Ongoing Subplots
James Greyson, leader of the Expansionist MovementZulen nods. 'Understood. I will subdue him if I can.'
You head for his locker and settle into a mock conversation around the corner. Zulen stays focused on the way through the warehouse you expect him to come through. It turns out Mr. Dell is in no great hurry.
Eventually, after a good half an hour, the synth appears from around the corner, catching both of you by surprise. He heads straight for his door, however, not sparing the pair of you a single look. His features take on a confused expression when he sees the untouched lock, and he glances around, nervous. He pushes down a quick number combination and the door to the locker flies open. Zulen steps out into view, and meeting the other synth's gaze by accident more than anything, stands out like a sore thumb.
Dell lets out a shout of alarm and runs for it. Cursing, Zulen springs off after him, already drawing a weapon. You hope it's one of the stun-capable ones. For a fraction of a second, you're frozen into place. The locker and its possible secrets lay wide open, and there's no guarantee that you could be of any help to Zulen. Especially if the AI goes into lockdown because of them - there won't be any coming back to the locker after that. But if he does need help in taking down the running Dell...
Commander Ardas of the Landsmet Academy Special ForceThe synth colonel seems stunned for a moment by 'printed circuits' and 'our cybernetic friends', but quickly regains his wits and smiles. 'Yes, commander. Of course. You'll see soon enough.'
You take a seat with the other officers. Some of them you recognize, from official events and briefings, but most you don't. You make idle conversation, but they seem a bit too intimidated by speaking to a psychic to be at ease. You fail to get any insights into whatever you'll be seeing here. Soon enough the Colonel rejoins you. He manipulates the controls of the central project slightly. Its contents change, and a better-quality camera feed appears hovering in the air. It shows a bleak prefab corridor, with a mechanical arm making its way across.
'We're starting, as you can see,' the colonel says. The other officers peer closer. Monitors on the wall begin showing the image as well and the room quietens down.
The mechanical arm reaches the end of its railing and disappears from frame for a moment. When it returns, there is a steel coffin in its grasp. It begins making its way back across, and you surpress the urge to ask the colonel what you're looking at.
The camera flickers, and changes to an outside one, overlooking a small metal container. You have no doubt it's the same you saw from the inside just before. The container sits alone in the hillside, seemingly faraway from everywhere. The camera begins moving around, zooming towards the door. Probably a drone, then.
The coffin exits the container and is left standing. The container door draws back closed, and the lid of the coffin slams down. Out steps - not quite what you expected - what looks to be an auxiliary mech. Human-shaped, built out of some dull grey material and unarmed from what you can see, it steps forward and studies its surroundings. The camera zooms again, and you saw the thing's narrow, elongated skulls, decorated by two brightly- shining round blue eyes. You can't see anything too special in it - it must be a specialized model, but it seems awfully synth- or human-like, and looks too thin for any hidden intergrated weaponry.
'Looks,' says the colonel, 'can be deceiving. This, commander, is the fruit of years of labor. A flexible, highly-mobile shell capable of withstanding extreme punishment, temperatures and pressure, built with the best materials available, controlled by a fully adaptive AI programmed for extreme guerilla actions and sabotage behind enemy lines. It can slip into hostile territory and adapt into any situation. It will cripple enemy infrastructure and industry and keep hostile forces occupied and stretched thin across huge areas. It can modify itself at will with the proper tools and knowledge, and, as a last resort, will self-destruct if it cannot escape, leaving nothing for the enemy.'
The colonel pauses for a moment. 'That is, in theory. We are here today to find out if it works in practice,' he says, bringing up a wide map of the region. You see blue icons everywhere in the area between the city and the camp. A bright white arrow shows the location of the mech.
'We're starting it up now. It'll work non-lethal today, because we have no doubt it'll break every single of the units we have scattered over the area. It's connected to our systems for now, so we can actually track what's happening.'
You watch the special model as it takes a few unsure steps forward, then drops into a combat crouch unbelievably fast. Something like this could be fairly useful, sure.
The colonel coughs, listening in to the staff chatter. 'Right. We've unlocked the AI, and now we only need to watch. It won't disappoint you, trust me.'
He grins proudly and settles back into his chair.
And then there's a snap of electricity, and every light, monitor and holographic projection in the command center goes out at once.
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Topic: Masters of the Bright Void - Turn 2! Grand Strategical Scifi! Join now! (Read 14987 times)