Post by Eric Moreau on Sept 9, 2006 9:37:44 GMT -5
The Ties That Bind: Part 2
The soothing embrace of satisfaction was still coursing through Cadeyrn’s body…those that were still human anyways. Killing his assassin had made him happier than he could remember ever being. He was still a metal monster however, no longer human from the outside with only a few vital organic parts leftover on the inside. Beating his assassin to death had made him a little more at ease with his current predicament, he might be ugly but at least he was several times stronger than he was not to mention a whole lot faster as well. Revenge, what a sweet thing it is, but now what lay ahead for him. What plans do the machines have for him, oh they had promised that he would lead the human race once it was assimilated into the empire. But in his time with the machines he has grown to not trust them so much, for one thing he discovered that the were not as intelligent as they made themselves out to be. A machine is still a machine no matter how advanced it is; and machines have a hard time understanding abstract ways of thinking, for them logic is key, it is their everything. Cadeyrn knew full well that the machines had installed systems in his new body to monitor his actions and thoughts, but the human brain is a highly complex thing…one the machines have yet to fully understand, and so he had found a way to prevent them from peeking into his inner most thoughts. He pulled on his teachings of the ancient art of meditation known as Kalidor which he had studied when he was a child. Through Kalidor he was able to create a partition in his sub-conscious mind where he could escape to think and of course act without the machines knowledge. When Cadeyrn was in his partition it looked to the machines as if he was sleeping when in fact not only was he completely awake but able to move freely throughout the mothership he know called home.
Although the machines do not require an atmosphere to exist, many of the races who are subservient to them do…as such the mothership was created. Machine homeworlds and ships do not have atmosphere or even room for a human sized being to navigate. They do not have interiors whatsoever, if a silver orb needs to be transported via ship it is docked within the ship in special transportation pods. The planets are nothing more than massive mining operations as the machines have no need for housing of any kind. The mothership, which is not it’s true name but rather it is name that was given by the races who use them. There are over twenty motherships floating around in space and are used primarily to transport and coordinate attacks for the organic races in the machine empire.
Cadeyrn walked into the large meeting hall, his foot steps echoing through the chamber, although the motherships were meant for the atmosphere breathing races there were always at least a dozen silver orbs on hand and there hovered two of them surrounding the Funnik leader at the end of a long rectangular table. Cadeyrn was pleased that the Funnik leader was as monstrous as he was, organic parts wrapped in a machine exterior he thought to himself as he approached the Funnik leader who he had been told was named nutsook Alor. Cadeyrn extended his hand towards the nutsook as he neared…
“Greetings nutsook Alor, I am Cadeyrn of the Humans it is an honor to meet you.”
:::You will have to excuse Cadeyrn, he refuses to use the hive communication method, as you will no doubt come to understand, Humans are quite stubborn.:::
Cadeyrn wanted to reach out and swat the hovering orb that dared speak to him in that manner, but he could not figure out exactly which one spoke. He entertained the thought of striking down both, it was true however that Cadeyrn despised the hive communication, simply because in crowded places he could never discern who was talking. The machines assured him he would learn with time and practice but Cadeyrn preferred to simply vocalize instead, it was easier and you could always tell who was talking to you….or about you. The Funnik leader shook Cadeyrn’s hand and spoke through hive communication.
:::An honor indeed to meet the one who shall lead the humans. All of the preparations have been made for the assault on the Alpha Sector, the Elysians have been most gracious in allowing this ship into their space. Soon we will rendezvous with their homeworld where they assume we will have a diplomatic meeting.:::
“Too bad for them instead of the peace agreement they are expecting they will get an invasion force.” Cadeyrn interrupted.
::: Precisely.:::
“And from the Elysian system we will be able to launch attacks against the whole Alpha Sector. Provided we can get enough ships through the HyperGate to secure the system should the Elysians happen to let out a distress call.”
::: The fleets are waiting on the other side, as soon as our forces land on the planet they will begin making the journey through the Gate. :::
“Excellent, how are we going to land our troops?”
::: An infiltrator unit will accompany the peace delegation to the surface. During the meeting the infiltrator unit will hack into government networks and gather information and hopefully bring down the planet’s planetary defenses. :::
“Infiltrator unit? What is that?”
::: It is the newest generation of cyborg we have developed. This infiltrator unit spoken of is the first of many to come. :::
The door to the meeting hall opened with a loud hissing sound as Asani stepped through the door, Cadeyrn’s jaw nearly dropped to the floor; proverbially of course as his new cyborg body doesn’t actually have a jaw. There stood the woman he beat to death looking as if she had never even been beaten. Her skin perfect, her hair cut short with a long bangs hanging over the left side of her face covering half of it.
::: May I present to you Infiltrator Unit1.:::
“What is the meaning of this! I killed her! You had no right to do this!”
::: Calm yourself Cadeyrn. We could not let an organic with her skill go to waste. But if you fear that she will seek retribution for what you did to her…I assure you she is completely subservient. Unlike you and nutsook Alor, she does not have free will. :::
“But she looks unchanged! You turned me into a monster, a shadow of my former self and her…you give her back the looks I destroyed!”
::: She is the next generation in cyborg technology, she would not be much of an infiltrator unit if we had used our old technology. But if you must feel proud of something, there was some damage we could not repair. :::
Asani slowly brings her hand up and brushes away the bangs covering the left side of her face exposing a metal plate grafted onto the skin with a red shiny cyborg eye. Her hand returns to the side and the hair drops back into place.
“Well that helps a little. Can you upgrade my body to be more human-like too?”
::: We did not keep any of your organic parts. This conversation has become irrelevant. Let us get back to the topic at hand. :::
“Great, that's just great...don't think I'll forget this...”
:::Focus Cadeyrn, we have a job to accomplish.:::
To be continued…