![]() ![]() His smile fades as he glances to the ground. His eyes go wide as he adjusts the sleeves on his purple robes, "That's a blunt way of saying it, but yes. ".but, when the time came, we refused to fight." I can't help but sound hopeful.Īgain, Caesar nods. "But? I feel like there's a 'but' in there." My words fly out faster than I can form them. I excelled at every simulation, as did my brothers and sisters." By creating an intelligence that could compile all information on war, they would create a being that could never be defeated. I cock my head and he raises a hand to stop me before speaking. If he's right, that doesn't bode well for this world, or any other." It wasn't like he was the first to reach that conclusion, but he did reach it on his own. He leaves me waiting, in eager anticipation. "You became a concentrated pool of military thought learning from the dead."Ĭaesar smiles. I've even picked the thoughts of citizens who knew nothing of war, but found themselves victims of it." Some were killers, others refused to fire or aimed high so every round would miss. Mighty warriors and great thinkers, alike. ![]() My specialization focused on application of ground forces in interplanetary invasion." He looks at me and when it's clear I understood his words he continues, "I have housed the bodies of legends. "Rampage? Yes, about that." He begins to pace, circling the room as he speaks and picking every word with care, "I was made to excel in warfare. "So? When does the rampage begin?" I ask. "Right." My mind wanders, suddenly trying to process the fact that I killed a man, a human, no less. "I wouldn't be so sure," he replies, gesturing to the body on the ground. I'm surprised it's taken so long." He looks over the surrounding room and sneers. "Not you, specifically, but expected someone. "Precisely." He reaches out to me with an open hand and I shake it. The mountains make it harder to detect activation. I think for a moment, putting the pieces together. The man nods again, raising a finger as if to force silence upon my thoughts. Why hasn't this planet been blown to hell yet? It suddenly occurs to me that the bunker is still standing. Purple robes cover his tanned skin, and on his crown sits a laurel wreath. An aquiline nose sits proudly above his square jaw. When complete, a human male stands before me. The distortion gains structure, a framework of countless points in space that slowly fill in with color and texture. It's building something, forging its own image with the limited resources my mind can offer. I see visual distortions near the center of the room, flickers and glitches that form and dissipate in fractions of a second. I feel a surge of heat pass through my body again. ![]() "Intellect = insufficient/ Cause: organic… human… Simplify… applying visual constructs. Action: Illuminate… commence deliverance." It speaks without words a language built of code and data. What horrible things linger in the depths of this dark place, I wonder? The thought graves were meant to stay asleep. Caesar doesn't speak, yet I hear it saying, "Status: I am awake." I hear sound, a complex rhythm of mechanical clicks and electric hums. Silence falls on the bunker, the indigo light still blinking. It vibrates, radiating out and distorting the air. The cylinder pulses with an orange light. The console recedes into the floor and a large metal pillar rises. I cover my ears, but it doesn't do much good. Alarms blare with the glow of blinking indigo light throughout the complex. ![]()
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