I like the red flowing locks of body armor; if we can synthesise keratin then surely it would work as passable armor in a pinch.
Do we have weapon or other crafting abilities?
As in, if our human compatriots have lost their weaponry, or are starving, are we able to craft a new weapon out of organic material (keratinised spear, bone weaponry, etc... better than nothing.) or create food for them out of our own biomass?
A human could get a certain degree of nutrition from your biolayer, but you would need some sort of living material to regrow it, and they would have the same nutritional problems as if they were living off of any other sort of meat, if they relied on it exclusively. You have no bones as such; your biolayer is a fairly thin, and exists primarily to make you appear human, and your actual body is entirely artificial and nonorganic. You could make simple body armor out of your hair given enough time and biomass, but the protection it would offer would be negligable next to the strength of your body. Anything strong enough to pierce the outer layer of alloy on your body wouldn't even notice hair armor.
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You briefly examine your IMF and determine that you should exit the bunker if you are to use it to reach orbit. As you return your attention to your surroundings, you notice patches of color-ugly, bruiselike blotches of orange-green-purple staining the walls. One of the humans touches one, curiously, and begins to writhe in agony as it grows onto his body. More of the corruption appears as you run back through the entrance corridor and out into the open. From the hill, you can see entire sections of the forest being consumed by the same filth. You feel disgust for the first time. You activate your IMF, targetting the coordinates and setting it to autodisengage. Less than a second later, you float in low orbit around the blue-green world, staring down as the corruption spreads to cover entire continents. You turn your head, facing the moon; it shows similar signs. A moment later, your eyes refocus on the empty blackness behind the moon.
Wha... the stars, where did they go?As you watch, more stars are blotted from the sky. You think that should be impossible, but then...
If my creator is not bound by physical laws, what enemy could threaten it but another such being?You return your gaze to the device in front of you, reaching out to pull yourself towards it. It is not large, perhaps a few meters along each dimension. The sun grows cloudy, sickly colors floating amongst the clean yellow. There is a button, large and red. Below it, a label, reading, "Push for Candy". You press it.
The moment you do so, a field forms around you and the device, glowing silver, laced with black and gold traceries. Beneath you, the Earth and moon begin to implode. Moments later, the sun follows suit, along with every other bit of matter in the solar system outside of the field.
What is this? What did you do? I thought that I was supposed to protect humans!Ah, not quite, little one. You were built to do what I tell you to. And in this case, I needed you to trigger a universal destabilization device while I was busy. Not to worry, plenty of other universes out there. What is a universe worth of deaths, after all? You should be glad that you were able to kill them; now they won't have to live as mindless drones under the control of a rather nasty piece of work! By the by, isn't that a lovely little toy? So much easier than doing it by hand, don't you think? Well, I suppose you wouldn't really know, would you? In either case, be joyful, little one, for I have found a bit of a treat for you. Universes like this only come up once every few hundred millenia, and I would normally keep it all to myself, but I have decided to reward you for being a good tool. So then, enjoy, my little doll!A piece of hard candy appears in front of you as the mental voice cuts off. It cracks, expanding into a rift. You back away, pressing yourself against the edge of the field, but the rift continues to expand. A tendril touches you, and your systems shut down, entering a state which a human would call unconsciousness. The tendril pulls you forward into the rift. The rift slams shut, and the field shuts down, allowing the device to obliterate the last matter remaining in that universe.
Be reborn, little one. Try to have a bit of fun. Oh, yes, and here is the second part of my gift to you.You are currently unconscious in the void between universes. Your soul, for lack of a better word, is at a crossroads. There are two paths you may take, that of the killing machine, and that of the sentient being.
If you choose the former, you will become truly powerful, from the perspective of one who would consider the ability to end life to be power. Over time your combat abilities will grow beyond your imagination. At the same time, you will begin to lose all potential for emotion and empathy, morality and remorse. You will lose the ability to make friends. You will act in whatever fashion your twisted artifical mind desires, lacking nothing but the ability to care for others. If you take this path, you will be beset on all sides, by enemies, and by those who in another life might have been friends. You will fight, and eventually, you will fall, drowning under the weight of your enemies united against you.
If you choose the latter, you will undergo a physical transformation of a different kind, becoming a true andr/gynoid, becoming a perfect mesh of living tissue and metal. You will be able to change your physical appearance at will to suit your desires, and will develop an abnormally strong emotional sense, beyond that of most normal sentients. You may lose some of your current abilities, and may gain new ones. What you will assuredly gain, however, will be friends and allies. You will be able to connect with others on a deeply personal level with but a small effort from yourself; sentients will find themselves drawn to your personality, not from any malignant power, but from the deep understanding you hold. Your allies will be legion, and your enemies will tremble at the sight of your combined power or cross to your side, joining your ranks. Ultimately, however, this path will bring you far greater pain, for your friends will inevitably fall, and you will mourn their passing. As they die, the burden on your heightened emotional state will grow ever larger. Someday, you will stand against a foe, heart heavy and with none left to stand beside you, and you will crumble under the unfathomable depth of your loss.
Choose wisely, little one, and awake, for there is adventure to be had.
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Topic: You are an artifical organism : Universes collapsed: 1 (Read 15522 times)