 genetic life and exterminate it, exterminate it until the great evolution, kill all who possess the gene until all of life can evolve simultaneously, according to the computer the next c-52 positive gene is most likely to show up on a planet called Earth, basic life, hardly out of the single-cell but our readings do not lie, the next Oil-7 after that The Vern Sector. If we can end the lives of these
souls before the creature find them, then it is possible that the disease will kill him before he finds a cure, we will rid the universe of a tyrant,” he whispered.
"The creature, why do you call it the creature he hasn't even awakened yet?"
"Do not be a fool governor, he's dead"
"It is what's left"
"Our creation"
They both glanced at the body, wincing at its sight.
"What if there is a miscalculation? What if we are wrong?" the other howled.
"We don't have time to speculate" he returned
"There are too many problems" the governor shouted.
"This is our only chance" the doctor replied.
"Our?" he trembled.
"Everything" the doctor muttered.
"We played god and we lost" he interjected.
"No Doctor, we played god and we won" the governor hissed.
“You had all of this prepared, didn’t you? what if the asteroid ships die, or short circuit, this could be millenniums from now, we don’t even know if some of them are operational” he barked
“It's a risk I am willing to take, I am always prepared,” he replied
"Are you willing to take this risk?"
"There will be other ways to bypass the disease"
"Yes, but only one cure"
The two remained in silence for some time.
“Fine then send your commands, we have five hours, in which I will contact the senate perhaps they will see sense in this movement, that I cannot.” the other said.
“I will go see what the rest of the teams have come up with, perhaps the so-called shield can be sped up and manufactured, we can trap it forever in these rooms, the problem was sent to our best and brightest across twenty systems, I believe in a way out, I don’t believe in no-win situations,” the governor said his eyes wandering around the room.
“So be it,” the other said.
"I never thought I'd die this way" the doctor stuttered.
"Hubris isn't that what they say?" the governor replied.
With that, the two turned around to look at the seemingly lifeless corpse of a man they once knew and trusted, a man they cared for so much they were not afraid to make him their god.
Within five hours, all in the laboratory were dead, its long caverns silent, a vast network of rooms bare of all noise, their plans had failed yet each and every soldier, scientist and civilian fought with valour and dignity, drawing out their last ounces of strength to slow and ensure the creature remained, trapped within the great academic structures heart.
They fought an enemy that could not be injured, bullets and projectiles simply passing through its skin, an enemy that snapped necks within the blink of an eye, channelled electricity as the air it breathed and walked valiantly over the mounds of good people it had buried. The billions of soldiers who faced off against the creature knew of its power, they knew of its ground-shaking capabilities, its immortality, its ability to suck the life from a thousand men within only a mere second, yet they still fought, knowing they would die, they portrayed a kind of dignity and valour which is unseen in the galaxy to this day and is sure to be almost never seen again, they fought to the last soldier, the last bullet the last ship, the last stronghold.
They layed down life after life, simply to delay the inevitable, they knew they were going to die, the millions who entered the laboratories blood crusted doors knew they would never see the light of day again, yet they ran inside with tenacity and belief in their society which was extraordinary.
To see an entire civilization fight, and not once attempt to surrender, to see legions of soldiers willingly go up against an enemy that could not be killed, to see hundreds of armed recruits walk towards the burning flames of hell without a second thought of their leader’s orders was frightening, it was a love and dedication so frightening it still haunts their foe and the chronicle of time to the very hour. Within eight hours the creature broke through the defences and reached the surface, two days later it had destroyed most of the armada, leaving nothing but ash and blood to mark the fate of the people it once loved, three nights later the code was sent out, a measure of final hope.
Three months later the entire civilization had perished, its culture now destroyed, its people lay slain and none remained to bury the hoards of the dead.
The code took over a week to reach its destination and from that day forward the asteroids stood, every understanding, ever waiting, ever dormant, serving from beyond the grave as they had for centuries in the past.