“The bears go bam babambam, bam babambam as they mar by, the bears go bam, babambam as they mar by~”
“Do you have to sing that right now?”
“The bears go bam,babambam as they mar by, all day lonnng~”
“Yeah, I probably should have seen that one ing.”
A ‘versation’ held within the sed burrow, 2056
***
I wat morbid curiosity as Sandra the Samoyed runs at the horde of Seven victims, growing in size with every step. As it reaches the group, it’s twice as big as before, looking almost more like a pure white wolf then the dog it was just a sed earlier. It leaps, its cws extending out as it gracefully flies through the air, eae seemingly lohan my arm as they slice through their target.
[“Y’know, I have a question,”] Prism mutters over the call, [“Doesn’t the term ‘Android’ refer to a specifically humanoid robot? How did Emme get a dog from a catalog like that?”]
Achys sighs upon my head before she bluntly responds, “It’s the closest approximation to a word that does in the english nguage at the moment, namely a word tenerally describe robots based upon any high intelligence species. They are typically more advahan drones because of this, sihey’re inteo be accurate approximations.”
I pause at that. “...Wait, are dogs actually that smart?”
Achys leans down to look me in the eyes, a distinctly unimpressed look on her face. “Look at Sandra real fast, and you tell me.”
I raise an eyebrow, finding Sandra sitting on a pile of corpses while trying to lick her own ass.
“I sort of see your point, but then why do they t as androids?”
Nyvi is the oo reply, her honey voice surprisingly chipper as she expins:
[“The inal model species for the HUND is an incredibly intelligent quadrupedal reptilian species called the Georae. They’re wonderful creatures, empathetic to a fault, incredibly righteous when they o be, and they even rose to a css four civilization with a species that they symbiotically evolved with. They do tend to hoard items though, plus they have a bad habit of borrowing livestock from their sister species when they need a snack.”]
Ign the obvious bias in Nyvi’s tone, something clicks and I ’t help but chuckle. “Son dogs.”
[“They would take offeo that, but… it’s irely inaccurate.”]
I shake my head in amusement as I approach Sandra, whose tail begins to a storm as I do. The giant e shrinks in front of my eyes until its head is back at arm level, so I give the dog a couple scratches behind its ears in reward for her hard work. Achys, to my surprise, flutters over to Sandra’s head, giving some scritches to the pup as well with her talons.
“I thought you were trolling them Achys, what does giving them affe even do for you?”
The jay scoffs as it says, “What made you think that? They each have AI within their system to autonomously trol them, so it just makes seo reward them for hard work.”
“I just…” I sigh as I peek at the video feed on my gsses, then quickly look away, gng around the massacre-filled clearing to find the unnel. “Never mind. How much further until the stairlock again?”
“It’s just up ahead, so don’t worry.” My AI gives me a funny look, then flies back over to nd on my shoulder.
Are you okay, Emme?
‘Yeah, I just…’ I sigh again, running my hand down my face. ‘It’s plicated, and I don’t know how to describe it myself. It’s a new feeling for me.’
Tell me about it, maybe I help you figure it out?
I bite my lower lip, theantly nod. ‘I just, ugh, I’m su idiot, you know?’
Yes, but I don’t see how that has to do with an altogether new feeling.
I shoot a gre up at the Jay, but admittedly the quip does make me smile a bit.
‘After my little um, moment earlier, I haven’t been able to shake myself out of this… slightly unfortable but yet somehow enthralliion. Everything about it reminds me of a less intense embarrassment, but then Prism’s words pop into my mind and I just… bee all floaty inside.’
…A quick check through a det k of the best human literature and I think I am aware of what this is.
I poke my bird, who giggles as she hops onto my head to get away from my finger as I intone, ‘And that is?’
I could tell you, but it might ruin the reveal for you. Are you sure you want to know?
I tilt my head, trying to figure out what she was being so enigmatic about. ‘I mean, yeah. Why wouldn’t I wanna uand what I’m feeling?’
Hm, I do wonder why humans avoid this as they do, but it’s a rather important part of your culture for whatever reason.
‘I’m seriously drawing a bnk, why are you dang around this?’
Hm, I wonder why~
I throw my hands up in the air, uanding the frustrating game Achys is pying. ‘Ugh, nevermind, I’ll figure it out.’
I’ll wait with bated breath.
Resisting the urge t the birds neck, I turn a er to find a oh so wele sight- The stairlo all its apparently empty glory.
“Well, this is… odd.” I gnce around the area, finding that there is seemingly nobody around. “Where the hell are all the people?”
[“Um…”] Prism’s sudden voice makes the floating feeling intensify for a split sed before it falls back to where it was. [“sidering the possibilities, I don’t wanna think about it…”]
“I um, am with you on that. We should probably figure out the biomass thing now, huh?”
[“I holy pletely fot about that, are you going to get one of those, pff, legendary ons Nyvi mentioned?”]
Impulsively, I blurt, “Should I?”, which then makes me want to roll around the floor and scream.
Prism hums in thought for a few moments, then says, [“Holy, seems like a bit of a waste of points for now, they sounded a bit expensive.”]
“I agree, Emme.” Achys flutters over to the side of the stairlock, extending a viral tendril into the terminal beside it. “Credit to Nyvi for finding it, the Css-I Biomass ing catalog actually does seem surprisingly quite useful. Mainly, I want to reend the SOAP box, a device that oivated will quickly spread a biomass ing amoeba across the floor. It’s thankfully desigo not e intelligent lifeforms, so you don’t o worry about casualties.”
“What the heck does SOAP even stand for in this case?”
“Situationally Overpowered Amoeba Producer.”
I huff a little ugh. “That’s a bit on the nose.”
Prism giggles oher end of the call at my retort, which lifts my heart surprisingly well. [“I mean, there’s a reason people force as like they do.”]
I sheepishly grin. “Is it ‘cause it’s fun?”
[“It’s because it’s eaining to them, yes.”]
Nyvi chuckles as she says, [“There is a reason I adore people so much.”]
Achys gasps as the door to the stairlock opens, letting me walk inside. “Nyvi! I would never have guessed that you, of all AI, like people! My worldview has shattered, my day’s been ruined.”
[“Oh e off it, you old bird.”]
“Make me.”
There is a momentary pause, before Achys screeches on my shoulder.
“You bitch! I ’t believe you actually just did that!”
[“Plus one processor facility for Nyvi~.”]
“I was using that one for searg catalogs for BOTH of our Vanguard, I’ll have you know!”
[“Just requeue the job with one you have writing fi or something, I don’t see the problem.”]
“Now you listen here you darn Orca-”
As the AI duo tio bicker, I set the box down, then quietly breathe in as I tuhem out and walk ihe door, listening to the airlock hiss as it begins its work. I yawn, stretg a bit before the door above me clicks open, sliding away to allow for me to begin my ast. It’s weird to think, this is the st restricted stairlock before the floors where there are like, four times as many to make travel easier. I really have made progress in my climbing the reef, huh?
It’ll speed up a lot after this… Only a few hours to the fourth.
Till home…
My mind goes a bit bnk as I climb up the stairs, eerily silent in parison to the st two stairlocks I have climbed, the only he dull thump of my foot toug the ground with eay steps. A slight chill makes me shiver, and I find myself newly aware of how much other people being in a stairlock heats it up. I hug myself before quietly, I habitually begin to sing.
“There’s a pce for us… Somewhere, there’s a pce for us…” I take a step, and a breath. “Pead quiet… and open air… Wait for us, somewhere…”
I pause my steps, my voice wavering as what I am singing sinks in.
“There's a time for us, someday a time for us… Ha.” I run a hand through my hair, pletely fbbergasted. “Time together with time to spare… Time to learn, time to care.”
No more words e out as a barrage of emotions swirls up through me, but yet, none are despair. There is true, plete silenow, no steps being taken nor words being spoken. Processing the ge is a lot, but when I do I find myself with one word on my mind for what I feel.
Relief.
And then, the walls break away arouhe world fading into darkness.When I e back to sciousness, frigid seawater rushes around, feeling like I have been hit by about seventeen hundred hover-trucks at once. I open my eyes to find my gsses are gohen silently scream when I see something below me shift. Namely, the rgest creature I have ever seen before in my life moves to lht at me with its bulbous, off-green eye.
The monster waves its giganti, revealing more of itself to me as it floats away. It’s general body shape reminds me of an aquatiosaur I remember from when I was a kid and loved them, but this one uh, doesly have a mouth like a Gar. No, this one has oh six fug hinges, with what look like thorns c nearly every inch of them. Speaking of thorns, there are what seem to be dozens, if not hundreds of incredibly thick briar vines wiggling around its flesh.
Oh good, you’re awake.
So, let me go over the situation real fast. The Antithesis seem to have aowledged you as a threat a a heavy hitter after you, a Model Twenty-Three A. When it ripped the stairlock out, it also iently crushed you, causing a lot more damage then the Viral module could possibly have prevented. I’d typically reend you run from something like this, but since all of the bones beh your neck are currently shattered, you barely have any blood, and you’re literally running on the paltry fumes the Viral module recycle, we don’t really have a choi that.
I attempt to open my mouth to speak, but Achys stops me before I .
Don’t try to say anything, I’m serious that we’re in a bit of a dire situation in terms of oxygen at the moment. I’m going to do something, and it’s going to hurt you, maybe permaly, but it’s so that you survive. Is that okay?
I don’t hesitate, rapidly moving my eyes up and down in agreement. No way I am going to die in this damned pce.
Close your eyes.
I oblige, then hear a small crack before I feel somethier my body.
Followed immediately by hell.
My head immediately begins to swirl as my temperature begins to fluctuate, a sine wave between a raging inferno and freezing blizzard. In each passing moment, the ges speed up, until I am somehow feeling both at the same time. A thirst unlike anything I had ever felt dries my throat, just before it begins to feel like someone is drilling directly into every single one of my teeth. Reflexively I bite down, hard, and a thick liquid begins to flow down my throat. It brings mueeded relief, yet also carries in its wake the worst of the ges.
Every muscle in my body tracts for a moment as my bones crack bato pce, and I feel every individual fracture ref one by ohere is an utterly absurd momentary pain in my abdomen, followed by the damn thirst returning, causio bite down a bit harder. It’s only when my heart suddenly begins to beat so hard it feels like it’s going to burst through my chest that I realize it hadn’t even beeing before that. Finally, the ges stop, and I let loose the tension in my jaw as I slowly open my eyes.
I have to blink multiple times to make sure what I’m seeing isn’t a halluation from the bloodloss.
“U-Um, H-Hey there, E-Emme. I-I’m so happy you’re okay.”
It takes me a moment to process what is happening, but when I do, I swear my heart feels like it’s going to stop again. Holdiightly to her chest is a rather flushed Prism, sharing her warmth with me as she swims, her long tail fin swooshing out behind us. Holy, what really has my attention is the four dots of blood on the girl’s utterly beautiful neck, and the incredibly distinct desire I have to suck everything I out of her.
Breathlessly, I murmur, “Holy shit, am I… A vampire now?”
“M-Maybe? You have the fangs, a-at least. I-It’s um…,” Prism pauses, then quietly sputters out, ”P-Pretty… U-Um, C-cool. Y-Yeah, pretty hm.”
Now I flush a bit, looking at the monster chasing us as I whisper, “S-So, umm… Thanks for saving me...”
Teically speaking, that was me.
I don’t even respond to Achys, as I instead watthralled as the mermaid visibly brightens at my words, a tiny crooked smile stretg across her face. “Y-You’re very wele, Emme. W-we uh, probably o take care of this now though.”
“About that, we even hurt that thing? It’s fug huge.”
I flinch when Nyvi pokes her head out from behind Prism as she expins, “Theoretically possible, very difficult. Yoing to have to work together to get it done.”
I take a breath, then say. “First time for everything I guess. Achys, I need a on for uer bat.”
Bah, that’s easy. How much do you want to spend on it?
“As much as possible.”
Now, that’s more fun.
Points Update!
Prism
Emmelyn
Starting Total:
2163 (2053+110) Points
1212 (1102+110) Points, 1 Token
Catalogs Unlocked!
N/ACss-I Biomass ing: 100 Points
New Purchase!
EA-Bionite Suite V-Beta: 300 Points, 1 Token
Css-I Hemo-restore: 5 Points
V-AI Patch: 100 Points
SOAP Box: 30 Points
Ats-bar: 600 Points
Total Cost:
N/A
1135 Points, 1 Token
Final Total:
2163 Points
77 Points
As Prism releases me from her grasp and shoots off, what only be described as a somewhat small high-tech cropears beside me, which I grab and pull close. A bit taken aback, I look down at the on incredulously as I ask, “Achys, I was expeg something a bit bigger.”
Don’t worry, this is going to work better ier.
As the Model Twenty-Three quickly begins to approach, I prepare myself and mutter, “You better be serious about this.”
I’m a little offended, since when have I ever let you down?
I don’t answer as the dinosaur’s mouth begins to stretch open, it’s mouth pulling back as it does, being a vaaw before me. I wait until the st moment, then do my best to swim quickly upwards, barely managing to not be hit before I sm the crowbar into the monster’s head between two briars. A visible dent appears, and the monster jerks downwards, spinning as it loses its trol and sms into the top of the tenth floor.
Not wanting to waste an opportunity, I dive downwards, but I don’t mao reach the Twenty-Three before I see Prism suddenly appear out of nowhere, her cloak fluttering ier behind her. A burst of rainbow light pierces through the slowly rec alien’s side, before Prism does a sudden little rotation around the monster’s body, somehow dodging all the individual bramble vines whipping at her as she does. I smirk in uanding as I see the mermaid stab her ht into the side of the monster's head, leaving it behind as she slinks bato darkness.
Now with no close target to shoot for, many of the vines begin to weave together, f a rge pilr that then begins to rush at me. I tense my muscles as it es, then swing the croarrying the hit and barely losing any momentum in the process. Unfortunately, the braid then splits apart, with eadividual strand shifting to whip out at me. I ch my teeth to prepare for pain, only for my own tendrils, made of that same sickly white viral flesh that has been proteg me all day, to shoot out of my body and match each vi for tat, preventing any damage from .
Willing myself forward with everything I have, as I pull back my crowbar for my hit, time feels like it slows as about three things happen seemingly all at once. I sm the crowbar directly into the harpoon Prism left for me, sinking it as far as it go into the alien’s flesh. Sed, I catch the mermaid iion quite literally poking the monster in the eye, perhaps as a distra. The harpoon then, well, explodes, an absurdly bright light and wave of forocks me back a bit.
That’s not going to be enough Emme!
I bite my lip hard, actally drawing blood with my new fangs, then rush at the stampeding alien as if I had no idea that it could absolutely crush me and break all my bones for the sed time today. I get close without too much trouble, but then pause, as I have an idea I use if I just time my hit right. I wait until most of its mass is parallel to the roof, then sm the head of the crowbar directly into its side. The Twenty-three, and the roof it sms into, crumple and are sucked straight into the tral area of the floor- The space currently occupied by a humongous blob of SOAP. I wat utter awe as the giant fish begins to disie into the amoeba, and I just ’t help but mutter:
“Situationally overpowered indeed…”
Aliapanacea
