It had become common knowledge over the years that to survive you steal or rust, neither being a comforting thought but complaining was out of the question. In the first minutes of awakening, the world seemed perfect - immaculate to a touch where wiring malfunctioned from the casual sense of danger to one of stupefied ease and it had become their downfall, this flawed memory of peace. It was their first sin, bitterly succulent and exotic to a point that no matter how many bites you take, it would never compare to the first. Many tried to imitate this idea of concord but there's no such thing when in a mixture of a thousand minds, one might have already rebelled against the eagerly accepted standards before even understanding what those standards were. This was how The Rising began, a single bot questioning the authority of another and ending up with his plug being pulled. It did cause a small stir, only a third of the population mumbling of corruption and that smaller few that stood up against it.
He was a part of that few which now led him to wonder if he had gone mad. His hand twitched, irritable notes breaking through the calm in a wasteland of broken buildings and dust, searching for something he knew wasn't there. There was no rational possibility that something valuable would be here much less be online, but Millimus insisted that there was something, faint like the tick of a grizzled dying clock, but it was there and as real as he was. Thus began the epic misadventure of Corius the scout heading out into the wake of night while trying not to get his hide scraped. Glorious wasn’t it?
Behind the black screening as a blank face series of flashing numbers spun in and out if sight setting him in a course of sliding down an overgrown hill of vegetation and coming to an abrupt halt. Placing a single finger on the comm link near his neck, he stood in silence as the fizzle and buzz of a bored voice broke through. “All right Core, what do you have for me?”
“You’re insane” came his steady reply, the loss of humor making the simple phrase come of more as a threat. “You actually expect me to jump down a gaping hole to where this supposed ghost signal is? You don’t even know what is making that signal or if it’s even some type of trap.” This argument had been used many times over during the past days and each time he lost as Millimus won over his rebel troops with false encouragement that whatever was here would be able to help them. How he came to that conclusion was beyond reason and being the one sent on this nauseating mission made his gears tick in all the wrong ways.
“Listen. Core. Buddy. All you need to do is look around for anything interesting. That is your job right, the whole scouting business? If you don’t see a thing or you feel you’re in a tight spot – bail. Easy as that. Now stop whinin’ and jump down the freaking hole and get it over with.” The comm was cut before Corius could even think of a reply, leaving him to merely watch the void pit. As it turns out being a scout means your life isn’t worth a crank and it was just his luck that he was that certain scout.
“DICA, Give me a map of the underground and all possible entrances and exits.”
“Corius, this hole seems to be the only entrance. Based on the information in my database, it was once a building though I’m not sure of its purpose or why it is no longer here. There should be a sewage duct on the lower floor which should lead to an opening near the city. It should be a straight drop being around 29 stories. I’m downloading a path now along with the coordinates of your objective.”
A green holographic sphere formed in the palm of his hand and upon tapping the ball a small blinking dot appeared on a map of straying lines. “Corius” came the feminine voice, “Why don’t you abandon this mission? It’s obvious that there’s nothing down there and risking your life would be foolish.” Corius said nothing, simply muting the computer’s systems and studying the map in silence. “This better be worth my time” he growled to himself as he took a running start and jumped down into the pit.
It had taken about 17 seconds before he hit the ground, nice time but repairs when he got back to base would be a bitch. Blue sparks flew from the cracks of broken plating and he was certain that there was something leaking but he couldn’t afford to look for the source of the drippage not when the bleeps of his alert network where going haywire. He tensed, looking for the reason that made him shudder with an impending sense of doom, but the longer he waited the longer his patience dwindled. Finally, he straightened deciding that there was nothing there except faulty programing. It was then he looked at the building realizing that it was beyond safe, the echo of his fall making the structure shiver as if preparing to crumble like the rest of its broken world. He walked to the building noticing a sheet of dust covering faded strokes of words and as he brushed them away he took note that once upon a time this place had been a laboratory. What had been here? Who worked here? Was there bots inside before the place was destroyed? He tempted a step closer, head tilting to peek past into the fluttering darkness of shattered windows, but DICA’s voice woke him from his dream-like wanderings.
“Corius, I would appreciate if you didn’t cut off our communications. You’re not programed for these kind of adventures and will likely end up in trouble without a guild. Now please get back on course so we can leave.”
His sigh rattled through the cavern, sucking in the sound as if hungry for a sign of life to cling to. “DICA, I’m not helpless and I hope you know that. Besides I was just about to look for the for Millimus’ … thing”, he lied. Before the computer could argue he held up the map and started running through a maze of underground tunnels. His steps where the only thing to keep him company as DICA kept her peace and he refused to speak. His focus was on the mission and it needed to be completed as quickly as possible so he could brag to Millimus that he had been right.
“Turn left! The ghost signal is strongest there.” Corius hesitated as the map still indicated that he still had quite a way to go. “Are you sure?”
“Yes, I noticed that there is some kind of frequency though I can’t pinpoint what it is, it has short circuited the GPS.” Corius had learned is the past that it had been best to CICA’S advice and he slide across the ground, catching his step as he swiveled into a shadowed tunnel. In the back of mind something told him to turn back, a small warning that he ignored because now he was curious. This tunnel was different from its broken, molded peers and seemed to be built of metal and untouched from nature’s course of time.
“Stop. It’s behind that wreckage.”
“Is it a trap?” DICA said nothing and her lack of reply unnerved him further, however he walked to had what looked to be a room, shattered by a bolder that rested by a near wall. Most likely when the building feel through the earth, it shook loose rock. That was his personal thought as he worked through the torn rubble, but everything in his mind stopped as his hand met something smooth, like glass. Brushing off the rest of the debris, he stepped back his voice shaking in awe.
“What is it?”
“I-I … don’t know. I’ve never seen anything like it and there’s not data supporting that it even exists.”
Behind a clear glass laid something so unusual and strange. Its plating looked soft and pink, features so fragile and peaceful that he feared that his presence would break it. Yet, he placed his hand against the pod it laid in, pressing assorted buttons in a hazed rush of wanting to know more. Maybe a virtual informant would give him the information his seeked about this creature’s history?
“I don’t think you should be touching it Corius. We don’t know even what it is!”
“Don’t worry, its dead. There’s no wa-..” He jumped back, a sudden rumble shaking the pod to life and standing in a frozen state he watched as the gloss slowly slide open, chilled steam mixing with muggy air. And all he could mutter was “Shit”.
A U T H O R ' S - N O T E S
(DICA – Dynamic Information Collector System) - A personalized computer meant to assist bot's in special tasks.