Ugh, it's 11:30 at night and I'm dead tired. I'll keep this brief. This fic is part of the Smash Mind Universe, consisting of Smash Mind, Smash Mind 2, Unity (by The-3-Sueslayers), and the soon to be released Smash Mind: Prologues. Now, you don't need to read any of those stories to understand this fic, but those who have will definately notice a few references. If you haven't read Unity, this is all you need to know: Master Hand employs two humanoid "operators" to control and manage things in the world of Smash Bros. This is a day in their life.
I don't own Sael, her male counterpart, or Unity. The-3-Sueslayers does. Go read it. It's awesome.
On with the fic!
Operator
The female's eyes snapped open. She immediately reached over and pressed a button. With a hissing sound, the habitation pod she was in slid open. Slowly, she stood up, closing the pod with another button on the outside. Walking over to a closet, she exchanged the light gray sleep tunic she wore for a black bodysuit. She sat down and robotically ate a processed nutrient mix. The female made to leave when she caught sight of her reflection. Scrutinizing her bright red hair, she concentrated deeply. Her hair changed to a light blond color, with streaks of her original red remaining. Satisfied, she walked out the door.
Her male counterpart approached her in the hall, giving the female no sign he had noticed her. In unison, they turned to walk down an adjacent corridor. They moved along in silence, walking in slow, identical strides. Finally, the male broke the silence.
"I have not observed that color of your hair before," he said, not turning to look at her.
"It is an experiment. So far, it appears to compliment me," the female said, keeping her eyes fixed in front of her.
Silence fell once again.
At last, the duo reached a door at the end of the hallway. A cool feminine voice issued out from a speaker above the door.
"Restricted access. Authorized personnel only. Please register your handprints."
Two panels with the shape of a hand on them slid out from either side of the door. The male and the female each placed a palm on one of the panels. The panels took a moment to register, and then moved back into place. The door slid open, and the duo stepped into the room.
"Access granted. Welcome operators. Master Hand shall be delivering your tasks shortly."
The room held two seats, facing each other. The seats were part of individual computer consoles, and had large cables streaming out from them through holes in the ceiling, floor, and walls. The seats had two armrests, fitted with opened arm restraints and featuring miniature keypads on the top. Twin headsets were resting on hook in the middle of the room.
Gingerly stepping their way around the cables, the pair sat down in the seats. They lifted the headsets off their hooks, placing them on their heads. Metal restraints activated, binding their wrists to the arms of the seats and their midsections to the seats. Part of the console itself inserted into their backs.
The inside of the headsets lit up, showing both operators the gigantic image of Master Hand, floating in space.
The feminine voice issued into their headphones. "Master Hand welcomes you, operators. Today we are holding a special Tournament consisting of all the humanoid fighters. Your tasks are as follows: Transport scheduled fighters from their quarters to the selected arenas. Matches will be occurring simultaneously. You must be ready to transport both the winner and the loser back to their quarters as soon as a match ends. Maintain confirmation of location on all currently unused Smashers. Any escapes would be extremely bad for business. For this reason, update Smasher security to Priority One. You will also need to maintain the link between the Announcer's microphone and the 20,000,000 arena speakers. Master Hand knows that this task will be processor-heavy. For this reason, downgrade microphone link to Priority Four. If, for any reason, someone in an arena is detected with intent to disrupt or stop the match, you must immediately modify their mind. Master Hand recommends complete amnesia for at least two hours back. That is all."
Master Hand's giant palm suddenly closed itself into a fist, with its thumb extended and its index finger pointing directly at the operators. Then it vanished.
The helmets' screens immediately lit up, displaying numerous windows crammed into each screen. Data was being relayed at a rapid pace to the operators, from the operators, between the operators, and so on. Their fingers were a blur, rapidly typing on their keypads to keep up with the barrage of data. They spoke in a rapid-fire monotone, voicing aloud all their commands or instructions.
"Initiating transport of first Smashers..."
"Integrate form 24-B with file 2.5-9, initiate…"
"Feed."
"Feed."
"Process…"
"Stabilizing shield structure…"
"Feed."
"Locking on."
"Analyzing."
"Aggressor detected."
"Weakness in portal efficiency found."
"Wipe."
"Connect."
"Transmitting file data no.5069, subject containing…"
"Feed."
"Feed."
"Cooling hazard found."
"Feed."
"Small contaminant found, neutralizing…"
"Slowdown in network, reprioritizing files…"
"Feed."
"Transmutating arena, stand by…"
"Feed."
"Feed."
"Feed."
"Locking down unused arenas…"
"Match end, initiating transport…"
And so it remained for several hours.
Around eight hours into their shift, something else showed up on their screens.
Urgent Emergency Message from Master Hand. Priority One.
Both operators opened the message. The picture of Master Hand reappeared on the screen, blocking out everything else.
"Hello operators. Master Hand has been forced to issue an Emergency Priority One order. A Male Wire Frame has been over-augmented in its creation process. This Wire Frame has retained too much of its template brain's personality. It has attained sentience. We only discovered this after it had left the augmentation lab. It has reported missing in an official Wire Frame tally. We are under the impression that it is trying to escape to the outside. Your task is to locate this Wire Frame and stop it by any means necessary. Master Hand will temporarily turn over control of two squadrons of Wire Frames to you. That is all."
The image of Master Hand was replaced by several windows, scrolling information on the Wire Frame. The operators immediately got to work.
Down below the arenas, a single Male Wire Frame huddled next to an arena pylon. What…am I? What's going on? Why are those… hand things after me?
The female increased typing.
"Initiate scan."
"Feed."
"Feed."
"Unidentified bio-sign found in area 49-C…"
"Feed."
"Wire Frames: Search and destroy bio-sign…"
The Male Wire Frame was startled by the sound of marching feet. It cautiously stuck its head out from behind the pylon. A squad of 30 Wire Frames was marching in synchronous lockstep towards him.
If he had a mouth, he would have smiled. They're like me! They can tell me what I am!
He ran out in front of the squad, causing them to come to a halt. He gestured wildly. "Tehll…meee…" he choked out, unused to speech. "Whuut…amm…I?"
One Male Wire Frame walked right up to him. He rubbed his hands together nervously, staring at the other Wire Frame. "Yesh?" he inquired pitifully.
The Wire Frame drew its arm back and punched him across the face.
He fell back, sprawling on the ground. Slowly, he rose from the floor, clutching the side of his face in horror. "No…no…" he said in a guttural whisper. "Why?"
He turned and ran from the Wire Frames.
"Feed."
"Feed."
"Wire Frames: Pursue bio-form…"
"Wire Frames: Initiate flanking maneuver…'
"Feed."
"Wire Frames: Activate 'pincer movement' stratagem…"
The Wire Frame ran as fast as he could, continually driven on by the ominous marching sound.
He eventually collapsed against a door, feeling sharp pains in his simple joints. The marching sound drew ever closer.
A flash of color just inside his peripheral vision caught his attention. He looked at the top of the door, seeing a word printed there. He concentrated as hard as he could, trying to make it out. Exhit…Eshite…Exitt…
Exit! He straightened up in surprise. A way out!
He frantically twisted the doorknob, but to no avail. He tried pushing his whole weight against the door frame, trying to break the door down.
Just then, both squadrons of Wire Frames appeared around the corner, surrounding him.
He held up both his hands in pleading, trying to ward off the advancing Wire Frames. "Shtop! Shtop!" he cried out.
The Wire Frames did not respond, continuing their relentless advance towards him. "PLEASHE!" he yelled.
They stopped.
"Feed."
"Feed."
"Contact broken, reestablishing…"
He couldn't believe it. They were all watching him, perfectly still. They obviously expected him to say something.
He cleared his throat nervously. "Thish…is wrrong," he croaked out. "We shoulndn't…hurte eatch odder."
"Thish…is ann exsit," he said, gesturing to the door behind him. "We cahn…leaveh trew…here. Bea free."
"Nevurh haff…to lishten…to dat Hhand," he spat, "edder agin!"
Near the back of the group, a Female Wire Frame tilted its head.
"Feed."
"Wire Frames: Initiate annihilation…"
"Feed."
"Feed."
"Cuhme on!" he said, spreading his arms.
In unison, the Wire Frames stepped forward…
…and descended upon him, ruthlessly beating him to death.
Amidst the mob, a hand reached out, trying vainly to reach the doorknob. It fell to the floor, lifeless.
"…no…"
"Task completed…"
"Returning Wire Frame control…"
"Feed."
"Match end, initiating transport…"
"Air impurity detected, filtering…"
"Feed."
"Speaker #3451 broken, activating repair program…"
"Feed."
At the end of the day, the two operators disconnected themselves from their consoles, getting up and going out the door.
"Goodbye operators. Thank you for a productive shift. Have a nice day."
The duo walked down the hallway, silent as always.
This time, the female started talking. "Your appearance has changed."
The male's hair, previously light brown, was now black with several purple streaks. "That is correct."
"What is the reason for this? You appearance has not changed in several weeks," the female said, her eyes fixed ahead of her.
"I do not know," the male said. "I seemed…compelled."
"You seem to have formed an abnormality," the female stated. "You should take care not to let this affect your performance."
Upon reaching the end of the corridor, the operators turned and went their separate ways.
The female went inside her quarters. She ate another processed nutrient mix and then took a disinfection wash. She took off her black bodysuit, putting on her light gray sleep tunic. She got into her habitation pod and pressed the close button. She shut her eyes, and then fell asleep.
She did not dream.
For a machine has no thoughts.
The End
Can anyone guess why he felt "compelled"? I think I made it pretty obvious.
If anyone didn't get it, "feed" refers to them ordering a data feed into their system. They're essentially "logging on" for something new every time they say that.
I didn't name them here because at this point, they don't have names yet. In Unity they get names, here they're just faceless automations.
No, they're not sadistic killers without guilt. Does a computer feel guilt for launching a missile attack?
REVIEW!